dorotheacarney.com

When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful. – Malala Yousafzai

It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent. – Madeleine Albright

You can be the lead in your own life. – Kerry Washington

Every week, we come together to write. Writing is a mirror to our own thinking. Of course, each piece is only a fraction of our own image – the corner of an earlobe, the tip of a toe, or the ends of our hair, but never the whole picture. Our shared work is to witness each other’s process as we each gather the pieces to form a whole picture. And with that picture, each of us can move towards a clearer future for ourselves.

For centuries, tarot cards and other similar practices have been used to provide this partial mirror. When we look at the cards, most often, we are told what we already know. This week, I brought in goddess cards and as we passed the cards around the table, each writer sighed a sigh of recognition. They said, “Yes, this speaks to a force in my life.” Each writer used their card to reflect on an aspect of their growth and used it as a touchstone to predict their own future.

In the pieces below, you will read the accounts of three writers and reflections on their cards – how each image gave them strength and inspiration to follow their path toward wholeness.

CHANGING WOMAN – CYCLES

Change? Cycles? Both of these have so much in common with me.
I am and have changed so much in the last 8 months
that I have been locked up that it sometimes scares me! I used to
look for the drugs to take that pain away and now I look for my supportive
loved ones, people that care about me to help me through these times of pain,
to help me with the pain that I’m having. I have finally broken that cycle
of looking for the drugs, getting the drugs, doing the drugs, and then starting
all over again. This change and the break of the cycle makes me feel
so alive, so real, so human again; that I can’t believe that I gave so much
of my life to something so awful.

Some people say that change is scary and yes, I agree. People also say
that breaking a cycle that you have done for so long is hard —
yes of course it is! But when you change and break that cycle,
it’s like a new person is born. You see things differently. Things
have so much more meaning and life behind them.

I hope to keep the change going every day. Even if it’s small.
I will not miss the past at all. Yes, I would not be the person
that I am today if I didn’t go through what I did but I am happy
of the person that I am now and plan to keep changing
as much as I can and never go back to that cycle
that almost took my life.

AF

***
THE WHOLE PICTURE

Sometimes we don’t see the whole picture
that is right in front of us. I picked the card
and didn’t notice how beautiful the Goddess was
or the light around her. The only thing standing out
was the word, “illness.” I immediately felt sad
and my beat quickened. With the seriousness
of my health problem and all the pain.

My biggest fear is that I will get very sick
before my release and won’t have
my family with me.

Then with Meg Reading the words,
it all makes sense that I need to take
this time to put all other things to the side
and take care of my side – setting all other things
aside making it through this time – to see my family
and friends again.

JB

***
SILENCE…PEACE…FREEDOM…

I have been chosen or did I choose?
The journey has begun, or has it?
I am still here, but my mind is elsewhere.
So much to do, to TRANSITION out.
Hestia, the eldest goddess holds it together,
will I do the same? Or will anxiety take hold?
Will I be the glue? Start a fire for freedom?
I am all about the home.
I love it and it loves me back.
All who visit will be warmed.
I will sit in silence for as long as I want.
I will feel peace growing from inside.
We will sit in silence. It will calm.
We will feel peace together.
All will finally experience freedom.
Yes, I was chosen and, yes,
the journey has begun.
A new chapter is taking place:
the chapter of silence…peace…and freedom.

CMP