Bindweed (the Devil): Gaian Tarot Card of the Week

What do we most need to know for the coming week?

Bindweed (the Devil)

Well, I have to admit I was not particularly pleased to see this fellow turn up and almost put him back in the deck.  But that’s not playing fair, is it?  I asked what I (and you, dear readers) need to keep in mind this week, and this is the card that turned up.

My interpretation of the Devil card as Bindweed, that invasive non-native species, is that of a life lived terribly out of balance. And so I ask myself how and where my life is out of balance. It’s clear to me that right now my work-for-clients is taking the biggest portion of my time and attention, but that seems to me to be appropriate for this season. (I am grateful for the abundance of work!)  It will only become a major problem if it continues all year at this pace. I am more out of balance in regard to my attention to my physical body — with these long hours at the computer, I have only been getting to the gym twice a week and I want to ramp that up.  

My intuitive hit when I turned up the card, is that it’s about the niggling worry I have at the pit of my stomach that we may not be able to stay in our house come the summer. Without getting into the gory details, I ran some numbers over the weekend and realized that losing the house is a real possibility.  So now my thoughts stray to that possibility and I begin to worry. Then I mentally smack myself on the side of the head and remember Mike Dooley’s wise words “Thoughts are things! Pick the good ones!” and turn my attention elsewhere.  Still the worry persists.  So perhaps it’s a good week to not only ramp up my attendance at the gym, but also to ramp up writing in my gratitude journal, to banish the negativity and to invite abundance and a secure home into my life.  

And how do you see this card, dear Readers?

Comments

[Teresa Michelsen]

That the things you are most afraid of losing are sometimes the things that set you free once they're gone...

[Carol]

I always associate this card with my shadow side - think what you've said is also about your shadow side - or part of it - worrying about survival and allowing worry and doubt to take hold. Think it is also associated with healing - ince we face our shadw and expose our darkness to the light, feel the pain we are ultimately freed from the past and the darkness that has a hold on us - take the chain off and walk away.

[Joanne]

This was an interesting card for me for this week, too. I won't go into detail in a public forum but it is all about coming to terms and dealing with some "bindweed" (who shall remain nameless) from my past that has creeped forward quite unexpectedly.

I will keep you and your home in my thoughts...positive thoughts!

[Lisa Hunt]

I see the Bindweed card as a reminder that challenges are part of the balance rather than a detriment. In your particular rendition of The Devil, I see the figure as someone trying to center, focus and remain in a stable position despite the agitating presence of outside forces. I think this piece really expresses the card meaning nicely.

I don't think it is possible to be completely void of worry in this life, otherwise we would not be able to truly appreciate the good stuff. It sounds like this is exactly what you're doing: seeing the challenges as a means of embracing the good and taking steps to confront some of those challenges with renewed vigor, i.e. your desire to go to the gym more frequently.

Regarding the house, I think most homeowners (and renters for that matter) are scared right now. One never knows what tomorrow will bring. The best we can do is try to do our best today.

[Pietra]

I have had this card around me sometimes and I alawys get the impression that it divides our time in two: the first part in which we get exposed by our own shadows... ant the second in which we can make very productive material things...

[joanna]

Ooooo, good one, Teresa! Carol, good stuff about the shadow side and exposing our inner darkness to the light . . . Thanks Joanne, and sending positive energy back to you. Lisa, I appreciate your take on the card. I never saw that figure as trying to center himself in the midst of crisis and now I have a new way to look at it. Regarding the house - yes, one day at a time. Today I am grateful that tenants will be moving into our island house this week. Pietra, yes I love your interpretation of the positive side of the Devil as being able to make "very productive material things." Yes, that it what I do! (and of course the Devil card is associated with Capricorn.)

[Lisa Hunt]

I definitely agree with Theresa--The Devil card is the archetypal shadow. But in order to grow and move beyond the confinement of those chains (and in your card--bindweed?), I think it's important to not ignore those things we tend to repress. Rather, it is probably more beneficial to recognize the shadow's presence (i.e. fear) and learn how to live with it in a productive way. I also see the shadow aspect of our psyche as part of our animal energy--a place where great vitality and creativity can emerge. Therefore balance can be achieved. It's when we ignore our internal dark forces that imbalances can emerge. I think we all grapple with this. And honestly to me, Joanna, I think you need to do art right now.

Your visual interpretation is layered with endless meaning--and I see it as a combination of internal and external forces at play here...esp. the more I look at it and think about it.

[Sage]

My received the Devil card in her reading a couple of years ago. asked my take on it. I talked about addictions, imbalances, slavery. I didn't find out for over a year that she was facing those very issues.

For me personally, I am minutes away from meeting with the tax preparer. Talk about running through the numbers! Our imbalances will show themselves more accurately, I'm sure, although I can already see some of them.

One question: If bindweed is a non-native, invasive species, where is it native? I have it here in Colorado, fight with it constantly, gaining square foot by hard won square foot. Whe gets me is that it chokes the living crap out of all the healthy plants around it.

[Melissa]

I confess I felt a shiver ripple down my spine when I saw this card! I flashed on that poor soul in Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream"! But assistance comes in interesting ways... I unexpectedly received a complementary gift of witnessing Byron Katie doing "The Work" on Saturday in Seattle around financial (and other) big-time worries. I haven't been totally "sold" on what she does until I saw "it" in action. Quite amazing, really. There's a video on her website of her working with a woman who admits to "awfulizing" about the future. It's pretty good, and helped me to hold my own financial worries in a different perspective. You can view it at: http://www.thework.com/video_future.asp

[Suzanne]

To me this card represents the physical world of appearances along with the belief that it's possible to be separate from the Divine Presence. I don't believe we can be separate, but we can think we are. Since there is only Well-Being and it is present in all that is, we have to choose to see Well-Being here in the earth experience.

When I pay attention to appearances I feel a disconnect from that reassuring Presence that lets me know that all is well. I've been doing work each day to turn to Well-Being, too.

And I must admit something that sounds strange to say -- I feel compassion for this figure whenever I look at your card. It is a miserable experience for me to let the outside world determine my experience rather than to live from the Light within. Your card shows that so well.

This seems an incredibly appropriate card for the "appearances" happening right now in this time of awakening.

Are those crows on the line at the top of the card? If so, I love them -- very, very intelligent. They are also family oriented -- they watch out for and take care of each other.

I love your weekly card. Thank you for shining your Light, Joanna. I appreciate you and your friends very much.

[Julie]

Wow, very symbolic for me this week. The issue of balance. I see myself, like the person on the card, withdrawing rather than standing strong in my power and taking responsibility. To me it represents denial ... not doing what I know needs to be done.

[KS]

For me your card represents being weighed down by the density of life experience but that is a very personal interpretation (for me alone). The card indicates that I continually need to look for the light. It appears quite regularly for me and is part of a long process of change and growth towards my life purpose.

I love your deck, Joanna and use it every day. Light shines through it, as it does through you.

[Deb Strom]

I see all the outside imbalances pushing in from all sides. Fits our current reality in the states, doesn't it? I could choose to feel overwhelmed and overcome; reaping the karma of bad or unconscious choices. Blue is a cold, immobile color--lifeless and without spark. So how do I use this card as a tool to improving my life? I choose to see myself as that blue individual; but not pushed down--as turned within and centered on what I care about and what I most need to know right now to improve my current circumstances. I focus on my breathing, and I see the red of my blood spread through my body with each breath. As I intentionally energize my body I turn from blue to purple; the color of spirit. My intention moved me from a disconnected place to one of spiritual committment and connection. From here I can change my world.

[Angelica]

When I look at this card I see a man struggling with his awareness of his misuse of the Law (represented by the blackbirds) He is grey blue - so even in his misery of "why did I do that?" the healing is coming forth ...
The weeds are the 'should's' crowding him, and he is just about to burst free - moving into a standing arms raised to the sky position, stronger in his awareness of how Law works for and thru him.

[Pietra]

I am in a moment of the week that I am asking for patience, because if I get some strength, I might as well kill someone... Unbelievable! Truly 15!

[Nancy Green]

I love your tarot. You are in a situation that many are sharing right now. I wish you sucess on the earth level, solidarity, work and watching the political trends.

[joanna]

Sage asked: Where is Bindweed native?

"Field bindweed is a native of Europe and western Asia and was first documented in the United States in 1739 in Virginia. The plant most likely arrived in the United States as a contaminant in farm and garden seeds. Field bindweed was reported in Pennsylvania in 1812 and Maine in 1824. The plant rapidly spread westward after completion of the railroad and appeared in Kansas by 1877. Field bindweed infested all of the western states by 1900. The plant is primarily a problem in dryland farming areas of the Great Plains and western states." http://www.agdepartment.com/NoxiousWeeds/pdf/FIELDBINDWEED.pdf

[joanna]

A couple of people mentioned the crows in the image. They aren't crows (who carry clever, trickster energy). They are starlings. Starlings are another non-native species (native to the British Isles, not North America) who are extremely invasive. They have proliferated way out of control and crowd out native birds. It's another metaphor, like bindweed, for Life Out of Balance.

[Cate (KerrdeLune)]

For me this card is all about opening up when the world around me seems to be closing in, when my most fervent desire is fold up and turn inward, away from life. Perhaps a winter thing??? What I have to do is cultivate thanksgiving, stand tall and straight, open my eyes and my arms to the magnificence and the abundance of the universe.

For all their alien and invasive qualities, hedge bindweed has beautiful flowers and starlings sing gloriously in springtime. Spring is slow in coming this year, but it will surely come if I have patience.