What's in there, I wonder

Pandora's deck chest

Initially, I was going to make a forecast, but it stopped feeling right a moment ago, so I'll tell you a story instead.

This year marks my 17th anniversary of working with tarot. Which is absolutely baffling and overwhelming. And makes me feel ancient. Just to think, in 19th century Russia I'd be considered old. Remember the old woman hacked by Raskolnikov in ‘Crime and Punishment ‘? Well, she was 35. My current age. See, I told you - I'm old enough to be hacked by Raskolnikov:)

But it's not the point.

The point is, that for me tarot is much more than 78 pictures with hazy definitions. Tarot, as Molly said, is an art, so I approach it like an art. You can base your reading on classic definitions, but what good would it do? Life isn't simple, and tarot reading cannot be. That's why we have multitudes of decks and authors, that's why we're digging into midtones and hues of the arcana, finding our own shades and voices.

My voice in tarot is almost critical. I think in spreads and issues, agendas and hidden motives. For me, tarot deck is the ultimate surgeon's bag of Victorian era. It's full of Lister's knives, scalpels and razors, but it doesn't have any antiseptic or painkillers.

I don't see myself as a sugar coating reader, although I know many who prefer to sweeten the most dire reading, instead of telling the truth as it is.

This approach works, and I'm quite fine with being a sword of a reader. The choice of decks speaks volumes about me, too, I guess.

I love multilayered decks with a psychological or dark subtones. I like decks that hack into problematic issues. That's why my chest contains more than 80 decks - of which only 3 or 4 are in constant use. Nowadays, it's mostly Travis McHenry's Magicians, Martyrs and Madmen, Edgar Allan Poe tarot and V tarot, with occasional appearances of Gay tarot and Llewellyn tarot.

In this section, I'll be sharing tarot related stuff- from spreads to my thoughts on tarot, do stay tuned.