Breathe Through It – Day Ninety Eight

 

Breathe Through It         

My pinky finger is hurting even more tonight. Why? Because I apparently didn’t give it enough attention by writing about it last night. No. It yearned for more, as many a rogue pinky does; so it made more of a hang nail apparent early this afternoon, which I rewarded by practically maiming myself by gnawing at it with a vengeance not seen since the movie in which that guy was mauled by a bear. Ah yes, The Revenant.

I’ve even succumbed to the suggestion made by a few of you: application of a Band-Aid. For the record: I don’t have any WonderWoman Band-Aids. So I traced the weird outline created by the blood-letting that resulted from my gnashing – and voilà – a work of art. And given that I’m an Earth Pig, there’s no way I was going to wrap my pinky in a Band-Aid that resembles a strip of bacon. But thanks for the suggestion (I think?)

In the meantime, in case anyone’s wondering, I keep picking the damn Dolphin card. On Friday, I picked Dolphin squared (you’ll recall, that means I picked Dolphin right side up, with a blank card on the bottom of the deck). Then Saturday I chose Skunk reversed with Dolphin underneath. And today? I chose Dolphin reversed/Buffalo.

So, if I were one to ‘judge’ the cards (which I try not to do, but when I become petulant, I’ve been known to engage in some pithy repartee with my ego), I’d say I’ve impressively gone from bad to worse in record time. Or more honestly, from great to crappy.

Dolphin Up, Dolphin Down, Dolphin Inside Out

Dolphin is all about breathing, which is ironic, given that my 1111 Devotion  is dedicated to Karl, who drowned. Yes indeed, it is true; we cannot live without oxygen for more than a few minutes. And quite frankly, I feel sad every time I read those words because they remind me of him, and frustrated as they apply to me. I’m literally starting to feel claustrophobic and my breathing becomes a little shallow when I look around and consider how complicated everything feels at the moment.

Particularly when I read (as I did so long ago , upon choosing Dolphin reversed another time) – and received such startling clarity from it:

“…Dolphin was given a new job. He became the carrier of messages of our progress.”

And “…This can be a time when you are to link with Great Spirit and bring answers to your own questions or to those of others. (…)”

As I said yesterday, I’m getting dial tones in abundance, both for myself and for many of the people around me who seem to be struggling as well.

So breathe, I tell myself. Stop going after your pinky as if you’ve chosen the Beaver card – or Bear.

Hoping Clarity Will Arrive With the Full Moon

I realize this post has been a bit haphazard. But the full moon is approaching and, with it, perhaps some elucidation will arrive on Tuesday as well. At the very least, I’m hoping a shift will take place and answers will begin revealing themselves.

While I may seem as if I’m kvetching, I want to assure you: I have the utmost faith that my path will be made clear. I’m just sharing the love with you guys because it feels important somehow not to sugar coat this stuff.

I certainly, definitely, without question, and unequivocally do not have all the answers. But my ‘peeps,’ as I lovingly but perhaps slightly irreverently call them, do. Always. Especially when I’m asking on behalf of others. But if I’m saying always, I mean always (even for me).

My point in sharing my anguish is to foster transparency. Too often these days, I get the feeling we give up if something doesn’t come through at the tap of a finger or the moment we ask.

We need to breathe through it. We need to relax. We need to be still and listen to the signals being sent to us.

Thanks for keeping me company – and for holding the faith with me.

thehonestbison.com

(T-1013)

A Tale of Five Pigs – Day Eighty Five

Photo: mnn.com

A Tale of Five Pigs  

Happy New Year (again)!

While I realize it’s highly unlikely that many of you share ‘Boar’ status with me, I suspect there are at least a few of you who do. In fact, I know there are at least a couple of you out there, so I don’t feel too bad about indulging in a little bit of Boar-ology.

Actually, in spite of the appearance of self-indulgence, I’m only using the Year of the Pig as an example, since this subject is far too complicated to cover even superficially in a short blog post. But I thought you might find some of these descriptions interesting.

The Five Elements

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, there are five different variations attributed to each Chinese Zodiac animal. These differences are based on the elements, and change with each 12 year sub-cycle within the overarching 60 year cycle.

Last night I wrote about the five elements each particular sign expresses in any given year, which continue to rotate in order every 12 years:

Metal          Water          Wood          Fire           Earth

I must confess, I do not have anything but the most cursory of cursory understandings of how each element associated with a sign shapes the expression or experience of those born that particular year. While I am aware that there are quite a number of books and other materials available on Chinese Astrology, as well as the meaning and significance of The Five Elements in Eastern philosophy and study, I am using only two reference materials for this short post:

The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes (6th edition)  by Theodora Lau; and Pig,  from The Chinese Horoscopes Library by Kwok Man-ho.

Chinese Astrology is a Complex Subject

The first of the books mentioned above is a 415 page treatise that probably only scratches the surface of the intricacies of this field of study. Not only are each of the twelve signs discussed, but the author then explains how the Chinese not only apply one of the five elements to each sign in a particular year, but also assigns seasons and ‘stems’ (a positive or negative energetic component – as opposed to a value judgment) to each sign. Not surprisingly, the system further breaks things down into two hour increments of a 24 hour day, assigning an animal sign to each of those twelve portions of the day as well, all of which influences the expression of the individual born at that time.

Learning the meanings and interactions of the five elements with and between each other appears daunting to me, and I know this is actually a very complex field of study.

Just for fun, though, I wanted to share with you the following intriguing descriptions of each type of Boar, which I believe are tied to how the particular element applies to the sign that year. I found these descriptions in the second book I reference above, Pig , which would probably qualify as a ‘pocket reference,’ it’s so small.

Anyway, following are the Boar years spanning the last century or so. Beside each set of dates, you’ll see the element associated with those years and, beside the element, I’ve quoted the poetic description and first paragraph of how that element is interpreted by the author of Pig.

1911 and 1971:  Metal – “Pig in the Garden” – “This is a very complex Pig. Its natural intelligence is combined with a certain brashness and lack of innate wisdom, which can lead to unnecessary trouble.”

1923 and 1983:  Water – “Pig in the Forest” – “This is a classic Pig. It leads a solitary life, it is obstinate, yet it remains essentially fortunate. It does not worry about the consequences of its actions.”

1935 and 1995:  Wood – “Pig Passing By” – “This is a classic Pig personality – although you may suffer while you are young, you should invariably enjoy happier times as you grow older.”

1947 and 2007:  Fire – “Pig Passing the Mountain” – “This Pig possesses great talent and self-assurance. Unfortunately, it also has a quick temper, which might lead it to unwise decisions and hasty actions.”

1959 and 2019:  Earth – “Monastery Pig” – “The ultimate threat to any Pig is being eaten. Chinese monks are vegetarian, however, and since this Pig lives in a monastery, it will never be threatened.”

This Just Scratches the Surface

I guess the upshot of all of this is that over the next year, there will be lots of little pampered Piglets being born. Hopefully they will be pampered, but not spoiled!

One last thing I’d like to mention is that my description in yesterday’s post on how the Chinese new year is determined each year may not be entirely accurate, although I know it is connected with the new moon. I of course recommend that you study up for yourself if this is something that piques your interest.

I’d really wanted to get a photo of the seven or eight little black pigs that just took up residence near us. They’ve scampered out of their wooden shelter and tumbled over each other to greet me at the fence alongside the road almost every day this past week. Today, of course, since I was hoping to take their photo for inclusion in this post, they acted weirdly shy.

Silly little piglets! Go figure.

(T-1026)