For the past month or so I’ve been having panic attacks. Been going about my life then suddenly am caught up in feelings of impending doom. Like the world’s about to split open and blood come rushing out of it like in The Shining. I feel like I’m picking up on some ambient malice in the air; spirit of evil and violence hovering over our world like a locust.
There is no justice when a rapist attacks an unconscious girl behind a dumpster and basically gets six months of probation. No justice when people of color are murdered daily by the police who are supposed to protect and serve them. No justice when fabulous people celebrating Pride are slaughtered as they dance. No justice as drones drop bombs on weddings. No justice as the blood and fear and corruption possess the people of the earth and make us chase each other with pitchforks while the trees burn and the oceans choke with plastic.
Even when the terrorist is murdered there is no justice. Even if the rapist is jailed for six years instead of six months there is no justice. The blood just keeps coming.
Red Rum Red Rum Red Rum.
So if the structures we’ve built thus far yield no justice, how can we live without drowning in despair? Without choking on our fury? Without panicking so hard that we can’t leave the house?
How can we spend even one more day living in such a brutal world?
When an elder shaman I work with told me that shamans don’t see the violence, poverty and ugliness of the world, I resisted. How can we just turn away and pretend not to see the suffering? Isn’t that an egregious act of neglect? An act of aggression, even? But now I understand her differently.
In most of the traditional tarot decks, Justice (Major Arcana XI) does not wear a blindfold. Seeing is an act of creation. We create Justice by what we see. Right now if we scroll through Facebook, we see pictures of rapists and violence and murder. Rapist after rapist after rapist. Instead, we should be seeing the beauty and valor of women. The wit and spirit of LGBTQ people. The courage and genius of people of color.
“The night is beautiful,
so the faces of my people.”
So desperate is the situation of our world that we must all participate. We can’t run and hide. We have to look for the things that we love, and then celebrate them and publicize them and fight for them.
“The stars are beautiful,
so the eyes of my people.”
Perform your acts of love as a warrior. Let nothing stop you. Don’t let the darkness and violence defeat you. There is love all around us when we look for it.
Your love is your fiercest weapon. Love without mercy. Love until your last breath.
“Beautiful, also, is the sun,
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.”
Sing your love out to the world. Create justice with the power of your vision. When everyone’s worthiness, intrinsic value and humanity is recognized, retribution and rectification will no longer be necessary. Take courage and love hard.
Love is the law. Love uber alles.
#LoveIsTheLaw #NoJusticeNoPeace #Justice#MajorArcana11 #ThrowDownForTheGoddessOfL