Cosmic Tribe Tarot

FIVE OF DISKS

Worry

What are we so worried about? Worry is a difficult message from the soul that drags our moods into anxiety and bitterness. On the outside, worry deals with the issues of survival in the world: will there be enough to eat, will I have a place to live, will other people love me, will I be enslaved to the machine in order to survive? On the inside, worry assesses the condition of selfpower: am I good enough, am I strong enough, am I smart enough, am I beautiful enough? Worry contemplates the future based loosely on past experience filtered through present fears. It can be an effectively uncomfortable signal reminding us to take care of business. But it can quickly become an obsessive loop in the mind where we assess and reassess the same situation, impotently looking for a way out. Worry drains our power and makes us susceptible to manipulation and control by others.

In the card the gears of a dark machine whir in a pentagram pointing downward. The energy is oppressive. A syncopated pounding sound of steel hitting steel echoes in the fearful canyons of our minds. Chains spin in a monotonous loop. Nothing new can break into the cycle and nothing old can flow out. Beneath this hellish vision a figure contracts in worry. He is covered in the mud and twigs of the forest and is clearly out of his element. Against the machine he rapidly loses his special power. He fears that industrial demons will ensnare him in their gears and strip him of his faerie spirit. What will become of him? The answer depends on whether or not he internalizes the whirring gears of a gluttonous economy driven by the dark fantasy of never having enough. He could regain his power and refuse to believe that he lacks something essential. Or he could internalize the fear that feeds the machine and become yet another meal for the thankless beast. In the latter scenario, the external oppressor becomes the internal oppressor - a warden of worry patrolling the cell blocks of consciousness, converting curiosity about the wonders of existence into constant worry about status and survival. There is never enough for the worry warden. Not even the richest of us can afford to pay him off.

Divinatory Meaning

Should the Five of Disks harry your reading; break free from the worry warden who lives inside you. There are legitimate worries about basic survival needs, planetary health, and social justice. But worry has been bought out by profit seekers who will manipulate it to enslave you if you let them. Worry, at its root, is a reminder to take care of the basics. But it can drain your enthusiasm. Instead of letting it drag you down, let it motivate you to action. The economy of worry can easily destabilize you and create in your own mind a worry warden that sabotages your capacity for joy. In our society, simple contentment is a revolutionary act! Be content.