Blue Fox Shaman

Another bizarre episode in the Marriage of Heaven and Hell

[… Fox is wearing a lab coat and goggles, working at a table filled with beakers, flasks, and vacuum condensers which are all full of liquids of various colors. Bärchen enters …]

Fox: There you are! Just in time. I think I’ve reduced the Art of Mastery down to two main principles. I need a guinea…er, assistant to try it out.

Bärchen: What is all this? [looks at the flask in Fox’s hand] And this?…So, this is supposed to be a potion of Mastery that you’ve concocted?

Fox: Decocted, strictly speaking. Here, put your lab coat on. Don’t you love being scientists?… And don’t you look ravishing! Sit down right here and I’ll prepare the experim…taste test.

Bärchen: What is this supposed to do to me? Make me young and handsome again?

Fox: That would be handsome, period… But, not that. You’ll be Master of Every Art, like Dr. Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, the Elixir of Love, or in this case, the Elixir of Mastery.

Bärchen: A Quack?!

Fox: [concerned] Dear? Why are you talking like a duck? I haven’t even administered the elixir yet, and you’re already acting strangely.

Bärchen: I mean, Dulcamara was a… oh, never mind.

Fox: So, here, open wide. [singing] “Just a spoonful of sugar…”

Bärchen: Ack! Bleh! That’s just awful. Are you sure you put sugar in that?

Fox: No. I didn’t put any sugar in it.

Bärchen: Oh.

Fox: [looking at a stopwatch] Let’s give it a minute to take effect… there. Okay, so, do you feel any different?

Bärchen: I do!

Fox: Do you feel like you could be a Concert Pianist?

Bärchen: Strangely, yes, I do. I can do this… let’s do this!

Fox: [takes a pad and writes a prescription] Excellent. Practice 5 times a day for 10 years.

Bärchen: Wait!.. I have to do all that?!

[… Fox stares back at Bärchen blankly …]

Bärchen: Okay, right. Of course. So, what is in that elixir?

Fox: Let’s see if you can tell. What did you taste?

Bärchen: Uh, in addition to lots of bitterness, there was something with a sort of fishy taste… Salmon?!

Fox: Yes, that would be the Spirit of ΓΡΥΨ. Because you’re a Scot, you can taste the Salmon of Knowledge that Ceridwen was cooking in her Cauldron…

Bärchen: Huh! It made my forehead feel, well… “shiny” is the best word I can come up with.

Fox: Yes, Taliesin. So, that part of the elixir is about working out all necessary transformations to gain Mastery in any Art.

Bärchen: Sorry, I don’t get it.

Fox: I’ll explain more in a bit. What else? Was there anything else you could taste?

Bärchen: Hmmm. There was also something herbal… Bay Laurel?

Fox: Yes, Laurus nobilis was used in Ancient Greece for the Spirit of ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΣ. You got it!

Bärchen: Ummm, I don’t got it…

Fox: Okay, let me explain, and maybe you can help me put things in just the right words.

Bärchen: Absolutely. That’s my job.

Fox: So, ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΣ first. That’s related to the I Ching Hexagram 49 – Molting, or Revolution, and also to the Three of Wands in Tarot.

Bärchen: Uh huh; ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΣ is the “crown”, often a crown of Laurel given to victors at games… ah! A Crown of Laurel for the Master of the game!

Fox: Okay yes. But, more importantly, this is also how you get to the winner’s podium. Remember, Three of Wands?…

Bärchen: Let’s see… that has to do with, well, “seeing”–foresight and planning… I see! The use of the Imaginative Faculty.

Fox: Imagination, right. How do you use it, in this context?

Bärchen: Hmmm… planning and foresight do make use of that faculty. We imagine ourselves doing something…

Fox: Yes, very helpful. You’ve heard of athletes and musicians and, well, anybody, perfecting their moves by running them over and over in their imagination…

Bärchen: And planning is just that with a bit of judgment thrown in. I see myself doing Y and then, well, maybe Z doesn’t logically follow after all, so it’s back to the drawing board.

Fox: Which, my love, brings us to the other part.

Bärchen: ΓΡΥΨ?! That’s I Ching Hexagram 50 – The Cauldron; that fishy taste… But I’m not Welsh…

Fox: Close enough. You’re from a rougher neighborhood, the Borderlands. Cattle thieves the lot of you, but a Celt just the same.

Bärchen: European Trailer Trash, that’s me. But, wait, the corresponding Tarot card is the Page of Swords…

Fox: [smiles] Hi!

Bärchen: Yes, you. [singing] “You’re my Inspiration…”

Fox: It’s more than that, yes?! Not that I’m not glad to be that.

Bärchen: Oh! You mean the fact that you’ll open a can of Whoopass on me if I fail to get inspired enough to actually change?

Fox: Little ol’ me? Why, yes indeedy.

Bärchen: I’m getting it now, I think.

Fox: What did you get, sweetie?

Bärchen: That story of Ceridwen’s Cauldron of Inspiration, I mean, there’s lots going on there…

Fox: Yes?

Bärchen: For one thing, Gwion Bach had to stir the thing for a year and a day. Boring and repetitive work for sure. But at the end, when the three drops of the liquid hit his thumb and he put it in his mouth, he was transformed. ‘Course, it wasn’t supposed to be for him, but whatever.

Fox: What else?

Bärchen: Well, the I Ching Image says “Consolidate your fate by making your position correct”… Part of the transformation is constant course correction.

Fox: Willing to work, and willing to change. Bringing your aspirations not only into focus, but focusing on the right aspirations…

Bärchen: Three drops only were the elixir; all the rest a deadly poison.

Fox: [touching Bärchen’s forehead] You seem to be okay. I don’t think any of that was left in…

Bärchen: You don’t think!!!

Fox: There’s an EPIPEN in that cabinet, and I think the Defibrillator is charged up…

Bärchen: Gee, I feel so much better knowing that.

Fox: Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You know I’d die without you anyway, my darling husband. But success is never guaranteed in anything in life. Remember what you promised…

Bärchen: No more Mr. Scared Rabbit. I know.

Fox: There’s my Little Bear!

Bärchen: [sighs] So, did I get it?

Fox: Yes, pretty much.

Bärchen: Anything else to add?

Fox: Yes. How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Bärchen: Hah! Practice, practice, practice!

Fox: Uh huh.

Bärchen: Oh my! Look at the time. Shall we catch a bite?

Fox: Sure. Salmon okay with you?

Bärchen: What? Again?! …Okay, I guess so.

Fox: No poison in it, I promise.

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This episode brought to you by:

ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΣ (ΛΙΜΝΗ::ΑΣΤΡΑΠΗ) = That which surrounds or encompasses. A crown, wreath, chaplet. The crown of victory at the public games. An honorary wreath or crown, frequently worked in gold, awarded for public services in war or peace. A crown of glory, honour. A crown as a badge of office.
I Ching: 011:101 49. Molting / Revolution (Molting)
Judgment: On your own day you are believed. Supreme success is possible; it is advantageous to keep going. Remorse disappears. Image: Set the calendar in order and make the seasons clear.
Tarot: Three ♣/Wands
Upright: foresight, looking ahead, expansion, growth.
Reversed: playing small, lack of foresight, unexpected delays.
… and …

ΓΡΥΨ (ΑΣΤΡΑΠΗ::ΑΥΡΑ) = A griffin; a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle with its talons on the front legs. Since classical antiquity, griffins were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions.
I Ching: 101:110 50. (Ting) The Cauldron / The Caldron
Judgment: Supreme good fortune and success are possible.
Image: Consolidate your fate by making your position correct.
Tarot: Page ♠/Swords – upright: thirst for knowledge, curiosity, restlessness, new ideas, mental energy; reversed: deception, manipulation, all talk and no action, haphazard haste
Rune: ᚲ Kenaz/Cauldron = poem: “Cauldron sits in crackling flame, ever changing, ever same.” – keywords: change, transformation, illumination, fire, process, time