Natalia Lee

A nest of sorts

Resonance

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Musings

I ended my observations in the previous piece with the art of seeing and how connecting to place allows for flow and vision. Now, what the hell is that? Well, from what I gather, and my own personal experience, this is how I would define the art of seeing, it is manner of being in the moment, of orienting oneself with awareness to what is, of stripping the self of ideations by just looking at what is around and before me, you, the individual.

It has to do with resonance.

As I seek to read what is before me, including the cards, in a state of resonance that stems out of awareness, I am pushing outward and forward seeking to break conventions and dictums, in my readings, in my approach to what is spiritual, and in life. Creating an echo that reverberates beyond words. Seeking to go beyond and outside the word. Even though we all live by the word and the worlds these create, framing our lives, our selves, our thoughts, our identities by the word. But what lives outside of this superstructure? Perhaps, resonance and possibility. Of course, I am not continually, if ever truly in this permanent state, but I do strive to reside in this flux of potential. What could one possibly find in this place of being and not being? The body as agent? The body as an interactive surface? The body and being?

I think about these things as I seek to resonate and align my body and thoughts with the moment. About a month ago I started a daily regimen of planetary prayers à la Hygromanteia, or the The Magical Treatise of Solomon, translated and edited by Ioannis Marathakis. Just simple daily planetary prayers coupled with the Orphic hymn of the same planet. This began as a means of aligning my self in space and time, yet gradually it has evolved to include prayers to the Saints on their particular days, the occasional incense or candle if I feel inclined, as well as breath and body work. In taking this small sliver of time before officially beginning my day, feeding my toddler, drinking coffee and having breakfast, I find myself thinking about precisely what it is that I am doing.

This experience, using a particular framework consistently, of orientation and alignment to the moment, in situ, has created an awareness which engenders resonance. I suspect this is the crux of the importance behind, and insistence of, grounding, as it’s purported in the tarot community. Grounding the body and mind anchors the self to place and moment, which in turn allows for a better time reading the cards. Now, I will admit that when card reading I don’t generally go through all the gestures of “grounding” and whatnot, I shuffle, cut, tap the deck, and lay down the cards on the table. But through these actions, a sort of immersion to the moment is achieved. Returning back to the concept of grounding, I see it now as a way of orienting being in space and time as well. This being opens up the art of seeing that is born out of resonance. When place reverberates within you. Not what comes next, not what came before, thoughts, desires, ideations, all loose their hold.

Another aspect of this daily practice that I am seeing unfold is the power of the body, which reminds me of a Lecture given by Alkistis Dimech, which a friend shared with me some time ago.

“To map this body, which is the source of my work, and I think should be put back into the heart of magic.”

This lecture is mainly about Butoh but it swerves elegantly into the realm of the body.

Slowly, during my daily practice, I find myself performing gestures with my centering that have become a corporeal praxis. Simply allowing my body to move with the breathe. I am finding that these actions coupled with my centering(breathwork), open me up gracefully for what follows, namely the hymns and prayers. Yet I am sensing something beyond this opening, I am sensing that these gestures demarcate the power of the body. In other words, it is a way of mapping the body. A way of immersing the All self (inner and outward) in the space and time, of alignment. This daily performance of mine lasts about 10-15 minutes, but its enduring worth is palpable as I approach the rest of the day.

In retrospect, I do hope this wandering piece makes cohesive sense. What I want to get at is that our best and primary interactive surface is our body and through orienting ourselves to the moment, both inwardly and outwardly, instead of continually pining towards the future, the plans, the lists, and things that have yet to pass (or worse the myriad past happenings), we gain the gnosis that comes with awareness, with seeing what is, and consequently acting (or reading) according to this revelation. In closing, I will share one last thing. This month, I will be rolling out weekly tarot readings aligned with each day of the week, a sort of forecast, yet anchored to the planetary rulers of each day, à la classical astrology. Something simple, and pithy you can take with you for the day if the reading resonates with you. I hope those that follow or stumble upon this creative space of mine enjoy this new weekly experiment. Also, please remember I am not an astrologer. If I am anything, it is someone who loves reading, be it books, signs, cards, tarot, and it is through this medium that I approach these weekly planetary readings.

~~~
Place, Spirits, and Self, part 1

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Musings

One month has passed since my one year anniversary of living in the Pacific Northwest. Finally, the dust has somewhat settled and my homesick heart has reached a sort of peace with what is. Meanwhile, being and living in this land has brought certain ideas to the forefront for me that have been cooking in my mind this passed year.

Namely, the spirits of place. I am very much of the belief that place orients and shapes the self. It is a seamless interaction and exchange that goes mostly unnoticed in our regular lives. When I first moved to Puerto Rico, a tropical and fiery island in the Caribbean, I was shocked by the difference, coming from a relatively small town. It was a culture shock that reverberated for years. At that point in my life, I didn’t know how to articulate my feelings of orientation within the new place that was both alien and recognizable. I recognized the parts in me that awakened to the island, while I also recognized the parts in me that were put off by the stark polarity. A clash of differences.
It took years of work, adjustment, and perseverance to finally understand the place, the spirits of the place, and come to terms with what that meant to me. Admittedly, the echoes of the experience still plague my mind, all the particularities of the island and life as it is lived there.

I recall, during my studies, one of the first Spanish historians to document the life, culture and history of the island, Fray Iñigo Abbad, and what he had to say about the island and its people. One of the points in his narrative that stood out for me was the bacchanalian spirit that reigned among the islanders. Stories of celebrations that would last many days, where people would travel long distances to meet at the place where the celebration was taking place. According to Fray Iñigo’s narrative, the natives of Puerto Rico, which are of mixed descent, had a certain quality of laxity that bordered on laziness. Obviously, this is an outsider judging from his particular position (of power, perspective, and place). The islander was industrious in a way that didn’t fall under the categorizations of this historian at that particular time. I digress.

What I want to get at with this is that each place exerts a presence (singular and plural) upon the individual. As the individual interacts with the place, there is an exchange that ensues wherein the individual is altered, even if minutely. This is what struck me upon arriving in Puerto Rico, the bacchanalian and lackadaisical spirits, bordering on frenetic, that reigned over the place. In retrospect, these spirits ensnared my heart and I know I changed through the experience.

Now living in this starkly different place, the Pacific Northwest, there is a different air (spirits), that predominates here. I have spent this past year trying to place myself within this panorama and orient my self within this place. Thinking about the self and the place this self inhabits is an interesting exercise, it is a way of heightening awareness and acclimatizing yourself within the space you occupy. In this case, I am orienting myself to a new space. As I do this, I maintain the moment, I hold the moment in the palm of my hand and in turn this helps to attune my awareness to what is, not what one fancies, desires, dreams, but what is.

Following this line, I have been working with the idea of place and spirits, especially in relation to my life, my craft, what I do, my daily or weekly workings, my writing, and my -mantic (divinatory) activities. I am seeing that what unfolds and is refined through being in the moment, to holding what is, the present, is the art of seeing.

Before ending this piece, I want to ask the cards about this matter of place, spirits, and the self.

The Centennial Rider Waite Smith Tarot, US Games, 2009.

The key to unfolding the interaction between self and place and spirits is through awareness of the transitory, of change, keeping yourself bare and heightened to the experience of the moment. The spirits of place are still, as what they are, genius loci. But the self is movement, a creation of meaning in the light of what is present.

~~~
The Stairway

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Spreads

Continuing from my previous post about having courage and a good deal of agility, I went down that route out of a realization that I am often too headstrong for my own good. Determined to achieve a specific goal, or vision in mind, unwilling to relent even when all fingers point the other way. It is a weakness to attachments. As the years go by, I realize that relentless attachments to ideas, concepts, and “goals” are counter-intuitive to life. When do plans ever pan out as we anticipate them? When is life every truly linear? No matter how one wishes to “construct” illusions, life is about change and flux. It is out of this understanding that I decided to end the individual survey of the pips in the Tarot de Marseille decks. Only the batons are left and I will most likely pool them together.

Now to keep things fresh, I want to share a spread I have had swimming in my mind for some time. About a month ago I wrote a small essay on spreads as cartography. Wherein I talk about looking at spreads as an organic interaction between the cards themselves and the shape of the spread. Sans specific positions.

This is the stairway spread, its focus is tension and progression.

Eros Tarot by Uusi Design Studio, printed by The Expert Playing Card Company, 2017.

As always, tension is never absent when reading cards, in this specific case it is pertinent to look at the tension between the two cards on each level. While afterwards, looking at how this tension leads to the progression on the following level. The two optional cards, are only for context and if needed, you can play around with the signification of these cards as they relate to their position in the stair.

Here is an example from my previous post.

Eros Tarot by Uusi Design Studio, printed by The Expert Playing Card Company, 2017.

The Seeker steps through into the unknown, a demanding proposition requiring strength before her. Sharp teeth gnaw at her fingers, threatening to devour her efforts and kill her resolve. The cold sharp blades open to give way for calming waters. A new road of potential opens, an outgrowth of the entanglement. The waters lead to the king of coins. From a tentative beginning, the lady has arrived on solid ground, a mighty staff on hand, with the power of a newly minted coin as a reward. The power of knowledge and discernment. The power to know and act.

There was no specific question here, I just wanted to see what the cards had to say at that particular moment. As you can see, the theme here is about handling unexpected opposition when the unknown presents itself, and seeing how the opposition opens up viable possibilities of movement. It is clear how each phase interacts within itself and consequently leads to the next step. The seeker opens up the conversation as a portal into the unknown, where two coins are proposed as inherent potential in exchange. The 2 of coins then move seamlessly into Strength, as the Lady and the Lion. The suppression found in the abundance of swords clashing speaks of the tension in the previous card, which in turn transforms into the 6 of cups. The polarity of the swords is now appeased as the green leaves grow upward and downward, with the cups in accord. What was once hostile is now tamed. The Lady is now the King, capable and agile.

It is an interesting spread to use when thinking about plans and projects. It can show possible routes as things (ideas, hopes, goals) intertwine or unravel. A possible teleological play. It is amusing to look at these progressions and the structures we create for ourselves and our lives and realize that none of this means anything other than subtle possibilities. As I look at whatever potential I might hope for in my life, I learn to really embrace the agile and tenacious, my swift feet, while remaining ever in the moment.

Feel more than free to play around with this spread and if you have any comments on it, do share.
To find the treasure…

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The Pips

The Seeker steps through into the unknown, a demanding proposition requiring strength before her. Sharp teeth gnaw at her fingers, threatening to devour her efforts and kill her resolve. The cold sharp blades open to give way for calming waters. A new road of potential opens, an outgrowth of entanglement that she must breath meaning into. Waters that lead to the king of coins. From a tentative beginning, the lady has arrived on solid ground, a mighty staff in hand, with the power of a newly minted coin as a reward. The power of knowledge and discernment. The power to know and to act.

These days I have been rereading the marvelous treat by Jose Leitao, “The Immaterial Book of St. Cyprian: Folk Concepts and Views on The Book as a Cultural Item Through the Reading of Folk Narratives,” published by Rubedo Press earlier this year.† It is a compendium of folk tales from the Iberian Peninsula, namely Portugal, that involve The Book of St. Cyprian.

As I read the book a second time around, many tangents converge, my work with the cards, my work with the spirits and saints, and also my life as it is moving at the moment. One of the many lessons that have resonated and stayed with me from my teacher Camelia Elias, is that of living in the moment, not in the past and not in the future. And I ask, what does the moment require of me? This is a good question to ask oneself regularly as life continues to move and change and shift. It is a reminder for myself that all I have is this moment, additionally, it evokes awareness.

In line with this thinking, The Immaterial Book of St. Cyprian reminds me through its folktales the invaluable concept of daring, especially when roaming at the periphery of established order, or consensus. This is still resonant now as structures loom high, and one is driven to move about in a manner that requires dynamism and elasticity. Besides, life continually demonstrates that plans are rarely linear, from point A to point B and afterwards point C. Lady Fortuna has a way of keeping us on our toes as the wheel keeps turning. What better way to engage with the ever-turning wheel than keeping to the moment? Asking the “I” what does the moment require of it?

Moreover, one of the most prominent ideas found in these immaterial folktales is that of treasure. The promise of treasure, after enduring a test of daring and courage, involving facing fears, the night, the unknown, or spirits. In the face of intangibles and the unknown, the treasure is always somewhere down the road. Seizing the prize entails courage, versatility and resilience, remaining in the moment without letting unnamed fears overpower the heart.

Speaking of treasures, I want to now uproot the coins, and leave the way open for whatever arises. The pips are really rather quite simple, it is all a matter of space and movement, too much or too little. Many coins is treasure, and a small amount of coins is scarcity of the promise of more. Here are the remaining cards of the suit of coins along with a message.

Eros Tarot: The Garden of Love published by Uusi Design Studio, printed by The Expert Playing Card Company, 2017.

The entanglement of materialization, of becoming, keeps our attentions attached and distracted. We want more and more and more and let this nameless desire guide our vision. Instead of letting the promise of more guide the gut, be astute and let the heart carry you along the journey to the treasure.

*More on the spread featured in the beginning and the tarot deck used in a later post.

†Found here.