Reading for America’s election

(This post was originally posted on October 11th 2020 on Medium)

I don’t do fortune telling. My readings are a tool for opening doors to other ways of thinking and accessing other knowledge available to us but that we often ignore. The reading for 2020 that was published on January 2nd 2020 continues to surprise me and in hindsight was incredibly prescient to the unexpected year we have had. If you haven’t read it recently, read it again. So much in there.

The American Election is on everyone’s mind. I’m on the tightrope between ignoring all the commentary and doing whatever I can to help achieve the outcome I’d like to see. As a non-American, I cannot vote but as a permanent resident the result of the election impacts every aspect of my life.

The choice of the subject card:

This reading started with the choice of the AEON that oversees the election. I chose to do a six card reading as this allows me to choose the subject of the reading. I chose the IEOU card as this is the card of evaluations and judgements. The symbols on the card represent the reason and rationality of the suit of Spades, with its multiple facets. It also has the square of Flags that represents the social and civic realm. An earthly AEON it is grounded very much in the material world and represents practical choices and decisions.

The second card in the reading tells us the energy that is in play.

Well, that’s great news. The energy of the mother is in play in this election. Motherhood, the one who gives birth and brings life to all things. New life, now beginnings, new ideas and new concepts. This suggests a new order is ahead of us. We are about to separate from what has gone before and bring forth the new. A new administration? or a new America? The actions of a mother and the nature of love are one and the same. The origin of all growth — all change, all renewal and all regeneration. A father’s love protects and maintains order. A mother’s love works from within, nurturing, growing, empowering and ultimately liberating. We must put in the work, not for ourselves but so that everything we give birth to can live. We created this turning point, we created this moment and we must do all we to can to help this young country, this experiment in nation-building, to grow and learn from its choices and mistakes. We will never stop loving it. We will never stop being there for it. We must never abandon it.

The third card in the reading tells us the actions we need to take and the things we should push for.

There is no doubt that the past year has really helped us see what matters to us. This has not only been a journey of a nation through COVID, Economic downturn, inequality, civil unrest and new rules and regulations for how we behave, it has been a time of personal reflection too. We’ve learned what we can depend on and what we can’t. We’ve learned a lot about what really matters to us individually. We’ve learned who to trust and who to stay away from. We’ve learned to love more deeply those close to us while also missing the excitement of interactions with strangers, visitors, new friends and serendipitous acquaintances. We’ve learned new skills that will be with us for the future and we’ve learned how some of the things we used to do, because everyone else did them, really didn’t serve much purpose. This election must be the time when we turn this moment of disruption into opportunity. It’s our chance to walk away from the past that oppressed our inner happinesses and decide to pursue the things that deep down we now know bring us happiness — both for ourselves and those around us too.

The forth card tells us the truth we will discover in this election.

The NOUS card in reverse means the election outcome will make us lose our minds. Optimistically, we might read this as being able to walk away from what has gone before. We might think this is relief from all the mental states that have dominated this year — our anxiety, uncertainty, fear and despair. I could also interpret this as learning to value sane, rational and reasoned leadership. But these interpretations seem too tightly linked to a desired outcome I think I’d like to see. What I think this card really means is that the truth of this election is that we have no way of knowing and some things are unknown and unknowable — especially as it relates to what might happen in the future. What we really need to do is learn to escape the tricks our mind plays on us. Escape the mind games that others, the media and technology play on us and keep our mind in its place. ‘Losing our mind’ might allow us to step away from our consciousness, away from the expectations of others, denounce urgency, causality and other delusions of control. Our survival of this year and all future years might depend on us opening our eyes to knowing what we can control and what we can’t. Surrendering, not to our minds, but to what will be. Doing the things we can do but not torturing ourselves for the things that are beyond our imperfect and flawed mortal capacities. The Gnostics felt this material world and the rules and regulations of it were just distractions from what really matters. This year has been full of material distractions, it’s true, none more so than politics. But, as we enter this election we know what we can do. We have more clarity about this than what we actually think about the different choices. Our relief will come from the actions we take, not the stories we tell ourselves or the stories others tell us that fill our minds. For all the effort the different parties put into manipulating our minds, is pointless and in many ways meaningless — our minds can change in an instant. What matters is what we do.

The fifth card tells us what we do not expect.

What is not expected in this election is that you, like everyone else, have the power to make a choice. It is not a choice that others can make for you. It’s not a choice that comes from listening to the various bombardments of media, posters, flags or speeches. It’s something only you can do and sometimes you surprise yourself. Sometimes you know that despite your affiliations, despite what your family and loved ones think or tell you to think, sometimes you know what you have to do. This is one of those moments. What have you got to lose. It’s what makes you, you. It’s what’s makes you different and it’s what proves you are free, independent and different from everyone else. Hone in on how you feel. What feels right. Who you are and what you stand for and be willing to surprise yourself with the power to be the distinctive, truthful, real — you.

The sixth position, brings this story to conclusion. ‘What will be’.

So many of the cards in this reading are telling you that this election is nothing to do with what’s outside of you…all of it is within you. In many ways this election is about who we are. What is America? What core beliefs are within each of us. This card tells us the spirit of each of us is what makes the spirit of America. What gives us our potential. What gets us our recognition from the world and from our Gods. This election will define, or rather redefine, the spirit of America. This election will tell us all what this country is really about. This election will define the very core of our being and we must search deeply inside ourselves before acting and denounce outside influences. Who are we? What do we stand for? What are we willing to be judged on? When all material possessions fall by the wayside, what spiritual sense of being do we answer to. Carl Jung believed we are all possessed with an internal sense of the divine that calls to us and transcends our personal will. We each determine how we respond to this calling and yet this spirit defines all of us.