Broken Chairs

In Lane’s Greenwitch Tarot this is the 5 of Earth

I accepted the chaos, and in the following night, my soul approached me.  Carl Jung 

Just when things seem balanced and safe in the 4’s (even if stalled), lightning strikes causing upheaval. The legs of the chairs shatter. Chaos ensues. This is the Tower XVI [Slap Upside the Head] of the Elements cards. I have learned (and re-learned) that nothing lasts and that I am particularly vulnerable to changing things up myself. Several “careers,” projects and my marriage come to mind. It's always been for the best when I’ve answered the Call from Spirit to move on, but golly it hurts and is scary in the moment!

        Where are you experiencing the dissolution of something you thought was forever, large or seemingly small? How do you cope with the broken pieces all around you? ­­­Can you find new chairs with stable legs to sit or stand on? You must build something new.

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Painting Journal Sunday, October 8, 1995 - ….The other assignment I worked on in that series was the actual making of the green chair. The famous green chair. It appeared again in the “Crowning (The Break)” painting and Susan said I needed to make it. I thought about it a lot and finally set to it in green modeling wax which I had gotten for the kids years ago. The curved chair back and seat were satisfying and the toothpicks worked pretty well to connect those two parts. It stayed like that for several days while I wondered how to make it stand up. Finally decided on some squared balsa that was about the right scale - tho the real chair had rounded legs. Kept not getting to it. Finally painted the legs with green acrylics out in the garage on Friday night. Stuck them together on Saturday a.m. getting ready for class. Too impatient for glue. The toothpicks split the balsa. Couldn’t get it to stay together. Threw it in a box and took it in pieces. Susan, of course, said it didn’t pass. It was as broken as the real one.

           It is a mysterious assignment, yet one that I can tell has some meaning. Why did I feel so good - comforted, loved, taken care of - by that chair?!  Still do even at the memory of it. I remember getting it at the rummage in early days back when they were at Pine Grove. Gave it up to Hank in class for several years. So now I struggle to imagine how to make it. Can’t figure out how to get balsa curved. Maybe I’ll have to make it life sized. So it goes.