A Call to Action

Card XXVII Revealed

In the Darkness

The Elephant

Sounds its Alarm

The Re-Action

A Call to Action

To Address

The Calling of Chaos

Here again in Joshua Tree for the week, I sat for my first morning in the sun and warmth amidst cactus blooms and the desert breeze blowing through the palo verde trees. This was my moment of conscious arrival and as I breathed and shed tears of release, I became aware of a sudden shaking. It was an earthquake! Not a bad one, but I could feel the ground’s tremors and the cover over my head rattling.

The above card was my next to reveal and write about this month. I am always amazed at how the cards fall. In the order established by my new deck release, I find again and again that the right cards always come, as they do in readings. There is always some synchronistic thread: Upheaval at the time of election results. The Star Mother to bring comfort in the chaos. Dawn at the Equinox.

But what epiphanies would this Startled Elephant, as my father called this stone, bring forth?

When my travel companion saw me writing with this card, she said:

“Did you know the elephants at the San Diego zoo just formed an alert circle during the earthquake?”

This just happened?

I had to look it up.

Sure enough, there is a video of the zoo’s elephants taking immediate and instinctive action when the earthquake in San Diego hit. The adults formed a tight circle, trunks facing outward, their babies behind them in the center of the circle in order to be protected. It reminded me something my husband recently said:

“It is Time to Circle the Wagons.”

I thought about how elephants do so much with their long trunks, which are essentially their noses fused to their upper lips. With the two fingers on their trunk they can grasp even a single blade of grass. I wondered what it would look like if humans did more with their noses. If we followed our noses, actually and figuratively.

I felt I was on to what this card may be suggesting in readings:

There is a reason to be alarmed right now.

There is a reason to be startled.

The ground beneath us is being shaken.

There is a call to action.

Follow your nose, follow your instincts.

It is time to form an alert circle

with your family, friends and community.

And so, the name given to this card is Call to Action.

Parallels to the Judgement Card

In the Story Through Stone Reflection Card deck, there is at least one card paralleled to each Major Arcana card of the tarot. This Call to Action card parallels Card XX, Judgement. Visually, the sounding trunk of the startled elephant harkens resemblance to the trumpeting angel depicted in countless ancient versions of the tarot.

A version of Marseille’s “Le Jugement”

In traditional tarot, Judgement signals an awakening, transformation or a call to awaken to a new phase of life. Waking from their graves, the angel trumpets people alive to their true calling. In a reading, it suggests that the time is now to arise to see, hear and follow the prompts of one’s purpose.

Divination

The Call to Action card signals an urgent message that action is needed now, not later. There can be no further delay in facing an injustice or responding to a call that you can fulfill. With wide open eyes you can now see what the obstacles are. It is time to address them in any way possible with the presence and force of your personal contribution. Many people at the moment are now afraid to voice their opinions, on social media or otherwise. Like the inhabitants of Who-ville in Horton Hears a Who, we feel too small to be heard (it is well worth a re-watch of this story as an allegory for the current times which we live). It is only the elephant’s large ears that are sensitive enough to hear the people’s voices. He proclaims, “A person’s a person, no matter how small” as he takes action to help them even against great adversity when he is teased, threatened, condemned and even locked up.

Elephants are the largest of all land mammals and encourage us to embrace and allow for oneself to be in the spaces we inhabit, to be seen and heard.

The Mayor of Who-Ville lifts up Jo-Jo the Shirker. His one small voice tipped the scales allowing for his town to be heard.

Do we have the courage to see and speak of the Elephant in the Room?

The shadow side of the Startled Elephant warns us to beware of re-action as opposed to intentional action. In an emotional response, matters can be made worse by hasty words and deeds which can result in trampling on those around us. Also, because of the great memory bestowed to elephants, there may be difficulty in forgiving and forgetting when either you wrong others or if you yourself are wronged. Before acting, ask: What more do I need to know about the larger story?

The Elephant teaches us to slow down and to see and smell the truth of what is around us before taking action. In learning from elephants we can learn how to embrace the ideals of true societies such as caring for the young, sick, elderly or otherwise disadvantaged. Elephants even peacefully co-exist with other non-predatory species (though it is interesting to note that elephants will often abandon a member of its herd if it is overly ill-tempered. Therefore, elephants may also teach us about uncrossable boundaries that must be defended).

Elephant gives us the strength to be our own true self in these deeds and as memory keepers of the land, to draw on ancient wisdom and power.

Idol of Lord Ganesha in Mumbai. Photograph by Sonika Agarwal

I would be remiss if I did not invoke the name of Ganesha, the great elephant-headed god of the Hindu tradition in this exploration of the elephant. Ganesha was the son and leader of Shiva’s army and his mother was also a Great Mother Goddess of love, fertility and great strength. Joining with his “huligans of heaven” he would stop at nothing to remove ignorance from the devoted.

Here is a prayer to Lord Ganesha from Munindra Misra:

Lord Ganesh of curved elephant trunk and huge body,

Whose brilliance is equal to billions of suns in intensity,

Always removes all obstacles from my endeavours truly,

I respectfully pray to him with all my revered sincerity.

Elephants can teach us today about facing and taking action against injustice - in all forms it shows up in our society. Elephants themselves have faced unspeakable cruelties as show animals in circuses. They are killed to this day for the ivory in their tusks. This combined with habitat destruction classifies them as endangered, their populations having declined by fifty percent in the past three generations. Watch any video online of elephants defending their herd and you will see the full power of their size and emotion in response to unwelcome intruders.

This is a raw and beautiful power of nature that is balanced by the elephant's genuine emotion reflected in its care of even deceased elephants of whom they bury in their own rituals. They say an elephant never forgets - may the spirit of the elephant allow us to not turn a blind eye to the injustices before us as well as throughout the world.