The word Judgement is loaded. In the Judgement Card in the Rider Waite deck we see an angel, with a huge horn, beckoning the dead to rise from their graves and, presumably, face judgement. It certainly invokes ideas expressed in the New Testament where the primary idea of redemption is the deliverance from bondage, specifically the bondage of sin.
However many readers do not subscribe to the idea that there is a judgement, ransom or reckoning taking place and this view is supported by artists like Rachel Pollack’s who replaces the word Judgement with ‘Awakening’ in her ‘Shining Tribe Tarot‘. The idea is that the Angel is calling upon the dry bones to awaken and reincarnate into a fresh new life.
It would be easy to think of this kind of awakening or transition as some kind of rebirth, but really, as Lisa Freinkel Tishman points out in her book ‘Mindful Tarot’ it is more about simply responding to a divine calling, responding to the trumpeter and accepting the intervention of a higher power. It implies that the time is right for the querent to move into a brand new phase. The querent can look forward to dynamic new beginnings.
Sandra Anne Pankhurst’s early experience was horrendous. It was not a good beginning. At the age of seven, when she still identified as a boy, Sandra’s given name was ‘Peter’. As Peter he was told by his adoptive family that he was “no longer wanted”. After that, he survived 10 years of severe physical and psychological abuse before running away from home.
At 18, Peter married and soon after had the first of two boys with his then-wife. At 23, when Peter’s wife discovered that he had been visiting gay bars, Peter went through a major transition. He moved out of the family home, separated from his wife, and embraced his emerging identity as a woman, as Sandra.
For many trans people, transitioning is a process of becoming the gender identity they always wanted to be. But for Sandra, it wasn’t like that – she didn’t always want to be a woman. In Sandra’s experience, she decided to transition when she learned that it was possible.
Read the Trauma Cleaner and marvel at how Sandra Anne Pankhurst, an individual, who had faced a lifetime of hostility and transphobic abuse eventually responded to a calling and became dedicated to cleaning up the messes left behind after the trauma of suicide, meth labs, and hoarding. The idea for her trauma cleaning business emerged when she was a funeral director, as there were no death/crime scene specialist cleaners.
Pankhurst was also an active advocate for aged care rights, disability, mental health and ethics. She was extremely passionate about making a positive impact on the welfare of people of all lifestyles in the aged care and mental health sector.
Waltzing With Matilda's 