Chop Wood

Essential Meanings: Being grounded in everyday experience; humility.

The Oracle’s Message: There are times when the big dream is meant to lie dormant in your consciousness so that you can pay attention to the simple chores in your life. Consider why pruning a tree if the forerunner of delighting in the beautiful blooms when it is in full blossom. The mundane act of pulling off the dead leaves, watering the soil, and then leaving it be to let nature take it’s course is an important step in manifestation. Taking your attention away from your goal brings you into a state of receptivity. This is the deeper purpose for releasing attachment. When you engage in everyday tasks in a meditative, contemplative way, you clear your energy to receive your “Aha!” moments, which brings you ever closer to what you seek.

Relationship Message: Nothing is as important right now as just doing what you need to do day to day. Let your heart remember that not everything has to be hard-won, passionate, or even obviously meaningful. Relationships and friendships go through lulls when the everyday tasks are at the center of awareness. That is perfect now. Hold hands, wash dishes, make a fire, read a book, share a meal, say nothing, stare into space, pick up socks, tell a dumb joke…and leave space to breathe. The “work” of your relationship right now is very simple: just to be present. Funny how it takes work to “just be.” All is well, really.

Prosperity Message: Now is the time to take small steps, rather than large leaps, on the journey to creating your most prosperous life. Move your focus off your big dream and attend to the mundane chores. Focus on the little things that may have piled up while you’ve been mapping out the greater plan for the life you aspire to see manifest into reality. “Chop wood, carry water,” as the Zen proverb advises – or wash dishes, walk the dog…While you’re doing all that, Spirit will have a chance to move mountains and set wondrous miracles in motion for you. Remain humble and aware of the present.

Protection Message: Are you an armchair astronaut? Do you dream of wealth and fame, big ideas, inventions, or desires with a capital D? The appearance of this card is a sign that you might be devoting far too much time to dreaming and talking about your dreams. You have to get out of the chair to make things happen. You actually have to do something. Start with a small task. Remember, the big dream becomes reality only after you have begun to take incremental steps. Mythologist Joseph Campbell once said, “Take one step towards the gods and they will take ten steps toward you.”