Card of the Day: Six of Pentacles

I had nightmares from watching the surrealist game show that was last night’s SOTU address. Equity and justice—a good life for every person, for the love of God—require a wholesale restructuring of our systems, which require a basic understanding of what this country is about, and has been all about since its “founding”—the theft of land, labor and life force, using state-sponsored terroristic violence, to line the pockets of a wealthy elite that has always been white and male.

Poor Europeans escaping the loss of their land, livelihood and culture lived alongside free Blacks and Indigenous people in the early colonies. They lived, worked, ate, loved and fought together for common cause, until the ruling class figured out how dangerous that was and began drafting laws creating “white” people. And the wealthy ruling elite is still trying harder than ever to divide and distract us from the power and force of our common cause—to secure dignified work that pays a living wage, healthcare, affordable housing, clean air and water, and the time and leisure to connect with spirit, community and the Earth.

I was talking to a dear friend yesterday about feeding at the trough of my friendships. Taking in all of that nourishment and reciprocity and joy—for its own sake but also as strength for the road. For the apocalyptic time we’re in, when all of the toxic and diseased inner workings are being revealed to those of us who’d been ignoring it for so long. “Apocalypse” doesn’t mean “the end of the world.” It means “unveiling.”

We need each other, to practice giving and receiving, enacting the fundamental truth of our profound inseparability. To hold each other in our fear and despair, and in our joy and pleasure. To live out the mutual care and connection that is and always has been our true nature.