What if Waite and Crowley had Social Media?

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The Wheel has turned, and it's time again for the Tarot Blog Hop. In keeping with the theme of Samhain/Halloween/Day of the Dead, our wrangler, Arwen, has asked us to write about a loved one or historical figure in spirit, and make a connection to tarot. We are to use tarot to “commune, communicate, commemorate those who have gone before us”.

I have many beloved family members and friends in spirit, but it is not to them that I turn my attention in this post.

Recently, I’ve had a bit of a renewed interest in tarot history. Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin are primarily to blame. Their book, Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot, shares a lot of previously undiscovered primary source material that really piqued my interest.

It says something (perhaps unflattering) about my personality that the nugget of historical wisdom I enjoyed most in that book is that Crowley often referred to Waite as “Dead Waite”.

We all know that Waite and Crowley had an adversarial relationship. Crowley’s writings are filled with eloquent insults toward Waite, and others.

Photo of Crowley, by Magikritualnacht [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

When I first came to tarot, I had a hard time understanding Waite’s Pictorial Key to the Tarot, because I didn’t realize that some of the text was directed against Crowley and his philosophies.

Photo of Waite in 1880, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The fact is, Waite and Crowley differed on many points. Both felt compelled to not only point out the differences, but to do it with ridicule and derision.

Many years later, the images conceived by Waite and Crowley comprise the world’s two most popular tarot decks. We who use these decks, both personally and professionally, often find ourselves embroiled in arguments of philosophy and ethics, just as, apparently, Waite and Crowley themselves did.

I often tell my students that “your tarot friends are your best friends.” I actually believe this. Your tarot friends understand you in a way no one else can. At the same time, we all know that the online tarot community is filled with name-calling and rude behavior. It’s possible that you not only have tarot friends, but also tarot enemies, or perhaps “tarot frenemies”.

We hear whisperings that a certain organization is at odds with another, for example, or that a certain tarotist is not welcome at another tarotist’s event.

This sort of behavior, much like the “witch wars” of the Pagan community, happened in local communities long before social media was a thing. In the 1990s, I had a local competitor who would call hotels into which I had booked psychic fairs, pretend to be me, and try to cancel my events.

Years later, I’m still in business, and I’m not sure what became of her. Now I can laugh at her petty antics. At the time, they hurt my feelings and made my professional life more difficult.

Often we lament the contentious aspect of our relationships with each other in the tarot world. Often, we blame the nature of the internet, and social media, for the fact that we seem to enjoy picking at our differences more than celebrating our commonality.

History shows us that this behavior is not new. Social media has not turned us in to monsters. Social media has only magnified our natural monstrous behavior. 

Let’s then, for a moment, dream of a world in which A.E. Waite and Aleister Crowley had Facebook accounts. Imagine the memes, the stories and the blog posts that might have flown back and forth between them.

Would Crowley tell folks on his friends list that they must not be FB friends with Waite? Would Waite write disparaging reviews of Crowley’s work, and hit “like” on all the agreeing comments? Would they write "open letters" to each other in their blogs?

Perhaps it is just human nature to mock and taunt those who think differently than we do. Perhaps the passion it takes to be a tarotist, or a magickal person, necessitates this behavior in some of us.

Often, we compare the online antics of some of our tarot community with the social media bullying that influences teens to take their own lives. Certainly, lies, disrespect and insults can be hurtful. Sometimes, in the tarot world, that hurt can even be financial. That’s hard to ignore, especially for tarotists who are supporting children with their tarot income.

At the same time, maybe Waite and Crowley were guilty of taking themselves a bit too seriously.  Maybe, sometimes, we are, too.

The next time I find myself saddened by our infighting, or hurt by a comment on social media, I will try to remember this, and laugh.

When we rudely fight with each other over dogma, doctrine and belief systems, we are unwittingly following a proud tarot tradition. In a way, we are honoring by imitation those two men without whom, none of us would be tarotists.

Perhaps the psychic energy of those two magickal giants, Waite and Crowley, works its way into our itchy keyboard fingers.

Maybe, at this time of the thinning veil, we can use the energy and example of Waite and Crowley in a different way. Rather than channeling their desire to insult each other, we can channel their desire to divine.

Perhaps those itchy keyboard fingers are happier when they are shuffling cards.

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You are Invited to Tea!

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The 2014 Samhain Tarot Blog Hop

Welcome to the Samhain 2014 Tarot Blog Hop. Whether this is a spiritual holiday for you, a time to party, both or neither, I hope this October 31^st has found you in good spirits!

You might be joining me from TABI, the Tarot Association of the British Isles. If you are working backwards, perhaps you are visiting me from Ethony’s blog.

For this round of the Blog Hop, our wrangler, Louise Underhill of Priestess Tarot, has given us an interesting task. Louise has asked us each to write about one person, living or dead, with whom we would like to have tea this Samhain, and to somehow entwine tarot into that story.

When my American ears hear “have tea,” I am thinking of a beverage instead of a meal. But, to me, tea is not just a beverage, it’s a ritual.  More than that, it’s political. Here in the US, coffee drinkers can usually find an acceptable cup of coffee. Tea drinkers are not so lucky.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been served stale, moldy tea, or tea obviously brewed in a coffee pot, while my husband has enjoyed a fresh cup of dark roast. I am an activist for decent tea.

Tea is not just a beverage, or an administered dose of caffeine, or an infusion of herbs. A cup of tea is an opportunity to talk. That’s why it goes so well with tarot.

I learned the power of a good cup of tea from my family, now in spirit. The thought of having one more cup of tea with my mother, my grandmother or my father, whose birthday is today, is certainly alluring.  

In the world of the living, my best tea buddy is my daughter, who manages a tea shop. Since she works retail, I won’t see much of her until January, so a cup of tea with her now would be nice.

What if curiosity and admiration were my deciding factors? I have a feeling I wouldn’t be the only tarotist in the Blog Hop sitting down today with Pixie.

Of course, my closest friends might assume I would extend the invitation to the late great Jerry Garcia. That would be cool if would bring his guitar.

The fact is, here I sit, early Samhain morning, without a clue whom I want to invite.

I really like talking with everyone. I fiercely love my close family and friends. Beyond that, I have a world-wide tarot practice I have built over more than two decades. That’s a lot of talking with people. Even beyond that, I seem to be talking with those in the spirit world quite regularly.

So out of all those people, living and dead, whom would I most like to talk with today?

Honestly, I most want to talk with whomever wants to talk with me.

Maybe there is a kernel of truth there to explain my unusual tarot practice. Some of my peers in tarot call me “the hardest working woman in tarot.” They don’t always say it with admiration. Over the course of my career, my peers have looked at me with worried glances, wondering if I should slow down lest I burn out.

The thing is, tarot reading energizes me. Part of that is technique, I know. But I think part of it is owed to the same reason I can’t answer the question for today’s Blog Hop.

Out of all the people on Earth and in Heaven, how could I possible choose only one with whom to speak? And how could I know if that would be the one who would most want to speak with me?

I’ve noticed a recent trend in our society; one I blame on the Uranus-Pluto square. These days, people only want to be friends with people who agree with them on a handful of random issues. If you dare give an opposing opinion on anything, you risk losing friends.

To me, this is a dangerous trend. I understand its astrological reflection, and that, in time, as the planets move, this trend will dissipate. In the meanwhile, I am actively trying to respectfully talk with, and value, people with whom I disagree. I believe that our diversity and our differences make us a healthy society. Our ability to compromise, and to understand that no one person has all the right answers, is what makes civilization possible.

Many of my peers have a sweet spot as tarot readers. That is, each has a particular demographic, or type of client, they prefer. I can honestly say, I don’t have that. My favorite type of client is every. My favorite type of reading is all. My favorite place to read tarot is everywhere.

Perhaps that’s why I’m the “hardest working woman in tarot.” In one business day I might help a high school student find the right college, a business owner develop a new strategy, a bride-to-be plan a wedding and a bereaved spouse find closure.  With which of those people wouldn’t I want to talk?

So, who will I invite to tea this Samhain? You! Tell me your opinions. Let me read your cards. On this day, even more than any other day of the year, I know that in this lifetime I am doing precisely the thing that is my most natural thing to do.

When I was a student at Hartford Public High School for a year, I received one Major Disciplinary Offense. Can you guess what my crime was?

That’s right. I was disciplined for TALKING. So, no Silent Samhain Supper here. Let’s have a chat! We don’t have to agree on everything. We don’t even have to like each other. In the process of communicating with each other and with Spirit, in the process of exploring symbols, images and archetypes, we will find a common truth.

Now it’s time to have a cup of tea with Ethony, the next blogger in the chain. If you are working backwards, go see Chloe, writing for TABI, the Tarot Association of the British Isles.

If you find a break in the chain, don’t despair! A hop over to the Master List will put you right!

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The Knight of Cups: Tarot Love at Samhain

This is the Samhain 2013 Tarot Blog Hop.
Joy Vernon's Blog is the one before mine. 
When you finish here please visit Rowan Tarot.
If you find a break in the chain visit the Master List.

Welcome to the Samhain 2013 Tarot Blog Hop. Eight times a year tarotists from all over the world blog together on the same topic. The Blog Hop happens on each spoke of the Pagan Wheel of the Year but is not specifically Pagan-themed. This time around our wrangler, Alison Cross, has asked us to blog on the topic of love and how it relates to tarot for us.

While Alison was clear to make a distinction between the topic and the holiday, for me there is no distinction. I celebrate Samhain as the Witch’s New Year, the Final Harvest and the time of the Thinning Veil. For me, each of these directly relates to love. The New Year is about self-love, offering the opportunity to manifest new things and release those things that no longer serve me. The Final Harvest is about love for the Earth that sustains us. The Thinning Veil is about the love I share with my ancestors who have gone before me and the spirits that guide and guard me every day.

Tarot seems to agree with both Alison and me that it is important to focus on love at this time of year.

All tarotists have the experience of having one card consistently come up over a period of weeks as if saying “pay attention to me, pay attention to me.” For me recently that card has been the Knight of Cups, the bringer of love.

A few weeks ago I made a video about the Knight of Cups in response to a question from a student. This past Sunday on my weekly webcast, Christiana’s Psychic Café, I pulled a card at random for our “Card of the Week.” It was the Knight of Cups. Immediately thereafter my guest Tarot Dactyl pulled the Knight of Cups for the first two on-air readings she did.

Then, while making my weekly newsletter I pulled a card at random for my “One Card Weekly Reading” feature. Can you guess what the card was? That’s right, the Knight of Cups.

That the Knight of Cups has been showing up so often at this Samhain season and that Alison chose “love” as our topic is a synchronicity I cannot ignore.

The Knight of Cups is often seen as a card of romance, but this card, and love itself, is so much more than romance. The early Greeks had four words for the different types of love – agape, storge, philio and eros. In our culture, and often specifically in tarot reading, we tend to think of love only as eros, the romantic kind of love.

When I pulled the Knight of Cups at random for the newsletter all I could think of was that cheesy Burt Bacharach song from my childhood, “What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love.” In fact, that song is now a brainworm entrenched in my head. Maybe that’s not a bad thing.

Here’s what I think is happening. As the veil between the worlds is thinning, Spirit is giving us a clear directive. That directive is heard through tarot, though meditation and in many other ways by those who make a point of tuning in. That directive is love.

The Knight of Cups insists that we bring the energy of love wherever we go, that we nurture love in our hearts and minds. The Knight of Cups directs us to bring love, to seek love and to be love.

Love is the antidote to fear and hatred. Love is the clearest evidence of the existence of Higher Power. Love heals all.

Now, more than ever, love is what the world needs. 

Thanks for joining us on the Samhain 2013 Tarot Blog Hop.
If you are working backwards  Joy Vernon's Blog is the one before mine. 
The next blog in the chain is Rowan Tarot.
If you find a break in the chain visit the Master List.

Bringing Light to the Shadow

Welcome to the Tarot Blog Hop Samhain/Halloween edition! We are a group of tarot enthusiasts who agree to blog together eight times a year.

Perhaps you are coming to me after visiting Joy Vernon's Blog.

When you finish here, please leave a comment if you like, and proceed to the next, which is Joanne Sprott's blog.

If you find a broken link in the chain, visit here for the master list.

Samhain is the spiritual name for the holiday that is known secularly as Halloween. It is the cross-quarter day between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. All Halloween traditions, including costumes, trick or treat and jack-o'-lanterns have roots in early pre-Christian traditions.

Today, Samhain is often celebrated as the final harvest, the Witches' New Year and the day when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, facilitating communication between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Samhain is the most solemn holiday on the Pagan Wheel of the Year.

For this Blog Hop our wrangler, Amethyst Mahoney, has assigned a very interesting topic. Rather than focusing on communicating with the spirits, Amethyst has asked us to look within.

Amethyst rightly points out that many people, especially metaphysical people, are asked to "wear masks" that make them more acceptable to society at large. Amethyst has asked that in this blog post we remove those masks and allow our true selves to be seen.

What an opportunity for personal healing this is!

I have to admit, I have never been much of a mask-wearer, especially when it comes to metaphysics. My father was a Methodist minister, but not a fire-and-brimstone preacher. My parents accepted my tarot career and my Pagan spirituality with good humor and respect. In fact, at my father's funeral my mother asked me to give a tarot reading to the minister who officiated.

I attended a born-again Christian academy in high school, but it was in the 1970s when the born-again movement was filled with more joy than hatred.

I have almost always been public as a tarot reader and as a Pagan. The fact is I live in a nudist camp in tropical South Florida. Not only do I not wear masks, I don't wear clothes most of the time. I don't personally know the pain and fear of having to hide who I am. For that I am very, very grateful.

But we all have a shadow self - a part of self that we want no one to see. A part of self that does not live up to our own standards, or to the beliefs others hold of us. Sometimes we don't want to acknowledge that shadow self. Sometimes we can see nothing else and live our lives in shame and fear.

When we bring light to our shadow we can see it for what it is - and accept it. I think acceptance, especially self-acceptance, is the key to healing.

The people who feel they must wear masks do so because they fear they will not be accepted. The people who suffer in the knowledge of their own imperfections are unable to accept their own humanity. The people who hang on to the negative words of others believe negative things about themselves. They are unable to accept that their truth is the only truth that matters.

Many times in tarot readings the shadow self rears its head, and the querent has the opportunity to acknowledge, accept and heal.

The story of confronting and healing the shadow self is a part of the Path of the Fool in the Major Arcana of Tarot. The final seven cards give us clear direction for this process. Interestingly, I also see these final seven cards as the journey to spiritual enlightenment.

Does this mean that we cannot be truly enlightened until we confront our shadow? I believe it does.

The final seven cards begin with card 15, the Devil. My favorite Devil image is from Spiral Tarot. Here we see the Devil holding up a mirror. The person looking into the mirror is recoiling, unwilling to face her shadow self.

The Devil is the first step on the journey to spiritual enlightenment. Here we must face the shadow, whatever it is.

The Devil asks you to look deeply into yourself and acknowledge your imperfections, and even the parts of you that are perfect that others cannot acknowledge. Here is where you begin to own yourself - all of yourself.

After the Devil we confront the Tower. The lightening that strikes the Tower is enlightening, and wipes away the structure of belief that can no longer stand.

The Tower commands you to release all the faulty information that you have built up about yourself.

Sometimes confronting the shadow is confronting the true things - I'm an over-eater, I'm impatient, I'm quick to anger, I'm judgmental, I'm selfish. The part we need to release is what usually follows, which is "and that means I am a bad person."

 Sometimes we need to release the things other people have said about us that simply are not true or don't matter.

After the Tower is the Star. Here we are able to avail ourselves of abundant healing light. Here, we recognize our worth and our worthiness.

After the Star comes the Moon. Having acknowledged the shadow with the Devil, released it with the Tower and accepted healing with the Star, we are able to discern our own spiritual path. We are able to see beyond the superstitions and weaknesses of others, and claim our true gifts and our true path.

With the Sun, we are able to live out loud and dance in the light without fear. We are able to acknowledge our own ability to shine without any need to hold back or hide.

With Judgment, we acknowledge the voice of Higher Power, and understand our true calling. We are able to leave the past in the past, and claim our position in the World, where everything is within our grasp and we have nothing to hide.

As we embrace the World, we acknowledge our power and our successful healing journey. We are able to embrace who we are - completely - entirely - with no guilt, no shame and no apology. In doing so we become like a beacon of light that draws others to us. Those who cannot accept us fade into the background. Our true soul family can now recognize our light and celebrate it with us.

We can then accept our responsibility to help others on the planet as they embark on that same healing journey of bringing light to the shadow.

Now hop over to Joanne Sprott's blog and see what she has to say about exploring the shadow self!

If you are working backward please visit Joy Vernon's blog here.

If you find a break in the chain, visit the master list.