“The End of the Innocence*”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: As I continue to carve a curmudgeonly swath through the “haze of woo” that modern tarot reading (and, I’m beginning to discover, a good many of the other mystical and shamanistic arts) has become, I feel a bit like an “Angel of the Apocalypse” in my clarion-call for a more disciplined (and by definition a more dependable) approach. I can’t quite place it, but I sense an air of unquiet (not quite “shrill” but getting there) desperation in much of the promotional content I find online for various metaphysical services. My own niche is on the conservative side and I’m not scrambling for a buck at the moment, so I can stand back and observe the sideshow.
You know what they say about opinions: they’re like assholes, everybody has one (and I’m no exception, although mine feel more like “anal retention” than “rectal streaming”). In the past I spent many hours mining information from a host of online sources when sufficient English-language study material was unavailable in book form. One thing I learned very quickly is that there is a vast ocean of personal opinion out there that the naive newbie laps up without realizing that’s what it is (and now YouTube puts a smiling face on the blather). Many of the assumptions seem to have been pulled out of thin air (and “assume” has its own snarky aphorism).
As a long-time student of esoteric subjects and a practitioner of many of them, I can’t help but think we have fallen into the trap of “It’s so simple a caveman could do it” (yes, I know that I overuse the analogy, but it’s still one of the best ways to describe the phenomenon). Collectively, we are in danger of becoming parodies of what a competent diviner should be and once was. I recognize that many newcomers are sincere and idealistic, but that doesn’t exonerate them for being careless or lazy. There is a wealth of literature out there that embodies the “core knowledge” in any discipline, but I’m beginning to suspect that some people no longer know how to decipher a whole sentence in written form, and they certainly don’t have the patience to learn. The spoken word slides down so much easier, but the majority of what I hear reminds me of the old Miller Lite beer slogan “Great taste, less filling!” (and not in a good way).
As a blogger on cartomancy, one of my goals is to disabuse my readers of the notion that the charming social diversion of throwing cards for a friend is all there is (and all there needs to be) to the practice of tarot. On the other hand, the pursuit of what I consider “subjective navel-gazing” with the cards for the sole purpose of psychological self-analysis is also not the “gold standard” by which to judge their worth. The pinnacle of our aspiration was summed up eloquently and with admirable precision by Jimi Hendrix: “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky.”
As a means of prediction (regardless of one’s religious inhibitions, which are just more anal posturing), the most effective methods of divination can “get under the skin of objective reality to see what makes the Universe tick.” (Sorry for quoting myself, but I haven’t found a better justification than “pseudo-science” for why this stuff works.) The “mystical elitists” of today may see a “Divine” (aka spiritual) connection in their divination (it’s never just “fortune-telling” to them) but I personally think its mode of operation is subconscious “induction” with a superconscious (“higher self”) root. (I’ll take “pseudo-science” over “woo” any day.)
As you might suspect, my own aims are more scholarly and forensic in my approach to reading the cards and designing spreads. I have a strong analytical bent and am constantly pushing back the frontiers of my own credulity. If you’re serious about divination, I suggest that you do the same. (I should add that I have no problem with intuition as a “traveling companion” for knowledge, but it won’t fully replace it if we are being appropriately critical of, and honest about, our insights.) A cynical Mary Poppins might have said “A spoonful of innocence helps the bullshit go down,” but in my not-so-humble opinion the willful ignorance of the “instant gratification” mindset really needs to come to an end, and its demise will ideally deliver a windfall of discernment and wisdom for all, reader and client alike.
*With copyright acknowledgement to Don Henley.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on July 19, 2023.
