This post and Job’s Tarot spread that goes with it was created back in 2011, after I lost a baby, got dumped by the baby’s father less than two weeks after, nearly killed myself, and found myself surrounded by ‘frenemies.’ I’m reposting it today because of what surfaced around the most recent solar eclipse, with so many people sharing their sufferings with me… You don’t have to carry it all alone.
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
– Helen Keller
Having suffered multiple afflictions in the past few years, culminating in several incidences of backstabbing and betrayal this year, I was told the other day by a ‘friend’ that it was all happening because of my own negativity and inability to relinquish the ego.
Story of Job, anyone?
The story of Job is a wonderful reminder that we are sometimes made to suffer, not as a result of our own iniquity but for reasons known only to God. It’s also a reminder of what we must sometimes endure in the name of ‘friendship.’
It’s a popular New Age notion that we are the gods of our whole existence. Yet ancient wisdom teaches us that we, for the main part, don’t get to choose the cards we are dealt, only how we play them.
So be comforted if you are sitting there with a shitty set of cards, surrounded by ‘friends’ who tell you it must be your own fault; It’s not your faulty thinking or your inability to understand the Law of Attraction that caused all this, no matter what they say.
You know you have done all you can to stay positive and be a light in the world. Divine justice operates in mysterious ways and friends who think they understand the laws of karma well enough to preach at you instead of giving you a comforting hug have a thing or two coming.
Also, all illnesses aren’t of our own making and if you suffer a miscarriage, the reason may not be revealed until you are reunited with your angel baby on the other side.
That’s not to say we can’t learn from it all in this lifetime – we can. But there will be times when we have to wait patiently for things to turn around and answers to come. In the end, only kindness matters. And this is the lesson Job’s ‘friends’ so utterly failed to understand.
There are times when the Refiner’s Fire is unbearable because we seem so utterly cut off from the comforting embrace of God. These are the times when all we can do is cry for mercy and wait for the break of dawn like the man nailed to the ground in the 10 of Swords.
Yet the end product is always worth the suffering. Because the refiner’s fire turns out nothing but the purest gold.
I have created a spread that you can use whenever you feel afflicted. Hopefully, it will help you see the bigger picture a bit better which can be helpful. It’s also reminder to lift your eyes and ask for mercy. Know that it is there even when you can’t feel it.
Job’s Tarot Spread
1. The source of your affliction – this card gives you a fuller understanding of what it is you are currently experiencing
2. The challenge – this card shows you the challenge you must rise to meet even though you may feel that you can’t take another step. The dynamic between the first two cards and the final card contains the hidden lesson.
3. Friends – this card shows you what kind of support you have available from friends. It’s entirely possible that you have some great support there – not all friends are like the friends of Job! If so, don’t be afraid to let them in. They will be just as blessed in the giving of support as you are in the receiving. However, don’t fret if this indicates that enemies are surplus to requirements with friends like yours. This is not a permanent state of affairs – only part of the test. Forgive them for not being able to see the full picture.
4. Enemies – this card shows you a source of negative influence right now. It is usually other people and will be related to the source of your affliction somehow. The 5 or 7 of Swords in this position is an indication that someone is actively trying to make your life miserable.
5. The Voice of God – use an Angel oracle card for this position, as a comforting embrace of divine mercy. You may also want to place an Angel card over your friends/enemies while blessing them and also over the Source of Your Affliction.
Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you…If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.
– Emmet Fox
Blessed Be!
Lisa
Comments 21
O dear Lisa . . . you survived hell and are sharing the jewels of the darkness with all of us. And you are helping me go through hell. TarotSister
Author
Thank you for commenting Mickey, so glad I can be of help. Blessings
People break so the light can enter and you have certainly endured much suffering and heartbreak. Thank-you for sharing this with us – you help raise us up to your strength – we all benefit. Much love, Lisa!!!
Author
You’re welcome, Inner Tango. Helping others is one way of making the past ‘make sense’… Love and Blessings
Thank you very much for sharing your perspective on this Tallulah. I can tell you speak from experience. I have nothing but respect for hospice nurses. Many blessings of peace, right back atcha!
Hi Lisa-
I really appreciate your succinct articulation of the how much we (the New Age West) have strayed from Wisdom's basic principles. It's what we DO in the face of suffering that grows our souls; not setting a rigid life-mantra that attempts to will/visualize suffering and persecution away.
I have worked as a Hospice nurse for many years and I can tell you- the guilt trip about bringing on our own suffering and disease has GOT to GO. Guilt never breeds growth but conviction brings easy transition. There are some situations and disease processes that are certainly front-loaded with our choices. But real growth looks at our part, fully owns it, and then actively lives with joy while seeking inner healing and MOVING FORWARD. I take great pleasure and joy in taking of families who are hostages to guilt and confusion and bringing acceptance and love to them in their limited time.
I can fully relate to living a long season filled with betrayals. Much of my compassion has come from being scapegoated, back-stabbed and abandoned. I have spent years looking for the reason in my stars, my judgments, my errors, any codependency etc. etc. etc. At this point, I've decided that if I can get through this time without giving in to labeling myself as a 'martyr', that's success for now!
For anyone who has been betrayed by someone you loved and helped or who has been rejected, gossiped about, lied about or scapegoated- You are not alone. It happens to tens of thousands of wonderfully loving and forgiving souls everyday. 🙂
Peace to you!
Amen, sistah!
Thank you for commenting, Jenny. I'm not sure you need to focus your clarity on seeing past someone else's ego when they are busy kicking you when you're down. Well done for quickly gaining the right perspective though. We do need to find that perspective sooner or later… but honestly, sometimes you need all your strength and clarity focused on staying alive. Blessings, Lisa
I am going to do this spread this morning for myself because I really need it, but first I want to comment; "So be comforted if you are sitting there with a shitty set of cards, surrounded by 'friends' who tell you it must be your own fault; It's not your faulty thinking or your inability to understand the Law of Attraction that caused all this, no matter what they say." This is so true. In my study of A Course In Miracles last night, Chapter 9 Section 6 is the "Acceptance of Your Brother", and it was sooooooo clearly written how any "wrongs" you see in your brother are only reflections of your own ego, and you MUST try to see only perfection and total rightness behind ego in order to recognize it in yourself. It is SO not helpful when you need grace and what you get is a slap in the face! But I have found so much clarity the last year or so in being able to see past others' ego ESPECIALLY when they say outrageously unhelpful things. I hope you find this too!
One last little bit… I also remind myself (as you do about your babies) that when the time comes, All the clarity in the universe will be presented to me on the other side and I will have no more questions. This gives me so much comfort when nothing makes sense.
Thank you for commenting, Lynniah. Sorry to hear your cards have been rubbish too. But we'll get through this and bless it all as it happens.
Ah, blessings for this one Lisa. I've had so many crappy cards dealt lately too.
I needed this reminder– it helps me keep it all in perspective.
Goodnight and Sweet Dreams to All..
Lynniah
Yup. Sometimes bad shit happens to good people.
you´re so right. A friend had recently a miscarriage, but because she is so deep into the alternative scene, she has started to believe HERSELF that it was all her fault, that SHE was the one rejecting the baby. When we all know how she, and the rest of us, were all ready and full of love waiting for him/her to arrive.
you´re so right. A friend had recently a miscarriage, but because she is so deep into the alternative scene, she has started to believe HERSELF that it was all her fault, that SHE was the one rejecting the baby. When we all know how she, and the rest of us, were all ready and full of love waiting for him/her to arrive.
you´re so right. A friend had recently a miscarriage, but because she is so deep into the alternative scene, she has started to believe HERSELF that it was all her fault, that SHE was the one rejecting the baby. When we all know how she, and the rest of us, were all ready and full of love waiting for him/her to arrive.
pull yourself together*
You're welcome, honey. I'm truly sorry to hear you're going through such a tough time. I'm sure you're doing all you can and really, though those who tell you to pull yourself can't see it, you are a hero for just getting up each day. This too shall pass… Lots of love, Lisa
Lisa, thank you so much for this post. I have been sinking into hopelessness and depression again, and everyone around me tells me I am not working hard enough to heal.
It is not enough that I wake up every morning (despite feeling I have no reasons to do so), come to work, fulfill all my responsibilities, help friends and try to be a good company despite the fact my heart is still broken and that I see no light ahead. *sigh*
I feel under a huge pressure to 'move on', and yet I cannot…
I will definitely try this spread! Thank you so much for creating it! There's enough people in the new age world telling that we need to 'call the light and seek the blessings and let go of the negative past', but no one to give you a hand on how to deal with the pain…
Thank you for your kind words, Katerina! 🙂 Blessings, Lisa
Hello!
You wrote very important deal, it for itself(himself) can be a little сложноват in treatment, in a deal important questions on which the answer is necessary, and it is not necessary are afraid to ask these questions, you Very much проницательлы and are wise, Taro simply sings in your hands! Thanks for раскла, and Good to you day!!!
Hello!
You wrote very important deal, it for itself(himself) can be a little сложноват in treatment, in a deal important questions on which the answer is necessary, and it is not necessary are afraid to ask these questions, you Very much проницательлы and are wise, Taro simply sings in your hands! Thanks for раскла, and Good to you day!!!