AUTHOR’S NOTE: Any writer who attempts to post a blog essay every day (which I’ve now done for 290 consecutive days) has to walk a fine line between imparting useful knowledge and entertaining readers enough to keep them coming back. It’s more important for those who are trying to earn money from their online publishing efforts (I’m not and haven’t for the last 7+ years, although WordPress annoys me – and you – with its ads), but it’s gratifying to get the “Your stats are booming!” notification every once in a while.

The main challenge in keeping up this relentless productivity is avoiding repetition of subject matter, something at which I’ve been mostly but not entirely successful even though it becomes more difficult every day. (Have you realized yet that this one is a bit of “filler?”) Generally, I base my new material on a couple of preoccupations: almost daily reading of literature on the history, theory and practice of various types of divination, and my interaction with the internet tarot community (but not on YouTube, I have a constitutional aversion to “talking heads”). These activities often give me a fresh perspective on subjects I’ve covered previously and inspire new essays with a slightly different spin. I operate on the premise that if it doesn’t intrigue me it most likely won’t be engaging for my readers, and I set a fairly high bar for originality.

Along the way I manage to get off a broadside or two and the occasional curmudgeonly pot-shot at organized religion and the “woo-woo” contingent of modern metaphysical culture, both of which I feel run counter to a more serious appreciation of the esoteric arts. I’ve never been a populist (more of a scholarly tinkerer) when it comes to applying any practical skills I’ve picked up, and I think this attitude shines through in my choice of topics. I try to mix up my offering every few days, moving from thoughtful analysis to pragmatic spread creation, to which I try to bring a rational consistency that is just as important to me as my three crucial “I-words” (inspiration, imagination and ingenuity, leaving “intuition” to the more anecdotally inclined).

The point of this essay is that I’ve once again reached a crossroads on my creative journey. My reading has become increasingly academic, which may alienate my more casual followers from any subsequent writing no matter how hard I try to groom it for a less particular audience. But the chief obstacle to growth is that what has always been a deep well of source material in the online tarot community has begun to stagnate. Very few stimulating questions are being asked lately, the conversation revolves mostly around “Help me with this reading” and “How do I get started?” It appears to be running aground on the shoals of inanity brought on through no fault of their own by self-professed neophytes. I have neither the inclination nor the patience to step them through the process (that’s what this blog is for, at least in part) so I’ve been steering clear of what has become a sterile environment for my instructional purposes. This has consequently “gimped” my progress toward the goal of keeping things interesting and informative.

Nevertheless, I’m going to plow forward by consciously gravitating more toward the practical side of the equation, employing a lighter touch to offset the profundity of much of my recent fare. This may be easier said than done since I’ve already examined most of the routine dilemmas faced by the 21st-Century diviner. (But I still won’t speak directly to the objectives of those who see tarot mainly as a Jungian tool for psychological self-awareness and self-development since it no longer fascinates me from my current “been there, done that” vantage point). Don’t expect an immediate about-face, but I’ll do my best to “change my spots” over the next few of weeks. Call it my “New Year’s resolution.”