Yet Another Tarot Blog

Just a thought... I make it a point to keep the First Family out of my political views...but I believe as pagans we need to discuss this. The First Ladies' spokesperson responded to the Trump tweet degrading yet another powerful woman about her intellect and appearance, by saying in short, "When my husband feels like he is being attacked, he punches back ten times harder". My first thought was, "sounds like an opinion informed by personal experience", AND "she had it coming". Both are clear signs of dominance, if not abuse.
Our practice not only ritualizes the balance between the male and female, but celebrates it. I am reminded of the Brehon laws of ancient Celtic Culture. Women were equal. Period. In wealth, status, the family, the community and in sexual relationships. A Celtic woman did not depend upon, or defer to a man. She was an equal entity entitled to the same protection under the law. There was no need for a "prenuptial agreement". Celtic (pagan) women were entitled to everything they brought to a relationship, and one half of everything produced during that relationship. Thanks to Rome for killing that.

As pagans we innately respect and protect the perfect balance and symbiotic relationship between the sexes. We cannot practice if we do not draw upon each other's strengths and support one another in weakness. The masculine and feminine are not opposed to one another, they are dependent upon each other.

As a community we must encourage one another (which we do), but as individuals we must stand firm in speaking out against those who would divide us based upon our gender. It was inappropriate in the Middle Ages, and it is inappropriate now.

Yes, this is a rant. I am ranting because someone tried to make me feel bad about myself because I am a girl. I am ranting because someone implied that a powerful woman is a threat. Powerful women are necessary to promote healthy relationships, families, communities, governments and social justice. As brothers and sisters, we need to vocally and magically reject opinions which would degrade any of us.
Please remember this as we prepare for the next binding. We need to put an appropriate emotion behind our works to add the magical "oomph" needed to materialize our intention. Frustration is a synonym for helplessness. Righteous indignation is a stronger emotion than frustration. Anger is a more positive emotion than frustration. Use them well.

The position of ancient Celtic women in their society cannot be surely determined due to the quality of the sources. On the one hand, great female Celts are known from mythology and history, on the other hand, their real status in the male-dominated Celtic tribal society was socially and legally constrained. Yet Celtic women were somewhat better placed in inheritance and marriage law than their Greek and Roman contemporaries. The situation of Celtic women on the European mainland is almost entirely transmitted by contemporary Greek and Roman authors, who saw the Celts as barbarians and wrote about them accordingly. Information about Celtic women of the British Isles comes from ancient travel and war narratives, and possibly the orally transmitted myths later reflected in Celtic literature of the Christian era. Written accounts and collections of these myths are only known from the early Middle Ages. Archaeology has revealed something of the Celtic woman through artefacts (particularly grave goods), which can provide clues about their position in society and material culture. Reliefs and sculptures of Celtic women are mainly known from the Gallo-Roman culture. A consistent matriarchy, which was attributed to Celtic women by Romantic authors of the 18th and 19th centuries and by 20th century feminist authors, is not attested in reliable sources.

Maybe another reason I've slowed down with this shadow work meme is that a lot of the prompts are sort of meaningless for me. Last one was about my Inner Child, which is frankly in the category of New Age concepts I don't buy into (maybe that's why my card was the 10 of Swords?); coming up is "inner god" and questions of divinity, which I don't really know if I hold truck with either. But I'll keep on keeping on. It's better to use my cards more often than not, right?

Today was day 17. According to the meme:

For the writing project that I mentioned in my last post, I decided a good jumping-off point would be to have a section related to every Tarot card. Since the project is inherently open-ended, setting a limit would be one way of deciding when the story was "over" (or, just as likely, setting a minimum would be a good way generating enough material to work out something like a story arc). I went back through what I had written and decided one particular letter would be a good match for the Knight of Cups.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Knight of Cups in my St. Petersburg deck was missing. (And, also, the Ace of Coins.)

I've been a bad Tarot reader and couldn't recall if those cards had been missing forever or if it had been lost in one of the many international moves it's seen; I couldn't even recall what they looked like. This deck has also seen some abuse, otherwise. A few cards had met with a watery fate and while I had been able to dry the bulk of the wet cards to satisfaction, three or four hadn't fared so well.

What is a Tarot reader to do when some cards aren't doing so well, or are missing altogether?

Waite does not touch on such a minor tragedy in his Pictorial Key to the Tarot, nor does a solution manifest itself in the The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Gérard "Papus" Encausse or in Crowley's Book of Thoth. Unfortunately, I don't have access to their older, Francophone sources to see if this was simply overlooked or if the literature really is that quiet on the problem. If I am allowed a moment of speculation: these turn-of-the-century works are so focused on constructing perfect systems and representations, and on the universality of the Tarot, that for them a deck without all its cards would be a machine without a cog. It would work well enough, particularly in the hands of a skilled practitioner, but it seems they would recommend finding a replacement toute suite. Not necessarily the identical card, but at least a stand-in; a good reader will still be able to call up the mental image of the card as well as its associated meanings.

As for contemporary Tarot practitioners, there are lots of Internet anecdotes about people reading with less-than-full decks and the message still getting across, even if the card missing would be central to any readings given. This seems to be the overwhelming majority, though opposition exists. There is also the "Everything is Divine Providence" school of thought, who suggest that the missing cards are missing to tell you a message, whether it's to focus on that particular aspect of your life or to say, "Work with another deck!" Since I don't approach the Tarot religiously or spiritually, I have a tough time reconciling myself to that particular belief. I will meditate on the Ace of Coins and the Knight of Cups later tonight to see if they have any application to me currently, nonetheless.

When it comes to damaged cards, Biddy Tarot (as authoritative a source as any in contemporary Tarot, I suppose) suggests that a little wear and tear is nothing to worry about, unless you personally find it distracting. I am rather fond of that view, even if it is a little bit woo. It is nice to hold a card and be able to say, "Ah, this is from when this thing happened, I remember." The problem is that water damage can make the paper react in funny ways that are as irritating as they are charming, and even interfere with a truly random shuffle and cutting of the deck. That is the one thing I hold sacrosanct above everything else with the Tarot: true randomness.

Unless you personally find it distracting. That, I think, is the crux of this issue. I can't say when the cards in my deck disappeared; I certainly didn't notice anything peculiar about my readings with this deck at all. Since I didn't know then, I couldn't find it distracting. But now that I know, it'll bother me; all the more because of my current writing project. My Thoth deck has all of its cards, but it is simply Not the Right Deck for YNF.

So what am I going to do about my less-than-full deck? I decided to cash in an old Amazon gift certificate and buy another deck to add in the missing cards (and the damaged ones, while I'm at it), and keep it on hand in case of further disappearances/problems. The original deck is one I bought on a very special trip back in the day, so I'd like to keep it close to me as a memento.