Le Méthode

I was fascinated with the Tarot for many, many years.  When I was in my teens and early twenties I studied the Rider Deck and gave "readings" to folks I met on my travels across the country.  Later when I began to work in interactive media I designed an interactive deck to be used on the computer and later animated a beautiful deck on CD-ROM.  I collected several dozen decks but I never thought much about the Tarot as anything other than an interesting artifact from the past to be collected.

When I first came in contact with the restored Tarot de Marseille I was enchanted by the rich symbology of color, image and composition.  Now I am reading in English Jodorowsky's The Way of Tarot; this is renewing my interest and  this project which I hope will stimulate me into writing which has been long dorman is the result.  I have a long way to go before I am competent in reading the symbols of the Marseille deck; I carry a digital copy of the Major Arcana with me on my iPhone and review the images at every chance I get.  My reading of Jodorowsky is focused on his research and interpretations of the Major Arcana.

Soon I will begin the experiment of using one card each session as a writing aid:

• I propose to mix or shuffle the Major Arcana with all the cards in their correct up/down positions. 
• I'll then select and reflect on one card for each text and then improvise the text either at the keyboard or by dictation.  

The goal is to tell a story with as little editing as possible and within one sitting. As I complete each card it will be "retired" and the next card will be selected from the top of the deck at the next session.

I am not divining the deck or descrying my future, I don't believe that the future can be descried, rather I am looking at the symbology of the card and making up a story that is inspired by my focusing on the card in that session: the card itself is a tool.

The first text will be posted on 16-17 December 2009.