In the evening of 9-11-01, across the Hudson River in Jersey City where I live, the smell was strong. It was a smell I had never before encountered, and I believe that the putrid notes were from the over 2,000 killed, pulverized and burned. My boss gave away hundreds of dollars worth of essential oils that aid in respiratory ailments to firemen to bring to their brothers working on the rockpile, and when I went down there with her (when they finally allowed people into the area), we kept eucalyptus and other essential oils soaked on cloth over our mouths and noses. Over 99% of the on-looking people I saw there had nothing over their faces, yet the airborne particulate was still noticeably high, and this was several weeks later! Everything downtown was still covered with chalky dust.
Something that once again struck me when I saw the Ric Burns "Center of the World" documentary the other night was from the visionary perspective of the Tarot, how starkly vivid the 9/11 events were the Tower card made manifest. The following is a brief on "The Fool's Journey" through the Major Arcanna of the Tarot, concerning the Fool's arrival at The Tower card:
Tower
How can the Fool free himself from the Devil? Can he root out his influence? The Fool may only find release through the sudden change represented by the Tower (16). The Tower is the ego fortress each of us has built around his beautiful inner core. Gray, cold and rock-hard, this fortress seems to protect but is really a prison.
Sometimes only a monumental crisis can generate enough power to smash the walls of the Tower. On Card 16 we see an enlightening bolt striking this building. It has ejected the occupants who seem to be tumbling to their deaths. The crown indicates they were once proud rulers; now they are humbled by a force stronger than they.
The Fool may need such a severe shakeup if he is to free himself, but the resulting revelation makes the painful experience worthwhile. The dark despair is blasted away in an instant, and the light of truth is free to shine down.
Keywords that often go with the Tower are such things as "Fall from Arrogance" "A Humbling experience that restores balance" "Being knocked from a position of arrogance" "Preparing the way for true realization" "Distress" "Crises" "Destruction of old ways" "New Cycle to begin" "Clearing House" "Awakening to the truth."
I am struck by the high numbers of those Americans who have dug in deeper to hold onto American Arrogance, so well symbolized by driving "Hummers." I read a quote from
Rick Schmidt, founder of the IHOG, the Internatiojnal Hummer Owner Group:
"Those who deface a Hummer in words or deed deface the American Flag and what it stands for."
I believe that the new leaders will truely lead us from the ashes of 9/11 and away from the old arrogance to a new understanding of the world today and our place in it. To take a piece of a Carol Mosely Braun quote: "...we're all in the same boat now."