This morning, as I stood
in the portico, welcoming
students to their last school-day,
I saw a spider, gently, deliberately,
Unspinning its web, one sticky strand
At a time.
It wound the threads
Back into its spinnerets
Like a sailor coiling ropes
Into the lazaret,
Reefing the sails
Against the coming storm.
What a storm, too:
Glowering black clouds,
Fierce black frigates
Before the wind, gunports open,
Showing menace to the spring,
and setting all at hazard:
Nearby newspaper told
Of unemployment up,
Markets down, war and threat of war,
Government unsteady.
And yet, into this gale,
My little spider with arms akimbo,
Gathered in her remaining silks,
And wove a single spinnaker.
She leapt from the schoolhouse porch,
Direct into the roaring jaws of the day.
Stiff breeze filled her silken balloon,
And she sailed outward to a complex
Uncertain destiny, equipped only
with what she’d just finished gathering in.
I’m once again struck by how critical it is to know what story you’re trying to tell: without a clear sense of what part of the story goes on which leaves of the box, it’s impossible to determine how to to work up the images and intentions for the various sides of the box. In this current iteration (which wound up being 9×15″, largely due to the limitations of the paper size I was working with), the box can tell a five-fold iterative story — one story painted (or carved, I suppose, or wood-burned) on the outside of the box; a second story on the front inner panels as they’re unfolded; a third story on the back inner panels as they’re unfolded, and then the ‘story’ of the innermost shrine space is story #4. Story #5 could be told with objects in the lower drawer, and in the upper chamber inside the top lid. If I were going to do a story about Hermetics, for example, or the Seven Liberal Arts, I’d probably want to figure out a way to add two additional chambers or zones within the box, so that there could be a story for each of the “seven governors”.
If I did a box based on my 7th grade early American history, though, five might work quite well:
Pre-colonialism
European contact and exploitation
American Revolution
Westward Expansion
Civil War
And if I were to do one based on my Latin course for sixth grade, then five would also work quite well, because I’d do an arrangement something like this using my existing surfaces:
Prepositions, numbers and conjunctions (doesn’t seem grand enough for the innermost chamber)
I suppose, as well, that it could be scaled back a little bit, with simply having the outward symbols of Freemasonry on the outside, and then having three inner layers within, dealing with Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason, with a simple “shrine” at the innermost part for the GAotU. It’s a potentially limited audience, though. Hmm. To build it for a Christian audience (I’m thinking, in particular, Byzantine/Orthodox) the following schema could be adopted:
Miniature icons on the outside of scenes from the four Gospels, flanked the four Living Creatures representing the evangelists and the four archangels, on the four sides of the box.
The frontispiece, a series of icons of stories from the New Testament
The rear panels, a series of icons of stories from the Old Testament
Symbols of Christian virtues (I mean real ones, like Charity and Humility and Generosity, not low taxes and corporate freedom, by the by) framing an icon of the Nativity.
pop-up panel of the Crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus, with some sort of drop-down of the Resurrection.
It could also be arranged around a mystery school’s program like Gardnerian Witchcraft or Feri by having only outer court symbols on the outside, and the progressive teachings or symbolism of the grades on the inner layers. I think that Hermetics, as I’m getting it from Frater RO, could be represented on this particular kavad in the following way without too much trouble, or adding extra layers of symbolism:
The four elements, their angels, their kings, and (possibly represented with ‘prison boxes’ within, the devils)
The Divine Poemander and the Aphorisms of Hermes.
The Seven Governors, their seals and sigils and areas of rulership
The chain of manifestation (or Tree of Life?)
Table of Practice and Altar (on top or inside?)
None of these schemes are impossible, but they’re definitely ambitious. There are, by my count, 46 distinct surfaces, and I have some thoughts about how to add in another half-dozen at least, possibly as many as 12-15 more (the drawer in the bottom, for example, could hold some parts of it.) I say this not to discourage imitators, but to demonstrate the underlying challenge is not simply to build the box. It’s also required to have a sense of what you want to say, using it. I’m beginning to have a sense of what I want to say… but I DO wonder if my artistic skills are up to it, not merely to build the box, but to plan and execute the artistic program outside and in.
An architect friend of mine says that my next step is to build a “whitewood” model out of foam board, straight pins, and glue, without tape. He says I should work out some of the construction details, and begin deciding on an aesthetic for the whole —brass hinges and screws, for example, or nails, or wooden pegs of differing woods… Yikes. Lots to think about.
This morning I startled awake at 3:00 am with the terror that I hadn’t paid my rent. No amount of trickery on the part of my brain would convince my body that it wasn’t worth worrying about, and that even if I hadn’t paid my rent… which I had done… I wasn’t about to be evicted today. But no. I had to get up, do the necessary online banking check, and be sure the rent was in fact paid. And then I tossed and turned for another hour before it became clear that I was up.
I AM trying to shift my sleep schedule over to this segmented sleep. But my body is definitely resisting the second sleep part of the experience. Sometimes I can get it to work, and sometimes I can’t. Today is one of the “can’t do it” days, it seems.
So I did my taiji. I did the form, getting some good stretches into the groin and upper arms. Then I did five golden coins, which got me sweaty and energized and awake. Then I did eight pieces of silk, which further worked my legs and lower bad. Great workout, in general, if an hour and a half earlier than usual.
And now… just as I thought my day was ready to begin… I’m tired again. Segmented sleep doctrine says I should sleep now for another few hours, until six or seven a.m. But if I do that… I’ll be late to work. Augh! Adjusting to the sleep cycle of another time and place and culture definitely has its ups and downs.
