Wendywu
This card’s immediate standout feature for me is the centipede – I love them 
I knew very little about this particular species but this is a very brief description
The rare and beautiful giant Sonoran Desert centipede (Scolopendra hems) grows to 8" long. It is bright orange with yellow legs and blue-black head and tail. A fast-moving predator of insects, its front legs are modified as fangs, and its poison is comparable to that of a scorpion. It is nocturnal and usually hides under rocks, and is rarely seen except on humid nights after summer rains.
Almost immediately however my eyes are drawn to the woman. Oddly her legs (and therefore her lower body) are facing us, but to have her hands in that position her upper body must be facing away from us. Given the care and precision which has been taken with these cards I do not doubt that this was done on purpose. Thinking about the possibilities of why the woman has been shown like this – I wondered about whether she was caught, held in one place because she couldn’t commit her whole self to going in one direction. And the longer she is held, indecisive and torn, the more trapped she becomes.
Also, I considered that possibly because of the action of the centipede, she is being forced to change direction – either turning to or from the creature and whatever it represents. Thinking about this possibility made me think about the centipede itself and what it could stand for in this card. One of the favourite habitats of the Giant Centipede (aka Sonoran Desert Centipede) is rotting logs. This immediately give me to think that if Molton Iron were a representation of moral rot then this centipede would be absolutely ideal to indicate what is going on with the woman. She is turning towards – or from - an inner decay of some sort. It sounds very judgmental and old fashioned but I think it is a real condition of the soul or spirit. It doesn’t mean one is a mass murderer or rapist – to me it means that I am not being the best me possible. I am succumbing to baser desires. In my case that means things like spending my time in personal pursuits when I am needed elsewhere, and have made a commitment to be there (spoken or unspoken), whether to someone else or to myself. Often I am inclined to be lazy round the house – it is something I chide myself on and yet still succumb. I recognise that this means that it is a pattern of behaviour I am not yet ready to change completely – I am torn in two over it, or else I would either succumb without a worry, or change my ways entirely.
Selfishness. In the end it all boils down to selfishness. Pleasing my self first, and sometimes even managing to persuade my silly self that I am right to do so! I don’t know quite how I achieve that but I do – I think it’s a case of “willing suspension of disbelief”. It goes something like this – “Why shouldn’t I come first sometimes?” – which is true enough but it’s soooo easy to step over the line from “sometimes” to “most of the time”. The Sonoran Desert Caterpillar is venomous. “Me, me, me” is a kind of venom that poisons the spirit, but it’s insidious and it is just an extension of a healthy level of self concern.
Looking at her hands and wrists, the woman is both being held and is holding on. So – whatever her form of personal disintegration she isn’t actually aware of it. Indeed, she holds on to it because she thinks it’s worthwhile for her to do so. However, what she hangs onto like grim death is also a kind of screen that shields her from the results of her behaviour and/or attitudes. It’s much easier to keep going with a type of behaviour if you don’t see the results! Of course what she holds up is a screen she has subconsciously made for herself to avoid recognising the possible consequences. And the tighter she holds the screen, the more those tentacles will wrap themselves around her ankles and wrists. Eventually when she realises what she’s been doing to herself (and others) she’s not going to find it as easy to let go as she might have liked.
There are red droplets on the screen which is barbed in places. Thus I see that whatever she is holding onto is really hurting her now. Maybe it didn’t to start with but it’s high time she let it go. This can apply to all sorts of things – with me it was chocolate. Sounds harmless enough – in fact, it’s gorgeous. In all its luscious, lovely forms. However for me and those like me it is poison. (I am an insulin dependent diabetic). Something so gorgeous and innocent was damaging me and although I knew it I kept on eating it. And thus I see that this card can illustrate how things which to everyone may appear innocuous can in fact be a danger, and selfish.
However, I don’t think this card has to refer to things like potentially life threatening bad habits. Looking at the image I see an egg, which the centipede has smashed open to get out of and is crawling up the woman’s body. Why would it do that? Because where she stands it is not safe for the centipede? It seeks a less dangerous place to rest? What could she be standing on, or in, that would elicit such a response in the centipede? Red droplets. In a deck almost dedicated to iron and the working of it. Red droplets – drops of molten, fiercely hot iron. If that were so then the woman is standing with her legs either side of a pool of the stuff. And if I were the newly hatched centipede I’d have crawled up her body too! If she is standing above such a dangerous pool I also understand why she holds on so tightly. Whatever surface her feet are on is managing to resist the intense heat of the furnace and responds to her need for support as she stands in such a dangerous and precarious place.
Why is she there?
What is it that is driving her to place herself in such danger? Is she there as a prop for the centipede? An act of personal sacrifice? I don’t think so. Nor do I see the Centipede as intending to become a parasite. I think it is doing what it has to do to save its life. But the woman – why is she there? Fire – heat – burning. But still she stands there, held and holding. If I were she what would I be feeling? Mainly I think my groin would be burning from the fierce heat of the molten iron. It could feel like lust I suppose – that frantic, burning, aching physical desire which demands urgent satisfaction. And she hangs there caught in a frenzy of purely physical satisfaction. And there’s nothing wrong with physical sensation – our bodies are made for the giving and receiving of pleasure. But what this woman feels is not the same as the desire for her lover, where the lover’s joy is as important as our own.
And I don’t think this relates just to sex, or the physical desire for anything one thing, I see it as an analogy for many situations. Ultimately of course, caught in this particular trap, she will die. The centipede’s birth however shows that the fire which will cause her death caused its egg to ripen to hatching point. Always, something lives and something dies.
Sometimes when I look at this card I see the egg as not having been that of the centipede at all but as being the prey of the centipede. This is physically wrong I know but as a visual impression it is quite disturbing. Especially when taken in conjunction with the centipede’s physical involvement with the woman. I remember a Robert Heinlein book “The Puppet Masters”. It talked about an alien invasion where the aliens attached their sluglike bodies to their victims’ spinal cords. Having burrowed into their brains through the backs of their heads the aliens then took over full control of their human host. But the awful thing was that rescued humans said that although they had been aware at some level of what had been done to them, and of what they were being forced to do they could do nothing to stop it. And to some extent, I see that with the images on this card. And that fascinates me because I have been that person, caught up in an undesirable and unlovely pattern of behaviour. On one level I was appalled at myself but on another I was full of “So what”. The things I was doing exerted a fascination and I was in a sense trapped. I do see that I was as much holding on as being held though, and at the time I would not have recognised either action.
I considered the whole card from the idea that whatever she is doing, it is high time she stopped. This could be anything really – one develops habits without realising it. Maybe she has stopped eating the right foodstuffs. Possibly she has wallowed at home all winter but needs to get out in the summer – but she is caught in the comfort of home whilst at the same time longing to head off into something new… Thought of like this, the card illustrates so many things. The image is so dramatic that the impulse is to connect it to dramatic patterns of behaviour but really – how many of us live dramatic lives? We all have moments of absolute intensity, but none of us lives our whole life at that pitch. Therefore the card cannot relate only to the big things in life. I have to learn how it relates to my daily life, and to my small doings and habits. This has taken a deal of time and thought simply because the image has such an impact.
After some initial difficulty in learning how to understand this card in small terms I have come to appreciate it for how connected it actually is to the way we live our lives, and what happens to us. I am both the woman and the centipede. And asking how I would feel, what could be happening and why in each case helps me to get an understanding of the card’s relevance to our daily lives.
I knew very little about this particular species but this is a very brief description The rare and beautiful giant Sonoran Desert centipede (Scolopendra hems) grows to 8" long. It is bright orange with yellow legs and blue-black head and tail. A fast-moving predator of insects, its front legs are modified as fangs, and its poison is comparable to that of a scorpion. It is nocturnal and usually hides under rocks, and is rarely seen except on humid nights after summer rains.
Almost immediately however my eyes are drawn to the woman. Oddly her legs (and therefore her lower body) are facing us, but to have her hands in that position her upper body must be facing away from us. Given the care and precision which has been taken with these cards I do not doubt that this was done on purpose. Thinking about the possibilities of why the woman has been shown like this – I wondered about whether she was caught, held in one place because she couldn’t commit her whole self to going in one direction. And the longer she is held, indecisive and torn, the more trapped she becomes.
Also, I considered that possibly because of the action of the centipede, she is being forced to change direction – either turning to or from the creature and whatever it represents. Thinking about this possibility made me think about the centipede itself and what it could stand for in this card. One of the favourite habitats of the Giant Centipede (aka Sonoran Desert Centipede) is rotting logs. This immediately give me to think that if Molton Iron were a representation of moral rot then this centipede would be absolutely ideal to indicate what is going on with the woman. She is turning towards – or from - an inner decay of some sort. It sounds very judgmental and old fashioned but I think it is a real condition of the soul or spirit. It doesn’t mean one is a mass murderer or rapist – to me it means that I am not being the best me possible. I am succumbing to baser desires. In my case that means things like spending my time in personal pursuits when I am needed elsewhere, and have made a commitment to be there (spoken or unspoken), whether to someone else or to myself. Often I am inclined to be lazy round the house – it is something I chide myself on and yet still succumb. I recognise that this means that it is a pattern of behaviour I am not yet ready to change completely – I am torn in two over it, or else I would either succumb without a worry, or change my ways entirely.
Selfishness. In the end it all boils down to selfishness. Pleasing my self first, and sometimes even managing to persuade my silly self that I am right to do so! I don’t know quite how I achieve that but I do – I think it’s a case of “willing suspension of disbelief”. It goes something like this – “Why shouldn’t I come first sometimes?” – which is true enough but it’s soooo easy to step over the line from “sometimes” to “most of the time”. The Sonoran Desert Caterpillar is venomous. “Me, me, me” is a kind of venom that poisons the spirit, but it’s insidious and it is just an extension of a healthy level of self concern.
Looking at her hands and wrists, the woman is both being held and is holding on. So – whatever her form of personal disintegration she isn’t actually aware of it. Indeed, she holds on to it because she thinks it’s worthwhile for her to do so. However, what she hangs onto like grim death is also a kind of screen that shields her from the results of her behaviour and/or attitudes. It’s much easier to keep going with a type of behaviour if you don’t see the results! Of course what she holds up is a screen she has subconsciously made for herself to avoid recognising the possible consequences. And the tighter she holds the screen, the more those tentacles will wrap themselves around her ankles and wrists. Eventually when she realises what she’s been doing to herself (and others) she’s not going to find it as easy to let go as she might have liked.
There are red droplets on the screen which is barbed in places. Thus I see that whatever she is holding onto is really hurting her now. Maybe it didn’t to start with but it’s high time she let it go. This can apply to all sorts of things – with me it was chocolate. Sounds harmless enough – in fact, it’s gorgeous. In all its luscious, lovely forms. However for me and those like me it is poison. (I am an insulin dependent diabetic). Something so gorgeous and innocent was damaging me and although I knew it I kept on eating it. And thus I see that this card can illustrate how things which to everyone may appear innocuous can in fact be a danger, and selfish.
However, I don’t think this card has to refer to things like potentially life threatening bad habits. Looking at the image I see an egg, which the centipede has smashed open to get out of and is crawling up the woman’s body. Why would it do that? Because where she stands it is not safe for the centipede? It seeks a less dangerous place to rest? What could she be standing on, or in, that would elicit such a response in the centipede? Red droplets. In a deck almost dedicated to iron and the working of it. Red droplets – drops of molten, fiercely hot iron. If that were so then the woman is standing with her legs either side of a pool of the stuff. And if I were the newly hatched centipede I’d have crawled up her body too! If she is standing above such a dangerous pool I also understand why she holds on so tightly. Whatever surface her feet are on is managing to resist the intense heat of the furnace and responds to her need for support as she stands in such a dangerous and precarious place.
Why is she there?
What is it that is driving her to place herself in such danger? Is she there as a prop for the centipede? An act of personal sacrifice? I don’t think so. Nor do I see the Centipede as intending to become a parasite. I think it is doing what it has to do to save its life. But the woman – why is she there? Fire – heat – burning. But still she stands there, held and holding. If I were she what would I be feeling? Mainly I think my groin would be burning from the fierce heat of the molten iron. It could feel like lust I suppose – that frantic, burning, aching physical desire which demands urgent satisfaction. And she hangs there caught in a frenzy of purely physical satisfaction. And there’s nothing wrong with physical sensation – our bodies are made for the giving and receiving of pleasure. But what this woman feels is not the same as the desire for her lover, where the lover’s joy is as important as our own.
And I don’t think this relates just to sex, or the physical desire for anything one thing, I see it as an analogy for many situations. Ultimately of course, caught in this particular trap, she will die. The centipede’s birth however shows that the fire which will cause her death caused its egg to ripen to hatching point. Always, something lives and something dies.
Sometimes when I look at this card I see the egg as not having been that of the centipede at all but as being the prey of the centipede. This is physically wrong I know but as a visual impression it is quite disturbing. Especially when taken in conjunction with the centipede’s physical involvement with the woman. I remember a Robert Heinlein book “The Puppet Masters”. It talked about an alien invasion where the aliens attached their sluglike bodies to their victims’ spinal cords. Having burrowed into their brains through the backs of their heads the aliens then took over full control of their human host. But the awful thing was that rescued humans said that although they had been aware at some level of what had been done to them, and of what they were being forced to do they could do nothing to stop it. And to some extent, I see that with the images on this card. And that fascinates me because I have been that person, caught up in an undesirable and unlovely pattern of behaviour. On one level I was appalled at myself but on another I was full of “So what”. The things I was doing exerted a fascination and I was in a sense trapped. I do see that I was as much holding on as being held though, and at the time I would not have recognised either action.
I considered the whole card from the idea that whatever she is doing, it is high time she stopped. This could be anything really – one develops habits without realising it. Maybe she has stopped eating the right foodstuffs. Possibly she has wallowed at home all winter but needs to get out in the summer – but she is caught in the comfort of home whilst at the same time longing to head off into something new… Thought of like this, the card illustrates so many things. The image is so dramatic that the impulse is to connect it to dramatic patterns of behaviour but really – how many of us live dramatic lives? We all have moments of absolute intensity, but none of us lives our whole life at that pitch. Therefore the card cannot relate only to the big things in life. I have to learn how it relates to my daily life, and to my small doings and habits. This has taken a deal of time and thought simply because the image has such an impact.
After some initial difficulty in learning how to understand this card in small terms I have come to appreciate it for how connected it actually is to the way we live our lives, and what happens to us. I am both the woman and the centipede. And asking how I would feel, what could be happening and why in each case helps me to get an understanding of the card’s relevance to our daily lives.
