5 Inertia V
"The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we feel towards pursuing it." Steven Pressfield
KEY WORDS
Heavy
Resistance
Self-Sabotage
Resignation
Safe
Stagnation
VIDEO
MEANING
Inertia is a powerful resistance to change. It takes energy from our passions and slows our progress towards a dream. Wherever we find this metaphorical quicksand, a dream can always be found nearby. What is your dream? Do what you have to do, until you can do what you want to do. Procrastination, self-sabotage, avoidance, fear, and self-doubt are among Inertia's tools. Escape. What friends, tools, or clues are within reach?
Sometimes, when we are afraid of following our dreams, we take a secondary path. It is safer but less fulfilling. Are you pursuing your real dream? Or is the temptation of another path with less risk seducing you? Are you supporting another out of fear of fulfilling your own ambitions? What path brought you to this place? What signs will you recognise in future? How could you turn this quicksand upside-down?
OBJECTS
Planet (Earth) If we always stay within our comfort zone, we will never visit other beautiful worlds.
Cloud (Water) When you can't see far ahead, take smaller steps. Make gentle progress.
Bird (Air) What freedoms are you craving? What freedoms are you taking for granted?
Snake (Dark) It may be necessary for you to shed your current skin to be reborn.
Fork (Fire) Pin down the subject better with your fork so you can work upon it with more precision.
Candle (Light) What learning and enlightenment can you carry with you to light your path better in future?
THE MAGIC SEAL
THE ART
Every card tells a different story, bringing us in a different period of time and place. Inertia makes us travel far away, leading us inside a lush tropical jungle. Beautifully whimsical plants with colourful leaves grow under gigantic ancient trees and slender palms. Everything is motionless and silent, an idyllic peace, but in the shadows of this uncontaminated paradise something macabre is happening! Someone is slowly sinking in a deadly dark quicksand, desperately trying to grab a vine and save themself.
In the deck many cards are connected by telling the story of the same place or character, leading us to discover their secrets, glimpse past moments and ghosts of possible futures. Inertia is connected with Action showing the same lush jungle, but we do not know which story the cards are telling. Is Action the past of Inertia or the other way round? Is the explorer leading a rescue mission? Did she manage to save the other explorer from the quicksand or was she too late?
AUGMENTED REALITY
The animation is bringing our attention to the last moment of this lost explorer: we see him disappearing into the quicksand. The image of a bird skeleton and specimens in jars filled with formaldehyde appear, symbols of death, majestic free creatures trapped, caged, grounded... Metaphors of Inertia, a situation that could have be avoided by listening to the 'caveat', the warning, of the two statues dancing.
THE MUSE
The reaching arm of the unknown Muse.
A strange tattoo.
Is this person sinking? Will they escape?
THE MUSIC
Is it a metronome slowing, or footsteps becoming increasingly hesitant. All the instruments we hear are sampled from voices. Distorted and confusing. Some speak forwards, others backwards. Words echo around us. It becomes overwhelming. If we try to listen to everything all at the same time, we don't hear anything clearly. This sea of audible quicksand would gradually consume us if we let it.
LINKS TO GO DEEPER
Do you know how to escape from deadly quicksand? Learn from British former SAS serviceman, adventurer, writer, and television presenter Edward Michael Grylls OBE - better known as Bear Grylls: How to Survive Quicksand