The Unicorn

“. . . if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.”
 
Believing the Impossible, Magic, Limitlessness, Miracles, Breaking Free
Alice meets up with The Unicorn just after a break in the epic battle between the mythical equine and The Lion. Though the children’s rhyme indicates that The Lion wins the conflict, both creatures are apparently unharmed and it is the opinion of The Unicorn that he got the better of the feline beast this time around.
 
While discussing the day’s match, The Unicorn notices Alice and exclaims: “What – is – this?”
 
He can hardly believe what he sees. “It’s a fabulous monster!” he exclaims, excitedly. Eventually, after a few bits of reality testing (which is terribly subjective in Wonderland, you know), proclaims: “Well, now that we have seen each other . . . if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you. Is that a bargain?” And what a bargain it is.
 
To seal the deal, Alice, The Unicorn, The King and The Lion all share in some plum cake.
 
The Unicorn has pranced into your reading to remind you of the power of the mind.  There are plenty of times to be skeptical and to question one’s circumstances, the actions of others, the dogma of a nation or religion . . . And there are times when it is miraculously good to allow oneself to believe what might be assumed to be impossible, like Faerie majik and, say, Unicorns.  If the believing is for the purpose of expanding the limits of the mind and opening us up to that which is greater than we can possibly imagine, then the act of believing can be life-saving.  The Unicorn is a legendary mythical creature, but very real in the land of the looking glass.  At first, he has a hard time believing in Alice, until they both declare they have never seen such creatures as each other before, and in a moment of trust, they agree to believe in what they had previously thought to be impossible.  In the looking glass world, the White Queen tells Alice, “. . . sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!”  And maybe we could take the advice as well.  As long as we recognize that we are in control of the beliefs that enter our heads, it might be a beneficial practice to allow ourselves to think of and maybe even believe in things we wouldn’t normally fathom. 
 
We all hear about amazing new inventions and breakthroughs and miracles that occur out in this global community called earth, and it might be possible to manifest such miracles for ourselves if we could first allow ourselves to think differently. 
 
One possibility is to do the meditation on the manifestation loop suggested for the Alice card, and another is to simply spend some time each day imagining six impossible things before breakfast.  Go ahead, see what happens!
 
Meditation #1:  Get comfortable, preferably soon after you wake up, and allow yourself to connect with the place of dreams, day dreams, fantasy and fairytale.  Allow your mind to come upon the wildest wish you could possibly hope for, and when you have it, allow yourself time to imagine as many details as possible.  What is the weather like?  What are you and/or any other personas in the dream wearing, if anything?  What is happening?  Are the laws of physics the same in this world as they are in the ordinary realm?  What are the colors around you?  What do you hear?  What do you feel?  What do you smell?  Once you’ve created a very clear experience in your mind, allow yourself to shift, slowly to another impossible thought, maybe something that pertains to the world around you or a relationship.  You could fantasize about the perfect job, the best vacation ever, the most romantic moment imaginable . . .  Go ahead, indulge your imagination in 6 impossible things.  Notice if you have a desire to experience something that other parts of you are resistant to imagining.  Continue to do this practice, preferably journaling about your experiences, until something has shifted in the way you perceive the world.  It may be as simple as noticing that you are finding different ways to do old routines, or maybe you notice a sense of openness to new situations, or just a greater sense of creativity.  Whatever it is, give yourself the credit you deserve for strengthening your believing muscles, and if you ever, in the future, find yourself surrounded by skeptical thoughts, take a break and allow yourself to believe the impossible, if only for a moment.  Go ahead, and see what happens.
 
 
Another way of looking at this card is to consider the position of the Unicorn.  He is in a fabled battle with the Lion, and the two beasts continue to follow the same old nursery rhyme over and over without ever thinking about breaking outside the prescribed cycle of behavior: .  A very wise person, Albert Einstein, I believe it was, once defined insanity as  “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Now, if the Looking Glass world isn’t insane, I don’t know what is, and the never ending, never changing battle between the Unicorn and the Lion are a perfect example of being stuck in a crazy rut.  If we are looking to break out of an old habit, cycle, pattern of behavior, or something that continually arises in relationships with others or on the job, then we must allow ourselves the ability to think differently about them.  Similarly to the above meditation, allow yourself to connect with the Alice manifestation meditation, and you can also throw in this helpful meditation practice:
 
Meditation #2:  Allow yourself to call to mind a circumstance, behavior, or pattern you would like to change.  Instead of going into a mental process about how to go about doing this, allow your mind to relax and to hop down the rabbit hole for a moment.  Once you have arrived in the Looking Glass world, do a little check in with what you really want to see happening that is different from what you have now.  Don’t worry about the mundane details.  Focus on how you feel, mentally, emotionally, and physically.  If you are currently experiencing a loss of power in a situation, it might be helpful to see/feel/hear yourself with a lot of strength, confidence.  You are in the land of dreams and imagination, so you can allow yourself to pretend.  Notice how it feels to have a new experience.  If you are facing a daunting life change that currently makes you feel disempowered, imagine yourself navigating the circumstances with grace, wisdom, and mindfulness.  Keep practicing putting on new ways of being, like a costume change, until it doesn’t feel so much like a costume, and is more like an old familiar skin, and see how this new skin can guide you in your ordinary life circumstances into a different result than you could have even imagined before.
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Illustration by Hawraa Aljanabi - high school artist