The Hanged Man

Or, All Shook Up.

So I helped out a friend yesterday by playing the part of “subject” for a couple of students learning how to do Reiki. In fifteen words or less, it’s the practice of moving energy around in the body to keep things in balance. (If you want to know more, please look it up.) I was  supine on the table, my eyes covered, and these two women were being instructed in how to approach a client, whether to touch or not, etc. There was hand-waving, occasionally someone would touch my arm or shoulder, and it was fine.

Then someone slipped her hands under my rib cage and the trouble began. I have been trying to get rid of a bad cough for over a month now, and the pain on my left side has gotten worse, not better, in the past few weeks. I don’t have pneumonia or pleurisy, but the pain in my chest persists. So, good for the newbie to pick up the bad energy there!

But bad for me that she had no idea how to smack it down and fix it. So, everything got worse last night: there was no sleeping, just coughing. Grrr.

As I got up from the table, that student told me that I had to let everything go; just release it and I’d feel much better. Okay, I thought. I’ve spent a month trying to cough up a lung, maybe I could try harder?

This morning, when I pulled a Tarot card for this blog it was the Hanged Man. All right. He’s an interesting character. Lots of ways to read him, hard to do it without some other cards to put him in a proper context. Hmmm. I looked in my Tarot Bible to see what it has to say about the guy: “The Hanged Man says that it’s time to let go of any emotional baggage…” Bingo!

He’s the card of contradiction – if you feel like taking a leap of faith, stay firmly on the ground and wait; Think you’ve met your love match? think again…Want to try a new job or a new city? Now’s not the time.

But in this instance – when you are actually ready to move into the future by letting go of the past – he turns up at exactly the right time. If you’ve been reading along with my latest adventures with my ex-whatever Yurgos and his mother Merina, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. And now my own family seems to have had a part in the betrayal! It’s just much!!

So that “diagnosis” of trouble and prescription of release was pretty much on the money,. Of course, like most everything else in life, following through is easier said than done. It may well be that it’s not the lungs or the ribs that need attention, but the heart that’s breaking inside.

[Check out Cassie’s newest tale in “Capturing the High Priestess,” available from leforapublishing.com and amazon.com]