How Death Can Improve Life: In Conversation with Kate Jerrier
Being able to talk with one of my dear friends, and event rentals coordinator, Kate Jerrier was so joyful and rewarding! Discussing big topics is so important in my personal relationships, and this conversation helped me to understand more about Kate, discover more about the world, and brought us closer as friends.
During our conversation, Kate mentioned that she had a big realization after I did a tarot card reading for her. I want to note that while many see tarot as a tool for divination, I see it as a tool for self-reflection. When you start from a place of reflection, you can layer other meanings on top of tarot if you’d like, but the primary take away will stay personal to you and your own interpretation of tarot as a tool and/or artform. Regardless of your position on psychic readings, the afterlife, or the potential for communication from beyond our physical world, tarot can still provide an opportunity to think about specific, or general, life questions you may be confronting.
I have been reading tarot cards for several years and I believe that when I am reading cards for someone, it is their personal belief system that impacts their relationship to the cards and the reading. Whether the person I’m reading has a higher power, a belief in a bigger energy, or believes that there is no connection between all of us, tarot can allow for your belief system to speak to you, either as a message from above or simply another way to think about the path you are walking right now.
For those that may believe in the ability of tarot cards to predict the future, there is still an interesting approach that tarot takes to divination. While the cards may discuss the future, tarot is only showing you the future that will occur if you stay on the same path you are currently on. Tarot, as a practice, recognizes and supports the belief that we all have free will. Further, many tarot practitioners recommend using tarot as a way to reflect on your actions and change them in order to change the future that is currently predicted. I personally have not decided whether or not tarot is accurate in fully showing someone their future, but when I read someone’s cards, I do feel connected to my own higher power, and to the person I am reading in a powerful way. That connection is worth pursuing and tarot has simply provided another avenue for me to discuss life and decision making with the people around me.
Kate acknowledged that the reading I gave her provoked a realization. While being relevant to her current situation, the reading also gave Kate a new perspective on her own higher power and inspired her to explore the connection we all have to those that have passed. We all have a moment in our life, oftentimes it’s when we encounter the death of a loved one, where we confront mortality and are drawn to exploring the potential of an afterlife. While not everyone may call this an afterlife, facing your own impermanence makes us all consider what might happen once we are no longer here. This exploration can generate innumerous questions that can help us get closer to our own definition of Truth.
When we start asking these questions that we know we will never find definitive answers to, we can have confidence that we are on the path towards self discovery. I equate the experience of exploring unanswerable questions to working out when your body starts to get tired. If you are doing crunches and your abs start to get sore, pushing through the soreness is what starts really breaking down your muscles in order for them to grow back stronger. Similarly, when we hit a point in exploration where we can’t find a logical next step, continuing the exploratory process is what breaks down our preconceived notions allowing us to develop new, and potentially more meaningful, beliefs about the universe. Both in working out, and asking existential questions, we reach a moment where we want to stop; but pushing forward is what breaks down our former state to create a new, powerful state of being. In many ways, this evolving, and enduring, process is much of what we are searching for in the first place. In this way, living a full life can help, or completely become, the way we make meaning.
In the episode, Kate and I also discussed her personal relationship with religion. In this conversation we explored how all religions, and the defining qualities of religions, are human made. This fact caused Kate, during her religious exploration, to wonder, “Why can’t I define my own religion?” If historically religions have been made by a small group and then grow until they are believed by a wide swath of people, then it stands to reason that our own process of establishing a religious practice is just as valid. I think this is something that most of us already do, whether or not we are conscious of it. Each of us encounter religion, spirituality, or a lack thereof at some point in our life, and when we begin to think and reason for ourselves without taking what others say at face value, we begin thinking and reasoning about our higher beliefs and purpose as well. Further, I think that defining our own version of religion transcends the labels of “atheist,” “theist,” or “agnostic.” These broad-strokes terms reduce independent critical thought down to a vague category. Confining a journey of personal exploration into three vague categories, while necessary to communicate quickly and effectively, can be harmful when it is equated to definitive meaning. While these terms and categories are helpful, it is important to separate the use of language for ease of communication from the actual definition we are all embracing and practicing in our daily lives.
Returning to Kate’s personal religious journey, she still identifies as a Catholic, but does not feel the need to practice traditionally. For her, embracing the label of “Catholic,” comes from her history. Kate’s personal process with defining her religion made me think about the different ways we choose to define ourselves. Just because Kate’s practices and beliefs have shifted overtime doesn’t mean she needs to metaphorically, “throw the baby out with the bath water,” and lose the aspects of Catholicism that she enjoys. Our processes for defining what meaning looks like for us can be in any way shape or form. Because of this, I think it’s important to give grace and space to others when they offer the title they may use to define their religion, because we do not know their process, experience, or definition of religion or spirituality.
Tarot and Catholicism, two aspects commonly thought to be at odds with one another, came through in this episode in a striking way. This speaks to the expansive nature of personal meaning making and the way each of us can explore different tools and practices in whatever way makes sense to us. I hope you all found something to reflect on during this conversation - I certainly did! Kate is a beautiful example of someone living at the intersection of joy and meaning. These two things are truly linked and Kate’s life shows how these two things are linked, and how we can find joy through meaning, and vice versa. If you want more content, subscribe to Making Meaning on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and subscribe to the blog so you never miss a post! If you want to join the conversation, follow us on Instagram @thecoherecollective and leave a comment sharing your thoughts on this episode. If you want more of Kate, follow her on Instagram @katejerrier.
Until next time, so much love!
XX
Reese, Founder
The Cohere Collective
