FINDING YOUR TEACHER on September 2nd

As always, the first Sunday of September coincides with the Labor Day weekend, and I shall be back at the Triple Goddess for another free-and-casual magical chat / mini-workshop.  I come in for these special sessions even when the first Sunday is part of a holiday weekend, because there are still people who enjoy dropping in on our activities.  By the way, if you have weekend visitors who are open-minded, this is something you can take them to, where they can have a novel experience.

The theme for September is in line with back-to-school: we’ll explore ways that you can manifest / connect with a special teacher for this upcoming semester in the School of Life.  We’ll be working with Corrine Kenner’s “Wizards’ Tarot,” where every Major Arcana card represents a professor in a magical academy.  (If you have your own copy of the Wizards’ Tarot, do bring it along—if not, you can use my copy or a demonstrator deck.)  Don’t feel that you are too old or sophisticated to benefit from a teacher, because new learning experiences are always available if we are willing to open to them.  After identifying which teacher will be most immanent for you in the months to come, we’ll also look at what sort of learning situations may apply, even what type of “school supplies” you may be needing.  Additionally, we’ll explore a special technique for identifying the teaching personality that emerges in you as a result of these experiences.

Because some of the other themes we’ve explored this past year have included the magic of shining, the magic of opening, the magic of flowering, and the magic of interconnectedness, I will be curious to see if any of these ideas will be found to tie in with the magic of teaching and the magic of learning, as these archetypal influences express themselves in our readings.

Sunday’s activities will also include the “frontal lobes supercharge,” a bind-rune for mental potency, and the Tarot Round-Robin.  As mentioned in previous posts, I’m trying to keep the sessions shorter so that people don’t get fatigued, but I think the items on the agenda for Sunday will go relatively fast.

--And oh, by the way, I have been invited to demonstrate some tarot techniques at the Pagan Pride Day celebration, which will be on September 22^nd, in Valhalla Park, in Holt, so I also hope to see you there!

BACK-TO-SCHOOL WITH THE TAROT FOR SEPTEMBER 4TH

I’m looking forward to this Sunday, September 4th, when I will be back at the Triple Goddess. I will show up even though it’s the Labor Day weekend, because some people find that a convenient time to stop by. Having recently introduced the Round Robin Tarot technique, I’d like to start out with that again, because it would be good to get some more practice with this—especially with looking for connecting themes and images among the different cards that are drawn for each individual. (See the previous post for a description of the round robin technique.) Even if you are a regular visitor, there’s always something new to get out of it, as there is always a different mix of participants and card decks being used. I’m planning to use the Osho Zen Tarot deck, which uses some strikingly different imagery. (This deck, which is published by the Osho Zen Institute in Switzerland, is illustrated by Deva Padma, and edited by Sarito Carol Neiman.)

Then, because it’s back-to-school for a lot of young people and others, this is a good time to try out “The Wizards Tarot” (by Corrine Kenner and John J. Blumen), which is set up using the theme of a school for aspiring magicians—The Mandrake Academy—where the teachers of the different magical arts are portrayed in the Major Arcana cards, while the Minor Arcana represent four different groups of students, much like the different student households in Harry Potter. Normally, I tend to avoid anything which seems like an obvious imitation of anything else, so I had misgivings about a card deck that appears to be modeled after Harry Potter. However, because the artwork is so splendid, and the whole idea of belonging to a magical academy is such an intriguing concept to get into and work inside of, I believe there is great potential for exploring and trying new things with this deck. By the way, a group of my old friends had a shared sense of having belonged to a special academy in a past lifetime, though the memories were different depending on the person’s orientation—for some it was more of a military institution, for some the emphasis was on the arts, for others magic, etc. It all taps into certain archetypes of a grand educational institution and experience, which I believe also contributes to the popularity of Harry Potter.

I have long maintained that we can experience the different tarot cards as teaching personalities, each with its own teaching style, so this is an opportunity to better get to know the cards as mentors. One little quibble I have with the minor cards in the Wizard’s deck, is, although they do represent the students, shown in their school uniforms and everything, they otherwise reproduce the standard Rider-Waite-Smith imagery, but I would like to see how different Minor Arcana situations could be rendered as learning challenges or “teachable moments.” (Nevertheless, I do appreciate the massive effort it took to bring out this deck, and realize that reworking the Minors would have taken a lot longer.) As a group, perhaps we can contribute some new ideas on interpreting these cards in the context of lessons in the magic of living. Also, the group setting provides an opportunity to enter a collective fantasy.

School time is also a time to “get back to basics,” so if we have some extra time left over, I will trot out some of the more basic tarot techniques that I haven’t demonstrated in a good while.

Opening the Tarot, Part II

Picking up on the discussion about “the magic of opening” and images of openness in the tarot:

A certain degree of openness can also be seen in the postures and other body language of the human figures portrayed in the cards. This is particularly noticeable with some of the characters in the Major Arcana. For example, the figures in The Magician, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, and Justice are all viewed frontally, they meet the gaze of the viewer, and their arms are outspread, (i.e., not crossed or in other closed-off positions). In card interpretation, this can indicate that if they represent different people in your life, they are likely to be approachable, and also aware of your concerns. If these cards stand for general principles rather than individuals, the knowledge and experience they pertain to is more accessible.

Those of us who are into tarot often like to engage the cards as personal teachers, (and the idea of the Major Arcana as teachers [at a magical academy] has been elegantly developed in Corrine Kenner’s “Wizards’ Tarot”), so we might experience these more open figures as the kind of teachers with whom we might enjoy more of a rapport, (just as, when you look back on your student days, you can probably recall some teachers who you could relate to more than others). Of course, if you are using card decks other than the classic RWS, the artists may have changed some of these details, so that then becomes meaningful when you are pondering the cards you have drawn. (Synchronicity factors are at work in the particular deck of cards you choose to work with on a given occasion.)

Some figures in the tarot are viewed frontally and have an open gaze, but in other ways, their posture or other imagery is closed off. A classic example is the High Priestess, who sits wrapped in an enfolding cloak and holds a closed book, showing that she has knowledge to offer, but you won’t penetrate her secrets easily. Even The Magician card, which I have just cited as an example of openness, has a slightly equivocal quality, because he stands behind an altar table as well as a bed of flowers which form something of a barrier. So, one might interpret this to mean that you may have a better chance of establishing a rapport with him by focusing on a common interest, perhaps by asking him about the lessons of elemental Fire, Earth, Air, or Water, as symbolized by his magical tools. Another card whose figure has a frontal stance and gaze, but where there is a barrier between the character and the viewer, is The Chariot. Likewise, although Justice has an open gaze and posture, her raised sword can keep the viewer at a distance. In fact, in cases like Justice and the Emperor, where both of the character’s hands are occupied, there is the suggestion that their duties keep them somewhat at remove. Contrast Justice and The Emperor with The Magician, The Empress, and The Hierophant, who, although they hold different wands or staffs in one of their hands, have the other hand free, which suggests a greater ability to reach out to you, the Querent.

To better appreciate different figures’ qualities of openness, accessibility, and awareness of the Querent, we can compare certain Major Arcana figures to Minor Arcana figures with which they have an affiliation. So, the Emperor is a “High King” to whom the kings of the Minor Arcana owe fealty, and likewise, the Empress has a certain relationship with the Queens. So, we see that while the Empress is one of the most open figures in the deck, (because of her position, gaze, and other body language), none of the queens meet the viewer’s gaze, and only one, the Queen of Wands, has a full frontal posture, (though her head is turned to the side). The fact that the four queens are either looking off in different directions, or looking down at the symbols of their elements, shows them as being more concerned with the duties, contingencies, and worries of their respective suits. Also, it is interesting to note that the Queens of Swords and Wands, representing the more ethereal elements, gaze off to the right, (the direction of the future), while the Queens of Cups and Pentacles, representing the heavier elements, gaze downward, with their bodies oriented to the left, (the direction of the past).

By the way, if oftentimes happens that with these little graphic nuances that I write about, I only first become aware of them because I am writing about them. This is an example of “writing for discovery.” Also, the more I explore these details in the cards, the more I appreciate the level of thought and intuition that Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Coleman Smith put into these cards, (even though some purists have accused them of junking up the tarot by adding superfluous symbolism).

Well, I still have more to say about the body language of tarot characters, but I will have to pick that up in the next post. TO BE CONTINUED.

Looking forward to April 1st and the first Sunday, April 3rd

Looking forward to April Fools Day, it is believed to have originated in France, which was the first country to adopt the Gregorian calendar. The games and jokery came to fill the celebrational void that was left when the calendar change resulted in the date of New Years being moved from April 1st to January 1st, (which used to be the winter solstice). Imagine how disoriented you would feel on the eve and day of January 1st if, for some reason, they made another calendar change and moved New Year to some other day! Back then, the April Fools jokes also poked fun at backward people who insisted on celebrating New Year the old way on April 1st. In France and Italy, the fish is the symbol of April Fools Day, and a popular April Fools joke is tacking a fish to other peoples’ clothes without their knowing it. Shops feature baked goods and candies in the shape of fish, and fish are also featured on greeting cards. The idea was that in April, young fish are naïve and easily caught. Coincidentally however, the fish is also sacred to Aphrodite (who rules April), as well as the symbol of Pisces. (Although the precession of the equinoxes has put the calendar days out of sync, April 1st used to be both the Spring Equinox and the day the sun entered Aries, leaving Pisces, the sign of the fishes and of the old year.)

In some previous years, for the first Sunday in April, I demonstrated tarot readings focused on the Fool card. Also in line with the theme of April fishes, we sometimes also did a card search for the Page of Cups. (Because, in the RWS deck, the Page is gaping with surprise at a fish that emerges from his cup, the idea is, where in your life does it seem like the Universe is playing some cosmic joke on you, yet where, at the same time, can you find unexpected rewards?) Last year, we did a card search for Judgment, phrasing the request, “Please show me where I can find new life,” with the idea that the card to the left of Judgment denotes a potential source of renewal, and the card to the right shows where or how you can express energies that reinvigorate you. All of the afore-mentioned cards are harmonious with April’s theme of awakening, opening, and emergence, because the Fool is going forth on a new adventure, the Page of Cups is opening to new emotional experience and growth, and Judgment graphically portrays emergence as rebirth.

This year, I’m thinking of broadening the card search by having us ask the cards a general question about which areas of life are opening up for us. This will take more than the usual amount of consideration as people go through their decks, trying to identify themes of awakening, opening, and emergence in their cards, so we will allow time for plenty of questions and discussion. There are actually a great many possibilities, not just in the traditional meanings of certain cards, but in certain graphic elements. Of course, different decks may also bring in different graphic elements. I have just purchased a copy of Corrine Kenner’s “Wizard’s Tarot” (illustrated by John J. Blumen), which is my favorite new deck, so I am excited to explore ways that we can magically interact with this deck, and—for Sunday’s session--how we might be able to relate the new images to the magic of opening. The card normally titled the Fool is now “the Initiate,” so it seems appropriate to that idea of new experiences.