Sunday Advent 2 Isaiah 11:1-7
Today it is the second Sunday of Advent. I have read Isaiah 11:1-7, the passage of the day from the Old Testament of the Roman Breviary.
Again it is a famous passage. It gives an image about a time -the end of times- when animals, wild and tame live together, lead by a little child: “The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.”
It is an image of peace, a situation in which conflicts are resolved and instincts are tamed. Lions eat straw instead of lambs. The situation is alike our Strength card, on which a woman without using power, tames a lion. Only an innocent weak child is needed to lead this bunch.
Today I have read so many cards, I think for at least thirty-five people, just one each, but still… I do not know if I am able to interpret my own now.
Reading the text of this day I wondered: what is blocking us from achieving such a peaceful situation, one in which conflicts are resolved?
I have pulled my card from the Tarot of a Moon Garden and I have received Nine of Staffs, the equivalent of Nine of Wands from the RWS. A lot of small white trees are to be seen on the card and a unicorn, an animal of peace that hides behind a tree. It is a picture of fear. I can imagine that little animals are hiding behind the trees, not daring to come out. It is also a picture of desolation and hopelessness, of no one to see and no one to turn to.
Behind this card I see the version of the RWS Nine of Wands on which a wounded man awaits another attack.
So, what is blocking us from achieving peace? It is: lack of hope and fear, the experience of being hurt, and feelings of desolation. All these block our way to peace. The time of Avent, the preparation for Christmas, is there to turn this hopelessness in us around, to heal the wounds, to ease the fear, all in order to open us up so that peace can come.