May

pillars 🐛

Saoirse and August have been with me for years. They came from a short story—a mix of cozy autumn nights and creeping eldritch horror.

At one point I thought about… complicating their relationship. My husband immediately vetoed it. “They’re staying together.” 💀

Vanitas skull bracelet and Black Widow spider ring hand carved by Moon and Serpent Website or Etsy

Elixir Vitae, Alchemical Marriage Necklace hand carved by Moon and Serpent Website or Etsy

Alchemical Sun (sulfur) and Moon (mercury) pouring in elixir flacon, creating Elixir Vitae.

Those little herb pouches you get from your local occult store? The ones in the ziplock bags with only the herb name printed on it?

Stop using those in teas. They are not food-grade.

via @tarotassociation on Instagram

Into every relationship we bring our anima or animus. These are (in basic terms) the masculine aspects within the woman and the feminine aspects within the man.

When we relate to others of the opposite sex (according to C. G. Jung) we bring these aspects to the relationship through psychological functions such as transference, projection and introjection.

In reality, there are many relationships going on not only between two people but between these parts of our psyches.

One person might find themselves attracted or repelled by certain characteristics of the other purely because they see in them their own unconscious contrasexual characteristics.

In ourselves, when we better integrate our anima or animus, we form a "syzygy", a union of opposites within ourselves. This can be symbolised by the winged lion.

This can also be done as part of the work of relationship and within ourselves. A further syzygy can then be formed between two people who each have better integrated their opposites.