a cockatrice of a medieval beast- stranger than anything that was imagined from the fevered dreams of a 13th century syphilitic monk. With the head and neck of a serpent, the feet of a bird (I presume chicken! are *you* chicken?) and the body of...an apparently human brain.
The snake stares out actively to catch the eye of the beholder- smiling and flicking it's tongue, no aloof reptilian creature here. The expression on it's face seems to draw the viewer into a secret joke, an unspoken cosmic prank reflected in it's very existence.
In other words, the human condition in a nutshell. (Nutshell not depicted).
WHAT THIS SAYS TO ME:
Evolution is the ultimate fucker to our ability to feel like we have any grasp on WHY we do anything. Our most basic actions are the result of hundreds of thousands of years of genetic programming, much of which is frankly irrelevant in the way that nature intended for most people trundling along in the industrialized world. This is, of course, why amusement parks and violent video games and even sports exist- to cater to our host of instincts that clamour for attention.
What we think of as our consciousness- a unified and rational self- is an illusion.
The chicken feet are, of course, the most basic instincts. Flee, scratch, perhaps fight. Those claws are sharp, after all. Instinct has legs- it is the primal motivating force for our actions, trumping logic without even having to get out of breath. Indeed, it *is* logic.
To balance the chicken feet, we have the snake head. It is tempting to say that the snake is the 'fight' part of the 'flight' of the feet, but that seems too pat. All living things, after all, embody both of these options, amongst many others. The snake is, of course, our desires and the twisting turns we stretch rationalization through in the process of attempting to convince ourselves that our instinctive decision has a logical origin. Being on top, it 'rules' the brain. It has the eyes, the mouth, the sensory organs. It alone is responsible for the input that the brain receives. Hilarious!
The brain is the body. This is the essence of the card's name, INSTINCT. The brain IS the body. The body knows what it wants, and has an intelligence all it's own that cannot be denied. It is for these reasons that out language includes the idea of a 'gut feeling', of having the heart be a sensory organ for emotions.
IN A READING:
The Instinct card addresses the unknown impulses within the querent. Depending on the surrounding cards, it can indicate that the querent is aware of their instincts and is comfortable trusting them, or is disconnected with their instincts. In the latter case, important messages are being lost. Your various parts of your self, especially your most primal drives, are being ignored or minimized. Instinct Reversed can indicate that the querent should set aside their instincts and attempt to use simple step by step thoughtful logic to work out the solution. It can also indicate that you are dealing with an unusually impulsive and primal personality; one who reacts and responds, rather than thinks and acts.
In a reading where this card comes up as the final solution or outcome, the querent is exhorted to trust their first instincts as to the solution- it will almost certainly be the right course of action, or the right decision about a person, place or thing rather than a situation- unless it is reversed. In that case, your instincts are steering you wrong in this situation. You are reacting to a situation that is not really there. Take a moment before engaging those chicken feet and sit and think!
Either way, this card is a call to remember that we are not really consciously in charge of our own drives, desires and impulses- and neither is anyone else.
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| Obey your Instincts, fool. |
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