POEM WRITTEN IN A DREAM (With An Old Drawing)
no balance here,
but a forging
in fire and water:
a battle
of balancing
but a forging
in fire and water:
a battle
of balancing
This post is a total self-indulgence, in the sense that my editor self says the poem especially is not all that good. However, an old part of me stepped to the fore in my dreams last night and she wants to be seen and heard. So, here she is.
I did this drawing in December of 1992, when I was (yet again) losing a great deal of weight. I have been a fantasy fan since my teen years and when I did this drawing I was envisioning a costume I would be proud to wear soon. (It never came to pass, either staying that slim or the costume.) The sword seemed the most important aspect of it. I used the Ace of Swords in The Thoth Tarot as inspiration:
but obviously didn't do a very good job. I can't imagine how anyone could actually hold, much less fight with that sword in my drawing. :-)
Then last night I had a series of dreams in which there were many struggles and fights. The last dream I had ended with images of The Ace of Swords (no particular deck) and in that dream I composed the above little poem.
When I awoke I immediately associated the "forging in fire and water" in the little poem to the traditional Temperance card in The Tarot (Rider/ Waite/ Smith version below):
as that is one of its many meanings -- the way blacksmiths temper swords. Further supporting this association: in one of the preceding dreams was a woman named Iris whom I was struggling to relate to -- those are irises in the lower right. (I should also add that Temperance is one of my "family" of cards in The Tarot -- determined by numerology -- and as such, is said to be a further evolution of The Hierophant, my basic numerological card.)
All of this raised the idea of a warrior woman, and I recalled the drawing above.
So there you have it, the genesis of this post. I'm delighted to have this strong, determined spirit in the foreground again, stepping into the New Year with me.
* * * *
‘til next time, keep dreaming,
Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blog: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL.
Labels: drawing, dream poem, dream-based poetry
posted by Roswila @ 9:07 AM
2 Comments:
OK, so maybe the words don't scan as smoothly and easily as some of your poems, but there's something very strong about this image... a forging of fire and water.
Isn't there similar language in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe? I think the White Witch says, as she calls on Aslan to fulfil his oath to stand in for Edmund as sacrifice that if he does not, the world would end "in fire and water." A threat, but invoking the same powers.
Actually, fire-in-water in an image of power found in Irish and Indo-European legend... a combination that fascinates me :)
Mary Pat
Oh, yes, fire and water -- powerful forces. I've always been fascinated by the way swords are tempered by blacksmiths: hold them in the flame, then plunge them in cold water; and that process is repeated until the blade is deemed fully tempered. Phew! What an art (which is the name of Crowley's redesign of Temperance: Art). But mostly I tend to feel the Deities are tempering me this way ... so that dream poem makes perfectly good, if painful, sense to me. LOL!
In the Tarot cards fire/wands and water/cups are said to fight each other. Yet, when they work it out they are said to be the The Sacred Marriage. Earth/pentacles and air/swords are also said to fight; when they get it together, they are the Earthly Marriage. I watch the elemental assignments of cards near each other in readings with this in mind. :-)
I also have developed a five card layout based on the elements. So that whatever "element" a card is really says something given the elemental position it lands in. I'll post that layout to my Tarot blog someday.
Yes, fire-in-water is definitely a fascinating image. Ooops, someone once described me as a flame in a tear-shaped bottle. Oh, my....
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