Releasing your Grip on Baggage
When feelings of heaviness arise, it's time to look at what you are carrying. Ginger wrote about this a couple of weeks ago in the Cult of Gemini newsletter, and it’s still resonating with me as we wrap up these last 2 weeks of Spring and head into the lightness of Summer.On the left: Where to bring lightness? On the right: What baggage is not ours to carry?
The Knight of Cups quests to bring lightness and love out into the world through greater compassion. As much as Knights are tasked with carrying messages outwards, so too do they carry them inwards. The Knight of Cups aligns with the truth of Universal love and knowingness of being part of a cosmic whole. The inner journeying may be through walking a labyrinth and meditating on the flow of life. Tapping in to this otherworldly consciousness lightens our individual loads as we feel how we are one fish in a larger school. As we internalize this sensation, our buoyancy radiates out and warms the hearts of others.The Knight of Cups represents deep love, so consider sharing any heaviness with your heart-connected partners in this life. We can shy away from doing this for fear of overloading someone else, whereas the reality is, this sharing usually nourishes a healthy relationship through vulnerability and trust. While your burdens are not theirs to carry, they may be able to lighten the load through listening or even offering insight if so welcomed.When feelings of heaviness arise, look at what you are carrying. Is all that baggage yours to carry? It is not our job to manage all aspects of giving and receiving. This is a spiritual partnership that happens between the Universe and you as an individual that’s part of a larger whole (the school of fish). Our baggage gets heavier when we load it with expectations and various conditions. Releasing this-for-that attachments lightens our burdens because we are giving and receiving freely — because it feels good. Not for anyone or anything else.Depending on your specific situation, you may be over-giving, giving out of obligation, or a miser may be holding your spiritual reigns. Start letting go of burdensome weight by knowing you don’t have to do it all or carry the weight. Bring some awareness to what feels heavy. Clarity allows for compassionate problem solving.Tune in to the masculine and feminine energetics within your self and seek to balance them. Look where you are over-doing and see if you can shift to receiving more in this realm. Until we look, we may not realize that someone else has been chomping to do this thing (share the driving, pick up the kids, make dinner, etc.) or is happy to lighten our perceived burdens because a lighter, happier us benefits all those around us. Someone may not want to do the groceries, but they may want to see us laugh and smile more… often times those around us can see more easily than we do how sharing loads brings more of this end result so it becomes less about doing groceries and more about bringing happiness and lightness.In other areas you may be over-giving. It’s not that you need to stop giving, but have you put a dam up to receiving? If someone compliments your shirt, do you respond by saying, “It was only $2 at the thrift store!” Or if they thank you for bringing food, do you say, “It’s no big deal, I was making it anyway.”A balanced flow nurtures each and every one of us. When we open to receiving, we open to light — we bask in the glow of another, allowing them to shine and lift us up. Practice releasing the reigns of control by simply saying “Thank you” to compliments. No clauses, smirks or sarcasm. If someone thank you, practice saying “You’re welcome!” and smile with a heartfelt glow. Acknowledge them in these simple ways. This will start putting cracks in your dam and help you on your path of more receiving and less carrying by creating a supportive flow of loving energy.This is an opportunity for deep alchemical work as well. A health challenge has gifts — whether it be opening to love and community support or awakening to soul priorities in our life moving forward. Financial woes open us to resourcefulness, simple living and inner wealth… if we can release the stories/baggage that we are carrying around these issues and dig deep to see the gifts. This isn’t viewing the world with rose-colored glasses but rather releasing our hold on baggage, breaking it down and composting it so it can nourish our roots.Remember, we do not have to control or dictate this process — if we are willing to do the work, we can partner with the Universe and give over the process. Ask the Universe to point out the gifts. Ask the Universe to help break down the old perceptions and expectations about life and how it should be. We deserve the freedom from these burdens. This is the spiritual art of giving and receiving — open and surrender to what energy there is to help us through it all.
I work with Tarot as a tool to connect you with your own inner knowing. I read at Cult of Gemini in Grass Valley, California in person on Thursdays and am also available for private bookings, events, and for online consultations. Check out my reading options in the Taming the Tangle online store.
