Contraction is Not Your Fault

Feb 7

Repeat after me:

Contraction is not my fault.
Contraction is not my fault.
Contraction is not my fault.

You didn’t fail because you had clarity last week, and now you feel stuck. You didn’t fuck up because you felt great yesterday, and horrible today. Contraction is not your fault, and while it is immensely uncomfortable, it is not a sign that you are off course. Quite the contrary, in fact. We typically contract right before we are about to expand, so it is actually a sign that you doing everything right.

When we bring our Tarot decks to contractive states, we open ourselves to the support of a beautiful helping tool, one that can help us to be more present with discomfort. The Tarot certainly doesn't make contractive experiences go away, but it can help us to gain beautiful perspective in the midst of our experience with them.

Some questions I like to ask my deck when I'm moving through big contraction are as follows:

What would you have me know?
What am I being invited to pay attention to at this time, and/or What is asking for my attention at this time?
What truth can I come back home to?
Where am I on my journey of growth and evolution at this time?
How can I nourish myself in the midst of these contractive states?

How can we work with contraction in a spiralic manner?

Don’t try to get rid of it. Breathe through it, ride the waves. Honor the contractive cycles, the labor of this moment. If you are moving through a time of great contraction, illness or injury, how can you come home to yourself? What kind of support would feel more nourishing?

Consider speaking directly to the pain, to the tender body part, to the inner child, to your being, letting them know you've got them. They will whisper back to you.

The more we can seek to skillfully navigate contractive experiences without making them wrong or bad, the more we can open to the expansiveness that lives right around the corner.