By Sarah Taylor
True power is something we are given; it isn’t something we get, or we take. This is the message of the Four of Disks in this week’s reading — and in the reading as a whole with all three cards included.
True power is conferred, and it is something we can then choose to use. That choice is based on our alignment. If we relate to nothing other than the material world — the physical world that we can see, feel, hear, taste and smell — then the power is self-centred. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that our power is then limited.
We know this kind of power is at play when it is used as a show of force, or withheld from others for fear that they will gain the upper hand. It is the power we see played out daily in political posturing on the global stage, in our wars over ideologies and resources. It is the power that we experience when we stake our own personal claims — holding to our point of view out of principle, for fear of seeming weak or inadequate. It is the power that gets us something in the short-term. But at what cost?
When power is “Self”-centred, on the other hand, we are aligned with something greater than ourselves, and the power we hold is one that we needn’t cling to, nor is it something we feel compelled to use as a show of force, or to keep something from others. It is a state of being where we are acting from a place of balanced resourcefulness.