Why is the tarot so... "old"?

Hey everybody!

I just was asked to guest blog over at tarotwisdom.com, and true to form I just had to rant about something. In this latest caffeine-fueled frenzy I take on why everyone in the Tarot looks like a hippy Renaissance Faire junkie. What's wrong with suits? (even though it is against my official religion to ever wear a suit)

http://tarotwisdom.com/updating-the-tarot/

Please support tarotwisdom.com by checking out my newest post. It is free (duh) but the page view really helps them. And I think you will like my post. Okay, thanks for reading. :-)

Baby Steps

The first lesson of the new year comes just before the old year ends--which is right now. 

Baby steps. Learn to love 'em.

The short version is that things WILL be screwy at first. Things WILL GO WRONG--and that's okay as long as you don't panic, and don't try to take on too much at once. Small steps can be retraced, can be corrected almost without thought. But trouble is lurking for the fool who leaps too far out, too early. The new year will being new skills, and they will take time to learn. Imagine yourself flying a plane for the first time. You manage to get up in the air and suddenly there is a storm. Now the plane starts zig-zagging and getting squirrely. You are ass over teakettle and the ground is not so inviting a place at the moment.

Don't panic.

Baby steps. You will make mistakes. And it will be okay.

This new year is about the larger vision, the long-term goals, and undoing a lot that has been done. Look at the world of politics. Here in America we have the stage set for the gunfight at the OK Corral. Healthcare repeal. Gays in the military repeal, Tax-cuts--repeal. Who wins is who makes the smallest, most consistent victories. There is no "big score" right now. Mercury is retrograde in Sagittarius as we enter the new year. It is getting the hell away from the stellium that it would complete with the Sun, Pluto, and Mars. All three of those will be in Capricorn by the end of the day, and Mercury, being the fickle (and smart) bastard that he is, wants NONE of it!

But... Merc is EXACTLY sextile Jupiter in Pisces, which just so happens to be conjunct Uranus--less than a degree separating them--and closing fast. Merc is sinister (separating--breaking free, leaving, moving away from) while everything else is dexter (closing in on). At this moment Merc is the ONLY retro thing in the sky. It's "all engines full Mister Scott!" and Merc sees the hysteria of he crowd--the unthinking zeal and flees.

Auntie Moon is in Cancer--ALL POWERFUL, trining (perfect resonance with) Jupiter/Uranus--who are boinking over in Pisces. Something big will happen this day. Decisions made, plans cemented, things birthed--but they must take baby steps or the year will be FULL of crazy chaotic plans that go awry/haywire/w-r-o-n-g.

Get it? Srak?

So... Let's all be careful out there. Today the work begins. You have a few last minutes to plan, if you haven't done so yet.

Ready.... set.. Ka!

Last minute Yule magic that WORKS!!

Did you forget, or delay, Yule magic this year? Boss got you down? Santa being stingy? Holiday visitors being a pain in the ass? Boy do we have a sale for you!

Okay, here is a spell you can whip up in 5 minutes, or dress up and incorporate into your other Yule magics, with candles and robes, athameees and other kooky fun stuff. Make yourself some breakfast (oh yeah--you can do this today, or, if you don't read this in time, you can do it any time between now and January 3rd, but try to do it today/tonight if possible, tomorrow is also great).

So for breakfast you have an egg, or you can just grab an eggshell. Now get some soil and plant a seed in it. That's pretty much it. But let's go into this a bit.

The eggshell is protective and is attuned to and thus representational of the full moon (the moon is full tonight/at the Yule). Given that the sun is new (dark, or at it's lowest part in the year--hence "Yule") this is like a mother protecting her baby as it is born. She is full or "fully and completely present" (no drugs, no distractions, no absence--she is almost overprotective--but can you really be overprotective during a birth? -- ask Cairelle, she is the nurse). This is asking the goddess (working with the flow of nature/Nature) to nourish, nurture, and protect your dreams, goals, and efforts during the new year. Please remember than an egg is not just a shell but contains the nutrients needed to form a baby chicken--and who doesn't love baby chickens? I won't belabor the point. You get it or you need to study more.

The soil you are inserting into the eggshell is support, structure, and nutrition to your seed, the seed is your new year, your new life, and all the things you want this year to be. You can add a little Miracle-Grow(tm) or other fertilizer to enhance the spell, but don't overdo it. Frequent watering over the next month will help your seed, and your spell, grow. The whole process takes no more than 5 minutes.

The rest you should know. But if you have any questions, please post them here.

NOTE: If you want to add the Tarot to this, I would suggest placing The Empress as a backdrop and perhaps one "minor" Arcana card to represent your prime goal.

Strength and Justice

I just read a very thoughtful post at http://www.taroticallyspeaking.com. It was a joy to read, but the opening argument was based on flawed information (IMHO) so I commented as thus:

"Naturally, with the symbolism present in the cards, Justice would correspond astrologically with Libra, and Strength with Leo."

(to which I replied)

Au contraire my friend.

I would like to put forth that Justice implies authority. 8 is a Capricorn number, being the doubling of eight, or the re-doubling of two upon itself. The square is the first dimensional shape (dot(1), circle(2), triangle(3), square(4)...)  that presents opposing forces in a structure capable of reinforcing itself ==> [X]. Anyway, the doubling of rigidity and structure coupled with authority and rule of law (e.g. "justice") infer Justice has an affinity to Capricorn. Libra is a possibility, but Justice ignores the primary traits of Libra, being beauty, partnership, and group thinking. Executive authority and decision-making (e.g. "dispensing justice") are Saturnarian. I realize I am challenging the ancients, but those bozos thought the earth was the center of the universe and that the Tarot came from Egypt. So: I am officially challenging the ancient "Tarot experts."

Secondly, Strength is more representational of Aquarius than Leo. First, the card number is 11 (the eleventh house is that of Aquarius--which is also ruled by Saturn--more on this later).  The emphasis is control of the beast, not the strength of the beast. The beast (or lion, if you prefer) can be seen as the animus, or the egoic need for expression, individuality, survival. The opposition of Aquarius (Saturn) to Leo (Sun) is the clash of the Titans, the individual railing against the responsibilities of life as part of a collective.

Without turning this into a complete tirade, I respectfully submit that these two cards represent the signs above, as it makes sense when one takes the time to understand astrology, and the Tarot as it tries to assimilate astrology into itself.

Ping website

New Astrology for Witched podcast (episode 4) is up! Easy Tarot Podcast coming in 2 weeks!

Cairelle and i talk all about why MOST people's New Year's resolutions DON'T work, and how to make sure that yours do, how to get out of jail (free) or escape anything really, how to manifest Sagittarius energy for all kinds of purposes, including but not limited to: dreaming up new things, making instant miracles happen, transmuting chaos into purpose and form, how to save your butt at the last minute, the revenge of the pop-tart faerie, Gemini versus Sag (it's like Godzilla versus Mothra), some stuff about triads that is sure to confuse everyone, complaining about old people, Christmas Tree magic! And soooo much more. (Really--we went on for 2 hours). Lots of fun and stuff you won't learn anywhere else in the universe! I promise! 


Please tell your friends!


Oh yeah--Here is a visualization of what we can expect on this Yule (December 21st!) Noe hoe the moon will be fully eclipsed by the earth.

Rant

I was just over at Paganspace(.net) and someone had posted how the "new" way of seeing Tarot court cards was that Kings could be women and Queens could be men, and it was impossible to tell men from women in a reading because the genders had been removed by the new experts. (Something to this effect)

Well that set me off. Here is my rant. I have been supr busy lately and not posted in a while, so I am reporting here what I wrote there. By the way, the new Tarot podcast will be out in a few days at http://easytarotlessons.podomatic.com/. We will be covering cartomancy (reading with playing cards) and alternate meanings of the court cards, coincidentally enough. Okay, so here is my rant from PS:

We will be discussing that on the next episode of the Tarot podcast--and as for gender abandonment, I have to disagree completely, along with those who refuse to see anything bad in the Tarot. Fluffy bunny readers and politically correct hipsters trying to reform the Tarot is a bad joke. It is like trying to improve the Great Wall of China by carving holes into it so that bunnies and kittens can frolic safely and pass through from one side to the other, in case the grass is greener on the other side. When we look at the Tarot and say "this is a man, and this is a woman," which is how the elders assigned gender to the cards--which ONLY HAPPENS in the court and major arcana cards, it specifies who is doing what. When you remove that ability to discern male from female you end up with a vagueness that is the bane of true psychics.

Faux psychics and bad readers give vague answers that can be applied in any number of ways (their client is left to fill in the blanks later through their own imaginations). De-sexifying the court cards is neutering them. Male is male, female is female. If the cards don't work then we have one of two problems: the system is flawed (or that particular deck is ill-designed), or the reader needs to develop their skills. There is no substitute for genuine ability. The Tarot makes it easy for anyone to read, but it still takes practice and dedication to develop true ability. It is no different than going to the gym. Some people love exercise, some hate it. Some take to psychic exercise while others avoid it in favor of TV.

I understand your frustration. There are so many "instant experts" roaming the planet right now, pop-metaphysicists, "gurus," "coaches," and "law of attraction" experts (like anyone has ever been an expert on the law of anything--most people spend their time trying to bend of break laws, and suddenly this one tiny part of metaphysics is all powerful and popular). There is just so much CRAP (lies) out there right now, and so many people shouting that it is hard to know the truth.

Forget what ANYONE says: Look at the cards. What do you see? Do you see a man? You have a man. Do you see a thief? It's a thief. Occupation can trump gender (if the card represents a thief to you in this reading then that thief can be either male for female, but in a later reading if that card says to you "I am a dishonest man" then it is obviously a male). Character trait can trump gender (the Queen of Swords can be any of these, but not necessarily ALL of them: Leo woman, Leo girl, Any fire sign female, drama queen, attention whore, female athlete, beauty queen, model, female boss, woman entrepreneur, and so on). Most of those specify a woman--but "drama queen" could be a fussy male with serious issues. When you are in the middle of a spread the card will reveal what it is. Generic meanings are only general guides--at best--and each spread, each reading you give, will show cards meaning different things.

If the cards could ONLY indicate 78 meanings they could not possibly illustrate every conceivable event, action, intent, or entity in life. Cards MUST flow and morph as needed, within their structure of meaning.

Anyway, I hope this helps.