bibliomancy for mars retrograde

"...building the psychic vessel of containment, which is another way of speaking of soul-making, seems to require bleeding and leaking as its pre-condition. Why else go through that work unless we are driven by the despair, of our un-stoppered condition? The shift from anima-mess to anima-vessel shows in various ways; as a shift from weakness and suffering to humility and sensitivity; from bitterness and complaint to a taste for salt and blood; from a focus upon the emotional pain of the wound - its causes, perimeters, cures - to its imaginal depths..." (Hillman, The Wound and the Eye)

I've been sitting with this passage for a few days (hence, no blog entry), waiting - allowing - some understanding and inspiration to present itself.

Of course, my first instinctive reaction is the same final conclusion arrived at after weighing up, sorting through and putting aside various other 'more sensible' ideas.

Its this; having 'revisioned' the dirt and mess in my life, both the actual physical clutter of this existence, and the inner trash that refuses to be cleared - the stuff I have because I need it - I've been looking at why I need it.

The urge toward solar heroics dies hard, even in the dark.