Need help predicting how to survive the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse? Try the Zombie Apocalypse Tarot for advice.
As someone who performs a fair amount of magick in cemeteries, and often leaves offerings I enjoyed reading What’s Buried in that Graveyard another great post from the Cemetery Traveler
For the more artistic I want to share this beautiful painting The Conjurer of a magickian conjuring demons according to the Solomonic tradition, the attention to detail is delightful, I’m ordering a print soon.
Hrafn over at Weaving Wyrd wrote a good article about The Okay Plateau and the Occult and it’s worth considering what to do when we get to that plateau and can’t seem to get past it.
Sometimes you need a smack to get your head back in the game, sometimes you need drivel. Taking buzzwords from the drivel advice master and automating them gives up The Wisdom of Chopra, the random quote generator of Chopra-esque wisdom. And remember “Nature is the continuity of humble self-knowledge.”
In a Buddhist Temple in Malaysia the traditional ancestor tablets are being replaced with digital ones. Considering some of the views of technology, information, and cyber space held by some forms and practitioners of Buddhism, this makes sense, and is a neat step.
I’ve loved the idea of the John Dee opera since I first heard of it. While Gordon went to it, and gives us an awesome play by play, so jealous he could see it.
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” Genesis 6:1-2
Such a little innocuous line, often overlooked and forgotten, yet containing the seeds of a beautifully deep myth expounded upon in the Book of Enoch. Watcher Angels, the sons of God(s), fell to the Earth and took up human mates, and taught the secrets of heaven. That is the theme of this deck. I’ve talked about this deck before but it is time for a proper review.
In the introduction Michelle says “I didn’t want simply to design another Tarot built on the bones of the Rider-Waite-Smith. I wanted to revision the Tarot entirely, allowing the symbols to speak through me and to find expression in some vital and personal myth.” (12) And that is what you find with this deck. It isn’t a Rider-Waite-Smith clone with angel wings drawn on it, it isn’t a clone with some of the images and settings shifted around, it is a fairly different beast altogether.
The deck was designed from the ground up. Looking at the overarching traits of the Major Arcana a parallel from the Enochic myth was chosen, for the most part one of the Watcher Angels themselves represents the Majors, each assigned according to what they did, and what they taught. For instance you have Kasdeya who taught “all the wicked smitings of spirits and demons, and the smitings of the embryo in the womb” as Death, and Shemyaza the leader of the Angels in the Fall as The Fool.
Seven of Pentacles. RWS: A man leaning on his hoe. Watcher Angel: A man leaning on his...
The Minor Arcana form an entire story of their own; from Ace to Ten, Pentacles, to Cups, to Wands, to Swords, they lay out the entire tale. Pentacles are just after the Fall, the struggle to learn and build a world. In Cups they have established themselves and enjoy the world. With Wands they show their children the mysteries of heaven and magick. Finally with Swords their children turn upon each other. Since each suit contains its own story arch it is a remarkably easy deck to learn, though initially I was wary of the differences, because even if you have a moment of uncertainty when you place the card in the story it becomes clear what it represents. The meanings, the keywords of the cards are standard, but they way they play out in the Enochic myth is quite different.My only complaint with this system is it falls into an earlier interpretation of the Tarot, since the Swords are about the war among the children, the majority of the Swords are negative and challenging cards. Something many decks do but I dislike.
The artwork in this deck is phenomenal. The images are deep and complex, without being cluttered, in a lifelike and detailed painting style you’re not likely to see in a Tarot deck. Colours are rich and vibrant, and thematically carry between the suits. Jackie has a wonderful talent and her skill really brings the images to life. For me it is the settings, wings, and faces that really get me. The backgrounds are evocative, be they a shifting patch of colour or an elegant city vista. The wings just look better than most angel depictions –it’s a personal gripe of mine. Lastly the faces are very engaging, haunting, and real. The entire deck is viewable here on Jackie’s site and will show far better than I can describe. The companion book was refreshingly honest. “I won’t lie and say that this deck was merely the product of detached academic research. There is a great deal of vision and inspiration, myth, dream, and magick woven into this work.” (19) Or as Jackie says it is “a deck designed by two psychics with input from the universe.” (29) All things considered it’s something I’ve found odd that so many deck creators shy away from discussing. In fact the companion book is remarkably complete, perhaps too much for some cases, but as it says you can skip the sections that don’t interest you. The book contains Jackie and Michelle’s stories for making the Tarot, the years of planning and research for Michelle, the years of painting and living the cards for Jackie. Michelle leads you into the research and struggles, Jackie even gives interesting advice on paper and paint types. Their stories are followed by the myth of the Watchers, how it relates to Campbell’s Monomyth as well as to the Book of Enoch and related texts. It moves into tarot history, where it came from, how it became part of the Western Mystery Tradition, beliefs about the tarot, and then finally the interpretations of the cards. If you’ve never dealt with the tarot before this book covers pretty much all the basics you’ll need, and if you’re familiar with the tarot and don’t care about personal stories you can skip to the back where you can learn about the cards and understand why Michelle and Jackie made the choices they did in illustrating the deck.
I will fully own up to a triple bias with this deck, Michelle and Jackie are friends, and personally I love the Enochic mythology. That being said, I don’t believe it is my bias speaking when I say this has quickly become one of my favourite decks; the beautiful art, the compelling myth, it just makes this a wonderful and unique deck.
(Yes, I know I have an alliteration problem. I tried attending Alliteraters Anonymous, but that just made things worse)
In my review on Geomancy by Hartmann, I expressed some confusion about some assignments. Polyphanes came to the rescue with a killer comment, which then led into a great post on the planets orderings and their connections, days, nights, hours, and metals?
For the more musically inclined on the Ceremonial spectrum Alex Sumner has written a set of posts on Music in Theory and Practice. Putting the different ways of transforming Hebrew letters into musical notation. This is the first one, I recommend reading them. Of course, I disagree with his suggestion that you could just grab any instrument and play the names on it…he obviously doesn’t play a theremin, just saying.
Debating the Mayan Nonpocalypse? Here is a handy infographic comparing believers and sceptics. I adore Carl Sagan. Cosmos was a huge influence on my spiritual path. I celebrate his birthday, and call him a Saint. Lupa writes up a great reflection on watching the series, and the importance of its message, and I couldn’t agree more.
Want an interesting bar experience in Tokyo? There is no shortage of bizarre places to go, but how about a bar staffed by Buddhist monks? It’s not just a silly gimmick, it’s an attempt to break out of the monastic tradition and return to engaging with the community, and helping others. I’m assuming they had a lot of discussions if this counts are right livelihood or not.
Looking for a good New Years Tarot spread? Check out Naya’s 26 card spread. It’s a lot to work through but after giving it a try I like the format a lot.
For more 2012 forecasting pop over to Peter Stockinger’s Traditional Astrology Weblog where he lists out the retrogrades we have coming this year, as well as Out of Bounds, Ingresses, Eclipses, and more.
Going back two months Aghor Pit wrote up a nine part series on the Navagraha, the Nine Planets. Each entry talks about the Planet/God represents or rules, some explanation on the symbolism, Yantras, associations, mantras and more. This link is to Chandra (the Moon) the first in the series, but I really recommend reading them all. Even though it is different from the Western traditions, there is a lot to learn there.
I know it’s an easy horse to beat, and I’ll try to leave it with this, but a video on why 2012 is silly. Best quote “The History Channel: What happened to you guys?”
Also in a hitting myself over the head because it’s so clever and I didn’t think of it post Naya links the theory of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences to different types of magick. Now, when I teach people magick I always try to play into their strengths initially, and in my non-magickal life I’ve had Gardner’s MI beaten into me regularly for a long time, but I never linked them. Lots to think on, both what fits where, and one of the important questions with MI, how to modify something that doesn’t fall into someone’s stronger Intelligences so that it does, without having to abandon everything.
Recently I’ve been talking with an occultist from the city; he asked me about my “occult odd-jobs” as mentioned on my About page. He asked me hypothetically what I’d do for someone asking about wealth magick. There are two “levels” of service I provide. One is a very simple one size fits all; granted what it is changes from time to time but it’s usually a charm and a short petition, no real depth or detail. The other is more in depth, rather than just tossing wealth magick at someone I investigate the source of the issue and work out how to solve this case specifically. More time intensive, but I prefer it. So I couldn’t really answer…until about a week and a half after that someone contacted me for some financial work. With her permission I’m going to talk about the process of the investigation and how I decided what to do. For people who are used to just tossing magick blindly at problems hopefully this will show a bit more about narrowing down and focusing the aims. Sometimes it is a very narrow and clear cut process, sometimes like this it is a bit more intuitive and open-ended. To start off with I generally use a Mo divination. It is very clear in regards to what is causing a problem and how to solve it. So I cast the die and received Ah Tsa – The Bright Star. This lists the various types of wealth coming your way. I was actually very confused by this, the person is having financial problems and the first step of the divination essentially said “Don’t worry about it, money is on the way.” I then turn the tarot, but usually I have a clear direction in mind thanks to the Mo, this time I didn’t. Using the Watcher Angel Tarot I began my spread. “What do I need to know to improve “Moni”’s finances over the next month?” XXI – The World – Metatron. Everything must be pulled together magick-wise, the answer will come from everything I’ve learnt. This wasn’t going to be easy, it’s a card about magick, but it’s about the completion, everything used along the way, whatever my method was to be it wasn’t going to be simple. Understanding the cause is important in planning. If Moni was unemployed, just divorced, or recently robbed, each would require a different magickal path to help best. So what is the cause of the financial problems? IV – The Emperor – Azazel. The Emperor is a sign of the system, so I’m pretty sure the money problem is the government’s fault. Another problem would likely be giving others control and not being active enough. How can the issues of the Emperor be overcome? Nine of Pentacles. Create, art projects, produce, accept the windfall that is coming and charge into it. I didn’t know what this meant.
After the first stage of divination was done I contacted Moni with the results and asked for more details. It felt very odd, I’ve never had to say “You want me to do some financial magick, but apparently money is already on the way.” Anyways, I got my clarification one of the main issues is the government recently recalculated her deceased husband’s pension and started sending her almost half what they used to. So it was a government issue, another smaller part of it, was Moni runs a hobby jewellery business on the weekends and in fighting with the government over the benefits she’s been too stressed to keep it up, even though it wasn’t a major loss it started to add up. I asked since apparently money was on its way if she wanted my services still, she decided even if it looks like it is improving she’d like some help so we began looking at this as financial maintenance magick. Continuing the divination: What can I do magickally? Two of Swords – Stalemate. This just gets better and better. I wasn’t sure what to think about this, tossed around a few ideas in my head and none clicked, so I turned to the book and read “Opposing forces are locked in balance, for the moment.” That clicked. Mercury is Retrograde and turning stationary tomorrow. That’s the “for the moment.” What can I do after Mercury goes Direct? VIII – Strength – Turiel. Okay maybe there was a bit of bias using the Watcher Angel Tarot, but aside from the meaning of the card I felt it was pretty clear it was to be an Angelic working. Strength is always about a subtle power to me, coercion, and grace, so this is going to be a gentle working. Not a strong evocation, but something gentle. I’ve sent Moni an Angelic Seal to use and she is to offer it water, bread, and a tealight candle each day along with a two sentence prayer. I’m doing the same thing on my end, except the Angel is receiving an eight-fold offering (a Buddhist practice) each day with a longer prayer and petition and a specially crafted honey jar filled with the usual things and a few offering ingredients specific to this angel. This will be done until at least January first, when Mercury it out of its shadow. Moni can continue it after that point, but until then is the only obligation on our part. While checking the astrology of the situation I realized Jupiter is also Retrograde (people only complain about Mercury) and while not horribly transiting her chart, it could be better, but it’s almost over. So I asked what I could do once Jupiter goes Direct? King of Wands. This is a card about passion and strength, the ability to forge ahead, to pick a goal and trample over anything to get it. Don’t be deceived by how the King is lounging, he only looks so relaxed because he is so confident. King of Wands is also Fire of Fire. So lots of Fire and trampling obstacles, to me it was a pretty clear choice. Once Jupiter is Direct I’ll perform a Riwo sangchö (ri bo bsang mchod), a type of smoke and fire offering. Along with the traditional ingredients in the offering I’ll include several with Jovial attributes. This offering is accompanied by a ritual, in this case the offering will be dedicated primarily to Jovial forces, to help pick them up in Moni’s life as Jupiter comes out of Retrograde, to feed and prime these attributes, as well as to clear obstacles from Moni’s path. Also a request that Jupiter keep the path open, and an evocation to a Jovial spirit with the aim that Moni continues to get her benefits and the government doesn’t try to cut out any more.
So Moni is getting a variety of services, like the World indicated. Some Ceremonial Magick, some Hoodoo, some Buddhist rituals. As her problem apparently is taking care of itself this became more of a financial magick tune-up, rather than a rescue, which is unusual, but not a bad idea. Some work on keeping what is functioning working well, as well as work to try to call in some new life to these matters.
Mayhaps from time to time I’ll post these type of reports, just to show a little bit of what can be done about narrowing down your magick. As this was a tune-up it didn’t get as precise as I often would, but I think serves as an example of the process of figuring out what is to be done.
This weekend had an odd experience for me, trusting myself, doubting myself, repeating in fun circles. Normally when I do tarot or astrology sessions with someone I’m not there to be a psychic. I’m not Madame Gazonga who tells you many mysteries. No, I’m there to help you out and I can’t help you if I’m playing a guessing game with you while you are amazed (or not) by my psychic powers, I prefer to be practical and useful. If you want insight to a relationship, tell me that, tell me a bit about it as I ask, don’t expect me to deal the cards and manage to pull everything out of the aether for you. It’s not that it is impossible, but if I’m spending all my time getting information from ‘out there’ I don’t have the time to help you here.
That said, sometimes you have to put a little psychic in your reading. I met up with a repeat client this weekend, and she knows my policy, yet when I sat down with her I had this strange urge and told her “I don’t want to know what the problem is, just give me feedback when I ask for it.” I then proceeded to do the type of reading I hate where I’m there just going by the cards, getting next to nothing back from her. I’m not watching her, not having her talk, it’s just me, the cards, and whatever lies between us. It was a relationship issue (in this case that actually was surprising, it’s always been career advice), so I talked about the nature of the relationship and the breakup, before even getting confirmation and once I covered the basics I got her to confirm and correct the reading, as a few interpretations were a touch off.
I continued and after a few cards of “I’m not sure what this means” I had a light bulb go off, and I looked at her. I decided to ask and say something I’d never consider bringing up in a tarot reading. I had a moment of ethical hesitation wondering if I was crossing a line. After that disclaimer I asked her “Do you think he’s sociopathic?” Now, I have some background in social work, and she has a psychology degree, so we both have a grounding in what sociopathy is in a technical sense, not media portrayals. Also, knowing what I do of her and her background, I knew she’d be able to work with the question, regardless of if I was right or not, I can’t think of another client I’d bring up such an impression so clearly with. I felt so incredibly awkward asking such a question, but she nodded and said not only did she suspect it, but the ex’s mother and friend had suspected that if not sociopathic, he lacked empathy, boundaries, and social mores.
The entire thing was surreal; here I was playing the psychic and giving out what seemed to be very sketchy and dangerous information. After we were done our session I mulled over what possessed me to act this way. It dawned on me: despite knowing the situation she was still attached, or charmed, by this guy, trying to paint him in the best light even after saying the hell he put her and his family through. Despite what she suspected, his family and friend suspected and having me psychically pull it from the cards, she still wanted to make him a good guy, or a tragic hero. If she had told me any of that before I brought it up, she could have easily discounted it later, used my foreknowledge to rationalize herself back to “It can’t be true, he really is a good guy.” What she needed to hear, was a completely cold and upfront assessment with no room for her to think I was feeding off of what she told me. She needed that out of left field confirmation about the danger she could be in, and she wouldn’t have had that same sense of truth and urgency without me pulling the story and information from nowhere. If I had not flat-out said it, without prompting, she wouldn’t have taken the seriousness of the issue to heart.
I’m just letting this serve to remind me to trust my instinct, and understand that sometimes people actually do need me to be more psychic and less consultant.
(Note: I’m not trying to attack sociopaths here, they’re not all “bad” people, but this situation and her state did not make her a good pairing with him.)
Sorry for the lack of posting recently, I decided to run for an unplanned holiday on the family farm. I was going to share these links/stories later, but as one of them is time sensitive I’ll do so a little early and with that said it might as well be the link I start with.
My friends Michelle and Jackie have been working on a tarot deck. Michelle’s been scheming it for about a decade and if I remember my timelines right Jackie’s been painting for about five years. The Watcher Angel Tarot is a reinterpretation of the themes of the tarot through the legend of the Watcher Angels as told in the Book of Enoch. The deck is finally done and presales start this Tuesday (June 21st). Currently you can pre-order the deck as collector and supporter decks on Jackie’s art site to help foot the start-up cost, and the deck will be released October 21st, just in time for the end of the world, and that’s not a coincidence. On Monday and Tuesday at 1830 (EST) Michelle and Jackie will be doing a twitter to youtube question answer session about the deck, so if you’re interesting and/or want to learn more go to Jackie’s site or participate in the chat to hear about the deck from the people driving it.
Damon Albarn (Gorillaz) has written an opera ‘Doctor Dee’ on the life of the historic occultist John Dee, founder of Enochian magick. I’m actually really amused and intrigued with the idea. He says he will focus on the occult practices of the good doctor, as he feels that part of his life has been hidden from history. No mention if wife-swapping for YHWH will be in the opera as of yet.
While totally different, this just couldn’t help but remind me of The Enochian Keys Opera by Valentin Dubovskoy from several years back, which I had interesting results with. Next month sees the release of El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, a video game loosely based on the Book of Enoch (I’m seeing a theme in my links, this wasn’t planned). The game has you taking the role of Enoch the Prophet trying to stop seven fallen angels and the flood that will destroy mankind if they are not stopped. I have neither of the platforms it is on (PS3 or 360) but I’ve been debating a PS3 for a while (I don’t really play video games) and I think this might be a good inspiration. A PS3 for my spiritual research, that’s reasonable, right?
Edit: I just found a video trailer of the game. It looks good to me, and has an interesting artistic style.
An Orthodox Jewish Court has condemned a dog to death by stoning. The belief is the dog that invaded the court room was the reincarnation of a secular lawyer the judges had previously cursed to be reborn as a dog for insulting them. What I found most interesting is that it is a public admission of the belief in reincarnation (which while it has some historical basis in Judaism is a fringe belief currently) but also the belief that the judges have the capacity to use a curse to direct someone’s next incarnation and that it could include animals such a dogs. I was under the impression that Jewish beliefs in reincarnation was limited to humans, but animals and cursing incarnations, both are new tricks to me.
Lastly, and really really not least is Rob’s Basic Laws, Rules, and Rights of Magic an absolutely brilliant article on…well just that, the laws, rules, and rights of magick. It’s a long read, and you definitely need to take some time to work through it but it is worth it. I probably only disagreed with one or two points, and not in horribly strong ways, I really recommend you give it a read if you haven’t seen it yet. It matched up with some of my own conceptions on the laws/rules and made me question and debate others.
That being said I leave these links with you, and hopefully return to blogging proper soon.
Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set – Stuart R. Kaplan
U.S. Games Systems. Inc. 2009. 9781572816398.
Pamela Colman Smith is an unsung hero and artist in western occultism. She most famously illustrated the Rider-Waite tarot (I’ll discuss the naming convention later), largely based on Golden Dawn symbolism and teachings, and it is probably the most influential tarot deck ever. She was much more than this though, she was a quiet mystic, a member of the Golden Dawn, and a talented artist who received some recognition in her time and was sadly forgotten.
The Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set tries to bring this visionary woman back to our lives. The set contains two books, a tarot deck, and some artistic extras, which will all be discussed in their own time. This set was released in 2009 (somehow I missed hearing about it) on the centennial anniversary of the publishing of the Rider-Waite tarot and I think it is great collection to have.
Back of the Smith Waite Centennial Tarot
The first book included is The Artwork & Times of Pamela Colman Smith by Stuart R. Kaplan. This relatively small book of just over 100 pages is exactly what it sounds like. Kaplan tells the story of “Pixie’s” mysterious life. As you’re led through her life Kaplan also gives many examples of her art, in fact only once is there a spot where you can open the book and there isn’t some example of Pamela’s art. She lived a fascinating life; charmed, beautiful, sad, and lonely all at the same time. Most people only know Pamela as the Rider-Waite artist but she was far more than that, an accomplished artist who had shows in New York and London, an author and artist of folk tales from Jamaica, and a poet. The story is sad and the art is just beautiful. It was much to my dismay after reading the book I found out you cannot obtain prints of her artwork and my favourite painting from the book seems to have no presence on the internet at all.
The second book is The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite. I feel there is little to say about this book, it was originally published in 1911 to explain the Rider-Waite tarot. This particular edition does not contain the images of the cards.
Centennial Strength
The set comes with The Smith-Waite Tarot Centennial Edition deck. This is not just another reprint of the Rider-Waite deck you’re used to seeing everywhere. First off, to clarify terminology, the deck you see everywhere, and probably have is properly called the Rider-Waite tarot; Waite after A.E. Waite and Rider after the publishing company that first produced it. Some people, myself included, refer to it as the Smith-Waite or Waite-Smith tarot in an attempt to remind people who gave us this deck. The deck included in this set is properly called The Smith-Waite Tarot Centennial Edition, firmly putting forth that Pamela Colman Smith was one of the creators and will not be forgotten. There is more to it than just the name change though, the Rider-Waite deck is filled with bright, almost jarring colours. No yellow is a muted yellow, it is a daffodil screaming yellow, and this is a product of how the earlier decks were reproduced from the original.
Common Strength
For The Smith-Waite Tarot Centennial Edition Kaplan has used a 1909 printing of the deck to restore the deck to its original colouring, something I find far more peaceful and elegant than the borderline cartoon colouring of the general deck. I find this makes the cards stand out more and the subtly of shading and symbolism easier to see and work with. Also, this deck has done away with that gawdy blue and white diamond pattern on the back of the cards; instead the back is adorned with Pamela’s monogram and a rose. It isn’t a reversible back due to the rose, but it is subtle enough that you still can’t pick out which way is up without turning the cards over. Without a doubt this version is replacing my Rider-Waite tarot.
Lastly the set comes with a few artistic extras. It contains six reproduced postcards with Pamela’s artwork, only one of which is an image from her tarot. It contains three 5×7 prints of some of her art and a 5×7 photo print of Pamela herself.
Everything comes in a handy box with packs away nicely. My only complaint about the set is one I’ve had with far too many decks I like and that is it contains a drawstring bag for the deck rather than a box. The box that the art, deck, and books come in is too large to carry around and I find decks not in boxes get damaged too easily so I have to find another storage device for my cards. Other than that small complaint, I found the set wonderful. It is great to see Pamela Colman Smith getting the attention she deserves and the deck, the art, and the books are just wonderful. Really a must have for any tarot enthusiast.
Recently I was helping two people with learning a divinatory system; two different systems, and two different circumstances and yet my advice was the same in both cases. If you’re having trouble learning the system, with making the symbols and process coalesce stop looking forward.
This seems counterintuitive to some people as divination is mainly used to look forward, why stop? The future is the vast unknown, so when you don’t understand a system and you’re looking forward it’s like looking at meteorological data for tomorrow. You don’t understand how all the data comes together to make a coherent picture and you’re stuck trying to project meaning forward into the unknown. In the same way you’re not sure how that Queen of Pentacles under a reversed Ten of Wands means anything for the coming day. Also, some people believe that the future is mutable, so the cards may be right in the present but the future can change and you’re looking for a symbol/meaning that may no longer arise.
Looking backwards you don’t have this problem. You can see all the data, you can see the result, the event won’t change and from there you can start to unravel a meaning. In one case someone was asking about using geomancy, as there are different systems for generating Daughters and Nieces, and how to lay them on a chart. The other case was just someone having trouble learning how to relate abstract tarot meanings to their life. In both cases I said to toss their gaze backwards and use that. If you’re not sure which of the methods of generations is accurate or more accurate, pick a big event in your life and divine backward. If one set says things are happy and fast moving, and the other says things are painful has an overtone of loss, well if you’re looking at your Grandfather’s death, assuming you liked him, you know which is accurate. Same with tarot, if you can’t see how to draw meanings from the cards pick an event you know and that is important to you and divine it like you would the future and then knowing how things were, you can see the relation. Eventually this will help you look forward.
I call this retrojective divination. To me calling it retroactive would be about looking back for meaning, using divination for the same purpose as usual, just backwards. Retrojective though is a term I gleaned from my history professor, it refers specifically (in historical study at least) to act of interjecting meaning into the past from the present. That I feel is more the point. You’re not divining to find the deeper meaning of why your cat ran away when you were nine; you’re divining to see how your system displays the events of your cat running away so you understand the system. So turn your cards, your transits, your holes in the ground, whatever backward, and look to the past. The past isn’t going anywhere and you know it so you can study it to your heart’s content, the future you have to wait for and create. Find information in your past, learn to interpret the future. Simple.
The Golden Dawn Enochian Skrying Tarot: The Synthesis of Eastern & Western Magick – Bill and Judi Genaw and Chic & S. Tabatha Cicero
Llewellyn. 2004. 418pp. 0738702013.
“The Golden Dawn Enochian Skrying Tarot is unique among all published Tarot decks” (1) it “is not simply a Tarot deck with a book of card descriptions. This kit contains a complete system for magickal and spiritual growth. It includes card spreads, meditations, exercises, and rituals that are provided for three levels of spiritual attainment: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.” (2)
This may sound like a grandiose claim but the Ciceros and Genaws managed to win me over to this point of view. It is definitely a unique deck. Rather than the traditional 78 cards this deck has 89 cards, and unlike the traditional Major and Minor Arcana this deck is divided into four elemental suits of 22 cards each, one Spirit elemental card, and the cards are double-sided. Honestly the structure is so different I wonder why they felt the need to call it a tarot deck rather than a divination deck. This deck also comes with a book more than four hundred pages long, just a small sign about how detailed this deck is.
This deck is probably the most complex deck I’ve ever dealt with. One side of the deck is composed of “Western Tattvas” or alchemical symbols, the others side is an intricate synthesis of various symbols and parts of the Enochian Golden Dawn tradition. The Ciceros and Genaws consider the traditional Tattvas and Western Tattvas as both equally valid, but feel that the Western Tattvas are more appropriate and accessible to a Western magickian studying Western systems. So instead of the traditional Tattvas and colours, the deck uses the elemental triangles and colours from the Western Mystery Traditions. The Western Tattva cards are composed of single element/Tattvas, sub-elements, and tri-elemental combinations. The Enochian side of the cards are far more detailed and difficult to explain. They match the elemental attributes of the other side of the card, and are composed of elemental sides of the Enochian pyramids, Enochian angels attributed to the appropriate section of the tablet, astrological correspondence, an Egyptian God, Major Arcana parallel, Hebrew letters, and geomantric symbols. There is definitely a lot going on with these cards.
As mentioned in their introduction the cards serve more than just a divinatory function but actually compose part of a magickal tradition. The Enochian side of the cards can be used to compose the elemental tablets for use in Enochian magick, and the book contains enough of the Enochian theory and Keys to get someone going. An obvious and major part of this is, as the title of the deck says, skrying. This book contains some of the best training exercises for skrying I’ve ever encountered, and I was very pleased and surprised with that. The book leads the reader through increasingly complex exercises to train the magickian for skrying and astral projection. What surprised me was that as a divination deck, that all of the skrying was consciously chosen. If you want to understand something, go through the deck and find the most appropriate card according to the meaning in the book and skry through that card. I don’t see why one couldn’t (or shouldn’t) simply shuffle the cards and draw out the most appropriate card to skry, after all divining gives us access to reasoning beyond our self. The book contains some fairly standard magickal exercises, as well as some unusual ones, such as the creation of elemental “energy balls.”
The only thing I could really complain about is that since the structure is so different from a standard tarot deck, lacking intuitive images, and just so complicated, that the deck will be exceedingly complicated to learn. Beyond this issue I think the deck and book are quite marvellous. What these cards lack in stunning artwork they make up in sheer information. Not a deck for everyone, but anyone seriously studying Western Traditions and/or the Golden Dawn then this deck would make a great addition to your magickal repertoire.
Knowledge may be power, but that’s a simplification of matters. There is a lot of knowledge that is useless to most people, and there is a lot of knowledge that is useless on its own. Knowing that the mayor slept with underage sex workers isn’t power unless you know how to use that knowledge. Basic geometry and carpentry can be useless on their own unless you know how to apply that knowledge to make tables, chairs, buildings and more. So while knowledge may be power it, it is more the application of knowledge that is power.
This of course brings us to the tarot. A good tarot reading is full of knowledge but the trouble is to most people the reading is useless, informative, but useless. This is a problem that affects magickians and reading recipients alike. A reading provides them with the information they ask for, but they have no idea how to apply this information.
This is another one of those things in magick that I feel should be so obvious that it doesn’t need to be said, and yet when I look around I see the same mistake being made repeatedly. I used to make this mistake all the time, I still do occasionally. When rereading my magickal diaries I’m struck by how often my readings were accurate, and moreso how often I failed to do anything about it. The problem, if we want to go so far as to call it such, is that tarot readings are by their nature abstract, and even when they’re specific, there is a level of abstraction. People don’t know how to take the abstract and make it practical. The tarot gives ideas and advice, not action.
The cards may let you know that to succeed at work you have to stop reacting to your boss and keep the work place peaceful. Good idea, but it isn’t an action. The problem with ideas and abstractions is they aren’t remembered for long and make very poor guides. We have to turn this abstraction into something doable and memorable.
One piece of advice I got from a friend and mentor years ago, which I’ve adapted, is making plans from a reading. I always make two plans with any reading; one that can and will be started in the first 48 hours after the reading, and another that can be implemented over the following week. The first 48 hours after a reading are crucial, really the first 24 but some people find 24 too stressful to work with. The longer you wait to act, the less likely you are to act; that’s the major problem. The second issue is if you believe that the future is mutable then within the first few days after a reading then things can change, so in order to make the most of your reading you have to implement it as soon as possible.
The goals, especially the 48 hour goal, do not have to be anything large, they don’t have to solve the problem, and rarely will, but the point is to create a concrete action to get you started working with the problem. Say you need to stop reacting to your boss, think quick and small. Print a sign to put on your monitor or keyboard reminding you that after you read an email from the boss that bothers you, do something else for ten minutes, and then respond. This just gives you a little cool down time. Boom -a simple way of starting to handle the issue, and something small that gets you thinking right away about how to use your reading. You’re more likely to think of other ways to handle the issue if you’ve already having something small set into motion. The key is to do something. Other times my actions have been as simple as just writing out a pro/con list regarding the issue cause it hasn’t been thought through, anything that gets me to begin working on the issue.
So many people get readings and fail to use the information, they think just knowing what will help or hinder them will be enough. They think that in the heat of the moment they’ll suddenly remember what they should or shouldn’t do. They don’t and things don’t improve and the next reading just says more of the same, if not worse. It surprises some of my clients when after the reading I work with them to make a plan of action, some are confused, some are appreciative, and some are almost indignant that I assume they don’t know what to do with the reading. Yet pretty much all of my return clients who have seen other tarot consultants mention how helpful my reading was, if only because I gave them an avenue to make the abstract ideas of a reading into a practical plan of action.
When I see people involved with tarot reading, especially magickians, who are constantly doing readings and adding more cards, all I can think is that for all the information they’re turning up, they aren’t bothering to learn how to use it. If you’re doing large readings, constantly adding more cards, and doing lots of tarot spreads chances are you’re not really in need of all of that information, you’re just failing to put the information you have into action. Knowledge is knowledge, applied knowledge is power.
The key to turning the knowledge of a tarot reading into power, isn’t assuming that you’ll remember it, or know how to use it when the time comes; instead it is about taking the time during the reading to create a real plan of action, devising something you can do in the next day or two that begins to work on the issues of the reading. Without the plan and details you’re left with an abstract. Turn a reading into a roadmap and you’re far more likely to get the outcome you want.
Of course another part of the equation is knowing how to ask good questions, but that’s a tale for another time.
Need help predicting how to survive the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse? Try the Zombie Apocalypse Tarot for advice.
Watcher Angel Tarot Guidebook: Myth, Meaning, and Creation – Michelle Belanger and Jackie Williams
Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set – Stuart R. Kaplan
