Make Your Own Values: Introducing Tarot in Community
two black people, one in bell bottom jeans, and other in striped floral pants having a great time on an orange and blue gradient background.
We must be critical of new age practices even as we work with them.
New age spirituality easily slides towards the right because it easily slides.
It's malleable. It's individual.
That individualism leaves new age practices without an inherent values system.
They can be picked up by anyone. They can be used in any way.
Some of the practices that fall under "new age" were once part of much older systems of belief. Stripping such practices of their origins made them easier to sell.
This is why much of new age practice is ideal for capitalist individualism.
The 1/6 "shaman." Trump's Christian witch (look it up.) The person who says a vegan diet and crystal meditation will cure an active cancer diagnosis.
These people are united in using these modalities on the side of hate.
Because there's no organized new age values, no real elders, and the isolation of practitioners from one another, there's no other side. No collective force of people working in new age modalities is mounting an opposition.
Tarot is neither ancient, nor new age.
It's a lifted tool used for leisure time play by Italy's colonizer class.
Yet because of its inclusion in new age spaces, we're wise to be wary of the way its archetypes are universalized and depoliticized.
Tionfi, the playing card game upon which tarot is based, was, well, a game.
The archetypes that shaped it were exported with European colonialism. They were codified with the founding of the United States over the bodies of Indigenous and Black people.
They exist in our laws, our culture, and in our bodies.
Tarochi, what Tionfi became, emerged in the early 1500s. By 1526, the first enslaved Africans reached the United States.
Tarot is as old as that. Tarot is as young as that.
It's no surprise it can be hard to peg it. We know a fair amount about tarot's history as a playing card game.
We know little when it comes to its history as a tool of divination. What we have are compelling historical anecdotes and conjecture.
So, in the immortal words of Rihanna, "what now?"
We find our own values and let them guide our practice.
Values form our ethics.
Values and ethics guide our actions. Ethics and actions decide whether we are a safe reader, let alone a good one.
When we're clear about and acting in alignment with our values, we seek out people who are doing the same.
I hope Tarot in Community can be one of those places.
If you're ready to join Tarot in Community, here's a rundown of what the next month of your life will look like:
Now--October 30th, 2023
Course: Tarot for Liberation
This is the first course in Tarot in Community!
Courses will be delivered via the app and the internet once every quarter. One segment will be made available each week until the whole course is visible.
This is called a "drip course." Right now, I am opting for drip courses in Tarot in Community so that people are able to learn at a slower pace.
If you're anything like me, you may be tempted to watch every video available in the course, then experience burnout, then be surprised when the course wasn't fun anymore.
In a couple of weeks, you'll have that option lol. But for now, let's take it slow and ease into this learning community!
Thursday, October 5th at 7pm ET
Welcome Party
We're having a party! Come meet the other members of Tarot in Community and celebrate learning tarot to merge it with our work in the world!
Thursday, October 12th at Noon ET
Tarot Reading Swap
Come Flex Your Tarot Muscles! Tarot in Community's monthly reading swap will give you a chance to practice with others and sharpen your skills
Saturday, October 21st at Noon ET
Workshop: The Emperor Beyond Gender
The Emperor is a card that makes a lot of queer people feel, uh, very uncomfortable.
But it's not as gendered you think in a capitalist society. We'll talk about how patriarchy is a learned behavior, minor arcana influences, and feminism (of course!)
Thursday, October 26th at 7pm ET
Book Club Check-In
The monthly check-in for our quarterly shared read.
That may be confusing, so let me explain!
We'll read 4 books together per year. That's one per quarter. But we'll meet once per month to check in about how the book is progressing.
Make sense? If not, ask me questions.
I'll update the event name once we pick a book at our welcome party and in a poll on on the feed in Mighty Networks for folks who can't make it!
