Look, I’m not immune to buzzwords. I’ve been known to drop a hashtag or two, hoping to catch some internet attention for the things I write. I’m dreadful at SEO, and not nearly on the level of social media influencers or content creators who know how to get eyes on what they make. Frankly, I […]
Read more "On Empty Buzzwords and “Shadow Work”"I’ve written extensively on this blog about the oft-misused term “shadow work,” and about how I, personally, understand the term. For me, shadow work is about cultivating virtue in ourselves: It’s about looking within to understand the ways we think, feel, and act—not in order to justify our bad behavior with a petulant “Well, that’s […]
Read more "A Tarot Spread for Virtues and Vices"I made some bad decisions recently. I got in a fight and said some things I had no right to say. I spoke out of anger and spite, and even though I was right in that moment I was an ugly version of myself that I’m not proud to have been. I like to think […]
Read more "The Three of Pentacles and the Three of Wands, or, The People We Choose To Be"I have a new video up on Youtube! Here are some thoughts on the different things that we mean when we talk about “the Work” in occult spaces, and a quick Tarot spread using the septenaries of the Major Arcana to identify personal, social, and transcendent aspects of your personal work.
Read more "Video: Tarot Septenaries and Inner Work"There are two quotes echoing in my head right now. The first is from the Gospel of Luke. I’m not Christian, but this post is going to go to some Christian places, so brace yourselves in advance. I promise, there’s a reason for it: Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for […]
Read more "The Strength Card and Radical Love"I’ve been doing a lot of shadow work recently. Shadow work is a long, ongoing process, but the specific work I’m doing started a little under a year ago. It’s mostly daddy issues.* Some time back, I shared a spread I’d created for shadow work. I talked about some of the problems I have with […]
Read more "Aristotelian Shadow Work Revisited"I made a Tarot card! No, I am not in the process of designing a whole deck. That’s nowhere on my radar. But I did draw (draw as in “produce by making lines or marks”, not as in “select randomly from a deck”) the Strength card this morning. Scroll down if you want to skip […]
Read more "Gay Pride and the Strength Card (And Coloring!)"This week’s post is going to be on the personal side. This blog is, by its nature, rather personal, but for the most part I try to keep things focused on Tarot, bringing in my own experiences as a jumping-off point for cartomantic discussion. This week, though, it’s really all about me. There’s no Tarot […]
Read more "Shadow Work: The Thoughts We Don’t Allow Ourselves to Think"What do you do when you just can’t bring yourself to like someone? If you’re me, you make a Tarot spread. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of people I dislike. I’m not the world’s greatest judge of character, but I do like to believe that, as a general rule, I like a […]
Read more "A Tarot Spread for People You Can’t Stand"I’ve been thinking a lot about boundaries lately, both in the abstract philosophical sense and in the more practical, personal sense. In popular culture and in the hoobedy-hoobedy world specifically, we talk about Halloween as a time where the boundary between life and death is blurred.* And in the buildup to Halloween (excuse me: Samhain) […]
Read more "Samhain Musings on the High Priestess and Boundaries"
Jack Chanek 