AUTHOR'S NOTE: My antipodal readers will be excused for taking a pass on this post, although the day of solar turnaround (despite what AI thinks, it has nothing to do with the time required to install solar panels) is still a significant moment in their annual cycle. As a non-religious person and more specifically a … Continue reading Summer is Coming!
Non-divination
The Cosmos According to Aleister Crowley: Love is Not Unconditional
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Recently I was asked to specifically name what I've often alluded to as the "half-dozen nuggets of pure metaphysical brilliance" in Aleister Crowley's Book of the Law (the founding text for the religion of Thelema and a fundamental source for the Book of Thoth and the Thoth tarot), as opposed to the rest … Continue reading The Cosmos According to Aleister Crowley: Love is Not Unconditional
Rebirth of the Sun: A Solstice Meditation
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of us who are more attuned to the mystical significance of the Winter Solstice than to that of Christmas, I can think of nothing better to read on that occasion than this clever piece of poetic appropriation from the work of Clement Clarke Moore.* It doesn't take a doctorate in theology, … Continue reading Rebirth of the Sun: A Solstice Meditation
The Lover as Morality Play
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It struck me today that the image of the four characters on the Tarot de Marseille "Lover" card might be viewed as a composite of the first six cards that precede it in the series of trumps. If we lay out those cards according to the scene in the Lover, we have the … Continue reading The Lover as Morality Play
If I Were a Tree . . .
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Funny how our ears will deceive us when we're not paying close attention or when we have no immediate frame of reference. For many years I thought Eric Clapton was singing "I'll be your four-letter man" in his song Forever Man (and I came up with more than a few vulgar expressions for … Continue reading If I Were a Tree . . .
A Man of Certainty (or “I’ll Know It When I See It”)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay follows the same line-of-thought as my previous post on “mystical rationalism.” Not too long ago I read an editorial piece that presented the results of a survey in which it was reported that 37% of the adult population of the United States refers to itself as "spiritual but not religious." The … Continue reading A Man of Certainty (or “I’ll Know It When I See It”)
The “Golden Dawn Swap” – Strength and Justice
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written about the relocation of Strength and Justice before, but not in terms that strayed so far from the beaten path as this essay does. I have no clue what (if any) use I will make of this, but it's an intriguing philosophical study. (The framework shown in the graphic could be … Continue reading The “Golden Dawn Swap” – Strength and Justice
Kindness as the “Coin of the Realm”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It looks like "kindness" is the new social and cultural buzzword. Suddenly I'm seeing it everywhere: on bumper stickers, on window decals, on posters, on panhandlers' placards, even spray-painted on walls. I've been expecting the entrepreneurs to catch up with the phenomenon sooner or later, and I didn't have long to wait. If … Continue reading Kindness as the “Coin of the Realm”
Numerological Oddities
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently encountered a mathematical term that is new to me (not something that happens every day), although the concept isn't: that of numerical aliquots, as in "the sum of the aliquot parts of an integer." I came across this in a discussion of the number Six as being an "aliquot sum" in … Continue reading Numerological Oddities
Jupiter’s Child: A “Tarotscape”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While writing my recent essay about the Lover and the Chariot I had occasion to look up the words to Steppenwolf's 1969 rock song Jupiter's Child, and confirmed my recollection that its mythic tone is perfect for my approach to linking tarot cards with song lyrics. I decided to use the Anna K … Continue reading Jupiter’s Child: A “Tarotscape”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 