2.6.2025
A game of musical Doors . . .
Hello everyone—and a special welcome to new readers. Last week’s post will catch you up with what’s going on in the “Ten Doors” series.
When we left off, I was pondering whether to re-order the Doors once again, in order to arrange “Aesthetic” and “Creativity” more appropriately. And as you might guess—that line of thought took me right down the rabbit hole.
Upshot?
I’ve just written out a new list of the Ten Doors, without looking back at the original. It’s similar in key respects, but I wanted to rethink completely instead of continuing to fidget with the existing version. And I wanted to develop a more fundamental logic.
So here’s what it looks like now
That’s just an informal sketch, but I think it’s heading in the right direction.
By now you may wonder why I’m leaning so far into the details of this—and I have an uncharacteristically simple answer!
I’ve decided to write a short book expanding on the Ten Doors model, and I want to get the basics close to right before I start the book. Goal of the book will be to offer/promote a broader view of what Tarot “is.”
For today, though, the Aesthetic Door is still #4, so for the purpose of taking another step in this Thursday series, here’s a quick recap.
Writers and visual artists who enter through this Door see Tarot not as a set of interesting (even provocative) images, but rather as a meaningfully structured, historically rich whole.
Here I think of
Poets like W. B. Yeats and Sylvia Plath
Painters like Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington
Beat Movement writers like Jack Spicer and Diane di Prima
Each of those creators has been discussed here on EP, along with several others who would fit in the same category. For example:
And now we’re switching to a related topic, because . . .
Just as I was finishing this post, an Agent of Synchronicity (aka, algorithm) introduced me to an obscurely famous Tarot-associated artist I had never heard of: “Jess.”
From the Philadelphia Museum of Art . . .
And here’s the most amazing part:
This incredibly intricate work is 6 feet tall by 4 feet wide.
I will try to find out more about the art of Jess Collins—and in the meantime, you can explore the Jess Collins Trust.
As always, thanks for reading! More soon, C