Size matters
Size matters
This is what I say in every class I teach: size matters.
You see the little man here, squeezed between these two hags, each claiming him?
How about you see him now, transitioning to this size, the Emperor’s size?
If cards mean anything at all, they mean something in their power to signify a sequence of events. An empowered little man is a ruler who will allow no hags to hassle him.
I start all my classes with this mantra: ‘Screw meanings.’ Meaning is situational and it changes all the time. The grand implication of this is that because meaning is situational, it has no inherent existence. In other words, meaning doesn’t exist.
Now, if this little piece of news is not liberating when it comes to cartomancy, I don’t know what is. Imagine approaching all your cards, no matter what they are with this in mind: ‘I don’t have a clue,’ after which you start reading the damn cards according to situation and context.
Suppose you go with traditional, so-called meanings, and say: ‘the Lovers card is about love, or choice.’ Maybe. But that’s not the obvious. The obvious is in what you see: a man between two women. And Cupid. Or, a woman, a man, and then another woman. And Cupid.
Let’s go with the first, for love of symmetry. The man is about to make a decision. We know this because we see him fussing, one leg to the left, one hand to the right. Which one is it? Which of the two is the preferred one? What we want to know is this: What will trigger his decision?
See, what I’m doing here is three things:
Establish what’s happening.
Select what’s important.
Zoom in on the powerful story.
What will trigger the Lover’s decision we cannot know. We’d have to look at the card next to it. The Emperor. This one has no patience. He just moves with it. Whatever it is. And he’s very likely to ditch both of these hags. So much for the one who wants to know: ‘Will we be together?’ for the answer is no.
A traditional so-called reading will beg to differ. It will insist on dictating, ‘yes, you’ll be together. We got two positive cards here, hallelujah!’ Hallelujah like hell.
Let’s take the Lenormand cards: the Tree and the Clover.
Size matters. The big green turns into small green. The meaning is right here, in this transition, not in this: ‘Tree means health and clover means luck.’ Maybe, but that’s not the obvious. The obvious is that I go from a lot to a little. I go from many leaves to three.
If my question is about my work, you won’t find me saying: ‘what a lucky break, to get tenure.’ Or saying: ‘there’s a good chance that you’ll hack it,’ whatever it is. No, I’ll say this: ‘I get chopped off. I’m now vulnerable. Any goddamn lawnmower will get me.’ Now that’s obvious to anyone seeing these cards. And I didn’t even need to see the goddamn Scythe on the table.
Now you try this. Screw meanings and read like the Devil.
*
