The Story of Earth-Part Eight

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Sitting in the quietness and calm of the hallway, she feels a  cloying blanket of grey tiredness descend upon her. A pain nags underneath her right shoulder, and the cares of life congregate, whispering into her ears, picking at her clothes and demanding her attention like a tribe of naughty children. How to pacify them and yet let them know that they are important and that their needs will be dealt with in due course? How to gain the peace required to rise beyond this earth bound place and to walk again in the realms that lie beyond the door?.

And then it starts, gradually, but it starts. One by one her troubles fall from her like dead leaves, disintegrating to dust before they even reach the floor, one by one they drop, and the layers peel away until only she remains; a seeker of the unknown, a voyager into her own soul, exploring the visions of beauty that erupt like strange flowers from the rich fertility of her human condition. Eventually she is ready, and leaves to walk upon the patterned glowing grain of the elm stairs that are worn by centuries of seeking, to walk with hope, and the knowledge that what she seeks is hard won.

Opening the heavy door, she steps into a warm and comforting landscape of dappled light and shadows with warm sunshine filtering through the close knit trees that she is standing amongst. She cannot see very far, which is not unusual, and sees that she is walking along a wide and gracious path that is bounded on either side by stands of what appear to be some gigantic variety of bamboo. The floor is a crunching carpet moving dryly beneath her bare feet, the flat leaves rustling and slipping over one another, a thick layer that has built up over many years. It feels comforting and cosy within the trees, and she feels safe, protected by the living walls either side of her, sheltered from the elements, safe from harm, she feels relaxed and centred.

High up in the trees she sees chattering monkeys clambering around in the canopy far above her head, their voices drifting down to her in a cloud of happy conversation, telling her stories whilst she is walking. As she continues, they explain what is happening, so at no time does she feel afraid or unsure in this calm place beneath the trees, and although she cannot see very far she feels reassured by what the monkeys are telling her and happy to carry on her way. After a while she comes to a large clearing where a magnificent tree towers above her, reaching way above the forest canopy into the sky, to a place that she cannot even see it is so far away. Stately and noble, its roots stretch deep into the earth all around her feet, and she gets a sense of the darkness beneath her, the solidity of earth and how the roots, although invisible, are the most vital for the trees survival. There would be no tree without the foundation, so although she cannot see the roots, she recognises the essential nature of their presence, and that their health and strength is the key to the eventual success of the tree. She sees that it can take many years where it may feel as if nothing is happening at all, but that this is not to be seen as failure, but as root formation, for without constant challenge and effort, like a tree weathering the storms of life, how can we form the character and tenacity required to support success, support the outcome.

She sits at the foot of the huge tree, her back against the gnarled trunk, and senses the feelings emanating from it. It is a wise and a proud tree, true and mighty, busy fulfilling its mission. Most of the work has been done, and it is now in the ripening phase, the waiting phase, where the activity is going on beneath the surface. Beauty and sweetness are developing, and they will, but the time to harvest is not quite yet, she must be patient, she must allow the process to continue, it has its own agenda. There is no leaving this vision, and she rests here until the tree melts away, leaving her sitting in the old elm chair in the Hallway of Beginnings, refreshed and reassured by her travels, honoured by the gifts that she is given, from the spaces in-between.

Earth 8 can be seen as a reassurance that you are heading in the right direction, but that the time for results has not arrived just yet. You are still in the nurturing phase, and must attend closely to the project in hand. Listen to what is occurring, for there is meaning yet to be elicited from the practical processes that you are engaged in, and joy to be discovered in carrying out the work of your heart.

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• The Eight of Disks
• Sun in Virgo
• The Lord of Prudence
• Hod

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