Dancing the Chair

In Lane's Greenwitch Tarot this is the 7 of Earth

Somehow during the surrender process of the 6 of Earth, she rises up strong on the remaining chair from the 5 of Earth. Fierce. Grounded. Fighting the unseen demonic dragons that are attacking her. Naked and vulnerable, yet with Fire’s magic and mystery rising from the earth’s volcanos to loom behind her. Her righteous anger is her ally and gives her courage. The present is murky, the future unknown but, armed with only her True Self, she stands her ground. Game to take the challenge.

What dragons of fear and past history threaten you? How and where do you take your stand to say, “No more!”? Where do you find the courage? Can you turn the dragons into allies? Your ancestors are urging you to take a stand that helps heal us all. Calm Yourself Essence can help with the dance.

Painting Journal

Friday, 29 September  1995

       I’ve dragged myself over to painting both Wednesday and today. I feel very distant from my paints. Wanting good paintings. Wednesday’s was mush in terms of color - giving in to my fears content-wise. [“Dancing on theChair”] The unknown keeps feeling so scary - even tho I keep reaching for it (I think) with both hands! The figure-scratched into the smear looks like she’s fighting - her back against the snakes and furies that are indistinctly rising behind her.

Sunday, October 8, 1995 (see also “Broken Chairs” 95-34)

So I started in on a second piece of paper - another green chair. Bigger and from another angle. I planned to go back and do a background in the 1st painting but I actually rather liked the way it looked and didn’t have the energy to do more.

So the second painting had the top, back part of a bigger chair. Colored lines went next to it which I blurred and smudged. Looked rathe like snakes but heavy and definitely un-beautiful. Reminded me of the world I was trying to be born into in “Difficult Labor” and some of the spooky parts in other paintings. Murky. A world waiting to be born.  Sound familiar?!

           I rubbed color which became gray in the background - let the chair smear too. Then who should appear but me dancing on the chair - scratched, smudged in.  Rather defiant looking as if a sword might materialize in her hand for a dragon just off the paper to the left. Again like the early painting (Defying Demons) when I flung off my clothes and danced on the same chair.

           It just occurred to me: Maybe the chair represents safety. I feel safe and comforted in it for some reason but now I dance on it in defiance. It doesn’t even exist anymore. It’s broken. We don’t have conventional chairs in this house. So maybe it’s a vestige of the past that has now worked its way into entropy. I’m dancing on the knife edge. Have felt very much on a knife edge today. Caught between my fears and my hopes.

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