The Six of Swords and Compassionate Listening
Having moved away from the contentious Five of Swords, Clarence the Cockatiel finds himself in the restorative Six.
We see him at the window’s ledge in the presence of a dove. What are they doing? We’d like to think that she’s listening deeply and holding space for Clarence’s Five of Swords story. Her compassion gives Clarence the opportunity to not only get it all out, but to also self-observe: are my perceptions real? How are my own thoughts hurting me?
Holding compassionate space for ourselves moves us from hurting to healing.
Sometimes tarot cards can be like a dream: we are all the characters we see. In pulling the Six of Swords, we (the Dove) can compassionately sit with our projections, fears and hurts (Clarence in the Five of Swords). We can ask these parts of our experience to explain their suffering to us. We can observe them with loving kindness. Oftentimes, holding compassionate space for ourselves moves us from hurting to healing.
In the following slide, Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh offers the most beautiful script to say to ourselves or to others when we want to be that Dove in the Six of Swords. The audio is taken from an interview he gave on Super Soul Sunday with Oprah.
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