News Jan 08: Issue 1
A Magical and Mystical Year
So many things have happened in the last twelve months, and 2008 looks to be just as busy…
"The only interesting journey remains the journey deep into the psyche"
This quote by Marc Forster appeared in the news while I was writing this newsletter. Who’s he? The new director of the next James Bond movie, thats who, and he wants to ‘concentrate more on Bond’s mind and less on his body’. So, no shots of Bond getting his kit off on the beach. This is a perfect metaphor for the Tarot. For years, the concentration has been on image - new decks, new designs. While this is excellent for tarot deck publishers, Tarot afficionados deserve more meat on the bone. We need mental stimulation, we need to be challenged. With this is mind, scroll down to the Mystical Tarot section at the bottom of this newsletter.
Butterfly Tarot
I am now spending more time in London, particularly Camden Market where I have been sharing a stall with my good friend Beryl Stockman. Beryl is also a very talented translator, and I am looking forward to seeing her translation of Papus’ Tarot Divinatoire published by Aeon Books in early 2008. If you would like a reading, and you do not want to trek down to sunny Brighton, then drop me an email. Beryl is a great tarot reader and clairvoyant, so you can always see her instead of me. We don’t mind.
I have not abandoned Brighton, as I will be down on the seafront most weekends and other odd days in the week. Beryl and I are also working to increase our Corporate and Party readings, which are very successful, and a great opportunity to meet and do readings for people who may never have considered having a reading before.
Launches
Druid Plant Oracle
Now that I am spending time in London, I can get to more talks, book and tarot launches. Atlantis Books and Treadwells are always very welcoming, and I get to catch up with friends surrounded by books and the odd glass or two of wine. I was at Treadwells recently for the launch of the Druid Plant Oracle by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm. The artwork is really beautiful.
Mercarina Oracle
A few days later as I was pondering which train to catch back to Brighton on the Friday afternoon, word reached me of another tarot deck launch happening that evening - two in a week. I couldn’t remember anyone emailing me any info, but my source was impeccable. The promise of champagne proved irresistible, so I found myself in a very expensive designer shop near Marble Arch where Carina was already doing sample readings with her Mercarina Oracle Cards
The Mercarina cards were developed by Holistic Beauty Therapist Carina Coen and Artist/Designer Isabelle Bricknall. I didn’t get to speak to Carina until late in the evening, and by then I was very merry. Hopefully there will be a more sober interview with Carina soon. The oceans and the environment are skilfully combined with a powerful awareness of Celtic roots. The deck is printed on recycled paper with environmentally friendly inks - how long before the big Tarot publishers follow suit?
Tarot Gallery
Have you visited my Tarot Gallery? I am slowly building up the number of decks on show. If you have a deck that is not there, please send me some jpgs and info. I am going to re-organise the reviews, very soon, I promise.
Tarot and the Magus
There are still copies available - I found one in a bookshop in the middle of the New Forest recently. For ages I did not have a copy for myself, but now I have just received a large box from the publishers. I was so out of touch I had not realised the price had increased, but being the generous soul that I am, you can still get a signed and dedicated copy from me at the old price of £12.99 plus p&p.
T&M was written ages ago, and I am surprised I have not done more. I was expecting to be on my third book at least by now. There have been plenty of ideas for books, but to be honest, I do not think I have been ready to write, as seeds planted in T&M have taken a while to germinate and sprout. In the meantime I have found myself involved in two projects that come out in 2008 - a Tarot magazine, and a book on the Goetia.
Tarot World Magazine Launch
Early 2007 I was contacted by the Editor of Tarot World Magazine to write an article for the Magic and Mystery column of a new Tarot magazine that comes out in January 2008. The compliment was slightly backhanded in the sense that nobody else wanted to do it, so I was not first choice. You would think that tarot writers would be chomping at the bit at the opportunity. Still, I was given a completely free brief to write about whatever I wanted, and I did not have to compromise - no need to dumb down. The deadline was five months away, and I had visions of me desperately banging out something a few days before. As it happened I was visiting a good friend of mine, Gabriel Duffy a phenomenologist and expert on Husserl, so we have great discussions on tarot, consciousness and philosophy. In amongst the piles of books that fill his house, I spotted Hermits by Peter France, which I borrowed (yes Gabriel, I will bring it back), and I was so inspired that I wrote four articles in a week on the subject of the Hermit tarot card and Hermits, which have all been accepted by TWM.
Howlings
In late November I was contacted by Peter East, Publisher of Scarlet Imprint to write about the Goetia. Peter saw me speak on the Tarot in Brighton about the time that I spoke at the Occulture Festival. My original idea was to write about my experiences of the Goetia, which go back many years. I had written several pages, and then I went to my regular Sufi Zikr in London, and I found the Goetia waiting for me. Now, Sufism and Goetia are not topics you would expect to find together, but that is what happens. The Goetia wanted me to write about the visions I had that evening, which I did. I sent off the article, and I got a very favourable response. However, the Goetia were not. It seems there were some things I had omitted, and at the next Zikr the vision continued, and I was able to send off another emended version. I do not know who the other contributors are, but having an expert on tarot along with all the ceremonial magicians is going to be good. Geraldine Beskin of Atlantis Books tells me that the Goetia are a hot topic at the moment.
That is my spin - here is the publishers:
Scarlet Imprint is proud to announce HOWLINGS a bestiary of essays on Grimoire Magick to be published in early Spring 2008.
Taking the established experts and ranging them alongside raw and hungry voices, we are creating a quite beautiful monstrosity of staggering scope.
From unpublished manuscripts on demonology to the accounts of working magicians, this is a unique publishing event.
Prepare to be delighted, inspired and intoxicated.
Contributors include experts in their fields, the authors of acclaimed modern grimoires and sundry sulphurous others.
Scarlet Imprint are in a unique position to gather together these voices, and let them be heard.
Texts examined in depth through eighteen original essays include:
- Qutub
- Liber 231
- The Goetia
- The Picatrix
- The Greek Magical Papyri
- The Voudon Gnostic Workbook
Anyone intrigued by the idea of the grimoire tradition will have their personal understanding and Work enriched by this collection.
The 72nd Spirit Andromalius is the star of my article.
Supertarot
If you visit Supertarot on a fairly regular basis, you must have noticed how much it has changed. I cannot resist tinkering. For me, Tarot is alive, and my perceptions change as a result. You might not believe it, but I had slimmed down the site, moving topics that were more peripheral to other sites, but I have never been happy with this. There are so many aspects and facets of tarot to explore and write about that it can be overwhelming.
Mystical Tarot
Thus far, the mystical and spiritual aspects of Tarot have not been fully explored in any detail. There are a number of reasons for this. In particular the heavy reliance on the Kabbalah placed by the tarot community is stifling creativity. There are billions of combinations of tarot cards representing the myriad beliefs, paradigms and models of human awareness, not to mention experience and actions, but there is only one Tree of Life. If it was a business we would have the Monopolies Commission investigating!
When the internal structure of the Tarot is used rather than borrowing from an alien structure, new possibilities arise, and we start to see something more than mere divination. The articles for TWM and the Howling are there because Tarot is at the heart in theory and practice. Tarot has its own theory and structure not just practice. Seeing the new possibilities brings insights into other magical and spiritual systems, such as the Goetia .
I have been working with a small group of clairvoyants and magicians for several years now. I have published some of the visions which are an aspect of the ongoing spiritual work. The direction I want to take the Mystical Tarot into the hermeneutic and phenomenological realms of philosophy so that it can be discussed in terms of contemporary philosophy. The spiritual dimensions of Tarot in terms of Sufism is another fruitful area . In preparation for this, Tarot needs to be stripped of the kabbalistic attributes and meanings, otherwise Occam’s Razor applies.
The practical application of hermeneutics, phenomenology and Sufism is already in place. In the minds of magicians, ‘tarot’ and ‘magic’ are separate entities. Probably the best book on the subject is ‘Tarot and Magic’ by Donald Michael Kraig (Llewellyn), and the title presents us with the dichotomy between the two.
The problems caused by the separation between tarot and magic is exemplified in the very scary experiences described in ‘Tarot and Magic’ where the author invokes spirits from the ‘Dark Side’ (a term that describes the separation within the Tree of Life) of Liber 231, and nearly dies as a result. My own experiences of the spirits of Liber 231 and of the Goetia has always been, and continues to be very natural, easy, relaxed, insightful, and productive.
If I say ‘Tarot is magic’ that statement is likely to be construed as ‘Wow! Tarot works - the prediction came true..’.However, for me tarot and magic are synonymous terms that describe powerful spiritual and mystical synergies that bring new insights and spiritual power.
Best wishes for 2008
Paul