A playing card featuring a woman with a cigar, dressed in a red dress with black sleeves, sitting on a rock in a desert landscape. The card has the number 1, the word Rebel, and a Route 66 symbol at the bottom, with a red background and a starburst pattern.

1       REBEL   

KEY CONCEPTS:  resistance, division, disruption, nihilism, divorce, defiance, legal matters, rivalry, roguery, opposition, difficult relationships, rebellious teen, strong-willed person, possibly the querent. 

MESSAGE:  Youth loves rebellion.  Do you defy authority to chase liberation? Do you yearn to break the rules, casting off tradition’s shackles and even dancing on the outskirts of the law?  You’re not alone in your defiance, Rebel.  We all occasionally thrust a fist in the air to roar a saucy rebel yell, but if you leave it aloft in endless combat, you’ve gone rogue.  When coppers yell “Freeze,” you refuse to surrender. Your gun-arm trembles, then stiffens from battle fatigue.

Resistance reveals underlying fear.  If you trusted the lawmen, would you go ahead and knuckle under?  When we’re hell-bent on asserting our personal will, we’ve lost touch with Divine will.  Resistance contains an insidious form of focus; it requires full concentration to push against something we oppose.  Over time, rebellion becomes less about freedom and increasingly binds you to whatever you contest.  People who feel subjected remain subjugated. No matter the force of their resistance, Rebels fail to gain freedom they so strenuously seek.  Even when progress in external conditions occurs,  Rebel remains defined by whatever she opposes.  Laws define the outlaw, and what we resist must unfortunately persist in our lives. Only by opening a window in your own consciousness can your true nature’s light stream through. 

Rebel says “Today’s no time to journey within; let’s get tipsy on bathtub gin!”  If it invaded your reading, go ahead and swagger a bit.  It’s okay to get some kicks every now and then...but notice any resistance you feel toward factors currently at play in your life.  Who or what are you holding hostage?  Could you soften your ego’s harsh demands?  Rebellion indicates conflict, internal or external.  Has your temper boiled over in response to strife?  Resistance builds muscles:  it strengthens the forces holding back your dreams.  Loosen your grip; drop that ransom note and relinquish control.  When we stop resisting, retaining or reacting to oppositional thoughts, tranquility follows.

 Many travelers of the Route were rebels and outlaws - Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, Henry Underhill, the Barker Gang – defying law and challenging the status quo in their dangerous and numbered days on 66.  Their zeitgeist lingers a century later, and travelers may yet witness some of their favored haunts.

RELATED SITES:  MERAMEC CAVERNS, STANTON, MO; BONNIE AND CLYDE HIDEOUT, JOPLIN, MO; CONGRESS HOTEL, CHICAGO, IL; LUNA CAFÉ, GRANITE CITY IL.