“Consensus isn’t just about agreement. It’s about changing things around: You get a proposal, you work something out, people foresee problems, you do creative synthesis. At the end of it, you come up with something that everyone thinks is okay. Most people like it, and nobody hates it. ~David Graeber
Today’s reading is about synthesizing and the harmony created from the process. The process itself can be stressful, gathering all the right ingredients and in the just-right amounts, mixing them properly to create the best concoction/situation that can be created with the ingredients you have to work. And to add to the stress, you were not able to pick the ingredients that you must use. You are presented with extreme views and ideals that repel and you must find a way to mix them to create a non-explosive tonic.
In the Present position we see Justice who is blindfolded and not able to see the opposing trees on each side. The dormant tree has shed it’s leaves and from these, Justice is able to create new life in the form of butterflies. In doing this, she had restored balance.
Right now our nation is divided, in one camp we have those who believe their individual rights have been violated due to the closing of non-essential businesses, and the restrictions of gatherings. In the other camp we have those who believe these restrictions are both warranted and necessary. When I see the numbers of covid-19 inflicted people and the number of deaths caused by the same virus, I don’t fully understand the thinking of the camp who feel their civil liberties have been unjustly taken away and would protest and file law suits. I am not unsympathetic to the businesses and their owners who are suffering and may not recover, and I agree that we are being inconvenienced, but I’m not willing to trade that for my health or the health of my family and friends. Being of a certain age, I may be at a higher risk of complications if I were to catch this horrid disease, but there are those who are much younger who have been afflicted and have lost the battle.
Temperance attempts to find that fine balance, the middle of the road solution which seems out of reach. But, blending is her forte’. It’s what she is really good at and if anyone can find a smidgen of harmony, it will be her.
The Seven of Pentacles could be giving us a time frame of late summer/early fall. But she is also the cautionary word against going too fast, being in too big of a rush. “Ends are precious moments, not sad moments. Ends give meaning to a journey. And even if they are not anything by themselves, they are necessary. Another word for end is completion.” ~Barbara Moore
The Scots have a saying, “Dinna Fash Yerself“. Perfect advice if you ask me.