The Hanged Man

suspended reality & philosophic introspection | self discovery & exploration of profound existential inquiry

[guerrillatech]

[silly-slacker-person]

There are political newspaper comics that aren't this succinct

[cryptotheism]

I wonder how different languages effect different cultures conception of magic. Makes a girl wish we had like, actual robust historical information on indigenous Celtic religions. It'd be fun to see the difference between how they talked about themselves versus how some Random Centurion described them.

[lepandv]

It absolutely does! And since Gaelic is more similar to Semitic languages than European ones, I think it would be interesting to see if such a version found any parallels are all with magic and mysticism in Semitic cultures.

That said, I wrote a little thing a while back about how language may have shaped the production and interpretation of tarot cards - specifically in certain differences between the Smith-Waite deck and the decks in the style of Marsigliesi/Marseille, etc. It includes a link to a cool a TED talk from someone who studies how our language changes how we perceive things

The Hanged Man

Notice the difference? I'm not talking about the colors, or the difference in imagery to illustrate the symbolism, or the numbering conventi

[unholyhymns]

i like to play a game called Alcohol Poisoning where you take a drink (not a shot) every time an occult author uses the word womb. easy mode is doing this while reading book descriptions on a website. hard mode is doing this while reading books themselves. nightmare mode is doing this but also taking a shot if the author is incredibly weird about it. you can only stop playing if you die or if you come across a use of the word that is actually necessary and not weird or bigoted

[lepandv]

I should hope to meet death as an old friend, bearing neither debt nor regret.

[deadlizardqueen]

Honey Roasted Acorn Squash over Linguini, mushrooms, spinach, and garlic with a homemade sesame sauce (ground toasted sesame seeds, salt; and a small amount of brown sugar, cinnamon bark, and star anise)

[lepandv]

It is when I am grinding seeds, herbs, spices, etc; in my mortar, that I feel the most connected with my ancestors. Grinding sesame seeds to a paste for this dish’s sauce brought me into that space, so strong it might have been a trance. There is magic - real magic - that happens in cooking. There is so much you can learn inside a frying pan… And truly, I hope, that I can leave this world a little weirder and a little more wonderful than I found it… and get a few good meals in between all that, too.

[inthefallofasparrow]

XVI. The Tower

[lepandv]

JESUS FUCK I GOT TOO MANY SWORDS

[lepandv]

Ultimately, I’d like to open up a bar —

GREEN FAERIE GLIZZIES

a hotdog & absinthe bar

[apocalypse-polakiewicz]

[rednines]

[lepandv]

Notice the difference? I'm not talking about the colors, or the difference in imagery to illustrate the symbolism, or the numbering conventions - I'm actually talking about something a bit more fundamental.

It's the faces.

English is a Germanic language and although we've since dropped 'gender' from our grammar, its legacy still played a role in shaping how we perceive the world around us. Tarot, having its roots in romance languages, makes its gendering clear in the text - The Moon is feminine, The Sun is masculine. The old Germanic forms, however, do the opposite: in modern English's precursors, The Moon was masculine and The Sun was feminine. This seemingly innocuous difference can radically redefine our understanding of the symbolism embedded in these illustrations, as well as how its applied. I think, in certain respects, that symbolism is pretty clear too: The Moon, for example, shows two nearly identical towers framing either side of the card. Symmetry. The Sun, however, eschews such symbolic symmetry for a much more organic design - featuring, of course; flowers (the feminine sex organ of plants), and a child (that thing which a 'woman,' in this sense, can create that a 'man' cannot).

Even the colors, to some extent, conform to the stereotypes we might except from the era: bright, warm colors to signify the fiery passion of the spirit of women. Cool, muted colors to underscore the logical, analytic reasoning the men of the era were so insistent they possessed.

Was this an intentional change, or an oversight? Or psychic inspiration? How many other symbols and their interpretation have changed due to the way our language shapes how we think?

Lera Boroditsky has some incredible insights about how our language shapes our understanding of the world around us - this Ted Talk is a great introduction to some of these concepts (including how The Sun being feminine and The Moon being masculine, or vice versa, changes our reactions to it fundamentally). She also has several incredible, lengthy, lectures that go in depth on science and philosophy of this subject.

There's so much more that tarot still has to teach us, and some of that isn't even in the cards themselves, but instead how we interpret them and why we interpret them that way.

[lepandv]

I think, for a lot of us in the western occult traditions, our first encounter with Tarot is the Rider-Waite deck. It's definitely pervasive. It's the deck from which I began my own studies, originally, though I did - for a time - reject it as well.

The deck itself has a fascinating history and origin, very much divorced from the tarot & tarocchi decks which inspired it. That doesn't make it less legitimate. I do think it's important to emphasize that the deck's creator is neither Waite nor Rider; that it was Pamela Coleman Smith who created this deck - according to Waite's specifications (and he was kinda a shit about some of it) - and that the original colors were modified by Rider for printing.

Maybe the Rider-Waite deck isn't any more or less legitimate than the Smith-Waite decks now available, but I do think the corrected Smith-Waite decks are more authentic to the visions that constructed this tarot. More to the point, it's important - to me, at least - to honor the occultist, spiritualist, traveller, and artist who's painstaking work culminated in this Tarot. Smith was - is - important.

[lepandv]

The Hanged Man is a reflection of your innermost self. Our bodies survive so much on the physical plane, and we're left with scars and muscles to show for it. Imagine how much your soul has survived on the spiritual plane, and how grotesque it would look to an outside observer who didn't know your story? Survival can be beautiful, and beauty can look monstrous to others.

[cryptotheism]

It's a pedantic quibble, but it bugs me when people say tarot cards are "just ink blots" like no, they are not random shapes. They have shapes and symbology intentionally constructed to guide your interpretation for a reason. The "Ink blot" that you are impressing upon is not the individual card, but the spread as a whole. The cards are constructed to create very specific sorts of "ink blots."

[lepandv]

One thing about humans is our entire experience and how we understand it is shaped through stories. The miracle of language is the gift of storytelling - it may have begun with our ancestors telling a story to another about where the good fruit is, or relating a story about which fruit is ripe and what will happen if you eat the unripe fruit, but that evolutionary advantage has continued on uninterrupted and expanded with each generation. As kids we make up stories to figure out why it rains, and as we get older we adapt new facts into our understanding. The giant in the clouds peeing becomes the process of water vapor escaping upward, condensing into clouds, and falling back down on us. We learn to bring snacks on a hunt because of the stories we heard from our tribe about unsuccessful hunts and the long, hungry walk home. We learn to read the labels on cleaning supplies because the story our cousin tells about the time she accidentally made mustard gas while cleaning the bathrooms.

So much of our experience is shaped through the stories that we’re told, or that we tell, that we take for granted home intrinsic storytelling is to our world view.

Tarot contains so many symbols, concepts, and ideas in each card - incredible amounts of depth and layers, all of which holding the potential for interconnection between one another. Each connected concept modifies the one before and the one after it, and when seen through the lens of our own interpretation - a story emerges. These stories are organic, contain their own lessons and morals, unique in their own way, and befitting whichever subject matter you decide to use as a lens to examine them through.

“Ink blots” is a really, really simplistic description that misunderstands both how ink blots are used and understood, as well as what tarot is and is useful for.

[cryptotheism]

I recently got to see the original RWS deck on display at a museum and i thought of you :3

YO THAT'S DOPE. THERE SHE IS!

[titkoks]

sesame street tarot

[honexjams]

@cryptotheism

[cryptotheism]

I love this dude. This is a masterful demonstration of cartomancy, even from an anti-theist standpoint. This person is able to understand and apply esoteric meanings to the sesame street cards on the fly, and assemble their oddball symbology into a coherent method of magic that produces reasonable advice.

[lepandv]

Hello. I’m interested in the occult, tarot, philosophy, science, and art. This has, of course, necessitated an interest in both history as well as culture. As a consequence of these interests; I tend to appear quite insane and have a habit of constructing complex rambling rants on diverse, seemingly unrelated topics. I also enjoy martial arts, though I’ve been out of practice for quite sometime. Boxing is a favorite of mine.

I identify as a natural philosopher, artist, tarot practitioner, student, and occasional unwitting teacher.

My favorite food is pizza.

I do not offer traditional readings. I will not tell you your future. I may share with you some tasty recipes for a home cooked meal.