☼
CARDS & LETTERS
Psychic Counseling by Kyler James
A few years ago, I was
invited to the Harvard Club to hear a lecture given by Hildegard
Behrens, the soprano, on Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
To my delight, her approach to the four Ring operas was through the four
elements of Astrology, as she called them.
You should have seen the looks on those Harvard Club faces as Ms.
Behrens elaborated on her thesis! Das Rheingold,
she said, represents water; Die Walküre, air; Siegfried,
earth; and Götterdämmerung,
fire. It was wonderful to hear an artist
of her stature admit to what is so basic and primal in all the arts.
The four elements are with us
always: in the four suits of the Tarot,
the four seasons, the four directions, the four movements of a symphony. Anything that exists in a group of four
probably has these attributions. The Wizard of Oz is my favorite
example. Dorothy represents earth (the
home, the hearth, the physical), the Scarecrow represents air (the mind, the
intellect), the Lion, fire (energy, courage, will) and the Tin Man, water
(emotion, the heart). These characters always had the qualities of their
individual elements—they just needed the Wizard’s validation; they needed
society’s acknowledgment of who they really were.
Isn’t that like most of
us? We need our diplomas, certificates,
licenses, medals and degrees. Without
these, who are we? We’re naked as air, formless
as fire, sinking in water, lost on earth.
Oh, the anxiety of it all! That’s
when we’re truly free, and that’s
when we discover the fifth element, the element of spirit. As Paul Tillich
said, “The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has
disappeared in the anxiety of doubt.”
There’s The Wizard of Oz for
you.
On a more practical plane, thank
you for your letters. I’m receiving
quite a few, so please be patient. I’ll
try to answer as many as I can. Here’s
today’s:
Kyler—
Please
help me! My life is upside-down, messed
up! I’ve been very depressed, confused,
had bad thoughts about lots of things. I
don’t know what I should do. I’m [a]
jobless, lazy, big-time procrastinator.
No lover, my room is forever a mess.
I feel out of control and would like to know if you could tell me if the
Tarot cards have a positive objective for me to be hopeful about. My name is Billy da
Kid. My birthdate
is
Billy da
Kid, you are the Prince of Wands and you are meant to shine in life. The prince refers to your Libra mind, and the
wands to the fire in your heart. You
wrote this a month ago, included your number, and I called to see if you were
all right. You then confessed that you
were recovering from a suicide attempt.
The King of Swords in your past shows where this self-attack
came from. An abusive father tried to
force you to be something you weren’t.
(I recently read this to you over the phone and you told me that this
was true.) But now, in the present, the
Princess of Wands shows you beginning to build a new life, one that is “suited”
for you. The cards show you and your
father going in opposite directions.
The Prince of Swords in your
near future shows a lot of mental figuring out of your past. You told me you’re seeing a therapist, which
is very important; there’s going to be a rehashing of your mind until you
really understand yourself, until you are able to separate your father’s mind
from yours.
Once you’ve gotten yourself
under control, I see a new you emerging in the suit of love: the 3 of Cups, Abundance. I would definitely continue the work with
your therapist, for by the time you’re 25, I see you not as Billy da Kid, but as Billy da Man, who is able to have both love and
work in his life. Try to think
positively, Prince of Wands! You’re
worth it.▼