Sign or Symbol?
In choosing this card, you have experienced a situation or event that says, ‘Pay attention’. The power of this card is to acknowledge yourself – your flight path to love.
What does it mean if you hear a conversation about you that you were not meant to hear, or if a chance remark by someone leaves an impression that lingers? What is the meaning within a dream you have three nights in a row about a rose in different settings. What about the feeling of foreboding you have in response to a situation or event? Five minutes after you book your next holiday the house alarm goes off erupting in a deafening noise while you’re still in the house. Or ten minutes after you choose the date of your departure you drive down the motorway and see the same date written on the number plate of a car in front of you. You recognise that the same sequence of numbers showing up on the holiday, alarm and car is a sign. Or is it a symbol?
In choosing this card, your intuitive self is saying a recent situation or event is calling for you to ‘pay attention’. The sign or symbol that has been given to you has been chosen because you could not see it in any other way. You may have already been told by friends and family that you are making the wrong choice or you have been berating yourself for the signs you didn’t listen to. Is that the lesson you are learning? You tell friends when you look back over a business deal or a relationship that sours that, ‘I knew there was something odd about him, something didn’t feel right, I wish I had listened to myself.’ The signs we interpret in hindsight are often the signs of our boundaries. Our boundaries make up our definitions of self. Boundaries are set for safety. Signs and symbols are shining a light on your boundaries that are being compromised.
Signs and symbols are calls to growth and extension. You are being asked to extend the definition of yourself in a profound and significant way. If you choose to act on the signal your Higher Self has given you, you will be directed toward your growth in one direction, which is harmonious with the plan that you and your Higher Self have been working with. If you ignore the signal, then your growth will follow a different path. There is no wrong or right in what you choose, as each path is valid. However, one path may have more ease than the other.
Signs
Signs occur unannounced in a moment in time and are designed to acknowl-edge your emotional boundaries and protect you. You can also look for and ask for signs to guide your next move, action or progress. Signs point you in the direction they want you to take. Think of a sign as a signpost that leads you to where you have asked to go. The signpost is clear and reflects the emotion you experience. For instance, if you overhear a conversation that you were not meant to hear accept that your Higher Self is calling you to act on what you heard. The sign is your doorway to ‘Pass Go’. In one direction you will easily pass through the door to experience flow. In the other direc-tion you will remain behind a closed doorway that will only open when you understand the information that the emotion has for you.
In order to correctly assess the sign and what you do in response to this sign, listen or gauge your response by whether you feel a positive or negative emotion of flow. In the positive you’ll feel a lightening and ease in your energy coming from being connected to Source. With the negative you might feel a bit heavier or simply neutral in your energy. Use your feelings to gauge and connect to flow.
If you need to change your direction you will be shown what that direc-tion is. Even after taking a new path you may not see the result of following the sign. In the holiday departure date example above you may tune in and feel there is a message that you are not meant to go on holiday on that par-ticular date. You act on the message by cancelling your holiday but because nothing happens to you when you stay at home you may decide that it was a false lead and you should have gone on your trip. Of course you will never know. But in this case accept and trust that you are on track and following the course of the path as it is laid out.
Symbols
A symbol is broader in scope than a sign. Though a symbol like a sign can act as a signpost, it also conveys a lot more information to you about yourself and the path of your growth in a way that is memorable to you. Symbols can link the past, the present and the future, the completion of a journey, the tools to deal with relationships, reassurance regarding your financial status and so on, all in one image. Symbols show hidden aspects of you that wish to be acknowledged. Symbols are often seen in the dream state and meditations, and can help you release deep wounds of the past by offering the information in a safe way.
When you are given a symbol, ask:
- Is the symbol directional, pointing to the way forward, opening new paths for expansion?
- Is the symbol a door closing? Is it time for a transition into the new?
- Is the symbol telling you the answer to hidden questions within?
- Does the symbol summarise deep feelings that are buried? If so, what part of you wants to be heard; your inner child, your playful or creative side, or your fears?
To understand either the sign or symbol you have been given, look at the first meaning you gave to what you have seen. For instance if you are given a rose three times, first explore your personal memories as they may be a clue from your past. The roses might be a reminder of your grandmother’s garden. Explore what that means for you. If the roses are not associated with your personal memories then ask your inner self for the meaning or use a dream book to interpret the symbol you have been given. You can also look for the sign/symbol in your everyday world to see if guidance is being given through your physical world. When you get to a doorway via a sign or symbol you are posing a question, ‘What boundary are you being asked to expand; what emotional skill are you being asked to develop in order to move forward?’ Your Higher Self is speaking. Pay attention. It is time to listen.
