From Angela Hartfield’s “Whispers of Lord Ganesha”

The simplest gestures of love and respect can prevail over even the toughest of hearts.

The Past is represented in the card “Innocence”. It shows Ganesha against a lavender sky wearing purple. Ganesha is seated in stillness.”By being soft and still, you give the universe the opportunity to assist you in creating your desires.” This card asks you to release any cynicism. If you’ve noticed yourself becoming increasingly critical recognize that a part of you is losing touch with your innocence. We become wrought with expectations as we have more experiences in life and tend to protect ourselves in ways that may not allow for softness.

This is an opportunity to renew a sense of peace within yourself. If you are making any changes in your life, to those important parts of our lives that we categorize, you have the choice to explore and be curious like a child. In this process there is no need to attach yourself to preconceived ideas. Even those ideas built from traumas that we are working to heal.

The innocence card asks you to approach every day with fresh thinking and a new mind. You can even pray for freedom from the things that are holding you down or holding you back. Freedom from fears, freedom from worries, freedom from unhealthy obsession that control thoughts and do great harm to our souls. Absolutely take accountability and allow yourself the freedom to be new.

Joy is the state of the heart and soul.

The present is represented in the card “Joy”. It shows Ganesha walking along a path wearing red in the company of a friend. “Joy can create in you a sense of contentment, acceptance, and serenity.” Even when our lives feel chaotic, we can have a deep knowing that the turbulence does not dictate the outcome. There is true happiness despite the highs and lows we experience and that even through difficult circumstances we can live in this truth.

This card represents Ganesha acknowledgment of our stresses and exhaustion as we work to adapt to new patterns of behavior. It asks us to release our old stories. The stories that we tell ourselves over and over about who we are and how we came to be. The stories others tell about us that may be worn and outdated. Realize that this life is truly about learning lessons and our lives have specific lessons we individually must learn.

Allow yourself the feelings and emotions required to process these changes in order to experience Joy. This might mean sharing your thoughts and feelings with others. It is important that you share these emotions with people who can honor them and the changes you are going through. Because this is a time of honesty. Being honest with ourselves and with others. The rawness of authenticity.

The true essence of your soul is one of complete health.

The future is represented in the card “Healing”. Ganesha is pictured sitting on a peacock with an array of greens and deep blues and gold. The presence of the peacock symbolizes balance and healing. The challenges we experience in our daily lives can cause imbalance with who we know ourselves to be. It is easy to allow are external lives to causes feelings of lack. “True healing is only possible when you take responsibility for your own well-being on this earth and your self empowerment.” This card is asking you to see yourself as complete, healthy, and whole. Now in a silly way this reminds me of the saying “fake it till you make it”, but I never liked that idiom. Perhaps it was the fake that confused me. Maybe I understood that there had to be truth to seeing myself as complete, healthy, and whole. Not merely the want of those things. Not merely the suggestion. I do not suggest that the sun shines down on us every day. That is the truth. Even when the sky above us, between us… is gray.