WISDOM READING - GUIDES TO KNOWING
THE BOOK BRAIDING SWEETGRASS BY ROBIN WALL KIMMERER AND THE WEIRD WISDOM TAROT BY LE PAGE NOVEMBRE
“In Indigenous ways of knowing, we understand a thing only when we understand it with all four aspects for our being: mind, body, emotion, and spirit.”
- Greg Cajete, as quoted in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Lately I have been reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and though I am not even halfway through the book, I am delighted to find myself thinking about all sorts of things in ways that center interconnectivity and balance. One passage that stood out to me early on was the passage above.
In the chapter this quote is from, the author focuses on how western science often refuses to recognize certain forms of knowledge as relevant or useful. I reflected on how, on the individual level, we often internalize that some forms of our own knowledge are incorrect or not helpful when, in fact, we are turning away from our intuitive understanding of things.
Sometimes, it may feel like emotional knowledge is a hindrance instead of a valuable teacher. Sometimes we may ignore our bodies, or we are unable to hear them over our thoughts. This is a product of being taught to overlook our whole selves. Capitalistic and white supremacist ideas were instilled in us before we had the chance to think critically about the value of our whole selves. We were raised disconnected with certain ways of knowing before we even fully experienced that knowing at all.
In the tarot all four suits are balanced, and no suit is better or worse than another. Even within one deck, every reading recontextualizes the cards, so that the Ten of Wands may one day be a great feeling of burden, and another day may be the satisfaction of being able to release something of passion into the world and start over with something new. We give context to the cards, and we have the power to recognize that no one way of looking at life is bad or good per say, but just contextual.
In Walk Through the Forest of Souls by Rachel Pollack, author of the famous Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, she writes about what she calls Wisdom Readings. These are readings where she focuses not on answering personal questions, but on vague and broad questions. She asks the tarot questions like “What is the tarot?” or “What is the soul?” and lets the cards spin enchanting and magnificent responses. Each reading acts like a meditation on the question, leading to a sort of experiential knowing, instead of a logical answer.
When I read the passage from Braiding Sweetgrass, I immediately thought of these wisdom readings. If the tarot is capable of showing us that all experience is valuable, could it show us how to reframe our thoughts around understanding? Perhaps the tarot could act as a guide for us to reconnect with our sense of knowing, beyond just what we know in our heads.
So I reached for a deck I know that always has something wise to say, the Weird Wisdom tarot by Le Page Novembre. A journey of queer joy through the major arcana, this deck depicts words alongside its colorful images, intuitive statements of queer wisdom. I sat down with that statement from Braiding Sweetgrass in front of me and asked, “Who is our guide to knowing with the mind, body, emotions, and spirit?” I drew my four cards, but before closing out the reading, I drew one more to represent the guide to the culmination of knowing with the whole self, or seeing the world with all its elements.
I will be posting the individual readings on the elements as I finish writing about them, both here and on Instagram. Stay tuned!