By Sarah Taylor
Cups, Swords, Cups; water, air, water; a whole lot of emotive energy surrounding an issue of the mind that seems both harsh and uncompromising. What do you feel like when you look at the Nine of Swords?
The first word that comes to mind when I see it is, Ouch! — and not a light-hearted one. It comes with a sharp intake of breath, tongue pressed against teeth that are locked together, as if I’m steeling myself for the sharp end of their attack.
What’s interesting is that the attack has already happened. The blades bear this out, dripping as they are with blood. In fact, they are blood. There is no separation between the wounder and the wounded.
That is because we are the ones doing the wounding to ourselves.
The Nine of Swords is a card of intellect rather than of our feelings or our physical world. It can refer to a physical affliction, but given that it is aspected by two emotion-based cards, in this reading it represents anything we tell ourselves about who we are that is designed to induce guilt, fear and shame.
The Nine of Swords tells the story of recrimination, which is really self-recrimination because it is only the things that we believe about ourselves that are imbued with the power to hurt us. An insult has no impact if there is no hook to hang it from. The nine swords are the mental and psychic hooks we harbour that turn thoughts into instruments of damage to our esteem and worth.
“I am not good enough.” “I am a failure.” “I am unlovable.” Especially “I am unlovable.” Because all forms of self-recrimination come down to that one phrase. Nearly all of us carry the Nine of Swords with us to a greater or lesser extent, and we haul the swords out and use them in moments where something or someone helps us to forget that we’re not up to scratch.
Those blades, jagged and rough through over-use, are clearly no longer fit for the purpose for which they were intended: discernment. The Ace of Swords — the prototype for its suit — holds the energy of the Swords in its highest ideal. That is intellect in the service of consciousness, of the divine, of God. In the Nine, we have traveled so far from that ideal that the swords are now in service to something altogether human: what we become when we forget we are divine.
Well, enough. It is time to start remembering who we are. To do that, we have to grow up. The path to love, and to self-love, is one of evolution. By necessity we pass through one stage to reach the next. We experience the idealism of the Princess of Cups, and the questing passion of the Prince. These are important stages. They are not the end-point, however; they are signposts.
In this week’s reading, the Princess and the Prince of Cups are signposts to what is implied rather than what is in front of our eyes. Along with the Nine of Swords, they indicate what we can step into. It is as if they are ‘containing’ the Nine of Swords — holding it in place so that we are able to move away from it and towards what they signify.
That is the path to the King and Queen of Cups, who are the embodiment of individuated emotion. They understand that the path to a deeper sense of what love is is one that offers us the opportunity to experience what love isn’t. Most importantly, they understand themselves. As Princesses and Princes, they felt what it was like to be at the receiving end of their own wounding thoughts — and with every such encounter was the choice to believe something different. These three cards are ushering in the possibility of a new way of thinking.
The invitation is on offer to assume authority over how it is that you think about yourself by nurturing compassion and passion in equal quantities. It’s not only available, it is achievable. There is an opening to something different about the way that you relate to yourself. The journey might not be over, but you can strike out in a new and more enriching direction — and one that is more in line with your true heritage.
If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.
mystes, I understand what you’ve written in requoting yourself (but am having trouble understanding clearly the other things you describe). I just don’t see how “Uncle Al gloats and sizzles.” How exactly is he benefiting here? If there is something precise that you can link here, I think it would add to your point. I’m finding with your closings: “But do carry on. Going now. Good luck with all that. I have issued my statement.” not entirely helpful and a tad patronizing as if you are seeing the light and we are not. If its simply the deviations, embellishments and creative license by Crowley which make you say that there are problems with the deck in your view, then that is something to investigate deeper in a mature and inclusive way. If there are any more examples you can point to, I’d love to hear.
You have my curiosity mystes.. now is that good or bad? I think a sweeping statement is not intrinsically going to provoke. If you do not feel you can continue on this forum can you engage of board?
A.
One more thing: Sarah, I am not attacking you. I am saying that this deck is problematic.
As for the unconscious… there is the speaking-being-in-time and there is the whole of you. I can and do shuffle off the SBIT on a regular basis. Once you have the ability to swim within the parasympathetic nervous system (I do) and know where the on/off switches are, you are no longer, properly speaking, a ‘conscious’-opposed-to-unconscious being.
Death is continuous, it is the interstice between every moment that the self bobs up, naming itself with this phenom or that. Learning to skip from one black stone to another is the whole point of taking birth. Get that, and the ‘unconscious’ curls up and purrs like a kitten.
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Yeah, okay Alex. I don’t overestimate malice, I acknowledge that it exists and that none of my sweetsweet lovin’ is going to change its fundamental nature. It is what it is. I’m not at liberty to discuss much more, and anything else I say will be sweeping and unnecessarily provocative.
That deck is stacked. If you’re okay serving that master, far be it from me to interfere. I have issued my statement.
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Just to add that there are many tarot readers of considerable eminence who use this deck with great success! Alchemists have considerable skill in transmuting base to precious. Jesus himself preached and embodied the transmutation of something ‘evil’ into something ‘good’. It seems to me, mystes, that your view of the ‘Occult’ harbours some rather conspicuous fear about its ontological gravitas.. does it have quintessential beingness or is it a privation of something else that is ‘good’?
Your metaphysics are at variance with Sarah’s I think. Sarah did appear to disclaim an interest in ‘certain aspects’ of the Occult not the whole per se.
What gives, friend? Please elaborate further and let’s see if we can tease out the essence of the matter, rather than fleeing with unreconciled vantage points..
Personally, after read tarot and runes for a while, I am beginning to ponder what lies beyond the psychological facets of interpretation and I think that if we are to recapture aspects of traditional divination to enhance the craft, we need indicators (and good ones) about HOW we might get there in relative safety!
I personally welcome Sarah’s exploration with the Thoth. It seems to me that adventuring is where the learning is.. being stretched and challenged, reaching for more, opening up and out in the debate.. 😀
All else aside, I’m finding gratitude in my own Nine of Swords moment. Thank you.
“I am *very* familiar with my own shadow, thank you very much.”
The shadow is unconscious, mystes. It comes at us obliquely and through high states of emotion or via our encounters with others. This is proving to be shadow stuff for us all.
“One can recognize malice without being malicious.”
Agreed, but I’m not sure that has been achieved here.
Sarah, I am not talking about the origins of this malevolence, only that it is part and parcel of this deck. I do *not* subscribe to the theory that you can separate the man from his work, esp. creative (or in Crowley’s case, destructive) work.
I am *very* familiar with my own shadow, thank you very much. One can recognize malice without being malicious. This deck is one of A/C’s ongoing drainage operations.
Going now. Good luck with all that.
Paolo, I pointed out in my first remarks:
Example: why are both water regents demoted to prince/princess, and why are they lofted into the air. This does not denote elevation to me, it denotes *thinking* about emotion (the classical Aq moon move) and therefore a weakening of the element. As for the swords, they are overlaying a layer of broken and whole bridgit wheels. Not a good idea, that.
The bloody swords, pointing downward, over a field of broken Goddess wheels is the most disturbing in this set. The pseudo air/water bracketing bloody air is very gravitiginous, using the instability of air to emphasis the downward pull of the center.
My knee-slapping moment was when a tarot-reader disclaimed knowledge of the occult. Uncle Al gloats and sizzles. Lovely.
But do carry on.
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oh my, late to this party 😉 just wanted to thank you for swords as “hooks” concept, with all its horrorshow precision. have not been able to tackle the 9 of swords in a poem yet. too damn scary. but that image gives an opening.
i’m drawn to the rider-waite deck, mostly because there’s so much there in the minor arcana and i’m memory challenged. i think the arts-and-crafts style reminds me of reading my grandparents’ books when i was little (and it’s a style i love to this day). but i also have author bias–artist pamela colman smith seems like she must have been such a fascinating person! i wish there were a bio of her but i’ve never found one.
Interesting thread here…I’ll contribute that the Thoth deck is one I engage when I’m really, REALLY, ready to deal with the shit/issues that I know require attention. Never fails to amaze me and really, these cards affirm whatever teeny, tiny inkling I originally felt. My sense is that we either resonate with something or not. However, I’ve never let whatever I have read or heard about Crowley interfere with my personal quest. There is an enormous amount of beauty in these cards…but of course, that’s just my feeling/opinion.
My other resource is the Osho deck, but here, it’s usually for a ‘temperature’.
Appreciate everyone’s comments.
Just read your last message, Paolo. That’s the side of the argument that I fall on: that we are being confronted by our own darkness and that given we are one consciousness, there is nothing with an origin that lies ‘outside’ us.
Although I would think that the gist of it is that, from a psychological perspective, the darkness — or the Shadow — elicited by the cards has its origin inside us, while those who are critical of Crowley and the Thoth Tarot would argue that this darkness has its origin outside of us, or, more specifically, in Crowley himself.
ps. I have yet to feel anything unwholesome, which is why I ask. I feel that there is always more to a story, more to an archetype than just one or two approaches. I would challenge any view that once one is completely and relentlessly faced with one’s shadow, an image on a card becomes trivial. If one travels a true inner path and cultivates every demon and transforms every negative thought, one becomes the archetype. What about those Shamans and seers who lived alone, seeing all kinds of omens in nature, reading signs in the way wild animals behaved around them, all part of the dream landscape that wisdom is inherent in – and then bringing those visions back to the people. Are these seers saying, “no I don’t like that image, next.”. We are drawing those cards therefor the message that comes up is valid. I would agree with Sarah, “I am suggesting that we look for the source of that problem in ourselves first.”
Paolo – I think it’s probably best if Mystes answers this one simply because “using sinister means” can vary from one person’s opinion to the next, and from what I know the claims about Crowley are inferred rather than anything else.
A good place to start might be reading the Wikipedia entry on him. No doubt there was the public Crowley and the private one, and I’m not sure which one was the more fearsome frankly. Moreover, the private Crowley is veiled in secrecy and by almost impenetrable esoteric texts. Those alone will get tongues wagging, and that seemed to be just the way Crowley liked it.
I would like to ask anyone here for a clear example of how Crowley uses sinister means in his cards, and why I should be cautious of this. I am relatively new to this deck and am exploring it as Sarah does her readings.
I would love an example of how I do not benefit from that card even if it shows me something dark about myself or dark in nature. From what I’m getting in the comments, this is purely subjective and not founded on anything more than that.
Please, anyone.
“I don’t think it is always a matter of whether the cards have the presence of their creator or not; it is often a personal preference for the feel of them and the images used on them much like art is subjective.”
Agreed, Carrie. Some just fall flat with me, in spite of what might be beautiful imagery in many of the decks. The connection has to be visceral too. On several occasions, I’ve found myself staring at the very large tarot collection at Watkins Books in Leicester Square, only to shrug my shoulders and walk out empty-handed and with not a little frustration. Lookin’ for that primal fix. Ah, but when I find it. 🙂
For what it is worth, I find Crowley’s cards unpalatable; this feeling happened when I was 18 and well before I ever read anything of him. So projection was not the case. They just didn’t “fit” for me. I think tarot cards, like clothing, fit individuals individually. If Mystes doesn’t prefer Crowley’s deck then that means it is not a good fit for her. I also dislke the Mother tarot; can’t say why just that it doesn’t “fit” me. Therefore I don’t use those either.
I don’t think it is always a matter of whether the cards have the presence of their creator or not; it is often a personal preference for the feel of them and the images used on them much like art is subjective.
To Mystes: I honor your feelings on this issue because you are entitled to them.
To Sarah: likewise.
Tarot is a lot like religion; subjective and personal and each person has an equal right to their feelings and beliefs in regards to these. There’s no need to defend anyone’s personal preference in this issue because it IS subjective and therefore each person has a valid response “for them.” It makes no sense to denigrate anyone’s subjective response.
And these words have made what I’ve been going through so clear to me: “The Nine is concerned with the fears that have worked their way into our psyches at a much deeper level. They are the thoughts that emanate from deep psychic wounds. Which is why when the Nine of Swords comes up, it is calling for our attention and, inherent in that, asking for our courage to take a close look at the basis for our fears”.
Thank you, dearest Sarah. The darkness is gradually transforming into light at last, also helped by your words. And I hope this is the same for others, if it isn’t – hang on in there, as Sarah said, it’ll change!
And Kingly/Queenly love and courage to those who are feeling the Nine of Swords palpably. This, too, shall pass.
“you are either correct that he accesses something unwholesome and arguably sinister and damagin OR that whole bag is created somehow and has been with us for centuries across the human psyche’s collective landscape and is regularly projected onto Crowley’s deck.”
Or both, Alex? Is that a possibility?
You’re right, we just don’t know. I have my opinions; you, mystes and Alexander, have yours; there are myriad other opinions, and we haven’t yet been able to prove what’s true and what isn’t when we’re dealing with matters that are more non-matter in nature.
What we might be able to agree on is that it sparks debate, and I think that’s an opportunity to see what debate that sparks in turn inside us — the more uncomfortable, pissed off and fearful we are, the more that call has value, imo.
Of course, the possibility exists that we’re *all* right. Which means that the worlds that we inhabit from our own points of view are of equal validity. How that squares with where our separate worlds intersect and collide — I guess that holds the key to how we all manage to rub together on this little planet.
Permit me briefly to interject something here on the Crowley issue. Unquestionably, not only astrology but also tarot, have developed in specific directions in the last forty years or so. The divinatory ‘schools’ have been less in vogue than the psychological ones. There are documentable reasons for schism and hegemony. Recently, astrology has seen a resurgence of traditional, mundane and Vedic approaches.. often in backlash against perceived deficiencies in psychological approaches.
We could look into the Esoteric in some depth and consider the relationships between theosophy, anthroposophy, mysticism generally, shamanism and the theories of Jung. We may, or may not, choose to see an overlap between said epistemological strands. We could note differences and subtleties or we could aggregate them under the esoteric umbrella and contrast with ‘normative’ modes of epistemology like science and reason.. and even in certain key respects, religion. We are one small step here from bridging epistemology into metaphysics. But perhaps we could just think in terms of the Akashic Records, so prominently visible in Shamanic thinking.
Psychology as a ‘normative’ discipline has no problem speaking freely about the collective unconscious and citing Jung and his archetypes and research with real people on his caseload. Once we begin to ask the metaphysical question we are in territory that is difficult to quantify and calibrate.
Where do the archetypes come from? How can we definitively measure their wholesome qualities? Once one begins to deviate from the normative (that is, the publicly agreed) interpretations of what constitutes ‘valid’ (e.g. verifiable) knowledge, we are all susceptible to the criticism of normative and dominant perspectives that there is something ‘suspect’ about our knowledge base… if not consequently everything that we assert.
We simply cannot produce a litmus test for each and every valid archetype and extract seemingly invalid ones. I think that The Devil card in the Major Arcana sums this reality up very well..
Dear mystes, I honour and respect your right to be freaked out by Monsieur Crowley.. and of course, you are either correct that he accesses something unwholesome and arguably sinister and damagin OR that whole bag is created somehow and has been with us for centuries across the human psyche’s collective landscape and is regularly projected onto Crowley’s deck.
We will find no definitive answer to that conundrum but it is fertile ground to ask the question.. 😀
Thank you, everyone, for your contributions this week. Sina, your words coming from your experience ring out loud and clear:
“be grateful for what you have and appreciate every blessing; focus on the love you have in your life, whether it be from your partner, children, family, friends, pets or plants; look at what you have achieved in life, your successes, your joys, the things that make you feel happy; look at what a GOOD and WORTHY person you are, worthy of the highest love and respect, especially your own; enjoy everyday as if it was your last, and live your best life!”
Yes!
“I was saying that these cards have taken the symbols of the Tarot and altered them to suit Unc Al’s magickal intentions, which were never as ‘harme ye none’ as he declared.”
mystes, I’m more of the ‘death-of-the-author’ school of tarot cards, as I’ve written here before. So Crowley’s intention with the cards and any subsequent user’s intentions are their own. Sometimes we are too quick in relinquishing our own power to others.
“Are you saying that a dark mage can foster a magickal tool that flushes out projection?”
I have absolutely no idea what you’re writing about here. I am talking about psychological projection, nothing about dark mages or magick, which never come into my discussions, nor am I particularly interested in that aspect of the occult.
I still stand by my words: the Thoth kicks up a lot of personal shit. We seem to be able to separate a lot of deepy flawed people from what they created, but we have a problem with Crowley. I am suggesting that we look for the source of that problem in ourselves first.
Sarah, I am not sure I follow your point. I was saying that these cards have taken the symbols of the Tarot and altered them to suit Unc Al’s magickal intentions, which were never as ‘harme ye none’ as he declared.
As far as projection goes, well there’s a discussion. But I want to be sure I understand your meaning. Are you saying that a dark mage can foster a magickal tool that flushes out projection? If so, fine, but that’s not my purpose with the Tarot. There are other and more reliable tools for that kind of work. I don’t trust Al and I really don’t trust his tools, no matter how skillful is she who (thinks she) uses them.
The Tarot is a window, but this one gives a view into the Crowleyian psychosis.
That’s not ‘projection’ – that’s discernment.
You’ve hit that spot, as always, dear Sarah! Thank you for this remarkable piece. Those swords have been very very busy these last days, cutting me into little pieces. It’s time to move through and beyond them, and your words help me do that. xxx
Mystes – before seeing your note, I was ready to proclaim this as the spread that won me over on the deck. It’s true! I’m fascinated by both strong reactions.
The Thoth tarot is new to me. So far, I’ve peered from the edges. This week, I fell into another level. The cards read like a Venus Chiron opposition. Rich and breathtaking in the tension. Just beautiful.
Sarah,
I trust your instincts on the decks. I keep learning and learning.
Thank you.
And, please, keep trusting yourself on the decks.
I am so impressed with your sense of the inner and the outer and how they relate.
Powerful, insightful reading, Sarah. I lack knowledge to join the deck debate, but I do sense that the Thoth deck throws a glaring harsh light on the interpretation, and that’s necessary sometimes.
“The Nine of Swords tells the story of recrimination, which is really self-recrimination because it is only the things that we believe about ourselves that are imbued with the power to hurt us. An insult has no impact if there is no hook to hang it from.”
A powerful statement, because if we each do not know this for ourselves, we give away our power to heal.
Dear Sarah,
This reading, and your interpretation of it, and further explanation could not describe my weekend any better. My husband and I were in a car accident on the weekend, a borrowed car, uninsured. We rolled almost down a trench, but stopped just before. The car is completely smashed but we walked away unhurt. We have spent all weekend crying realising how so lucky we were that we didn’t die, leave our children without parents, and our families without us. We spent the weekend apologising to our children and my mother, who was quite upset by it. We have revealed ourselves to be the Prince and Princess of Cups, so petty and shallow in our treatment of each other that the 9 of Swords came into play well and truly for us both. My husband was angry at me and was speeding that night, because of a petty unneccesary remark I made. We were both lacking in love for ourselves that we were cruel to ourselves and each other, each trying to have the upper hand. That accident has created a turning point for us. This morning we were both apologising to each other for being so mean to each other, when deep down, we love each other so much. Why do we do this? Why do we let the little petty things be bigger than the great love we have for each other? Why do we want to be right over small insignificant things, that we forget the big things, like the love of our children, and how much they need us to be strong and good role models for them? We have so much going for ourselves and our family. My husband was launching his small pie business the next day, and I’m about to start a new position with an environmental organisation, that I have wanted to work for, for years. We saved our home from the bank just a few months ago, and the kids are going great at school. But we could have lost it all because of our lack of self love, and lack of self respect. My husband and I have a long way to go to becoming the queen and king of cups, but this incident has made us take the first step towards that – forgiveness – of ourselves and each other, and acknowledge that we have to change our beliefs.
To all PlanetWaves readers, be grateful for what you have and appreciate every blessing; focus on the love you have in your life, whether it be from your partner, children, family, friends, pets or plants; look at what you have achieved in life, your successes, your joys, the things that make you feel happy; look at what a GOOD and WORTHY person you are, worthy of the highest love and respect, especially your own; enjoy everyday as if it was your last, and live your best life!
Thank you to all of you at Planet Waves, and all you dear bloggers who share so much of yourselves and help us all to grow. Peace, light and especially love to all of you xxxooo
What thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross
What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee
What thou lov’st well is thy true heritage
Whose world, or mine or theirs or is it of none?
First came the seen, then thus the palpable
Elysium, though it were in the halls of Hell,
What thou lovest well is thy true heritage.
~Ezra Pound, Pisan Cantos, LXXXI
mystes – I would agree that “Achtung” is appropriate. I don’t think you have a Nine of Swords without an achtung at any time. This achtung is the damage that can be wrought by believing that we are unlovable – and that damage can be significant; history can attest to that.
However. Tarot also offers a path through. And you’re also right about the Cups. They do skate the surface. I think that is the point entirely. They are most definitely *not* the Queen and King. They point the way. All three cards are by degrees an evolution of the Nine. The Nine will be still be present in the Prince and Princess’s consciousness and their lack of emotional depth demonstrates this. But they are learning. We can learn too, in spite of the vortex – maybe because of it.
I hear a lot about the Thoth deck. I usually stand back when the debate comes up on these pages. I don’t feel inclined to do that tonight. I don’t know much about Aleister Crowley, but I do know about his reputation and that much of it is justified.
What I *do* know much more about is projection and the power of shadow material to become a force to be reckoned with in our lives if we continue to repress or deny it. The Thoth, to this end, is one of the decks that really brings us face to face with our shit. And that can often feel like it is being flung out of nowhere, and by forces that lie outside us.
If there is consensus or a directive that the Thoth isn’t suitable, I’ll defer to that, but I will also be wondering whether the Nine of Swords had its day after all.
Note: To qualify that last statement and working with the central tenet of A Course in Miracles — There are only two things that exist: love and fear. The Nine of Swords, like the Eight, address this fear, although in the Eight the fear is superficial. The Nine is concerned with the fears that have worked their way into our psyches at a much deeper level. They are the thoughts that emanate from deep psychic wounds. Which is why when the Nine of Swords comes up, it is calling for our attention and, inherent in that, asking for our courage to take a close look at the basis for our fears. When we start to do this the capacity we have for love of self and others deepens. As I said, the invitation in this spread is an implicit one:
“In the absence of that which you are not, that which you are, is not.” [Neale Donald Walsch]
The entrance of fear — what we *believe* to be true, not what is true — also brings with it the choice to go beyond it.
mysti — i’ll be mulling what you have to say, too.
Sarah, I am not a fan of the Thoth tarot, mostly because I think that Uncle Al was torquing some of the imagery for his own (very) personal gain. Example: why are both water regents demoted to prince/princess, and why are they lofted into the air. This does not denote elevation to me, it denotes *thinking* about emotion (the classical Aq moon move) and therefore a weakening of the element. As for the swords, they are overlaying a layer of broken and whole bridgit wheels. Not a good idea, that.
While I appreciate your being able to weave a meaning out of the pull (I really do), I find Lady Frieda’s artwork harrowing at best. And again and again my intuition-alarm goes blaring when I see those cards. Any chance we can move to another deck?
Anyhoo… the water regents on either side of fire – with their aqueous/aerial element feeding the aerial swords. This doesn’t read left to right, it reads as a vortex, with the water pulled into the downward motion of the swords. It would’ve read differently in another deck, but this deck is making its statement. I believe the summary is: Achtung.
A wonderful piece Sarah, thank you.
“the path to a deeper sense of what love is is one that offers us the opportunity to experience what love isn’t.” … and these last 2 paragraphs hit home for me. I feel fortunate to be where I am right now but it wasn’t without a lot of inner pain. Knowing how to close doors on some things and to walk away from doors that have closed on us is hard. We stumble and fall, confused, bewildered. But that is the lesson: to get back up, to move with a feeling of integrity to one’s inner voice of reason and self worth. We have choices.
Sarah, Thank you. Once again, you offer a powerful, instructive reading, a transcending one.
I usually look at the cards first and allow myself to feel my immediate responses/reactions. This reading immediately hit me as a person I have been very worried about – she would be the dough-head in the clam shell, looking out merrily. The middle card made me think of fear, period. The third: “He learns to ride.”
Then, reading your reading, everything deepened. Everything.
And, yes, this person definitely needs to grow up. But, WOW, you give a sense of the territory and the challenge to rise up in it and a way to use it. Awesome!
sarah —
thank you. once again, this hits home from so many angles.
my current conundrum: whether a current situation in my life offers an authentic way to move into the self-love waiting for me, or whether it needs to transition to something else for me to find that path.
hmmmm…