Not Fortune's Fool

25/12/2024

17/11/2024

Still experimenting with the 5 Windows layout! I'm finding it surprisingly powerful:

* Self- Q Coin - Finally beginning to put the past behind me & look to the future, outwards, to others.
* Individuals - Star - Everyone is searching, journeying to bring their gift to a sacred place, an important place, where meaning lies.
* Content- Chariot, Talking to others about breaking moving to a more positive community mind.
* Field- Fortune, everyone is seeking, looking inward, & reflecting as they try to find a way forward.
* Interrelations - 9 Cup, confronting this retro system now freezing into place. Nonconformist, visionary people & unconventional ideas are needed for the heavy shift upwards in a time of uncertainty, shock & ambiguity. Calling all seers/esses!

11/11/2024

Trying a new layout today, the 5 Windows of Attention, as presented by Michael Hamman.

This is a reflection spread to think about about your day, a situation, a complex relationship, your career.... anything where you're feeling a need to make sense of what's happening & examine how you're making sense of it.

For purposes of the photo, I chose 1 card for each position & laid it out like a classic tirage-a-croix.

But use as many cards as like in any configuration that fits your need. Simple or more complex.... whatever the question, topic, or issue calls for. Experiment with this for yourself. Let it flow naturally.

Deliberately choose cards or draw them as normal. Not all of the interpretative possibilities for each position will apply, depending on the question under conversation.

The positions:

1. Individuals
The unique people involved in the situation. Consider each person's:
- Individual perspectives and viewpoints
- Personal experiences and background
- Unique needs and motivations
- Behavioral patterns and tendencies
2. Self
The central element refers to the your own awareness and presence, including:
- Personal biases and assumptions
- Emotional state and reactions
- Impact on the situation
- Ask yourself: "what might I misunderstand here?"
- Ongoing self-reflection and metacognition
3. Content
Focuses on:
- The subject matter being discussed or at play
- Facts and information being shared
- Topics and themes emerging
- Specific challenges or issues being addressed
4. Field
The broader context and environment, including:
- Personal or office culture and dynamics
- External factors affecting the situation
- Systemic patterns and influences
- Environmental conditions
- Background context
5. Interrelations
How everything connects and interacts:
- Relationships between individuals
- Patterns of communication
- Power dynamics
- How different elements influence each other
- Any group dynamics or team interactions

I think this spread helps people see there Shadow more clearly. Tell me how it works for you!

23/10/2024

Yesterday, I came across an interesting layout for a small career-oriented vision board from Michael Hamman. And I decided to try it out with my beloved Visconti.

If you'd like to try it, here's the spread below. I used 1 card for first question in each topic group & 2 for the second:

Topic 1: What do I want to create?

Organizational Context
• What do I envision for my broader organizational setting?

The World. Our presence ripples out into the world in ways we won't always know. Awareness of this helps us be more mindful about this.

Relationships Context
• Who are the kinds of people I want to impact or partner with?

The Fool, The Pope. Holy fools! 🥰Those ready to challenge & change current structures with humility & selflessness.

Topic 2: Who do I want to be?

Role Model Context
• Who are the world leaders, whether living or dead, whether famous or unknown, who l envision myself being like?

Papesse. As writes, those who bring "inner wisdom to our
conscious awareness.... [who] encourage us to see what is hidden—to read between the lines, to find subtleties, nuances, patterns, and
connections."

World Context
• What do I envision for the world in which I live? For my community? For my country? The planet, even?

Justice, Temperance. That's it exactly: the peace that comes from justice tempered with mercy.

If you try this layout for yourself, please tell me how it works for you! 🥰

13/07/2024

After the recent release of the Leonora Carrington by .press - a TdM masterpiece by the great British Surrealist - I went to see the major London exhibition of her work. Then I came to Tallinn to see the satellite exhibition here. Several of the works are too large for IG, so I've offered details.

01/06/2024

Giving a talk this week & thought I'd check in with Fulgur Press' great Lenora Carrington feminist tarot.

Her Lovers card suggests not simply a choice, but rather choosing a balance, a middle way, a moderate tone between the duality of black & white. And connecting my divided self (the bifurcated red & purple garb of the central figure) with guidance from my unified higher self.

Her Chariot continues this theme of centering, while also pointing towards confidence & success. Note the charioteer here has no armor; is not an arrogant, armored fighter; but rather is an elder with a crown of wisdom, whose companions are two female guardians similar to shabti, or "answerers," those who respond when called upon.

I love how the lizard-headed harpies who pull the chariot wear the crown of the protective Egyptian goddess Wadjet.

Finally the Empress, a literal White Goddess. The surrounding plants & wheat before her throne suggests she is Demeter, wearing a wheat-stalk crown.

Flames sprout around her ears, Fire; 3 birds on her right, Air, the stream through the trees on her left, Water; and the black-brown card ground, Earth. The 5 pentagrams around the crown suggest the descent of spirit into matter.

To me this strongly says the Carrington views the Empress as the true ruler of the "gates of matter."

What a great reading! I feel so much support & strength from it. 🥰

16/03/2024

Here at long last: the 2nd edition of the Lenora Carrington Tarot from Fulgur Press. I love the deeply incense-scented box. The card stock & print quality of this trumps-only collector's deck is STUNNING! 🥰🥰🥰

Click to embiggen.