A New Habit

From the Slow Tarot, Temptation (Devil); from the ROAR Oracle, the Fox Sisters:

But little by little, bit by bit

I push it back down with a new habit

If not for long, just for a while

I'll bury myself with a great big smile

~ Ren - "Chalk Outlines"

Bryant's version of the Devil shows some of the different ways we try to bury ourselves away from reality - sex, alcohol, and food. It's not that these pleasures are always harmful, but they can easily become our prison when they are used to avoid dealing with life. Over-indulgence is different from self-care; it always leaves us feeling worse than before when the high wears off. The Fox sisters and their public seances helped spark a spiritualism craze in the United States and Europe built on the belief that it was possible for living humans to communicate with the dead. One of the sisters, Maggie, confessed to the New York World in 1888 that her and her sister’s communication with the dead had been a hoax. People believe what they want to believe because it briefly offers relief. But the delusions don't help us actually solve problems or navigate life well. They too are just a drug of sorts.