This morning I read a comment someone made on facebook about ending the seize of Gaza and contacting the incoming U.S. Administration to halt it. This hit a sore spot with me. Who are we in the United States to oppose it? Who are we to support it? Logging in later tonight I found an utterly offensive picture (which is probably a fake) in an effort to persuade Americans to choose one side or the other. I firmly believe in Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas, but there isn't enough information on the subect, unbiased information that is, to make any sound judgment. But still my conviction remains, and I must stand as one with Israel.
Going into this reading, my question was "Why do I feel so strongly about Israel's right to defend itself?" As the meditation-reading progressed, the outcome changed, as did the focus or question in intent.
I drew the 7 of Swords.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Obvious at first are the two swords that are left behind. I see this as the two camps over here in the U.S., one which supports, or in the very least attempts to understand, what Israel is doing, and the other camp that does not nor cares to. It occurs to me that those who oppose this offensive would be opposed to any violence against any group of people, no matter what. Those who feel a kinship with the Israeli civilians, those who agree that Hamas firing rockets for seven (the seven again) years into Southern Israel, will feel the exact opposite. There are the informed and the uninformed, in other words. One might say that there are the franchised and disenfanchised.
Two swords are also indicative of two sides to the truth---"ours" and "theirs." Often times the "theirs" is seen as propaganda and vice versa; each side thinks they are in the right. This is the nature of war, is it not?
Bottom line with this reading is that there isn't anything any of us can do with this conflict except wait it out. (This is the point at which my mind begins to change.) Also I do not feel obligated to support a government on either side that refuses to make concessions to the other. Like it or not, swearing to destroy the Jew and the nation of Israel or not, Hamas is the government that the Palestinians chose to represent them.
The five swords, ruled by Saturn the Planet of limitations, reminds me that I need to divorce myself mentally and spiritually from what Israel is doing as a secular society. This is the only way I can feel solidarity with the Klal Israel and (the citizens of worldwide Jewry) while at the same time distancing myself from politics. (I have found this to be true here in the United States when it comes to the culture wars. And, boy, do my problems seem trivial now!)
The two swords that are on their own, which I as the character in the card am studying, reminds me once again that I should not fall into the trap of oppositional politics. This inevitably is no good for my health. My time is best spent affecting change in the wider world through acts of loving kindness (g’milut chasadim) instead of concerning myself with matters of government. I need to look at this crisis not in bitterness but as a galvanizing force in my life. What do I really need to support? A war on the other side of the world which will clearly be won by the mightier military? Should I rejoice in this? No. My energies are best spent elsewhere. I will take my swords and go play in another sandbox, thank you very much.
The moon in this card is also a reminder that this too shall pass, as the phases of the moon, not that I am belittling the plight or pain of others in Gaza and in Southern Israel because I am not. This is simply an effective way of coping, of reconciling the connection I have with Jews as a people while at the same time distancing myself from their civic government.
Card images © Lo Scarabeo ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Used by Permission
