Imagine a lovely old dog, named Dawn, eating food that is
not too flavorful -- a health diet. [note: one of the things that happened when I used
this card is my long ago pets started showing up in my dreams, sometimes,
apparently, as guides].
Dawn is an older black lab suffused with a feeling of innocence and you may imagine her surrounded by a golden halo--everybody who meets Dawn really likes her, which probably causes this halo around her. Many people who have used this system have had dream's about Dawn -- she is apparently easy to dream about, and is based on a real dog who is owned by one of the first play testers of this game -- Ann Withal.
The Sixes represent the peace and contentment that come with successful projects. These cards represent stability and reliability. They symbolize the serenity after the changes experienced with the Fives. They also represent family, health, and domesticity--very well symbolized by the domestic dog, Dawn. The only danger in the Sixes is the danger of complacency, of giving in to an emotion -- this is what often happens with people and their pets, since this is a relationship in which they are completely in control and they find manageable -- but it is not the ultimate relationship (the ultimate relationship is the relationship with God, probably). We need to be careful with this feeling of pet stewardship in an age where the victim mentality is rampant (the overlap between the victim mentality and the pet mentality is very great).
When Dawn is around there is a feeling peacefulness. It is the nuclear age, and far worse weapons are coming than even nuclear weapons, so one is not exactly safe with Dawn, but it is a rest. One "feels" safe but this is not the same thing as true safety--true safety is succinctly defined in the following sentence -- "safety and security are the deconstruction of nuclear weapons."
Every human being needs this kind of rest, the kind of rest provided by the calm, delightful presence of a seasoned animal. But even more so we need the rest provided by the deconstruction of nuclear weapons, which is the destination of the human race.
One of the traditional meanings of this card is Good Karma, and Dawn has good Karma. Ann mentioned to me that Dawn like all old dogs probably was smart, since it take a smart dog to survive (most not-so-smart dogs get put away). If there is rebirth Dawn will probably come back in as a higher form of animal. Very often, playing Dawn, I thought I caught the sentience level gaze of a Chimpanzee or Bonobo monkey. If there is indeed transmigration, perhaps that would be a good life for her to experience next. It would seem to present a logical "next set of skills" for this being, this dog, Dawn. Perhaps this is a nexus point for the meaning of this card -- Dawn is an old dog, and one day must die. A pet, especially an older pet, is a seasoned source of great pleasure to their owners, and it is precisely their apparent innocence that is hard to bear. Using this card, one can focus on the true nature of pets, their meaning, and purpose, and also develop the art of letting them go.
Like a lot of old dogs, Dawn shows an almost unlimited amount of gratitude in the form of providing togetherness, companionship, and attention to those that are kind to her.
She seems aware of how
lucky she is to live in a good home and delights in the joy of it. Dawn is a wonderful dog, but she has been
known to get into amounts of food that would surely kill her. Remember this, as this is a card of
pleasure, that we must limit our pleasures in order to be true human beings.
Dawn symbolizes a
certain kind of healing such as when she sat with a person who was dying in the
house. Dawn would not leave the dying
person's side. She provided a measure
of safety and protection to the older, dying person, in that the person was
well-attended.
If you want to imagine the Crowley deck symbiology imagine six beautiful copper cups crowned by an open lotus. The sun is shining down on all this, illuminating everything and making it glow. The flowing petals of the open lotuses represent love overflowing, the snakes barely visible in the cups represent rebirth through sex, the sun represents life, action and pleasure. The open lotus represent the emerging vulnerability, and the copper cups themselves symbolize healing.
Movie
of this card: A Boy and His Dog
Book
of this Card: The Call of
the Wild, by Jack London
Interesting web site of the 100th bonobo monkey, written by Ivan Stang, Church of the Subgenius.