Irreverent Tarot 13: Flip Through

Irreverent Tarot, the podcast, returns with a flip-through video of The Art of Drawing Cards and The Tarot. By popular demand of the Tarot History group, who want a proper nosy before they commit to buying anything even if they do get a thanks in the postscript! Take a look through yourself. Find out the…

Irreverent Tarot 12: Leonora’s Priestess

OCCULTURE, LEONORA & MORE Episode 12 – Contemplating Leonora Carrington’s High Priestess card as I work on my presentation for Occulture this October in Berlin. I am very excited about that, of course, especially as it gives me even more excuses to delve into my fascination with Carrington, her art, and her magic. So much…

Irreverent Tarot 11: Etteilla’s Creation

ETTEILLA & CREATION The Grand #Etteilla, featuring his thematic desire to encode the creation story into the opening sequence of cards — and why his Fool and Magician are in such unexpected locations. Also a bit about the astrological associations he gives the cards. If you’re unfamiliar with the first professional cartomancer from the 18th…

Irreverent Tarot 10

IRREVERENT TAROT 10 – Etteilla and Gender Essentialism Pride Month has me thinking about the ways that gender is encoded in the tarot cards in so many different ways. Looking at the Grimaud Etteilla here in Dundee, rather than Lo Scarabeo’s in Hudson. Fascinating that the booklet retains some artefacts from the past and dispenses…

Irreverent #Tarot 9: Judith, Alice & Leonora

Episode Nine: how my mind flits from one thing to another down rabbit holes and here’s to the powers of miscommunication (and yet we made much of it, didn’t we, Stephanie!), Alice and Lewis — and Leonora — and Tenniel, but not the captain. Or the usual chaos from me. Oh, and Artemesia Gentilesci! And…

Irreverent #Tarot 8: The Fool

Episode 8: Mostly the Fool card. Some quick thoughts with a few different examples and why it seems to permeate life at present. The Fool steps into the abyss: foolish or hopeful? Is the Fool deranged or just using that as a disguise? The Jester v The Vagabond–or are they all just disguises? Almost everybody…

Irreverent #Tarot 7: The Lady & The Beast

A super quick recommendation for Deja Whitehouse’s THE LADY & THE BEAST on Lady Freida Harris, Aleister Crowley, and the making of the Thoth tarot (which can be seen at the Warburg Tarot exhibit or link below to my walkthrough.). Yes, it’s an expensive book but discounts are out there (follow Deja on IG) but…

Irreverent Tarot 6

‘Sir, you quibble!’ Today’s quick take is on THE SQUARE OF SEVENS, a cartomancy guide from 1896 by Edward Irenaeus Prime-Stevenson (1868-1942). He declares it to be the work of Robert Antrobus, who met a ‘Mr George’ in Cornwall who was supposedly a ‘gypsy’ but alienated from his people and willing to spill all their…

Irreverent #Tarot Ep3

The Three Ages of Tarot: from game to occult repository to more reflective modern uses for personal development and expression. Much of this informed by scholars of tarot history including: A Cultural History of Tarot by Helen Farley (2019) A Wicked Pack of Cards by Decker, DePaulis & Dummett (1996) which makes a quick cameo!…

Irreverent Tarot Ep2

Another #TarotTuesday flick up: this one takes a quick look at a strange 1911 tarot, Le Tarot de la Reyne which I came across at the Beinecke while looking for something else (what? who knows?! knee deep in figuring out a thing that remains a bit amorphous but deals with tarot history). The queen in…