AUTHOR’S NOTE: Novice tarot readers are typically told by mentors that they will eventually shelve the guide-books and bypass the social-media “talking heads” to follow their own star when it comes to card meanings and situational applications. This is wise but not entirely incontestable counsel.

As a longtime diviner (over five decades of tarot reading and almost eight years of blogging about it), I still seek out compelling new material in published form (I’m largely immune to online “influencers” and prefer the written word) even though the rising cost of books discourages me from surrendering to the old cliché of “buying a pig-in-a-poke.” So I’ve taken to re-reading the better examples among those I’ve already perused (the most worthwhile being Aleister Crowley’s Book of Thoth, a grueling lifetime study that I’ve read cover-to-cover four times and dip into almost daily for reference).

Much of what I’ve read has found its way into my 2,400+ blog posts, and lately I’ve begun informally revisiting my older writing as a pulse-check on how I’ve progressed over the years. (I also frequently link it to new essays on similar topics.) While I cringe at some of the expository excesses I’ve committed, I’m finding that for the most part the core of the work is on-target, including the more curmudgeonly attitude-flaunting rants that take modern tarot culture to task. This isn’t self-congratulatory drum-beating because, as a former professional legal and technical writer with high standards of clarity and economy, I’m more critical of my own output than any casual reader could possibly be.

That said, looking back I’m tempted to mimic the fawning admiration of John Candy’s half-dog, half-man character “Mog” for Bill Pullman’s “Lonestar” in Mel Brooks’ hilarious Star Wars send-up Spaceballs: “When you’re right, you’re right. And you’re right.” Then I awaken from this enticing but misguided self-flattery and contemplate what I might have done better, which is undoubtedly the source of the occasional recapitulation you’ll see here; hopefully the passage of time and my increasingly refined perspective have made this self-indulgence palatable.

I’ve also noticed in looking at my WordPress history of visitors and views that some of the more dedicated followers of this blog have been meticulously mining the same lode of practical and philosophical insight. For this I thank them for their devotion and applaud their persistence. Beyond meeting the goals of continually challenging and entertaining myself, these are the people for whom I’m writing. Having relentlessly cranked out brief daily offerings over the last 397 consecutive days, I decided to step back and give a nod to where we’ve been collectively.

I sometimes wonder whether I could make more money at this stuff (although I’m comfortably retired and don’t need it). I haven’t monetized this blog with ads, but I have assembled my earlier posts into five inexpensive pdf e-books on Lulu that carefully organize them by subject, making for a convenient “one-stop” (well, “five-stop”) resource. Hopefully this doesn’t come across as a shameless commercial plug but only as a suggestion for ease of access, since all of the essays can be found here for free with a little diligent sleuthing of the “Categories” drop-down menu. (As a plus, they have nice graphic covers designed by yours-truly; take a look in the “My Publications” sidebar.) Although some of my readers have requested paper versions, the effort involved in creating them is something I don’t want to take on at this time.