Whenever I see the Ace of Spades come up for me lately, it's come with the message of "you're stronger than you think." And it always comes as a surprise to me because I'm prone to catastrophizing things, especially related to my health. I too have Rahu in the 8th house so my fears can trigger a "the sky is falling." reaction in my body.
Here is a passage from my notes on the Ace of Spades from Ernst's teachings that really resonates with my experience of this card:
"The Ace of Spades has to do with the mind. The minute we think, I, we are dealing with the Ace of Spades. I is a mental construct of the mind. Why do we worry? Because the mind has constructed the idea that something will go wrong. Why are we scared? Because we have a lack of faith. Why do we have a fear of death? Because the mind has identified with this construct of the body, and therefore, we fear death. All these things that the mind has created a construct of that's going to be threatened by life, that's going to be Ace of Spades."
@kam that's very much in line with what I'm more and more realizing these days. So much of what we experience in life is self-inflicted, and the mind is so infinitely powerful, if we just learn how to use it better and see things more objectively. I realized for example that many of my chronic issues were a form of self-punishment, or a result of pent-up anger, while others were due to a false belief in my physical weakness. When in fact, my body is much stronger than I've believed it to be most of my life.
It's a good thing I have Mercury conjunct Rahu, so that aside from the paranoia and fears, there is also this unrelenting curiosity there as well 🙂 I also have my 1st cusp in the 9 of Spades, Sun card, so this is something I will always be working on - developing resilience, inner strength, physical and psychological health and the like.
Thank you for sharing!
@nkan When it comes to the body and Ace of Spades it has a lot to do with cleansing, I believe, like going through a physical breakdown, just to come out stronger on the other side. David Goggins come to mind; (Ace of Spades on his Rahu card); Ernst tells about him somewhere, the guy who ran far too long and too fast but just refused to listen to his aching body and ran right trough the pain and suffering - and came out as new on the other side. That kind of experience. Which has a lot to do with revealing secrets, as you say: We don´t know our true capacity. Ace of Spades.
Staffan
@staffan Interesting, I read Goggins book years ago, he's quite a troubled individual who managed to turn his trauma into great success. Though with him I think there is a tendency to go to the extreme - only resolve things physically but never ever working on the psychological side (perfect for the military lol). Still, he's of course insanely inspirational and has achieved inhuman feats.
He has a chart of extremes - so many success yogas, so many planets in great dignities + amazing dig bala, alongside 2 kemadruma yogas (1 in rasi, 1 in navamsa).
@nkan Now I think you miss the forest for the trees standing in the way. In what way is turning your psychological pain into physical pain not a valid healing path? Remember Ernst´s teaching: Men are women are different. Men heals their emotions taking care of their action, unlike women, who generally have to tend to their emotions first and can´t improve their sense of worth or fulfillment through their actions.
Afflicting oneself physical pain is a much used and widespread method for healing all around the world. I´m a Sun dancer myself. Lakota tradition. Maybe you have seen some videos about initiation somewhere in the Amazonas during which young men let themselves being stung by very poisonous ants? In some tribes young women were put into a drunk state and then had all their hair tossed off their heads, before getting married... You may say it´s not healthy, but you can´t say that modern society is very good at managing our emotional health, can you? People die in thousands and millions due to their emotional wounds. Maybe it would be worth going through some physical pain, if it would hinder us from committing suicide directly and/or indirectly through sugar, painkillers, alcohol, drugs and name it...
Isn´t that what anorexia for example is all about, a frustrated attempt to heal the emotional pain through physical suffering? There are better ways, but we don´t use them anymore. Except for running marathon, perhaps.
Staffan
@nkan I also think this is not the time to mock the military, since one democratic European country - Ukraine - is forced to sacrifice it´s young men in droves against a psycopathic aggressor. In the defense not only of themselves but of their women and children, and even of the rest of Europe, including you Nadya. Putin is closer to your doorstep than you might understand.
Staffan