Specimen: Tarot Major Arcana XII
Subject: A bat suspended in inversion, not as punishment, but as native posture.
This was supposed to be a man. I had sketched a human form, obedient to twelve centuries of tarot inheritance — rope, tree, sacrifice, enlightenment-by-neck-strain.
Instead, a bat arrived.
Not a symbol of hanging, but a creature for whom insight is formed in darkness, not action.
The moment the wings closed around the body, the entire logic of the card collapsed — and reassembled.
The bat enters inversion deliberately. Not martyrdom – this is chosen estrangement from the obvious; it is alert without engagement.
What This Means for Beneath the Mind
This tarot invites you into retreat, rest, and reassessment. Maybe all you need is the perspective that can only be gained by pulling back into yourself for a while.
Meditative prompt: what if nothing is wrong – your nervous system is simply asking to rest.
Filed under:
Field Notes → Memory / Anatomy / Disobedient Artifacts
