11.21.2024
Thursday evening--again!
Hello, everyone—and a warm welcome to new readers. If you’re just tuning in, or need a recap: EP is now scheduled to deliver a new email every Thursday evening.
Here’s more explanation:
Tonight’s newsletter is fairly short, though, for a couple of reasons:
First: There will be another post tomorrow (11.22!), highlighting the launch of EP’s companion newsletter, Tarot | In Four Dimensions.
Second: There will be yet another post this Sunday, starting off a series of five “Sunday Surveys” that will end on—yes, it’s true—12.22.
These special editions will put EP ahead for the coming week, which won’t have a Thursday evening email because that’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S.
So tonight’s post is partly a down-payment, and partly a reassurance that “Tarot Everywhere” will remain a consistent feature of EP. For newcomers—these items report synchronicities (sometimes major, often minor) that lead along an unexpected path to a surprising Tarot discovery.
And here’s a really outstanding example!
Today’s Tarot Everywhere Journey . . .
From Vintage Disaster Movies to a Now-Rare Tarot
We start with a personal decision I made—in part as a response to recent and current events IRL. I had the impulse to create two new Substacks, where I can publish some past writing, along with emerging ideas, on two related-but-different topics: “disaster fiction” and “classic science fiction.”
I’m motivated partly by the therapeutic pleasure of writing about things that interest me, and partly by a desire to make connections (across histories and genres) with things that are going on in the world today. If any of you are potentially interested in these new adventures, I’ll be inviting readers soon.
But the relevance for now is that I’ve been going over some of the classic movies and books I plan to discuss. And “by chance”—a new, free streaming service popped up on my Roku TV. It’s called The Essential Sci-Fi Channel, and it totally lives up to that name.
Scrolling their huge library, I came across movies I had forgotten I ever knew about. Including some good but under-appreciated productions, and some less-good but historically interesting films.
And in the latter category is a 1933 film that has been recognized as the first true “disaster movie.” However, it was completely lost until a few years ago, when separate pieces were rediscovered and put together in an impressive recreation of the original.
I found all that out after taking a curiosity-look at this unfamiliar title—and becoming immediately fascinated. I’d love to go on . . . but for EP purposes we must turn back to the Tarot connection.
And it’s not far away. A little research revealed that the film was based on a now-obscure 1928 novel, which I wanted to know more about. That led me to the Wayback Machine, and a review of Deluge posted years ago on Bookslut.
I had completely forgotten that Jessa Crispin created and managed this irreverent, very popular book review site from 2002 until 2016. (Read an excellent commentary about the site here, if you’re interested.)
Jessa Crispin?
Yes indeed, the author of The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life—which is listed here on EP in:
A delighted “Aha!” on my part, of course. And since we are in Tarot Everywhere territory, I knew there had to be a deck somewhere.
Which brings us to:
The Spolia Tarot, co-created by Crispin and artist Jen May.
It’s an expanded deck of 94 cards—the standard 78 cards, plus 12 zodiac cards, and a card for each of the 4 elements (earth, air, fire and water). The rich, densely allusive collage images were created by the old-fashioned cut-and-paste method, then turned into functional cards by designer Tara Romeo.
The only copy I found for sale recently was listed on eBay for $800 and sold for some amount this past September. If you’re not lucky enough to have one, settle for vicarious enjoyment via this Little Red Tarot review.
Detailed and thoughtful, with lots of pictures.
As always—thanks so much for reading. See you tomorrow! C