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.
As usual, hop onboard, if being precise with your cards is your goal. The registration opens today exactly at 6 PM Copenhagen time, August 1, 2022. Class starts on Saturday. Note that the class is capped at 50 students only, so act quickly if you want to be part of this new venture.
TAROFLEXIONS 