The Breeding Ground
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Having come from several years of involvement in Aeclectic Tarot, a stimulating online divination forum that closed in 2017, I’ve been somewhat disheartened by what I see as a much more diluted discussion platform in the Facebook pages I frequent. Although I have nothing against offering advice and assistance to novices, it seems to be symptomatic that so many posts begin with “I’m totally new to the tarot, but . . .” Although I’m hardly an elitist, the repetition of subject matter can become tedious for the rest of us.
I tend to roam the online landscape seeking inspiration that I can develop into my next essay. I’m closing in on 2,000 posts covering the past seven years and I’ve already turned over most of the ground that is worth tilling. I’ve been resorting to the traditional tarot literature for much of my new material, but I still pick through various internet sources looking for ideas. With some exceptions (the Thoth, Tarot de Marseille and Tarot History FB pages to name a few), the “pickin’s” have been a bit slim, limited mostly to elaborating upon answers to beginners’ questions. I’ve been trying to find out where the vibrant esoteric community from Aeclectic relocated, but to no avail; it seems to have thoroughly dispersed and disappeared without a trace.
Over the last year I’ve discovered that the Reddit r/tarot sub has become a haven for numerous intelligent, thoughtful and experienced practitioners of the art, many with a thorough grounding in the Thoth deck and other Hermetic topics. (You can find me there as “uisgah” — Gaelic for “whisky” — my r/scotch username.) I’ve been a bit surprised, not to mention pleased, by the depth that some of the commentary has achieved. For the most part, attitudes are held in check and a reasonable dialogue ensues in which I’ve been challenged to recall much of my early study and practice of the Qabalah and similar disciplines. Instead of the “milk for babes” that I’ve come to expect, it has proved to be “meat for strong men.” (Please consider the patriarchal source of these quotes and excuse the gender-biased biblical reference.)
A browse through my essays will reveal that most of what I’ve been doing over the last couple of years has been centered on my reading of historical works. But I’ve had my ear to the ground, trying to stay current with the groundswell of informed opinion in the tarot community-at-large. I’ve cast a wide net, but it has a fairly fine mesh that filters out most of the social-media inanities that seem to be the focus of many, if not most, newcomers to the art. From my vantage point, tarot has become more of a cultural “feeding-frenzy” than a serious exploration of concealed wisdom. Perhaps when the dust settles and everyone has found their “twin flame” via the cards, we can get back to the business of using it to “get under the skin of objective reality and see what makes the (metaphysical) Universe tick.”
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on January 20, 2024.
