From the Dark Mansion Tarot, the Empress; from Miss Mai's Victorian Oracle, Laudanum:
The Empress rules the created world, not with physical force but with love. She nurtures with beauty, kindness and patience, and the world responds with growth and development. Yet she offers us a warning: whatever seeds are planted, intentionally or not, they will bear fruit. Abundance can come in many forms, some wonderful and some horrible. Laudanum was widely used during the Victorian era; this drug was about 10% powdered opium and employed for nearly anything - even teething babies. To quote David Courtwright (author of
Dark Paradise), "Though it could cure little, it could relieve anything." The Empress cautions that a love that seeks to eliminate pain is commendable, but the tools we choose and how they are used matters a lot. What is meant to soothe can easily become a nightmare.
Because there is no love you can throw on them, no hug big enough that will change the power of that drug; it is just beyond imagination how controlling and destructive it is.
― Beth Macy, Dopesick
I wonder how the World would be if we were all raised by the nurturing nature of the Empress?
ReplyDeleteWe'd probably be a bit wildly chaotic, but with different motives for sure.
DeleteI made a card for nostrums and laudanums.. so many times I've wished for that magic elixir.
ReplyDeleteThose kind of elixirs always seem to take more than they give!
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