LESSON 47: A YEAR GONE? WHAT’S NEXT . . .

This is my second attempt at writing this—I haven’t done a post in a couple weeks, I think, thanks to life and naps and whatnot. I had two new decks sitting around that I’ve been meaning to use, too, and I couldn’t decide which to try out this week. Since it’s my second attempt at the post, and since they both (as it turns out) are collage decks (though at opposite ends of their spectrum), I thought — why not use both? I don’t ever use two different tarot decks in a reading, but part of this whole experiment was pushing myself to do things I typically don’t. 

It’s timely, too, in that I started this blog about a year ago and I’m wondering what comes next. Several folks have told me that it’s cute that I’m doing this, but they don’t want to read it, they’d rather have videos. Judging by the visits and clicks, that’s a popular opinion. On the other hand, I know some folks have found some of the posts interesting—and that’s kinda the whole point, too. So, I figured, let’s ask the cards. 

So I did. 

The two decks I’ve got this week are the Magical Hours Tarot, a newish release from US Games that prompted a really cranky-ass video from me on Instagram. It was prompted by the aggressively shitty card stock they keep choosing for decks, and the fact that they must know people don’t like it because they’ve literally added “a pleasure to shuffle” on their ad copy for it. Look — here it is.

Text from the US Games ad copy on their page, as well as what’s on the deck’s Amazon page.

And while I was also hard on the deck because I’m sick of “divine feminine” (while fully understanding why it’s necessary, I say defensively) because I’m sick of gendered everything. And while the divine masculine is currently undergoing a somewhat radical queering, (see books like The Flowering Wand and decks like The Divine Masculine Healing Cards) divine feminine-themed things seem perfectly happy rooted in thin, white, pretty, young a lot of the time—and there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of challenging what it means to be feminine or a woman in the same way we’re seeing with the divine masculine. And that’s a shame. Because, what I really meant to make clear in that video, what I really want is the divine one; the divine non-binary. Anyway, this is a pretty deck and it was one of my favorite devil cards ever.

The other deck was a surprise pick-up at the re-opening of a local witch shop that had moved. The Veiled Crow, now in Cranston, co-hosts the Witches’ Night Out Markets that I read at often, as well as the lovely Day of Witchery outdoor festival which I’ve also had the fun of reading at the last two years, and will be at again this August 3rd. New age vendors, food trucks, witchy workshops, readings, live music—it’s a lovely family event for the open minded and comfortable-on-the-margins. This is an indie deck called Steven Archer’s Apophenia Tarot. It’s quite a cool, kind of rock-and-roll deck—which, since the creator is a musician and artist—makes sense. Where the top deck, Apophenia, is CBGB, the bottom, Magical Hours, is Russian Tearoom.  

Which, incidentally, is much like myself—and one reason why I’m sick of fucking binaried gendered spirituality! 

Anyhoo. 

Row one, Apophenia Tarot : Ten of Wands (4), Five of Swords (2), Ace of Coins (1), Eight of Coins (3), Seven of Wands (5). 
Row two, Magical Hours : Four of Pentacles (4), The Fool (2), Three of Cups (1), Ten of Swords (3), The Devil (5). 

Sometimes readings with a lot of cards will give you the answer you need in only one of the cards, and the three of cups did it for, here—but more on that presently. Let’s get down to work. What the fuck have I been yapping about so long??

The Ace of Pentacles suggests that it’s time to take the blog in a new direction, because in fact I’m going in one, too. And the wheel—the tire—in this very cerebral earth card is cool, because it indicates making actual progress in the intellectual pursuit. The rubber his the road (earth), here, which it never seems to do in swords/air. Flanked by the Five of Swords—fives being disruptive—and the Eight of Coins. We know that a change is likely inevitable, and the kind of work you (I, in this case) am interested in is evolving. Actually, the mask on this Eight is so striking. And I didn’t notice at first that it was a mask—I thought, “Oh, it’s Orlock!” And then I realized--oh that’s a mask. We’re hiding something! Woof. I don’t particularly think I’m hiding in this blog — but it is possible that the structure (eights, because of their connection four) is restricting me (five, breaking free), restricting what I want to say (swords). And that’s not untrue. I don’t look forward to writing these posts quite as much as I did when I started. And because the theme of this blog is a thing where I’m essentially repeating the same formula, it leaves me limited in what I can talk about. And I can see myself in recent posts wanting to write about things like reiki and witchcraft, and not really having the “space” to do it here. So that’s something I hadn’t realized and hadn’t necessarily articulated to myself, but having said it, I think it’s true. 

These cards are further flanked by the Ten of Wands and the Seven of Wands, which is asking me to evaluate where I want my energy going. And, in fact, I do have some other projects that I would like to focus on—including what will be the next book, as well as a couple more beyond that. “You have only so much energy,” the ten says, “where are you going to put it to your best advantage?” asks the seven.

The only swords card in the row, the five, in a way is saying, What are you thinking??? Meaning, of course you’ve moved on. And that’s fair, too. When I started this blog a year ago, it was a very different world—a thing I say more and more. There are things I won’t share here, but it was an incredibly difficult summer last year, which led to an incredibly difficult autumn, and then this past winter, which left me both at the height in many ways of my spiritual growth, but in the depths of depression. (Those two things, sadly, often go hand-in-hand). I happily stayed in bed, protected from the world as often as possible, and every attempt to venture out into the world left my nerves sanded raw and my mood shot. Reiki really is what changed that, and I’m fairly certain (I’m sure, in fact) I was guided there by my spiritual journey precisely because I’d reached a point where I said, “I can’t keep spending my life this angry, and the ‘health’ ‘care’ industry is not interested in helping me figure this shit out!” I begged for help, and it showed up. 

I ain’t the guy I was when I started this. 

In fact, working on edits for The Modern Fortune Teller’s Field Guide (available for pre order wherever fine-ass books are sold to fine-ass folks), I realized how much I’d changed both between the early drafts of that book and the release of the prior (Your Tarot Toolkit), but also how much I’d changed since I turned in the manuscript, six months before! 

If I blog more, I think it does need to be about new things. Not without tarot, but with all the things I’m welcoming in my life to work with tarot. 

Anyway, the bottom row has a different vibe, and not just because the start style is so starkly divergent from the first—but because of the message. “Why not see if guest writers want to try, and use what eyes you do have to introduce folks to new folks?” That’s what this whole row says, because the whole thing acts as one card. I know that may sound nuts, but it does. When I started the reading, I said it all comes down to the Three of Cups. In this case, the You Can Sit With Us card. “Give other bitches a chance, TB—give ‘em a chance to show their jobs, and to work with you and your editing abilities. Let folks who want to try something new give it a go in a safe place.” 

That’s what it says. And I think that’s what I’m going to do! 

So if you’re reading this and you want to give it a try, here’s my plan:

1. Announce the idea on YouTube and Instagram this week and see what, if any, interest exists. 
2. If interest does exist, I’ll create a submission form on my website. Don’t write a post yet! Send me the submission form with your interest in doing a post.
3. Include a one-to-three card written reading, no more than, oh, 500 words or so, on the question, “What’s my divinatory superpower?” (By this I mean, you, the person applying to write a post. What is your superpower. Don’t answer this as though you’re asking what Tom Benjamin’s superpower is. I’m forcing you to write something nice about your damn self.)
4. Depending on how much interest there is, I will get back to you with a two-week time span for the post. The first week will be first draft time, that’ll give me a week to send some notes back (usually I just want to make sure things make sense and give a gentle sensitivity glance), and give you a few days to fine tune and send back. The second date will be the post, which you can share with your pals—and which I’ll share on my socials, too.

What’s the post to be? The same thing I’ve been doing on these posts since the start: doing a spread of any kind on the question, “What is Lesson #X?” (Whatever that week’s lesson is) and interpreting the cards as a lesson for the readers of this blog. Then, use that theme to develop a spread we can use ourselves to more deeply explore that week’s theme. Optionally, you can write a sample interpretations—sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t. 

How long should the post be? Depends, honestly. It’ll tell you. Mine are obviously too long, but I’m a digresser. There’s nothing wrong with that, so I don’t shut it down. Shrug. If I think something gets too far off track, I’ll point it out. It’ll be up to you to keep it or not. It’ll be your post. You get final say on the edit. You own it, which means you can do whatever you want with it—including revise and submit to magazines, expand into a book, etc. All I require is a thank you, and the request that you wait at least a month before letting it show up elsewhere. I don’t monetize this, so I can’t compensate you. It’s really just for the potential views—which, I can’t promise, but I can do my best to guide. But because I can’t compensate you, you’re welcome to do whatever you want with the post after. Just give us a month to get you as many clicks as my small audience allows. 

That’s it! 

I’ll probably do one or two more of these, but we’ll see. 
More soon. 

tb. ​