MAPS: Chapter 4
The Amelia, Power of Names, Game of Thrones, and Key to New Age
View the CHAPTER 4 Character MAP
Photo of a seaplane from WWII that inspired The Amelia.
When Charlotte took to the sky, I of course had to research WWII women pilots. I was SHOCKED (shouldn’t be by now) and thrilled (ahhh serendipity) to find out about the Night Witches and their leader Marina Raskova, the ‘Soviet Amelia Earhart’! Read MORE about the squadron.
Power of Names
Names are a ritual we are all familiar with. Names are little myths all in themselves . . . if you recall one of the 3 purposes of myth from Joseph Campbell - to give us a metaphoric way to refer to that which eludes explanation through our limited sense.
When I say, hear, or write my given birth name it conjures a whole world anchored in a certain frame of time and place AND it contains in it memories I have lost, vague impressions, untethered emotions, and resonant ripples out to the lives of others, the animals, the trees, and the imaginative worlds that I occupied and dreamed. When you add my husband’s last name, another world layers itself onto the old, and signifies to my SELF and others that I am, in a way, transformed.
Our culture is full of these naming signals, perhaps the most powerful when we choose to rename ourselves or are renamed by a person or group to whom we have earned a place. When I was small me oldest cousin called me Boo, which made us a pair within our family. The morning after my encounter with Hyena in the African bush, a fellow traveler dubbed me Hyena Woman, and though no one calls me that now, it rides in me as a truth - a name that initiated me with that small ritual into a world where I have a spirit animal and invisible guides. More recently I sought, and found, a ‘pen name’ that was an important signal of change in my identity and created new boundaries of belonging:
A'Lis Bly (äh lēs blī) is a portmanteau - a literary term for a mash-up of names (think Brangelina) bootlegged from the French word meaning a travel case made of two multi-sectioned parts hinged together into one. I am a portmanteau in a life crafting sense. The A' refers to the artist, tarot reader, Hermit, Queen of Swords, goddess-becoming, ‘other worldly’ aspects of my Self, and Bly is my maternal family name - a nod to my deep ancestry from the Horn of Africa through the far North (our Norwegian surname was Bleie). The 'hinge' is Lis, a shortened version of my given name, which holds all of my ‘primary worldly’ experiences including designer, leadership coach, human-centered change consultant, mother, family member, friend . . .
Together, this portmanteau makes me whole,
reminding me of who and what I really am.
In The Ash Girl, as Athena exclaims in frustration, “Names are everything.”
So, PAY ATTENTION, my Princesses (remember, that is a non-gendered honorific), to those name changes and what they are helping you to become and who, what, and where they are shifting your belonging. WHAT IF you were given a ‘true name’ by a Goddess in a cave that mythically holds all you are meant to be? WHAT IF that name is speaking to you in ways that are obvious if only you’d listen.
Watch Charlotte as she paints PRINCESS OF AIR on the door of The Amelia, where the nickname of the pilot traditionally goes. Does she yet realize that she IS the Princess of Air or did she know of the nickname given Amelia Earhart? And what of the plane, when given this name?
What might be possible now, that wasn’t before?
Game of Thrones
wherein we keep an eye on who should be High Priestess
Princess of Disks (Earth)
“Athena looked up, caught off guard as she had been ready to respond for re-coloring the Princess of Disks . . . the one card she had marred pictured she-who-would-inherit-the-throne ascending to the highest of high. Once she mustered the courage to leap, she would become the priestess who ruled all of creation on the One’s behalf until it filled the world again.”
“That day in the attic came back. Frieda, painting the High Priestess, painting a goddess born of wood and fire and time, with a bow on her lap and three moons as her crown. There was no denying who it was. Not me, Athena knew. Those eyes opened for a moment and connected sister to sister. Eyes the color of heartbreak and the promise of a future.”
“Who will be the High Priestess?” Idiots, couldn’t they see? That honor was to go to Artemis, so forgotten to men that she was powerless, curled up in a ball, shrinking—elements rearranging, reshaping into stone—while Athena, the most revered goddess in all of history was not pictured in the fucking cards at all.
“It appears Artemis has been given the honor,” she said, having great difficulty hiding her disdain, “and her daughters, the earth princesses, will inherit the throne for the next aeon.”
- CHAPTER 4 | THE ASH GIRL
These four excerpts make it clear that the High Priestess throne in the prophetic Thoth Tarot deck goes to Artemis and her Princess of Earth descendants, once they ‘muster the courage to leap’. So IF ITS A METAPHOR, which we know that it is, and the Princesses are all of us, especially the Princess of Disks (the lowest of low), then . . . (I will let you fill in the blank). Perhaps gather a friend or two (or JOIN JEN’s Group) and ponder that one together!
HIGH PRIESTESS
A TAROT MAP
adapted by A’Lis Bly
theashgirl.com
When I read tarot for clients and friends, I first do a little listening to the guides . . . which tarot map will best convey the messages this person needs to hear/see? The High Priestess map has been THE most frequent answer in 2020! Given the Priestess is II and numerology is such an integral part of tarot, I am not at all surprised. The Priestess also casts the web of the world that brings all life into being out of the ONE and embodies the invisible force that holds everything together. While it may feel as though our world is falling apart (that is the VX The Tower at work), it may be more accurate to say the elements of the web are reorganizing (out of chaos) for the higher good. The High Priestess Tarot Map is a guide to who you are and who you are becoming in that emerging future. The High Priestess apparently felt it was time to make more of her presence known to readers of The Ash Girl. If you are a reader, or you have tarot cards and want to give it a try, here is the HOW TO. I am also offering as many readings as I can fit in via email, phone, or zoom. Read more about that option on the DONATION page.
KEY TO NEW AGE
VI | HIEROPHANT
In Chapter 4, the key Frieda found starts behaving strangely, floating above the cards laid in a wheel, sparking and flaring lightning from its center. The keys forged to bring in ‘The Iron Age of Men’ had been lost, and now “orbited her as if she were the largest mass in its universe.”
Notice the firestone Hestia uses acts in the same way as the Key. Connected to the cards. Seeming to produce or harness pure creative energy . . .
This is a fine time to layer in Crowley’s vision of the new age, or aeon (a period of 2000 years) that he seeks to tell in the cards. He says (a fictional quote, but accurate in what it connotes):
“Well of course the blasted Christians will think this is their holy trinity. The three rings represent the outgoing aeons of Isis and Osiris and the incoming Aeon of Horus.”
I personally mean no disrespect to those of Christian (or any) faiths (though I cannot speak for AC)! What I love about this tarot deck is the inclusiveness of cultures, traditions, and myths from all corners of the planet across many ages. AND the gist of Crowley’s proclamation makes a lot of sense to me. He cites the age of Isis as the period of history when the main deity or belief system was centered in the Divine Feminine, the age of Osiris centered in the Divine Masculine, and their child ‘Horus’ is a beautiful blend of the two.
A maturing of our world view.
Thus, the Aeon of Horus is the age of One or unity - transcending (and including) notions of opposites.
The Ash Girl unfolded from this deck and so is imbued with this idea as well, AND I believe tells a story in the cards, in narrative form, that Frieda infused as an artist (perhaps with the help of some powerful muses!)
GODDESS ENERGY ON THE RISE
Often, I believe, the most powerful voices are twenty feet from the front of the stage, harmonizing, thickening the story with pure raw sound of the kind that can only be a gift from the gods. The documentary, Twenty Feet from Stardom brings a hallowed group of those voices to the forefront. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Below, the astounding Judith Hill singing to the edge of the world in each of us.
Lyrics
Maybe you're where you're supposed to be
Safely kept within the crowd
But you're looking for a reason to break free
Seems like you want to scream
But your voice were never too loud
You gotta let it out
Bust a roof and tear down the walls
That's what it's all about
It's your life, it's your life, it's your life, it's your life
We all need, we all need, we all need
We all need a little desperation
Can I have, can I have, can I have
Can I have a little desperation
Do you want, do you want, do you want
Do you want a little inspiration
Everyone, everyone
Everyone really needs a little desperation (oh yeah)
Maybe it cost you everything
You looking all around
But the only one left is you
And now the clock is in full sweep
At the finish line, you can say you never knew
Something let it go, ooh
So much was, if you just try now
Something let it show
Take a chance, take a chance
Take a chance, take a chance
We all need, we all need, we all need
We all need a little desperation
Can I have, can I have, can I have
Can I have a little desperation
Do you want, do you want, do you want
Do you want a little inspiration
Everyone, everyone
Everyone really needs a little desperation (we don't need, we don't need)
Can I have little desperation
Yeah
And can I have a little inspiration
(Do you want)
Do you want a little inspiration
We all need, we all need, we all need
We all need a little desperation
Can I have, can I have, can I have
Can I have a little desperation
Do you want, do you want, do you want
Do you want a little inspiration
Everyone, everyone
Everyone really needs a little desperation (oh)
Yeah
(Desperation)
Ooh yeah, ooh yeah
(Desperation)
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Judith Glory Hill / Gerald Eaton / Brian West
Desperation lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Concord Music Publishing LLC
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