By the way, I'm finally the proud owner of a Doors of Somlipith set, which I took forever to buy due to the price (our currency here is quite devalued against US Dollars, making everything from abroad cost about 5x as much), and this was my very first time using this deck for an actual reading. Of course, the DOS is an updated version of the good ol' Alchemy Edition, which I have been using for years, so the cards were nonetheless very familiar. The book has a lot of new material though, which I will eventually write about.
Anyway, on to the reading itself. The first thing that got my undivided attention was the fact this spread looks... divided. Half of it all red, and half of it is all black. This, combined with the top card, the 7♥ (Sword of Healing), gave me my first hint: the coming cycle will be all about healing a division.
I found it fascinating, the way the sword of the 7♥ is pointing downwards, towards the rest of the reading. Had the card been upside down, with the sword pointing upwards, it would look like the 9♦ (Gawain) was wielding it. But instead, we get this picture of the Sword of Healing going against Gawain's sword… as if it wants to duel the 9♦!
The 9♦ is a very heroic card that can symbolise a helper or a protector. So we must look behind it to see what exactly it is protecting in this situation. That takes us to the darker half of the reading, where we have the 2♠ and the 9♠ – Medusa and Dracula, respectively.
Going back to my first impression – the healing of a division –, I feel like this reading is pointing to a situation in which some heavy things have been kept buried under a very heroic and active façade. Someone is trying to remain very strong, very stoic, even though on the inside all sorts of paralysing conflicts (2♠) and life-draining obsessions (9♠) are festering. And since this reading is mine, that someone is probably me.
This reading says that there's no other way – Gawain must be struck by the Sword of Healing so that it can reach the darker part, the one that, if left unchecked, can actually become ill. The 7♥ is going to rain on Gawain's parade, but it must do so in order to soften the hard earth building up within.
A reading with two 9s also points irremediably to an ending, which is confirmed by the Geomantic Judge of this spread, Cauda Draconis. The means we have been using so far to deal with our issues are no longer cutting it. In the 9s, the energy of the suit tends to become rigid and extreme, so we have the 9♦ (representing a peak of energy or performance that will soon dwindle, because no fire burns forever) and the 9♠ (a dead form that takes up the space and the energy or living things, impeding renewal). Gawain must go, and so does Dracula, and the only way to get rid of them is by facing the 2♠ – the fear of losing both the (tiring) mask that protects (9♦) and the (unhealthy) attachments that support (9♠).
In short, the coming cycle will be a moment to heal divided parts within ourselves. For that to be possible, we will have to accept becoming vulnerable, less heroic and, possibly, less protective or our own darkness. We must acknowledge the fear and the anger that keep us paralysed, as well as our own attachment to certain dead-end fantasies, all which contribute to devitalization of our inner life. And this will involve cutting through the mask that keeps such things hidden and letting the sunlight (and the rain) in.
The Doors of Somlipith © Ana Cortez & C.J. Freeman
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