Today, the cards bring us 5 of Cups and The Sun Reversed. The 5 of Cups in the Lumina Tarot shows a raven tugging a red string that ties together five cups in a wheel. The red string can represent pain, hurt, trauma, and injury. As the raven pulls on the thread of pain, the wheel of cups stops spinning. The cups representing our emotions and subconscious domains, this wheel of cups stands for the flow of our feelings and emotional realities, ever entering our experience, and leaving their impact. When we are in a healthy emotional state, the heaviness of experiences comes and goes—it arrives and is then released. However, like the raven pulling on the red string, the flow of emotions within us can be stopped, it can get stuck, as we tie ourselves to the pain and the hurt, without working with them to hear their message, without releasing them or letting them go. The Sun Reversed, in turn, can speak of joy that is clouded. The bright energy of The Sun cannot be thwarted. The sun is always shining, but sometimes it’s nighttime, and other times it is a cloudy day, so that we cannot see our star’s magnificence. So, too, it is with us. As painful emotions, memories and regret take hold of our being, stopping the natural flow of spirit within us, things can get dark really quick. We become unable to see the light. Our connection to the divine becomes muffled by the sounds of injury. The world loses its sense, and muted tones take over what was once a colorful place.

What I’m talking about here is something that is common to all of our experiences, each and every day. To one extent or another, we all have the remains of past experiences stuck within us, stopping the flow of our heart, leaving it heavy and inflamed. Unknowingly, we are like the raven on the card, tugging at the hurt, but unable to really face it, unable to do what’s needed to let it go. We may be addicted to it; we may not know of the tools for healing; we may be closed off to transformation; we may be utterly blind that the pain is even there. We look up towards the sun and don’t see it there. As difficult as that may be, realizing the sun is behind clouds is the first step towards their undoing. As we become aware of the intricacies of our inner realities, we get in touch with the flow. And we start to watch things arrive, and go. Then we realize we can take an active role in our emotional health, working to release what’s stopped at our heart. Just as we breathe in and out, we understand that we can breathe with our hearts, too. In and out, in and out. Painful experiences come in, are understood, are processed, and are released. Then we see the fog dissipate, and the sunshine come in, bringing us clarity of mind, peace of heart, and equanimity of spirit. Today, you are invited to welcome in the sun, by stopping the cycles of tugging at your pain. Blessings, blessings, blessings.