Month: October 2025

Frater Setnakh’s Tarot Coins and Archangels Set

On By benebellIn astrology, deck review, divination, grimoire, Magical in the Mundane, numerology, personal spirituality, tarot, tarot symbolism, traditional witchcraft6 Comments

Frater Setnakh is one of the most incredible, detail-oriented artisans of ritual artifacts I’ve come across. I’ve previously reviewed the 72 Angels Talisman Coins and Cards he sent me, which I keep on display in my sitting room. Here I’ll be showcasing his latest offering, Tarot Coins, along with the Guardian Angel Coins, or Seven Archangels.

The detailing on these coins is incredible, so I’ll also be showing a zoomed-in view of several of the coins, photo essay style. You can click on any of the images and magnify the photo to see just how fine the craftsmanship is here and each coin’s delicate engraving.

Per the ritual artifact description, this is the “world’s very first collection of tarot coins inspired by the Rider-Waite deck.” And personally I have yet to see tarot coins crafted at this level of detail and intricacy. They’re simply exquisite.

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Are Authors and Content Creators Obligated to Engage?

On By benebellIn opinion, personal, professional tarot, tarot community26 Comments

Recently I came across this video essay by a fellow community content creator on YouTube who had some candid critiques of authors, influencers, and content creators from our mutual community. She shared frustrations about seeing a growing disconnect between those who create content and those who consume content, i.e., the audience that supports an author or content creator.

She had a lot of very legit criticism of the present day online creator ecosystem. Bots and AI-generated responses, monetizing parasocial relationships in a way that feels exploitative, the end of peer to peer communications and the rise of transactional relationships, alienating many socioeconomic classes with paywalls, and having assistants manage community spaces rather than the big-name content creator themselves engaging in those community spaces — I hear you. All valid points speaking truth to power. Also, her concerns speak to something deeper– the loneliness and disconnection many of us feel online these days. Where has that sense of fellowship gone?

Though as someone who also writes, publishes, and maintains an online presence, I have some strong feelings about these points, particularly around community engagement and the unrealistic expectations that get imposed on authors and content creators.

I’d like to unpack some of those critiques, not just from that one YouTuber or from that particular video essay, but because what she said reflects a majority view currently held against content creators when they’re not being responsive in their comments section. I want to offer my perspective. But this isn’t a response to that video, no. These are just my reflections on the realities of engagement, from a content creator’s perspective, inspired by the points she raised in that video.

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Mindscapes Tarot by John A. Rice

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot1 Comment
Cardback illustration titled “Leaving Safe Harbor”

The Mindscapes Tarot by Jon A. Rice reimagines the seventy-eight archetypes of the tarot as genii locorum, spirits of place. Each card becomes a landscape imbued with its own consciousness, where the environment itself embodies the message. Rather than relying on human figures, Rice lets terrain, light, atmosphere, and color palette serve as the language of the archetype. The result is a meditative exploration of how spirit expresses through land, with each card a window into an immersive world.

Like many tarot decks conceived in recent years, Mindscapes Tarot was birthed during the pandemic. It feels especially poignant that a deck devoted to landscapes and many worlds was born during a time when we were all sheltered-in-place. When travel was restricted and the physical world felt distant and uncertain, the artist turned inward, journeying through imagination rather than geography. The resulting images captures a longing for openness and connection.

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Advanced Introduction to Taoist Alchemy

On By benebellIn Fu talismans, grimoire, I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), Magical in the Mundane, numerology, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft1 Comment
  1. Lesser Mandala of Heaven: A Taoist Secret to Cultivating Personal Power
  2. Greater Mandala of Heaven: Advanced Introduction to Taoist Alchemy

This is Part II of what we started in Part I on the Lesser Mandala of Heaven. Part II covers the Greater Mandala of Heaven, and in doing so, provides an advanced introduction to Taoist alchemy.

We are continuing from Part I, so I’ll presume you’re already familiar with what we covered there. If you haven’t watched that video lecture “A Taoist Secret to Cultivating Personal Power: Inner Alchemy Basics,” please do before proceeding.

In this introduction, I want to explore the inner logic that underlies one of the world’s most sophisticated (in my opinion) systems of spiritual cultivation. I intend for this intro to be a deep-dive into the heart of Taoist alchemy by delineating the Greater Mandala of Heaven.

The ultimate goal of Taoist alchemy is to transform the finite into the infinite, matter into spirit, and limitation into transcendence. We cover this ground by first understanding the distinction made between inner alchemy and outer alchemy.

Philosophically, this is a system and tradition that presents a compelling perspective on how Change happens.

Historical Textual References

In addition to the two texts mentioned in Part I, these are some of the oft-cited sources of insight on the Greater Mandala of Heaven 大周天. The titles are hyperlinked to the full texts over at ctext.org (the Chinese Text Project). While CTP as a site has its limitations, it’s one of the best free, accessible, and online databases for primary sources of pre-modern Chinese texts, so it’s the most user-friendly for folks like you and me.

Continue reading “Advanced Introduction to Taoist Alchemy” →