Seasons Tune

We went along the rails of traces laid out by those mysterious sages of the past – or were they? Yes, Oh! Holy men (why men?) packed their knowledge, which they saw would otherwise become lost (why are we so accustomed to the idea that „knowledge is lost“, like it is a base condition for knowledge to be lost or secret in the first place?), into mundane means, hence arriving at playing cards. The story was told, believed, debunked, reanimated, sprayed over with the holy water of science, and did not die. Oh, the story has not been told completely – replace men with man, add „Hermes“ (the universal delivery service for about anything, apparently), and stick the origin of the trump suit to the firmament, then the trumps predate the ordinary playing cards because those are like a lesser manifestation of their bigger origin up in the heavens, which needed more time to bring their form to life – or vice versa, the first principle was – of course – the numbers, hence, the first packs were ...

Not too long ago, it was lively around the Tarot, very much so. The whole thing was unknown to many, the history unclear, its use, a mystery, its users hidden, and what you could do and to which lengths one could take it – unexplored. The egyptian hypothesis rose and fell, as did the revival of the Golden Dawn, and numerous packs appeared on the market, mostly clones of the Rider-Waite-Smith or Thoth packs, some in line with „la Marseillaise“, some daring to explore whole new areas, while others are done in alignment with the insights of their creators. The cartomantic endeavour rose into to the limelight, fortunetellers were en voque for some time, then a new notion appeared: Telling fortunes was not the way to go, rather, to read for insights into the psyche. To discover ones fate was still amongst it, but soon left out, as it became a trend to say that fate is in the hands of the individual. „I do not read your future“ is a perfectly fine thing to say nowadays as a reader. It wo...

 In handling the cards, it has been observed that the cards will respond according to the users impression of them, which is summed up in what I call „Ingrainment“, a combination of the impression the cards picture makes on you, your experience of their dynamics when appearing in a reading, and the associations (suit, element, numbers) and their respective interpretations. In short, what I describe as „Ingrainment“ is the accumulation of your personal experience of the cards essence as perceived by you in encountering it during your life, which then serves as a seed sprouting from the cards on the table - in this analogy, they serve as a sort of ferment to your Ingrainment. For me, it is the main factor in readings and the reason to approach „the art of reading“ from the observation of the impact a certain picture on a card has on the reader, as it has shown over time that the cards in a pack align themselves according to the way the reader perceives them, in short: „Ingrainment“,...

This day and age, oblivious, we tumble along borders. Weapons sold, by none of us, Democracy gave orders. While trees go down, and earth does frown, growing hot with anger, tanks tinker turmoil. Players take, scorched fields all dry, remnants of manslaughter. No need to cry - go for monopoly on water. Oh Europe young, Zeus comes for you, bullheaded from beyonder if you survive – in freedom too – it can be classed a wonder. For human hands don't interfere where money flows abundant. So cruel its ways, so clean the coin, resistance long redundant. Where humans wake up, long for love, War lurks around the corner. „Now is the time, subdue them all, strike fear, and then march forward. When folk is gone, then peace will come, when no one rules the ruler.“ While forests burn, we lay the cards, and muse and watch, the whole and parts, discuss, indulging in our arts, such things like gaming, gender and diversity, see morals as perversity. Should and should...

There are several things I feel compelled to offer up some sort of clarification on - „some sort of“ due to the fact that I acknowledge that an individuals point of view will always be just that, and any written or spoken expression suffers from the need to be focused by an individual in order to be expressed. Well, no point in concerning oneself thereover, as there is literally nothing that can be done about that! First up, „To Do and not to Do“ - there is a multitude of such things when it comes to reading cards, and all of it is from the standpoint of individuals, either adhering to dogma or forgetting that it is their own practice they are talking about. This includes such things as „Do not read when panicked or afraid of the answer“, „Do not read up on people you do not know/so-called third parties“, „Always cleanse your deck before and/or after use“, „Do/do not read on the day of a full/new moon“, „Do not drop your cards in a dumpster if you do not want to get rid of them“, the...

 As an introductory post, an overview will serve. In the whole cartomantic endeavor, there are several methods on how to approach the cards, what to do with them and so forth, as well as, obviously, tendencies. The methods are as follows: 1: Learning what was before you (or before you heard of it), by study of books, in groups, or mentorship; this does include whatever is seen as a „traditional set of meanings“, where, again, we have several, whether we deal with the Tarot de Marseille, the Smith-Waite, or what is known as playing cards. Also, the various methods to incorporate a kabbala (= „a secret teaching“, 'secret' for the sole reason that it is not openly communicated; in modern terms: a meta), mostly fall into this category, same as "My ma/grandma/etc. did it like that, so do I"; obviously, this is 'mentorship'. 2: By experiencing how the cards work for you when putting them on the table to answer a question/shed light on whatever. 3: „Diving into...