Life Bearing Fruit

I have recently become entirely fascinated by the cycles of life. It seems to be a universal law that all of life is a cycle- nothing is ever straight or square. One thing always predisposes another thing, which gives way to something else. As humans we are constantly seeking directness- straight lines and squares are easy to explain, predictable, but when we get real with ourselves we recognize that few things are actually easy to explain or predictable. All life on earth goes through the same cycle of Conception, Germination, Growth, Fruit, Harvest, Deconstruction, Death. Conception is the initial point of contact- the inspiration of new life. Please note that this new life can be life or project or anything else- in general "birthing" isn't intended to be interpreted necessarily as bringing another person into the world. Germination is growing this idea into its first stages, this germination leads into full growth, the time when flowers grow and it is apparent that something magical is about to happen. Finally the fruit comes, all of the hard work pays off and new life is welcomed into the world. Once the fruit is harvested, it gets transformed yet again- into energy that will create more new-ness. The fruit lives its existence of service and once it is complete it too dies, bringing forth the period of deconstruction and death. 

It takes a lot to bring something new into this world- whether it be a product or project or actual life. It is the combination of everything that came before it- and that isn't just from the point of conception either. Conception can only happen once death occurs. Although we may only choose to see the linear "starting point" of the process, if we open our eyes we will observe that it is so much more complicated than that. The fruit that we harvest and offer to the world in the form of our skills, gifts and services are the result of our inspiration, our hard work and the death of skills/gifts/services that came before it. We are always moving forward, in a spiraling manner. In our present state we are both moving forward while cleaning up/ending the past. 

In order to bear fruit we must commit to all three parts of the process: inspiration, hard work and death. These three pieces are equally as important and neither technically come first. We all know what it's like to devote ourselves to something, bring it to life watch it grow with pride until one day it too is no longer enough and we have outgrown our own dream. At this point it is time to use this fruit, this dream to give birth to our next dream. We must allow the initial dream to die, decompose it into all the different components of what worked and what needed improvement. From the death of this dream, the ideas of the new dream can be birthed- its DNA gets passed on. The old dream serves to inspire the new one, the bones turn into the foundation. We must then work hard with the new blueprint of inspiration to create what comes next. If any part of this process is ignored growth becomes limited. We cannot make plans then do nothing, we cannot ignore the past as we move into the future, we cannot create without inspiration of what we are manifesting. 

Equally as important as the commitment to the process is the commitment to the present, the part of the process that you are experiencing right now. As we are transforming the old into the new we cannot yet stress about the inspiration or the hard work that may come next. We must trust in the process and find comfort in our current step. Similarly, we cannot stress about eventual death, it will take away from the creation, growth and manifestation. Finding presence and peace in the place that we currently are is the only way to maximize our overall success. This should be easier knowing that it all moves through a cycle- knowing that there is never only one shot. There may only be one chance for this particular opportunity, but it will never be the only opportunity that comes our way. We get so caught up in having one and only one thing to make life successful, this is akin to our desire to make life square. It's o.k. to "miss the boat", it's also o.k. to pour time and energy into a process that bears rotten fruit because it is all a cycle and there is no end point, that fruit will just have to be decomposed into a better process next time. We must learn to be kind and patient with ourselves, because we are the result of all of the cycles that came before us... and there are so many other cycles that have yet to unravel. In order to begin a new cycle we must be willing to admit that the current one is no longer serving- this doesn't mean we are wrong or have failed- it simply means that we are evolving. Life isn't about the perfection of the cycle, because there is no end point and it isn't linear, life is about the evolution of the cycle.  The fruit is what we are striving for, but understanding impermanence of the cycle means that we should allow the desire for fruit to move us forward and only forward. It's not about the fruit, it's not about the destination, it's about the experience throughout. Bearing fruit is never the end result, because there is never an end result, it just sweetens the ride. 

**The Lady from the Druid Craft Tarot Deck

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