healer
The Empowering Symbolism Of The World Card
The World card in the Tarot remains one of my firm favorites. I am all for personal and spiritual growth, the completion of cycles, and new beginnings. The World represents exactly that: the ending of a cycle and pause in life, before the next major cycle begins with the fool.
The journey from the new beginnings of The Fool to the fulfilling endings of The World is a constant evolutionary process in our everyday lives that is represented by the sequence of the 22 Major Arcana cards of the Tarot. The World is the 22nd trump and therefore final card of the Major Arcana.
I have reflected on the imagery of the Rider-Waite version of this Tarot card in great detail. Rider-Waite is probably the most popular and universally recognized Tarot deck. The illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith at first glance appear simple, but the details and backgrounds feature abundant mystical symbolism.
The World pictures an empowered figure within a wreath – traditionally a symbol of victory, success, achievement, and eternal life. The figure holds a wand in each hand, which is reminiscent of the Magician card and the Two of Wands. However, while The Magician holds only one wand, the two wands in the The World card represents fulfillment, wholeness, balance and coming full circle.
The card is framed by four animals on the diagonal. The depiction of these four creatures parallels the four animal symbols used in Christian art to represent the four Evangelists, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The four animals also represent the zodiac signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, the four fixed signs in Western Astrology, which in turn represent the classical four elements of Earth, Fire, Water and Air.
Developing Your Herbal Intuition
Herbal medicine is becoming increasingly popular, and many people are increasingly turning to herbalism as a healthcare supplement, or even a substitute to conventional pharmaceutical medicine. Plants, flowers, and herbs all have unique energetic qualities that make them suitable for various purposes. They are alive and respond to their environment and how they are treated in the same way humans do.
When we think of herbs, we tend to narrowly categorize them according to the medical conditions they can be used for, or what aspect of our health and wellness they can improve. However, like people, herbs are much more complex and multi-faceted, and have many uses and applications, alone or in combination with other herbs.
To obtain the most benefit from any herb, we need to take the time and have patience to truly get to know the herb. When you meet someone for the first time at a social event, would you diminish the other person’s true worth by instantly deciding they have only one useful trait or redeeming quality, and leave it at that? Taking the time to get acquainted with a particular herb is much like getting to know someone in an intimate friendship.
Selecting herbs to work with or draw upon for healing is a highly intuitive process. The appearance, aroma, taste, texture, and energy vibration of the ideal herb for a specific purpose must speak to us mind, body, and soul. They convey a distinct energy signature and frequency of healing that the intuitively aware user will innately know is best to use at that time.
The Healing Energies Of Plant Spirits
Here in Latin America there is a rich tradition of herbalism and ceremonial, shamanic spiritual medicine. There has also been in recent times a global revival of plant medicine and natural healing practices, as well as a renewed interest in related indigenous wisdom traditions found in many cultures all over the world.
As a result of modern science, we have largely abandoned and forgotten the fountain of knowledge the aborigines had regarding healing and natural harmony. It took us several centuries to realize what we have lost and overlooked in the process.
Herbalism is however not only about natural medicine potentially having fewer side effects than modern pharmaceuticals. It is also about the innate energetic qualities we share with a particular plant. This approach to healin stems from a worldview that fully integrates man and nature.
In local tradition, near the Andes, the timing is just as important as the type of plant used for healing purposes. Depending on the season, or the phase of moon, for instance, the plant’s properties will vary, and its effectiveness less than optimal if used at the inappropriate time.
Both the healer and their patient’s attitude towards the plant itself is also an important factor in the healing process, as the respect and gratitude shown to the plant will determine its healing ability.
In shamanic herbalist practices it vital to understand that all entities are considered to have elemental energy, including plants and humans. This is the metaphysical premise of all plant medicine and magic. In fact, for the traditional herbalist all plants have spirits. And each one has specific faculties and properties at different levels or frequencies that can heal us in mind, body and soul.
The Loving Intent Of Distant Energy Healing
I am a member of a remote healing group in which all participants receive healing energy once a month. We all simply set the intention to receive the energy healing on an agreed upon date and time. Even when some of us forget about it, when we are asleep, for instance, the healing still takes place and works when the time comes.
I have been dealing with pain and discomfort due to a fall I suffered three years ago, and the energy healings give me some relief every month, at least for a few days. I still must use the parts of my body that were injured in my daily life, so unfortunately the original injuries have never been able to properly heal. However, the relief from pain, even if it is just a few days, is a blessing.
I also do long-distance energy healing for others. I usually do it anonymously for people who I see on social media struggling. I do not tell them I am doing it for them, because they don’t need to know for it to work.
In return, I get a ‘high’ feeling whenever I do energy work, because the energy passes though me – in through the crown chakra, through the heart chakra, and out through my arms, before passing on to another person.
So, how does energy healing work? Well, intent is energy. If our intention is to heal anyone that we feel connected to energetically, then the energy flows to the person. We don’t even need to know their name or see their face.
Are You A Spiritual Conduit?
Imagine coming into a room and strangers start confessing their past discretions, talking about being molested, admitting to addictions they’ve never told another living soul about, all without even telling you their name. Imagine hearing someone confess to a crime, or admit that they think their sister’s boyfriend was the one to kill her. This is what the spiritual conduit experiences every day.
Conduits are very rare. It is a life of sacrifice. There is no long line on the other side for souls waiting to volunteer as a conduit. It is hard earned. It is a painful, yet rewarding life path, but the rewards only come in the afterlife. The conduit is not only psychic, so they can see the ugliest things one can see in souls, but it is also a very isolated existence.
What is a conduit? A conduit is a spiritual muse. Just the presence of a conduit in the room forces everyone’s issues to come up. A conduit’s energy brings out both the light and the dark in the people who are in their presence. The ‘student’ sees the best qualities in themselves; that which has been hidden, denied or suppressed. They also see their own childhood issues, abuse, addictions, impurities, disorders and dysfunctions.
Unfortunately, for the conduit, the anger and pain from all of the past that has been denied and supressed is often projected onto them as they become the authority figure, or the maternal and paternal figures who these issues originally stemmed from. The conduit is often the only one in the room, but there is also the ‘don’t kill the messenger’ force present in these moments.