Dark Nights of the Soul

[augursWell]

I used the term "Dark Night of the Soul" just the other day, but I am having more and more awkwardness with the metaphor. I have learned to love darkness as much as light: neither is inherently evil or good, and the one which is not in balance is actually the one we need to learn to value and strive for.

This reminds me of once when I was talking with a relative and they said something like "You know, yin and yang, good and evil...". I disagreed with them saying that if you take Summer and Winter, for example, you cannot say that one is evil and the other good or vice versa. I think this is a basic misunderstanding for many people outside this forum -- equating the concept of good and evil with dualistic concepts like yin and yang. Symbolically I liken it to a cross, good and evil are the center beam with good at the top and evil at the bottom. Yin and Yang are the cross beam of left and right. They are really two different concepts. Darkness and light, summer and winter go back and forth on the cross beam while we all move upwards towards the good. At least that is my chosen direction.

Darkness in this context simply is a metaphor for me(you might also say "Cold Winter of the Soul"), it does not indicate goodness or evil. As I say, good and evil are a separate issue in my view (and that issue might be the cause of the Dark Night/Cold Winter).

 

[ncefafn]

Just had to add a plug for Douglas Adams, who wrote of the "long dark teatime of the soul, when it is always three o'clock in the afternoon." More existential ennui than staring into the abyss that stares back into you, but it still bites.

 

[Sophie-David]

Just had to add a plug for Douglas Adams, who wrote of the "long dark teatime of the soul, when it is always three o'clock in the afternoon." More existential ennui than staring into the abyss that stares back into you, but it still bites.

Yes, I liked that book - I think I've read all his novels. It is certainly sad that he died, about four years ago now.

Symbolically I liken it to a cross, good and evil are the center beam with good at the top and evil at the bottom. Yin and Yang are the cross beam of left and right. They are really two different concepts. Darkness and light, summer and winter go back and forth on the cross beam while we all move upwards towards the good. At least that is my chosen direction.

That is a good thing

Darkness in this context simply is a metaphor for me(you might also say "Cold Winter of the Soul"), it does not indicate goodness or evil. As I say, good and evil are a separate issue in my view (and that issue might be the cause of the Dark Night/Cold Winter).

Yes, I probably complicated things unnecessarily by bringing in good and evil. What I really needed to say is that "dark night of the soul" was causing me trouble as a metaphor because I don't automatically connect darkness with something negative or unpleasant. At heart I don't associate the necessary unpleasantness of "ego death", "depths of despair" or "time of trial" with darkness or light - its perhaps a third axis on the cross you described.

I think of a very similar quadrant system which my mentor developed (others have probably done so too):

Top Left: Light, Masculine, Good
Top Right: Light, Feminine, Evil
Bottom Left: Dark, Feminine, Good
Bottom Right: Dark, Masculine, Evil

This assumes the psychological "masculine/feminine" which is independent of physical gender. But if we go much further on this quadrant thing we should probably spin off another thread.

 

[augursWell]

Well you certainly have me intriqued with this third axis thingey.

What the hay, I'm off to start a new thread...

Edited with new thread link:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=37175

 

[SongDeva]

Excellent! Back to the topic.
So, Perhaps based on some comments herein, an appropriate tarot progression for the DNOTS would be:

Tower ------ Hanged Man ------ Death (of ego, rebirth of self as self minus ego)

What do you think? I can't help but think that Judgement fits there somewhere.

Maybe it's more like:

Tower -------- Hanged Man ------- Judgement

 

[huredriel]

Lots and lots of information here, to take in

 

[ncefafn]

Excellent! Back to the topic.
So, Perhaps based on some comments herein, an appropriate tarot progression for the DNOTS would be:

What do you think? I can't help but think that Judgement fits there somewhere.

I agree with Judgement, but for me, the natural progression is:

DEVIL -------> TOWER -------> JUDGEMENT

Devil for being imprisoned by your desires and delusions; Tower for that shattering blow to those delusions that kept you safe but imprisoned; Judgement for being reborn after those illusions have been swept away and you see the light of a new day dawning.

JMHO.

 

[SongDeva]

Devil addition makes total sense to me, ncefafn, though personally so far I think I need to keep the hanged man in there, because I feel that between the Tower and Judgement is that hang time, in between time, that represents the heart of the DNOTS itself.

I bet if we played long enough, we could get all 22 in there. heheheheeh


Devil ----- Tower ----- Hanged Man ------Judgement

 

[Sophie-David]

Hi SongDeva

I would think the experience would differ according to one's experience and perceptions. I would go with Hanged One - Death. If it includes the resolution then I carry on to Temperance. And leading up to the sequence is Justice. I think you are right, basically all trumps could be involved, but Tower, Hanged One and Death would be the central experience.

David