Tarot | An Exploration Project

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November 1, 2023

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November 1, 2023

"Crazy quilt," revisited . . .

Cynthia Giles
Nov 2, 2023
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November 1, 2023

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I’m departing from the essay format for this post, and returning to the “crazy quilt” model that came along several times in the past. For example:

August 7, 2022

August 7, 2022

Cynthia Giles
·
August 7, 2022
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Today’s version was prompted by a couple of things coming together. One—I’ve been reflecting on EP posts from the past, and two—I came across an interesting structure for revisiting them.

I wrote in a recent Notebook Page about a documentary series called Five Levels, in which an expert on some topic (such as quantum physics!) explains the topic to five different people:

  • A small child

  • A high-school student

  • A college undergraduate

  • A graduate student, and

  • A professional colleague

Of course I thought about how one might explain or discuss Tarot at each of those levels. And here’s what I came up with:

Small child - interesting pictures

Teenager - creative exploration

Undergrad - literature and culture

Grad student - history and psychology

Colleague - divination

Looking over that top-of-mind breakout, I realized it’s also a high-level look at the topic categories of EP posts.

Presto! Match made.


I don’t want to call these “favorites”—but I’ve chosen two posts that seem especially apt for each of the Five Levels. Some are as they were originally published, some have been revised a bit.

(And by the way, if Gmail cuts off this email, just click on “View entire message.”)


Interesting Pictures

Artists Remake the Tarot

Cynthia Giles
·
December 9, 2021
Artists Remake the Tarot

In 2011, the UK’s Focal Point gallery put together an exhibition titled “Outrageous Fortune: Artists Remake the Tarot.” And curator Andrew Hunt’s idea for organizing the show was as complex as a Tarot reading. Each artist from a selected group was asked to recruit five more artists—creating a randomized group with unpredictable connections. Each of the …

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Two Illustrators Take on the Trumps

Cynthia Giles
·
August 15, 2021
Two Illustrators Take on the Trumps

Last week I decided to simplify life by using my Ten Doors construct as a way of organizing the ten-day Daily Notes experiment. And here we are at #3, the “Aesthetic Door.” From this vantage, you will see Tarot as a predefined set of images and ideas that can inspire or structure works of visual art. |Along the aesthetic path, you may expect to discover …

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Creative exploration

Haute Tarot

Cynthia Giles
·
August 22, 2021
Haute Tarot

To be honest — I did not see this coming. And that’s because I failed to notice when the Dior/Tarot convergence got started in 2016. And as turns out, much has happened since. But let’s start with a genuine milestone in Tarot history: the 2018 resort collection, in which Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri collaborated with Tarot le…

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Performing the Tarot

Cynthia Giles
·
September 7, 2021
Performing the Tarot

Aura CuriAtlas was founded in 2013 to “find magic in ordinary situations, presented in unusual ways.” Blending dance, theatre, and acrobatics to tell stories, the company takes its unusual name from the combined qualities of lightness (Aura), strength (

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Literature and culture

Lore

Ken Kesey: Prankster, Magician, Fool

Cynthia Giles
·
August 31, 2021
Ken Kesey: Prankster, Magician, Fool

Recently, I had a new insight into The Fool. The surprising source was Ken Kesey, whose One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1968) became one of the 20th century’s best-known novels, and was adapted into Jack Nicholson’s most famous movie. Kesey was not only a literary icon, it seems—but also a student of Tarot.

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Lore

Suzanne Treister's Hexen 2.0 Tarot

Cynthia Giles
·
August 31, 2021
Suzanne Treister's Hexen 2.0 Tarot

I’m still trying to fathom the extent (and intent) of Suzanne Treister’s Hexen 2.0 project, but I’ll tell you what I’ve figured out so far. Beginning with—these comments from a 2013 New York Times review of the Hexen installation, then showing at a New York gallery:

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History and psychology

History

Makers of Modern Tarot: New Horizons

Cynthia Giles
·
August 19, 2021
Makers of Modern Tarot: New Horizons

So far in “Makers of Modern Tarot” . . . The Golden Dawn arose as the most influential secret society of the late 19th century, then fragmented in the early 20th century--undone to a great extent by the opposing personalities and theories of two men. (Catch up in

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Rethinking Tarot Origins

Cynthia Giles
·
Nov 1
Rethinking Tarot Origins

Part One Over the past few months, I have been revising and updating Part One of The Tarot: History, Mystery, and Lore. The four chapters of Part One trace the history of Tarot from before we have any material artifacts to around 1980. In this process, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to rethink what I wrote thirty years ago.

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Divination

Connecting with Tarot

Cynthia Giles
·
December 20, 2020
Connecting with Tarot

We are not likely to know the right questions until we are close to knowing the answers . . . Physicist Steven Weinberg By the end of the following account, I had become a full-time Tarot reader, author, and teacher. But at the beginning, I was in graduate school, continuing my studies of archetypal psychology and cultural …

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Fortune/Telling

Cynthia Giles
·
July 15, 2021
Fortune/Telling

In Connecting with Tarot, I shared a little personal history — including my most unforgettable Tarot experience: reading for hundreds (literally!) of strangers, over three beautiful summers spent as the resident fortune-teller for Scarborough Renaissance Fair…

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As always . . . thanks for reading. Or re-reading! C

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November 1, 2023

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