I apologise in advance to all of my long standing friends that you are once again (and again and again) subjected to this ridiculous drama. But once again I find myself accused in public of being a liar and a law breaker. I really have had enough of this misogynist passive aggressive bullying. Continue reading
By the laws of Ma’at, may you reap what you have sown
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Tagged Innerconvocation, Innertemples, Josephine Dunne, Josephine McCarthy, magic, RJ Stewart
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Tarot: Contacted Decks
This is not really a beginner topic but it is one that many people have asked me about. When magicians talked about something being ‘contacted’ either a lodge, a deck or a span of work, what they mean by that phrase is that whatever it is, is has a direct connection, contact or bridge to inner contacts, beings or inner places. Continue reading
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Tarot – The Here and Now; Reading for the Present
Most people think of tarot in terms of looking into the future. That is only one aspect of the use of tarot; there are many. Tarot can be used to look at a present situation, a past situation, or indeed can be used as a form of vocabulary to speak to inner beings, spirits and deities. Continue reading
Women and Magic… a full moon in Leo post!
Something that has bothered me for a long time is something that has come up frequently in magical discussion and that is the issue of women and magic, or to be more precise, sexism in the magical community. Rather than launch into the usual ‘all men a bad and all women are victims’, which is not true by any means, there are some things that as an older woman in my fifties I can pass on to young women stepping out into magic. Continue reading
One more thing….Tarot and Divination – dodging the bullet
Before I move on to reading for the present and the past, there is another dynamic within the process of looking at future events that needs to be taken into account, and that is the process of patterns of events that are locked in place. Sometimes a disaster is going to happen but the person being read for does not necessarily have to be a part of that disaster. Continue reading
Tarot… dealing with the answers: what if you do not like what you see?
I will try and make this post shorter as I have realised I write too much! I’m still getting used to blogging, so thankyou for your patience.
When people first start doing readings, there comes a time when we are confronted with an answer that does not bode well. Many people panic and that is usually the time a lot of people stop doing readings. For a magician, once you step onto the path of divination, there is no real going back, but there are many ways of going forward and as a tool, tarot plays a major part in the magician’s learning journey.
When a magician is confronted by divination that tells of upcoming disaster, there are a series of choices that can be drawn from in order to move forward. Part of magic is about dodging the bullets that life and sometimes magical morons throw at us.
There are times we just have to buckle down and deal with the oncoming onslaught: sometimes it is a necessary obstacle that will teach us a great deal. Other times it is fine to avoid something, and the wisdom is in the knowing what to dodge and what not to. Continue reading
Interpreting Tarot: developing a skill set
For people trying to learn the skill of tarot, the key is not just the deck, but also the interpretation. It is a skill that takes time and practice to develop and for some it is easier than others. If you are used to viewing the world or taking in information in a very ‘black or white’ way, then learning tarot is more likely to be a difficult task.
Interpretation uses the same brain skill as observing patterns: just as a child learns to read the nuances of a human face and the emotions expressed upon that face, so a reader has to learn the subtleties of each card and the patterns that they work within. It is not a skill that can be book studied and then applied in all its glory: like all aspects of magic, tarot truly is an art form that takes practice to develop a proper skill.
All interpretation needs boundaries if it is not going to devolve into flights of fancy, and the boundaries that tarot operates in are context, specific questions and time spans. Continue reading
Reading the Entrails Part One – Divination and Tarot
Luckily for us, divination has developed over the millennia so today we have a variety of choices when it comes to forms of divination. Some are more accurate than others for details, and some give a wider view but little detail. At least we do not have to cut animals open and read their entrails: one of the more bizarre ways of reading the future that was so beloved in the ancient world.
When magicians first start walking the path of magical development, they are confronted with the huge task of learning the outer court skills. One of those skills is divination. The commonest way to learn divination is by learning tarot. The vast array of tarot decks available is mind boggling and can easily overwhelm someone who is just starting out.
When I am working with students, the deck I advise them to get is the Ryder Waite tarot deck. This choice is not because it is better than all others or more profound, rather because it is universally known (and therefore is a vocabulary that can be easily used in teaching/practicing) and it connects into the lines of western magic that flow through many of today’s magical lodges and groups. Like all decks, it has its strengths and weaknesses, but for learning tarot, it is a good basic tool. Eventually, once you have learned one vocabulary/deck, you will explore further. Continue reading
Magic…walking the path..
Hidden in a dark tree
is a golden bough, golden in leaves and pliant stem,
sacred to Persephone, the underworld’s Juno, all the groves
shroud it, and shadows enclose the secret valleys.
But only one who’s taken a gold-leaved fruit from the tree
is allowed to enter earth’s hidden places.– Virgil
One of the things I have observed and been asked about a great deal, particularly by magicians in their earlier stages of development, is how to ‘get there’ – as though there is a defined end point where someone ends up as an adept and they have ‘power’. This need for a horizon and final destination that is so inherent within us has been a major influence in how magical training lodges and groups organise themselves and the training path.
Subsequently, training groups, lodges and organisations have clear defined steps of training; exams, hierarchies and grades encourage a budding magician to study, strive and achieve. The effect of such a path leads to magicians approaching magic like a college or university course: if they do the study, pass the exams and get the certificate then they will be a magical adept. It’s easily understood, is a predictable path to walk and gives the magician a sense of control –‘if I pay for a course and study, I will get there’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Continue reading
Peeling the Onion
During the first few years of magical training and practice, the magician is often young and still forming in terms of character and personality, so habits laid down during this phase of magical development can pay major dividends further down the line.
In the previous post I raised the subject of want and need, and the self examination of these two emotive dynamics in the early part of a magical path. In truth, the questioning of ‘want and need’ never truly ends – it deepens until you think you have ‘got’ it, and then it comes back to bite you in the butt. This is a good thing as it keeps you fresh; it keeps you on your toes and stops you from becoming a total asshole.
People come to magic in all sorts of ways. Some people sign up for a course or attend a workshop. Some people get books and begin their own path, some find mentors, and some just wander blindly into magic without even realising it. I was one of the latter and to be honest, I was completely clueless. I was driven by sheer curiosity and was very much a passenger of impulse. The questioning of want and need came to me later on when I started teaching, but if I had opened that door of examination earlier, I think it would have helped me a lot more. Continue reading
Josephine McCarthy 