News + Letter

The latest on EP . . .

Jan 23, 2021

“The Esoteric Tarot 1: Backgrounds” has been added to the Exploration Project site. It’s the first of three parts, revising/updating Chapter Two of The Tarot: History, Mystery, and Lore.
“The Historical Tarot: A Prologue” is also here on EP now.
I’ve copied “Ten Doors to Tarot” over to the EP site, along with its companion piece “Ten Doors, Ten Books.” Both worth reading, I hope.
And finally . . . two very basic stories—“Structures of Tarot” and “Introduction to Tarot”—have been added on EP. They are adapted from History, Mystery, and Lore.

So everything I originally published on my Medium site is now available here.

I won’t be adding anything new to the Medium publication, in terms of HML text or individual essays. However! I’m starting a new short-form series on Medium, called Tarot Notes. I’ll be sharing opinions, ideas, and discoveries—in 150 words or less.

Once a week I’ll group them up, and send to the EP mailing list.

Second—a letter (of sorts).

Dear Exploration Project readers . . .

I’m going to refocus the EP newsletter on the “project” of answering my own question:

How does (or should) Tarot relate to the wider world?

That was the central point of Newsletter #?—so if you haven’t had a chance to read it, I hope you will. Meantime, I’ve made a start on expanding the question and mapping the search. Look for some first thoughts very soon.

As for revision/expansion of the History, Mystery text—the amount of rewriting I’ve been doing is just not feasible for now. I’ll finish the “Esoteric History” chapter, for the sake of good order! But I won’t redo the other two history chapters (“Makers of Modern Tarot” and “The Transformation of Tarot”).

When I wrote History, Mystery there was very little accurate information available in the “history” category—at least, not laid out in a narrative fashion. But since then there has been a great deal of research and writing on Tarot history, and there are several excellent sources of information. So I think reworking that part of my own book isn’t a key activity.

On the other hand, the “mystery” part of the book is worth revisiting, I think . . . .

I at least want to update the “Light of Science” chapter—but may try to share the others as originally written. Will say more as I get it sorted out.

Lagniappe!

For today’s something extra . . .

I love the Twitter notion in which affinity groups designate days of the week for certain interests: #MythologyMonday, #FairyTaleTuesday, #WyrdWednesday, #FolkloreThursday, #FaustianFriday, #Caturday, and #ShakespeareSunday.

There are specific themes announced for the various days. For example, this week’s FairyTale theme was “Powerful Women”—goddesses, women warriors, and so on. The FaustianFriday theme is “Tricksters.”

Since each of these designated days has potential connections with Tarot, I decided to take advantage in two ways. First, to spread a little Tarot lore where folks would see it. Second, to discover some decks I didn’t know about, and rediscover some I’d forgotten.

It’s been great fun so far! So, thought I’d share some of my Tarot tweets: