Only The Joker
You know how modern playing cards evolved from the Tarot, yes? But the Tarot has the Major Arcana as well as the court cards: all those beautiful cards like The Magician, The Star, The High Priestess etc – 22 of them. All that’s left in the playing cards is the Joker, a pale representation of The Fool.
Imagine all those beautiful rich characters and themes of the Major Arcana left out of any story. It would be almost like turning away from an extraordinary pantheon of gods, goddesses, demi-gods, nymphs, elementals, angels, magical ley lines and animal spirits to have just a religion with basically one male god in it and he runs everything along quite strict moral guidelines.
You think?
Image: Paolo Roversi
A brilliant historical analysis Mystic. Congrats!
at least we have the statue of Hecate, as you wrote previously, in the Vatican!
(!!!)
I’ll have what you’re having, Mystic. On top of what I’m already having.
Its why I like the Minchiate Tarot, which includes the Four Elements, the Zodiac and Hope, Prudence, Faith and Charity to the Major Arcana – bringing the total number up to 40.
I’ve had some scorchingly accurate readings from it as well….
and specifically to your point – the old pagan ways have had their tentacles clipped to stumps…. from a quote by Charles Fort about Science:
“Every science is a mutilated octopus. If its tentacles were not clipped to stumps, it would feel its way into disturbing contacts.”
Our natural spirituality and religious response to the awesomeness of Everything has been clipped to stumps by Monotheism.
I am a Pantheist myself – I do enjoy living in a world of magic and enchantment – stretching my tentacles wide and deep into the World, in order to find as many disturbing contacts as possible
PS: Fellow Mystic-ites, DO check out Charles Fort and The Fortean Times – you can get The Fortean Times at better newsagents.
Its a fabulous parade of “disturbing contacts” – frogs in rocks, rains of fish, goat suckers (don’t ask!) Big Cats, unlikely desert artworks, unsolved mysteries, newly found species, ancient ruined temples, haunted supermarkets, invisible friends and spontaneous human combustion…. Highly recommended !!
I have to add that my favourite section is “Strange Deaths ”
http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/strangedeaths/archive/
*I’ll be quiet about the Fortean Times now *
The attention’s nice for a little while, but the constant stream of reporters is clogging up the neighborhood. Thanks for visiting, come back real soon.
LOL !!
Hahaha
http://newtopiamagazine.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/mongrel-patriot-review-brian-griffith-author-of-a-galaxy-of-immortal-women/
Found this morning. Add to my pile of reading ‘to-dos’… Lots of inspiring history about women and “folk” religion. And this, from an interview w the author:
“…And from meeting some great Christian, Jewish, and Muslim women in North America, I realized that women commonly have their own versions of their seemingly male-controlled religions. They tend to ask their own questions and give their own answers. Rather than asking, “What does the ultimate authority require?” they tend to ask, “How good can our relations with others get?” In other words, women have tended to ask partnership questions rather than dominator questions. Of course lots of men want partnership answers to life as well, since experience shows how much better that can be. So I think women’s influence and partnership values are on the rise in all religions, and we’re going to see more options for balance and wholeness. Maybe even Christianity and Islam can achieve a balance of yin and yang. But as always, some people freely want domination. They flock to authoritarian leaders of the Muslim or Christian worlds, who will tell them just what to do because they don’t want to risk making mistakes, and they want infallible guidance from a superhuman authority. People will always be able to choose what they want most in life. Some will want a strong authority to obey, and others dream of better relations between free and equal people.”
you should read Italo Calvino “Il castello dei destini incrociati”
The Castle of Crossed Destinies – he uses the tarot as the basis for two stories based on a two tarot packs (Visconti & Marseilles) same characters/ different roles – absolutely amazing.
I have just finished reading this, Italo Calvino is so effortlessly wonderful. Mr Palomar is good too!
PS See the edition with colour images of Tarot!
I know a Russian Gemini Mathematician who uses regular playing cards to tell fortune if you get loose with some vodka first. LOL! Those crazy math guys.
Cartomancy in lieu of tarot is a real thing. My mum is a Cambodian fortune teller who uses normal playing cards. (but she slims down the pack even more)
Yes they have their own way of interpreting that is totally different and completely LEGIT!
I’m very serious about cartomancy. I studied with Arne Lein a bit. He said I have great mystic powers, but unfortunately as a Taurus Ace of Diamonds, I don’t believe in mystic powers. LOL.
Yeah that’s the weird part. I think cartomancy in this form appeals to the more logical minded folk.
Someone asked me what I do when I read cards and how I feel. Do I feel like I’m channeling some energy from beyond? I told him it felt like solving equations. But I have come to realize, those are only symbols of the energies I am accessing. They have their own calculus, but I can’t really say what it is. I can solve the equation forward to get a result, or I can work it backwards to break it down into its causes. But I can’t really tell you how I do that.
Hang on…..in the Bible….(basic information before leaving earth)….it says…..let us make them in our image……so where is God ever just one ???????
(Oh, those Trinitarians!)
(God had a mouse in his/her pocket.)
God was always a family.
Currently reading a great book “The Goddess Within” re Jung and the manifestation of each of the Greek Goddesses in every woman. What does not seem clear is the transition from the worship of Gaia to the dominance of Zeus. And how have we allowed this to continue?! It seems to be that Hera, Athena, and to some extent Aphrodite, have by their obedience to and support of Zeus allowed the dominance of the male, often destructive, elements of cultures to escalate: e.g. war, progress at the expense of the environment, adversarial behaviour in our courts and parliaments. Artemis, Persephone and Demeter have been side-lined and need to find equal footing in order to bring back a balance between the yin and yang.
Try The Alphabet and The Goddess. The author’s thesis = language did it.
Amazing book
http://mysticmedusa.com/2009/09/the-alphabet-versus-the-goddess/
Thank you weather girl – going to Amazon right now!
Fascinating reading lately on correlations between the ancient celestial placements of Virgo, Draco and Ursa Minor (aka the tree) and their symbology as replicated throughout antiquity.
The same images of the hermaphroditic/self-reproducing (‘virgin mother’) winged-woman, the often winged-serpent and the great tree in ancient history and art found throughout every stretch of the world like a collective memory with a lot of meaning obscured or lost or needing to be sutured together. Also leaps of info on the tradition of divine androgyny misinterpreted as virginity. Unsurprisingly the relationship between the woman, the serpent and the tree is often benevolent (a notable exception being the Abrahamic tradition).
I’ve been enjoying the spiritual embrace of this Jupiter transit immensely! Currently it conjuncts Gem Moon 9th house and is in opposition Neptune Saggo 3rd within 1 degree.
on that divine androgeny note, Im re-reading an amazing book called ‘the cosmic’ serpent by jeremy narby- goes right into winged serpent mythology/ cosmology from worldwide aboriginal/ ayahuasca perspective, really fabulous
Tks for the great reference!
Woman! You are so bang on with all your posts today I’m in awe. Short Sharp Shocked comes to mind: I’m not a Michelle Shocked fan really but that album title seems so resonant with your writing.
Hey Myst…guess thats what they call “not playing with a full deck”..
Or is that “fool deck” ?
I didn’t know that, but I’ve had my fortune told but a modern deck of cards once.