LIST OF RUNES

INTRODUCTION

As the most spiritually evolved beings on this planet, let alone all realms, we crows and ravens (collectively known as corvus) have watched the humans suffer wildly. We admit, with a great display of screaming and wailing, defiance and drama, and splashing of colours… Particularly, red colours. Despite enduring great suffering, they achieve very little relief from it. So we of The Darkest Way have reached out to them, a second time.

The first contact was made in feudal Japan via a direct manifestation of The All Corvus (the God of and crux of darkness). Knowing that the humans fear anything that is not obviously like them, The All Corvus presented itself more anthropomorphically, this became known as the Tengu.

So the Tengu attempted to teach the humans the ways of The All Corvus. But they couldn’t hold their attention long. So to keep them from fidgeting, or walking off all together… the humans were also taught violence. They showed great aptitude for it. Perhaps too much. Thus the humans constructed the ninja clans, the Tengu’s purpose became forgotten, and they became known as war demons for having taught martial arts. The teachings of The All Corvus were forgotten, lost, and diluted in rivers of blood.

This is therefore the second outreach from The All Corvus to the humans. Believing they cannot possibly, or reasonably, hurt each other with a deck of cards, (save for gambling), we offer them a means of seeing into themselves, one another, and a situation. The cards are careful selections of powers and governing principles from this domain that relate adequately to the human experience and to human life. Containing all the powers and governing principles of this domain would neither fit into a deck of cards, or fit into the mind of a human being. So we have kept the content of the cards strictly to that which would benefit a human being to understand.

For ease of language, some of the phrasing here is specific to us corvus, just as the teachings were originally specifically ours, and some language is more suited to humans. Either way the peaceful message of The All Corvus is the essential point, much less debates about the technical accuracy of the specific analogies and metaphors of the message. Remember, the one who looks at the finger, that points to the moon, is an idiot.

How To Use This Deck

Hold in mind your life question, about yourself, another being or a situation, and shuffle the deck 9 times (the holy number of creation), you may draw the 9th card, or a card that is any multiple of 9. You may take this teaching into yourself as a meditation, or a contemplation for the day. It is not for someone else to do, to understand, or believe. You may share the teachings with another like minded confidante, to help your own or one another’s understanding. But it is often a greater good if you keep the teachings private. 

Just as the wisdom and love in your heart are a personal phenomena, and cannot be directly shared with one another, as if it could be picked up and put in another’s hands for them to grasp, the teachings are also personal. Once you realise the truth of a teaching, you can share that revelation, you may smile and you may laugh. If the being in front of you doesn’t understand a smile and cannot laugh, then there is nothing to do for them. If the being in front of you does understand a smile, and laughter, then there is nothing left to do there. Just enjoy the moment.

What Are The Principle Cards

The Principles can be loosely grouped as transcendent principles of The All Corvus and its creation of this world out of darkness, natural principles that define the material world, and hierarchy principles that govern social positions and structure in this created world.

The point of the principle cards is not to cover the entire expanse of The All Corvus, and how it created all dimensions out of the substrate of darkness, or all the natural laws that govern this world. Neither does it fully extend into all the social positions and ranks in this world. Its purpose is to create a functional lens for you to understand yourself, one another or a situation.

The All Corvus cannot be contained in the principles completely, any more than it’s creation of infinite dimensions could be contained here as well. A few relatable aspects are contained here, once again, as methods for self understanding.

The principles define the Royal Cards (Emperor, Empress, Mage, Knight, Page, Joker) and of the house cards (Talons, Vessels, the Tertiary Eye and the Nonogram), though they are not defined by them, they are powers of their own. The Royal cards can be read as hierarchical principles viewed through the perspective of their houses.

Natural Principles are some of the powers, or themes that function the physical world. The presence of the sun, and the presence of the moon are not just matters of a celestial bonfire and a local clod of chalk. They have a power of their own. Of course, the Shinto are correct in that every natural thing has a spirit, a true life of its own. To write about every spirit in the natural world would be…. Exhaustive, and irrelevant. What is more relevant is the few that have direct relationship to how you may view yourself, one another and a situation.

These Principle cards are numbered in no particular order. They have no more linear process than they have priority. To do so would be like suggesting summer came before winter, or vice versa. It would be better to think they all came at once, or were already here, long before time was created or thought of, to impose order and a sense of progression.

Exposition of the Principle Cards 0-21

0 – The All Corvus

The All Corvus is the symbol of completion, perfection, peace, and ultimately the deepest rest. It is the crux of darkness, around which every dimension is built. Not only does The All Corvus create all dimensions, but it is also the basis of life within each. 

Look within to find this great depth of darkness as the very basis of your own soul. Rest, and find love and power within yourself.

1 – Page 

Leave a fool to their folly and they will become wise. 

Some of us need to get to the end of ourselves, our plans, our pride, our hopes, and our fears, then with no options left, we desperately resort to humility, and we become able to listen and learn.

It is of course not necessary for suffering to go before humility, it is a quality you may foster on its own. Humility influences a range of difficulties, such as by managing conflict with forgiveness, by dealing with life tragedies with acceptance, and by improving our relationships by no longer having to argue opinions.

Be gentle in yourself, then find out how gentle the world is to you.

2 – Mage

All guidance worth hearing can be spoken equally by a fool in a pub, or by those of education and of social position and rank. Wisdom is wisdom, it is not a matter of the speaker, but one’s readiness to hear it.

True wisdom guides us on to the straight and narrow, of reality, safety and home. If guidance brings you any place other than this, it is false.

3 – High Priestess

Through meditation, we discover an inner world, that to our surprise has more reality and much more validity than the external world. For we have found a power greater than our usual troubles, we have found peace. 

Peace is an essential aspect of The All Corvus, and an integral part of our souls, beginning from when it shared its infinite life, to create our own lives. So spiritual power is not about causing, creating, or manifesting anything in the world, it is about finding that deep reservoir of peace within ourselves and sharing that with one another. Just as it has always been shared with each other from our own conception. 

Know that your meditation is useless unless it includes hospice for all beings. Dig deep and find that eternal peace, that reservoir that runs deep into the infinite power of The All Corvus. Share that which has been freely given to you, share peace. If you have to manifest anything at all, manifest the knowledge of the inroads of another’s hearts and bring peace to them. 

Share peace. At our crux, it is who we are.

4 – Empress

For life to thrive, it needs nurturance, support and certain comforts. These Attributes are more typically associated with the mother. In this realm it is the mother that first developed compassion, empathy and love. It did so for its young. In that way, the feminine generally has far greater innate wisdom of the heart, than the male has. Though this is not an excuse to shirk responsibility, for developing compassion in your own heart. Weather you are from either the male, or female principle. 

Be generous as you give of yourself, for the basis of your inner qualities, such as nurturance, to be supportive and to provide certain comforts, and to be compassionate, are endless, just as The All Corvus is also endless.

5 – The Emperor

The Emperor is not just rules and structure, it is about the discipline to follow them. Much discipline is the will to put ourselves aside long enough to follow certain dictums. With selflessness and patience near anything can be achieved. 

When we focus on such a discipline, not only do we offset the time committed to it, but also a greater period of time in daily life when we might have stressed about other things. Instead our mind wonders about our passion, and how to perfect it.

A healthy distraction, to a wholesome discipline, balances your mind against daily and general life stress. Learn to perfect your craft, and learn to master yourself.

6 – Joker

Life is not about ranks, titles and authority, it is about feeling sufficient in ourselves. With such sufficiency, we can entertain at the king’s court, or on the dirt streets to the poor.

With no pride or rank above one another, we find we are just as deserving as the first or the last. Whether calamity befalls us or great benedictions, we are no better than the corvus next to us. Those who suffer in catastrophes, or revel in great joy, it is just as much for ourselves, as the next one. 

Outside of rank and pride, and with great humility, we find acceptance for life, on life’s own terms. You don’t need to try to aggressively choke life into submission anymore, and make life be what you want it to be. You have come to want life for what it is.

7 –  Lovers

The lover loves, and love loves the lover. 

Let yourself be pulled in by something greater than you, something sweeter, and richer. Immerse yourself in love, with your lover and know that your love and their love is one love. The apparent 2 bodies of the lovers are just the instruments of one love.

The darkness in our souls is the same primordial darkness of The All Corvus. It is in the same darkness of space, that is the canvas of all existence. What is astounding is not that we do not realize this love, but that despite our lack of realisation, we cannot escape this profound love. Every created thing, in every dimension was made from and by The All Corvus. The one darkness. The one love.

8 – Rhythm

One must find their pace in life, to fly not too fast and to fly not too slow. One’s pace may be different at different times of our lives, so we must be humble enough to be flexible. Different stages of life have different needs. So we must let ourselves harmonise with life, and less our priorities of what we want life to be. We can wrestle with the world, or we can allow it to be, and thus, allow ourselves to be as well.

9 – Strength

Strength is reliability, consistency, discipline and the expression of mental and physical union. Remember that knowledge is not power, but knowledge harnessed and applied is power. Action defines strength, an unopened book on a shelf defines impotence.

We must find this deep reservoir of power, integrity and inspiration in ourselves and live this outwardly. The most common expression of this, and the most relatable is the expression of kindness. If your strength and power lacks kindness, welfare, and even self sacrifice, it is power over others, and is belligerence.

The strength to be kind is strength itself.

10 – Unity

Through awareness of the deep darkness that permeates all existence, the hermit is aware that the world is built in the same darkness of space that is the same darkness of their own soul. Thus where would one go, when all places are inside oneself, as much as anywhere else? 

With such self mastery it is obvious that all our reactions to one another and the world are intrinsic to our own minds, and hearts. Not to the others “making us feel” this way or that. So there’s little to do, and nowhere to go, when we find our own lives and emotions are completely self-sufficient. 

Of course, there are those of us who may miss one another, and are happy when they are there. These vulnerable people must be nurtured, for the sake of compassion towards one another. Compassion, always remains a guiding compass for our actions. 

Whether decisions are interna, or ones that effect the external world, without compassion, you have lost the way.

11 – Fortune

Fortune is cyclic, just like the seasons. There are times to embrace ecstasy in a hail storm, and times for ecstasy sunning in the radiant sun. We cannot make each moment to be our preference, but we can put ourselves aside long enough to  embrace each moment for what it offers to us.

Whatever you are offered in life, with sufficient surrender, it is always enough.

12 – Knight

Fairness, equality and justice are the primary aspects of the Knight. Many times justice gets bound up in a bitter heart wishing pain owed where pain has been received. With compassion, we would not want this justice crashing down on another’s head, even if they had done us grievous harm. Harm for harm is just more suffering in the world.  Doing so, or even wishing so, just hardens and embitters our own hearts. No one, including ourselves, benefits from our suffering in the world.

The rule is always compassion. Even if we see those who have harmed us as liabilities and must remove them from our lives, with sufficient compassion in our hearts, we can still forgive them. When you forgive them, and wish them well, you will find there is no need for justice as retribution anymore. The bravery of the Knight, is not retribution, but compassion. This real justice sees that everyone deserves to be loved, no matter how far astray they have gone, and even if they may no longer be with us. This is true justice.

13 – Death

Death must not be understood not as an ending, but a transition. Just as the weapons of the Tengu (warrior corvus) do not kill an enemy, but free to the middle realms. 

A weapon is a portal, that severs the line between life and death. Any end, no matter how apparently finite, is a transition. The question is not in avoiding the inevitability of this change, but in how to embrace it.

14 – Balance

If we are to survive in this world, we are to find metrics that will guide our actions into success. Such as being consistent, predictable, making accountable choices and finding balance. 

As we fly, we do not fly erratically, we fly consistently so other corvus can predict where we are, our actions and intentions. Balance and moderation not only make an easy life for ourselves, but also for those who live with us. In this real sense of consideration, we are never alone.

15 – Devil

The Devil is not about someone else or something else, this is about ourselves. Free will is a double edged sword. We live our lives with expression of choice, but we inevitably choose paths in life that condemn us as much as the paths that liberate us. 

Look within, past the arbitrary measures of your own minds, to the infinite darkness of your own soul. A natural darkness, something not contrived like the machinations of our own minds. Let it guide you in a natural way.

We must beseech The All Corvus, for its wisdom about how to live a blessed life. Instead of giving our power away to our own ignorance and naivety, we can live a life dedicated to the power and love of The All Corvus.

16 – Tower

Letting go of rigid beliefs takes courage. Particularly if our attachments to them are too self invested. It is natural to hold on to the things we value, and the things that define us. But true value and self definition is in our little black souls. It is the same blackness of the universe, which is the same darkness of The All Corvus. Why hold onto things that have been constructed and contrived? When we can let go of our rigid and brittle beliefs. When we can release them and fall into the original darkness that requires no defense and cannot break, that’s already there inside us?

17 – Nonogram Star

The nonogram, the nine pointed star, is one of the primary symbols of this dimention, being it’s substrate and core. Since this is the last dimension of incarnation before a corvus reaches true enlightenment, and soars in eternity with The All Corvus. The Nonogram Star is a symbol not only of creation, but divine perfection.

18 – Moon

Mystery, is part of how The All Corvus made the world, and the capacity for awe and wonder being part of how The All Corvus made us and the world. The World was made with great depths of sincerity, but it was not made seriously. You were meant to play, to be delightful and joyful. Enjoy frivolity, absurdity, imagination and levity. You must live in the world, as the world was made. Embrace the magic of being, it cannot be done seriously, but with great sincerity. Play and embrace the mysterious nature of what it is to be alive.

19 – Sun

The Sun is the absolute symbol of success and optimism in this manifested world. There may be fresh carrion, none of the leathery kind, there are shiny treasures, particularly of the blue kind, there is family, security in a plentiful murder, and meaning in one’s life. 

Embrace these gifts from one another, embrace their love, and that of The All Corvus. When we reject these gifts from one another, we not only refuse their gifts, but we refuse an expression of their love. Do not reject expressions of love then pine for being lonely. Welcome the good intentions and care that’s all around you. If nothing else, focus on your breathing, the breath given to you by The All Corvus, be grateful, and feel its love.

20 – Judgement

We are all accountable for our actions. It is best that we grasp this fiercely, rather than attempt to fly or hop around this. We cannot escape the repercussions of our actions, any more than we can escape ourselves. We are the working gears through which we interact with the world, and that the world interacts with us. Judgement is not outside of ourselves, it is us.

However we don’t know what is owed against us or to us, any more than we can accurately perceive what is good or bad… In the face of all the things that may happen to us, we still have agency over how we relate to these things. It is not fair to assume we have sinned greatly and we are doomed, or that we have been righteous and deserve to be anointed… it is better to hold self compassion and love, and learn to relate to the world in a gentle and benign way. 

We are not who and what happens to us in the world, we are the medium through which these things are turned into our experience. The greater questions are why do we feel we deserve damnations, and why do we feel we deserve blessings? We must need neither one nor the other. Find the depth of your original darkness, and the love of The All Corvus, then let the world do as it must.

21 – World

The World is a celebration of cultures, their diversity, their specific knowledge, science and crafts, their wisdom and religions. The All Corvus created each culture in the world, to suit each corvus in it. There are those of us corvus who skewer bugs out of holes with sticks, and those who arrange nuts on the road for vehicles to crack. There is a unique place for each of us in this world, and that is celebrated. 

Despite our differences, we find that the things that bind us together are greater than those things that divide us. Such as the love for The All Corvus, and for eyeballs. Because they are very juicy, and very nice.

Exposition Of The Houses

House of the Nonogram

Ace of Abundance

Abundance is not in wanting more than what you have, it is the appreciation of what you have. Even if it is a seat on a bus, we share the seating. No one takes the seat next to us, when it is freely given. Abundance is not in stock piling worldly wealth, abundance is in knowing that what you have is enough. From this deep sense of security in yourself and the world, you can share it with others. A sense of true abundance is characterised by generosity. 

Accepting the peace and love of The All Corvus, is the true font of abundance. In such a state we find that this very moment is sufficient. There is no need to grasp onto the next moment, or some illusory wealth that will make you greater than you already are. In the love of The All Corvus, you are already enough. This love is abundance.

Emperor of Inspiration

You must embrace your power to inspire those around you. When you inspire someone, a flame is lit in their hearts, but your own flame has not been diminished. As long as that flame is nurtured in their  hearts, it will burn the same as our own flame.

Be generous of yourself. Share the greatness of Darkest Way, and inspire your brothers and sisters to a better life, and in the flight with The All Corvus. The greatest inspiration we can share in this world, is not in worldly things, it is the salvation of the soul. Save your own soul, not for your benefit, but for the inspiration and the liberation of those around you. Love and compassion for those around you is the greatest inspiration in this world.

Empress of Nurturance

Do not dictate with force, when you can draw near those who are far away, with the warmth of your heart. With love, many maladies in ourselves and in others are resolved. We need not make rules to not harm one another, when we care enough for one another to not wish to do so.

Allow yourself to be so gentle to yourself and so gentle to others, that this compassion shapes the world you live in. The All Corvus loves with no rule and no bindings. Those who wish to come to its dark embrace may do so, and those who do not are free to live in that choice… Even though they are still loved all the same. Love your world, not to change it, love it as it is, and let it be as it must.

Mage of Foresight

To develop foresight , it is sufficient that you develop empathy. From empathy, you will understand one another in depth and this understanding offers insight. But true foresight and knowing of the future is not a possible thing. A thing that does not exist cannot be known. 

However through empathy, one another and our current situations can be known. Sometimes even the likely play out of events. But to know the future itself… Even the All Corvus in its omniscience, cannot see a future beyond choices that have not yet been made. Give up illusions of prophecies, it is sufficient you learn to understand one another. Develop empathy.

Knight of Service

The knight is not a power of its own. It is the power, will and direction of the king embodied in the knight. The knight knows that the will of their King is dependent on their strength. In reverence for their King and their kings will, the knights dedication and strength is multiplied.

Find a greater power to have faith in and to help guide and fortify your actions. You will find that there is no greater reverence for a greater truth, than to dedicate your actions to it. Empowerment, trust and service go hand in hand. 

Page of Beginnings

The page is the basis of learning. No matter who we are in life and the stage of achievements that we have, when we begin any new endeavor we must take hold of it from the beginning.

Do not seek ot be a master, rather seek to be an excellent student. Before you seek to be an excellent student, seek to make your fellow students excellent. 

You will find that a life of service opposed to a life seeking mastery, is it’s own reward. Mastery or not.

Joker of Humour

Laughter is a gift, and knowing how to find it is the wellspring of this gift. Once we are tapped into this font, humour can transform dire circumstances into comedy. Many may find it obscure, or even mad. But even on pain of death, a laughing corvus is not defeated. 

This type of freedom is not for others to understand, either they know it, or they do not. Explaining it to the small of heart and dull of mind does little good. Enjoy your own freedom, if it spreads laughter it is beauty multiplied, if not, it is sufficient unto itself. When The All Corvus chuckles, it does not wonder if it does so alone, or in the company of infinite beings.

9 – Luxury

Feel free to indulge in the pleasures of life. There is no gain in weeping in the lap of luxury, because there are those who go without. Adding to that suffering with your own pity, and remorse does nothing to ameliorate that suffering. 

Enjoy the life that you’ve been given. Do not forget the poor, but do not become one of the poor to change that poverty. If you seek to help the blind by removing your own sight, you will just be one more blind person needing aid! Live your life, and enjoy your own opportunities and leisures without guilt. Then from this sufficiency in yourself, reach out to those in need and raise them up into the opportunities and wealth that you have developed, and been given. 

Do not climb down into the hole to those in need only to be stuck in the same hole, stand above it and lift them out.

8 – Work

Hard work, commitment and discipline, are good for the soul, and imply great fortitude of character. Any sport, physical discipline, learning or art displays this obviously. Without hard work no one will achieve greatness in their field. There is so much to be had in life, so much to achieve, there is greatness just beyond your grasp. Strive for it. Attain it.

7 – Patience

Patience is the ability to rest, let go and surrender. Your will and even pride must take the back seat to your peace in the moment and the circumstance. It does not need you to rush it, or force it. The seasons turn, and life goes on, quite well by itself. 

When planting a fruit tree, the work is done once a hole has been dug and the tree has been planted in the ground. One has done the hard work, and aside from some basic maintenance, one now must rest and wait for their work to pay off. 

You have done the hard work, so rest now, and let the fruit of your work come to you in its own time. Find balance, and rest.

6 – Charity

Give without need or thought of receiving. Charity is not in diminishing yourself, and giving away from yourself, it is in knowing that you always have enough. You are cared for, and you are always cared for. Out of this deep sense of trust and security in the word, give, and give freely.

5 – Unity

You may very well be quite different from others, at least in a relative perspective, if you wish. In the end you are all humans, and even for those of us who are not, the powers that bind us are far greater than those that divide us. Whether you are alone on a city street, a desert, or a mountain top, you cannot deny your human plight, and that it is a plight suffered by every other human. To say nothing of every other being. 

You may very well be different, if you wish to believe so. But you were not made alone.

4 – Sustenance

We may hoard the physical things we rely on, but note that these things feed and support only the body, and only for the finite time of the body. Once found, spiritual truth will keep your soul sustained and nurtured beyond the life of this body and its necessary accouterments.

However, since we do rely on these things, if only for the body’s wellbeing, we may as well enjoy these things while we have them. No one would benefit from our poverty, but how much more would we all benefit from sharing our richness with one another.

3 – Light labour

When you enjoy your work, you find your labour is light. Amongst other things, joy is the freedom of stress and freedom of being weighed down in the world. Allow joy to liberate you and make your labour light.

So you say, “why be joyful? Even about mundane or trialing things”. To which we say, “why not?”.

 2 – Balance and Moderation

Conserve your energies and live life with moderation. Do not run too fast or too slow. But run at the staying rate. Despite its spectacle, it is not the shooting star that sustains life in this realm, it is the constant, unwavering burning of the sun. Look to the moderation of these common things that support your life here and now. Despite their commonality, and triviality, such as the fresh air in your lungs, find reverence for them.

House of Talons

Ace of Fresh Air

Fresh air is the cool, mid morning, autumn wind underneath your wings. Let go of the things of yesterday, like a breath that is spent. There is beauty in the moment, embrace it and allow it to lift you up. The breath of fresh air, and the cool, mid morning, autumn winds underneath your wings. There is beauty in the moment, embrace it and allow it to lift you up.

Emperor of Leadership

Power in itself is a vague term. Power to do what? Buy an airplane? Buy a big car? Run a company or a country? Keep vein company, who want you for your money and brand names but not know who you are? 

Much of what the humans perceive as power is simply a display of strength. The only real power there is, is in helping others. If your power doesn’t help others, it is simply a display of vanity. Power lifts one another up, strength is self laudatory. Those with power know they have it, and thus make no displays of it. 

Embrace your power to help one another and change lives, one being at a time, one kind gesture at a time, one moment at a time. You need not save the world today or scheme for it tomorrow. But to be kind and help the one in front of you. That is sufficient.

Empress of Friendship

Draw near all those who are estranged. Extend the hand of friendship to even the most unlikely of beings. Without failure, you will see your kindness returned, often by surprise, countless times over. 

After all, if no one extended the hand of friendship to the unusual, the awkward, or the undeserving, where would you be? Where would any of us be? 

We cannot count all the blessings bestowed to us, because there are so many that we have taken for granted. Be kind without warrant, and draw near those who are far away and estranged. Give to others a kindness that you, yourself have also received.

Mage of Advocacy

This is the selflessness to advocate advice to another. It may not be your way, and they may have to live a very different path in life to your own. But if this is the way for them we must be selfless enough to advocate it, encourage it, and help facilitate it, even if it contradicts our own life path. 

Reaching out to another is not doing so in your own way, but doing so in a way that they will receive and understand. Be selfless, and advocate to another for what they need, and in listening, you will find you have met a being entirely different from the one you thought was there. 

What a great adventure that is, to have met someone who is not yourself!

Knight of Purpose

The All Corvus created this world for each of us to live in, to enjoy, to work and to prosper in. To work in this world and harness the opportunities laid out before us, is to reverence The All Corvus and the gifts it has given us. To refine a skill, and to turn the mundane into an art, reverences the All Corvuses creative power, and that power as reflected in our dark souls.

Purpose has nothing to do with fate, destiny, or even a natural talent. It even has little to do with what we do and more to do with how we do it. If you worship and are devoted to The All Corvus, you will find dedication to what you do. This focus creates excellence and perfection in our craft and this will inevitably reflect into our lives. By studying creation and the perfection thereof, we come closer to understanding the creative power and the perfection of The All Corvus. This is Purpose.

Page of Learning

Learning requires humility, but not naivety. Be aware and critical of what you’re learning. Take that which is useful and leave the rest.

Joker of Respect

Humour must court the lines between being irreverent, and disrespectful. It is one thing to laugh at ourselves in the gallows, and another to laugh at another’s suffering in the gallows.

9 – Over thinking

When we are caught in over thinking, remember the simple practice of doing the one thing that is most obvious to do at the time. When all of the obvious things have been exhausted, that which was originally less apparent, will become the next obvious thing to do.

By keeping our hands to action, our reasoning linear and simple, and keeping ourselves grounded in the world, our minds will ease. When everything is done, and what we can do is no more, and we are still over thinking, then, we must learn to rest.

8 – Surrender

We are powerless, most of the time. We wake up every morning and our lives are a given. Our eyes open and there we are, and there lays everything, relatively the same as the day before. Our lives and their circumstances are provided to us. Don’t try to change this, lean into it. We must understand what has been given to us, so that we can understand the will of The All Corvus.

Surrender is the key, we are the lock, and the will and love of The All Corvus is the treasure.

7 – Retreat

Interpreting retreat as cowardice is a matter of the ego. Don’t waste your life in a pub fight, when you need it to defend home and hearth. Wisdom takes many faces. Retreat is often one of them. Know your skill, your enemy, your time and place. 

More importantly, we must let our ego retreat, long enough to make friends, rather than enemies.

6 – Greener Pastures

When we leave a place, leave out of love for where we’re going. Not hatred for where we’re leaving.

Leave our hatred away from ourselves, we do not need it, and no one deserves it. We must be inspired by our love for the world, what else could others deserve, and what else could we want?

5 – Mind Games

You don’t need the approval of those who try to manipulate you. Recognise when people are playing games with you, find your own self worth, and based on that self worth, find compassion for them, and find better company.

4 – Sanctuary 

Find that inner core of uncreated darkness within your own soul, and you will have found a sanctuary far greater than you could find in the world.  

That infinitely gentle seat of darkness is immutable. When you come into contact with that darkness, you will find despite its softness it is also a fortress. One that cannot be burnt with any fire, rotted with any water, wrecked by human hands, or ruined, by time. 

In the world you can die 10,000 different deaths, but in this gentle fortress of space, you may sit outside of time, and the reaches of any harm. Embrace the serenity of The All Corvus inside you. This is your sanctuary.

3 – Betrayal

No one can betray you, if you know who they are. 

Many people are faulted and misguided from places deep inside them.

Knowing this, betrayal, lies, thievery, and to say nothing of self devoted behavior can be anticipated. Manipulation comes at no surprise. So it would be a better assumption to believe that other beings are confused, rather than actively malicious, and those who are, become the most obviously confused of them all…

It is not that we must know thy enemy. It is that we must anticipate the faulted nature of one another. Knowing these faults, we cannot be betrayed by anyone, not from anyone for whom we have understanding and compassion. 

2 – Indecision

Do what is in front of you, and that which is most obvious. Having done this, the areas of indecision become more clear, and more apparent. Work from the known, to the unknown, and the unknown will reveal itself.

House of Vessels

Ace of Pure Joy

Do not feel joy with half of yourself and the other half in reservation. When joy comes into your life, take it as an answered prayer, and receive it with your whole self. When receiving a gift, receiving it timidly and with precautions serves no one, not the giver of your gift, yourself or anyone else. Life is safe to enjoy, and it is beautiful.

Emperor of Value

Value what you have, it could be a bench at a bus stop, or a seat in a waiting room, It could be a street curb. All of a sudden it becomes the most valuable thing to you, as if you are seated on a throne. Truly valuing what you have, makes anywhere feel like home. Accept, appreciate and value what you have and what you have around you. 

The end of this is gratitude, to say nothing of peace, and the grateful sharing of what we have.

Empress of Abundance

We are stewards of our possessions and property only, we are not the sole owners. All we can do is care for what we have as stewards, until it’s time to pass these things on. This sharing is the basis of abundance. 

No one felt truly wealthy and powerful weighing and polishing their gold. They felt prideful and vulnerable. Hoarding the one thing that they knew would ruin them if it were taken away.

We give away what we have, knowing that we have plenty, and that the source of our abundance is not our hoarding, greed or even our hard work, but The All Corvus and its infinite love for us.

We give away what we have, to have what we give away.

Mage of Creation

All the created universes are simply and spectacularly the creation of The All Corvus. In essence, the power of The All Corvus is endless, it is outside of time and physical limitations. Just as the darkness of space has no qualities at all, it therefore includes them all. 

The All Corvus has written infinite laws upon this dark canvas of space, and infinite worlds written upon those laws. The creative powers of The All Corvus are truly a spectacle beyond conception of our bird brains, to say nothing of a human mind.

The creative power of The All Corvus, is all around us, and is us. Know that we are not mistakes here, we are not accidents, we are not pariahs, or abominations. We have as much right to be here as one of  the myriad grains of sand on the beaches and at the bottom of the oceans. We are created in an order no less than the trees forever stretching to the sky, and the wind that erodes rock without labour or counting time. Amongst and in between all these things, we are also created. We are a natural phenomena, just as all other things, and as such created in perfect harmony. We will not doubt our place here.

Knight of Victory

We must look at our lives, look at all we have achieved and all that we have been through. The lives we have lived here are incredible. Yet many of us pine about having achieved so little. Comparison is the thief of joy and many times we steal that joy from ourselves! Let go of this foolishness, and know that we all have achieved enough. The simple fact that we are here reading this is sufficient proof!

Whether we like our lives and their circumstances specifically or not, the fact that we have lived through it to this day is brilliant enough. We must embrace our strength, power, and our victory over all the obstacles in the past. Therefore, we must know that we can continue to live our lives in brilliance, and strength. Lean into this power. The power of victory is the power of what you are.

Page of Understanding

There is so much for us to learn in this world, we must revel in the knowledge that has been laid out for us. Absorb it, apply it, test it, and become it. Remember the difference between knowledge and experience, and that one should guide the other. Never abandon one for the other. Or knowledge will become vain, and experience will become a farce.

Joker of Endless Joy

When we finally tap into the reservoir of life, into the joy of pure darkness and rest, our joy will become endless. Embrace a defiant joy, a joy with no basis in the world and therefore nothing to defend. Become the transcendent darkness, and become joy itself.

9 – Indulgence

Put yourself aside, and indulge in sensual pleasures. It is not selfishness if we bask in the pleasures of the moment and become one with it. We can find this in a spa, a bus stop or a mountain top, it makes no difference. If we learn to find joy in the moment, we can find that joy no matter where we are. 

Absorb the environment we’re in, the comforts of the fabrics against our skin, the tast of our food, the richness of the musics, or the hustle and bustle of people chattering and moving by. Enjoy the fresh air, the cool air, the warm air, the hot air, whatever it is, put the preference of your mind aside long enough to revel selflessly in the moment. Indulge in the moment and experience our own joy.

After all, it is all we have, and all we are.

8 – Abandonment

When we are rejected by one being, it may feel like we have been rejected by all beings. We may feel we have been cast aside by life itself. Experiences like this that feel overly generalized, can be detrimental to our minds, and our sense of self.

We may choose to keep this over generalisation, and believe that all beings have reject us, and keep ourselves in hiding from further harm. However, it goes to remember that when we shut out the world from our lives, we shut out ourselves and our gifts from the world too. All things will suffer the loss of the contribution of ourselves. 

We can accept the Love of the All Corvus, as our primary relationship, and learn how to accept that love in the many forms of the world. Or stick to abandonment and what has happened to us in the world. We must remember the root of abandonment, like all other experiences, resides in ourselves and our interpretation of events.

Be generous with yourself, the world deserves your love and generosity, just as much as you deserve its love and generosity as well.

7 – Fantasy

Indulge in your imagination, enjoy the creation of endless worlds. This ability was given to us by The All Corvus, who’s omnipotence creates all worlds and dimensions infinitely. It then shares itself directly by creating life in these realms. It’s darkness expressed as our own individual souls.

This power is at the core of us, embrace that power and express creativity, ingenuity, and intuitive refinement of whichever art you put yourself to. You are restricted only by how much you indulge in the creative power of The All Corvus, not by your own abilities.. 

Look deep within, and find this great power without, and with out reservation, indulge in this creative power, and live that brilliance into this world. Live, just as The All Corvus has lived us into a cold world, otherwise bereft of life, to know itself.

6 – Sentimentality

In hindsight, you may value events and things that didn’t seem relevant at the time. Keep items that provoke memories from you, memories of childhood, from school, a university, a traineeship, a lover, a workplace, from travel and from friends. These memories are part of loving and valuing our lives. Remember your live, and cherish it. Lean into it, learn to be grateful. Even things that seemed worthless, irrelevant or even horrible at the time, they may hold greater value later in life, than they did at the time.

5 – Regret

You can find great revelations by meditating on painful emotions. Don’t run from them, run into them. Accept them deeply. After great surrender and the lesson has been learnt, put it aside. In this beautiful world, painful emotions are otherwise a waste of time.

4 – Shame

Shame, like guilt and isolation can rot the integrity of the mind. The saddest part about these feelings is that there is little, if anything at all that can be done in this realm that has not been done by a million others. No matter how poor and despicable a thing may be that you have done, you do not stand alone. The greatest decision to make, is whether or not we stand with the millions defending their actions and re-commiting them, or if we stand apart from them, we take responsibility for our actions and find a way to move forward.

Do not condemn yourself for the things you have done and the person you have been yesterday. Despite all the guilt and regret, acknowledge yourself for the different person who you have become today.

3 – Celebration

With a generous heart, even simple things can be a cause for a celebration. Greeting a friend, having a meal, walking down a pleasant street. These things in all their commonality, can be ample cause for celebration. When there is no one to share the joy, do not be cheap to yourself, revel in it, even when no one is there. 

Know that your heart uplifts others, even if they are out of reach of your hand and even the apparent reach of your mind. The world and the nature of ourselves are far more complex than our immediate perceptions.

2 – Companionship

Life was not meant to be lived alone, for most of us. Even meditating on a high deserted perch on a mountain top, one is still one of the human kind. Everything you do reflects on those all beings, and everything they do reflects on you. Even when you are alone, you are one with human life.

We are bound together having been made from the one eternal darkness of The All Corvus. Darkness having no perceptible qualities, the darkness in all our souls is of the same darkness. Just look within, and you will find your connection to all beings. Whether we can comprehend it or not, all of us, are all, always here.

House of the Tertiary Eye

Ace of New Beginnings

Relax and open yourself to the possibility of new beginnings. Some of us feel we can predict the future. We believe that patterns will prevail, and that tomorrow will fundamental be the same as today. We all expect something familiar.

Free yourself from the constraints of your predictions and open yourself to something new. Hope can leave us prone to disappointments. But it is better to hope and to be disappointed, than live with constant disappointment and never take a chance on life. 

Life, no matter how disappointing and confounding as life may appear, it is always worth hope. With hope we have action, with action we have learning, with learning we eventually have success, and success is the fulfilment of hope.

Embrace hope, or die having never lived.

Emperor of Maturity

 Maturity in life comes and goes, when we are young we think one day we will grow up. Then there are the foolish days when we are sure we have grown up. Then there are the days when we realise growing up never really happened, and even if we had, compared to the company of an old friend, there’s nothing we could do with it now anyways. 

Social standing has little value in life compared to true values. Such as the company of a friend. The company of the All Corvus in one’s life. And the subtle knowing of the great darkness inherent in all beings.

Empress of Passion

You cannot love The All Corvus, and be morose and hate the world. Loving The All Corvus and its creation are one and the same thing. Embrace the world with life lustre and passion as you would embrace The All Corvus. Our world is a complex and beautiful thing. Just because another one of us doesn’t see this, doesn’t mean we should bow our heads and toe the line of their misery. If another doesn’t see this, it is all the more imperative that we are stalwart in our joy, and passion for life. 

It doesn’t matter if you collect playing cards, practice the regal art of stacking stones, collect piles of gold or shiny blue treasures. Find a passion in life, embrace it, and embrace life.

Mage of Clear Vision

It is one thing to be very perceptive and to see no further than our own opinions, and another thing to be accurately perceptive, and see into the world, beyond our own perspectives. When in doubt, of our intuition and insight, we must check against compassion. If we have lost compassion we have lost truth.

Knight of Adventure

The greatest adventure might seem to be a heroic journey to conquer the world, or some particular task that would define us. However we garner nothing to gain the world, if we also lose our souls. The greatest adventure is not in acquisition, but in letting go of the things we cling to. The one permanent darkness that binds all beings and all things, is ready to be apprehended. We must let go of our precious little foot and hand holds in this world. We think that if we let go we will fall. But in a vacuity so absent of all things, there is no where we could fall. Let go of the world and bask, in the pure darkness of being.

Page of Purpose

The easiest way to find our purpose in the world is to do what we are doing right now. We don’t need to be the strongest, the fastest, the smartest or the bravest. We need to apply ourselves to the one thing we are doing at the time. We cannot all be first and win a race. It is sufficient that we do what we do to the degree of excellence that we can muster. Honest effort inspires people greater than lazy and effortless wins.

Joker of Laughter 

Spontaneous laughter is often a sign of a close relationship with The All Corvus. The absurdity of life and all we used to believe becomes apparent and we laugh, raucously, at times. Many may think we are fools, or that we have gone mad. But in the sweet joy of freedom, what care do we have?

9 – optimism and pessimism

True optimism, is not based on faith that the world will spin in the direction we choose, but faith that whichever way it does spin, we will be able to successfully handle the situation. Having thus taken responsibility for our actions in the world, and engaging in less blame for what “the world has done to us”, we can handle an array of situations with ease and if the world is permitting, with mutual wins. Having thus found control of oneself, we are totally safe, because we have nothing noxious left in ourselves to experience. Even if we were to be provoked, there would be nothing left to provoke. 

8 – Tempo

We must slow ourselves down, and realize all the small things that are perfect in life, the kindness of a receptionist, a bus arriving on time or close enough to, the fresh air, the warm sun, or even the hot sun on a perfect summer’s day. 

Our minds may live in the big goals, big ideas, and the big games we play, but every other fiber of our being lives here, today, and now. Our heart does not beat tomorrow, it beats right now. So be here and catch the moment, because tomorrow never comes.

7 – The Gateless Heart

The most pure hearts have nothing to guard, because there is nothing to harm. The heart is the reservoir of love, the highest of our emotions. Harming a pure heart is like trying to cut the air. Try as we might, our efforts will always show up as empty. Trying to harm compassion is as such. At the worst, you will be enveloped by it.

6 – Success

It’s better to find success from achieving our own standards, than through achieving worldly fame, which is obviously only meant for the few. Success from our own metrics is essential for our sanity. But if we fail them, we may need to find the humility to change our inner standards, to more compassionate views.

Beyond the corporeal, the greatest success is of the soul, and its union with The All Corvus. It’s a remarkable feat to pull away from the world and rest in the cradle of The All Corvus, but a greater value to pave the way with another stone for another lost soul to follow. 

5 – Competition

Competition in life may provide stimulus to grow, change and better oneself. However in the eyes of The All Corvus, we are and have always been perfect. We must acknowledge our own perfection, and from that perfection compete and strive for changes in the world. 

Perfection, of course, is an ideal place for starting anything.

4 – Sanctuary

Home is a safe place, It is the absolute place for us to express ourselves and to rest. With the expansion of our hearts, many other places can become our homes too. A bus stop, a street curb, a patch of grass under a tree. The safer we feel inside, the less we have to fear from outside.

3 – Selflessness

It is better not to seek acknowledgement for our work. If others find joy in our work, then we can relish in their joy, but acknowledgement and praise are not necessary for us. We must know the quality of our own work, and that knowing is enough. Self knowledge is greater than any accolades we could receive in the world. 

If we seek praise, let it be from The All Corvus, whose love is unconditional to our success or failure in the world.

2 – Reflection

Many of us get lost in criticism of our lives and life choices. But how could we know right and wrong, from such limited perspectives as our own? 

Look to the stars in the night sky, their brilliance is beyond conception. But despite their infinite creation, the ocean of darkness that harbours them all is of a far greater expanse. This ever soft ocean of darkness is our peace, and all our choices throughout life are the stars. Cradle them in this ever expansive peace, the peace that is the basis of their creation.