Planning the cozy ritual and oracle room

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Welcome to the Yule Tarot Blog Hop--gee where has the year gone?

The theme for this TBH is "cozy." Or as I like to call it, "Another chance for Morgan to talk about how he wants to remodel the house." In this particular case, how I would like to set up my upstairs ritual/oracle room.

Is this your card?

When me and my wife first brought the house, the second bedroom was to become my office with the half-basement being a ritual room. Having lived in the house for sixteen years, and having more ritual and fortune telling under my belt, along with the lingering effects of my wife's motorcycle accident, using the downstairs for ritual is not as practical as it used to be. So it is time for changes.

[The reason that my wife got into a motorcycle accident was that her biological father, an evil old man with a room temperature IQ and the stubbornness of a mule, decided that the daughter he did not know, needed a professional grade motorcycle (which she did not want) and insisted that she was going to ride it (despite the fact that a moped was more her speed and skill level). This resulted in her having an accident the very first day on it--she slammed it into the side of a car--her hip was slammed between the big-ass bike and the car. To this day, she has problems with that leg. Over time, it has gotten harder for her to make it up and down the basement stairs.]

We have decided that the basement is going to be my office and private workspace for my Golden Dawn related work...

[I no longer need as much room and "bareness" for my GD work, having left my role as a GD group leader and being completely happy to let someone else deal with the Neophytes--my future GD work is going to be done with just a keyboard and a bad attitude. The odds of me ever doing another GD group ritual--initiation or otherwise is relatively low--more so with the fact that I am far more interested in applying Golden Dawn techniques to a different symbolic framework than I am in fighting to become one of the Big Name Occultists.]

...and the upstairs room is going to become a shared ritual and mediation room instead.

Like my yard (which has been the subject for several of this year's Tarot Blog Hop entries), the vision for the ritual room is based on my vast amount of social witchcraft and magical experience. As some of my friends can guess, some of my ideas come from working with Cassandra and my time taking classes over at Herbs and Arts (when it was still owned by Morning Glory) as well as vast amounts of personal practical experience.

One of the things I have learned is that my magic and Tarot/oracle reading is affected by the atmosphere of the location that I am working in. I have done the public reading route, both in occult shops (up front, in the back room, have yet to do a reading on the roof of one, but it is only a matter of time...) and in coffee houses (that is why many of my Tarot decks have spilled tea on them) and at parties (let's call it being "entertainment"). And I have learned that public reading is just one step away from working in a cubicle, or a boiler room (hey, I seriously explored working for someone with a 1-800 number).

No, the best environment for me to do reading is lit with candles, private and smells of vast amounts of incense. Think "gypsy tent." Laugh if you will, but I think that they were onto something.

(Okay, internet police--I know that the term "gypsy" is either an insult and/or a stolen term that I should not apply to my own work--never mind the fact that me and my sisters used to joke about "being gypsies" when we were kids; only political correctness counts in today's world.)

 Basically, a "cozy" atmosphere helps me in my magical and divination work. And my wife would like us to have a ritual room upstairs...

(We also have a couple of friends who would like to see me focus more on Wicca and such.)

...so, why not make my wife happy? Besides, I need to get back into the swing of my magical work. 

As such, my wife and I have talked about what we would like to do with the room. My vision tends to be a little more grand (as in "What would I do if I had a boatload of ill-gotten gains from a wildly successful book?") while my wife is more realistic. For instance, I would like to have a fireplace in the room, but that would require a bunch of cash and the hiring of people who actually know how to do the work. There are those fake fireplace heaters, but it is not the same.

Something that my wife mentioned when I told her about the subject of this Blog Hop is that she would like a corner full of comfy pillows. So, the room is going to have a big pile of soft (and probably tasteful) pillows. And many, many gods and goddesses; it is an artist's house after all. And cats! Many, many cats. The cats will probably vote that the pile of pillows belong to them.

(The real challenge will be figuring out how to keep Anubis, our big twenty pound black cat, from deciding that everything on the altar and/or reading table is not important, and knocking all such nonsense onto the floor, so that he can take a well-deserved nap.)

Of course, all this requires me to clean out the room (it ended up being used for storage, due to the lack of enough bookcases in the house--a DIY project that has been delayed while I work on the novel--thirty thousand words and counting...) and then getting out of my wife's way.

It is totally do-able. After all, I am now on bipolar meds, and can cope with the project.

Tarot Blog Hop--all about the Tarot.

Thanks for reading my TBH entry. As always, you are encouraged to follow the links and read the other entries for this theme--there is always something new to learn.

Have a happy Yule and a great 2019. 

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A message from the Honored Dead

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I will admit that the theme of this Tarot Blog Hop, Walking Into Life With The Dead, left me at a loss of what to do with it, so I am just going to use the prompt as the basis of a quick Tarot reading.

My message from the Honored Dead.

1. What is the most important thing the spirits of your beloved dead have been attempting to show or teach you this year?

For this question, I pulled the King of Swords, which because the figure is not on a horse, I am going to read more like the Prince of Swords instead. [In Golden Dawn, the Kings are mounted on horses while the Princes are seating down--basically, the Kings on horseback are considered to be more active than their seated counterparts.] One of the things I have been struggling with lately is "pre-judgement"--judging my current bit of writing in the light of "You can't write it that way--you will offend all your readers and ensure that you will never sell another book ever again." I have always had this problem which is why I have a metric ton of started, yet never finished projects. This ties into the fact that my mother-in-law (who died last summer) wanted to see me actually complete an entire science fiction novel. 

2. What is your personal connection to Spirit, as you define it, whether that be Gods and Goddesses, the Powers of the Land, the Souls of the Dead (or the Living), or in any other way you define this word. How does Spirit connect with you and at the end of this year, what is the primary energy of Spirit that is showing itself to you?

For the second question, I pulled Death. Over the last two months, I have actually managed top remain (mostly) focused on a single project--I have managed to rack up 25K words on a single story (that's half of a small novel). This is real first for me; I have never gotten that far on any fiction project before. Interestingly, this is all being done under a brand new pen-name because I decided that I wanted a fresh start as a writer. I guess that is a form of death and change, right?

3. What will be your personal Gift to Spirit, whether this is an offering made to Deity, something you will do because of what Spirit has taught you, or some other way of acknowledging the influence of the Living Dead on your own life.

For the third question, I pulled the Four of Swords. Several of the characters that I have created are based on dead relatives, and some of the action involves me exploring my feelings about my childhood and how my mom so did not want me to become a witch, or a writer for that matter. There is my (dead) dad and my (dead) aunt who live again as other characters. I am still debating whether it is polite to use the name of one of my ancestors as my new pen-name.

One of the themes in the book is PTSD (which I have been told online that I don't understand...despite the fact that I suffer from it personally). It is kinda love offering, the pouring out of my soul.  This is almost like going to therapy--which I associate with the Four of Swords--in fact, the book starts off with my main character, Homer Milton Dante, telling his therapist what he thinks of her latest suggestion to foster his recovery. 

I love this artwork...despite the fact that I shouldn't use it.

As an illustration of all this energy, consider the artwork that I really, really want to use for the book cover, despite the fact that "no writer should make their own cover artwork" and "everyone that you are going to be competing with, they are using a different style of artwork--and abstract covers did not help sales from the Big Six--so you really should not use it!" On the other hand, my mother-in-law encouraged my occasional foray into art, and I know my father would have done the same. And I want to do some interior illustrations too--which is something else that goes against what is currently selling on the market. My research says "not to do something different than what customers currently expect"...and I violating the rules nine ways to Sunday, so this project (based on the current market wisdom) is probably going to be dead on arrival (if the experts are right). Still sooner or later, I have to actually complete a project, and I am halfway there (with enough ideas to get to the 50K mark). I might as well finish it up--complete with the inclusion of artwork that reminds me of the science fiction magazines I grew up reading.

[In many ways, I feel like a grave robber here. This book grew out of a comment that I said out loud at one point while working on another story set in the same fictional universe. At one point, I realized that international space meant "more than just Americans in space" and that meant research. I might be able to fake the British, but most other countries will require lots of research. Then I said, "Why can't I give the Ancient Egyptians rockets and be done with it?" Suddenly I had New Egyptians everywhere in the universe--opps! I am not sure how the Honored Dead of Egypt feel about this, but they were a little star-crazy--so maybe they will not mind.] 

Happy Samhain! Thanks for reading.

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My cunning plan to restore my work life balance

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Welcome to the mid-September installment of the Tarot Blog Hop. The topic for this one is maintaining and restoring balance--ironic considering that I am just starting to warm-up to break out of my summer schedule (which is not balanced at all).

A few years ago, while I was in college, I started to goof off during the summer months. At the time, it made sense--if only because I did not want to take classes during the summer semester (same amount of work--less time to do it in). After graduating (two bachelor degrees--literature and history), I continued taking the summer easy--mainly because of my wife's work habits and schedule.

Being a schoolteacher, my wife takes the summers off and works on her pottery business.

Now, this would not be so bad if she was not gifted with an annoying handicap--basically, she can't see when I am actually writing. I can be typing away, and she will walk into the room and proceed to talk as if my fingers flying over the keyboard are non-existent.

One of the bad things about writing (and art, for that matter) is that it is a "flow" activity. Basically, it is easier to do (and often better quality) if you can enter a mindset where the words and images just flow though you. Interruptions leads one to having to hack the words out at a painful rate of one word at a time.

Yes, writing is always done one word at a time.

But when the space between two words become filled with other concerns (such as the fact that one is supposed to pay attention when your wife is talking to you), it becomes a war to convince the next word to show up in a timely manner. Allow enough interruptions to happen, and the next thing you know you haven't wrote anything since like--forever, and one's muse goes on strike.

In my case, that is really not a good idea. I suffer from Heinlein Monkey--my health (both physical and mental) start to suffer when I haven't been doing enough writing. For instance, instead of sleeping, I will toss and turn for the entire night. And over the years, the problem has gotten worse.

Under normal conditions, the most that I have to put up with the summer schedule is three months, plus weekends, school holidays, and any day that my wife decides to take off, and...well, my bad childhood programming kicks in whenever someone decides that their schedule, even if it is only goofing-off, matters more than whatever I am trying to do. And I will feel great guilt for the little voice in my head that says that I should be writing instead.

Why do I have such bad programming? Simple, my mother thought that it was perfectly okay to make the oldest kid still at home, drop everything, including homework, to take care of the younger siblings and the house. That is why I ended up failing high school. Of course, it was not my mom's fault--according to her, I flunked high school because I was stupid--not because I was not allowed to do any homework. And any money I somehow made went 100% towards supporting my siblings.

So basically, I am programmed to put everyone else in front of my needs and wants--and suffer crippling guilt when I do not have the time or resources to support someone else fully and absolutely. Hence my wife decides to take the day off, and I feel obligated to keep her company--which is followed by frustration that I am getting no work done, and guilt over the fact that I feel frustrated, topped with the feeling that I am supposed to be making money hand over foot without burning up any resources (time or money).

In theory, my summer schedule is supposed to be three months...

Unfortunately, my mother-in-law died last year (suicide), so I never left summer schedule last year. My "summer" has now gone on for a year and a quarter. And it probably made sense to extend it to provide emotional support for my wife, but at some point you have to get back to work. Especially if not working has allowed an impressive imbalance to build up.

How bad is this imbalance? Peeking at my Tarot deck, the top card is the Two of Swords and the bottom card is the Lovers. I will admit that I am not brave enough to actually draw any other cards. Besides, it is not like I am going to change my plan for restoring balance.

Mercury Forty-Two--this might be the final cover.

Before my mother-in-law died, I was considering rebranding and relaunching my writing career. What I had planned originally was updating some books covers, writing and releasing some new stories, writing less political posts, stuff like that. The extended summer basically left me unable to do anything other than research how other writers were making money in the current market, and thinking about what my ideal work schedule would look like as a writer.

I did take a swing at rebooting and returning to my regular schedule in December, but it all went sideways when the remodeling started. (Not that the Esoteric Comedy Show project was ever going to be profitable, especially after YouTube changed the rules about who got to run ads on their videos.) From late February to...well, the first of this month, I got no writing done beyond the odd blog post (far and inbetween) and spent my writing energies just outlining novels that someday I might write once my wife started to work a regular schedule.

When my wife works a regular schedule, I get to work in peace while she is at work.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you choose to think about it), my wife had just quit her previous job when her mom died. After several years of dealing with bad charter school administration (that basically decided cheap was better than experienced), my wife was overdue to change jobs. And she was supposed to find a new job over the summer. That got tossed aside by family tragedy--she spent a lot of time dealing with her mom's estate. So she does not have a regular job yet (and I am guessing that it is going to be another whole year before she finds one); therefore, she is subbing again this year.

The thought of this was making me go a little crazy.

A little crazy...

So crazy that I have been forced to create a set of new rules. It is just too bad that I keep breaking them. For instance, I was supposed to have a new Tarot card done for this post (and to illustrate a story that I am working on), and it did not get done--because I allowed myself to step away from the keyboard and drawing board this week to provide emotional support for my wife's first full week back at subbing.

(I did do a card, but it looks exactly like I was interrupted numerous times as I tried to finish it. So we are just going to skip that one. If you are curious what my "flow-state" art looks like, see the book cover design illustrating this post.)

What are the new rules that I should be living by? (Rules that actually help keep me stable when I follow them...)

First, I have to write five hundred words a day. This number will go up later, but my writing engine is still cold as hell with the words coming at a painfully slow pace (three hours for five hundred words--not my best pace). And I need to write at the same time every day to increase the likelihood that my muse will get the memo and start showing up regularly. Most importantly, I am not allowed to step outside until my mandatory word count is done for the day.

Second, after a project hits a certain word count, I am not allowed to switch projects in that category until the current one is done. I am splitting my writing between Occult and Science Fiction/Fantasy, so that means that I have two projects going at any one time. Any ideas for other stories are written down on index cards and put in the proper file.

Third, I am aiming to complete a book a quarter (four books a year) using new pen-names for marketing purposes. (Besides the occult under my own name, there is going to be science fiction [Michael Ramalia] and urban fantasy [Charles Bloodmoon]--and possibly a pen-name that I am not going to admit to.)

Fourth, I need to make sure that I am actually eating lunch. After twenty years in food service (most as the responsible employee) and my childhood, I have bad tendency to realize I am hungry, and then proceed to continue what I am doing without actually taking time out to eat. I have started to make my lunch for the next day at the same time that I am making my wife's lunch for the next day. It is a lot easier if I only have to walk to the fridge and back when the writing is flowing.

Fifth, I am learning to write while wearing headphones. In theory, this is supposed to cut down on distractions and provide a visual clue that I am trying to work.

Sixth, and most important, I am not allowed to chase the hottest money making scheme, nor am I allowed to hand over funds and resources that were earmarked for my own business. That includes my time and energy.

Will these rules help? Yes, provided that I stick to them religiously.

So that is my current plan to restore some balance in my life. I will let you know later if I actually stuck to the plan, or if I allowed myself to give into the guilt and voices that say that I am supposed to put everyone else first.

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Coming soon to my yard (Dark Arts and Crafts BBQ and Drumming Parties)

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Hi everyone--welcome to another exciting edition of the Tarot Blog Hop. The theme for this hop is "The Sun Harvest -- What end of summer harvest do you want to bring in before fall?"

*falls on floor laughing*

Hey kids, do you know what time it is?

"Howdy Doody Time?"

"Tool Time?"

"Dinner time?"

"Time for ice cream?"

"Oh, no--he is going to talk about his yard again, isn't he?"

"Again and again and again..."

Yes, that is right. I am going to talk about my yard again.

But first, a slight sidetrack.

Let me tell you about my July. And my original summer harvest goal...

So my wife was out of town for an entire month. She went to Costa Rica for language immersion--she teaches ESL. And I would be left in peace and quiet.

I figured that I would work on my summer goal of having a novel (an entire novel--50,000 words) done by September 1st.

I failed to realize that I was not actually going to get peace and quiet while she was gone. What I got was a bunch of garden remodeling contractors interrupting my schedule--both sleep and work. In the end, I got just a few good writing days out of the month.

Hence, I am not going to have either "Axe Murderer of Titan" or "Heartbreaker" done in time to meet my original goal. Or at least, I am not holding my breath at this point.

And in all honesty, it may have been too optimistic for me to aim for that goal in the first place.

Why did I chose September 1st as a goal for my next release date?

Well, it was the garden remodeling.

"See, I told you that he was going to talk about his garden remodel again. And again. And again."

When my wife decided that she was going to spend her inheritance on remodeling the garden, she thought that it was all going to be done by the first of June.

I laughed.

My father used to do remodeling and construction. I spent many summers and Christmas vacations on various job sites as my father tried to get me interested in the exciting and profitable world of construction and remodeling. I was not interested in that type of construction (don't get me started on the task of Fictional World Building--we will be here all day). [I was also not interested in farming and auto mechanics, just in case you are curious.]

Therefore, I had experience. I knew better. I did not need to pull out my Tarot cards to know that she was wrong. I saw her June first, and raised her a bet of September first.

And given that I am in the midst of a rebranding and relaunch of my career as a writer, what better way to celebrate than to release a book in one of the two new series I was working on?

(Axe Murderer of Titan--science fiction--pilot book of Icarus Above a Dark Earth.)

(Heartbreaker--urban fantasy--book one of Queen's Huntsman.)

But as I said, I don't think that I am going to make it.

I am still going to try.

After all, I still would like to have a book releasing near the date of my first Dark Arts and Crafts BBQ Party With Optional Drumming.

We will just have to see what happens.

The Sun--from the unfinished Monkey Tarot.

So what am I actually going to harvest this summer?

A sidewalk that does not kill people.

I kid you not--the sidewalk that they just dug out was that bad.

And a fence.

Because I like to pretend that I am not that neighbor.

You know--the neighbor that might be an evil Tarot reading witch who meets clients at his house.

Plus my storage sheds and the house trim got repaired and painted.

Basically, it is the yard and garden that I always wanted. The type of yard that one expects to find strange musicians, pot smoking artists, writers of the odd and wonderful, evil witches, and wise Tarot readers in. You know--my type of party.

And yes. it will be a monthly thing with BBQ and drumming. (Well, after my wife finishes her second Master degree work.)

Here is a video showing the current state of the yard...sort of...it devolved into a game of How Many Complaining Cats Can You Count?

[Mad Uncle Morgan shows off his yard.]

{For some reason, Blogger is not letting me embed the video.}

Oh about that September first estimate on mine? Well, we were informed just yesterday that the back gate we want will take a month to get the custom order done.

Damn good fortune telling considering that I never pulled out my Tarot deck for this one.

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Please fence me in (I want to drum with witches)

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When our Tarot Blog Hop wrangler, Joy Vernon, posted the topic for this hop, I had to laugh. “Don’t fence me in” was the exact opposite of what going on in my life.

This spring, my wife decided to use her inheritance from her mother’s death last summer to pay for house and garden repairs and upgrades. One of the things that my wife has wanted for years is a privacy fence. And after many, many years, she had talked me around to her position. If nothing else, I no longer wanted to look at the dead brown knee high grass that my southern neighbor insists on having.

Plus for many years, I have wanted to have “Dark Arts and Crafts” parties. You know—weird artists, indie writers, crazed magicians, and amusing witches, possibly armed with drums and wands—all making noise around a fire pit. One of my entry points into the local occult community was the monthly drummings that a friend of mine (Cassandra Ravenwolf) used to have over at her house. I met my wife at such a drumming. I was heart-broken when Cassandra left town with her husband (Brian) to be closer to her in-laws. And I have waited patiently for some other member of the community to create such an event…but after fifteen years (maybe a touch more), I am out of patience.

So my wife and I are getting a new sidewalk (goodbye Sidewalk of Death), traded our chain link fence for a nice wooden one, new front windows and doors, got the garden sheds painted. Plus I am doing a major purge of stuff I do not need (“Oh look, it is a stack of Rocky Mountain newspapers—didn’t they go out of business ten years ago?”); so far, three whole SUV loads of newspapers have been taken to the recycling center. Plus we are going to be painting some of the inside rooms of the house, building some custom book shelves, and generally organizing the mess.

(Please note that one of the reasons that this is all happening is that I am fairly stable—well, more stable than I was for the first fifty years of my life—on my current round of meds and a pot chaser. Don’t knock my pot chaser—it helps keeps the migraines and panic attacks at bay.)

The work on the outside should be done by the beginning of August. Then I get to switch my attention to Icarus--science fiction—“A thousand people live and work in outer space. They depend on Earth for a supply line. What do they do to survive when Earth goes dark?”—a rather long project that has much in common with eating an elephant “one bite at a time.”

So what the heck does this have to do with the Tarot? (An important question given that this is the Tarot Blog Hop.) Well, after all this is done, a certain amount of ritual and classes will be attempted at my house, and I might be doing some in-person Tarot readings (I hate reading Tarot over the phone and internet). So for the sake of my business (and my wife’s pottery business), we needed a new fence.

"Do you want to see naked witches dancing?"

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I have nothing (and it could have been worse) Tree-ageddon TBH edition

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"I have nothing. Nothing at all to write about. Who picked this subject? Oh. I assume that they mean well. They are probably are going to have a wonderful post. After all, they picked the topic. But still, I have nothing."

That is my normal response to each and every Tarot Blog Hop topic.

Well, half of them.

Well, some of them.

Well, the percentage is more than zero.

Of course, the really sad part about this one is that I was the wrangler (think magical cat herder), and I was the one who came up with the topic. And I still almost ended up with nothing.

Who would have guessed that "What I can (could) teach the world" would be such a hard topic for me to write about? Probably everyone who knows me.

After all, I came from a very nourishing environment with lots of warm fuzzy positive uplifting messages about my worth.

"You did everything wrong." "The only thing keeping you out of the nut-house is your mom." "You are an idiot." "That plan will never work." "I wish that you were never born."

In other words, I am the best example of what not to do.

(Such as "I have less than forty minutes to get this post finished because I choose to be sick as a dog yesterday, on top of all the computer problems that I have been having lately.")

Still one thing that I learned as a writer with lots of nothing to say is that the universe will deliver things to write about if you willing to let it all hang out.

Remember--even at the worst of times, it could always be worse.

So, how did the universe deliver this time? What positive message could I possibly share with the universe?

So I woke up one morning (this was the morning that an airplane lost one of its engines, had a giant hole blown out of it, and partially sucked a passenger out, later she died), read the news (or enough to see the highlight of the day), and looked outside.

(Trust me, the airplane story is important because of my long association of airplane accidents with the Lightning Struck Tower--you will see.)

It was windy. The type of day that you expect to see pigs and witches on brooms fly past the window. Hurricane force winds in a land locked state.

I was following the progress of a box blowing back and forth. I thought about going out there and grabbing it. I thought about cutting it up for the recycle. But that will involve going outside.

And I did not feel like going outside just yet.

I was more interested in transferring what I wrote the night before to the computer, editing and printing it out.

One last look outside before work...still windy.

"Hmm. Is this part of Three Witches Talk Smack or is it part of Death to the Great Gherkin?"

Print it out. Write a few things down.

Fifteen minutes later. (Maybe it was ten.) Look outside.

"Huh. The pine tree lost a branch. Oh, more than a branch. Oh dear, the entire tree has fallen over. Still it could be worse. It could have hit the house."

And that is what I can teach the world. Things can always be worse.

The first time, I heard this truth was when a semi-trailer truck drove though my dad's car at two in the morning. "It could have been worse. If it would have happened during the day, one of the kids may have been killed. After all, they play right where the car was tossed."

In the case of the tree, I could have been outside and had it land upon me. Or it could have fallen on the house (right on the corner of the house that contained the room that I was working in). The tree could have waited until we got the sidewalk replaced and destroyed a big section of that.

"It could have been worse."

There was my blog post, a long video, and endless hours of conversation about how my luck works.

I had nothing. Now, I had something. It was not uplifting. Maybe it was uplifting (it did toss bricks everywhere). Still, I had a post. Once again, nothing became something.

The only difficultly was connecting it with the Tarot. And that difficulty lasted only a few seconds because the entire day was just one giant Lightning Struck Tower day.

So there you have it--lots of nothing, a bad example of how my mind works, and me saying, "It could have been worse." Plus I finished this post with three minutes to spare. I am a shiny example of what not to do; but if you are going to do it, be positive that things could have been worse.

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Here is a video...because I could.


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Master List Tarot Blog Hop May 1st 2018

Master List for the Tarot Blog Hop 1st May 2018

The theme was "What lesson can (could) I teach the world?"

1. Morgan Drake Eckstein https://gleamingsfromthedawn.blogspot.com/2018/05/2018tbh03.html
2. Joanne Sprott http://cosmicwhisperstarot.com/2018/05/01/finding-the-message-in-the-cards/
3. Jay Cassels http://jaycassels.co.uk/tbh16
4. Meniscus Tarot (by Ania M) http://meniscustarot.co.uk/and-ye-shall-be-answered/
5. Aisling the Bard https://tarotwitchery.blogspot.com/2018/05/tarot-blog-hop-bealteine-2018-what-i.html
6. Joy Vernon http://joyvernon.com/Blog/tbh-can-teach-world/
7. Karen Sealey https://pureblessedtarot.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/free-association-falling/
8. Boglarka Kiss http://vadrozsatarot.blogspot.hu/2018/05/what-can-i-give-world-tarot-blog-hop.html
9. Ania M http://aniam.co.uk/blog/lessons
10. Jay Cassels http://sacred-healing.co.uk/tbh16a
11. Alison Cross http://www.tarot-thrones.com/2018/05/beltane-tarot-blog-hop-what-lesson-can.html
12. Robin Wood https://mystictradingco.com/
13. Deirdre Doran  https://thewillowpathtarot.com/2018/05/01/tarot-blog-hop-teaching-connection-through-tarot/
14. María Luisa Salazar http://misteriostarot.blogspot.pe 
15. Raine Shakti http://www.tarotofchange.com/2018/05/tarot-blog-hop-what-i-could-teach-world.html

Thanks for hopping with us. 

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Do you blog about the Tarot? Do you want to be part of a Tarot blogging community? If so, consider joining the Tarot Blog Hop.

Eight times a year, the members of the Tarot Blog Hop blog about a common topic and link to each other's blogs. Members are required to take part in two of the eight hops every year--which is easy and fun to do.

What type of topics? Well, the next topic for Beltane is: What lesson can (could) I teach the world.

So come join in the fun, Tarot bloggers--come join the Tarot Blog Hop.

The basic principle is for readers to be able to explore new blogs.

Musical Tarot (Esoteric Comedy Show)

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[In celebration of our fiftieth Tarot Blog Hop post, a bit from a show that you would never actually see happen at a Tarot convention. Trust me. No one would ever be crazy enough to let this happen. So we will just have to imagine it happening together.]

At this point, I would sing you a song. But my wife has expressly said that Morgan shall not sing. Which is a shame because I have a wonderful singing voice. Yes, it it true that angels do cry when I sing.

Giant tears of joy. Emotion that has not been experienced since the creation of the universe. My singing is that good. And angels would totally agree that my singing is as powerful as the creation of the universe.

I should probably point out that my god-daughter disputes the greatness of my singing, and says that the angels are actually crying in great pain and agony. Let's call that Fake News, and move on.

There are people other than my wife and god-daughter who tell me not to sing. The entire Denver community of witches and pagans has told me that when the singing parts of the rituals happen, I am supposed to hum--softly--just so we don't violate any public noise ordinances. Again, Fake News--they just jealous that I am the best singer in the Denver pagan community.

Being forbidden to sing, I have thought about learning to play a musical instrument. Even someone who can't carry a tune in a bucket should be able to learn to play a musical instrument. Surely singing and playing a musical instrument have nothing in common.

And wanting to do it right, I have thought about musical instrument I should devote myself to.

Now many instruments are automatically off of the table for various reasons. For instance, I can't play any stringed instruments because the strings might be made from cat-gut. Yes, I have done some serious non-research here. And the instrument can't be too large, for I am a lazy bastard who believes that his only exercise should consist of pulling books off a shelf. Therefore, the tuba is out of the question, along with the kettle drum, and the piano. That's last one is rather surprising, but let's be honest--it is hard to carry a piano onto the bus.

I have narrowed my choices down to three options, and now my choice of instrument is tied up in committee. But I am quite confident that the committee will allow me to have an instrument. There is absolutely no way that the committee will agree with my mother that all I am doing is making an ungodly racket.

My number three choice is the accordion. My father owned one. I want to own one. Just because his was sent to the attic, never to be seen again, doesn't mean that mine will suffer the same fate. I see that the audience doesn't believe me, and are busy texting the music committee about how much they would love to hear me play the accordion.

"Dear committee for the protection of those who know what music should sound like, I totally support Morgan getting an accordion, and being allowed to play it in public. After all, the accordion is built on the cat in a box principle--and there is absolutely no way that Morgan could play it wrong."

That was texted by someone who obviously done more research on this subject than I have. Because when this bit started, I did not know that accordion had cats in them. Is cat alive? Is the cat dead? We don't know. We will never know. But we can all tell that the cat is a little unhappy by the sound it is making.

My number two choice for musical instrument is the bagpipes. Everyone loves bagpipe music, especially when played by a genius like myself. Plus I will finally be able to convince the neighbor across the street to quit playing their party music at midnight. We all have that one neighbor, who insists on playing their music at midnight on a hot summer night when everyone in the neighborhood has their windows wide open. There is absolutely no danger that this will cause a musical stereo war in my neighborhood.

"Dear committee for the protection of cats and sleeping neighbors, I totally endorse Morgan playing a set of bagpipes on a hot summer night. It is sure to create world peace, for bagpipes sound nothing like an angry cat stuck in a bag."

My final choice in music instruments--my number one choice is a bag of rusting tin cans. Because let's be honest, my real goal here is to be the center of attention--and there is not a reality music show that will not be amused and amazed at my skill at playing a big bag of tin cans.

"Dear committee for the protection of those who do not find this joke funny, for heaven's sake, make sure that Morgan lets the cats out of the bag before he attempts to play it. When will someone think of the cats being tortured for the sake of music."

I recently discovered that you can make cats sing. I discovered this on Facebook. Someone posted a picture of a cat singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Well, not actually singing. It was a picture of a cat captioned with song lyrics.

Totally awesome, don't you agree?

I'm just a purr boy. Nobody rubs me. He's just a purr boy from a purr family! Spare him his life from this meowstrosity!

So I have now developed a hobby of trying to match the song to the picture. And considering that we are supposed to be talking about Tarot, let's go there. Otherwise, this entire bit will make no sense when I put it into a Tarot Blog Hop post.

Being a "silly person"--that's medical speak for "being a bloody loony"--I have started to put song lyrics onto pictures of Tarot cards. Please note that some of these only make sense if you watch the same television shows I do.

I think that Wayward Son by Kansas is appropriate for the Chariot. Another One Bites the Dust by Queen fits the imagery of the Lightning Blasted Tower. Like a Virgin by Madonna, that's the Lovers. Great Balls of Fire is totally the Ace of Wands. The Immigrant Song is my chosen one for Strength. Hint--think of the Viking Kitty video. Death is Tiptoe Through the Tulips--what else could it be?

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

Carry on my wayward son, for there will be peace when you are done.

Tiptoe through the tulips with me!

Like a virgin, touched for the very first time.

We come from the land of ice and snow--we are your overlords.

But I am most proud of the caption that I came up with for the Devil. It is truly something to cause angels to cry in joy.

If you are happy, and you know it, and want the whole world to know it, if you are happy and you know it, clap your hands! 

And that is what it is all about--causing angels to cry with my awesome ability to make music.

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Now on stage reading the Tarot (Secret project not so secret anymore)

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Welcome to the Imbolc edition of the Tarot Blog Hop. (Year seven!!!) Our wrangler, Aisling the Bard, asked us to do a Tarot spread in honor of this Solilune (a combination of Solar and Lunar Festivals)--a full moon on a solar holiday--to see what our coming year is going to be like.

Uhhh...I have been religiously avoiding all forms of divination, especially readings concerning the future, since 4:13 pm on December 2nd.

Long story short: I started a project that was supposed to be a one-off project. One installment, that's it. Just a little something to show anyone crazy enough to invite me to speak at an esoteric convention, exactly what type of lecture I would give. (Hint--it is more of stand-up comedy act than an actual occult lecture.)

How likely is it that I would need such a script? Oh, more likely than you would think. It was the strangest thing to be asked to speak when I didn't even consider myself a F-List Occult Expert. And my first time being asked--more than a decade ago at this point. The cherry on top? More than one person has asked me if I wanted to do this since then.

Anyways, this "short one-off project--just need an hour script" has chewed up at least an half hour everyday since December 2nd, as well as several ten hour days. Most of it on installments that I had no idea were in me.

And while the question of "Am I wasting my time working on this?" has came up--in my mind--because I have the voices--in particular, my mother's voice--I have religiously avoided looking into the future (beyond a few "What else is possible?" moments) since I started the project.

It is not that I don't want to know as much as it is that I don't want to hear the statement that I am probably wasting my time before I finish building my sales funnel for this project (that's three installments for the non-selling stuff on the internet crowd).

"How about we finish the funnel before we go looking for bad news?"

Short story long: I already have enough abandoned projects to last me a lifetime.

So let's do a Tarot reading, shall we?

Foundation

Seven of Swords, Knight of Wands, Five of Swords.

"Opps, I scanned those cards in the opposite order..."

The Foundation is where the focus is going to be for the year ahead.

Land (Body): Five of Swords...could this be fighting migraines and the voices in my head. Hopefully, because otherwise this could be that the villagers have found some flaming torches and pitchforks. Oh wait, that might just be the voices in my head. Or maybe I am going to upset people.

"We will never know."

Sky (Mind): Knight of Wands...this card reminds me of the Marvel Comic's version of Loki. That is probably...probably...is there any way to read this card in a manner where that would be a good thing?

"There are the gods of comedy, and they bring us fresh gifts every day on Facebook, just look at the trendings..."

Sea (Spirit): Seven of Swords...is it too late to just grab my toys and slip off quietly in the night? Is it wrong to make jokes about the occult community? Will the occult community get upset?

"For once, after completing a project, I would like to cash in--but the pawn shop says that there is no market for a smart ass and his jokes in today's occult market."

Construction

Knight of Cups, Four of Cups, The Empress.

"Oh, I scanned these cards in the wrong direction also."

The Guardian (What is the energy of the new path that presents itself?): The Empress...my mother or my aunt?!? Both? My mother's bad attitude (judgmental!) and my aunt's religion (a witch of the 1970s Wiccan type).

"Can you tell jokes about witches and not sound judgmental?"

The Guide (From what do I need protection on this journey?): Four of Cups...and that would be an inclination towards depression and abandoning projects. That would be the "down pole" of my bipolar.

"Have I mentioned the voice of my mother yet? And how it continues to echo in my head?"

The Gateway (What energies of my own or of the spirit will guide and protect me?): The Knight of Cups...is it just me or does the version of the card look a little depressing?

"And under my depression, there is this happy little cynic who is not surprised by how crap the human race is. Yes, I know that I should be uplifting, celebrating life, toasting humanity's greatness...but I am having trouble seeing it at the moment. I have mentioned the trending topics on Facebook?"

Surprise

Three of Swords, Six of Cups, Two of Pentacles.

"It takes real talent to scan three rows of Tarot cards in the wrong direction. You can't learn to do that in school."

Surprise--light one lantern if the surprise is coming by land: Two of Pentacles...this particular version of this card tells us that no matter how successful and entertaining of a performer you are, you can't make everyone happy.

"My wife just pointed out that the wall, or is it a stage?, has four faces on it--three happy, one angry...nice to know that I am going to sell four whole copies, and get at least one negative review...[Inner Neophyte's voice] because that wouldn't encourage me at all."

Surprise, surprise--light two lanterns if the surprise is coming by air: Six of Cups...in no way does this card remind me of one of my sisters (or more than one of them), and I am confident that they would never check out my current project.

"Which means that I am totally stealing the Hot Dog Surprise and telling people about its culinary delights."

Surprise, surprise, surprise--light three lanterns if the surprise is coming by sea: Three of Swords...because this is always a happy card. Keep your bags packed--have ransom demands ready--be prepared to do battle.

"Just noticed that there are skulls in the snow. You know that it is going to be a fun surprise when there are skulls in the snow."

And there we go--everything you need to know about a reading that I have been avoiding for the last two months...

"Along with some creative mis-readings to lure me into a false sense of security. Because that is what you want from a Tarot reading, reassurance that you are not going to blow yourself up while using high explosions. Never mind reading the directions. Never mind that you do not know the language that the directions are in. Never mind that the illustrations seemed to have been printed in the wrong order. Just keep pounding on that stick of dynamite with a hammer. What could possibly go wrong? We will never know."

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New Year Wishes (Tarot Blog Hop)

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Welcome to the Yule 2017 edition of the Tarot Blog Hop. Our wrangler, Ania, asked us to consider what card best represented our past year, and what card best represented our wishes for next year.

Death--sitting on a pile of past decisions and events while looking for a way to move forward. 

2017 was a year of Death for me. Literal death.

Early in the year, the president of the board of Hearthstone Community Church, Alia Denny died. That shook me up. Well, it shook the whole board up--not just me. The most basic of questions, such as "Would Hearthstone continue without Alia?" had already been answered. (Yes, it would--that is why we had a full board for the administration of the church.) Other questions, such as "With Alia gone, does Morgan still get to walk around and act weird?" are still being answered. (Honestly, I used Alia as a safety net--I got to be odd while she held down the respectable community member role--along with the other board members.) I have been considering my role in the local Wiccan/pagan community ever since she has died--"Do I want to take a bigger role in the community? Do I need to? Would the community be better off without me?"

Then my mother-in-law committed suicide, due to health issues, during the summer. Donna was my wife's best friend--her and my wife loved one another very much--shopping together, they went on vacation once together to Yellowstone. My wife and my brother-in-law took her death hard. And I was surprised how much it stirred up my own issues (my ongoing mental illness--depression, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, occasional roller coaster mood swings). I was more deeply affected by these two deaths than the death of my own mother a couple of years ago. As for my wife, some days are better than others--the best I can do is try to be supportive.

It is that "try to be supportive" part that has been the hardest for me. I don't come from a family that taught one to be supportive. Or maybe it was just my place in the family. Basically, my role was to sacrifice everything, including my own desires, for the good of my mother and my siblings. As such, I never feel that I am doing enough for others--and I will sacrifice my own damn good for other people without thinking about it. And it drives my wife insane that I do so. I swear I am trying to help as I run around destroying my own chances for success--and all the while I resent what I think that I am required to do. At some point, I realized that the best I could do to be supportive was to try to act like a normal person--it has not been easy--I have never done so much medical marijuana in my life to keep myself emotionally stable.

Remaining stable has been complicated by the fact that my wife's job hunt was interrupted by her mother's death...which leads to the card that I have chosen for next year.

[Designing the Death card for the Monkey Tarot, I decided to depict the card with a monkey sitting on a pile of skulls wearing a Day of the Dead mask, holding in one hand a bunch of flowers and in the other, a pomegranate. Essentially, we sit on a throne of the bones of our ancestors, making jokes to make sense of the harshness of the universe, watching death be quick and sudden one day, slow and lingering the next, while watching out for those moments that are not the end, but rather a beginning of a new stage of existence.]

Eight of disks--pounding out projects in a systematic approach to build up a body of work.

The card that I think sums up what I hope to happen next year is the Eight of Pentacles. Earlier this year, before all the death and sorrow, I made a plan for my business after much studying of how successful writers were making money as writers.

What I have observed is that successful writers stick to projects until they finish them. Everything else is just a support mechanism for that goal--finishing projects--including selling books to afford to be able to write other books.

I have not been good at finishing projects. The voices in my head, which sound remarkably like my mother's voice, tell me that I need to be successful right out of the gate, and that I am not allowed any resources to accomplish this goal. I have spent a lot of time trying to find that perfect project that will generate a lot of money while costing nothing in resources. So in space of a week, I will have started and abandoned seven projects. This was especially true before I started taking bipolar meds.

Just in case, you do not realize how bad the voices in my head are, consider the following idea: "You are supposed to be making a hundred thousand a year without spending a single dime, or wasting large amounts of time creating product."

Unfortunately, being a writer involves dumping a lot of time and resources into projects that one does not know if they are going to succeed or not. For instance, every successful writer making a living as a writing, if they write series of novels, has at least three books in their series (that's three whole novels!). And they did the three books set routine again and again until they discovered their successful series.

Now, I used to be able to make some money doing short stand-alone stories, but the dubious erotica market has dried up over the last few years as people have screamed, "Children can find erotica when they search for books" and blamed the writers for ebook retailers not having a proper adult filter for their searches. My estimate of how much potential income this has cost me runs thousands of dollars a year. At one point, there were erotica writers making hundreds of thousands per quarter (yes, I said "quarter"). But no, that would make things far too simple. With Barnes and Noble bringing their policies in line with everyone else's, those days were over (please note, I made my plan six months before B&N closed their system to dubious erotica).

Anyways, earlier this year, I broke down and told my wife, in painful detail, what I actually needed to do, if I wanted to start making money as a writer again. One, I had to switch fields; two, literally had to write at least three novels with only a best guess what would get readers to shell out money; three, I had to give up the idea that I could pull this miracle off without burning up resources or sufficient amounts of time; four, never think about returning to minimum wage restaurant work ever again.

And five, I had to continue taking bipolar meds; and for those really bad blind panic days, accept the fact that it was best for everyone concerned that I eat a "magical cookie."

Now, my wife has been amazed at the change in my thought process, thanks to the meds. I am also surprised--it is like I am a different person than I was for the first fifty years of my life.

So when everything went sideways, with death, and more death, and let's call the B&N policy even more death, I have somehow managed to stay on the side of functional. I have also managed to stick to the plan to reinvent myself as a writer. It has been slow going...because I have been placing comforting my wife above hacking out words...but hey, I have managed to keep my eyes on the prize of actually finishing a series (or at least, the first three installments).

The idea for 2018 is to keep on writing and focusing on a single large project (three novels same world!)--to stick to my business plan.

[Designing the Eight of Pentacles for the Monkey Tarot, I decided to use the image of Shakespeare Monkey, combined with a symbol of a factory approach to production. Shakespeare Monkey refers to the idea that if you have an infinite number of monkeys and an infinite amount of time, monkeys randomly typing can produce the exact text of Shakespeare. It is an idea that I encountered as a teenager which periodically crops up in my work. Red typewriter is a symbol of self-promotion--something I need to get better at. Dice are obviously a symbol of randomness--and sometimes success looks exactly like randomness--why do some people succeed and other people fail? And behind the monkey is a logo for the most famous company in the universe--ACME--because building a successful series involves work. Trivia--with the five and three visible on this side of the dice, the opposite side has to be a four and a two...42...yes, I am that nerd.]

The idea of a blog hop is to link to each other's blogs in a giant circle.

Thanks for reading this installment of the Tarot Blog Hop. Feel free to hop backwards to Joanne Sprott's Cosmic Whispers Tarot blog, or forward to Jay Cassel's Metaphysical Musings blog. And if there are any link problems, check out the Master List of all the entries in this edition.

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Death so much death (where can I order the rebirth)

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Welcome to the October Tarot Blog Hop. The theme for this particular hop is: Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (The King is Dead, Long Live The King) Birth, Death & Rebirth...which seems fitting considering the ghastly year that I had. 

For those who have not heard about the year I have been having: First, the head of the Hearthstone Community Church (the "open full moon people"), Alia Denny died early this year; and then just a couple of months ago, my mother-in-law committed suicide because she no longer felt able to deal with her own health issues. These two events have been forcing me to reconsider my role in the local Wiccan community, deal with my own suicidal tendencies, and double-guess decisions I made before these two deaths. 

Our wrangler asked us to ask three questions of the cards:

1: What do the cards tell you about where this cycle has  lead you--where have you been?

Knight of Cups: I started this cycle focused on my writing, and the projects that I wanted to complete. But instead of accomplishing anything, I have been forced to consider that maybe the idea of being a writer (a successful one) is just a pipe dream. Both deaths caused serious disruptions in the flow of my writing. The only thing that is keeping me from chucking it all in is the fact that I get fed up with "management" after a mere ten minutes of watching someone else manage a business, and the fact that I believe my wife would be displeased with me if I gave up on my writing (she says I am a nasty person when I am managing a restaurant). So now, I am kinda depressed and moody, and double-guessing the value of what I was (maybe still am) working on. 

(For the curious, I am most passionate about writing stuff in the Great Gherkin/Sister Seuss universe...which consists of me making jokes about the occult community. It is not educational, uplifting, or even potentially marketable. Still ninety percent of my output lately is connected to that universe. All other projects have dropped by the wayside more or less.)

Knight of Cups.

2: What do the cards tell you about where you are headed--where are you going?

Eight of Wands: Unfortunately, this card just seems to indicate that I am going to continue to be wrapped up in "the project that is just going to p*ss people off." I do find it amusing that the figure in the card is green--Hulk smash! The writing in that particular universe tends to go fast which matches the speed that I imagine the future boycott of my work is going to take. 

I would try to wiggle out of this reading, and aim for the Harmic Barrow stuff....but that is also a project that I think people are going to be upset about (the Barrow universe touches upon racism). 

On the positive side, I assume that the storm will pass quickly and my offense soon forgotten by most people (there will be a couple of people who will be upset for a long time, but considering that they have held grudges against me for other offenses seemingly forever--they don't really count).

Eight of Wands.

3: What do you feel has changed for you at the end of this cycle along your journey of life?

Three of Swords: Panic attacks. That sums up where I am currently at. (According to the lore, this card can indicate panic attacks, so let's go with that.) Lately, I have had quite a few of them. Not only am I double-guessing my ability to string sentences together, our household budget is in shambles (my wife's job hunt was interrupted by her mom's death), so that just makes the voices in my head saying, "Go back to restaurant work you f***ing loser" that much louder. Plus my wife is not necessarily in a good place emotionally. I will admit that a certain amount of self-medication is happening on my end, just so that I can keep the worst of the panic at bay. I am sure that she will recover, that I might recover (no promises--I have always been a little insane), and that we will survive. Still, I am not in a comfortable place at the moment. 

Three of Swords.

So thanks for reading. I encourage you to read other entries from this blog hop (hopefully, other people are doing better than I am). Until next time, INRI-LVX-IAO.

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Mystic Repast (Cakes and Ale)

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Welcome to the Mabon Tarot Blog Hop. Regular readers will remember that the the Tarot Blog Hop is an online blogging event where members of the TBH come together, all writing about the same subject, and linking to each other's blogs in a big circle. Regular readers will also remember that I quite often don't exactly blog about the topic in the manner that one would expect.

We were given two possible choices this blog hop: Tarot characters and sacred cooking (feasts), or Tarot characters and beauty products.

Given that I often walk around for hours in the morning before glancing at a mirror (useful for greeting Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, and other door-to-door sales types), it is obvious that I am going to give beauty products a pass, and focus on sacred cooking instead.

The task for those of us who chose the food option was to imagine what some Tarot characters would cook, and how they would cook, what ingredients they would use for a sacred meal.

I decided to tell a story about the Fool and the High Priestess (or is it the Empress), and how the High Priestess would whack the Fool with her wooden spoon that doubled as a wand because the Fool's idea of a Sacred Meal was a roasted chicken from the local deli and a bag of Doritos, and...

...that is as far as I got.

Then I thought about the time I accidentally made bluish-purple pancakes (it is what happens when you use frozen blueberries)...which would be the Eight of Pentacles, and obviously the Star Trek engineer would do something...

...and that is as far as I got on that one.

Then my mind turned to the Mystic Repast as done in Golden Dawn, and its Wiccan counterpart, Cakes and Ale. And I got stuck there...

For those who are unfamiliar with Golden Dawn, the Mystic Repast is a sacred meal that is part of the end ritual of the Neophyte Grade (0=0) which is the first level of membership and study in the tradition. It is administered by the Hierophant of a lodge (think gaggle of students led by someone making up answers to the student's questions as they go along...or maybe that was just my experience).

It consists of a Rose (East), a Red Lamp (South), a loaf of bread and a bit of salt (North), and a chalice of wine (West); all placed on the black double-cube altar along with the Mystic Triangle and Red Cross.

The officers of the lodge partake first (except for the Kerux--announcing officer--who goes last); then by the students of the lodge based first on their Grade in the system, and secondly by their date of entry.

The Hierophant says, "I invite you to smell with me the perfume of this Rose, sacred symbol of the element of Air. I invite you to feel the heat of this Lamp, emblem of sacred Fire. I invite you to eat with me this bread and salt, symbols of Earth. And finally drink with me this wine [or juice pretending to be wine] as emblem of the element of Water."

In one of the instructional documents of the tradition, the Mystic Repast is referred to as The Formula of the Justified One. "For Osiris-On-Nophris, who is found perfect before the Gods, hath said: These are the Elements of my Body, Perfected through suffering, Glorified through Trial. For the scent of the Dying Rose is as the repressed sigh of my suffering: And the flame-red Fire as the energy of mine Undaunted Will: And the Cup of Wine is the pouring out of the Blood of my Heart, Sacrificed unto Regeneration, unto the Newer Life: And the Bread and Salt are as the Foundations of my Body, which I destroy in order that they be renewed. For I am Osiris Triumphant, even Osiris-On-Nophris, the Justified One: I am He who is clothed in the Body of Flesh, Yet in whom is the Spirit of the Great Gods: I am the Lord of life, triumphant over Death. He who partaketh with me shall arise with me. I am the Manifestor in Matter of Those Whose Abode is the Invisible: I am purified: I stand upon the Universe: I am its Reconciler with the Eternal Gods: I am the Perfector of Matter: And without me, the Universe is not."

There is more to the Mystic Repast than just this, but this should be enough information for the reader to follow the rest of this post.

The symbols of the Four Elements given as the Mystic Repast.

And when I say I got stuck there--I mean that I kept thinking about different layers of this part of the Neophyte ritual. 

For instance, the obvious Tarot card that is serving the Mystic Repast is the Hierophant; after all, the officer that is administering the Repast is the Hierophant. Except that only the outer appearance of the Hierophant is associated with the Tarot card of that name. When the Floor Officers (those officers who do not remain sitting on the Dais during the Neophyte ritual) are associated with Tarot cards on the planetary layer, the Hierophant cannot be the Hierophant card, for the simple reason that the Hierophant card is a zodiac card, and not a planet card. 

If your eyes glazed over at any point during the preceding paragraph, feel free to skip this section and resume reading below the next picture in this post. 

For those brave souls who stuck around, and still have no clue what I am going on about, just bear in mind that I was initiated into the Neophyte Grade of a Golden Dawn group twenty-five years ago, and into its Inner Order a couple of years later, and have been active more or less constantly practicing its style of magic since then; and therefore, have spent more time tinkering with the system than a most sane people have spent trying to figure out how the latest phone works. 

Again, I suggest that you run for the hills and skip to below the next picture. 

So looking at this from the viewpoint of the planetary cards, I know that the Hierophant represents the Sun, and therefore is more proper to be the Sun card itself. But viewing the ritual as the basis of magic, the Hierophant could also be the Magician (Mercury). There are also the view that the High Priestess is involved here (Moon), and there is the influence of the Universe card (Saturn). And...

...at some point, I came to the conclusion that from a viewpoint of magical operations that each of the planetary associated cards could be administering the Mystic Repast during an operation dealing with their respective planets. This also could be true of the Neophyte ritual itself which is considered to be a summary and overview of the entire Golden Dawn tradition; and therefore, shows the influence of the planets working on the newly minted member of the system (this is especially true if one was forced to serve in each of the six other Floor Officer positions before being allowed to serve as Hierophant--the Hierophant would be informed and shaped by those offices, their duties, and their associated energies--they have partaken of all the planets.)

Plus if one extends the symbolism of the Mystic Repast to include its mythical story lines, one ends up with other Tarot cards also being represented in part by the Mystic Repast: Osiris was torn asunder by Set (Devil card), put back together by Anubis and Isis (Moon card), the Elements themselves (the Four Aces), etc. 

Eventually if one thinks and mediates hard enough on the Mystic Repast, one sees echoes of the entire universe, and the kabbalah that describes it, in the Elements being served. 

At this point, I must admit that I might have gone a little mad.  But that is ok, for everyone in Golden Dawn is a little mad.

The seven planetary Major Arcana according to the Golden Dawn Tradition.

Ok, we are all back together now--those who attempted to understand what I was going on about, and those who just smiled and wondered if the madman would go away if one offered him a cookie. 

One of the reasons that so much time is spent thinking about the aspects of the Neophyte ritual is that the ritual is the basis of much of the magical operations that a Golden Dawn magician performs. It also colors much of the magic that one does outside of the system, as well as adding a layer to whatever religion (if any) that the member observes. For instance, it colors my experience of Cakes and Ale, the Wiccan version of the sacred meal. 

Now, we were to ask what a Tarot character would serve at a sacred feast, and how they would cook it, etc. For me, this is actually a real life game. 

I do a lot of ritual, including an annual open Wiccanish ritual. Near the end of designing of every ritual, the question comes up--"What are we going to use for Cakes and Ale?" The obvious answer--Cakes and Ale--often needs to be adjusted. For instance, I know several people who have a non-gluten requirement...what bloody Tarot card would one associate with non-gluten food...the Devil...yeah, the Devil...I think. As for Ale, it along with Wine, are not suitable for public rituals, so it is grape juice, or apple juice, or water (as one of the other members of Denver Open Full Moon community uses).  

In private rituals, I often include a pomegranate in my Cakes and Ale (Universe and High Priestess cards). Other things I have used: chocolate and honey (Empress), gold foil chocolate coins (Wheel of Fortune), fortune cookies (Magician), handwritten poetic fortunes (Magician--trickster), beef jerky and Twinkies (Death and Last Judgement...one of my honored dead I associate with those foods).   

And so it goes. 

In closing, I would like to tell a joke:

Strength says to their furkids, "Yes, I see that you are not happy with tonight's meal. This is what I am offering. Eat or starve. You have four types of dry food in your bowls. I am not going to the grocery store, just to get you something else to turn your nose up at."

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