TAROFLEXIONS

Colors of the New Year

As it happens, my New Year starts off rather colourfully. First off, my head is buried in a very fine church incense blend, made according to some monks’ idea of alchemy. Why they would use kitchen spices to color the frankincense from Oman red and blue is anyone’s guess, but overall, it all smells divine. The monks of yesteryear got it just right.

Then, to honor people’s generosity, I take for a ride two Tarot decks that were sent to me by two of my cartomancy students as a present. As it also happens, although these two have nothing in common other than the name, Tarot, they share a love of color and quirkiness.

The Pipspeak Tarot made by Zaara Kitenshops falls under the category ‘cute as the cutest thing,’ while the large format Wicca Moon Tarot made by Shirlee depicts the colors of real life members in a South-East London magical community.

The more I look at the pervading colors in both these tarots, the more I think about how color is the very thing that signals just how personal these tarots are for their creators. Which is a good thing, as it always warms my heart to see artists making art for their own sake, rather than for the sake of others, in the process trying to imagine what we all want and often failing at second-guessing. Nothing is more trite than playing with art and colors in order to please others.

I gave the Pipspeak Tarot a little squeeze, and then cast three cards on my table. I had focus on my mind, what with the new year presaging on it. When it comes down to it, what most of us want is to put the old year us behind, and think about what needs to be done in the year that’s ahead of us. Although I don’t make any long terms predictions for myself – as I’m still too Zen for any kind of temporality – I take the message from the string of cards that feature the Ace of Coins, the World, and 5 Swords to my heart: focus on your resistance… and keep going, as per the Charioteer in the wings.

I’m not keen on considering any swords in my life right now, but since I know exactly what I’m resisting, I heed attention. Not so strangely with these colors – some also used for gold and rainbow glittering blocks – I feel that whatever my resistance may be, it is no match for the cuteness that arises from the invitation to simply just be joyful about everything. Even pain can be tied with a pink ribbon, and thought of as a special gift…

Collaboratively in theme, the Wicca Moon Tarot provided a similar message, albeit my focus while using these cards shifted to thinking about what I love. If I have to deal with resistance, I might as well consider how I’m doing in the ‘love’ department. Two Pentacles, 5 Wands, and the Emperor didn’t even leave much to the imagination, as the suggestion to collaborate towards creating some value while waiting for spring, when I can give my projects a boost, was very clear. Not only that, but if I have to consider what the Emperor stands for, then I’m right there with the notion of what is already beyond any settled negotiation.

As the bottom card from the cut deck, the surprise card, features both the King and Queen of Pentacles working together – a quirk of the Wicca Moon Tarot to depict the court cards as a couple, rather than as individuals – I took this image as a validating point: work on it together, then let it spring into power.

All in all, if we may not all get to do what we love in the new year, it pays off to think about the the tools that inspire us to color our experiences. We can use them to settle our ambiguities.

I appreciate these two gifts that speak the language of color, for indeed, if silence is always the gift we can give ourselves when we’re in doubt about anything, color can act as a counterpart to the silence that brings clarity to our thoughts and emotions.

Happy New Year to all, and stay tuned for all things cards, books, art, and scents.

For a sustained 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 I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.

Office gossip

I read the playing cards for two people at the same time. They take turns to tell me what’s happening. The man says: ‘the research center is closing due to differences between the director of studies and the university chancellor.’ ‘Yes,’ the woman says, ‘there is also a rumour,’ she then adds. ‘It’s not a rumour,’ the man says, ‘it’s more like a blatant abuse of power.’

While each of them offers a perspective, and I put down cards that corroborate their disappointment, I get the distinct impression from the lineup of the cards that these two are not asking me the real question. I put the couple on the spot: ‘what exactly is it that you want to know?’

Almost in unison they say this: ‘we want to know what happened to the lovers, the two who had an affair at the office.’

‘They split,’ I tell them, upon laying down three additional cards to complement the inverted pyramid. As a true professional, I also keep a straight face. A smirk appears on theirs. ‘That’s great,’ they both go, and we close the session on that feeling. After all, it’s not like illicit love at the office has absolutely nothing to do with abuse of power…

What can I say, even without divulging secrets, we can tell secrets. As to how much they reveal, this is always up to the individual understanding that each party is capable of and can bring to the table. I’m the fortuneteller who just reads the damn cards, cracking a smile all her own.

As to reading playing cards, a new group has been forming for the Playing Cards Module in the series of foundation courses in the Read like the Devil method, due to start tonight. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it here as well, in addition to having plastered the news all over my social media, that there’s exactly one spot left in the class that’s capped at 50. You’re welcome to grab this spot, and learn to tell stories with the classic cards.

Or else, stay in the loop, grab a book, join a club, and enjoy your Autumnal season.

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 I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.

A certain relentlessness

Sometimes I do things to please myself. Creative things, they call it, when you use your hands and imagination in order to give form to an idea. As it happens, for all my sitting all day long with words, I like to make things.

Some fifteen years ago I designed pretty much all my clothes, created paper patterns for them, and did all the stitching. My living room looked like a clothes factory, what with the many sawing machines I own, ironing boards, and cutting tables.

Once I made a paper coat. Literally. Since I have an obsession with paper, I thought, why not make a whole coat out of it? I tried to imagine what Karl Lagerfeld would make of that, as I also had an obsession with this fashion genius.

I created the coat, paired it with a mini felted wool and silk dress that I also concocted, and went to work. I had a literature class to teach at Roskilde University, where I was a tenured professor of American Studies. I made a point about poetry and paper. I told the students that I had just created the paper coat I was wearing. They wanted to come close to me in order to inspect it. Some asked me: ‘can we write something on it?’ I said, ‘no, words ruin everything.’ We left it at that, with my paper coat untainted, now hiding at the back of my closet alongside with a slew of Japanese kimonos.

I stopped stitching, as I don’t have much time for it any longer, or else it’s because I decided that I have enough clothes. But if it’s not that kind of thing that I use my hands for these days, then it’s something else: analog photography that requires developing film and fiddling with chemicals in the darkroom, calligraphy, or drawing in different styles, one more ‘dubious’ than the other. I always think about the art of touching something, and how the thing I touch responds to my gesture. This reflection keeps me entertained.

Having started teaching how to read cards under the signature of Read like the Devil – also some fifteen years ago – I created a few decks of cards. The latest, Baka Tarot, was almost intended as a flash display, similar to my paper coat.

First I made this deck of cards for my own pleasure. Then I flashed a few images in public. Others said, ‘we want it.’ I made a set of talismanic copies. They all went in a flash. ‘Is there more?’ people asked, and I said ‘no, but there could be. Not the special kind, but a fine standard edition.’ Then the words. While waiting for the production team to present me with their prototype, I entered a writing frenzy. A whole book was ready when the standard Baka Tarot was ready – alongside with re-editions of two others, Arcades Tarot, and Red Tarot.

I thought, this is what being relentless means. The cards, that is, for as far as I was concerned when I flung it all to the public, I was not in any opportunistic mode. I work with occasion, not opportunity. I prefer to make this distinction. Just as my writing is always occasioned by an event, so with my art, or, as I prefer to think of it, my making things. If I make things, it’s because I like it, not because there’s an opportunity for it.

I cast a 6-card pyramid with the Arcades Tarot, and the first thing that befell me is this thought: what the mind creates, the mind must destroy, echoing the words of a master, Nisargadatta Maharaj. As a counter to this radical position, perhaps what the hands create needs no destruction, for it will dismantle itself by default with time.

I read my pyramid of cards below in this way: there is a World of things that we can touch, using our Magician’s finger for it, even when it may seem Foolish. If a decision can’t be made for what we Love, then we can make a royal robe for ourselves instead, and like an Empress, ascend to a throne to sit on, and from there issue commands. For, if Death comes along to take some heads, whether heads of rulers, lovers, magicians, or fools, who can stop it?

We might as well pay attention to what occasions our moves. There’s always desire, my Red Tarot tells me, to make and to be, the Lovers in between Magic and Star brilliance, and hence and as such, desire can only be killed by death, but if it becomes a habit, then yes, our abracadabra can redirect the light, and present us with an occasion to do more magic, and embody more the eloquence of the stars in perfectly new ways.

I started out by saying that it takes a certain relentlessness to create something. Or at least I suggested it by pointing to how a visual text can participate in creating a certain kind of relentlessness, when you find yourself making things, not because there’s an opportunity for it, but because you have an occasion for it; an occasion that defies even a great love whose horizon doesn’t rise, but whose touch makes a mark in a book you can write about it, and then toast to its publication.

The cards from Baka Tarot below, although cast for a different occasion, can speak here of the very thing, thus reminding us all of the beauty that goes into alchemizing a process that involves having your fingers all over it. There’s nothing that beats the complicity of touch. I think I make cards for that.

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Cards: the newly released standard editions Baka Tarot, Arcades Tarot, Red Tarot, now all available in unlimited form.

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 I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.

The teacher on the fence

Sometimes it’s not just students who are on the fence about their education. The teacher can also experience a similar thing regarding teaching. ‘I’ve been waiting for you to do this,’ a cartomancy student said, when I announced that I was going to have a cartomancy club devoted to the art of reading like the Devil in a forum conducive to solitary contemplation.

‘Say what?’ some may ask, pointing to how clubs have always been dedicated to social gatherings. True that, but here’s what I was thinking.

The more there’s a proliferation of social media groups for this and that and everything else between heaven and earth, angels, demons, and your dead grandmother who has been nine feet under the ground for nine years already, the more it occurrs to me that if something is missing, then it’s this: the ability to sit alone in a room and not fret, get restless, or anxious – ay, Blaise Pascal was right when he said a few centuries ago already that all our human misery comes from our inability to sit alone in a room; sit and contemplate.

But what if we sit and contemplate as a result of prior instruction? – I just did this myself, what with having read Pascal for the nth time, and because I like him, taking up his word of instruction that sitting with a thread of inspiration alone in a room is a great idea.

Which is where I come in as a teacher in a cartomancy club dedicated to perfecting the art of reading like the Devil. I come in here in the form of a grey eminence acting from my invisible parlour, throwing ideas at people and asking them to sit with them alone in a room of their own.

Or maybe my parlour is not so invisible, as what I have in mind is to share my presence live in a monthly encounter with students, in order to discuss, not only topics presented in advance in written form, but also to practice reading the cards in situ, right then and there.

So far 150 people have signed up, as membership to the club is kept to a minimum. $10 bucks per month and the freedom to enter and exit the club as you wish will both get you in and get you a long way. At least that’s my intention.

On Sunday, June 25, the doors to my ‘invisible parlour’ open for our first practice session. The already growing library of texts and visual resources is being populated with new additions as I write and speak here, and I look forward to sharing more knowledge with others also in this highly anticipated form. Thank you to those who have been nudging me about it. I’m not on the fence anymore.

Check the Read like the Devil Practice Club on the old website that has been revamped for this purpose, and either heed the call, or just read what’s there already for all to enjoy. In addition to the exclusive offerings for the club, there is a plethora of texts for everyone to ponder on, so that, at the end of the day, all with an interest in cartomancy under the signature of Read like the Devil will be served.

As to what else I’ve been doing since the last posting here in November, I can say that I’ve contributed three small books to a new series with EyeCorner Press, books whose intention is to focus on a particular challenging point in cartomancy. Threads, Cross, and Choices are available from all online stores in standard paperback editions – the limited editions were all snatched in a few minutes when these titles launched in January, March, and June, but these books are now also rendered as ebooks, and offered only on the publisher’s website.

So I’ve been busy. As far as I’m concerned, I can conclude again and again that being a woman of the book will never deny itself. Not ever.

But in line with yesterday’s solstice, a day of heightened energy and light, I also played with both energy and light as a way of celebrating movement and the imperative to keep going. I ended up publishing two new videos that feature a 3-card practice with the Lenormand Oracle and the Marseille Tarot respectively. Take a look, and enjoy!

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 I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.

The Fortuneteller as a Grave Digger

Yes, you heard that right, grave digger, not gold digger. Let me explain.

Two days ago I was a grave digger. Or rather, I was exhuming a dead body. In a dream. I dreamt that my sister and I were deeply at work digging around my father’s coffin. The aim was to move him. After some heavy work with the shovel, going though an altogether unpleasant feeling, I stopped and put my hands over my hips in admonishment. I asked my sister: ‘Will you please tell why we have to do this again?’ She replied, ‘ah, well, I’m sorry. It’s because of me.’ She then started to list a a number of things that I didn’t even want to hear about. I then just said in a tone of resignation, yet filled with anger: ‘That’s bad, but bloody hell, how many times must we do this again?’ I woke up with this repetition in my head: Again. We had to dig him up. Again. That’s one time too many…

As it happens, my father died in Romania in 1976 when I was 8. Sister was 6. She took his death a lot harder than I did. In fact I remember exactly my reaction, when I was told in school by my teacher that my father was now dead. I said, ‘oh well, people come, people go.’ I think this response traumatized her, as she kept returning to it by checking on me constantly to my exasperation. I mean, which part of it was it that she didn’t get? I was quite clear in my response. While she may have thought that my response was off, or that my emotions were inappropriate, I thought that my words were the most appropriate. I still do. People come, people go, and that’s all there is to it. Just as death is not negotiable, our emotions about it are not negotiable either. Not unless we want to waste our time. I never do.

Here’s my father below. Not long after this picture he died. He was a a hunk. I light candles for him. When the time is right. Like today.

Now, as it also happens, since I have some soil from my father’s grave in Romania, I decided that sister I and should perform a little ritual. We were going to take the earth from his grave to the top of the sand dunes outside both our houses on the west coast of Denmark, and bury it there under the Northern Sun. And our watch, since both our houses have a great view over the very thing. I decided that since the man wanted to be moved – again – we might as well do it this way. In addition, this was the place that he designated as a favorite in another dream I wrote about in my book, The Oracle Travels Light. The burial in the dunes was thus less frightening and a lot easier. My shovel was also a lot smaller, and thus kinder on my frail fingers and body.

After the ritual, quite befitting on the Day of the Dead, we came back home and drank rum from a bottle that I had just uncorked the night before, on Halloween. Here was the Demon’s Share for us all.

Now to the point of this narrative for the educationally oriented readers, especially since I have Necromancy and Cartomancy on my head, the rerun of a course I offered last year, opening again tomorrow at Aradia Academy.

We do what we have to do, because we can. If a situation doesn’t help us with action, then we refrain from acting, for what would be the purpose of going against what can’t be helped? If one needs a resolution for it at all, then waiting is the answer. Just wait.

On this Day of the Dead wait for your dead to talk, give you instruction, ask you to move their bodies, or give them The Devil’s Share. Or some light, water, or a prayer. You will be doing all these things because you can. Thank your privilege and be merry on your way. Even if you have to wait for whatever it is that can’t be helped right now. Amen.

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 I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.

Hoodoo magic with playing cards

This week Aradia Academy has opened registration for the Read Like the Devil series of foundation courses focussing on the Playing Cards module, a series that is taught by The Janitor, Bent Sørensen, this time around. He will present 6 video lectures based on my Playing Cards volume of the Read like the Devil trilogy of textbooks.

For fun I here share some of the specialised material he has decided to add to the course. This is one of 5 essays he offers on an adapted use of hoodoo and folk magic together with playing cards. In Bent’s own words:

“In these essays I’ll be working through Professor Charles Porterfield’s book: A Deck of Spells: Hoodoo Playing Card Magic in Rootwork and Conjure. These are not my native traditions by any means, so I’ll be looking at them as an outsider, and as someone who is used to different types of magic with cards.

There is a wealth of anecdote in Porterfield’s book, and he starts out with a discussion of the old Country and Western song, “A Deck of Cards, or A Soldier’s Bible”. So far, so good. He then proceeds to give a potted history of Playing Cards, and their origins and dissemination through Western culture. There is not a lot of detail in that section, but as a very first introduction it might indeed work just fine. Then there is some description of differences in suits and values between traditions, and then a very brief introduction to Tarot cards and to Fortune-Telling decks. Those bits are not so interesting.

By now we are on p. 25, and this is where the book gets going: Porterfield gives us a set of rules of thumb for what he calls “interpretation” of Color, Suits, ‘Ranks’ (pips), Courts or ‘Royals’, and of Timing. He then does a few spreads, and finally lists of meanings – some specific to Kentucky, some to Illinois, and the “The Professor’s Own.” Here we are not keen on lists of meanings, but comparing may be of interest to some of you.

Next section is about prepping your deck for magic and conjure, and this is tradition-specific to hoodoo and rootwork. It involves a lot of work with oils and anointments – something which I find slightly horrifying, as I would not want to smear anything on a classic Piatnik or Dondorf deck, let alone a vintage rarity. So, here is where you make a trip to the grocery store and pick up a brick of inexpensive decks, because you will be cutting them up, hammering nails through them, burning and burying them, and oiling them up thoroughly.

There is a list of specific spells you can do with each card in a deck, and that is gold if you are thus inclined. The spells fall in many categories: healing, harming and cursing, reconciling, protection, blessing – and of course success and money spells galore.

Finally, the book closes with sections of spells, organised thematically according to area of interest and influence (“by condition,” as the Professor says), rather than going card-by-card. These areas are: Work/Money/Success; Love/Family; Healing; Cursing and Harming; and Protection and Jinx-Breaking.

I’ll be mining these last sections during the course, especially the Money and Success part. For all-purpose Road Opening, use the 6 of Diamonds (and we understand why – the Suit of Diamonds is for wealth matters, and the Six is for stable progress) and draw an open road on the card, connecting the three Diamonds on one side first, and then the three Diamonds on the other side of the card. The card now physically resembles a road. Down the ‘road’ in the centre of the card, write the words, “Let the Road be Open!”. For added success use oils such as Road opener oil to anoint an orange candle and the card. Place the candle on the card, and surround this with eucalyptus leaves – light the candle and recite a specific wish for opening. Porterfield recommends invoking Joshua and the opening of Jericho’s walls as the candle is lit. May the obstacles in your way tumble and crumble like those walls! I think the Judgment card in the Tarot can be used to amplify this wish as well.

Lots of these spells involve preparation and discipline. Oils need to be kept, and numerous plant ingredients as well. For those not willing or able to do so, I have adapted a few spells for use in a non-Hoodoo tradition.

For success in business you need three cards: 9 of Diamonds, 9 of Clubs, and 8 of Clubs. You write sigils and names on these cards. On 9 of Diamonds write the name of your bank and your account number you’d like money to flow into. On 9 of Clubs write the name of your business and draw a money sigil, for instance $$€€$$. And on 8 of Clubs write your name and birthdate (you can add sign or any other significator you hold belief in, such as an angel’s name or that of a saint). Now place the 9 of Diamonds in your wallet and say: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” from Luke 11:9 – or words to similar effect, if you dislike using the Christian Bible. Place the other two cards in your shop, or under your computer if your business is online and bless them with this prayer from Psalms 90: “May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us — yes, establish the work of our hands.”

One final spell – try it out for the coming week: “Seven Diamonds, Seven Day, Steady Work Spell” — Take 7 of Spades and put it face down under a flat stone. Write your wish for work success in the coming week on a piece of paper and place it on top of the stone. Encircle the stone with 7 pips from the suit of Diamonds, starting with the Ace and going up to the 7 of Diamonds. Place a green candle on the paper and light it, while asking for blessing for the work: “Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfil them; let all the neighbouring lands, bring gifts to the One to be feared. He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth.” (Psalms 76) – or words to similar effect. This is good against infidel bosses who don’t recognise and respect your skill set as they properly should.”

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 I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.

When the inner voice is a dimwit

WHEN THE ‘INNER VOICE’ IS A DIMWIT

Have a look at these cards above:

The Devil says: ‘You can do anything.’ Circumstance says: ‘Today you hang.’ Temperance in the middle says: ‘Know how to mix these voices.’ In the Devil’s voice, what appears a manifestation of confidence is actually a bidding for overconfidence. Just look around: how many manifestations of hyperbolic speech did you experience today? Too many. In the Devil’s voice whatever overpowers you becomes this figure of speech: ‘believe in yourself.’ But if circumstance says: ‘Not today. Today you can’t do a thing, including believing in yourself, because I rule,’ what do you do? Flock to the place where they dispense hyperbolic speeches about your greatness and infallible entitlement? For free? Or, you’d think this is for free, but think again. If you make a pact with the wrong Devil to only ever hear about how great you are, simply because that makes you feel good – ‘supported, understood, and loved’ – you will pay a price. A hefty one. Not just money. More like dismissal from the ones who can see what’s happening: ‘what a dimwit…’

DON’T BE A DIMWIT, SAYS TEMPERANCE

So, what Temperance says is this: ‘Don’t be a dimwit.’ Indeed, we have enough dimwit politicians already whose only ‘suffering’ is overconfidence that they instill in others. For no other reason than to get elected. Other dimwits fall for the song of the siren, and before you know it, we’re with the Hanged Man situation, the one that can’t be helped. All because ‘I believe in myself’ feels so good. But when are feelings relevant if the aim is to see things as they are, the domain of Temperance here, the virtue that entices us to distinguish between narratives?

I bring this in because it has relevance for the topic on my mind these days, that of how we follow through with answering a calling. Sometimes ‘listening to your inner voice’ simply means listening to what you’re craving to hear, to what makes you feel good and reassured. Sometimes the inner voice is just a dimwit voice. It’s better to acknowledge instead that sometimes the situation doesn’t help you, and that’s all there is to it. In this case, the best wisdom is the Solomonic wisdom, namely the awareness that ‘this too shall pass,’ because the answer to the situation that can’t be helped is not overconfidence, or belief in a fashioned self that performs according to the Devil’s score.

DON’T BE NAIVE, SAYS MARTIN SHAW

I came across some apt words today from an interview with mythologist and storyteller Martin Shaw that may ring a stronger bell:

“We can’t be naïve in times like this, because we are in the presence of underworld forces that will do one of two things: they will either educate us, or annihilate us. And in fairy tales whenever the movement is down – and the movement culturally is down right now – you have to get underworld smart, have underworld intelligence, underworld metis. I have a strong feeling that a lot of what wants to emerge through many ancient stories is a kind of wily, tough, ingenious and romantic force that needs to come forward at this point in time.”

I like to think of Shaw’s ‘romantic force’ as the force that is actually connected with being able to distinguish between the forces that enslave us and the ones that liberate us. Many enslaving forces will look like the liberating ones, but it’s easy to check. Just ask yourself: ‘how desperately do I want to hear the words, I love you?, dispensed by complete strangers who will promise the world of safety for you, often marked by popular cliché lines à la: ‘I’ve got you.’ When these lines reach me, I always go: ‘You do?’ How?

When that is said, love what you will, but know that some loves are not realistic. It’s not true that we are not limited, because we are, nor is it true that there are never any external conditions that can rule over us, because there are. As far as I’m concerned I prefer to love seeing what is the case, seeing things as they are, to the bogus narrative that casts me in the role of superwoman, who, ironically, needs others to ‘hold space’ for her. I don’t fall for that. It’s not good for the realization of my vocation.

Tarot for Vocation, the masterclass followed by a live Q&A and training session has some interesting things to say about how we avoid listening to the ‘inner voice’ that sometimes is nothing but a representation of a dimwit.

For more of Shaw’s work, read his essay: We Are In The Underworld And We Haven’t Figured It Out Yet.

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 I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.

A reading that slays

For over two decades my partner, Bent Sørensen, had to witness my morning rituals with coffee and fumes, the latter in the form of strange smelling incense or freshly baked croissants. As a standard accompaniment to these, the use of cards.

I’d put down three to five cards, and I’d go like this: ‘not today,’ or ‘what a fascinating idea!’ Other variations of the exclamatory kind would be based on real life examples in the form of discussing what I felt was appropriate to share from the times and lives of the people who buy my fortunetelling services.

Sometimes such examples would generate a whole lesson in cartomancy, more specifically in the method of reading that I’ve turned into a business: ‘…like the Devil.’ We now both operate Aradia Academy, a cartomancy school that teaches others to read like the Devil. Bent has his own special corner in it.

Just this morning we had a discussion about this set of cards below, based on a question from someone looking for ways to infuse their work with more excitement, yet one that manifests also in the form of preserving energy, rather than wasting it. The underlying premise for the question was how to be more mindful at work in relation to actual mental and physical capacity, not idealized or ‘wishful thinking’ capacity.

As is often the case, the cards gave us just the picture that described what we already knew. The Empress, Temperance, and the Star corroborated exactly the woman’s predicament. Straight up the cards show us that, indeed, this woman is going from controlled power to a more relaxed manifestation of it. But there’s a catch in how we see what is happening: does the woman end up giving (rules and conventions) or giving up (rules and conventions)? Which of these two options is more valid?

Looking at the contrasting cards on top and the bottom of the string, the Moon in the position of what to do and Death in the position of what not to do, we might be tempted to say that the danger is to give up inspiring others too soon, because too much has already been given. In this reading, the focus is more on the Star spilling her drinks all over the earth.

But then considering what Temperance has to say in the middle position here, as if mediating between the controlling power of the Empress and the less controlling actions of the Star, we might as well focus on the Empress instead, and say that if there was any danger in how the woman could give of herself while preserving her energy at the same time, it would be contained precisely within the situation when controlling is desired transparent. I say ‘danger’ because last I’ve checked, when a ruler gets naked in public, relaxation is the last thing that happens. This only works if the ruler is an exhibitionist who likes to entertain the masses of voyeurs around.

In my experience, when it comes down to the reality of some attitudes, I can report the following: the notion that a ruler must be a naked ruler, or to use the trending word, transparent, doesn’t appeal to everyone, as transparency is not measured according to the expectations entertained by people who are neither part of the managing board, nor know anything whatsoever about how to manage a business. If we must make a case for transparency, then we could say that transparency should apply to what the ruler herself makes of the clarity she has about her managing skills. If this clarity is missing, she must act in accordance.

So here, then, to advise the querent to rule less and relax more would mean having to explain what the Moon card is doing in the position of appropriate action, considering the image of dogs howling at the moon and suggesting a whole lot of misunderstanding. The message that was finally delivered to the querent was this: ‘whatever you do, just keep the mystery alive,’ as playing the mystery part is only thing that makes sense.

Now, the curious thing is that for the whole duration of eating croissants and drinking coffee, my partner and I didn’t mention the Death card at all. We didn’t have to. When we said, ‘keep the mystery alive,’ we have implicitly addressed the death situation, or the notion that cuts are necessary. When we both noticed that Death was not on our lips at all, we laughed. We agreed that this is exactly what makes us read the cards like the Devil, slaying without even mentioning death. We can read all the cards on the table, yet without making a fuss about them. How devilish is that?

But why am I giving this example? To tell everyone that Bent Sørensen is now taking over the teaching of my foundation courses. He offers a 21-week long course in reading like the Devil with the Marseille Tarot, the Playing Cards, and the Lenormand Oracle, starting this Saturday. What he does that I never did is guarantee teacher feedback on every single contribution from the students.

Imagine working tightly with someone who had to submit to card analysis of this sort over his coffee and croissants for over 2 decades. The man can now slay. Well, he can do that also without my help, as Bent is accustomed to slaying both visual and literary texts, since he did nothing else in his long career as a university professor. If you’re interested in taking all three foundation courses in one run, I can guarantee it myself that you will get the appropriate and competent feedback.

Bent’s students in his own corner at Aradia Academy, called endearingly The Janitor’s Corner, already know about the slaying aspect, something that was even already commented upon, as soon as I made the announcement two days ago that the foundation courses will open for registration today: ‘Bent will slay,’ was the word, and all I could do was to nod.

For more such practice with the cards, join the Read like the Devil Practice 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.

Offense, excitement, and a reading about impotence

As a test, psychotherapists and spiritual teachers alike prefer to ask this question: ‘how often are you offended?’ People’s answers disclose something about their emotional barometer. The less one takes offense, the more balanced one is. This is a good test, but I have to admit that I haven’t encountered anyone who provided a counter question to the question of offense, one that I think would be a good idea to ask: ‘how often are you excited?’ The answer to that question also reveals something about the emotional state of a person, and can, in places, be even more efficient.

While we can agree that taking offense faster than we blink may be a bad idea, being excited about everything is actually worse. Being excited without discrimination is not a sign of being lively or full of optimism. It’s a sign of poor judgment. In fact, the more excited a person is when there’s hardly any cause for this excitement, the likelier it is for this person to also take offense very fast.

A quick trick with the cards would be to ask about what triggers which tendency and then compare. For instance you can pose these questions and then read a 3-card string for each:

What do I tend to be offended about without thinking of the extent to which there is a justification for this emotion?

What do I tend to get excited about without thinking of the extent to which there is a justification for this emotion?

We ask for a justification here because without its presence we may as well dismiss both the offense and the excitement on account of their being overreactions, rather than a proper response to a situation. Try this practice and see what you get.

The more interesting point I want to make, however, is the point about responding with an emotion to a situation, yet without letting that emotion come in the way of how the situation unfolds. In other words, do we give the situation enough space so we can see what it is made of, or do we invade it already with an emotion without actually knowing where the boundaries are?

In my work with the cards I prefer to think of the more interesting questions that underlie what we already know. For instance, we all know that emotions exist, but are they real? See, this particular question was already successfully asked and answered by the sages of the world. For an example, I like to point to the fun discussion about the reality of emotions that the Dalai Lama and the actor Richard Gere once had. I wrote about this in an essay on Patheos that you’re welcome to read.

In the context of offense and excitement that is not about the current Johnny vs Amber drama that I also made a passing remark about, let me refer to a recent reading I performed that featured both emotions on my table.

The impotent case

A middle aged man was concerned about his health, more specifically his vitality. The three cards on my table, the Hermit, the Magician, and the Charioteer, gave me an opportunity to say the following:

‘You’re impotent now, but you can rise again through a simple trick.’

At first the man took offense. He didn’t want to hear his problem being spelt out quite like that. I could read his expectation on his face. He wanted me to be more diplomatic and consider his feelings. But what I did instead was to terminate this non-verbalized expectation by pointing to the fact that being diplomatic about emotions doesn’t interest me. What interests me is what I see in the cards. Which in his case was good news. He was excited about it. In fact so excited that he managed to shift his response from feeling a ‘real’ emotion about the whole misery to one of hope. He put his first emotional response aside, because he also saw that I wasn’t going to waste my time with feelings of either shame or embarrassment. He was now ready for the trick. What was he supposed to do?

I pulled another card to see what the Hermit was looking at. The World. ‘Do you see this woman?’ I asked the man. ‘Look at her. Consider how you felt once, when you looked at her as if through the lens of a camera.’

The man took offense again. Such an impractical trick, he thought, given that this was a past flame and he had no possibility of connecting with this woman. Didn’t I have anything about the current situation? I said, ‘this is the current situation. Whoever you’re with now is not even represented in the cards, so another woman is not the answer here, but if you want to feel young again, full of drive and enchanting power, then you must activate your memories.’ I then pointed to how all the three male characters here are looking towards the past, so I figured that my suggestion would make sense, taking the visual cues into consideration. The man took a minute to think about it, and then got excited again. He could see the point of this discussion, especially in light of the fact that no woman of the present could make him feel the way the woman in his past did.

We ended the session on that note. We went from offense to excitement. But the beauty of the session was this: without telling the man to relax about both taking offense and being overly excited, he managed to detach from both emotions. He was willing to consider the power of memory and how visualizing his past love was going to do it for him, physically speaking, once more. As far I was concerned, I was glad that I had no emotions of my own invested in this work. For what would be the point of that?

The fortuneteller as a grey eminence

If the fortuneteller is not a grand, grey eminence, what is she? What exactly is her function? I like to think of myself as a grey eminence, a title reserved to the masters who are past the age of illusion. Often people come to the cards for empowerments that, sadly, also equally often consist of plain flattery in the form of false validation. But when someone comes to me and says, ‘fuck, I think my whole spirit just died,’ the only thing I can offer that’s genuine is this question, ‘what spirit?’ – echoing my favorite Zen masters plus Nisargadatta.

Apart from what the cards have to say, I never tell anyone that they are some marvellous such and such geniuses, nor that they are unfortunate victims of circumstance, people with whom I then sincerely sympathize. I just ask the people who come to me for empowerment to think about the notions of identity, spirit, and self, and other bogus ideas such as ‘follow your heart’ – when the conditions for it are not even there – or ‘perform only what gives you joy’ – when the knowledge of what that might look like is lacking.

If there’s an empowerment, then it consists of this: prepare yourself to die. Properly. Question your fears and desires. Are you a slave to them? Why? Because they are a source of thrill and enjoyment? I like what answer we get here from the cards, not just the hard cards, such as the spades in a pack, but the other suits too. They are not there to give us what we want to hear. They are there to remind us of what divination is actually all about, namely hearing uncomfortable truths.

Jakob Holmblad’s Samlede Værker, 1700s, in my collection

Even the Queen of Hearts must heed attention to what is essential. A community of vulnerable people crying is only as good as its beliefs. But are these beliefs going anywhere? Not if you ask the grey eminences around who have forsaken all beliefs. There’s belief, and then there’s the singular work of what direction to give the sincere dropping of all pretense.