Keywords
Worry, fear, paralysis, nightmare
Element
Air
Astrological Association
Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
THE CARD’S STORY BY: SHELBY NICHOLS
Coupled with the Mythical theme on this deck, the story I wanted to tell was of victims suffering from sleep paralysis. Many sufferers report the feeling of a malevolent presence in the room while they struggle with the terrifying inability to move. Curiously, in many cultures, the experience is explained by the appearance of a twisted old woman that comes on the edge of waking to steal your breath. The Night Hag. Sometimes I feel tormented by feelings and thoughts that only I can hear, a susurrus from the shadows just outside reality. Relief finally came when I did not try to escape these dark whispers, but when I learned the difference between the gifts they offered and their lies.
THE CARD’S MESSAGE BY TRISH SULLIVAN
A young girl, drowsy and waking to a brand new day is suddenly struck by terror. Some terrifying monster is holding her down, she cannot move, cannot escape, and cannot get past the night into the day. Don’t let your fears paralyze you and take over your life. Stress is a natural reaction to a threat – an instinctive alarm to wake your adrenaline and help you get the hell out. But sometimes it can run away with you…like now. Worry is in danger of overcoming you, eating you up and affecting your health, physical and mental. Be gentle to yourself. Reclaim your peace of mind and ability to relax. Take control of your fears, rather than letting them control you.
MYTHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION: NIGHT HAG
Th e Night Hag features in a wide range of mythology and folklore as the nightmarish creature who causes sleep paralysis, oft en by sitting on the victim’s chest. Sometimes as an incubus, a mare (the origin of the word nightmare), a jinn, a demon, spirit or ghost, the result is always the same – a terrifying feeling of something or someone pressing down on you, preventing you from moving, usually just as you wake. Th e way in which your worries and concerns press down on you, causing you to be “stuck” in a nightmarish mindset in this card, the night hag was the perfect fit.
