Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 68

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Leta Herman and Jaye McElroy, authors of the new Energy of Love.

Dating woes 101: ever wonder why you keep dating the same person over and over again? Some think we are creatures of habit—in this case, maybe even bad habits. On one level each new relationship seems great. On another level, it always ends in disaster. There are many stories on this topic. This is nothing new here … right? Well, actually … we have a whole new take on the age-old story of love and how to find it!

Why, why, and why?

Back to the dating woes… Why does it feel like your dating choices are always slim to none? Why does it seem like you’re always attracted to the same kind of person? Why does this type of person seem to always disappoint, reject, or hurt you every time? It’s probably because you’re going after the same energetic type of person. They may look different, but they’re very similar energetically.

We are here to tell you that you don’t have to do it like this anymore. You can stop asking yourself that big why-didn’t-it-work-this-time question and blaming your ex-lovers for the outcome. It’s time to learn how to identify the energetic type of your potential lovers so you can stop repeating your old mistakes. The ancient Chinese philosophers described energy according to the Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. You can learn how to identify the Elemental Energy type of your past and potential future lovers in our new book, The Energy of Love.

What is your perfect lover’s energy type?

It’s time for some honesty here. What do you really want in love? Do you want someone who romantically sweeps you off your feet, or someone who supports, nurtures, and cares for you? Maybe something completely different? Think about this exact time in your life, right here, right now. Perhaps you enjoyed a certain kind of person when you were younger, but your life situations and your preferences in love may have changed. Finding the perfect lover actually starts with you.

Looking Back to Move Forward

Let’s travel back in time and look at your past romances. By seeing what didn’t work for you, you can start to hone in on a new love that really fits you.

Was it Wood? If you have always dated the charismatic, go-getter kind of person who makes all the plans, buys dinner, and takes charge in bed, you may have had difficulty keeping such a person around. Wood gets bored easily in every aspect of life, so you really have to be fully engaged with your relationship to keep your Wood lover happy. If Wood hasn’t been working for you, then maybe it’s time to try a more Fire-y lover?
Was it Fire? Did you always go after the happy, fun-loving, passionate lovers? They’re always positive and smiling, and very charming, too. They love to make you feel good, but can sometimes seem a little self-centered. One moment they can be very romantic, but the next they are distracted and not even paying attention to you. If the Fire passion and love of life isn’t enough and you’re ready for more grounded and steady love, then perhaps you’re ready for Earth next!
Was it Earth? Do you keep falling in love with someone who takes care of you? Perhaps you didn’t have quite enough love growing up, and you just like having all that good-caring-love centered on you. It’s great when it’s good. But it’s not so great when that Earth person is mad at you, always trying to get you to clean up and do stuff around the house. Not to mention, you have to be willing to express your emotions frequently when you’re earthbound. If you can’t handle all the sharing and talking involved in an Earth romance, then why not look at a Metal, who will love you in a quiet and sensitive way?
Was it Metal? Are you always attracted to that mysterious person sitting in the back corner with the alluring eyes and soft voice? Do you find it a challenge to draw out that quiet person and get them to talk? Do you like the person who is always trying to be gallant and romantic? Then you’ve probably been going for the Metal type. If so, has it been difficult getting through to them? Do you love parties and public events, but they won’t go with you? Maybe it’s time to look at Water person, who loves to experience the world in an extreme way and then chill, chill, chill.
Was it Water? Were your past lovers all very spontaneous, quirky, or silly? Then you might have had a yen for Water lovers. They make you laugh and love to hang out. But when push comes to shove, you just can’t figure them out. Good luck with that. They aren’t “figure-out-able.” They can also be hard to connect to heart-to-heart or even mind-to-mind. They just don’t care about all the emotional stuff, which is fine with many, not so fine with others. They also tend to meander through life, experiencing whatever comes. If you need a little more direction and goals to achieve, you might want to experience a Wood love.

No matter what you are looking for in a lover, if you want to learn more about love… wanting it, finding it, or keeping it… you can start with The Energy of Love.

Our thanks to Leta and Jaye for their guest post! For more from Leta Hermand and Jaye McElroy, read their article “Which Element Are You? Discovering the Five Elements to Find, Make, and Keep Lasting Love.”

Someone once asked me how should a beginner deal with the fact that some tarot books include conflicting information. That is an excellent question because there is no one definitive list of what the cards mean. There may be any number of ways to deal with conflicting information and I hope some of my readers will share their ideas here.

When I first started in tarot, the internet existed but it wasn’t anything like it was today. In fact, I worked with my mentor via snail mail (and, oh, how I wish I’d saved that correspondence!). After a few years of exploring tarot via as many decks and books as I could get my hands on, I decided to go through certification with the American Tarot Association. This organization still offers education but not certification. I do not think that certification matters. What mattered was the process I went through to prepare myself for certification.

I worked on one card at a time. I surrounded myself with all the books I had available and read about each card, making notes in a notebook of all the meanings (unless they seemed to make no sense to me). After collecting all the information, I was able to see many themes repeated and worked with those until I was able to boil it down to a core meaning. Then I expanded the meanings in ways that made sense. This helped the meanings all connect rather than just feel like a disconnected collection of random meanings. It also sometimes showed me that the information wasn’t really conflicting but rather just a different point of view or focus. But sometimes, yes, of course, there will be conflicting information.

Tarot cards are keys that open doors of knowing. Every time you open that door, the landscape will be slightly (or hugely) different. Is this because it has changed or you have? Or both? Probably both. So this is why, I think, it is really challenging to create a list of meanings that are always true or complete. For me, it was better to distill the meanings down to their core, their key. Everything else moves outward from there. If you have your core, your North Star, for each card, you can navigate through any situation or reading and find the right interpretation.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Aaron Leitch, author of several books, including Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, The Angelical Language Volume I and Volume II, and his new Essential Enochian Grimoire.

Some of you may recognize Objectivism as the philosophy developed by author Ayn Rand in such books as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. And if you know anything about Ms. Rand and her writings, you also know Objectivism is pretty much the exact opposite of any spiritual or occult philosophy. Let me give you a short quote from the Wikipedia entry as an illustration:

“Objectivism’s central tenets are that reality exists independent of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive logic…”

Really, it just gets worse from there. (We’ll talk about Rand’s sad position on human morality shortly.) However, the above is enough for any occultist to shake their head and look elsewhere for wisdom. It posits that consciousness has nothing to do with reality, and that we can always trust our senses to tell us the truth about the world around us. As occultists, we know better, don’t we?

And what about the Objectivist stance on morality? Well, Ms. Rand was born in Russia during a particularly difficult period of their history (this was during the fall of the Russian Empire and the rise of the Bolsheviks), and she doubtlessly suffered some deep traumas during her childhood. As an adult, she preached a philosophy of pure self-interest. The poor should be allowed to starve and die. The rich should be supported and given rule over the rest of us. Get what is yours while the getting is good, and give nothing to the weak. Here is another snippet from the Wikipedia article:

“…the proper moral purpose of one’s life is the pursuit of one’s own happiness (rational self-interest), that the only social system consistent with this morality is one that displays full respect for individual rights embodied in laissez-faire capitalism…”

A few of you may recognize this as foundational to such worldviews as American political conservatism as well as Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan. (The latter, by the way, are strict atheists.) Certainly this is the kind of philosophy that should be avoided by anyone with a spiritual worldview! Or anyone with an ounce of compassion or charity in their heart. Obviously I have some rants against Objectivism and Ayn Rand (who, by the way, lived out her elder years on the public assistance she would deny to others).

So, why is it that I constantly find myself identifying with fictional characters who embody the Objectivist philosophy?

Let me give you a great example: If you have a drop of nerd blood in your veins (I have several pints), you’ve surely seen the movie The Watchmen. It’s a movie about a group of has-been superheroes who must come out of retirement to solve a murder of one of their own. One of the primary protagonists in this story is an anti-hero named Rorschach. He is the story’s representative of Objectivism, and he’s my favorite character.

Why? Because he refuses to put up with the philosophical b.s. of those around him. When bad stuff happens, others try to find some “meaning” behind it all, to explain it away with existential platitudes that, in the end, don’t mean a damn thing. To Rorschach, the world is a real place with real problems (and real suffering!) that need to be addressed with real action. He sees no value in sitting on his ass and waxing poetic when he could just go out and break some kneecaps to make the world a better place.

Now don’t get me wrong here. In real life I could never support Rorschach or even be friendly toward him. To apply some Objectivist reality to his character: he’s a fascist, plane and simple. He believes that might makes right, that he has the right to define whether you are “good” or “bad,” and if he deems you “bad” he has a right to break you. (Let’s face it, most comic heroes possess that flaw.)

However, that is not what draws me to Rorschach and similar characters. For many years I couldn’t grasp what it was about them that I identified with so strongly. I’ve certainly never met an Objectivist in the flesh that I liked. Yet I sometimes find myself nodding my head when I read about the philosophy. How can it be that I simultaneously agree with and vehemently oppose Objectivism?

Somewhat recently, the answer finally dawned upon me. The reason for my dual mind on this matter is because Objectivism has two main branches. In fact, I’ve already highlighted them in this post. One is the view that reality is reality and we shouldn’t paste mumbo-jumbo over it. The other is the moral stuff. You probably don’t have to guess that it is the moral nonsense I find reprehensible.

But the Objectivist stance on reality… now there is something that strikes a deep chord with me. Of course, I certainly don’t agree that consciousness has no part in our perception of reality, nor do I believe for one second that my five basic senses are the final word on what I perceive. However, I also feel that occultists often go much too far in the opposite direction: they insist there is no reality at all, that only consciousness and perception matter. They believe that magick is all in your head, that you can just make it up as you go along and “reality” will simply mold itself to your intentions.

And nowhere are such occultists are more guilty of this flaw than when they interpret the results of their magick. These are the types that take credit every time a nearby street lamp goes out (or suddenly turns on), for every traffic light that turns green when they approach it, and for every random coincidence in their lives to prove to others (and themselves) that they are vastly powerful wielders of magickal forces. And when it comes time to purposefully cast a spell, it does not matter what results they get—even no results at all—because they will philosophize events in whatever manner is necessary to make it sound like they achieved their goal.

(Example I just totally made up: I did a spell to obtain a car that I need. I didn’t get the car, but my friend’s cousin’s butcher was suddenly given one for free! So my spell worked, and I was responsible for someone getting a car who—obviously—needed one more than myself. Yay me!)

And that, my friends, is where I personally identify the most with Objectivism. In fact, I owe my success as an occultist to it. From the very beginning of my path, I have steadfastly refused to “justify” or “re-interpret” my magickal failures just to avoid hurting my own feelings. (In occult circles, doing so is often called “mental masturbation.”) If I performed a spell, I either achieved my goal or I counted the working a failure and figured out what I did wrong. And I kept doing that until I damn-well got it right!

To this day, I never attempt to convince myself an operation worked when, clearly, it did not. In that sense, reality really is reality. Did you get the car or not? Plain and simple. I may believe that my consciousness can indeed help a car to manifest in my reality. But if it doesn’t, then it just plain doesn’t, and all the rationalization in the world won’t change that.

What will change it is accepting the defeat and doing it better the next time. Keep working through trial and error and you’ll eventually find out what gets real results and what is a waste of your time. If you accept nothing but objective results from your magick, and you are willing to work for decades to achieve them, then you’ll find success that doesn’t need to be explained into existence.

Accept nothing less from your magick, your spirits, and your Self than concrete results!

As for Ayn Rand and her Objectivist pals: hey, even a stopped clock has to be right twice a day…

Our thanks to Aaron for his guest post! Visit Aaron Leitch’s author page for more information, including articles and his books.

Today we sadly mark the passing of pioneering priestess Morning Glory Zell on Tuesday, just two weeks short of her 66th birthday. She leaves behind a bereaved community of friends, lovers, and followers; several goddess-children and step-children; a granddaughter, daughter, and son-in-law, and her grieving husband and soul-mate, Oberon Zell, who posted the following message yesterday:

My beloved has passed beyond the veil. She drew her final breath at 5:42 yesterday afternoon. Her handmaidens, students and priestesses prepared her body and dressed her in her beautiful Sea Priestess robes. She is now lying in grace in the Temple for a few days until we take her body to its final resting place in the Earth. It’s been an incredible week–grief and joy intermixing like a lava lamp. So many beautiful loving people gathered around, taking care of everything. That’s all I can really say right now…I can barely see to type.

Just a few months earlier, Llewellyn released the long-awaited oral history and dual biography of Oberon and Morning Glory, titled The Wizard and the Witch: Seven Decades of Counterculture, Magick & Paganism. I remain glad that she was able to see this major accomplishment come to fruition before she left the mortal plane; and glad that Morning Glory and Oberon were able to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary together this April.

To fully appreciate what Morning Glory’s life meant, and to witness just how strong their love was for each other, you just have to pick up the book. I myself have never seen a love outside the pages of a novel that was so intense and true that it survived for decades unabated: even as both partners had several other lovers, even as they fought tooth and nail, even as they sometimes would not see each other for months on end, even as they both made mistakes and sometimes caused each other pain, they recognized their deep connection to each other as soul mates, worked out their problems as well as anyone could, and the fire of passion between them never went out. Even up to Morning Glory’s last days on earth, Oberon continued to love her, dote on her, and take care of her as only the most committed husbands do, and the love in her eyes for him was unmistakable as well.

Although Morning Glory and Oberon both worked on the massive undertaking that became their printed life story, for the most part during the several-year-long process I only had direct contact with Oberon and the author/editor who put it all together, John Sulak. And yet having read the whole book through several times in several versions, I feel that I know Morning Glory just as well as I know Oberon. Her words ring out and even now strike me with their honesty, forthrightness, and intelligence. And in that spirit, I’d like to let her words speak for themselves. This is a short excerpt from Morning Glory’s foreword to their book:

I have had lots of amazing adventures (chasing Mermaids) and done things that no one else has managed to do for a very long time (raising Unicorns); I have even coined a word (polyamory) for a lifestyle that lacked a satisfactory name for itself, and seen it adopted—not only by the movement but also by the Oxford English Dictionary. I, along with so many of my other brothers and sisters, have left legacies in the form of political and religious activism that will make it harder to persecute my people in the future and will lead to the hope of a living planet for our great grandchildren to live on. I have also led with my heart, taking risks and making huge and tragic mistakes, which people can point to as lessons about what not to do. After all, how can you grow if you don’t admit your mistakes?

At this point I can only point to the words of Sappho, a far greater writer than I will ever be:

“Although they are only breath, words which I command are immortal. Gifts that the golden Muses gave me were no delusion: dead, I will not be forgotten, someone in some future time will think of us…”

Blessed be, Morning Glory. You will not be forgotten.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Sasha Graham, author of Tarot Diva and the new 365 Tarot Spreads.

“I want to do to you what spring does with the cherry trees.”-Pablo Neruda

Neruda’s erotically-charged words perfectly describe what happens within the Ace of Wands, don’t they? Especially the RWS Ace of Wands. The ace is literally shuddering, shedding its leaves in excitement. The wand throbs with fire and passion, blooming like a woman in the throws of lust and abandon, pushed to her limits, filled by her lover.

This is the absolute essence the entire suit of Wands.

Spring wakes everything up, it pokes and nudges us. We feel it it the very recesses of our bones as we find the sun, shed heavy winter clothing, and bask in lingering twilight evenings. We notice the purple shock of a blooming flower, warm breezes tickle our skin, farmer’s markets buzz with excitement as early asparagus and sweet peas appear. Can we align our decks and our souls with the tremblings of Spring? Can we milk fire’s magic out of a tarot deck? Out of ourselves? I think we can.

The shift of seasons is important; it keep us in touch with nature’s rhythms, and reminds us we are part of nature, not separate from it. Various schools assign different tarot suits to the seasons. But Wands and the element of fire are the power that germinates a seed to sprout. Wands are the voltage of true magic, the currents dividing the pentacle-like cells in within your body. The suit of Wands, like spring, wake us up. But more importantly, it moves us to action. The suit of Wands gets things accomplished.

It is important to differentiate between the desire reverberating inside Wands and the fluid emotion spilling out of Cups. They should not be confused. Desire and love intertwine like vines of woven wisteria and honeysuckle, but they are two distinctly different things. Desire requires action, while love requires feeling. Love moves mountains, but it can also be a passive experience. Desire and the suit of Wands always carry a physical, visible side effect: the spark of flirtation that brings people together, a flash of passion moving a person or crowd to action, the fire ignited when injustice is witnessed or experienced. And the element of longing, that sweet ache, painful deliciousness, toe curling, never satisfying, deep in your bones longing, comes straight from Wands.

Become a consort to spring as it surrenders itself. Feel yourself melting and sliding into summer. Grasp the Wands of desire in your hands. Find what makes you quiver and embrace it every day. Give readings to lovers, then embrace your own infatuations. Toss imaginary tarot cards at everyone you pass. Cook a meal like it’s the last one you’ll ever eat. Dig up the garden just to smell the dirt on your skin. Find an old tarot deck and bury your favorite card to see what blossoms. Cast cards in the moonlight and charge your deck by day in the sun. Call forth the fireflies and take destiny into your own hands. Feel fortune rolling in your palm, throw it toward the stars. Let them shower back over you reflecting your own brilliance.

Spring clean with your deck; pull a card for each room. Dust off your Magician wand, polish the Hermit’s lantern and light a candle inside, fasten baskets of flowers to your porch like the Hanged Man, dip into Temperance’s pond, drive to work like the Chariot, be as brazen as Death, and cavort with the Devil.

The torchlight of Wands helps me to see perfectly inside of you. I’m looking right now. You are beautiful. I see infinite winding roads, dark caverns waiting to be filled, and pages of life ready to be written. Just like spring, you’ve only just begun. And no one, not even I, know what you have in store.

So, on languid spring nights, when no one is watching and you sit alone, shuffle your cards. Let the Wands of tarot light a fire inside of you. Let Wands spark your toward the untraveled places inside yourself. Let Wands illuminate and warm you from within so as summer arrives, you’ll drip with magic, weave effortless enchantment, and conjure your deepest desires.

Cast your cards wisely…

Our thanks to Sasha for her guest post! For more from Sasha Graham, read her article “5 Amazing Reasons to Create Your Own Tarot Spreads.”

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, Chief Adepts of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as re-established by Israel Regardie and authors of a vast number of books, including The Essential Golden Dawn, Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition, and Tarot Talismans.

 

The phrase “common sense magic” probably seems like an oxymoron to non-esoteric folk. But anyone who is sincere in their ritual practice eventually comes to the realization that magic requires a sensible approach and discrimination. Although magic is meant to stimulate one’s psychic abilities and cause change in one’s environment, it can also stimulate less desirable things such as ego-inflation and ungroundedness in relation to the physical plane. Real-world magicians don’t have the luxury of Hollywood special effects and flights of fantasy—­they must use common sense and good judgment in any magical working. Using common sense and intelligence will help the practitioner avoid the pitfalls and make the success of any ritual working more likely.

Have you ever known anyone who accidentally got too close to a candle in a ceremony and set something on fire? Sure. Most magicians know someone who has done this. Nothing will get you out of a godform faster than having to beat flames out on the hem of your ritual robe. Some of the old grimoires tell the magician to have a series of lit candles on the floor around the magic circle. This is obviously one place where the magician can use common sense and either forgo the floor candles entirely or use realistic-looking LED candles.

We know of several examples of magic performed without common sense.

One person wanted to perform a Solomonic evocation, complete with a magic circle and triangle of art. He wasn’t confident about his own ritual abilities, but still wanted to perform the ceremony. So he did what he thought was the common sense thing to do—he brought a phone into the circle of protection in case things got out of hand so he could call a more experienced magician for assistance. (This was before the age of the cell phone.) Of course, things DID get out of hand and he was faced with a very nasty spirit who would not leave the triangle when he tried to banish it. So, the phone within the circle apparently came in handy­—and a frantic call for help went out to the more experienced magician. The moral of the story: if you think your magic is going to fail, it probably will!

Another person had no money and was anxious to improve his financial situation. He crafted, painted, and consecrated a Jupiter talisman and meditated on it nightly. However, the talisman did not seem to work. His financial situation never improved. He became convinced that magic did not work. However, he neglected to look in the newspaper for possible work or fill out any job applications. He apparently thought that by doing a magical ceremony a bag of money would magically appear on his doorstep, just like in the movies.

Another person wanted to rev up the power in his practice of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. His performance was fairly standard, except for the fact that his chosen magical implement was a .38 special. He did the Qabalistic Cross and traced his pentagrams in the air, vibrated the divine names … and charged the pentagram by firing the gun through the center of the figure. He did this in all four quarters of his temple space and ended up with bullet holes in all four walls. We’re not sure if he attained his magical objective, but his banishing was effective. (He banished his roommates, his family, and his landlord!)

In cases such as these, the culprit is often the magician’s “lust for results,” which means being focused on the results of a ritual instead of on the ritual performed to attain the results. It throws the magician off balance, drives him or her to make poor choices, and diminishes the success of the ceremony. The way to make sure your ritual work is safe and effective is to use your common sense. You will be a better magician for it.

Our thanks to Chic & Tabatha for their guest post! Chic and Tabatha are Chief Adepts of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as re-established by Israel Regardie (www.hermeticgoldendawn.org). The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which Chic is the Imperator and Tabatha is the Cancellaria, is an international Order with temples in several countries. Tabatha is also the Imperatrix of the Societas Rosicruciana in America (www.sria.org).

Chic and Tabatha share an enthusiasm for Ceremonial Magic and the Hermetic arts. Their books, which are published by Llewellyn, include The Golden Dawn Magical Tarot kit, Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple, The Essential Golden Dawn, Tarot Talismans, The Babylonian Tarot, and Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition. They have also edited and annotated new editions of Israel Regardie’s classics The Middle Pillar, The Tree of Life, A Garden of Pomegranates, and The Philosopher’s Stone.

Visit their author page for more information, including articles and books.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Stephanie Woodfield, author of Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess the new Drawing Down the Sun.

Have you ever noticed that stepping outside on a sunny day, and feeling the warm sun on your skin, can put a smile on your face? Or that you may feel less motivated during the winter months? For most of us, a couple of minutes of sunlight is the source of our daily vitamin D, which plays a role in a healthy immune system, and our mental health (among other things). Studies have even shown that sunlight boosts the brain’s levels of natural antidepressants and mood lifting chemicals, compared to the brain’s levels on darker days. The sun has a very real effect on our mood, wellbeing, and even our magick.

Living in New England, I am use to a harsh winter at times. But this past year (with a winter filled with freak blizzards and polar vortexes) has lent a whole new meaning to the phrase “Winter is Coming”—and it has nothing to do with my favorite TV show. Even now, only a few weeks away from Beltane, there are still small patches of snow on the ground here and there. And now more than ever I feel the need to work with solar energies in my daily practices, as we enter the bright half of the year.

We are use to connecting to the moon, and drawing down her energies. But sometimes we forget to embrace her solar counterpart to fuel our magick. One simple way to connect with the sun is to go outside (or stand near a sunny window) and hold your hands up toward the sun. See its life-giving, vital energy flowing down into your arms, draw it closer, then breathe it in. See yourself energized by the life-giving sun.

When working with solar energy or working with a particular solar Goddess or God, I will occasionally charge a piece of jewelry to be worn during ritual or to simply help me connect with the sun’s healing and energetic power. So if, like me, you can’t wait for the warm and vibrant days of summer and want to draw upon the power of the sun in your magickal work, here is a simple blessing you can use to bless an object with the sun’s power.

Hold the object up towards the sun, or place it in a sunny window. See the light of the sun filling and empowering it. Say these (or similar) words:

By count of one, the magick has begun.

By count of two, with power this ___ I imbue.

By count of three, fire of the sun come to me.

By count of four health, healing, strength and balance I restore.

Our thanks to Stephanie for her guest post! For more from Stephanie Woodfield, read her article “Reclaiming the Goddess of the Sun.”

Some of the technology that is almost commonplace today still feels magical and amazing to me. For years, I’ve wondered, how is technology going to change tarot? We can see some changes very easily: online groups help us connect with other readers, email and Skype and other messaging programs allow us to read for people all over the world.

We have apps for our phones (many Llewellyn decks are available via The Fool’s Dog, which makes my favorite apps). In addition to seeing the cards, these apps let us create spreads and sometimes even email readings to clients. We can even keep a journal within the app.

These things are all wonderful and handy and have expanded our reach, but they are simply doing what we’ve always done just in another way. I wonder if there is a next step, something that will change tarot in a big way.

I’m not sure how you all feel, but it seems to me that tarot is at the edge of cusp, like we’ve reached the World card and are about to enter a new journey heralded by the Fool. Ironically enough, this tarot reader feels a bit uncertain as to what that new frontier might be. Maybe it has to do with technology. Maybe it has to do with a shift in the fundamental beliefs of our culture about the nature of the future.

Rachel Pollack, author of (among other books) Tarot Wisdom, is known for pulling cards on the “big questions.” Who wants to join me in pulling cards about the future of tarot? Share yours in the comments and in a few weeks, I’ll share what has come up for me.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Donald Tyson, author of a vast number of books, including The Serpent of Wisdom, The Demonology of King James I, and Necronomicon.

 

Synchronicity is a concept put forward by the late psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875 – 1961) in an attempt to describe a curious aspect of human experience. It is a purely magical concept. It may be described as meaningful coincidence. Two or more things happen that appear to be unconnected in any physical way, but are none the less linked in meaning. This meaning may be slight, or it may be of profound and life-changing significance.

All of magic depends on synchronicity. For example, let’s say a witch works a spell of prosperity for a friend by planting a seed in a pot and watering it every day, while chanting prayers to the Goddess for the happiness and well-being of the friend. As the flower grows, the life of the friend gradually improves, and on the same day the flower opens its blooms, the friend receives word that she has been hired at her dream job for more money than she could ever have imagined. The blooming of the flower, and the message that the friend received her dream job, is an example of synchronicity in magic.

There is no way to prove, on the physical level, a connection between these two events. But the witch who worked the spell, and the friend whose life was so greatly improved, will know in their hearts that they are connected. If the witch is wise, she will photograph the flowers to preserve them forever, and then ritually sever the connection between the flowers and her friend, before the flowers begin to wilt and decay.

Synchronicity can be used to describe the working of astrology. There is no demonstrable connection between the pattern of an astrological chart, and the events in the life of the person the chart represents, yet astrological charts often predict with astonishing accuracy future events in the person’s life. Science sneers at astrology because it can find no physical basis for it. Even so, the lack of an obvious physical connection between the life chart and the person it represents does not necessarily mean that no such connection exists.

In the same way, the principle of synchronicity can be applied to the working of the I-Ching, the Tarot, and other forms of divination. The individual for whom the reading is done will know that a connection exists when it reveals itself in his personal life. More often than not, a synchronistic connection is so strong, and so obvious, that it is irrational to attempt to deny it.

The existence of such meaningful coincidences show us that the universe is not impersonal and disconnected from our lives. On the contrary, we are the microcosm and the greater universe the macrocosm, and we are connected to the universe at every point in our lives by an infinite number of invisible threads. No life is meaningless—it is filled with cosmic significance. Magic, in its working, reveals this connectedness in our lives.

Our thanks to Donald for his guest post! Visit Donald Tyson’s author page for more information, including articles and his books.

Taurus, The Bull

April 19 to May 20

Modality: Fixed

Element: Earth

Ruler: Venus

Keywords: Stubbornness, perseverance, stability, dependability, sensuality

As a bull, you are known for your determination and willpower, but, taken too far, these traits can turn into stubbornness. You are stable and find security in routine, which can often make change difficult. Be careful to not let your unease with change rule your life. Possessions are important to you, with Venus as your ruler. While it is nice to enjoy the finer things in life, be sure to donate or sell old items that serve no purpose—it is always possible that your love of possessions is tied to an emotional insecurity.

Your friends know that they can always count on you, and you are sensitive to the needs of others (though the latter can make you prone to gullibility; be careful at times when helping others out). You feel complete when part of a couple; even though you are highly selective of your partners, once you find the one you will be highly devoted. Family is highly important to you; you have strong ties to siblings and your extended family, and you are proud of your children (show them encouragement and give constructive criticism, as you often have high expectations of your kids).

When it comes to work, you prefer environments that give you not only stability but also autonomy. That said, be careful not to get too stuck with one job or company; changes often occur, and don’t shy away from a prospective opportunity. Taurus is also one of the universal money signs. This, in combination with your practicality, can equal a large net worth.

For the year ahead:

Affirmation: People enrich my life with their wisdom and experience.

Jupiter spends the first half of the year in Cancer, your third house of communication; the past few months have been (and the upcoming months will be) a positive time of family, friends, and networking. Jupiter shifts to your fourth house on July 16, when you can anticipate a positive boost in family affairs and domestic life.
Uranus continues its seven-year transit of Aries (began in 2011); during these next years, look for insight into your life and lifestyle, making changes as needed for self-renewal and personal health. Here in your twelfth house, you may notice you enjoy more time alone.
Saturn continues its long trip through Scorpio, where it will remain until the end of the year; here in your seventh house, your relationships will be highlighted. Strong relationships can benefit from Saturn in the seventh house. you may also feel encouraged to learn about relationships and human nature.
Neptune began its long transit in Pisces, your eleventh house, last year. It will remain in Pisces through 2025, highlighting friendships. Friends may come and friends may go, and you are likely to gain many insights into who to trust and when.
Pluto continues its long transit of Capricorn, making this time ideal for education, whether learning something new through structured classes, friends or family, or travel. This transit is one of transformation.