The scene is night. The stars in the Crab constellation twinkle overhead. The Feeler stands between two Italian cypresses, and stretches her arms out to us. She has golden hair, divided in tresses which circle her right breast clockwise, and her left breast counterclockwise. She is beautiful. Her only clothing is a skirt of woven gold, parted to show her legs. A single metallic serpent wraps around both ankles, keeping them together. A black circlet with the red Venus symbol is her crown. The Feeler is beautiful and alluring, the golden skirt suggesting her supreme value. The red Venus symbol makes her the very essence of sensuality. Yet she is unknown, a Virgin. The serpent keeps her ankles together. Cypresses grow in wet, swampy areas. Many grew up around the ruins of Rome, among the old mausoleums and monuments in the outskirts, which are naturally swampy. The twin cypresses are a symbol of death and decay, as is the night-time scene. The Feeler seems to welcome us to a new dark age. This theme is further spelled out in the prolog to this book. "A curious retreat is observed. Tis better to advance... All retreats are time consuming." Yet, this is not the only possibility for the Feeler. Indeed, everything about the card suggests duality, from the twin trees to the way the hair twines around her breasts, and the crab symbol, and the serpent. On her left side, there is regression, suggested by the rotation of the hair counter-clockwise, contrary to time. On her right side, we have progression in time. A crab can go equally well to the right or the left. The serpent has sexual connotations, and as phallus, is the means of 'knowing' the Feeler. Yet, here it is acting as a metallic chain, preventing knowledge of the Feeler. The Feeler and the Thinker are opposites. It is good to feel strongly, and to act on these feelings. It is good to learn from our feelings, for they are a surer guide than our thoughts. It is more difficult to learn how we feel about someone or something than it is to learn the facts. It is also more important, for feeling is the energy for life. It is what gives savor and color to life. Thought is pale and colorless and lifeless by itself. The Thinker has enchained feeling, and ignored it, and denied it as a form of knowledge. The possibility of another dark age has not gone unnoticed. It is not for any lack of technical knowledge that Rome fell, or that we might fall. It is a lack of feeling, an apathy towards preserving the civilization. This lifelessness is mirrored in our architecture, all plain square facades, crushing the individual with monstrous size. Civilization can only survive if we get our priorities straight. |
"Woe to him who feels and moves not. A won't is a will, but a non-motion is a clogging that, sooner or later, must move or else the vultures swarm."