Regret, pride, shame, embarrassment, learning from experience, resolution

Tree: Elder (Sambucus spp.)

Letter: R

Shame isn’t all bad and does not deserve a uniformly awful reputation. Without shame and the fear of being shamed, every human child would be demonically bratty. Shame is a limit that informs us to keep our own ego in check. It is often about considering others. Having shame about one’s own past behavior is motivation to avoid shameful behaviors such as cheating and stealing.

Shame is an emotion that demands confrontation. All too often, people run away from what shames them, attempt to excuse themselves from wrongful or immoral behavior because they’re too cowardly to face what they have done or to admit their responsibility in causing their own misfortunes or the misfortune of others. Ruis indicates a willingness to face one’s own shame and to do with shame what it was meant for, and that is to use shame of the past to build oneself into a better person for the present and future. Ashamed of something you did? How can you make yourself into the type of person who would never even think of doing something like that? Overcome being the type of person who would engage in the shameful behavior and you become the master of it; you won’t have the remotest chance of repeating such a mistake. Did you become embarrassed because you did something you now understand to be greedy? Then learn to balance thriftiness with generosity. Adjust to the circumstance rather than overreacting to it. Are you ashamed about cheating on a boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse? Become a person who would never cheat on your boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse regardless of conditions, which could mean an assortment of outcomes: sticking to a resolution of no cheating and staying together, admitting one’s sexual preferences and going with the flow, changing the person you are with, or being single for a long time.

Because humans tend to remember negative experiences more easily than positive ones, it’s important when you draw Ruis to acknowledge the things you are not ashamed of about yourself. For every bad or shameful thing you’ve done, remember there are a thousand shameful things you avoided. Maybe it is time to appreciate the places you could have gone horribly wrong and did not.

Questions when you draw Ruis:

-What are three acts you are most ashamed of? Are you now the type of person who would not do that anymore?
-What are three shameful behaviors you’ve never done but someone who know has done?

Ruis ill-dignified excess: Beating yourself up too hard

You may be too hard on yourself. Thinking deeply about what you’ve done in your life that you aren’t proud of is great — don’t go too far with it, or only superficially examine behaviors you’re not proud of in order to beat yourself up. Do you have feelings of inferiority you need to analyze? Don’t be afraid to dissect your own shadow.

Too much shame can result in politically correct cowardice. Address your own mistakes before judging the mistakes of others. When you try and repress your feelings of hatred, anger, and fury, the result is toxicity that leaks out under the cracks. If Ruis is ill-dignified in the Situation position, it may be warning of all too common privileged, self-hating bigot types who attempt to enforce political correctness via shame — for instance the idea that racism cannot happen to white men. For those who attempt to use shame to control the behavior of the masses around them, their karma is to end up in the middle of a circular firing squad at best and at worst to be pointing the gun’s nozzle to the roof of their own mouth. Excessive shame can easily sour into a vile form of self-hatred that refuses to acknowledge limits. There is good that can come of shame, but not when it is rooted in dishonesty and the urge to weaponize shame in order to force others to conform.

Ruis ill-dignified dearth: Lacking shame and the good sense that goes with it

Too little shame is solipsism, or the belief that since we answer only to ourselves in the end, the world is a free for all of Social Darwinism and we’d do best to grab all we can in the feeding frenzy. Drawing Ruis ill-dignified isn’t necessarily saying you are the smoking train wreck of a sociopath who is acting the compleat solipsist; it is more of a warning of tendencies towards that type of flawed thinking or a call to look at the nature of solipsism and to meditate upon what it means to you. Don’t be the pot who calls the kettle black. Caring about how your actions impact your family, friends, the environment, and the future is ultimately anti-solipsistic. A little self-shame goes a long way in bettering one’s own development as a human being.

I Ching

From iching.online

Hexagram Twenty – Five/25

Wu Wang / Remaining Blameless

Thunder rolls beneath Heaven, as is its nature and place:
Sage rulers aligned themselves with the changing seasons, nurturing and guiding their subjects to do the same.

Exceptional Progress if you are mindful to keep out of the way of the natural Flow.
It would be a fatal error to try to alter its course.
This is a time of Being, not Doing.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is thoroughly a matter of the heart.
If everything you attempt, no matter how carefully planned, ends in disarray, then examine your motives.
They are the cause of your predicament.
It isn’t that your motives aren’t pure — even the best intentions will fail under these circumstances.
What stymies you in this situation is that you have a motive at all.
Free yourself of all expectations, release any tenuous grip you may have, and roll with it.
This is totally out of your control.
There are higher powers and more elements affecting the outcome of this situation than you can imagine.
Get out of their way.

Numerology

From astrogle.com

Twenty – Five

It is spiritual leadership. It likes group endeavors. It can be too serious. It has great difficulty sharing feelings.

Angel Number

From Angel-Numbers.com

Twenty – Five

Believe that your life is changing for the better. You and people around you are in safety and under protection during these changes.

Animal Spirit Guide or Helper

From zodiacsigns-horoscopes.com

The Possum Spirit Animal – A Complete Guide

Meaning of Possum Spirit Animal

The Messages of Possum Spirit Animal

Work in silence

Be a strategist

Pretense

Taking up new opportunities

Trust your instincts

The Symbolism of Possum Spirit Animal

Nuisance

Thievery

Super survival skills of Possum spirit animal

Intelligence

Drama in life

The sensitivity of Possum spirit animal

In dreams

Summary: Possum Spirit Animal