Yesterday I posted a 4-minute video on YouTube containing a 3-point instruction.
‘This can apply to so many more things,’ a student said…
… so I give it to you here also in written, transcript form, as it may inspire beyond the scope of what I had in mind:
To talk about the importance of knowing what attitude is seated in you, precisely when you approach the shady business of fortunetelling that you will NOT want to raise to any ‘redeemed’, and hence hierarchical status.
THREE ESSENTIAL ATTITUDES ON YOUR PATH TO READING LIKE THE DEVIL
1. Decide what you want: To read cards or be relevant.
If your aim is to read cards, then drop all hope and pretense. As a fortuneteller will never join the ranks of relevant folks who spend their lives investing energy in being respectable.
If you want to be relevant, then make sure you never tag the word ‘Tarot’ to whatever societal consecrations you may have.
From the point of view of mainstream culture, you will never be anything but ‘irrelevant’, roaming among the ugly stars called dreamers, con artists, cunning folk, poets, mad dancers, and other transgressors.
Reading like the Devil means practicing consciously the art of acceptance. Acceptance of what you are: A visionary who speaks the truth, whether society at large likes it or not, or whether Tom, Dick, and Harry endorse it or not.
2. Decide what you practice: To make things clear or to be master.
If you want to make things clear, you will point precisely to the space where problems disappear.
You will account for the ‘what, how, and why’ that gives you this clarity without withholding the source of what enlightens you.
If you want to be master, you will invest energy in joining echo chambers, where Tom, Dick, and Harry are already masters, enticing to competition while holding on to symbolic power.
It’s likely that you will want to be like them, instead of the Devil himself.
Reading like the Devil means practicing reading the cards by consciously bypassing the question of ‘who is to be master.’
3. Decide what you embody: Common sense or symbolic power.
If you understand what is happening in the cards, the cards will show you how things are.
If you don’t understand what is happening in the cards, the cards will still show you how things are.
This concrete showing has zero to do with symbolism.
Reading like the Devil means that you can distinguish clearly between seeing things as they are and seeing things as they may be represented.
Reading like the Devil also means that you don’t need a community, or Tom, Dick and Harry to show you the way.
What you need, if you need anything at all, is honesty.
It’s not difficult to see things as they are. All it requires is some fearlessness.
You are not afraid of being irrelevant, and you are not afraid of ‘who is to be master’.
You just read the damn cards, gloriously, penetratingly, and compassionately.
What the Devil himself says?
… and it was very nice of him to show up in a completely random draw:
The Pope, The Lovers, the Devil
Reading like the Devil is mastering ambivalence, and the ability to send everyone to hell indiscriminately and unemotionally if the occasion arises, as part of seeing the damn things precisely as they are.
I suggest we stick with this program.
♠
For more such practice with the cards:
- Join the Read like the Devil Club.
- Visit also Aradia Academy and sign up for the newsletter that will keep you informed on upcoming courses and cartomantic activities. Note the Off the Shelf offering that also includes free resources.
- Check out my books on the philosophy and practice of divination at EyeCorner Press.
- Get a reading. When I perform a reading, I also teach, simply because as I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.
TAROFLEXIONS 
Thank you for this version too!!
Just a technical note (from a musician/techie nerd 😉 Music was a bit loud and uneven in the mix; at the beginning it was OK but got louder (when the keys //2nd track came in). At the very end- it got so loud- I could not hear all of your words.
Solution- if you cannot modulate beginning and end, then just turn the entire track down, so that by the time it increases at the end– it will be blended. 😉 Mad Love, Tara
Thanks for the advice. The thing is that I don’t know anything about this world. I think 13 year-olds are so much better. I just uploaded the raw file on youtube, found a free track what I thought would be suitable to cover the 4 minutes, and then turned it down to minimum before final upload. I don’t think youtube has another edit function than that. I’d probably have to use iMovie or some other film edit program to be able to modulate. The thing about free tracks is that the choice is very limited. I’ll look some more into it. I’d love to hear, if anybody has any other ideas. Love right back at you.