I saw the #Tarot7Connection video challenge via Marilyn from Tarot Clarity on Tarot Tube and decided I would post a response via blog before reading the questions! =)
For visual interest, there will be random photos of pretty tarot decks accompanying my responses – no connection between the photos and my responses beyond coincidence.
Continue reading “#Tarot7Connection (TarotTube Challenge) Responses”
I kind of feel bleh for talking about AI so much, but everyone in every nook and corner of my life, personal and professional, is talking about it, so it’s hard to avoid wanting to chime in.
When you’ve got multiple thumbs in varying (and very different) pies, you’re exposed to a diversity of opinions, and wow is it diverse. If you’re only mingling in liberal arts circles, then you’re not hearing, truly hearing, the discussions about AI happening in the scientific circles, and if you’re only mingling in scientific circles, then you’re not hearing, truly hearing, the discussions about AI happening in the liberal arts circles. And so it’s been interesting hopping from one camp over to the other and back to witness the contrast.
The illustrations for the Cosmic Wisdom Tarot has this nostalgic and heartwarming animations-of-your-childhood storybook style to it that is then paired with one of the coolest tarot card meanings guidebook I’ve come across.
I love the creative mind-map layout for the card meanings. Each card comes with a definitive “this card means yes” or “this card means no” in the case of asking a yes or no question to the cards. I love the bullet points of keywords and single-sentence thesis for each card, upright and reverse, and then the breakdown of symbolism, which is also going to help you learn the RWS system.
The Cosmic Wisdom Tarot is outfitted to be a great beginner’s deck, if you or someone you know is looking for one, because in addition to the RWS-keyed deck art, the guidebook does a great job presenting the tarot as a versatile tool, whether you are interested in learning it for divination, for self-discovery and personal growth, spiritual cultivation, or for inspiring your creativity.
Continue reading “Cosmic Wisdom Tarot by Ethony and James Fenner”
“When rationality runs dry, it’s Red that will reconcile this world, a hue vibrant and vital inside its brown.”
And so opens Chapter 1, Zero, of Red Tarot: A Decolonial Guide to Divinatory Literacy by Christopher Marmolejo. This is going to be a tarot book like no other. I can tell already. :: hearts for eyes ::
“To be born, this work broke open my heart, and so let this reading be opened by my blood offering, a requisite pound of flesh…”
Marmolego’s writing is going to draw out your feels, that’s for sure. Either you will be fully onboard this train or you will be left scratching your head. You’ll see what I mean. Let’s continue.
Red Tarot is not an easy read, but it’s not intended to be. It’s filled with dense layers covering symbolism, mythology, history, present day politics, literature, and so much more. This book is about shedding red light on each card in the tarot to reveal it as a prism of political praxis, inspired after Prof. Sandy Grande’s Red Pedagogy.
Each tarot card entry draws from four key disciplines:
This is achieved by weaving in the teachings of Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Paulo Freire, and José Esteban Muñoz.
Continue reading “Red Tarot by Christopher Marmolejo (North Atlantic Books, 2024)”
Winnie-the-Pooh is my childhood, and to date remains one of my favorite characters and accompanying series of stories. To see one of the most beautifully produced tarot tributes to Pooh come alive by Rue & Vervain is an incredible honor.
The production quality of this box set is top tier, whether you’re talking indie or traditionally published. Not just production value, but Amsel’s artwork, staying true – simultaneously – to the spirit of what Milne and Shepard created and to the spirit of the RWS tarot is no small feat, and few in the past have achieved it with a themed deck.
Also I just noticed the compass in the map — it spells out POOH!
Continue reading “Wisdom of Pooh Tarot: Christopher Robin Box Set”
It’s been a while since I gave an Etteilla deck-in-progress update. I finished working on Card 18, The Hermit, oft named The Capuchin (an order of Franciscan friars) or simply titled with the keyword “Traitor.”
As I was drawing, I got to thinking about the qi in works of art, per the qi of their artists. That in turn got me thinking about the qi of AI and AI-generated images.
Just so we’re clear, no part of my art process includes AI, AI generated images, just– any of that stuff. The most high-tech we get is the capabilities of a 2004 digital painting software that has since gone defunct, so this software program no longer even exists.
But back to the point of this rumination…
If we are to believe in the principle of qi as a force imbued in all things that are sentient or created by sentient beings, then works of art have qi.
In fact, that has always been one of the fundamental factors of valuing art from a Taoist perspective — assessing the qi of the artist’s hand apparent in the art.
Continue reading “Thoughts on Machine Qi (Soul?) & Drawing The Hermit Card”
I’m looking forward to many and different voices adding to the discussion “Social Media Witchcraft: A Community Conversation About the Things That Divide Us” via the hashtag #OcculTea. The hosts are kickstarting the conversation off with these videos from Ella Harrison, Polish Folk Witch, and The Redheaded Witch.
“All members of the occult & witchcraft community – not just content creators or big names, but everybody” is invited to participate in this discussion, with the hope that the hosts might later facilitate a live community panel.
It’s a bit of an unanticipated synchronism that just yesterday I posted my commentary on personal branding pressures on authors and social media, and then today I am posting this. Collective thoughts around the same theme often surface at the same time within a community, and I think that’s what’s happening here. Ivy The Occultist had posted “Are Modern Witchcraft Books Failing Modern Witches?” on Feb. 12 and this #Occultea open invite on Social Media Witchcraft went out on Feb. 21. I thought that was kind of cool timing.
If you’re reading my blog in the year 2024, then you probably already know a thing or two about me. But in case you’re new here by way of the hashtag, hi! I’m the author of three books: I Ching, The Oracle; The Tao of Craft; and Holistic Tarot. You’ll often find me as a keynote at various tarot and witchy conferences.
By day I am a practicing attorney and my career obligations occupy most of my time. Writing and creating educational videos on topics I’m passionate about and reviewing books and decks to help promote artists and creatives are my hobbies.
I was born and raised in the cultural traditions of both Buddhism and Taoism. I trained in Buddhism, spent nearly every summer month from early childhood until young adulthood at monasteries sweeping floors, doing shaolin (badly), and meditating. There’s this joke among us Asians that you know an Asian kid grew up in Buddhism when they don’t know any of their masters’ names. Because they were all just shi fu to us. =)
Now let’s get started on the prompts.
I saw an editor friend’s repost of this Vox article, “Everyone’s a sellout now: So you want to be an artist. Do you have to start a TikTok?” by Rebecca Jennings. It’s about the pressure on authors today to have a preexisting popular platform before publishing a book, or any creative work product for that matter. How well a book sells is determined by how well the author self-promotes. Pertinent to the circles I run in, let’s talk about tarot and witchy books.
Social media influencers have democratized culture, but perhaps have also diluted specialty creative industries. Instead of an experienced, established industry expert who is the gatekeeper of what ought to get published, the consuming public is now collectively the “gatekeeper” determining who The Algorithm will favor. Publishers are yielding to the consumer public opinion, via numbers, on who ought to be published.
Top selling books are not necessarily by the most knowledgeable virtuoso in that field but rather, are by whichever charismatic personality has the most followers on YouTube and TikTok. Therefore, to be a top selling author, you need to cater to that consuming public. It’s not about your resume, curriculum vitae, or credentials; it’s about your personal brand.
Inspired by that article, I thought I’d share my experiences on having to navigate social media, personal branding, and platform building as an author.
Continue reading “Are Personal Branding Pressures on Authors Resulting in Bad Books?”
StaarCon, the Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers Conference, based out of Florida, is relatively new on the scene, with its first conference in 2021 for which I was lucky enough to be a keynote speaker.
Currently in the U.S. tarot conference circuits we’ve got the Readers Studio in New York founded by Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone (click here for my coverage of the 2018 event and here for the 2019), the Northwest Tarot Symposium (click here for my recap of NWTS 2022) recently taken over by Michelle and Roger Welch of SoulTopia, and the Masters of the Tarot Conference at the Omega Institute, co-founded by Rachel Pollack and Mary K. Greer (click here for my thoughts on the event).
StaarCon has the personableness and small-group-feel of the Omega conference, some of the razzle-dazzle characteristics of the iconic Readers Studio, and the ability to attract big personalities the way NWTS does. Oh, and because video recordings of all master classes are available all year long and there is the post-conference tarot lounge events and virtual gatherings, it’s reminiscent of Ethony’s Tarot Summer School at the Tarot Readers Academy (my blog posts on it in 2016 and in 2018). So if you’re looking for that tarot conference with a little bit of something for everyone, then that’s StaarCon.
I was invited back as a keynote for StaarCon 2024, my first time attending in person (the 2021 conference during the pandemic was virtual only). What’s unique about StaarCon is its hybrid model, with the virtual event managed by Accelevents. Meaning you can elect to attend in person or attend virtually from the comfort of your own home.
For the price of admission, you’re getting access to a wide array of master classes on tarot techniques, tarot adjacent studies like astrology, crystals, and sound bath meditation, in-depth targeted explorations on how to read the cards, powerful and transformative guided visual journeying sessions for connecting with an animal totem or quantum healing, tarot business essentials, more academic-driven workshops, to creating and selling your own deck, just to name a few of the topics covered this weekend.
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