AUTHOR'S NOTE: Lately my head has been crammed with ideas from my informal study of Taoism as presented by Benebell Wen in I Ching The Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes and Ethan Indigo Smith in The Tao of Thoth. (The former is polished and intelligent while the latter is much more … Continue reading Tarot As “Awareness Practice”
Spirituality
“What is Dead May Never Die” – An Alternate Take on Death
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I should mention in advance that nothing you see here (or in any of my essays) is AI-generated because I believe resorting to AI "web-scraping" - when it isn't outright theft - depreciates the original contribution of creative artists and writers. (But artificial intelligence - isn't there an oxymoron in there somewhere? - … Continue reading “What is Dead May Never Die” – An Alternate Take on Death
“Everybody Needs the Light” (or “Poking Holes in the Veil”)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was just listening to In the Light, Led Zeppelin's mystical minor masterpiece (despite the alliteration, it didn't quite make me go "mmm" with aural pleasure), and I came across the opening quote that appears in the title. I was reading Ethan Indigo Smith's The Tao of Thoth at the same time (multitasking … Continue reading “Everybody Needs the Light” (or “Poking Holes in the Veil”)
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
Concept, Context and Consequences: An Incremental Reading Method
AUTHOR NOTE: I've been reading about the universalizing thrust of individuation by which we begin to puzzle out the Cosmos from our evolving personal vantage point, eventually coming full circle to our primordial state of inborn comprehension. (The final "Star-Child" scene of a fully-conscious fetus in 2001: A Space Odyssey comes to mind.) This got … Continue reading Concept, Context and Consequences: An Incremental Reading Method
Subconscious Induction: Bridging the Gap
"I have only come here seeking knowledge/Things they would not teach me of in college" - from Wrapped Around Your Finger by the Police AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a diviner who prefers face-to-face reading but no longer has a steady clientele (the COVID pandemic and my cross-State relocation saw to that), I now pursue my esoteric … Continue reading Subconscious Induction: Bridging the Gap
The Fount of All Wisdom?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It could be argued that any human activity - no matter how slight - that isn't fully automatic on one hand or totally arbitrary on the other has an implicit blueprint or model that expresses its ideal performance, even if this exemplar is only a personal benchmark that we keep in our own … Continue reading The Fount of All Wisdom?
Actions with Spirit: A Different Take on the “Cross” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For my header I've truncated the book title Actions with Spirits (Christopher Whitby, Garland Publishing, 1988), itself a condensation of the much longer moniker for a scholarly 1659 analysis of the "actions with spirits" (purportedly conversations with angels) undertaken by Dr. John Dee with scryers Edward Kelley and Barnabas Saul between 1581 and … Continue reading Actions with Spirit: A Different Take on the “Cross” Spread
Ancestors on Call: A Spiritual Contact Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been reading about ancestor worship in Asia (which is not precisely "deification" but instead a ceremonial show of respect usually accompanied by ritual offerings and a sincere plea for assistance with one's mundane affairs). I've created a couple of spreads in the past with the goal of ancestor contact, but this knowledge … Continue reading Ancestors on Call: A Spiritual Contact Spread
Secular or Mystical: Alternate Paths in Divination
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As I roam the internet seeking inspiration for my writing, I've become aware that the practice of divination has split into two camps, mainly along conceptual lines: one operates in the boundless realm of spontaneous conjecture while the other is more delimited in a focused and scrupulous way. There is a stark contrast … Continue reading Secular or Mystical: Alternate Paths in Divination
