12
Envy
(eirsha)
Envy is the first snake of the game. Its bite brings the player down from the second chakra to avarice and to all else that comes with vibrating in the first chakra. Time and again this little snake catches the player and brings him down. When he lands in envy he feels a lack of confidence in himself and resorts to first-chakra strategies for overpowering his desire. In the process of the game, this serpent helps the player to purify his thought process.
In the game of life, energy moves from below to above. The player wants to leave the lower planes and reach the summit, forever abandoning the problems he encountered below. But this attitude runs contrary to the very essence of the game. He has to play in all the planes, below and above—wherever his karma die leads him.
But nobody wants to remain low. When the player does not vibrate correctly the snakes get hold of him. And by his own throw of the die the player comes and goes, up and down. Envy is felt when the energy is down. The player has only by karmic chance reached a higher plane and really does not deserve to stay there. He cannot, in fact, remain there, because negative vibrations are still present in his being. At such times he feels envious of those he sees who are able to remain steadily on the higher planes. This envy is a negative reaction, which draws his energy back down to the first chakra, where he must work out more karmas.
The artwork captures the essence of envy in a spiritual context. The snake, symbolizing envy, coils at the base of an ascending spiral, which represents the journey through the chakras. The dark and murky colors at the base illustrate the first chakra, the primal state where envy resides. The serpent's eyes, both captivating and malevolent, emphasize its seductive and destructive nature. As the spiral rises, it transitions into bright, harmonious colors, signifying the higher chakras and an enlightened state. Scattered dice around the spiral symbolize the karmic game of life and the randomness of our spiritual paths. This visual contrast between the darkness of lower vibrations and the lightness of higher spiritual planes expresses the struggle to overcome negative emotions like envy and ascend to a higher state of consciousness.