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Tarot
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ISBN-13: 9781532976056
ISBN-10: 1532976054

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Introduction
I was once in Tampa Bay, Florida, trying to make a quick buck, reading cards on the street.
I was going through some hard times, trying to figure out my place in the world. I had gone
there to eat some magic mushrooms and meet this psybernaut (the common name of a
person who practices altering consciousness) by the name of Louie. I was not too sure if I
should be reading the cards or not, because the cards have a way to jazz with one’s spirit, to
draw into quirky realms of realities that, in my case, tend towards the Lovecraftian realms.
But I have always been sure that God loves me. Somehow, for some reason, so I just asked
God directly: Hey, God, should I be reading these here cards? Right there, on the street,
with my voice, and my eyes turned heavenward.
God sent me a woosh of wind that blew my tarot cards all over the pavement. I guess God
is like that. Clear as a whistle. But then, I’m notoriously disobedient of God’s wishes, and I
decided to keep reading the tarot anyway.
In fact, I often think of my relationship to God a bit like the relationship to my father. I love
my father dearly, and I know, beyond any doubt that he loves me. But I will be damned
before I do what he asks me to do the way he wants it done! Why? Because he is my father,
and I must go beyond what he tells me. The rebel in me is strong.
I must admit, though, that I have been reading certainly with more respect and caution since
that day. When I read, I do so only to help others, never to benefit economically from it
(although I do, its part of the macabre game). I have a certain fear of screwing up the few
and basic rules that I have learnt over the years about these strange little cards, rumored by
many, to have been invented by the devil.
Regarding the rumors that the devil invented the tarot. It’s really very simple. It’s about the
Visconti Souza deck. Do you know anything about the Visconti family? The rulers of
Milan for generations… They pretty much did what they wanted in the Vatican, just like
the infamous Borgia family. The rumors of devil worship are legion in Milan, and
especially around this unusual family, who are credited with having the first printed tarot
deck in the world.
Am I trying to sell you a deck or am I trying to share a cautionary tale of the power of these
cards? They are a too, after all, used often to help others, rarely to benefit oneself, and
rarely (but sadly) to utterly screw up other people.
Tarot Card readers are basically two kinds: people with a genuine gift to “see” into the
future and charlatans.
Charlatans know that they are charlatans and they do not believe, really, in the power of the
“Tarot”. Instead, they use their cards as a kind of “magic trick” that cleverly gives people a
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view of themselves, thanks to the images and symbols that the cards evoke, that fits into
their lives and thus makes the charlatan “appear” to know deep inner secrets of the client’s
life. I must also imagine that since the tarot “works”, there are not too many charlatans who
still don’t believe in its power after using it a few times. The results always end up speaking
for themselves. It’s the way the cards roll. I know few sceptics who remain sceptic of the
tarot after using it more than a year.
Folks who have a “gift” to read cards actually perform a kind of magic, which of lately, I
have begun to think has more to do with intention than anything. Reality here is bent to
satisfy the needs of the client’s reading. A kind of synergy between Tarot Reader and Client
occurs where both are thrown into a world of magic, faith and the impossible. Here, the
mysterious origins of the Tarot can give anybody with a little bit of common sense the need
to stop, do something else and forget about all the crazy-nerve-wrecking sorcery of it all.
Thankfully, God never game me (and probably you neither) such common sense, so you
can continue reading this book.
If you know anything about the major religious beliefs, Christianity, Judaism and Islam,
you will probably know that in all of them there are serious indications that reading the
tarot, or any other kind of work dealing with “seeing” into future events is a most terrible
sin. You can’t, in good faith, be totally fearless about reading the cards if you are a Jew, a
Christian or a Moslem. We have been informed by a number of sources not related to the
big major three religions, that we don’t really “see” the future: we create it. Certainly, if
anything can prove intentionally as a form of “magic” – which all the Magic and Yoga
traditions speak of – well, then the Tarot is a kind of living laboratory of such intentionally
to create the future.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Hollywood, California
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Chapter One: Reading the Tarot
Most of the Tarot books I have read go into great detail about how to read the tarot. There’s
always an explanation of the standard spreads, the Celtic Cross and others… So called
“experts” go on endlessly about the merits of this and that school of tarot… They talk and
talk and talk about how and why we should do this and not do that when reading cards.
I am not about to do that.
Instead, all I will try to do in this chapter is give the card reader an overview of what I do
when I read cards and why. I feel the Tarot is a very personal tool that has to be explored
by each reader individually. Since reading tarot is a lifelong experience with a great deal of
ins and outs outside the scope of any book, all I can really do to help someone trying to
read cards is to share my experiences with each card individually and especially in what
concerns the meaning. Spreads are the least important aspect of a card reading for me. I
have a standard spread that I like to use, but I am willing and able to read in any form or
spread the client chooses.
I feel that the cards have a specific meaning that cannot be “modified” to fit the
psychological needs of each client. That’s why I don’t use upside-down meaning. Each
card has a dual meaning and both apply. In fact, each card has a many-faceted meaning.
But at their core, death is death, justice is justice, the lovers are the lovers. This is the
magic, the truth behind the tarot, that once we pull a card out of the spread, we can’t really
say it isn’t so.
This is the key aspect where the tarot separates the men from the boys… Death is death.
The devil is the devil. The tower is the tower. Look at those cards. Are you willing to tell
somebody their dad is going to die? Or their child? Are you willing to tell them their
business or relationship will fail?
Right. Then, if you are not a charlatan and you really want to read cards, realize that the
devil is right there, in them. If we are going to play the devil’s game, we must first and
foremost give the devil his due.
1. Payment
When reading cards, I count only successful readings as worthwhile experiences. The only
successful readings I have ever made, meaning, readings where I actually found out
something about the future events relating to my client are those readings where I was paid
for my service. I cannot explain this mojo. I wish I could. But I do know, beyond a
certainty that it works because I have tried both, reading for money and reading without
payment and I can guarantee on my word that only readings where I was actually paid
money in a fair and reasonable exchange worked.
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Since I work primarily in poor Mexico, I am willing to take less money from certain clients
in need of help. I am interested in reading cards only to HELP PEOPLE, and never, ever,
ever, to profit from my readings. I am absolutely convinced beyond any doubt in my heart
that if I ever were to try and benefit financially from my talent as a tarot reader, I would
incur a horrible punishment. I am, in truth, fearful of this punishment, so I am very careful
to whom, how and why I read tarot cards.
Call me a superstitious fool if you wish. But I would never, ever want to become rich (or
famous) from reading tarot cards. This is as good a place as any to add a disclaimer to this
book and this deck. This work is a labor of love, and any revenues that I might acquire from
the sale or reproduction of this work will be gifted immediately to charity. I will under no
circumstances be left holding a lot of tarot-cursed-gold. Not rich and famous, remember?
So, let’s talk about dollars and cents:
I developed my standard spread through practice and trial and error. In the fourteen years
that I have been reading the Tarot professionally, this spread seems to work best for me as
with a variety of clients. As of this year, I charge $200 pesos, which is about 15 dollars,
US, which means, in Mexico about a couple hour’s wages for ordinary working people. In
the US and Europe I charge more, usually $20-50 dollars. Is that taking advantage of
gringos? Not really, it’s called supply and demand.
The basic rule of thumb here is: as a tarot card reader, you are an hourly wage-earner for
ordinary wages. That means, if a plumber earns $25 bucks an hour, that’s what you should
be charging as a tarot reader. In Mexico, working folks make about 100 pesos a day, so 200
pesos is not a terribly high price to pay for a good reading, (especially if you get one client
daily) but let’s remember what I said before: when the chips are down, nobody wants to be
holding the cursed tarot gold coins. Real practitioners of the craft will know and respect the
fact that service to others is the only reason to pull the cards out. If you are looking to
become rich and famous for your craft, go learn it from somebody else. I will not be held
accountable for the demolition of your soul.
2. The White, Red and Black Robes.
Tarot is a form of divinatory magic. There are many schools of magic such as necromancy,
transmutation, divination and such. Divinatory magic has to do with informing the present
in order to see into the future. Looking into the future is powerful shit. Big Mojo. Adolf
Hitler and Genghis Kahn did this stuff, so it can be magic that can move mountains, change
destinies of nations and decide the course of history. Because with great power comes great
responsibility, I want to mention the three schools of magic of the Dungeons & Dragons
series called Dragonlance. If you do not know about the white, red and black robes, then
you are not a fan of Dragonlance, and that’s okay, because that’s an extremely obscure
fantasy series based on a slightly less obscure role-playing game.
In the Dragonlance novels, magicians must choose between one of three different guilds of
magic: basically, white robes are good magicians, red robes are neutral magicians and black
robes are evil magicians. Any magician who does not belong to one of these guilds is an
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outlaw and is hunted down and destroyed by all the others.
Concerning the tarot and the ability to predict future events, nothing could be closer to the
truth. Folks who are gifted in some way to see into the future events can have a powerful
impact on their world. Some of these folks, Rasputin and Aleister Crowley worked
principally in the black robes, making their own interests more important than the interests
of the rest of us. Others like Nostradamus and Edgar Cryce were more neutral in their
approach to seeing future events. The white robes are not well represented in our present
Kali Yuga, or “age of discord” but they are there as well, and we know them from the work
they left behind: the Koran, the Bible... The Buddhist Sutras.
Understanding that there are three kinds’ guilds of magicians out there makes it a little
easier to choose the white robes. I would never stop anybody from taking on the black
robes. Selfishness is just as necessary in the universal dance as is compassion. The Vedas
actually speak of three causes of nature called “gunas”: ignorance, passion and goodness.
The black robes in this case represent ignorance, the red passion and the white goodness.
The magic in the tarot is neutral and can be used by all three robes equally. I recommend
using the tarot for service to others and I call that “the white robes”. Unfortunately for me, I
cannot determine what robes my students will wear. I can only give them the right tools and
try to show them the path of service. Here, we can make a parallel between the tarot and
medicine. In the hands of a doctor, opiates are medicine. In the hands of a junky, they are a
reason to party. In the hands of a dealer, they are money in the bank.
Service to others is a very practical thing that the tarot can really help with and it means, for
instance, finding out who stole money from a closed room, or finding missing people, or
helping in a murder investigation. At some time or another I did all of these things with my
cards. If I can continue to do so, I will.
Most clients have smaller problems to deal with. For instance, most folks in my village are
worried if their wife is cheating on them. It is a reasonable yes or no question that demands
a reasonable yes or no answer from a card reader who has faith in his craft. Psychology
does help a little. But first and foremost, one has to answer the question directly based on
what the card says. Nobody who reads cards wants to lie to cause marital troubles between
two people. But a real card reader is willing to take a chance on his or her magic working to
resolve if someone is being unfaithful.
The successful tarot reader requires faith in his craft. The reward for this faith is his client’s
trust and a clear and very obvious indication that magic works and that the universe is much
more mysterious than what scientists allow for.
Here a warning: The “white robed” card reader is someone who solves other people’s
problems and makes their lives a little better sometimes with a well-placed warning,
sometimes with a dire prediction, sometimes with just a good ear that is willing to hear a
confession. Red Robes might decide that some folks are worthy of their readings and others
not. Black robes will want to control and manipulate their clients to his own benefit. But
even the black robes will have faith in their abilities to snare their victim. Black robes will
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have just as much success in his craft as white robes, but at the end of their lives, black
robes might have a higher bill to pay their maker than white robes.
When we read tarot cards for others we are willingly assuming the karma of the client onto
ourselves. That means if we screw up, we have to pay up. Not something to be done lightly,
especially for any kind of mundane benefits.
Writing of this book is actually my way of helping my students; (all you precious young
girls and boys who have blessed me with your confidence and trust over the years). I am in
the business of training good witches and warlocks of the white robes. I have worn the
black in the past, and I am ashamed about it. But now, I wear the white (although, oddly
enough, I am wearing black clothes today, as I write this!).
I hope you learn that the wearing the white robes is always preferable to wearing the black
ones
3. My Standard 22 Card Spread.
With no further ado, this is how I read tarot cards.
a. I ask for my payment. The payment has to be fair trade for my service.
Here, fair trade means what you need from each client to know that you are not cheating
them. I will not charge my dad the same I will charge a total stranger. I will not charge a
poor person the same I charge a rich one.
b. I tell the client to take the cards and shuffle them or cut them as they wish, but as they
are shuffling or cutting the cards, they must say a prayer. The prayer is the most important
part of the reading.
The prayer is usually said in their heads. Some clients choose to pray out loud, but most
don’t. It really doesn’t matter. The most important thing is to make sure they pray. It is their
protection from the powerful mojo they are about to unleash.
c. Once the client hands the cards back to me, I ask them again if they have said their
prayer.
Some folks will say they haven’t. Give them time to pray. Get them in the mood. Make
them remember that they are messing with weird, otherworldly magic. Also, if you clients
happen to be Christians or Muslims remember them that the act of divination is forbidden
by their holy book and give them the right place in their Bible or Koran to refresh their
memories. When I say that the “prayer is the most important part of the reading” I mean it.
I don’t really think most folks need to know the future. They can’t really change it anyhow.
What folks need to do with their lives is learn how to pray. My tarot readings are mostly to
remind them of that. In fact, I think of each reading as a kind of prayer, but I empty myself
of myself and let whatever spirits friendly and otherwise hang out near that person enter
into my words so the most benefit can be achieved from the other side.
d. I set down 22 cards face down on the table in 3 rows of seven with one cards left out.
22 Cards for each one of the major arcana. More on this later. I find that the 22 card spread
covers most possible clients best. I do know a number of other spreads, from 1 and 3 cards
to the Celtic Cross and many more in-between. For groups with a time constraint, I prefer
the use of the “poker tarot” – another of my nefarious inventions. I’ll go into the “poker
tarot” later. But the 22 card spread is far better and much less risky. I also like to remind
my clients to ask questions. If you go to an oracle, you don’t go there without at least one
important question in mind.
e. I ask the client what they want to know and then let the client turn the cards over, one by
one to answer each question. If they have no questions, I ask them to turn 8 cards over one
by one and tell them what I see.
In Mexico, I usually keep my readings to eight questions for twenty pesos. Then, if the
client has more questions, each additional question costs five pesos more. This prevents
folks from turning cards over just do see what’s underneath. Also, twenty pesos is a fair
trade for a few minutes, but an entire 22 card reading might take me a couple of hours. In
the USA where folks spend more money, I usually only do the 22 card reading and I charge
15 to 25 dollars per reading. I will gladly answer eight questions for ten dollars. Again, the
key word here is fair. What is a fair price for my service? Am I making too much money
from any one client? Am I becoming too rich? In Tarot is best to be humble and under the
radar.
4. Other Common Spreads
My little tarot shop in Mexico specialized in the 22 card spread, but on many occasions, I had
special cases where I was forced to use a different spread. I also made sure to know all the most
common spreads like the Celtic Cross. These are some of my “special” spreads for specific cases.
• One Card - A yes of no question for $1 (in Mexico) or $5 in the USA. Mostly, folks I really don’t
want to have to read to but who came through the doors of my shop and deserve at least a little
service.
• Three Card - For people in a rush. I charge 10 pesos $1 in Mexico and $5 in the USA. Shuffle and
prayer followed by the client choosing 3 cards from the entire deck that is laid out in front of
them. From left to right, the cards represent past, present and future.
• Eight Card - A variation on the 22 card spread where the client pulls out 8 cards only from the
entire deck. Saves time on setting down the cards. Each card is representative of an aspect of the
present situation and/or a question.
• Your Major Arcana - I use the One Card exclusively for my disciples, the young women (and
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couple of guys) who want to learn to read Tarot from me. In this reading, we take out the Major
Arcana and shuffle. Just like the other readings, we say a prayer as we shuffle. Then we put all the
cards down. The client chooses only one Major Arcana. This is then their “life lesson” card. The
idea is that this card will give the client (disciple) the most important lesson to learn in this
lifetime. My card turned out to be “The Magician”.
• Your Minor Arcana - Also used exclusively for my students, for the Minor Arcana reading I
separate all the Minor Arcana and shuffle them. Then I ask the student to cut the cards or
reshuffle and to say a prayer. Then I ask them to pull just one card. The card is representative of
the challenge that that student will have to overcome during this lifetime in addition to the lesson
to be learned from the Major Arcana reading. An example would be to pull out the 3 of cups,
which means friendship. Well, the most important challenge for that student will be to become an
effective friend. Let’s say the card was the 10 of swords. We know the most important challenge
for that student will be to overcome betrayal, etc.
5. Poker Tarot
My personal favorite, and my sole creation. The poker tarot came out of a very basic need I came
up in my store, which was to serve four or more clients at the same time. The principal reason is
that most of my clientele were young schoolgirls coming out of school to come and see me. They
would come in groups of four to six girls and because they had to be at home by a certain time, I
had to give each a quick reading. Well, I don’t really feel comfortable with “quickies”, especially
when my clients are young schoolgirls, so I invented the poker tarot.
We sit at the table with me as the dealer. As I shuffle the cards, I ask the clients (four or more only)
to say a prayer to their favorite deity and to offer this “work” to that deity. Then to make sure they
did, after I finish shuffling the cards, I ask “to whom are you going to offer this work to?” to each
client. The clients will then say “Jesus” or “the Virgin Mary” or “Buddha” or some such. And then I
say to whom I will offer the reading.. I like to mix and match deities to balance out whatever is at
the table. So for instance, if all my clients offer their work to Buddha, I will say Christ. If they are
Christians, I will offer it to a Pagan Goddess.
Then, I pass out 8 cards to everybody, just like in 8-card-draw. I tell them to keep the cards face
down on the table until we are ready to start. I include myself, as dealer and leader in the reading.
I explain that we are going to be ‘trading off’ or ‘changing’ Karmas. There is, after all, only one
death card, only one devil card.. Only one tower card and somebody is going to get it that day, but
only one of us and the rest of us will not.
After I pass the cards out, I give the chance for everybody to change their cards with the ones on
the deck without looking at them. Usually I return two cards from my own hand, again to be the
leader and to show folks how to play.
After we have finished changing cards, I start by saying: “Now we can either ask a question or pull
a card without a question, and I’ll start by asking what is each one of you feeling about me right
now”. If I have four clients, I turn over four cards, pointing to each client that I turned over. Let’s
say that my first client feels like “the Fool” about me at that moment. Well, I explain the meaning
of that to the client.
After I have finished with my own example, I usually have one or two cards left which I leave for
last.
Then, I ask in turn, from left to right for each client to either ask a question. If they have no
question I go to the next client and ask them to ask a question. If nobody has questions, I go back
to the first client to my left and ask him or her to turn over a card.
Each one of the 8 cards will answer a question for each one of the clients. They can take turns or
ask questions in any order they wish, always asking them from left to right.
Usually, this is a great hit and everybody gets at least one shock and quite a few laughs. It does not
have a “serious” tone, although very serious things have happened during some of these readings.
For instance, I had a case of a missing girl (from one of the schools that were so helpful in making
my little store successful) and two groups played Poker Tarot to try and find the girl with their
questions. The cards answered everybody in turn that she had gone off with her dad. The mystery
was solved. I was the most amazed by the results.
6. Final Word on Reader/Client Relationship
Faith can move mountains. Faith is omnipotent in its results. Folks can be cured of terminal illness
by the power of faith. Every one of my clients has a little faith in me, and I must do everything I
know how to sustain and protect that faith. In fact, I always remind my clients that it’s their faith
and not mine that will bring about the positive results of the reading. So every reading is serious
business. People’s spirits and their relationship to their creator are at stake.
The Tarot is a heavy load on the reader. But it is heavier on the client. Every single one of my
clients is a patient. They are there to have a question answered. They are there to get help. To
heal. As a Tarot reader I consider myself a “spiritual advisor” and I take that title very seriously.
Giving spiritual advice is the hardest but also the most rewarding job one can have. As a Tarot
reader, one builds one’s reputation on the success stories. But those stories are not just smoke
and mirrors: they are real people who have gone through a powerful experience of faith. My
clients are sacred to me. Their welfare is my only real mission.
I was not able to help many of my clients ease their suffering. Many of them went home to
abusive husbands, or to an empty house or poverty-stricken. My answers to their questions were
not always what they wanted to hear, but they reflected what the tarot told them.
In the five years I had my shop, a lot of very wounded beings came through the doors. Each and
every one had a serious problem for which they needed desperately some help. Most problems
only required somebody to listen to them and that’s good. But a few were actually tragic stories
that drove deep wounds in my own heart every time. Mothers who lost their children. Children
who lost their fathers. Murders. Rapes… All manner of people came for my help and to tell the
truth, it is a little overwhelming. All I had was a little deck of cards… How could I dare accept to
help these people with a little deck of cards?
The answer is in the magic of the deck itself. I do not claim to know how it works. But I know it
works.
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Chapter Two: The Major Arcana
When I first began to read cards, I used the Major Arcana Exclusively. The reason was
simple: the Major Arcana are easy to read. Anybody can answer questions with the Major
Arcana without prior knowledge of the Tarot. In fact, using the Major Arcana to answer
questions is generally a more profound use of the cards. Leaving the Minor Arcana out of
the equation can really focus a reading and make the whole experience much more
powerful.
Without all the details, of course, and as we all know, the devil is always in the details.
If you want to know where these cards come from or what they really mean, I suggest
Wikipedia. All I can tell you is that the power of these images is transcendent in every way.
The mystery of the Tarot is encased in riddles and like a dramatic jigsaw puzzle, it waits to
be deciphered by the right person.
My Meditation on Each Card
Before I had the guts to read the cards to anyone, I took one card per month in the major
arcana and studied it in depth by putting it up in a small altar with candles, incense and all
the rudimentary elements that go into stuff one needs to observe carefully.
This exercise was suggested by my dad. Basically, the meditation was simply to sit quietly
for one hour in the morning and one hour at night and observe the card. I used the Visconti
deck for this exercise. It was my dad’s gift to me on one of my many birthdays.
I started with the fool. Went right through the major arcana in numerical order. What I can
say is that soon the images took a life of their own and before long, I was able to see the
little people inside the cards moving wildly. This is particularly disturbing when checking
out “The Devil”, “The Tower” and “Death”. But essentially, what I got was that each card
has a spirit within. It is these spirits we call when we read them to people.
Demons and Spirits
Now, some Christians and Muslims believe that these spirits are demons. To them, I will
share what my Zen Master, Richard Baker Roshi told me regarding demons in dreams:
“They are the daimos”, the diamond in the soul. And the idea is to make them your allies,
not your adversaries.
Final Word about the Major Arcana
If you are going to read the cards, and do so well, you must put your fear aside. First your
fear of demons, spirits and the occult. Then, ultimately, your fear of God. If you are willing
11
to risk trying to puzzle out the truth from these few pages of hard cardboard, be ready for a
wild ride that will put your sanity and your most terrifying dreams smack into your face.
This path is not for the faint of heart. The Devil card will remind us of that every time. 0 The Fool
Thankfully, the Hanged Man is always there to balance the equation.

Zero – The fool

Divinatory meanings: Insanity, Creativeness, Something New. Going blindly into

something. Acting crazy.

Yes or No Question: No.

Numerical Value: Try again.

Why did I choose Heath Ledger’s Joker for this card? Well, besides the fact that the Fool IS
the Joker in the ordinary playing deck, I wanted to go back to the roots of the nature of the
person that is portrayed in the film. In “The Dark Knight”, Heath Ledger’s joker is a total
anarchist, a person who has no ties or desires other than anarchy itself.

The Fool is the Trickster of all Pantheons. His names are many: Native Americans call him
Raven. Vikings call him Loki. Mexhicas call him Tezcatlipoca. There is a dark side to this
fool, a kind of ‘devil may care’ that allows him to go into uncharted territory without maps.
He is unbound, incapable of being told what to do by anybody, even God.

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The fool does not care about the reactions to his actions. He is free in the greatest possible
sense of the word, even free of his own desire-nature, because the desires of the fool come
from above, not really a part of the personality of a being who has not really formed a 1. The Magician
personality. Perhaps a better way to understand the fool is to think of him as a new-born. A
soul, upon entering the human body, is fascinated simply by the amazing wonder of being
alive. The fool does not fear death and dying because he has not really lived yet. And
within the fool, every possibility is real. Neither truly good, not truly evil, the fool will do
whatever strikes his fancy. This utter lack of care for the consequences of one’s actions, is
of course, the greatest kind of madness. The fool is thus, the craziest of all of us. There is
no point of reference for the fool. No place to call home. No resting place. Is this wicked?
Not at all! It simply allows for whatever is present in the zeitgeist to happen without
thought or prejudgment.

In our present day and age, the Fool has taken the form of “The Joker” a kind of nihilistic
anarchist mass murderer. Why? Because we are at the end of an age, where murder, war..
Seems so utterly outdated and primitive that it should be banned by all governments. And
yet, here we are, fighting a “war on terror”, when war is the principal cause of terror. One
can sympathize with this white-faced devil who wants nothing more to burn and blast
everybody out of their complacency and insanity.

Perhaps in another age, the Fool will return to a more playful form, tricking us into re-
thinking our most basic ideas about truth. But in Kali-Yug, the Fool is also the destroyer.
We have gone too far into knowledge to allow for mistakes of judgment. Either we allow
for these destructive forces of the evolution of consciousness to rein free, or they will
escape from us and blow our cities apart.

We envy the Fool’s valor. We wish we could be like him, giving a damn about anything so
long as he is having a good time. And yet, to live as he does would terrify any reasonable
man or woman. To boldly go into the precipice without concern for the fall… Is that not the 1. THE MAGICIAN
ultimate form of madness? Was Christopher Columbus not insane to allow his ships to sail
so far? Or the Astronauts? Or even Oppenheimer, who built the bomb, not knowing if he Divinatory Meanings: Success. Triumph. Control of the environment. Somebody who has
would be setting off a chain reaction that would not be stopped and which would literally either triumph or success or control of the environment.
destroy the world?
Yes or No: Yes.
In a gentler world, the fool makes us laugh. In this world.. He terrifies us.
Numerical Value: 1

Undoubtedly, of all the significant accomplishments in science and technology, none is

more important in our lives than the computer. And nobody knows computers better than
Bill Gates. Even as I tried to write this, I had to update my Microsoft word program and
spend at least thirty minutes of my life dealing with Mr. Gate’s extremely astute marketing
skills. So it is beyond any doubt that Bill Gates has somehow managed to recreate the
world in his own image. This is entirely the point of the card of the Magician: using the
tools given to us to create a reality to our liking.

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The Magician does not need to be a philanthropist. He is simply a function of the raw
power of intelligence, divinely guided to create new things. He represents overcoming
obstacles and doing whatever he desires. The fulfillment of desire need not be good or evil. 2. The High Priestess
It is simply powerful.

To be the Magician means not to worry about the result of one’s actions insomuch as they
accomplish an inner desire or create something new. Innovation cannot exist without the
Magician. The greatest Magicians in history, Pythagoras, Copernicus, Michelangelo,
Newton, Einstein and many others, changed our world forever. They became a function of
time insomuch that the changes they made were irreversible. We can never go back to a
world without laws of gravity. We can’t forget how to make the atom bomb.

The Magician’s moral ambiguity is answerable only to God, and God likes to play dice. Do
we really need to know that the atom can be split? Do we really want to discover the secrets
of Gasoline? Why invent flying machines if you are going to use them for murdering
people from the air?

The Magician in our age is the scientist. Mostly amoral, the modern scientists are driven by
desire of profit and wealth. Spiritual Science, the most important of all the schools of
science, is mostly a forgotten thing of the past. The Natural Sciences are now motivated
primarily by greed. Soon it will be survival. It is a cyclic problem. Kali Yuga is an age of
despair, so it is logical that the Magicians in Kali Yuga have abandoned us and put on the
black robes.

Dark Magic has a way of devouring her children. It is more or less inevitable that we are
consumed by our magic unless we use that magic to gain wisdom about ourselves. Bill
Gates, with all his wealth and power, is still a mortal man who has to sleep and eat like all The High Priestess II
of us. His benevolence is what will be most remembered about him after he passes. His
accomplishments in the world of computers have propelled us to a world where the Akashic Divinatory Meanings: A wise woman. Mother. Woman. Sister. Wisdom. Good choices.
Records are available to us all. He has opened the doors to world without borders thanks to Making something good out of something bad. Choosing correctly. Triumph. Love.
the internet. But will we have the wisdom to take advantage of this technology to really Compassion. The earth. Wholeness. Health.
ascend into a higher level of consciousness collectively? Or will the market forces make us
even more and more enslaved to our petty desires? Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 2

She is known by many names: Gaia, Mother Earth, Yasoda, Isis, Maria, Tonantzin… She is
our mother, our protector, the source of our life and joy and happiness. She is also the
terrible devourer of life: Kali, Astarte, Quoatlicue. But we prefer to remember her in her
benign form, and we think of her as our divine mother.

She nurtures us, giving freely of herself to us and expecting nothing in return. She is the
feminine mysteries personified and her role is to teach us how to love all sentient beings.
She is the ground that sustains us. The water that gives us life. She is the beauty of a young
woman. The smile of a young child.

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She is nature, pure, uncorrupted. She is also the terrible power of nature: volcanoes,
earthquakes, tsunamis. Our earth mother reminds us now and then that we are very small
and insignificant. She gives us the opportunity to love and to eat her flesh that are the plants 3. The Emperor
and animals that live on her, and we can also drink her blood, that is the pure water in rivers
and lakes. But then surely when our own end is at hand, she reclaims our substance,
gluttonous woman that she is! Nothing escapes her terrible mouth, which, once opened,
swallows up every atom of our being to nurture the most humble of beings with our
essence. Nothing goes to waste. Everything old and sick is recycled into new
consciousness.

The magic of the High Priestess is everywhere we go. The very gravity that holds us in
place from floating into oblivion is nothing more than her weight. She is incomplete,
however, without her male counterpart. For her womb not to be barren, it must be fertilized
with the Sun. Then, when the supreme act of galactic lovemaking occurs, we sprout from
her limbs and reach for the stars.
As her favored children, we mostly take her for granted, not really understanding the
enormous sacrifice she makes every moment for us. Even if one day we are able to leave
her and take our place amongst the stars, she is bound to remain in place, with her husband
the Sun, waiting for the eventual demise of time itself.

Whatever we have learned from her, we must take with us wherever we go, and make
certain that the lessons of life are seeded throughout the universe.

THE EMPEROR III

Divinatory Meanings: Father. Grandfather. Boss. Chief. King. One who has authority. One
who is just, stern, kind. A wise man. A good man. Usually it refers to somebody’s father or
father-like figure such as coach, teacher, or even a president. Affluence. Material success
and wealth.

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 3

Without a doubt Barak Hussein Obama has captured the imagination of the world and given
us all a newfound sense of hope in the democratic political process. The first black man in
the white house, something that during the times of slavery in the south would have been
unthinkable, is now a reality. Obama is a perfect representative of “The Emperor”, the
Philosopher King who brings justice and well-being to his Kingdom.

The Emperor is the principal father figure. He is the good shepherd, making sure that all his

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flock are not lost or injured by the many wolves who abound in the world. But this
shepherd is not one who nurtures the spiritual and psychological needs of his people: he
simply the enabler, provider. The meal-ticket. Father might not always know best when it 4. The Empress
comes to feelings and what is needed inside by his children, but he will make sure that the
refrigerator is full and that there is enough money for new shoes.

He is the master of matter. He brings to his family affluence and success. He takes the raw
matter of a person and transforms it into surplus. He gives work. He makes sure that
children are fed and that they have warm beds to sleep in.

He is also the justice-giver. His word is the Law. He can make and break whoever he likes
or dislikes. He is not bound to any Law but himself because he is the ruler of the physical
realm. This makes him also protector of the innocent. And of course, executioner of the
guilty.

The Emperor is a peaceful but stern man. He will not have his authority questioned by
anybody, but he will give generously to all. His needs are the needs of his people and his
welfare is the welfare of his people. He has a divine duty to the land, and thus his element
is earth. His empire is always expanding. He is especially fond of large homes and castles.

Around him are a court of aides and service-men. His authority is principally a military
authority because he is the Lord of Hosts, commanding men to defend the realm. But his
nature is peaceful. He has no desire for fighting, no lust for destruction.
As the primordial father, he is also the Grandfather, the leader of the clan, the elder, the
statesman. His power is over the cities and towns and he must always be accompanied by
many who do his will. But his pleasure comes from the service he provides for his children.
Children are his primary attribute because he is the one who “brings home the bacon”.
The Empress IV
He is also always accompanied by “The Empress” his eternal wife. Together, they form the
dual aspect of God known as “The Lord” and “The Lady”. Their unity in duality appears Divinatory Meanings: Mother. Grandmother. Matron. Matronly Woman. Wife. Marriage.
also in The Lovers, The Devil, The High Priest and the High Priestess, The Tower…In fact,
they are represented in all the cards to a lesser degree. It is the balance between them that Yes or No: Yes.
makes reality possible. Their Ying and Yang is delicious in the fact that they live the one
for the other. Love is their principal glue. But their union goes beyond simple love and Numerical Value: 4
touches on the divine duty of each one of us.
The mother of all mothers is the Empress. She is representative of motherhood as a way of
life. Her place is always at the right hand of the Emperor and she is the educator, the
nurturer, the one who cleans the diapers. The traditional role of women is that of mother. It
is a God-given job opportunity for women seeking financial security and job security. Once
a mother, always a mother. Mothering takes all other jobs a woman might have and turns
them into hobbies. The truth is that there is nothing more important for a woman to do in
her life than to raise kids. If women gave up on this, the entire species would come to a
screeching halt and the end of humanity would come.

Women’s lib adherents say that a woman is not a child-bearing factory. They tell us that

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women have lives beyond the family and they can play whatever role in society they might
desire. They are full of shit. A woman who is barren has left out something sacred form 5. The High Priest
herself. A vagina is just a black hole unless life comes out of it. Women know this
instinctively but they like to play the fool. This is evident by the fact that they can’t go out
in public unless they paint their faces like circus clowns.

I am profoundly jealous of women’s vaginas. Call it vagina envy. There is nothing more
wonderful in the human race than a pregnant woman. To have life somehow grow inside
you and suddenly, after a while of being a two legged taxi for some fetal creature, POP!
Out comes a real living human being.. From inside your guts! Only the power of a vagina
can do that. The mojo of the vagina is unparalleled. Men might make cars and airplanes and
guns… But they can’t make babies. All men can really do to create a baby is donate some
white piss. Women on the other hand are the factory. They are the black box out of which
magic comes out. They are much closer to God and they don’t even understand it.

So I laugh at these macho women who want to be warriors and fishermen and cops. Go on,
you stupid barren creatures! Leave behind the most wonderful magic of all: making life. Go
on! Make your careers. Make your fortunes. Go kill Arabs. See if we care! See if your seed
is missed!

Gay people at least have an excuse. They are in the wrong body. So called “liberated”
women have no excuse. They are simply too self-centered. They are jealous of men. But
hey, who would take their freedom to do all that?

It is no coincidence that in the so called “civilized” west populations are declining.

Germany, France, Denmark... They stopped making babies a while back. Women turned
out too masculine in these places, so they must import Arabs and Africans to keep their
populations intact. How telling! Divine Justice.
So... Now you hate me for being a misogynist? Then you have totally misunderstood my
point of view. I love women! I adore them! But I also recognize the role of the Empress for
what it really is: The role of MOTHER. How can we expect our society to work when men
leave women to do all the work? The Emperor is there to provide for the Empress. She does
not need to go out and fight wars or hunt. That’s what men are for.
Divinatory Meanings: A holy man. Success. Doing the right thing. Blessings. Good
choices. A blessed event or a good situation. Spiritual insight. Knowing the answer from a
spiritual place. Teacher. Mentor.
Yes or No: Yes.
Numerical Value: 5
I specifically didn’t choose Pope Benedict for this card because I feel that the Catholic
Church has lost almost all its moral authority. The Dalai Lama, on the other hand, by
sticking to non-violence and exile instead of violent confrontation against the Chinese
managed to capture the heart of the entire western world. This moral authority is the key of
the High Priest.

The High Priest is our bridge between divinity and humanity because the moral choices he
makes make sense for the entire society and somehow keep us all unified and strong.

The High Priest is much more personal than that though. He is Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda.
He is Dumbledore, he is Gandalf. He is the guru who helps us to reach the next level in our
spiritual evolution. When our father fails to answer our questions, he is our second father.

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Maybe even more than that, he is our Spiritual Father, the father we choose to have. 6. The Lovers
Unlike our father who gives us orders, the High Priest can only suggest ideas to us. His role
is subtle. When we get married, we need his permission. He is there at our birth and our
death. The Parish Priest who has, like mother Goose, so many children that he doesn’t
know what to do.

Arcane lore is his greatest attribute. Teacher is one of his favorite names. He might take the
role of a particularly frazzled chemistry professor, or a beefy football coach. But he might
not be a teacher at all, but just a friend who really understands what we are feeling and he
knows how to listen. Usually he comes as a man, but occasionally, he might come as a
woman. He is interchangeable with the High Priestess, but his domain is not as earthly as
hers. He is a creature of light and the sun and truth. There is nothing hidden with him.
Eventually, we must also leave him behind, but his lessons are never forgotten. He is a key
which we use to open our own hearts to greater truths.

THE LOVERS 6.

Divinatory Meanings: Love, romance, being in love, a lover, lovers, loving someone, being
loved by someone, marriage, compromise, union, sex.

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 6

I wanted to include non-human representatives in this tarot, and I was trying to find the
right card to express the fact that the evolution of the soul is common to all living beings.
But animals are not like humans, they have a simpler, more basic nature, which, when
stripped of all its complications, boils down to the biological needs that are common to all
of us.

My reason for choosing these swans was simple: I wanted to show that animals also have
souls. And the proof of this soul is the love they can have for one-another. It is a known
fact in zoology that certain birds mate for life. We can call this instinct, we can call it a
biological need... But why not call it what it is? Why not call it love? Humans in Kali Yuga
are almost not worthy of the Lover’s card. Our capacity of empathy, especially for our
animal brothers and sister has decreased considerable during the age of Kali. This is a sad

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state of affairs, but if there is something we can learn about it is that animals, in their simple 7. The Chariot
ways, can show back to us what is most noble in humanity: love.

Without love there would be no life. Without kids who fall in love and have sex and make
babies, there would be no movies, no cars, no airplanes, no hot-dogs and certainly, no Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie. We owe it all to love. Love can also be a powerfully destructive
force. Just ask Romeo and Juliet. Besides death, Love is the greatest mystery of all. The
Creator has placed us here with the ability to love each other. That alone should be
undeniable reason to believe in an “intelligent” designer. There is nothing better, nothing
more elegant, and nothing more wonderful, more terrifying than love. In order to really
understand reality, we first need to feel this intense, insane thing that we go through. The
pain of love lost is like nothing else. It shatters the very foundations of our being. It makes
physical pain seem like a pleasure.

We can only experience true loss when we know love. And of all the forms of love, the
most poignant, the most raw is that love irreversibly tied to our deepest lust: romantic love.
The lovers card is a little taste of the infinite story of love, but it focuses on romance, and
thus it allows for the mystery to be zeroed in. Why is it that we love one and not all?

I can’t really tell you the answer to the mystery, but I at least I know to ask the right
question!

The Chariot. VII – Divinatory meanings: Travel, going somewhere. A trip. Leaving a place.
Moving into a new place. A vacation. A leader.

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 7.

Fly me to the Moon! There is a car and there is a driver’s seat. You can’t really navigate
without some kind of control, but when you figure it out, the trip is less trippy. Some folks
never leave the comfort of the Hermit’s Cave. They must wait another lifetime to reach to
the stars.

Any starship needs a Captain. But it is not just leading that get us there. Sometimes, you
need to allow yourself to be led too. The twin engines of the Space Shuttle are nothing
without the big booster. And none of these combined gets anywhere fast without the folks
inside the little cabin.

Oftentimes, we forget we are in a spaceship. Mother Earth, when looked from above, is
nothing more than a little sphere, floating in space, “seemingly” without rhyme or reason.
But at least we know now. We can tell. We are willing to go there, and see it all for what it
really is: a journey.

Do not confuse the Chariot with the wheel. The Chariot is dynamic, powerful, awesome. It

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gets things done. It makes it so. It makes beauty possible. The only cost is leaving the past 8. Strength
behind. There are no safety nets for the Charioteer. Once you start your engines, it’s really
up to you to get to the finish-line, and there is no guarantee that there even is a finish-line.

What is the ultimate goal of the Chariot?

To Boldly Go Where Nobody has Gone Before. Why? Because the Chariot is the leader of
the pack. The Charioteer breaks ground for the foot-soldiers. He is the scout. The Ranger.
You must trust your wheels.

STRENGTH VIII

Divinatory meanings: Good choices, making the right decision, controlling the wild beast
inside your own heart, a good woman, morality. Ethics. Truth.

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 8

I really went out on a limb here and did not choose the ordinary symbols used in most
decks for this card. I should have, by all accounts, a woman dominating a wild beast.
Instead, I have the Gubernator with a sword. But actually, the symbols still apply: Arnold is
in drag, and his sword is the beast!

Why?

Because in California, it’s the Gay folks who rule (not implying anything about Arnold,
just about his attractiveness to other men) and the sword is the beast. The beast of violence
and destruction represented by an implement created solely for war. What beast could be
worse than man? Interestingly, Arnold has the sword pointed “up” which means aggression.

Conan the Barbarian is now a fully developed human being with a balance between his
male and female parts fully awakened. A holy Hermaphrodite that has the strength to fully

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condone the beast without giving it room to destroy, maul and murder. 9. The Hermit
I wanted to choose somebody who is impeccable. Arnold came to mind. I wanted to choose
someone who represents the strength of body and spirit. Again, the Gubernator was the
man. Especially the young Arnold, who comes from Germany to the USA a nobody and in
a small time, builds himself to be one of the most important people around.

His lesson to all of us: You too can be like me! All you need to do is to control the wild
beast of the id and clamp down on your negative instincts, to build a better person each day.

The Hermit IX.

Divinatory Meanings: Solitude. Loneliness. Strength in purpose. Celibacy. Saying no to a

relationship. Triumph, success. It’s lonely at the top.

Yes or No: No.

Numerical Value: 9.

Illuminated by his own light, the Hermit does not need anybody to get to his destination,
and in that is perhaps closest to the fool, but unlike the fool, the Hermit has a direction: He
goes to the Beloved.

I choose this Sadhu because he is alone. You can see him in the eyes and see it. Nobody
really can tell him how to smoke his light. But he brings a light, undoubtedly, he needs
nobody to understand him. He is nameless and yet he has a name. He is nobody and yet he
is everybody. He carries a watch. He needs to be somewhere on time.

I have met many a Hermits on the road. Perhaps even more than Fools. They’re alright.

The Hermit is no medicine man. He has no time to cure folks. He is on a path to purify
himself.

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Nuff said. 10. The Wheel

The Wheel X.

Divinatory Meanings: Going around in circles. Starting at the same destination as the end.
Not learning from past mistakes. The wheel of Karma. Recycling. Trusting too much on
Fortune. The need to break from ordinary patterns of behavior.

Yes or No: No.

Numerical Value: 10.

I really can’t stand Car Racing. I abhor SUVs. I don’t like driving. I barely stand the rules
of the road. I’ll never learn. But then, that’s Karma. Being attached or repulsed by stuff.
Thinking that it “somehow” matters. (burp).

No matter how much we try, there are some things that win over our desire. Death comes to
mind. Dishonor … Disaster. And yet, when it’s done, after we have paid the ultimate price,
we go again at it with wild abandon.

Besides money, I can’t think of a more sinister adversary to human well-being than the
automobile. And yet, given the chance, I would probably buy myself a white Cargo Van,
probably a Toyota, although I’d rather drive a WV. Something about going around in
circles for things we absolutely do not need or really “desire” once we get out of our egos.

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I didn’t show the devil, the dog and the sphinx this time. That would be too easy. That 11. Justice
would be making the symbol of the wheel cheap. (burp). Instead, I give you the ultimate in
ego masturbation: Nascar. When will mankind learn to go back to God? When they stop
running around in circles. Will they?

Of course not!

Justice XI

Divinatory Meanings: Lawsuits. Facing a judge. Legal matters. Suing or being sued. Doing
the right thing. Finding a just solution or encountering a lack of justice. Need for Justice
Means usually a lack thereof.

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 11.

I chose the World Court in Brussels because it is my belief that until we have a One World
Law, we live in a state of Lawlessness. This idea actually came from a fellow named Gary
Davis who renounced his American Citizenship in order to become the first “World
Citizen” of the United Nations. His quest, more than any other, opened the door for me to
really begin to understand “Justice”. Usually, what passes for Law and Justice in our world
is the abuse of weak by the strong. The defining element in so called “Justice” is money,
and as we all know, money usually goes to the most ruthless. Hence, the state of “world
law” is one of lawlessness and a kind of Social Darwinism. In short, a hellish situation.

In fact, Justice is divine. Only a supreme being could untangle the web of human injustices.
Human efforts to bring “Justice” to disputes is imperfect at best. The clear indication of this
imperfection in human “Justice” is war. Divine Justice means death for all. And death
equalizes all debts. More on this later.

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It is commonly said that Justice is blind. I disagree. I think Justice must be transparent, but 12. The Hanged Man
it must also be all-seeing.

I feel sorry for those who are called upon to Judge. How dare they Judge anybody? How
dare they put themselves above each individual with some archaic books that give them a
so-called Law to Judge with? In a perfect world, each case would be individually Judged –
Judged on the entire merits of the plaintiff and the defendant and not only on some obscure
writing in some book. Even the Bible tells us: Judge not least you also be Judged. But we
never learn, do we? Always we want to feel morally superior to those decadent, evil,
wrongdoers and sinners. Only thus can our own actions be vindicated in the court of public
opinion.

A mob gets together and writes a few clever things on some “sacred” papers, be it a
constitution or a Holy Book… Then the mob calls this “The Law” and then the terror
begins. Woe to those who break the taboo of the land. Of course, taboos change from
country to country and Nation to Nation. But behind every Nation there is always a group
of men who consider themselves above the Law of another Nation. Thus we have a
worldwide state of chaos which lends itself to devils’ play in the guise of Law.

Perhaps one day we will all be protected from each other by a true form of Justice.
Perhaps? Is that not the promise of the Bible, the Koran and the Vedas?

The Hanged Man XII

Divinatory Meanings: Sacrifice. Sacrifice for others. Jesus. Jesus like-behavior. What
would Jesus do?

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 12.

Without a doubt, Jesus Christ is the most important historical figure of our times. Arguably,
he is the most important historical figure of all times. No other message has captured the
imagination of humanity and the proof is in the pudding: look at the numbers of the
religious of man and you will find Christianity at the very top.

I read the Bible occasionally. Each time, I get something new. As a practitioner of
something forbidden in the Bible, I try to be careful to keep my mind and heart open to the
things spoken by Jesus and not become close-minded to the fact that those words might be
true. There is, in the last book of the Bible a very strong admonition against “sorcery” or
“Magic” … Divination (which is the school of magic that the Tarot belongs to) could be
called a kind of sorcery.

None the less, I feel Jesus and his message are paramount in my own life. And when I try to
consider the sum of Jesus’ message, I believe that it can be summed up by the meaning of

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this card: Sacrifice. 13. Death
What is it about Sacrifice? What makes it so noble? So powerful is the idea of sacrificing
oneself for the benefit of others! For a pseudo-Christian wannabe like myself, reading the
Tarot is a kind of sacrifice. The Vedas call it Karma-Kanda, and literally, it means you
absorb the Karma of another person. When you pull out the cards, you set them in front of
your client to help them resolve their life issues, you are actually absorbing their pain. Who
in their right mind would do that? Even for twenty bucks?

Who can argue with Jesus?

The Hanged Man image is common in historical religious belief: The Norse had Odin. The
Egyptians Osiris (Osiris was not hanged, but he was torn into bits and brought back to life).
But in my times, Jesus is the man. There is one Hanged Man! All others are posers!

Death XIII

Divinatory Meanings: Death. The end of something.

Yes or No: No.

Numerical Value: 13.

There is very little I can add to this card.

The meaning is perfectly clear. Let’s leave it at that.

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14. Templance The Bacchanalias of the Romans were necessary evils so that a sober and serious people
could go about their boring lives without breaking down. Christianity put an end to all that
and supplanted it with Holy Communion. Not a very fair deal if you ask me, but I’m a
Tarot reader, so I’m supposed to say things like that.

The bottom line of this card is health. Do what is most healthy. Are you French and can’t
stand dinner without a glass of wine to wash it down? FINE! Just don’t overdo it. Joe Six-
pack might spend more time with his kids playing football than watching it on t.v. Even
Soccer Mom (that austere example of singularly healthy living) needs to lay off those Little
Debbie devils-food cakes now and then.

Part of the trick of this card is recognizing that it’s a warning: we have an addiction and it
has control over us.

Templance XIV

Divinatory Meanings: Balance, Equilibrium. A drunken person. Becoming addicted.

Addictions. A need for sobriety. Lack of sobriety. The beginning of sobriety.

Yes or No: No.

Numerical Value: 14.

So many people misunderstand the meaning of this card. I chose Alcoholics Anonymous so
there absolutely no doubt as to what Templance means. The “angel” of Templance is there
to remind us that we need help. The waters of life, blood, the source of our vitality, is
draining constantly. We can either help ourselves to more life, or waste it away.

Addictions are innumerable. One of my favorite is television. Nobody really thinks about it,
but every time we put ourselves at ease to watch some ridiculous program, we are actually
wasting the only thing God gave us: time. We could have been praying, or doing service
(SEVA) or playing with our kids or our pets. Instead, we chose to tune out.

Drugs, alcohol are very similar. Sometimes, a little lift-me up can be helpful to melt the ice.
Go to a party, have a drink and you might find yourself confiding truths that you are too
shy to share with others otherwise. In fact, the Romans were very well aware of this
medical fact: In Vino VERITAS. (Wine is the elixir of truth!)

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15. The Devil
The Devil XV
Divinatory Meanings: Something evil. Darkness. Black magic. Bad news. Something bad
that happens to people. Accidents. Crime. Doing the wrong thing. A very bad person. A bad
relationship. A bad situation. Evil intentions. Evil actions. Evil thoughts.
Yes or No: No.
Numerical value: 15.
Choosing the right card for the Devil was easy: what is the most possibly evil thing that
man can do to others? A nuclear bomb. There is nothing intrinsically evil about nuclear
power. The sun uses it to warm the earth and make life possible. There is nothing evil about
fire in general. Fire is one of the four prime elements that make reality possible.
But there is no redeeming factors to a Nuclear Bomb. No excuse can be given for
unleashing such destructive force on planet earth. When Oppenheimer decided to create the
bomb (and all the members of his team), they were trying to beat the Germans to it. But
then, Germany was defeated, and Japan was left alone, and would have surrendered…
Except, President Truman decided to make an ‘example’ of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the
entire world, making the United States of America the most evil Nation in the world. Was
the knowledge of how to make the bomb evil? No. Was making the bomb evil? Yes.
42
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The most sinister thing about the devil is
that he comes as a savior. The devil is the daily compromise we make with the evil in our
own person. I am a kind of expert on this theme. The nature of evil has intrigued me since I
was a child. Often, I recognize the evil in my own heart, but I find myself powerless to
defeat it.
The devil is the one that feeds us. Every time we eat a hamburger, a cow had to be brutally
slaughtered. When we have a cheeseburger, we are cooking the cow in her own milk. What
is the difference between a Cheeseburger and a Nuclear Bomb? In terms of evil, none at all.
The expediency of milking and killing a cow to eat a hamburger is no different of the
expediency of slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians in a few minutes in
order to defeat the Japanese Empire in WWII. But then, the results are quite different. The
hamburger might give us indigestion. Harry S. Truman might very well have known that
his deed had released hell-on earth.
The devil convinces us that he is necessary, that he is the only one who has the answer to
our problem. But that’s a lie. From the very first murder, when Cain killed Abel, the devil
has been trying to convince us that he is not real. But when we begin to look closely, we
see our inescapable debt to the devil. The devil owns our bodies. Every time we eat, we are
eating murder, and even if we were vegetarians, there are a zillion ways to fall into the
devils’ claws.
The basic duality of our human existence makes it impossible to live outside of ‘sin’. That
was really the message of Jesus when he said we are born into sin. The very condition of
existing on this planet requires that we cause the destruction of other sentient beings. Well,
not exactly. There are those enlightened beings who cause no extinction to other sentient
beings. But they are so few and far between as to be almost non-existent.
Ordinary men and women don’t even know they are evil. They can’t see the murder behind
their hamburger. They don’t really care about Hiroshima or Baghdad. They get up, go to
work, come back home, eat, watch some t.v. and sleep only to start their cycle once again,
utterly unaware and asleep of the daily mayhem their lives cause to others. They don’t
really consider themselves particularly sinful or evil, but they are unable to see beyond their
own limitations and they can’t fathom the cause and effect, the karmic causes of their daily
activities.
The devils’ primary objective is not to destroy us, however, but to separate us from that
which is most essential: our deeper connection to God. The devil is the Casino, where we
go to pray to the God of Money. Or he is the television where we pray to an infinite number
of Idols.
Once you are aware of the devil, you begin to realize that everything has a tint of evil. The
most innocent things: puppies and ice-cream, at the very least cause children to get fleas
and cavities. It is almost impossible to escape the devil because he is everywhere always.
And worst of all: he makes us feel good.
But in fact, we all end up paying the piper. Be it Oppenheimer, trying to beat the Germans
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to the bomb, or your local preacher, worried about the mortgage of his church, sooner or 16. The Tower
later, all of us find that whatever we tried to do in this planet that was not of God, for God
and by God… Was for his darker-side: the devil.

There are really only two roads. Many are called, but few are chosen.

Know the devil in your own breast and make peace with him. Perhaps then God’s true
illumination will come through. When all else fails: pray.

The Tower XVI

Divinatory Meanings: Force Majeure. Catastrophe. Accident. Losing everything. Breaking

up. A terrible event that changes one’s life forever. Ashes-to-ashes. Rising from the Ashes.
No turning back. Destroying the old to make room for the new. A weak foundation will
cause the house to collapse. A house of cards is blown by the wind.

Yes or No: No.

Numerical Value: 16.

The original tower was the tower of Babel. King Nimrod decided to build a tower that
could reach heaven. Since all the people of the world spoke the same language, the Tower
of Babel began to rise unopposed until it touched the very gates of Heaven.

Heaven did not like that much. So the tower came tumbling down and God confused the
language of all the people so that they would never build a similar tower. Nimrod lost his
Kingdom and his life and out of the ashes of the tower, ancient Babylon was created,
beginning our adventures with modern civilization.

The moral of the story here is: do not be too proud. Another way of saying it would be: the
bigger you get, the bigger you fall. Another story that comes to mind is that of Icarus.
Icarus decided to build some wings to fly to the sun. He made the wings out of wax, so that

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as he began to climb higher and high, and get closer and closer to the sun, the wings melted 17. The Star
and he plummeted to the sea to his death.

When 9-11 came around, I had a strong feeling that it was an inside job. Now, I am almost
possibly convinced that 9-11 was actually a gigantic human sacrifice meant to bring about a
New World Order. In order to bring in the New World Order, the old-world (represented by
the World-Trade-Center and its Laws) had to come tumbling down.

The lives of the people inside the towers were a kind of blood-payment to the Gods of the
New World Order. We are entering the age of Capricorn, the age of the Goat. 9-11 was the
first event that ushered in this age, setting the stage for 1,000 years of peace and prosperity.

It remains to be seen what will come of this. But I suspect, Pax-Americana is come finally
to and end and a new security arrangement will have to replace it. Another symbol of the
tower is the Phoenix. The Phoenix is reduced to ashes by fire. But out of those ashes, the
Phoenix is resurrected, Christ like.

To US cops, 9-11 was a wakeup call. After all, what do we do when we have an
emergency? We dial 9-11. Osama Bin Laden was created by the CIA to defeat the
Russians. When the Russians were defeated, there was only one thing standing in the way
of a One-World-Order: The USA.

Now, this problem is beginning to unravel. The world has come to realize that US national
security means nothing if it does not support World-Security. The Islamic world has
awoken to the fact that there are forces trying to bring Islam to an end. A Jihad has been
called for and the very nature of Islam demands that the call of Jihad be answered by those The Star XVII
who believe in the Koran.
Divinatory Meanings: Triumph, Love, Good Luck, Good Magic, a good person. A lucky
The rest of the religions have been warned: Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism… They person. Affirmations. Finding the way.
are all now calling for a savior. To many Christians, the writing is on the wall, and the End
is near. To Muslims (the natural adversaries of Jews and Christians) Judgment Day looms Yes or No: Yes.
very close in the distance. Buddhists and Hindus, a little older and wiser than their Judeo-
Christian brothers are trying desperately to sit this one out. But they know better. Many Numerical value: 17.
Buddhists claim Mayatreia is here already. Besides, India will have to rescue the Kashmir.
And the Dalai Lama will have to rescue Tibet. Who is your lucky star? That special person who you know will always arrive at the nick of
time to save the day? Now think this: if you look into the sky with the naked eye at night,
And atheists worldwide are calling for an end to Religious violence. All this because three what is the brightest star you see in the horizon?
little towers went down in New York City.
Venus.

Folks don’t know it, but there “he” is, Lucifer, by some names. Venus by others. If you
look up, the meaning of old things becomes apparent, but sadly, most folks are always
looking down. At night, guiding yourself, first by the Moon and then by Venus is
elementary, as elementary as finding the Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt.

If we all thought as mariners, we would not have to loose ourselves so easily in the infinite
labyrinths of Karma’s wheel. And yet, here we are, forgetting ourselves over and over to try

46 47
to fulfill some egoic, absurd destiny which once you let go of such notions, becomes 18. The Moon
nothing less and nothing more than the light at the end of the tunnel.

I told my niece today that one must remember the old names of things. Especially of Gods.
Let’s see, kids, what can you google about Venus for old Uncle Robin? Among the few
things I remember in my riddled brains are a certain Venus without head arms or legs,
which is still considered by art-historians as one of the most beautiful women of all times.

Finding the way is still being a part of the labyrinth.

The Moon XVIII

Divinatory Meanings: The Queen of Heaven (careful, only in very specific readings!), lies,
occult teachings, hidden things.

Yes or No: No.

Numerical value: 18

When I look at the “moon” I call her Radharani since that is, in my view, her most
wonderful name. In truth, that name belongs to the reflection of the moon as seen by
Krishna. The moon herself is a bit colder and darker than Radha, and in fact, in Tarot it
represents lies, that which lies beneath.

As Queen of the Tide Waves, she manages all liquid flows, including women’s
mensuration. God forbid she forget someday to do her duty and women all got PMS at the
same time forever. Oh, well. Her light is not her own, scientists tell us, and thus she lies to
us about her true nature, which is cold and lightless.

She is, a piece of rock suspended above us, kind of not really caring about anything that she
doesn’t.

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To some, she is as a rabbit, jumping here and there to evade the powerful jaws of some 19. The Sun
Coyote somewhere. To others she is made of Cheese.

Nobody smiles quite like her, that is certain, but her smile might appear sardonic to some,
because after all, she smiles only at night, and mostly at our own stupidity. Is she mocking
us? Perhaps. Perhaps.

Any werewolf worth his salt knows that she deserves at least one howl when she comes
round to see us completely. Werewolves, after all, are not stupid at all. They stay alive long
after others less lucky have left their bodies. Of course, they have temper problems.

Perhaps her greatest secret is that she doesn’t lie to us at all. We only lie to ourselves.

The Sun XIX

Divinatory Meanings: A bright new day. Good things. Warmth, love, tranquility. The best
possible result. The best of all worlds. A boy.

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 19.

Every time I look at the sun, I know God is looking at me too. In fact, I consider the Sun
God’s Eye – perfect, and utterly devastating. Nobody can look at God in the eye for long.
In this world, God looks at us with two eyes: the Sun and the Moon. Perhaps in other
worlds, God looks at us with 3 or 5 or 8 eyes, but in this one, it’s two, just like ours.

You call him whatever you like: I look at the Sun and I know I am looking at God’s Eye.
Light is the source of our vision, looking at things requires the interaction of light in our
retina with sensory nerves that detect fluctuations in the intensity of light. So, if the sun is
both energy and light, and there is no other source near to us that is as bright or energetic,
doesn’t it stand to reason that it’s a kind of visual-thingies of our Creator to check in on our
little insignificant lives?

The Sun gives us warmth, makes us grow, in fact, makes the very life in our bodies

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possible. No Sun means no life. Of course, it’s only a little part of it, and life requires a host 20. Judgment
of other elements, but in essence, the Sun is the spark that makes it all possible.

Some good friends of mine consider the Sun an inhabited planet and feel that the life-forms
inside the sun are all based on energy and light. Not a bad idea: life as pure energy would
require a world made of pure energy – therefore the Sun could be the ultimate planet of
energy-life-forms and all our scientific friends would be utterly wrong in saying life is not
possible inside the Sun. In fact, life “as we understand it” is not possible, but we understand
so little of what it means to be alive that it’s an insult to other planets to say there’s no life
in them!

My own relationship to the Sun is a bit like the relationship between me and my dad. In my
bones, I know instinctively that someday I shall return to the Sun as the prodigal son. It is
the light-at-the-end of the tunnel of death. I am certain of this. But to return to the world of
all-light, first I must let go of this water-earth-air body. Not something I am in a hurry to
do.

The Sun represents all that is good. It represents our Creator.

Judgment XX

Divinatory Meanings: Legal matters, court cases, being sued or suing someone. Also:
resolving an issue with an arbiter as a Judge. Finality. Being judged or judging someone.

Yes or No: No.

Numerical Value: 20

I chose the figure of Kalki, the last Avatar of Vishnu in this age of Kali-Yuga as the
principal figure of Judgment because he represents the Judgment of God against the sinners
at the end of the age. The Hindu religion is incredibly more compassionate in its profound
teachings than any of the western religions. When Kalki slays a demon or sinner, that
sinner or daemon is immediately freed from the bonds of his or her Karma.

Meaning: if God comes down and kicks your ass, it is seriously kicked.

Kalki is the ultimate cleansing, the utter result of perfect, Divine Justice. Neither the living
nor the dead can escape this ultimate judgment. In a sense, it is what we all pray for when
we pray for a God that is Good: chastisement of the wicked.

It is important to understand that we are the wicked. There is only one person we can really
be ashamed of: ourselves. Judging others is strictly verboten by the Bible and by many

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other sacred texts, sine we never can really understand the profound motivations of anyone 21. The World
other than our selves. Therefore, if we spend our time judging others, we are incurring the
judgment of God. I am certain the good folks at the Supreme Court understand this little
dilemma – and they still choose to act as Pharisees and Seduces and judge folks. But then,
there must be some perks worth the risk.

What to do when someone trespasses against us?

Well, the Biblical response is: turn the other cheek. Forgive and forget. But what if
someone murdered all our family and raped our pets? How can we forgive that! In fact, we
can’t, can we? So... Laws are made necessary – and where there are laws, there are judges
and juries. Folks who will use those laws to determine who is right and who is wrong.
These third party-judges are humans who will commit errors. I wonder how many innocent
men are on death-row for murder. One thing is certain: there are over 300,000 prisoners for
smoking pot or weed-related offences in the USA. In certain Islamic countries, being a
homosexual (Sodomite to you Christian fundies) is punishable by death. Jews used to stone
adulterers. Europeans burnt midwives as witches.

There is a great deal of mis-judgment by human beings on human beings. History is the
record of stupid decisions by stupid judges. Someday, the Judgments at Nurnberg will be
known as utter infamy. Someday, Charlie Manson might be found innocent. In the camp of
Law and Order, nothing is certain except one thing: people do terrible things to each other
and many times, they use Laws to do it.

So, the Final Judgment is not man’s but God’s. The World XXI

Woe to they who have not learned to forgive. Divinatory Meanings: A pregnancy – A pregnant woman – Birth – Rebirth – Favorable
things – Renewal – Getting it right – The sum total of a matter – Everything you need is
there for you.

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 21.

9 out of 10 times that I have pulled this card for a young lady, she was pregnant. I have
learned to trust this card to mean that a new person is about to arrive. In the Raider-White
deck, the world has a woman surrounded by the four beasts that stand next to the throne of
God in the book of Revelations. I am certain, beyond a doubt that the person who was
painted in that deck was pregnant at the time. Why else would this card mean the arrival of
the stork? Perhaps because life must go on. If we look at the picture of our planet, what we
see is a little round ball, kind of the same as you would find on a Christmas tree. There are
no boders, no lines, and no squares. It’s all neat and round, like an egg. Perhaps that’s what
the world really is: an egg. A very round and blue egg that some day might give birth to a
universal consciousness reaching out to the creator of us all.

I can’t think much more about this card. It is simply complete as is.

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Chapter Three: Epilogue now make your own deck!

Someday, if I am a really good boy, I will write down all the minor arcana for you and let
you learn from me what I know about them. I actually really enjoy them, and they are
useful. But in fact, with this little book, you are now holding a perfect tool to read cards
like a pro. You are holding a real TAROT, made by someone who has made these cards his
primary source of income for over 14 years. Which means, you are holding 22 divinatory
cards that can reveal to you the present, the past and the future. A real tool to make magic
happen. Real magic.

So go for it. Try them out.

Set them all down and then go to a friend, ask them for a few bucks and begin to answer his
or her questions. You don’t have to make a living at it. Just do it. See if it works. This tarot
is my expression of the cards based on the world around me as I see it.

While we are on the subject of reading cards. It’s nice that you are using my deck to find
out the past, present and future. But if you REALLY want to make some magic, I have just
the thing for you.

MAKE YOUR OWN DECK.

Yeah, you heard me right. Make your own deck. It is fun, it’s crazy, and it is a powerful
learning experience to really get into the meaning of the 22 Major Arcana that represent the
tarot.

It is the second most important exercise to learn how to use any deck. You need to get
personal with the cards, put the face that you really understand on each trump, so that its
significance in a variety of situations is perfectly clear to you, and hopefully to the person
you are reading to. Maybe you’d prefer Winston Churchill to Obama as the Emperor.
Maybe you would choose Julius Cesar or Napoleon. But you get the idea, each card has a
story to tell and it’s our collective human story.

So ask yourself: what picture would you put for the devil? What would represent the wheel
of fortune? Or the lovers? It’s a very personal event, trying to define the trumps to yourself.
Your life experiences are not as mine, your imagination, your ideas, your concepts are
different. So your tarot should be different. But not so different that you can’t agree on the
significance of the word it represents.

Remember what I told you about the tower, the devil … and death?

What symbols would you use? How would you change THOSE cards? Are you brave
enough to use the image that really represents the event that you are trying to make your
client know about? If you put a nice little pony for death, will client understand what
destiny he chose? Or will you try hide the truth from them?

Thank you for taking a look at my deck. I hope you enjoy it as much as I.

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