Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

THE CARTOMANCER

Home
Pagan
The Cartomancer: Fixing Blind Spots with Cards

The Cartomancer: Fixing Blind Spots with Cards

Last updated on: July 22, 2015 at 4:00 pm by Camelia Elias

The Cartomancer: Fixing Blind Spots with Cards 2015-07-22T16:00:46+02:00 Camelia Elias

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

[Editor’s Note: Please welcome Camelia Elias and her column, The Cartomancer. It runs on the second and forth Wednesday of every month. Subscription links are in the footer.]

Cards: They answer questions. Not only that, but they also teach us to be better at asking the really good questions. The questions that map our concerns beyond our fears.

Back in my youth, when I didn’t read aphorisms or The Three Musketeers, I’d read about all things magical. My fascination with mysticism – in spite of all my Marxist beliefs – is vibrant, and I try to incorporate as much of it as I can in my personal and professional life.

Although I work for a living as a professor of American Studies at Roskilde University in Denmark, my area of interest is sacred and secret texts, the history of the so-called occult sciences, and telling stories with cards. I’m interested in poetic language and its oracular voice. Whenever I hear this voice I experience the sublime. It’s like going to a museum, getting quiet contemplating an image, and listening to its message hit me hard in the gut. I decide that I don’t know what it is, but I like it. When I encounter the oracular I’m ready for action: ‘Hello God, nice to meet you again. What am I good at today? What am I good for?’

In my professional life I pretend that I research into poetry, creative writing, and critical thinking, but the truth is that what I’m always looking for is to get a sense of all the writers’ souls. What are they afraid of? How do they fix it? Do they ever go to see a fortuneteller? The famous poet T.S. Eliot did, though by the time he sat down to write what some claim is the most famous poem in Western literature, he forgot to credit Madame Sosostris who provided him with all the inspiration for his wasteland. But I come along and do some digging here and some there. I restore some justice and quietly curse the ingrate. It’s not the worst kind of job. It allows me to claim that all poetry is a form of divination.

Lecturing on the tarot (Photo: Manna Hojda)

The same goes for divination. It’s all poetry. It’s kicking the soul upstairs where it can make some serious distinctions. When are we sensitive? When are we cunning? If I listen intently to my own questions, I find that my ambivalence gives rise to the oracular voice. But what does it all mean? I lay down three cards and I get an answer. I find that what I read in the cards is the kind of poetry that has the power to act as spell work. I get to work. Do I understand what I’m doing here? Do I know my place? Does this knowing of my place require knowing myself first? How about bewitching myself?

I grew up in Romania where I lived until I was 21. At 46 I often go back to my childhood place. I hear the voice of my mother: ‘I’m going upstairs for coffee.’ But in Romania, widows who lived on their husbands’ pensions didn’t just have coffee. ‘Is Madam Gibesco going to read your cards again?’, I hear myself echoing from the past, while mother is making a dismissive gesture. ‘I’m too complex for that woman. She can’t read my cards. We’ll just have a splash of tasseomancy, reading the coffee beans in our cups instead.’ After the séance mother would come home and do some serious bibliomancy. She thought the Bible was the best. ‘Now, let’s see if Madam Gibesco got it right. You never know about this woman’s magic and interpretative skills’. And so it went, divination ad infinitum, checking and double-checking, asking the question and answering it too.

Tasseomancy (Photo: Camelia Elias)

The women I grew up with didn’t read the cards for growth in their personal spirituality. They just read the cards. They looked at the images and observed what elements in each card would rhyme with other visual cues in some of the other cards: ‘Now, look,’ they’d say: ‘Do you see these two cups turn into two horses? Do you think that’s good?’ That usually wasn’t too good. Too much work having to discipline those animals all the time, what with each pulling in different directions. What tone did the cards have, rising or falling? Look at the Knight of Coins, chasing his dream. But going about with your head in the clouds can make you lose it. Here comes the Hanged Man, empty-pocketed, coins splashing in all directions on the ground. Boom. That didn’t go too well. ‘Watch out for the 10 swords.’ Too late. It’s all done.

Jean Noblet, 1650 by Jean-Claude Flornoy (Photo: Camelia Elias)

The magical women I grew up with didn’t have any midlife crisis, identity crisis, or any other crisis that one encounters everywhere these days. If their husbands would cheat on them, they’d consult their cards. The actions ensuing were as sharp as a razor. Heads would fall down. No mercy. I’ve seen the cards make people condense their thinking so solidly that it rendered them as cold as ice. But I’ve also seen the cards make people understand their situations so profoundly that they would end up becoming professors of logic.

The Sorcerer’s Fortunetelling Playing Cards, ca. 1850, K. Frank Jensen Collection (Photo: Camelia Elias)

I’m here to impart some of this wisdom that came down to me in the form of stories with the cards, stories that can make people aware of their presence, or absence, in the world. Perhaps I’d like to give people a sense of how we can figure out what our place in the world is, if we dare to use the cards as a tool for asking the important questions, the nasty questions, the questions that hurt us, and the questions that teach us a lesson. I read the cards as a means of tapping into the wonderful memory of situated wisdoms.

I intend to write about people and their stories written with cards. No question is too small for the cards. They answer everything. I will use fascinating cards in my examples, from the old tarot cards to playing cards and other oracle-type cards. I will endeavor to introduce the readers to simple methods of reading the cards, and in the process contribute to building up a community of folks who think, and who think about themselves as relational selves.

Let me start with myself in context, posing this question to the cards:

How can I best serve Agora and its readers?

Three cards fell on the table:

The Star, The World, The Wheel of Fortune

The Star, the World, the Wheel of Fortune / Photo by Camelia Elias, Cards from Jean Noblet, Marseille Tarot

They say the following:

Give of yourself and guide according to your stars.

Enter the whole world naked, and address it from within.

Let the good times roll.

If you’re inclined to read more besides what I’m about to unfold here, I recommend a visit to my website.

NOTE ON THE CARDS:

Jean Noblet, Marseille Tarot, 1650, as reconstructed by Jean-Claude Flornoy.
The Sorcerer’s Fortunetelling Playing Cards, ca. 1850 in the collection of K. Frank Jensen.

Click here to like
Patheos Pagan on Facebook.

Click here to like
the Agora on Facebook

The Cartomancer is published on the second and fourth Wednesday of a month. Subscribe via RSS or e-mail!

Please use the links to the right to keep on top of activities here on the Agora as well as across the entire Patheos Pagan channel.

Previous Post

January 16, 2024

Which one is it?

Next Post

August 12, 2015 The Cartomancer: The Art of Curiosity

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Columns The Cartomancer Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2024 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 November 2022 October 2022 August 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the book of songs and prayers in the Bible called?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Psalms Matthew Proverbs Genesis