The Tuesday Newsletter (8.17)
Did you know there are 28 Tuesdays left in 2021?
I’ve been giving much thought to what lies ahead for the EP newsletter. In fact, so much thought that I couldn’t seem to choose a topic for this issue.
Seeking inspiration, I looked through some saved materials, and came across the card shown above. It’s from Brian Crick’s charming “Celestial Stick People” Tarot deck—published by the creator in 2012, but not widely known. Enjoy more examples at AecleticTarot, along with an insightful review by Danusha V. Goska.
This image sparked another rush of ideas, but fortunately one of them stood out:
I began to think about the newsletter project as a journey.
The obvious question is, where have I gotten to so far? And the answer (as you might guess) is that I’m still in the Fool phase.
It occurred to me then that I could use the Major Arcana cards as a structure for the newsletter topics going forward, just as I used Ten Doors for the Daily Notes. The topics wouldn’t be “about” a given card, just thematically inspired.
I like this idea a lot, but I have another one I like too, so will ponder whether they could be combined. For today, though, I’ve decided to set off Foolishly.
And this works out well since one of my decisions at the moment is to publish a small version of a project I laid out many years ago. It was called The Fool’s Kitchen: A Tarot Cookbook—and I suppose it might as well be called that still.
At the time, I created a proposal, an outline, and several sample pages (with recipes). It really is a cookbook, by the way, not a grimoire. Never mind why I didn’t go ahead with it then—long story. But looking at it now, I think it would be a great deal of fun to finish.
Here are the four main parts:
Welcome to The Fool's Kitchen: An Introduction to Archetypal Cooking
The Trumps Set the Table: Twenty-Two Foolish Feasts
The Four Food Groups: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles
Further Foolishness: Enriching the Kitchen Journey
And here are some sample menus from the “Twenty-Two Foolish Feasts”:
High Tea for the High Priestess
A Picnic for the Empress
A Square Meal for the Emperor
Fast Food for the Charioteer
I’ll share a recipe from The Lovers’ romantic dinner in the next newsletter. But for now, I’ll move on to . . .
. . . another publishing whim. I’m going to expand the Ten Doors structure into an ebook, which will include some materials I’ve collected over time, along with some new thoughts.
Beyond those bigger projects, I have a whole list of interesting Lore items to share in the next few issues. Here’s a small one for today: something more about poet Jack Spicer, whose 1958 plan for a Tarot book was posted here on EP recently.
Although Spicer was part of the “Beat era,” he did not consider himself part of the “Beat movement.” A complicated distinction, but here’s a very good explanation:
Unlike his Beat peers, Spicer did not believe that poetry should be the expression of an inspired and uncorked self. Instead, the poet’s work is reduced to an almost mechanical act of listening to and receiving what Spicer called the Outside—a field of forces that invade rather than inspire, and before which the poet is little more than a secretary taking dictation. (Erik Davis, “Voices Carry”)
Reading this, I took a great fancy to Spicer’s idea that poetry is dictated from the “Outside.” I’ve often felt that way about reading Tarot, but have never described the feeling with such poetic economy.
Which gives me the perfect opportunity to say Happy Birthday to Rachel Pollack—who is not only a brilliant author of many fiction and non-fiction works, but a poet in the bargain!
Thanks so much for reading. Today’s newsletter had to be rather short, but I plan to send another on Thursday.
Warmest regards, Cynthia