In an effort to curate the publicly visible videos on the Benebell Wen YouTube channel, many past videos are now unlisted but still publicly available via the Playlists tab.
For a ballpark sense of how many videos are now unlisted, as of this posting only 129 of 405 total videos are publicly visible in the general Videos tab and thus only those 129 videos are searchable on the YouTube platform.
Continue reading “Changes to the YouTube Channel and Access to Past Videos”
The Tarot & Astrology Handbook: The Quintessential Guide for Harnessing the Wisdom of the Stars to Better Interpret the Cards is a beautifully done reference guide to interpreting the tarot through the cards’ astrological correspondences. This is a handbook that unveils new depths of meaning in the cards by examining them through an astrological lens.
The author, Argus Kaldea, is an astrologer and tarot reader based out of Greece. You might have heard of him or seen his popular videos on TikTok as @MoonPriest.
Not only will you learn the astrological correlations connected to all 78 cards in the tarot, but also how to integrate these two tools– tarot and astrology– together. The tarot reader will learn astrology, and the astrologer will learn about the tarot.
Continue reading “The Tarot & Astrology Handbook by Argus Kaldea of MoonPriest”
There’s been a rise in anti-Chinese xenophobia here in the West, and the tarot community has been no exception.
Yikes, did the well-known public figure in the world of tarot just say, in that above comment, that they “know of no Chinese printing” company that doesn’t steal copyrighted work? And then imply that Chinese people like to “beat the foreigner” aka exploit white people?
Every one of these screenshots were authored by someone I know or know of, someone I am connected to via the tarot community. Many are by well-known public figures in our community– published and celebrated tarot authors and popular deck creators. However, I’ve redacted names and profile pictures because that’s not the focus here. This is not about calling anyone out. Let’s focus on the content of the messages being spread in the tarot community and what social impact it might be having.
If you don’t think the rise in anti-Asian hate and violence here in the US is connected to all of these little microaggressions against the Chinese, then you haven’t been paying attention.
Continue reading “When the Tarot Community Incites Anti-Chinese Xenophobia”
This video is part of a companion course series leading up to the release of my third book, I Ching, The Oracle. I’ve covered this topic previously here, “Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven (Jiu Tian Xuan Nü, 九天玄女).” However, given the personal relevance, we’re revisiting the Lady of the Nine Heavens, now within the context of my Purpose for publishing this new translation of the Book of Changes.
Yesterday I was invited to live-chat with the Three Fat Readers and one of the topics that came up was deck personification. You can watch a replay of it here.
The timing of our sit-down together coincided with a greater conversation that’s been trending in our community as of late. Tarot Readings From a Bitch covers the controversy succinctly here and gets the ball rolling by asking the question.
I very much enjoyed ScholarBot’s perspective and explanation for not personifying tarot decks, linked here.
Robyn’s Reflections shares why and how she personifies some decks and not others here.
Lisa and Dawn Michelle chat about deck personification here.
This particular issue recycles in the tarot community every so often, so if you go back five years, you can see this video by Katey Flowers on personifying tarot decks.
Since the opening premise of the tarot deck I created, the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot, was to explore and experiment with the concept of animism, I thought I might chime in. To that end, I’d like to separate out the discussion on deck personification and the discussion on animism.
Continue reading “Tarot Deck Personification (cf. Animism?)”
This is just a flip-through first impressions look-see of the Earth Magick Tarot by Daniel Martin Diaz. So I won’t delve too much into commentary. We’re here for the pretty pictures. =)
Continue reading “Earth Magick Tarot by Daniel Martin Diaz: Hermetic Prophecies”
This video lecture course is an overview of the eight trigrams (八卦, Bā Guà). It is part of a companion course series leading up to the release of my third book, I Ching, The Oracle.
Timestamps provided in the video description box (you’ll have to watch on the YouTube platform). Apologies, the editing and audio are a bit choppy. The timing of the slides and voiceover narration are off in a few places.
I was gifted this deck by the creatrix while at the Omega Institute Masters of the Tarot Conference and thought it might be fun to write up a first impressions walk-through. This is the Abstract Futures Tarot, illustrated by Dannielle Tegeder and Sharmistha Ray who together, make up Hilma’s Ghost. Tegeder and Ray are both Brooklyn-based avant-garde artists.
Hilma’s Ghost produces art that is conducting “experimental pedagogy, transcultural dialogue, and collectivity through the lens of feminism and spirituality to build community and reckon with patriarchal art histories that have excluded women, trans, and nonbinary practitioners.”
A batch of the printed LWBs (Little White Booklets) have a pagination error. After page 22, it jumps to page 55. Fortunately it’s just a small batch. Most of the LWBs should be fine and when we did our QA-check, none of them turned up with this problem, so we think the impact should be fairly minimal.
In the mishap, after the 22 to 55 jump, the page jumps again at 86, jumping back to 55. (Total page count of the LWB is 88 pages.)
As far as we can tell, only a small batch of LWBs were printed with this mishap, and it’s the same mishap in all of them– after page 22 it jumps to page 55…
…then it continues from 55 to 86, and then after 86 it jumps back to page 55 again…
If you received a Little White Booklet with this page 22 to 55 pagination mishap, please e-mail us at abelldelivers (at) gmail (dot) com as soon as possible. We’ll gladly replace your LWB if you notify us of the issue within 30 days of receipt of your deck, if you purchased it directly from us. For this issue, we can even extend it to 60 days.
We are trying to assess the scope of the problem before contacting our factory. So please check your LWB. Also, if you have any friends who purchased an SKT Revelation second printing, please tell them about this issue and have them check their LWBs, too.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
The Symbolic Soul Tarot is a black, white, and gold deck that’s brimming with Expressionist mystique. It was released late last year in 2022 by Lo Scarabeo. The artwork is by Italian illustrator Elisa Seitzinger, and the companion booklet written by one of our favorite Llewellyn editors Barbara Moore.
Packaged in a unique two-piece box structure departing from Lo Scarabeo’s norm, the production value is indie-reminiscent. The luxe, matte finish cardstock with metallic gold accents will tantalize.
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