Melding and Mending

This week I'll be using the Hoi Polloi (Greek for "common masses"), a tarot deck that has been published by both Hoi Polloi, Inc. and Reiss Games back in the 1970s.  Today's draw is the Two of Cups:

The winged lion head in this image gives a nod to Venice, the "city of love," and to St. Mark, an apostle whose mentor was known for his message, "love one another."  Below the winged lion is a caduceus, a symbol those in the medical field are familiar with, but which is also known as the rod of Hermes/Mercury, messenger of the gods.  While there is the potential for romantic love here, I tend to see it as a meeting and melding of opposites.  Harsh feelings are put aside, amends made, and harmony restored.  I notice that the man reaches out to touch the woman, reminding me that sometimes all it takes is one gesture of goodwill to another to bring peace.

The oracle deck I'll be using this week is the I Ching Pack, published by Thorsons and created by Richard Gill and Anthony Clark.  Though it comes with its own book, I also use "The Everyday I Ching" by Sarah Dening as secondary resource.  Today's card is "Mountain over Lake - Reduction:"

"That's the reason they're called lessons," the Gryphon remarked, "because they lessen from day to day." ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Just as the snow on the mountain thaws and replenishes the lake below, this card emphasizes letting go, simplifying, and giving without expectation in return.  In combining this message with the tarot card above, I believe this giving deals with emotions and relationships.  Buddhist Jack Kornfield once wrote that holding on to anger won't change history.  Though I don't feel a burning rage toward anyone, I know if I look deeply enough, there are still some coals of resentment burning underneath a few relationships.  Yet in the companion book Gill makes the statement, "do not empty your own bowl to over-fill another's."  In other words, there's no need for me to bow before anyone, I just need to be kind.