The Shadow Tarot 

© Linda Falorio, 1995

Depicted is the Goddess Qatesh, goddess of dark passion, sexual heat, the north, the Night. Her face remains unseen behind a creative amber radiance that blurs all ego-boundaries, and transcends the precious hard-won personal sense of individuality.

In her right hand she holds orchids, exotic symbols of the lushness, the profusion, generosity and abundance of the Source of Life. In her left hand she holds three snakes, symbolic of her oneness with the sexual imperative of Nature, from the pulsing, pushing forward of the atmospheric bion, to the joyful copulations of all forms of life, and to the great celestial dramas of the aurora borealis, the cosmic superimposition of great bion streams in which move galaxies and stars.

Above her head is the full moon resting in a crescent, which is symbolic of the lunar current in its active phase, calling forth the leprous life that flourishes beneath the cold pale light of the inconstant Moon, yet whithers with the coming of the unforgiving sun.

The bottom half of her body is that of the Black Cat of the Sabbatic Mysteries, for she does not, as in Dayside representations, close the lion's mouth nor ride upon its back, for she has incorporated the Great Wild Beast into herself, centering her mind and her emotions in her own vast sexual powers.

Arched above Her is the rainbow, while curling to the left is the serpent Dangbe, Damballah, sacred to Aidowedo, rainbow goddess of the voudoun cults and symbolic of the Lunar deluge. The serpent's tongue is poised for the ancient rite through which the priestess, the Pythoness, undergoes her visionary trance. Symbolic also of the Dangbe cult are the palm leaf and ant hills to the lower right.

MEDITATION:

A need to work with the energies of Temphioth is suggested when one experiences feelings of joylessness, feelings of emotional, and/or intellectual dryness, coldness, an inability to take an active sexual role and arrive at orgasm, an inability to lose oneself in the creative moment. There may be experienced a lack of self-confidence, a lack of positive physical vitality and grounding in the body and the senses, or a lack of a sense of personal power.

The powers of this tunnel are the ability to become one with primitive limbic instincts, to become one with our erotic sensations, the ability to live with intensity and passion. The going becomes reality as we ourselves become the path, the central essence of our own creative acts. This tunnel grants great physical vitality, with a positive personal electricity and magnetism that can be used to create, to bless, and to heal. Here also is the ability to channel potentially dangerous life energies, as do cult devotees who dance in ecstasy with venomous snakes and take their protection from harm as a sign of beatitude and grace, as well as of proper centering and at-one-ness in the moment, when (and if) they are not fatally bitten.

Dangers of excess are burn-out, physical dissipation, and exhaustion. Blocking of these potent energies can be seen in poor circulation, coldness of heart, and depression.