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Faeries Oracle

Card 64 - Gawtcha

Sudden shock. Unexpected events. Rude awakenings.

Gawtcha is the Out of the Blue Faery. He likes to surprise us. You know - you're walking along, minding your own business (or not minding any business at all), and the universe smacks you on your blind side with something that makes an awful splat. Unexpected demands from the taxman. The bank's hole-in-the-wall machine eats your bank card late at night while the burly and irritable taxi driver is waiting. Your children find a way to dye themselves green just before your in-laws arrive. A meteor hits your car. Gawtcha is, of course, capable of happy surprises as well as shocking or miserable ones. Perhaps your lottery ticket wins.

There is a school of thought that says this is just karma - we deserve it for sins we have totally forgotten in other lifetimes. Not so. Karma is about lessons we need to learn, not about punishment; and meaningless events don't teach us much. So this may be karma, but it isn't that kind of karma.

There is another school of thought that says all of these things are our choices; we chose to be there when this was happening. We choose to step in front of the invisible cosmic bus. There is some truth to this - on one level of being high in the superconscious. As Gawtcha says, "I know more than I see!" But most of us don't function at that exalted intuitive level of consciousness much of the time. However, many of us do get hints, little flashes of intuition, and sometimes even big flashes of intuition. We often say, "I knew I shouldn't have gone that way [or trusted that person, or invested in that stock]!"

There are two things Gawtcha is trying to teach us. (He says he doesn't enjoy doing it, but do I believe him? Actually, I do - mostly.) First, we need to learn to listen to and trust our intuition. We need to be awake and aware. It is just part of what we need to learn in order to fulfill our potential, to have happy and satisfying lives. Without it, we are sleepwalking in the world, missing all of the wonders and joys - while not missing many of the bumps and pitfalls.

Second, when there are lessons we need to learn or when there are experiences that are properly other people's but that have impact on us, we need to learn to roll with the punches, to take what comes at us, learn what we can from it, and regain our balance as quickly as possible. Things happen. We can't always control them, and we can't always get out of their way. We don't always even have a choice about them. For example, to live with a beloved animal friend probably means that you are going to lose that creature at some point, because most pets have shorter lifetimes than humans do. Other things happen as well. People occasionally win huge sums in lotteries, but this, too, we need to be able to take in our stride and not be completely lost in it.

Gawtcha knows we like to build sturdy, rigid structures in our minds and lives, but he also knows that these often are not good for us. Sometimes, we even complain about them, muttering about life being dull and boring yet we cling to them tenaciously. Such inner and outer rigidities usually encourage stagnation, and the Unity (Card 1) insists on growth.

So, to help us along, Gawtcha kindly delivers these sudden surprises. Yet how often do we remember to say thank you? "It's hard," Gawtcha says, "doing such a difficult job. It's enough to drive a faery to drink." From the look of that bloodshot eye, he has already been into some of the more potent otherworld nectar.

Starter Reading

Gawtcha in a reading speaks to us of sudden, often violent, breakdowns of existing structures, habits, patterns, and/or attitudes. When we become too tightly confined by our own self-imposed limitations (including the desire for comfort and security), Gawtcha kindly breaks the structure restraining us - whether we think we want him to or not. On a soul level, we know this to be necessary, but in our everyday thoughts we usually get pretty upset about it. However, breakdown can lead to breakthrough. This is liberation - and we often haven't a clue what to do with it. This is usually the beginning of a period of confusion, even disorientation, while we search for a way forward - although we may think we are simply searching for a way back to what we had before.

Recommendation: Do not try to pick up the pieces and put them back like they were. Consider, instead, what you would like to build in that part of your life - and this time remember to leave room for growth.

Reverse

Stagnation rules. It may seem that the situation is forever stuck, mired down in a swamp of misery, boredom, or pain. So it is - and it will remain so until someone, probably the querent, voluntarily sacrifices something outgrown but tightly clung to, in order to acquire something better. Bear in mind that the only truly meaningful sacrifice is ourselves - our time, our energy, our attitudes and beliefs. Gawtcha standing on his head suggests that we can break loose from this pattern by dedicating ourselves to some service, some voluntary but meaningful sacrifice that will loosen the knots, break loose the cement around the joints, and set us free. Gawtcha would like to see us do this and save him a lot of effort. "Otherwise," he offers helpfully, "I'll come and help you break loose just as soon as I have a moment to spare."

"Bad faeries nip and prod us, asking for simple acknowledgment of their presence in our lives, insisting that we take notice of them - the first step to healing and change,"
---Brian

The Faery Challengers