The Meaning of Illness: The Headless Horsemen of Dis-ease

‘The Meaning of Illness: The Headless Horsemen of Dis-ease’: quite a title, right?  Well, in Messages as Illness: Looking at the Meaning of Illness I pondered on what could be learned and understood from illness.  No-one asks to get ill; who would want to be sick?  But the fact of the matter is that the natural state of our bodies is to be healthy and well; to be aligned and balanced.  So, if there is something wrong in the body, it is using up an awful lot of energy to remain imbalanced and in dis-ease.  My recent relapse in health has prompted me to look at why these symptoms are back, and I decided to explore further with a tarot reading using ‘Tarot for the Healing Heart’ by Christine Jette.

As always, I just want to repeat that I am in no way limiting the seriousness of illness and would urge you always to see your medical practitioner.

The reading I selected from Christine Jette’s book is one called ‘The Headless Horsemen of Disease’.  It is a four card reading and you can see the cards I selected below.

The card in position one represents fear; what am I afraid of losing?  How is fear expressed in my body?  I pulled the 4 of Swords.  This card would seem to suggest that my fears are associated with actually taking time out to heal and rest.  This is true.  The reason I have had this relapse is because I was pushing myself and pushing myself, feeling that I was unable to take a rest.  So in essence, my body has now forced me to do so.

The card in position two represents anger; what or who do I wish to punish?  How is anger expressed in my body?  This card bothered me at first as I don’t like to think of myself as feeling anger, let alone wanting to punish someone.  However, I pulled the 3 of Pentacles.  This card shows my future plans, and it is true.  I have been wondering so much lately, what am I doing all this for?  I keep pushing myself to work, but what am I working towards?  I need to really look at not only what I am doing, but why I am doing it.

The card in position three represents resentment; what emotion am I “re-feeling”?  How is resentment expressed in my body?  Again, I find myself wondering “Me?  Resentful?  No way!”  But the card I picked here is the 5 of Wands.  I guess, if I am completely honest, there have been feelings of resentment surrounding how much I have to struggle.  I feel this card is definitely showing me I have to re-prioritise, definitely not sweat the small stuff and look at what I am doing.

The final card in position four is the advice card; what action needs to be taken first to start the healing process?  The 4 of Wands here would seem to suggest a change of environment, but as we’re looking at healing, I feel it also suggests I need to look more closely at expressing myself.  I must celebrate all the good things in my life and express my gratitude for these things.  I must also look more closely at how I express myself creatively as I feel I’ve slipped more into writing about what I think I SHOULD be writing about, rather than what I truly feel moved to write about.

So, there you have it; a quick, but very insightful look into my recent ailments and hopefully a way to get myself back on my path to recovery.