Cosmic Tribe Tarot

SEVEN OF DISKS

Fear of Failure

Life evolves like a shifting dune; we do not know what form it will take. It chooses one shape and then mysteriously abandons it for another. Similarly, we may choose one configuration and then, often mysteriously, abandon it for another. Sometimes we experience altered configurations as failure. Over time, as we accumulate experience, we tend to forget our grand origins and forget that failed experiments are part of how life learns about itself. We can even be trapped into identifying ourselves as failures, convinced that all experimentation will lead to failure. But the dune does not shift in this way. As one form dissolves, another carves itself into being.

The seemingly impossible feat of our existence is represented by seven stones floating in bubbles. What magic has defied the laws of reason and made life possible? Look, stones floating in bubbles! Look, you dancing down a street! No sooner do these wonders register, however, than the sharp points of a thorny frame come into view. If the delicate bubbles hit the thorn they pop and their daring experiment ends with a thud. With each venture comes the possibility of failure. The bubbles pass through the thorny frame as if it were a gateway. Beyond, a daunting yet enticing vortex of the unknown draws them in. They hesitate in this gateway because they are frightened of the darkness of the vortex. Oddly enough, they remain in the most dangerous place of all. The truly dangerous thorns now reveal themselves as the fear of failure. They are far more likely to burst the bubbles than the unknown realities of the vortex. And even if the bubbles do fail on their way into the vortex, they will have gained the knowledge of what lays beyond their fears. They will have learned a valuable lesson.

Divinatory Meaning

Should the Seven of Disks threaten your reading, think about how you deal with failure. Do you use failure as a valuable lesson, reflecting on it without assigning blame? Or do you use it to beat yourself up, blaming yourself or others at every step, distancing yourself from the pain? Most people employ some of both strategies. The difficulty with the second approach is that you plant the seeds of the fear of failure. The next time you are confronted with a similar situation, you will be tempted to distance yourself before you even begin. You will fear failure. You may even sabotage yourself and keep yourself from living fully in a futile effort to keep fear at bay. If this sounds familiar, consider going back in time to previous "failures" and see if you can uncover the initial humiliation. Then take the time to honor it. Eventually you will get to the point where you can learn from your mistakes and turn failure into the building block of your next success.