Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Holy Liberation, Batman

Knew this MF would show up eventually. Some equate it with Saturn. Bonds and boundaries can be helpful, until they're not. I hold with the interpretation of this card that points to the pain of projecting one's shadow onto someone else, blaming/seeing others' faults when you're really looking in the mirror. The one interpretation of this card I won't accept is that which counsels against enslavement by desire. Desire is a gift that leads to freedom. It's the refusal to own desire that makes self-enslavement. But like The Big Lebowski says, shuffling off in his bathrobe and huffing the nitrous out of the whipped cream cans in the dairy aisle under the 3 a.m. fluorescents, hey, man, that's just my opinion.

The Devil

Bring to Burn

Fear of the flip and the whip
And the pull of the chain, fear of change,
Fear of pain, fear of fulfilling the cycle
Of self-fulfilling, fear of another
Direction, fear of love and the lack of love--
The chain is engraved with not enough
She is not worthy, he finds fault
It is the same damned thing, it is
One damned thing after another,

Fear moves them to strain against the chain
A move in another direction would loosen,
Fear of losing the one damned thing
They know, have always known, that pulls them together,
Fear of losing the tug of the past,
Fear of breaking, fear of the links falling slack,
Fear of losing by stepping loose--
If by their own steps and not by the beast's
Direction they moved, one step, another
To another, the star above would flip
To shine like their skin, their eyes
Themselves for all to see--
If they would love,
What demon could hold them?

2 comments:

db said...

Well, Buddha would quibble with you on that one, but you make a good point and write an even better poem.

Sally Wilde said...

i'm a little dumb about buddhism but was thinking of that whole problem where well, if you don't desire enlightenment or desire not to have desire, what would get you to go after it? desire creates suffering, so it's good...that kind of thing. or the felix culpa or jesus saying knock and it shall be opened. i think you have to really WANT it to go through all the trouble. but we should be drinking if we're going to talk like this!