A Certain Slant of Light

Bohemian Gothic Tarot

Working with the BoGo today by Karen Mahony and Alexandr Ukolov of Magic Realist Press. This is such a sumptuous deck. Today's draw features some particularly lovely depictions, the Five of Pentacles and the Four of Swords. Looking at the combo my first reaction was along the lines of taking refuge from poverty consciousness, seeking sanctuary from institutionalized inner structures that don't support our well-being. But as I looked more deeply at the cards I realized that while that was a perfectly acceptable take on the pair it was only a surface take. A little journeying was in order...

Five of Pentacles ~ Bohemian Gothic Tarot

In this Five of Pentacles the woman conveys such pride with her upright bearing, the set of her jaw and firm gaze. She easily encompasses her infant in her right arm and her little girl hanging onto her left hand, almost without awareness of them. The little girl looks very hungry, tired and desperate as the mother determinedly continues forwards past the open door of the institution in which glows a warm, red lantern. Is she aware of the possible refuge there? Is it closed to her? Is she too proud to accept help? The ravens stand in her path, wonderful familiars, guides and bringers of magick but she's unaware of these blessings in her path.

The more I look at this card the more I feel her proud refusal to see the help available which she does at the expense of her children. She has courage and strength but at what cost? Being the suit of Pentacles perhaps some of that earth energy needs to soften and shift a little. And because it's a Five I'm reminded of The Hierophant who is so often associated with institutionalized religious structures. What structures do I have in place that don't serve the unfolding of the Divine? Where do I refuse to seek help?

Interestingly I don't often get such a strong element of willful refusal when I draw this card. Normally I get more of a theme of helplessness, obvious weakness, ill-health and so forth. Not here and I think it's because of her body language, the sense of held breath in her ribcage, her strong, upright jaw, the set of her glance. I imagine on another day I might see this card quite differently but today that's what is being called forth.

Four of Swords ~ Bohemian Gothic Tarot

I'm aware of many of the themes in the Five being repeated here in the Four of Swords--a figure dressed in red, vaulted archways, Raven energy and again a diffuse source of light. There is a receptivity here though that is lacking in the previous card. The Raven familiar is now perched intimately near the figure's knee, the place that bends and allows surrender, allows us to touch the earth, to kneel, to pray. The red clothing suggests that the will is involved but in a more oblique way, it has surrendered to grace, to refuge, to sleep and is worn easily as the drapes and folds spill over the figure and the bed with ease.

Behind the figure a great vaulted room is half-lit, the illumination similar to what might be occurring within. The figure still clasps the sword so there hasn't been a complete surrender of the obsessive thoughts but enough so that they aren't calling the shots. The sword lies between the figure's legs in a fairly suggestive way. Perhaps there is some healing going on within of the inner masculine?

I like to think the woman in the Five has finally found a place where she can allow the internalized institutional structures to fall away a little, that her children--those unpolished, immature parts of ourselves--have been integrated into a self that knows something of surrender, that is now being nourished in the dream realm, immersed in the multi-faceted prism of the sub-conscious so as to bring more light to it upon awakening. And here I feel as the theme of this combo one of my favorite esoteric teachings of Jesus, "suffer the little children to come unto me". It's such a brilliantly pithy example of shadow work. Another word for suffer is to allow, allow all the unpolished parts of myself, the young, undeveloped, hidden-in-the corners, stubborn, unspeaking parts of myself to come forwards, to be embraced in the Heart, illuminated by the Light. Allowing is as simple as becoming aware of all the times I ignore these parts out of pride or will or fear. Becoming aware is sanctuary, refuge from the shadow of neglect. Emily Dickinson names the numinous quality of this process so beautifully...

There's a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.

None may teach it anything,
'Tis the seal, despair,-
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, 't is like the distance
On the look of death.

~ Emily Dickinson ~