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Calling on the dull ancestors

Calling on the dull ancestors

Last updated on: January 14, 2023 at 12:57 am by Camelia Elias

Calling on the dull ancestors 2023-01-14T00:57:27+02:00 Camelia Elias

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The Leipzig Lenormand, 1982 (Photo: Camelia Elias)

Okay, let’s face it. Here we go again, getting excited about the season. October 31 is a cool date to experience, because people make it exciting themselves. For once, we can step on the general dullness that informs most of our working lives, for it is a fact that only very few actually enjoy their jobs. My theory is that because there’s so much fear about the unknown, we tend to be complicit with the shittiest of jobs in the name of the illusion of stability. Stability is a hard nut to crack. So we go with the shitty setup, the consequence being a darkening of our minds.

But here’s what I say, speaking of fear as something that many go through all the time, from the fear of pandemics to the fear of the consequences of the globally unstable political situations. At governmental level, we can point to how one doesn’t care about anything other than a well constructed image that helps some gain at the expense of others losing.

Because this is so, the con marketers of the world also get louder, promising much or pretty much everything between heaven and earth. The talk that gets on my nerves is the one that promises that all the shallow thinkers can unite under the slogan ‘we’re just human,’ one that makes up for every idiocy, in the process glorifying the vulnerable as the commodity that gets us out of the ‘perfectionist’ rut. Actually, that’s not it. But let’s save the bashing of this type of modern demons for another time.

What I want to say here is, however, related, so let’s see. Pay attention to the current excitement today. If you’re in occult groups, tarot groups, or fortunetelling groups, pay attention to people’s narratives about what ancestors are being conjured around this time of the year, when, as they say, the veil between the world of humans and the dead is thin.

Notice the type: it’s the Genghis Khan type, the superman type, the wise grandmother type, the genius type. Well, this is all very fine. But guess what? If you have a clear intent, say, you want to know how to navigate through your fears, who would you call? The valiant and courageous leaders? Do you think they could teach you a thing of two about fear? Think again. They can’t, for they have none. Would you call on the wise Solomon related to your own psychic grandmother, if you went long enough in history? Would he teach you about the consequences of being dull and dimwitted? How could he, for he was not.

If you have your cards ready, create a truly gloriously theatrical space – from candles to incense, costume and mask – and call on the dullest of your ancestors. Make an invocation to the ones who died without having had an original thought in their lives. Call on the ones who lived a life of impressions, the ones who never acted on anything that was not endorsed already by someone even duller. Call on the ones who lived according to other people’s opinions, especially the dumb opinions. Call on the ones who lived in utter darkness of the mind, the opaque and the ignorant, the ones who crossed over to the other side only to join the lowest class of demons. Call on the dull. Then ask them to tell you how you can have a better life than the one they had, a life that was subject to fear, projection, fantasy, greed, slander, and rumor. Hear what these souls might tell you, and then heed attention.

Alternatively, pick books that tell great necromantic stories, mine for example. The Oracle Travels Light is written with shimmering glitter in the eye. I’ve been told that the stories in it opened some heavy, solid doors. Some minds got enlightened.

If you cast five cards on the table at midnight in the moonlight, and got the Ring, the Mountain, the Coffin, the Bear, and the Cross, rejoice, for this will be a mighty gathering of the dull. You might even see them coming: the stubborn bear types, the immovable mountain types, the deadly depressed types, the afflicted and crossed types. You have a relation with these people, as your lineage cannot possibly be made up of heroes only.

Pay your respects to the dull, and proceed to ask them your questions. They can all teach you about the veil of some very thick and palpable stupidity; the things you fall for; the things you fear the most. You need to know what there is to know. No greater teaching can do more.

♠

Stay tuned for cartomantic courses.

About Camelia Elias

Camelia Elias, PhD & Dr.Phil., is a former university professor. After 20 years in academia, she left her career to pursue her interests in teaching and writing on the philosophy and practice of reading cards. She works with contemplative arts, oracular language, and martial arts cartomancy and Zen at her own school, Aradia Academy. You can read more about the author here.

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