submitted by arbolae
Month: April 2014
Working in animation, video games and comics, i encounter this questions more than I’d like to. I was surprised how so many people don’t have a clue, and its a very sincere and valid question, because education doesn’t make people understand each other naturally.
Thank you for reading, I hope its useful.This goes for writing too.
-Morgan
FUCKING THANK YOU
I would like to think I’ve done a good job at this.
HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY! — THE FOOL’S JOURNEY
The main character of the Major Arcana is The Fool. His card is numbered zero, and among scholars of the tarot there is constant debate whether he is the beginning of the story, or should appear in the middle, or at the end. This is because the fool is eternal. He is the spirit in us that questions, he is the adventure in us that leaves safe places to find new things, he is the part of us that is hungry enough to want more and silly enough to take the risks to find what we need.
In each card, The Fool has come to a new resting place on his journey. He meets lots of different people on his travels through the Tarot: kings, queens, priests, merchants, warriors and scholars all have something to tell him about the benefits of their place in the universe. Each has wisdom and blindspots – some recognize that the Fool’s Walk will go on, some believe there is nothing beyond the place they have reached, or at least not anything worthwhile.
Taken at face value, it’s a classic story. In fact, in many ways The Classic Story. Joseph Campbell’s “A Hero With A Thousand Faces” outlines the archetypal steps that every culture’s myths say a person will take while on a God-quest. The Fool of the Tarot follows those steps. He starts by foolishly leaving convention and home behind. Sometimes his path is easy and welcoming. Sometimes it is a hard road, and the people he meets make demands of him. Sometimes there are gatekeepers who tell him not to go on. He can only pass their trials if he trusts his heart and follows the drive of his spirit.
The Fool stands for each of us as we begin our journey of life. He is a fool because only a simple soul has the innocent faith to undertake such a journey with all its hazards and pain.
At the start of his trip, the Fool is a newborn – fresh, open and spontaneous. The figure on Card 0 has his arms flung wide, and his head held high. He is ready to embrace whatever comes his way, but he is also oblivious to the cliff edge he is about to cross. The Fool is unaware of the hardships he will face as he ventures out to learn the lessons of the world.
The Fool stands somewhat outside the rest of the major arcana. Zero is an unusual number. It rests in the exact middle of the number system – poised between the positive and negative. At birth, the Fool is set in the middle of his own individual universe. He is strangely empty (as is zero), but imbued with a desire to go forth and learn. This undertaking would seem to be folly, but is it?
There are even deeper messages in the Tarot, if you know its codes. All those characters represent something – the human mind. The Tarot is about stages of psychological development. Every time a male is speaking, it is not really a separate person the fool is meeting, but the viewpoint of his active, analytical brain that is being expressed. When a woman speaks, it is imagination and the subconscious that voices its outlook, from its current state of being.
So, when a man and woman are married in the story, it speaks of the conscious and subconscious mind joining to work together. For instance, alone, the intellect is the magician – all power but no idea what to do with it. By herself, imagination is the high priestess – all veiled mysteries and half-understood secrets. But when married in harmony, they become the empress and emperor – creativity wed with sense, that brings peace and prosperity.
“I work for the Office of Arcane Affairs.
You have never heard of us.
If the CIA finds out al-Qaeda has a guy who can bend spoons, they call the OAA, and they send me. When the Office of Naval Intelligence has reports of a strange, giant, glowing squid, “Hey OAA, can Topher scuba dive?” An infestation of rabid, gun-toting, were-jaguars in a South American jungle? No problem. Topher can fix it. Nothing worse than spooked spooks who don’t have a clue what they’re dealing with.
But that’s my job. Because being a wizard means I’m the only one who can handle it.”
Chasing the Wyrm: Christopher Yan – Office of Arcane Affairs
To protect its interests, the U.S. government projects its power militarily, economically, and magically. It leaves the last to the Office of Arcane Affairs.
Christopher Yan didn’t ask for the job. A wizard born with the power to warp reality, the OAA calls on him to neutralize all arcane threats. Part spy, part fixer, part assassin, Topher searches for a way to make his unique gift serve both his country and his principles. When he makes an enemy of a rogue wizard serving a dying insurgency, he learns the limits his conscience can bear.
Ave Babalon
“The archetype of the witch is long overdue for celebration. Daughters, mothers, queens, virgins, wives, et al. derive meaning from their relation to another person. Witches, on the other hand, have power on their own terms. They have agency. They create. They praise. They commune with nature/ Spirit/God/dess/Choose-your-own-semantics, freely, and free of any mediator. But most importantly: they make things happen. The best definition of magic I’ve been able to come up with is “symbolic action with intent” — “action" being the operative word. Witches are midwives to metamorphosis. They are magical women, and they, quite literally, change the world.“
“I work for the Office of Arcane Affairs.
You have never heard of us.
If the CIA finds out al-Qaeda has a guy who can bend spoons, they call the OAA, and they send me. When the Office of Naval Intelligence has reports of a strange, giant, glowing squid, “Hey OAA, can Topher scuba dive?” An infestation of rabid, gun-toting, were-jaguars in a South American jungle? No problem. Topher can fix it. Nothing worse than spooked spooks who don’t have a clue what they’re dealing with.
But that’s my job. Because being a wizard means I’m the only one who can handle it.”
Chasing the Wyrm: Christopher Yan – Office of Arcane Affairs
To protect its interests, the U.S. government projects its power militarily, economically, and magically. It leaves the last to the Office of Arcane Affairs.
Christopher Yan didn’t ask for the job. A wizard born with the power to warp reality, the OAA calls on him to neutralize all arcane threats. Part spy, part fixer, part assassin, Topher searches for a way to make his unique gift serve both his country and his principles. When he makes an enemy of a rogue wizard serving a dying insurgency, he learns the limits his conscience can bear.
Cover for the print of edition of Chasing the Wyrm – Coming Soon!