Dean and Jack start with an immediate reaction to the card suggesting that morality and ethics are set and stable. That with our instincts we simply know what is right and true. But we are reminded that even thought what is, still is, what will be is still coming. That even though we have made this action, this decision, this moral outpouring, we must still work to balance it with our own internal compass and evaluate the effects that though tempered by our context, are still true and real and must be dealt with. We are both perfect, and can still be better. Take from others, learn from them, even when you despise or hate them, what can they show you about yourself and the morality and ethics you are making for yourself. Don’t get stuck here. Your journey is one of joys and griefs, but you can’t be bogged down by things that would anchor you to the ground. You are given joy along the journey, and that is why you take it. With this contemplation, sit for a moment with the heat of your flames of action. Let the inspiration that dances in them fill you with ideas and creativity, that which truly makes us human.

At the start of the year, we get the reminder to speak our emotions in a way that seeks maturity through communication and honesty, authenticity. When we do share, it creates ripples both in ourselves and those we are speaking to. We need to allow those ripples to flow and give time for them to take shape and disperse. We are reminded not to just jump in and flounder, but to take time and consider, partly by taking a pause for something relaxing and introspective, like a bubble bath. From there we can contemplate that which might divide our heart or our soul, and gives us a sense of fear at the unknown. Because when we are at peace and contemplation, we can allow ourselves to dance above the water of the ocean, to reach moments of enlightenment or great understanding. Speak boldly so that you may find maturity and settle the dichotomy in your soul.

When what we say is influenced by what we see of the world, we are like a boat being influenced by the winds, the emanation of others as they buffet our sails. Some push us ahead, some work against us. Some cross us and force us to reposition or take our sails down completely. We then are reminded that when we do still our waters, we should do so with intention. That doing it out of fear, fear of the new or unknown, leads us to a place where we have no grounding, nowhere to anchor ourselves as we work to understand and ingest this new information that challenges our worldview. Sometimes the world emits toxic sludge into our waters. Venomous, it seeps into us and we are faced with its consequences. Like a factory spoiling the river, we must navigate around it. And sometimes it is us who spills that sludge from our own emotional factory. How are we handling the production, and the sludge it can create? For we are the director as much as we are the orchestra. What we will can shape the lives and actions of others, just as their will can play out on us. In the end, we are the ever-burning flame, and all action, all power, comes from within us. We have the power to shape our actions and the world around us.