Wednesday after Sunday Advent 1 isaiah 3:1-11
Today it is Wednesday in the first week of Advent. I have very little time, today and the following days, so I will not always be able to post an entry about Isaiah, but right now, I give it a try.
The reading for today is Isaiah 3:1-11. Again a harsh image is sketched of what happens if the people of Israel do not turn around and live according to the life-giving words of God. This is what Isaiah says: “For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water; the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder, the captain of fifty, the honourable man, the counsellor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter. I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbour.” Food and all people of value, those who help to bring justice, will be taken away. Chaos will be the result, and in the rest of the passage Isaiah describes this.
We know that the situation Isaiah has sketched is a true one for many parts of the world. It is Advent, when the days grow darker and the hope for new light grows. Therefore I have asked the question “What is our hope in this chaos now”?
My answer to the question what our hope is in the situation Isaiah sketches and which is true for many parts of out world right now, came from the Tarot of a Moon Garden: Eight of Pentacles. The book along the deck says that the balls together form a mandorla (a symbol of the vagina) through which the Goddess can come. That is a lovely idea. The Goddess comes to help us. Since the balls are really tracking attention it is important to stay focused at that, on the light, on the Goddess who comes, the new light that will dawn.
But again, just like yesterday it is not only the divine that will come to combat chaos. We humans must that as well. On the card we see a palette with paint. Paint and creativity go together. In that sense this card recognizes the potential we as humans have for making things new, dealing with situations in a creative way. That is something which gives me hope, that there is a creative potential in us to make the earth anew, working together and along with the Goddess.
Painting: Our Lady of Guadeloupe in a mandorla
The reading for today is Isaiah 3:1-11. Again a harsh image is sketched of what happens if the people of Israel do not turn around and live according to the life-giving words of God. This is what Isaiah says: “For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water; the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder, the captain of fifty, the honourable man, the counsellor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter. I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbour.” Food and all people of value, those who help to bring justice, will be taken away. Chaos will be the result, and in the rest of the passage Isaiah describes this.
We know that the situation Isaiah has sketched is a true one for many parts of the world. It is Advent, when the days grow darker and the hope for new light grows. Therefore I have asked the question “What is our hope in this chaos now”?
My answer to the question what our hope is in the situation Isaiah sketches and which is true for many parts of out world right now, came from the Tarot of a Moon Garden: Eight of Pentacles. The book along the deck says that the balls together form a mandorla (a symbol of the vagina) through which the Goddess can come. That is a lovely idea. The Goddess comes to help us. Since the balls are really tracking attention it is important to stay focused at that, on the light, on the Goddess who comes, the new light that will dawn.
But again, just like yesterday it is not only the divine that will come to combat chaos. We humans must that as well. On the card we see a palette with paint. Paint and creativity go together. In that sense this card recognizes the potential we as humans have for making things new, dealing with situations in a creative way. That is something which gives me hope, that there is a creative potential in us to make the earth anew, working together and along with the Goddess.
Painting: Our Lady of Guadeloupe in a mandorla