creativity Archives - ROXANNA BIKADOROFF

December 17, 2023April 5, 2024

Typhonic Studies

In writing the previous post about the Tarot de Marseille Devil, I’d become interested in Typhon as a mytho-alchemical archetype. The deep-delve into research and ‘essay’ writing had also provided a needed Sherlock distraction from still-too-recent bereavement. You’d think grief might fuel some kind of creative expression for an artist, but often it is just too dense a material to work with. Sometimes all one can do is be in the blackness.

Down here, at the bottom of the bog-womb, far away from rational thought, gelatinous, amphibious beings are secretly spawning the makings of renewal. That is their sole business. At the deepest, pitch-black ocean levels, creatures deemed monstrous by ‘above’ standards float embryonically in conditions that would kill us, creating their own phosphorescence and exerting as little energy as possible. This is no longer the realm of Neptune and his entourage of Nereids, but of Typhon and his posse of Gorgons.

Having no luck with my more sophisticated art attempts, I decided to just linger here and sketch the monster. As children, isn’t that one of the first things we draw? Because these embodiments of our young emotions and fears also serve as guardians of our budding imagination and creative process. Who would dare question them on why they have 7 heads or spit poison barf? And in the psychology of myth and fairy tale, the only hero who will ultimately be able to overcome the monster is the one who created it.

As it happened, in doing these initial studies, the juices of inspiration began to flow again. Researching and writing about Typhon in relation to the TdM Devil was enlightening, I came to understand the archetype as a primal, hermaphroditic, self-reproducing creative force, as well as the alembic itself. But intellectual understanding is not enough, one has to experience the process. And the heck, drawing monsters is fun. ~rb

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January 18, 2023April 5, 2024

Immortal Hand with Eye

Once upon a time, now long forgotten,
that first human pondered their hand.
How is it that I can imagine something,
and my hand knows how to make it?
How is it there are this many fingers?
What can it mean?
Hands must be magical.
Talk to the Hand.

beaded icon tapestry with hamsa hand and two lamias — Talk to the Hamsa ©Roxanna Bikadoroff

“Put your hand in mine, we will travel to another time…”
~Lucious Jackson, Gypsy

Khamsa necklace of silver, horn, coral, late 20th c, Morocco

The Hamsa/Khamsa or hand of Fatima, like the Nazar (‘evil eye’) is a common and ancient protective amulet throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East.
Who was Fatima? She seems to have many incarnations…in Islam, she’s the daughter of the prophet Muhammad, five years old when her father began receiving revelations. In Catholicism she’s a Marian apparition, reported in Portugal by three shepherd children. In legend, she is sometimes a great warrior princess, other times, as in ‘Fatima the Spinner and the Tent‘, an artisan who’s accumulated crafting skills and ingenuity save her from one calamitous situation after another. This Sufi retelling of Greek folklore describes Fatima in her role as creatrix and teacher, of which the female hand symbol is perhaps most indicative. Lucky? Yes, because I learned how to make things and can show you how.

Nossa Senhora de Fatima ©Roxanna Bikadoroff

“A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.” ~ Louis Nizer

Thus we have the combined energies of crafty magician, Hermes-Mercury and beauty-loving Aphrodite-Venus, whose sacred number is five (symbol is the pentagram) and who is married to Vulcan, the craftsman who forges exquisite, metal creations. We conjure ideas with our imagination, but we manifest them with our hands, though perhaps less and less, these days, which is why, apparently we are getting dumber! Talk to the Hamsa!

Votive ‘Hand of Sabazios’ with Mercurial, alchemical attributes

Clay rose Hamsa (with eye milagro) ©Roxanna Bikadoroff

Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain. ~ Carl Jung

Native American serpent disc, unearthed in Alabama, 1800s

January 16, 2023April 10, 2024

Saturn is Coming to Pisces

Madonna of Mercy with Kneeling Friars, 1424, Fra Angelico

Saturn in Pisces (March 7, in a 7 year) will mean different things to different people. Depending on where our illusions lie and our willingness to wake in or from the dream, Saturn can feel either harsh or liberating. Saturn is actually a liberator, though not often seen in this light. (Hence, its exaltation sign is Libra).
Sometimes it’s as simple as recognizing whether a dream is really worth the time anymore and/or if we’re ready to do the work to make it real. Other times, especially in Pisces, we have to go a bit deeper into our psyche.

One thing about Saturn in Pisces that has been resonating with me lately (and a constant, life challenge with this being my Saturn placement), is how it can give authoritative voice to those self-sabotaging mantras Pisces is so good at creating. Often these do originate with some authority figure, like a parent, school teacher or even early religious teachings. There may be ‘aha’ moments in life where we realize they were a) not true/except to the person who said it b) useful in order to grow by rebelling against them. [Sir Christopher Lee, Saturn on the ascendant, said the more discouragement he got – first from his mother, then people in the biz who said he was too tall, not British-looking enough, etc. – the more determined it made him to succeed in acting, and, that his epitaph should read ‘I showed them!’]

Or perhaps it’s more subtle…a 12th house type garbage dump of collected mantras all jumbled together. In Pisces, that Saturnian discernment and good judgement is important because this sign has much do with creativity and imagination, as well as faith, especially in ourselves. Where have we ‘imprisoned’ ourselves or ‘sentenced’ ourselves to never trying because we aren’t good enough/can’t make money from this/hadn’t a formal education in it/feel we are in a sibling’s shadow/will only make a fool of ourselves…?

Thinking back to my first Saturn return, it was when that book ‘The Artist’s Way‘ came out. I was living in New York, doing bootcamp as an illustrator, and heard the author being interviewed on NPR. She had some good tips on zeroing in on where that debilitating thought was seeded. When you do, the original, flippant comment should now be given the Donald Duck accent it deserves.

Personally I didn’t listen to grade school teachers who came up with gems like, “that’s not how you draw a tree!”, but l was armed with planets, whereas others may not have been. Being told I wrote “like Dickens” by an art school writing class teacher (ie, not avant-garde enough) was maybe slightly more damaging, although, tbh, I quite liked Dickens. For me, it was more the perpetual, continually reiterated belief (of individuals and Canadian society at large) that artists must struggle, art was no way to make a living, that sort of thing. Even later, when I felt free(er) of these straight-jackets, I would simply find new ones, courtesy of the astrologers, psychics and other intuitives I sought advice from and handed over my personal authority to. Pisces is so good at relinquishing power and its responsibility to its own needs!

In the TdM Tower card, the force that ruptures the prison tower and releases the two people is not a lightening bolt, but a feathery plume, which some say is actually coming out of rather than directed toward the structure. Note that the Tower/16 is 7 ‘steps’ from the Hermit/9. Seven is the number of wisdom, and this time it’s Grandmother wisdom. We can take heart in the fact that Saturn in Pisces is a lot more understanding and gentle than in Capricorn and Aquarius. This is a mutable sign, so it’s more of a water birth than by forceps or cesarian. It’s safe to come out of hiding, now.

I recommend astrologer Molly McCord’s Youtube videos on Saturn in Pisces 2023. She talks about this and much more, very insightful!