Darkly Devotions

Lyric prose meditations that play with elements from evangelical Christianity, Buddhism, yoga, reiki, Tarot and “weird voodoo shit.”

~by Cindy Clem

 

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Today’s Passages:

From The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula LeGuin

“Light is the left hand of darkness…how did it go? Light, dark. Fear, courage. Cold, warmth. Female, male. It is yourself, Therem. Both and one. A shadow on snow.”

“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.”

~~~

An Exercise in Handedness:

Hold a different color crayon or marker in each hand. With your dominant hand, write questions that you then allow your non-dominant hand to answer with its different-colored marker. Benign questions (“What do I want for my birthday?”) or charged questions (“How did I feel about my father when I was four?”) will work.[1]

I’ve copied below an example of someone’s communication with their non-dominant hand (in this case, the left hand, L.H.). I’ve added the color to purple to distinguish the voice of the subconscious/Higher Self.

RH:  [Should I be a] public speaking coach?

LH:  Your gift for teaching will enable you to excel at this. You’ll need patience, persistence and a willingness not to take ownership of other’s behavior.

RH:  Would Self-knowledge come into it?

L: Using your intuition, you’ll know where and when to talk of the Inner Knowledge.

R: Is this my highest aspiration?

L: Your highest aspiration is to know your real self and to become it.

R: Is this possible?

L: You’re already on the patch[2].

Based on this example, it would seem that the non-dominant hand is articulate, therapeutically vague, and prone to misspellings.

Could my own subconscious be so yoda-like? I decided to test it. Here’s what happened:

Who writes Darkly Devotions?

You do. Sometimes I help[3].

What are you?

I am the window.

What is that supposed to mean?

I see rabbits.

That doesn’t answer my question.

I am sometimes a rabbit and sometimes [a] window to rabbits.

So either my subconscious is a cryptic trickster or an idiot signifying nothing.  Is it because I’m left-handed?[4]

~~~

“If the rabbit is appearing as a messenger to you right now, perhaps it’s because you are trying to conceive (babies or new ideas), and trying to bring those forward into the world. If you allow your creativity to flow and tap into that and move quickly with opportunities, then you will surely see new life spring forward!”[5]

“If Rabbit has hopped into your life: Reminds us to examine and utilize the tools we have within ourselves. Although our instincts are innate, they also need nurturing and development. Rabbit meanings deal primarily with abundance, comfort, and vulnerability. Traditionally, rabbits are associated with fertility, sentiment, desire, and procreation.”[1]

 

~~~

 

Next time: New ideas, not babies.



[1] This is not an original exercise. People have been practicing non-dominant hand writing for years as a way to hear the voice of their subconscious.

[2] sic

[3] I’m using Chiller font to try to mimic the poor handwriting of my right hand (I’m left-handed) and the wonderful, creepy feeling of seeing part of myself struggling for (or against?) embodiment.

[4]“I do not dream at all of saying that all left-handed people are wicked, but that left-handedness, united to many other traits, may contribute to form one of the worst characters among the human species.” ~Cesare Lombroso, 1903, quoted in The New Yorker

 

“There is nothing wrong with being left handed. Homosexuality is wrong, its [sic] against God and man”. Ron