Something I hadn’t considered before: whereas the Christians had a system of monasteries to copy their holy texts, the Jews did not have the luxury of permanent establishments, particularly in the middle ages. Finding this article by Cait Stevenson on Pola of Rome, a medieval female Jewish scribe, was one of the best parts of my Sunday.

Pola describes herself in the colophons of the three manuscripts of hers that are known as the “daughter of R. Abraham the scribe.” She was active in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Based on the colophons and dedications in the manuscripts, she was married at least once, and had a son named Solomon. That a woman could have a career as a scribe and still fulfill her societal roles of wife and mother is no small thing, and helps to dispel the commonly-held notion that women were excluded from professional careers and artistic expression during this time.

I encourage you to click through and read the entire article; it’s a fascinating look at a particular aspect of medieval life that isn’t generally included in the history books.

I just *had* to share my personal draw for today:

“Everything is a disaster, and everyone is losing their minds, but have a nice day!”

The deck is The Giants’ Tarot, a collaborative work by a group of artists organized by Raven Kaldera.

love poem
~ Linda Pastan

I want to write you
a love poem as headlong
as our creek
after a thaw
when we stand
on its dangerous
banks and watch it carry
with it every twig
every dry leaf and branch
in its path
every scruple
when we see it
so swollen
with runoff
that even as we watch
we must grab
each other
and step back
we must grab each
other or
get our shoes
soaked we must
grab each other

Saturday started much too early, but it was worth getting up for the second day of the 2018 UK Tarot Conference! (If you haven’t already, you can read about Friday’s program and events in this post.) In addition to all the wonderful people who attended Friday, several joined us for Saturday, including the lovely Louise of Priestess Tarot, another friend I’ve not seen since the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI) conference many years ago!

Benebell Wen opened with “Tarot and the Four Pillars: Divining for Self-Empowerment.” As with Friday’s presentation, this was a guided journey through a complex Tarot reading based on the Four Pillars: To Do, To Dare, To Know, and To Keep Silent. 

Cards were drawn and aligned with selected Major Arcana cards, adding a richness to the reading and once again giving me so much to think about—especially so early in the morning!

There followed a break with much-needed caffeine and a treat (the cutest miniature pastries—also delicious!). Thus refreshed, we returned for a talk by Cilla Conway, creator of the Intuitive Tarot:

Cilla spoke on quantum consciousness, which was fascinating. Cilla had us do a spread to help us open our minds to new levels of awareness. My final card was the Page of Swords, which Sue, my reading partner, suggested as “the beginner’s mind”—try to abandon preconceptions and see things in a new way. Excellent advice, and yes, that’s more than a bit of a challenge when approaching Tarot, something I’ve been doing almost my entire life!

I retreated to my hotel room over the lunch break to meditate and process the energies and ideas from the morning sessions. Jet lag and insomnia are a wicked combination, and I really needed that time to sort myself out so I could focus during the afternoon sessions. Sadly, it meant missing the presentation by Linda MacLean on Hermetic Kabalah in the middle of the break, but overall, it was the right thing to do in order to ensure I would make it through the afternoon in one piece.

After lunch, Jo Watkins spoke on “The Oracle Within Tarot”—that is, you, as the reader, are the oracle for the oracle. Jo had us examine a series of the Major Arcana cards to discover qualities within those cards that are already within ourselves, and to consider how to develop those qualities to strengthen those qualities and develop as readers.

Another break for tea (yay, caffeine!) and treats, and then Rachel Pollack rounded out the day with “What Do You Do If You Ask for a Vision of Your Soul and You Get the Devil?” The Devil is the power of desire, which is necessary for life (very basic—if you don’t desire food, you won’t eat, and you would die of starvation); the problem is when desire is indulged to excess (you desire food, you eat too much, and you develop health problems). The Rider-Waite-Smith Devil is often interpreted as addiction, or an inability to change; however, Rachel asked us to consider the question, “Are you really trapped, or are you trapped only by your unwillingness to change?” when the Devil comes up in a reading. Framed that way, it may help the client find perspective on the situation—or they may go into denial. Sometimes, the client isn’t ready to hear the message, no matter how loudly the cards speak.

Rachel also led us through an exercise in contemplating what the secret of each card is. If you have trouble with a particular card—for example, the Tower card—shuffle the deck and pull a card to help you understand the secret of the troublesome card. In this exercise, we drew the Three of Pentacles:

The message comes across that, while you may work hard and do your part, there is much beyond your control that will also affect the situation; do your best, and understand that it still may not work out. That doesn’t mean you failed, or did badly; it simply means that the things you couldn’t control had more effect than the things you could control.

And, suddenly, it was 5:30 PM, and the day and the conference were done! Kim did the closing honors, and offered lovely thanks and compliments all around, and then we were off to the four winds, headed back to whence we had come—or, in my case, off to dinner with Rachel for a chance to catch up!

The next UK Tarot Conference London will be October 11 – October 12, 2019, and feature (among others) Mary K. Greer and Caitlin Matthews —mark your calendar!

Missing You
~ Felix Cheong

I miss you
dawn, dream and dusk,
whenever my words run out
and crawl, toothless and silent at last
to the kennel of your heart.

I miss you
in the privacy of pain,
a cry tucked beneath sheets,
a kiss unfinished
over distances.

And I shall miss you
when I’m neither here nor there,
neither a ghost nor a shadow,
more than love can endure,
more than time will allow.