Welcome to Monday Mettā

What is Mettā?

Mettā: Loving friendliness, goodwill, and kindness directed both inward and outward.

The Pali word Mettā (in Sanskrit, Maitrī), means “loving friendliness” (a term made popular by Bhante Gunaratana) or “loving kindness.” 

Mettā is one of the four sublime states defined by the Buddha. The other three are compassion (Sanskrit: karunā), appreciative joy, and equanimity. In Buddhism, all four states develop together. 

Mettā is both very simple to begin practicing and can, at the same time, be a complex mind-bend. Let’s start simply:

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I exist with ease. 

That is a mettā meditation that I repeat each morning as I meditate. Please take it for yourself. Say it in the car on the way to work or as you wake up in the morning. Say it before you go to bed, or in the shower. You don’t need to set aside special time to sit (although you can!). Make it a daily practice. And turn it towards others. 

What is Monday Mettā?

A newsletter that blends loving-kindness with intuition and good words. It is a place to find a weekly-ish meditation and a place to stretch your own intuitive skills by interacting with tarot cards. Sometimes I write about things that matter to me. Most months come with a short essay on the moon phases.

In this newsletter, I read from the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck. I use House of Intuition’s Crystal Encyclopedia and Judy Hall’s Crystal Bible to interpret the crystal meanings. Intuitive tarot was inspired by Sarah Greenman, who was in turn inspired by Chris Corsini, because inspiration is contagious.

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By subscribing to this newsletter, you agree to this disclaimer: Rachel Barker's role as writer and intuitive is to facilitate the reader towards their own choices of action. Whether to make a particular choice or take a particular action is entirely the responsibility of the reader. Rachel Barker accepts no legal responsibility for the actions or outcomes of actions that the client may take as a result of this newsletter. By subscribing, you agree to these terms.