Thank you for your kind words

To me, the right attitude should really be striving in the areas where one can control, and surrendering in the areas where one cannot…

I couldn’t agree more. I also agree that this is one of the most difficult things to do. It’s very hard to know to what extent we are ruled by the gods, fate or free-will. It’s very hard to know to what extent we should become “hard” or “soft”. In some sense, we probably will never be truly aware of the “extent” to which we can effect, or be effected by a situation. One of that hardest things about being alive is knowing that meaning is never certain – that we can never truly know the answer.

This undecidability of meaning extends itself right across our lives – yet, there is a certain empowerment here. It allows room to maneuver.

I’m glad you liked the post

By the way, I couldn’t agree more on the point of morality! That’s exactly my line of thinking, so thrilled to see people sharing the same idea.

Another thought provoking great post!

Thanks for dropping by.

Although I’ve never written explicitly on the Thoth, Egyptian pantheon or Qabalah, I can certainly understand why you’re finding these subjects to be of such importance and relevance. I remember when I spent several years of intense study on these very subjects – I felt I was beginning to understand things in a completely different and vibrant way.

I plan to write some articles, at some point, which focus on the Thoth, and the Qabalah.

I’d love to hear more of your feedback on the work I’ve already written, especially if you can see a Qabalistic connection that I’ve not mentioned. This would certainly bring a new dimension to other people that are reading the articles .

Here you have to decide what it is you want and work with the individual gods, according to their nature to get it

I think the key words here are, ‘according to their nature’!

The nature of the gods seems to me to be completely self absorbed. They only understand events as extensions of that nature. Interesting thoughts!

The idea that a Tarot reading can provide the client with a choice is really exciting isn’t it ? I mean, it hints at free-will and human self-direction. It’s fascinating stuff because a choice also hints at fate. Choose one direction and such and such will happen – choose the other direction and such and such a thing will happen. The ‘free-will’ bit is making the choice…then fate kicks in and takes things to its natural conclusion. How much free-will do we have and can we pin point, in a Tarot reading, the moment that the client has a choice, the moment they can use their free-will? Can we help them use their free-will constructively?

You mentioned:-

These gods play their part in the poem, in close contact with the human beings. For Homer, gods are very much alike to humans in appearance, speech and passions – even in motives and actions. In the poem the gods can sometimes be seen to fight in the actual war itself. However, the big difference between gods and humans is they cannot die

This is very much the same in Norse mythology – perhaps even more so – you should check out some of the sagas. It’s certain that they haunt the tarot to one degree or another – particularly the hanged man which is strongly resonant with Odin on the world tree **I think we spoke about this before – sorry if I’m going over old ground**

I’ve gained a lot from it, as you know from other comments. This post had me thinking slightly off track with its contents though. It reminded me of the non-judgemental nature of Tarot – its godlike nature. Morally, it doesn’t give a hoot what pickle we’ve got ourselves into. Tarot shows us the details of our own, or the querent’s situation; we interpret and tell the narrative as we see it. It’s often brutal in its directness, and I feel it’s only us as Tarot readers who perhaps add the frill and the lace to soften the blow.

To take that point further, I feel that Tarot doesn’t offer any advice either. Rather it presents choices that we also retell to the querent. The advice only comes in the reinterpretation from ourselves. This I feel also points out the danger of one card being placed in one position, in this instance, the ‘advice’ position. Also being a reader of the Opening of the Key spread, you’re more aware than most of the benefits of a non-positional spread, and the limits of ‘one card, one position’ unless as a reader, we reinterpret the cards after their initial assessment – something I know you do, and something you even put a name to – your Principle of Reinterpretation – a must for positional spreads.

Of course the difficulty in providing some clients with a choice is that they didn’t come to you to hear choices, they’re in front of you because they already have one and they want to know what to do! It’s a tricky business, and as Tarot readers, work like yours is very helpful in reminding us of exactly what Tarot can do; what it doesn’t; but more importantly, what Tarot isn’t. By itself, Tarot promises nothing and is non-judgemental. The problem I feel is in the expectation and the lace.

Cool series, I hope there’s more to come