Any system of divination should be alive and dynamic, able to take in new methods and insights. And these insights should make those who already know sit up and take stock. In truth if you are a true student of tarot you should be challenged constantly. A big part of my own studies on the tarot is deconstruction: taking apart what I already know and then re-assembling it to see new insights. I find this happening each time I put up a new video on youtube, which is why there are so many hiatuses on that front.
So here is a case in point regarding Elemental Dignities. The other day, James Ricklef contacted me about his idea for “contra-positive cards”; how to deal with difficult minor cards like the 9 Swords etc using a variation of Elemental Dignities. James uses the opposing element (disks in the case of 9 Swords), and a numerological technique to come up with the balancing card. There was a part of me that had problems with this, and it is not because I was being precious about my ‘baby’. People can and should come up with their own ways of interpreting the tarot using the simple rules of EDs – the more the better. It took me a while to realise what the problem was – for balance, it should be a universal law, not just for difficult cards, and a few days later, James second post addressed those issues and develops his ideas further.
What do you think? How can you develop your own ideas on interpreting the tarot that are universal and balanced?
Only a few days to go before the weekend. As ever, I am not exactly sure what I am going to say in my Workshop on Sunday, but I am sure the muse will strike.
A big highlight will be seeing Catherine Chapman again – we only me once after we wrote the book – she drove down to Brighton on the longest day of the year, and it was windy and wet. I am sure the weather will be better this time.
We will both have copies of our book Beyond the Celtic Cross, which means that for the first time ever some lucky person will be the first to have one signed by the both of us.
I am taking the camcorder and I hope to put the results on youtube…
At last, the 2nd edition of The Tarot and the Magus is in print. I picked up some copies from my publisher… and they look great. A new cover that will not pick up fingerprints. If you pre-ordered from Aeon, apparently your copy has been sent out.
Apologies for the long wait. It seems that Aeon are using a new printer, which contributed to the delay. Hopefully amazon.com will be stocking it very soon for the USA.
At last the day arrived. Held at the Devereux Pub just around the corner from Temple in London, where so many esoteric talks have taken place. Mary Greer spoke eloquently on the spiritual and religious dimensions that Waite incorporated into his tarot deck, and interpreted by Pamela Coleman Smith.
Mary demonstrated how the Minor suits closely followed Masonic rituals, particularly the murder of Hiram Abiff for the Swords. After my talk on the influences of the Golden Dawn on Waite, we cut a beautiful cake featuring the Magician. Mary then spoke on synesthesia, the ability to experience senses in a different way, and how Pamela Coleman Smith was able to use this ability in her art. Mary led us through an exercise to ‘step inside’ a tarot card to gain extra insights, probably the way Pixie Smith did it.
The evening was for socialising. I was surprised how many people had seen me speak before, and it was great to catch up with everyone. Any more anniversaries coming up?
I have been saying for some years to anyone who will listen to me that things will go bust. To be honest with you, I am a little surprised it has taken so long. The financial institutions and banks who spent billions telling us how we can trust them are all now busted flushes. They owe each other billions that are very unlikely to be repaid – the banks are bankrupt, penniless, kaput. Politicians were telling us how they trust the financial institutions, which we now know to be not true. Continue reading →
Over the last 24 hours I have been receiving a new vision. It started with a tree fallen across a road, with people behind it blocked from moving forward. Before you think, wow, he’s just noticed that there is global warming, and the forests and jungles of the world are in serious trouble from logging, this wasn’t the tree I was seeing. Continue reading →
I will be in Birmingham at the TABI Conference on 24th to 25th July. My workshop is on the sunday, so I will be available for tarot readings on Saturday afternoon.
My visits to Birmingham are very rare, so here is a great opportunity! Email or reply to arrange an appointment.
Catherine Chapman has done a brilliant job of demonstrating the tarot techniques of elemental dignities and card counting as first she reads using the Celtic Cross spread, and then the same cards in a string. These techniques form the basis of our book, Beyond the Celtic Cross.
Listening to the radio show I am very impressed with how well Catherine does in demonstrating such a visual medium on the radio.
You can see the tarot spread here. There are lots of good psychological insights demonstrating how tarot is more than fortune telling.
That pigeon was nowhere to be seen at the England v Slovenia game last night. England played better, as we would have expected. I wondered if the USA might suffer at the hands of Algeria, but at the last gasp the USA scored a goal which edged out Slovenia, and ensured they qualified at the top of the table with England. Clearly black magic does not work as Algeria finished bottom without scoring a goal.
As soon as I saw the pigeon sitting on the Algerian goal I knew what was going on – England were going to lose, and lose badly
That pigeon signified black magic mixed with arrogance, and it became clear that there were multiple levels of magical activity. Spirits to ensure the referee was biased to Algeria, boosts to the level of competence of the Algerians, a huge block in front of the Algerian goal, and spirits assigned to every England player.
Paradoxically, the commentator gave it away when he said about ‘the lack of spirit’. In practice before the game, England were totally different. Fortunately, the magicians did not have it all their own way – Algeria did not score, and there were individual examples of Algerian vulnerability and lack of fitness towards the end.
Remember France’s abysmal performance in this World Cup? France still has a massive amount of influence in Algeria – they were colonial rulers, so I would not be surprised if a similar thing was happening.
“It is significant that Riemann, Bolyai and Lobatchewsky seem to have been the mathematical prophets of the New Revelation.” — Aleister Crowley, The Star, Book of Thoth
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