Two weeks ago we had a lunar eclipse. So today we have the attending solar eclipse. This time the sun, moon, mercury, venus and pluto—all pile up in Capricorn. Hoo boy, that’s dense. It’ll take some time to dig out from under this pile of earth.
During a solar eclipse the sun goes dark in the day. The light winks out. We have to accept this unnatural darkness, and do our best before the sun returns.
Emily must have been eavesdropping on the Cupid and Psyche workshop. Here is her response.
#611, c. 1862
I see thee better — in the Dark —
I do not need a Light —
The Love of Thee — a Prism be —
Excelling Violet —I see thee better for the Years
That hunch themselves between —
The Miner’s Lamp — sufficient be —
To nullify the Mine —And in the Grave — I see Thee best —
Its little Panels be
Aglow — All ruddy — with the Light
I held so high, for Thee —What need of Day —
To Those whose Dark — hath so — surpassing Sun —
It deem it be — Continually —
At the Meridian?
The poet’s sight grows sharper in the darkness behind her eyes. Her ability to “see”— that is through the prism of memory and imagination— holds the loved one forever at the meridian, or the highest point reached by a heavenly body. Emily’s love flourishes in the dark of unconscious, for it exists below thought or beyond rational justification. Like the ground of being, this love doesn’t answer questions or assume a shape in the light. It will never make sense.
This vision of love is more “true” than the prosaic reality exposed by common daylight. Only refracted light opens to reveal the true colors inside, the rays following a bending pathway that points toward this love, or truth, or simply what is. “Art is the lie that tells the truth.” Or so I’ve heard.
We can forgive Psyche her vulgar curiosity. She pushes us toward seeing the thing before us that may not match the thing that lies in the dark behind our eyes. Even when it shocks, we grow from this inquiry. That disturbance helps us make our way in the dark. Now at least we know what is there. We can navigate better. The paradox in this veil of darkness is that it shows us more after Psyche’s journey.
Emily Every Day 