I have a weakness for the Japanese because I find that they are crazier than myself. That is, I would say that and think that, if I played any identity games – which I don’t. But others think I do – which is amusing.
Let’s see a couple of examples:
As it happens, while I sit on top of a mountain in Norway, a whole shipload of Japanese stuff is being prepared for me, so I can get it by the time I’m back in Denmark in September.
A friend in Kyoto who has an eye on all things tarot, art, kimonos, iron pots, and other peculiar antiquities, is sending me gifts and other things I ordered myself as part of a collector’s sale.
In the process, Japanese paper gets thrown in, along with the request that I provide my measurements. My work is popular in Japan, I’m told, and a fashion designer, the head of Soyoraru, wants to make a special, ‘gentle breeze’, dress for me that is ‘witchy, and in Star Wars terms more Sith than Jedi, and Zen.’
That’s a whole lot of identity right there, which makes me think of the game of perceptions.
The game of perceptions is a great one, and I often say that if we pay attention, we’ll see what there is to see. Nothing more, nothing less.
It gets interesting when people seek understanding of what you do, but what is there to understand when the spectrum of opinions is wide and polarized?
Yesterday an artist on Instagram (Monika Clio Sakki) called me ‘a work of art’, hash-tagging me with the very name, and today another referred to my work in terms of declarations: ‘I love everything that #cameliaelias does’ (Jessrollar).
At the other end of the spectrum, there’s also the perception that I’m an evil witch, an ignorant person who needs to go back to school, learn proper English and how to write a paragraph, an insane fool and failed academic, or a business woman who is eager for money.
Obviously it’s a fluke that I’ve earned 2 Danish doctorates, the second above the PhD level. Also, academic research-based publishing doesn’t fit in with the image of ‘crap books’ that others insist on pointing to, if only to save the larger world from committing the grave mistake of investing 20 bucks in such a fraud. It’s better that people listen to ‘expert reviews’ than judge for themselves.
Indeed, some actually speak from the position of knowing everything about me, even though they’ve never met me, not to mention the time when others also refer to my courses as being crap compared to others, when they actually never took these courses.
If I happen to come across such claims, I ask the people who know everything to tell me how they can justify their ‘honest evaluations’, when they have no evidence for what the fact is about my teaching, as testified also by an actual impression of it that’s quite different than the false, crap idea. How can you evaluate something you never tried? Asking such questions in public is, however, a bad move, as you end up getting it thrown into your face that you’re being critical and projecting.
At the other pole of the unjustified wars, in the martial arts context people dote on my references to how I pray to Uesugi Kenshin, the Japanese warlord of the warring era, and Bishamonten, the god of warriors. It also fascinates that I completely get Oda Nobunanga, the first unificator of Japan, and his utter intolerance of incompetent and lazy idiots. I could write a whole book about it. ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ people say, ‘can we have more of that, please?’
The fact that I also claim Nisargadatta to be my root guru doesn’t make things any easier, for how does this hard-core, so-called, nondualist stance, fit in with my ambitions, presumably to conquer the world, or indeed, to slash any labels that come my way, Musashi style?
Here’s what I say: When you’re free of identity constructions and resist being part of any waves (witch wave, bitch wave, pitch wave), what you discover is that every day is a good day.
I accept the gifts sent to me with the same amount of excitement as I do the other shit.
How about you?
If you vacillate in your answer, check out the cycle of tarot prompts Every Day is a Good Day, if you’re in need of inspiration.
This cycle will give you a taste of what questions you can ask that will hit you in the gut witchy bitchy style, ignorant style, silly style, martial arts style, free style, eager for your money style that will have you realize that, no matter what is wrong with the world, things are always right with you, and therefore you can also conclude that every day is a good day.
Keep going.
♠
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.
TAROFLEXIONS 
Reblogged this on Hālau 'Aha Hūi Lanakila™.
Witchy Bitchy Style! Love it!!!!
Obviously you are a bad witch. The best kind of bad witch that there is. Bad for all that is preoccupied with itself. Bad for all that takes itself more serious than anything should. And bad for he who knows it all.
I love your perceptions about perception. The one thing I remember most keenly about meeting you in Roskilde is how easy it is to discuss anything with you, no matter the topic, or to pull out cards and read them, each in their own way. Easy because your perception is in the moment and on nothing is weighed down by preconceived notions.
I am looking forward to the new prompts.
Markus, that’s a beautiful comment. Thanks. And yes, while all we’ve got is stories and identifications, what interests me is not how we believe them, but rather how we disbelieve them all.
Living here, now, gives you access to what you know for sure you’re not, and it’s not any of the conceptual labels we can come up with via stories and identifications. That’s why I’m not ‘friends’ with identity, for what is it, but an empty proclamation?
I don’t buy it, and I sure as hell don’t want to sell it to others. Though I know that this is precisely what most people want, stories of identity and how we can empower ourselves through them. I prefer the fish of non-substantiality to fry.
Welcome back to the prompts. Always grand to have you with us.
Keep going.
c
I don’t post comment much but this … An evil witch and ignorant? That is hilarious! Well then, I thank you for your evil uneducated self for being a breath of fresh air in all you stand for and teach and for never sugar coating your work with excessive glitter and unicorn shit. And for anyone that may wonder, I say these things never taken not one of these classes, the presentation of online work alone stands on it’s own.
Keep doing what you’re doing. Let the haters hate, you’re a rock star.
J.
Haha, thanks for your words. Well, people have strange ideas, and they somehow imagine that their uninformed opinions and so-called ‘knowledge’ about me have substance. Like the one who once asked me in a public discussion whether I was familiar with the concept of projection. No, obviously that was the first time I had heard of it, while in effect at the time I was holding the position of editor-in-chief of the international journal Psychology and the Arts.
I have to say that I’m quite content in my level of ignorance as far as these other ignorants are concerned.
When that is said, I’ll say this too: While I can accept stupidity as part of what IS out there in the world that can’t be helped, I see no reason why I should tolerate it, so yes, every time I have an occasion to ask, ‘how do we get from calling people out on their blatant lies to the statement that I’m projecting’, I will do so without hesitation.
Thanks for following what I do. I’m having a lot fo fun with it.
Keep going.
c