Look, I'm not a generally hopeful person. I am a realist, practical and grounded, most of the time. It's not hard for me to lose hope, I do it all the time. I am rarely disappointed because my expectations are low. I take life at face value and see things and people for what they are, not what I hoped they would be. This time, though, I've reached a level of hopelessness that I haven't felt in a very long time. I have spent many months in a state of "What is the point?"
I don't have an existential answer to that.
But what is happening now, across the country, in full view of everyone, is tempting me to hope. It is at least a Three of Swords if not a Tower. I don't feel it's a Tower, really, but a Three of Swords, definitely. Harsh truth, blindfolds removed, facing what is true and real. Men and women are publicly speaking out against those who have sexually harassed, assaulted, and harmed them and --here's the best part-- we are LISTENING. Well, many of us are.
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| Robin Wood Tarot |
So many women, especially, are feeling triggered. #MeToo. Who knew so many of us have various shades of PTSD just from living our lives in this very bent society that treats us like morsels for male entertainment. Personally, I'm freaking out internally on a daily basis hearing about men creeping on underage girls. My first marriage was to a man who, among other abusive crimes, persistently preyed on adolescent girls, including me at 17 when he was 32. He was arrested on sexual assault of teenage girls several times during our brief marriage and I don't know how many times since. My second husband, a man in his fifties, just married a young Russian woman he groomed at 18 on the internet and then persuaded to come to the US to visit him when she was 19. She's now 23, only 2 years older than our youngest child -- who, by the way, is a young woman herself and has been struggling with the creepy implications of her father in a romantic relationship with someone she considers her peer. A lifelong friend of Mike's has recently been charged with possession of child pornography. He had spent five years in jail for "messing around," he said, with a "seventeen year-old," he said, when he was twenty. He spent ten years in therapy following his release. Although he had to register as a sex offender, he swore he never had The Problem for what he was convicted but said he used the therapy to help himself become a better person. It was all bullshit. We subsequently learned he had actually been convicted for having sex with a girl "13 or younger." The cache of child pornography was discovered by another good friend, his roommate, who went to the police because it was that bad. And of course there is Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Louis CK, and Roy Moore, and...all of the men on this list. I expect the list to continue to grow.
Truth revealed. Three of Swords. Old wounds and betrayals resurface. Three of Swords.
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| The Druidcraft Tarot |
Not all men? Three of Swords says "Bet me." Because if "good men" are surprised, shocked, and dismayed at what they are witnessing now, they haven't been listening to women. If they haven't been listening, they were dismissive, complicit, and participated in the culture that allowed it. Too harsh? No -- that's real truth. Three of Swords.
What is the point? Truth, if told, needs time to journey from our ears and our minds to our hearts and our character. Being quiet. Listening from the inside. Four of Swords. Healing. Integration. Peace. We'll get there, if we listen, accept the truth, and listen some more.
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| The Druidcraft Tarot |
* This article was originally published here
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