Peacemaking is hard spiritual work. It is hard emotional work. It is hard mental work. And yet the rewards of this work can be both breathtaking and Life-changing. For something that is a dance forward into Possibility, it takes immense courage and concentration, a lot of daring, and the willingness to miss the mark and begin again in Love. I know there are Peacemakers who don’t think of Peace as a Spiritual Path. For you and for every Peacemaker, I say thank you. We each come to our deepest values in various and sundry ways, and then we practice them differently. In Peacemaking our practices lead us to complementary work — to the making of Peace. You have skills and knowledge that I may not. Used in tandem, our unique skills and talents enhance our efforts in Peacemaking — and show the world how we can move Peace forward together.
Each of us does Peace work differently. Each of us establishes different patterns to support us in the work we do. Or we do if we plan on being healthy and long-lived in the work of Peacemaking. As I said at the beginning, the dance of Peace demands being spiritually and emotionally healthy and ready for the long Peace Journey.
Recently I returned from a week in the Hudson Valley at Omega Institute. Omega is a place that gathers learners and instructors on a variety of topics “to awaken the best in the human spirit and cultivate the extraordinary potential that exists in us all.” In years when I am able to, I take a week of vacation to study Tarot with beloved teachers. One of the great thrills of the week is that I am privileged to immerse myself in a community of generous learners, filled with hope for the world and pleasure in that pursuit. For me, it is a very deep joy to in the company of long-beloved friends joined every year by some enthusiastic new seekers. This immersion in friendship and the esoteric is a delight!
Many of my companions are involved in Tarot in ways that I am not. I do not read cards for a living, nor do I do daily readings for myself. I don’t collect decks nor do I read systematically on the topic. Instead, I write methodically: I have been writing at Peacemaker’s Tarot since 2019 (Peacemaker’s Tarot for Changing the World — You First!) and in 2023 I wrote 3 volumes of Peacemaker’s Tarot for the 21st Century — my own version of the Major Wisdom Cards.
My practices as a Peacemaker are the writings, readings, and poems I create. There are poems and essays that I do daily, weekly and things I do monthly. All of these endeavors help me interpret the world and my place in it. As I focus on the changing seasons and the delights and responsibilities each season offers, I am led to sometimes wild associations, which I can then research. When the season is right, there is water-walking and swimming to bask in the water and sun. Other seasons offer deep contemplation by a fire or candlelight. This I do as season and work allow. Whatever the season, my practice is Presence. I am practicing whether I’m writing or sitting at table laughing with friends. To be present is to be amazed and grateful in the current moment. To be present is recognizing that now is all there is. While my practices are extensive, they ebb and flow with the day, the month, the moon, the season, the deep needs of the world. I try and show up as I’m called — and work to not take on more than I can manage.
While I can build structure — such as my daily musings and my evening farewells — It is something I must construct deliberately and carefully. It seems that many of my Tarot and Spiritual acquaintances have far more regimented practices than I do, that include daily readings, and deeper learning with their sacred tools and texts. Their practices are spirit- or value-driven. They are the same or change over time. Currently, my primary teacher, Mary K. Greer, is a scholar who has written over 50 books on Tarot, its origin, its associations, its practices, and its possibilities. She has been reading for over 56 years and been studying deeply in all that time at topics that explain and enrich Tarot.
Living in a valley full of educational institutions, I know many scholars who work in the way Mary does. I know clergy and doctors who work in the same way. As I started considering the different processes, I thought of the IV card in the Major Arcana. In some traditional decks, this card is called the Hierophant. The fifth edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English language defines the word as follows:
hierophant /hī′ər-ə-fănt″, hī′rə-, hī-ĕr′ə-fənt/ noun
- An ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries, especially the priest of the Eleusinian mysteries.
- An interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge.
- One who explains or makes a commentary.
Other decks simply describe this card as The Pope: the head of the Christian Catholic Church, who is both the Spiritual and the Organizational head of that religion. In my deck, Peacemaker’s Tarot for the 21st Century, I’ve called this card Science, and the Two Positive Possibilities joined by the Möbius are Order and Mystery. It’s a perfect analogy of the two kinds of spiritual searching and practice where most people center their practices.
What matters if you want to be a Peacemaker is to understand what will support your thinking. Are you a structured practitioner? Is your style more of a spiral that gathers new information and helps you make the associations? Are you something in-between or altogether different? What are your values? This is a question that may have much more overlap than your practices. But one way or another, together and separately, we are building Peaceful communities filled with folks exploring the Possibilities of Peace. What do your practices look like? And how do you use them for your Peacemaking? Together we will build interesting and diverse communities that shape and support Peace.
Salaam, Shalom, Peace, Blessed Be.