Not spiritual
I went live today and said, 'the fortuneteller is not spiritual'. This was part of a story about what prompted the writing of my new book, Tarot Tracings: Essays on Literature and Divination.
Just before the corona hit us, I had guests. They brought local produce, fish and ducks that were caught and shot in the wild. Among the goodies were two pieces of amber. The guests said: 'we heard you're spiritual, and thought that you might like this amber that we found on the beach.' I said thank you, but then thought: 'Spiritual? I'm not spiritual. I'm Zen. A Zen fortuneteller. A Zen fortuneteller is not a spiritual being. She is a being pursuing clarity beyond all beliefs.'
I wrote the book with this in mind, as an exercise in looking at who else is there who does the very thing, reads cards or is inspired by divination in their own work with cards and divination for something other than beliefs, concepts, and ideas. Who reads for the plot, not for the 'spiritual development?’
No spoilers here, but the bottom line is this: We read cards to get clear in the head, not to get more concepts in it. Many are invested in beliefs – these days more so than ever. The virus is a 'lesson,' an 'opportunity to grow,' 'an awakening,' 'an initiation,’ 'a healing'... The list is long. Many tell themselves the story of the meaning of this plague. Enter the fortuneteller. What meaning? A virus is a virus. Not a lesson, not an awakening, and not an opportunity to refine your shadow. What the fortuneteller does with her cards is tell fortunes, tell tales of the future that are permeated with analyses of risk, permutability, probability, and plausibility. If you studied game theory, you'll recognize this list as part of the 101 curriculum. Tarot Tracings tells a few stories about love, war, and magic seen through the prism of a discourse on poetics, occultism, esotericism, and divination. It's free of beliefs and promises for the Garden of Eden. There are concepts in it, but they serve me as a deconstructive dish. Concepts are not reality. They make good stories, but they're not reality.
