A Belated Happy New Year to All! I hope that 2016 will bring you new ideas and
adventures that keep your sense of curiosity piqued, because curiosity fuels
vitality. I am very dismayed to realize
that I only made one blog-post in 2015.
Ever since I had to stop eking out an existence on the margins of
society and get a “real job,” it’s been hard to find time for writing. I hope this shocks me into greater productivity in 2016.
That being said, if your curious mind seeks new inspiration,
you might want to explore the realm of the “Photographic Unconscious.” This is a term used by the essayist Walter
Benjamin, whose attention to the small things of everyday existence reveals
ways in which our material world manifests elements of our collective dream
worlds. By the same token, the photograph can be a window into the
world of the Unconscious, because it can capture image objects that give rise
to chains of meaning beyond those perceived and intended by the photographer or
the subjects photographed. This is as
true for staged photographic compositions as it is for candid snapshots.
At our last magical chat session (which was in November),
the subject of the Photographic Unconscious came up in relation to ways you can
read a photograph (or other arrangement of images) like a tarot card. When a particular image—whether in a tarot
card, a photograph, or whatever interior or exterior scene is before
you—strikes you as personally
significant, your Unconscious is sending you a signal that this is something
you should pay attention to, as carrying special meanings for you. And when you are able to make additional
associations between the symbols, you can appreciate what a wonderfully
expansive inner life you have.
This concept also gives you a lot to work with if you are a
photographer. For a collection of
photographic symbols that provokes new insights and associations, take a look
at Brandy Eve Allen’s “Invisible Light Tarot Deck,” which is in the end process
of development and will by available for purchase by February 1st. You can learn more about this tarot deck, as
well as Brandy’s work, at http://brandyeveallen.com/about/,
and https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brandolina/invisible-light-tarot-deck-by-brandy-eve-allen.
The images in this collection were generated with infrared
photography, and as Allen says, “Similar to the way the tarot cards reveal that
which is hidden, infrared film is picking up light that is invisible to the
human eye.” Among the photos that I find
significant in this respect are those used in the Sun and Hermit cards, because
of the stark contrasts between light and shadow. So, all we can make out of the woman in the
foreground of The Sun card is her figure in black, suggesting the philosophical
observation that the brighter the light, the darker the shadow, (as well as the
Jungian concept of the “bright shadow.”)
In the Hermit card, the pyramidal structure of the tent is dramatically
illuminated, echoing old stories about the hermit as the one who shines a light
in the wilderness, to point out the way that leads outward and upward.
Note that Allen also offers new images for the Minor Arcana
cards, too, (which is always something to be appreciated), so The Invisible
Light Tarot offers 78 compositions to challenge your ability to make new
meanings.
