June 16 (Water) Liber LXV, Cap. III, v. 13-14

[GabrielO]

**13. Then I said: O my beloved, O Lord Adonai, I pray thee to loosen the coils of the serpent!
14. But she was closed fast upon me, so that my Force was stayed in its inception.
**

[GabrielO]

Perhaps this is a lesson. The scribe prays that the coils of the serpent would be loosened, but they just seem to tighten. Any attempt to express outward force is nullified. This period of struggling with our Nefesh, our lower self, feels a bit impotent and perhaps it is because we are battling it with our personality. Also, perhaps it was the Angel's intention to bring things to this point, and we not understanding this, call upon the Angel for the "problem" to be fixed, to which we see no result. It appears this help to loosen the coils must come from somewhere else, although rooted in our desire for something beyond.

[Jim Eshelman]

Excellent.

Yes, this particular passage, and this sort of interaction, reminds me of Chinese finger traps. (And the solution is exactly the same.)