Intention, beginnings, births, pioneer spirit
Birch (Betula spp.)
Letter: B
Well dignified: An intention with good potential. Bravery. Breaking free. Ending bad habits. Getting unstuck. The start of something good. A new way of thinking. An invention or fresh approach. The ability of getting outside yourself and fossilized modes of thinking. Breaking out of the box. Being the change instead of just talking about it.
Humans learn through mimesis, so it is only because of the brave souls willing to put their necks out for change that anything improves in the world. Beith indicates the willingness to follow through with an intention so you can change yourself and your world for the better. At first, it’s possible nobody will follow you, but Beith says you have the courage to get it done.
Every day is a new opportunity to become a better person than you were yesterday, no matter how tiny the improvement. What can you do, even if it is a tiny action or possibly inaction depending on the circumstance, to be kinder, braver, humbler, more honest with yourself, more generous, and more grateful than you were yesterday, last week, last year, or last decade?
Questions when you draw Beith:
-What’s new in your life? For now, do you perceive it/them as good, bad, or both?
-Who is the bravest person you know, in real life or otherwise, living or dead, and what you say to them if you could?
-What traits do you want to imitate when you think of a brave person?
-What was the original intention behind the three worst decisions you have ever made in your life?
-What was the original intention behind the three best decisions you have ever made in your life?
Beith ill-dignified excess: Too many ideas
Confused and contrary intentions. The need to limit ideas or prevent a bad idea from coming to fruition. Being on the bleeding edge, not understanding consequences when you hurl yourself at a thing. An idea that is destined for failure, like going on a diet or attempting to get rich quick. Bitterness when you have a great idea that everybody rejects because you are the first person to do it; being too far ahead of your time. Possibly having a misguided, too vague, or even toxic intention that you’ve refused to examine the cold light of morning. Too many good ideas — a great problem to have, but you don’t have infinite time to pursue them all. Throw some in the fire.
Beith ill-dignified dearth: Lack of ideas
Weakness, inertia, depression, sloth. Paralysis. Wanting things to change and knowing it’s not yet the right time or right place. Feeling stuck or trapped in a situation. Possibly blaming others for problems that originate from within. Needing a dialogue or to talk and/or think it out. Having no idea what to do next. Possibly the need to overcome phobias by striking at their emotional roots. Possibly the feeling that you can somehow escape dealing with your problems, sometimes at the existential level, like when an atheist contemplates suicide as a “way out”. It doesn’t work that way: just bite the bullet and figure out how to work on yourself, because the notion that you have a choice on whether to do so or not is a false one.
“Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.”
A Druid Ogham 