The last time (21) World manifested itself to us in our daily readings was on 29th July. At that time I had just begun reading High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard. I’ve been slowly working my way through the book ever since. At that time I found Burchard’s advice on envisioning the “future four” habits of clarity to be consonant with the arcana of the (21) World and the dance of the Divine Sophia that it depicts. Using Burchard’s model I asked,
- Man: Who kind of person I want to be today?
- Lion: How do I want to interact with others as a social animal?
- Bull: What skills do I want to focus on and get my horns into?
- Eagle: How high can I have the vision and power to soar with excellence today?
Share Your Truth And Ambitions
This morning I finished reading the second section of his chapter on “Demonstrating Courage” in order to fully realize yourself in the world. The second section is all about “sharing your truth and ambitions.” That thought is very much in alignment with the dancing woman of the (21) World who dances naked and looks us in the eye as she does so. In short, she openly expresses her joy and dances fearlessly before the gaze of all and sundry.
The Page of Wands, whom we saw yesterday, teaches us to open ourselves to our imagination and to dream great dreams about our future. What the arcana of the (21) World teaches in that context is to fully integrate those dreams into the warp and woof of our lives and give full expression to them.
One way we can do that is to share our ambitions with others before we have achieved them. As Burchard notes, the pursuit and sharing of our dreams is the key to personal freedom, but it takes courage because when we express ourselves openly in this way we often encounter judgement, sniping and rejection. Here is what Burchard says about that:
Live a life that is yours. Don’t seek the approval of the doubters. You’ll find no lasting joy in seeking acknowledgment from others. If it comes, it’ll never be enough. So the only path left is to express your own truth and pursue your own dreams.
When you do this you’ll meet with inevitable criticism. Anticipate that as just one more part of the struggle. Judgment will always be there, just as there will always be cloudy days. Don’t let their criticisms sway you from your convictions. If you believe in your dream, stay on your path. You need no permission beyond that tingling hope in your soul.
Brendan Burchard, High Performance Habits, p. 275
The “tingling hope in your soul” is what the dancer is expressing in the (21) World, at least in the context of this week, and as such, she represents the antidote to the shadowy repression of the (15) Devil who would happily keep us chained to his pedestal through our fears and obsessions about the opinions of others. We need to transform that negative energy through the flow of the Two of Pentacles and defend our vision and any material gains that it has yielded with the Nine of Rods . Then imagine great things for it with the Page of Rods and dance the dance that it inspires, sharing your dreams with the (21) World.
A Mantra of Mutual Interdependence
Another reason why we should share our dreams and experiences with others is because we are all interdependent anyway. This point is made most eloquently in today’s reading in The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, whose meditation reflects on this quotation by Marcus Aurelius:
Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe. For in a sense, all things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other—for one thing follows after another according to their tension of movement, their sympathetic stirrings, and the unity of all substance.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.38, quoted by Holiday and Hanselman, The Daily Stoic, p. 296