Making Connections: Pairing Cards

ANNOUNCING A WINNER

On behalf of the Imperium Ambassadorial Delegation, Madame Hypatia is delighted to announce that the winner of our draw for a Steampunk Tarot: Gods of the Machine app has been won by Constable Brass.  Many congratulations, Constable! Please contact me so that we can arrange to have your app sent to you by Teslerian transfer. The Imperium salutes you!

6 Engines (Wands)

 Those not so fortunate as Constable Brass can obtain their copy  by applying to http://www.oceanhousemedia.com/products/steampunktarot/

The wonderful virtue of the app is that the cards can be viewed at a higher magnification and so the many details can be appreciated.  It is also, of course, entirely portable and so very suitable for expeditions, dirigible journeys or for enlightening your leisure hours during long periods aboard your submersible. Whether at play or at work, the Imperium’s tarot can guide your way.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Let us begin examining the technique of story making which begins with being able to relate one card to another.  This basic pairing of cards lies at the heart of making connections.  As soon as you lay one card next to another, a dynamic reaction begins. In a pictorial tarot like this one, it is either easy or challenging to make connections.  We can make a storyboard step by relating one card to the next.



Captain Engines (King Wands)



10 Engines (Wands)

For example:  Captain of Engines + Ten of Engines (Wands). Here the Captain of Engines sits in his own hover-bubble, supreme over the robotic army he has manufactured. He has a certain easy superiority, even arrogance to him.  By contrast, 10 Engines reveals the overthrow of machines of oppression, while the surviving humans of this civilization are streaming away alive.  The story we could derive from just looking at these cards is: ‘despite his superior engines, the Captain cannot overcome the will of the people.’

But if we read the cards in the context of a well-framed question, such as: ‘what will help me during this persecution at work?’ we can immediately derive the advice we seek from these cards: ‘the management may make you feel like a machine but remember you are a human being who can leave this situation to fight another day.’ OR ‘you are not just a cog in the machine but a living person with rights.’ OR ‘the human spirit is more than the machine/work system.’

THE LADDER SPREAD

Try pairing cards for yourself now by using the Ladder Spread: this is a descent to the truth by means of three rungs or pairs of cards. You read each pair and then consider the two sets of three cards that make either side of the ladder, so you can extend your pairs into triplets.

1. Shuffle your cards while considering the question or issue that concerns you now and cut the deck into two equal piles.  In both piles,  you draw a card for each rung of the ladder until you arrive at 3 pairs of cards:

2. What is your birth day? – count down through the cards that number of days and select a card from each pile. Cards 1 + 2

3. What is your birth month? – count down that month number in the remaining cards  and select a card from each pile. Cards 3 + 4

4. What is your birth year? – add up the last two digits of the year (e.g. 1969 is 6 +9=15) and select a card from each pile. Cards 5 + 6.

If at any point you run out of cards in either pile, then treat each pile as circular and, as with a discard pile in gaming, turn the pile upright and start again.

5.  Read the pairs as below and then read cards 1 + 3 + 5 and cards  2 + 4 + 6

6. Add the numbers of the cards 1, 3 and 5, and add the card numbers of 2,4 and 6 to create a number under 22 which accords with one of the Major Arcana. If your total on either side goes over 22, add the resultant numbers together e.g. 59 = 5 + 9 = XIV Spirit Gauge (Temperance).

  Cards  1 + 2  = Surface Appearances

  Cards  3 + 4  = What lies beneath

  Cards  5 + 6  =  The real state of things

  Cards 1 + 3 + 5 = What has happened

  Cards 2 + 4 + 6 = What action can be taken about it

Here is an example for Marjorie Macclesfield-Sterne, wife of Captain James of the Imperium dirigible, Argonautica: her issue concerns the safety of her husband while he is on a long tour of duty in the Mystarian Ocean.  Her birthdate is 4^th November 2176: which is 4 days, 11 months and 7 +6 = 13 years down the piles. These are the cards that she draws:

Birth Day cards:   1. Ace of Submersibles (Cups)  + 2. XX Regeneration Machine (Judgement)

Birth Month cards: 3. Five Submersibles (Cups) + 4. Messenger Leviathans (Coins)

Birth Year cards:   5. Messenger of Airships (Page Swords + 6. VI Explorers reversed. (Lovers)

Ace Submersibles (Cups)

XX Regeneration Machine (Judgement)

1. Ace of Submersibles (Cups)  + 2. XX Regeneration Machine (Judgement)

On the surface of things, Marjorie keeps firmly in her mind the safe operation of her husband’s submersible and the day when it resurfaces so that they can be happily reunited.

5 Submersibles (Cups)

Messenger of Leviathans (Coins)

3. Five Submersibles (Cups) + 4. Messenger Leviathans (Coins)

Beneath the surface it looks as if Captain James is worrying about the survival of his crew in dangerous circumstances, but that he has not shared his worries in any despatches he sends home.

Messenger Airships (Page Swords)

VI Explorers (Lovers)

5. Messenger of Airships (Page Swords) + 6. VI Explorers reversed. (Lovers)

The real state of things shows that Captain James is slving difficulties by using radical means, even to the extent of ’going out on a limb,’ but that he never forgets his wife with whom he is deeply in love.

Cards 1, 3 & 5: Ace of Submersibles + 5 Submersibles + Messenger of Airships. 

What has happened to Captain James is that during the Argonautica’s  tour of duty, there have been losses among his crew; he keenly feels their loss and may be dwelling upon this.  A sense of over-compensation and a conscientious responsibility, may be causing him to cut corners and take more radical decisions than he normally would.

Cards 2, 4 & 6: XX Regeneration Machine + Messenger of Leviathans + VI Explorers

The action that Marjorie can take about this: her task will be to recover and restore her husband after this voyage. In the meantime she could send him messages about her life at home to give him a sense of the little daily things of everyday life which could practically ground him. Although he is away from home, they can share their love by this means, keeping their affection nourished, so that James experiences Marjorie as a fellow traveller on this voyage.

Adding cards 1, 3 and 5 =17 or  XVII Comet (Star)

Adding cards 2,4 and 6 = 39, 3 + 9 = 12 or XII Suspension Tank (Hanged Man)



XVII The Comet (Star)



XII The Suspension Tank (Hanged Man)

The XVII Comet shows a research-technician collecting samples from the comet’s tail, while the XII Suspension Tank shows a escapologist demonstrating his resilience and skill. Reading these two together, we get the sense of Marjorie’s undiminished hope that nourishes the Captain while he is away undergoing these trials.





 CELEBRATING LIFE WITH ANCIENT CARTOMANCY

Navigator of Submersibles (Knight of Cups)

Clymela asks the tarot: ‘I am interested in celebrating my life.  Show me my path out of this dreary Neptune reversed period back into the flow of life.’

Dear Clymela, I respond with  a ninefold spread  which is a Petit Lenormand usage. 

   

                                       123

                                       456

                                       789

So I invite you to see how we play tarot by the rules of ancient cartomancy!

We read the cards in the following way:

A. The central card reveals the core of the issue.

B. 1 + 9 with 3 + 7 tell us the shape of the story

C. 2,4,5,6,8 tell us about the internal drive of the situation

D. 1,4.7 is the Past, 2,5,8 is the Present, 3,6,9 is the Future

E. 2,7,9 is what’s in the mind, 8,1,3 is the hidden motivation

F. 4,3,9 is what triggers this in the past. 6,1,7 is what propels this to the future.

The nine cards are:

ONE: 4 Leviathans       TWO: Navig. Submersibles   THREE: 2 Engines

FOUR: 5 Submersibles. FIVE: Navig. Airships            SIX: XIV Spirit Gauge

SEVEN: 6 Airships R.    EIGHT: 4 Airships                 NINE: 7 Engines

There are 3 Airships (Swords), 2 Engines (Wands), 2 Submersibles (Cups) and 1 Leviathan (Coins) with 1 God of the Machine (Major). The issue is a serious consideration about moving back into social life and its full enjoyment, but the manifestation point is dependent upon bringing matters into balance. There are also two Navigators (Knights), which is useful for this question. 2 Fours reveal that the sense of stagnation is merely a rest before gathering.

Naivgator of Airships (Knight of Swords)

A. CORE ISSUE: The Core of the issue shows the Navigator of Airships who represents the freedom to defend the right and the courage to champion the way forward

B. SHAPE OF THE STORY:  You have been careful about how you assert yourself; this has led to your dynamic drive being held up so that you’ve not been able to move forward.

XIV Spirit Gauge (Temperance)

C. INTERNAL DRIVE:  The ability to steer by your instinct lies within you, as we see with the Navigator of Submersibles taking his sighting by the stars. Acknowledging what has been, but not being defined by it (5 Submersibles), you can determine your course (Navigator of Airships) by adapting to the conditions in your environment (XIV Spirit Gauge) and taking the time to assess and consolidate your way forward.

          The feeling of this combination of cards is that there is some hand-made crafting, where you slowly sculpt your place for yourself. It doesn’t involve second-hand or convenience methods, but uses a real artist’s patience to bring together the ingredients by careful steps.

4 Leviathans (4 Coins)

D. PAST:  Something or someone has treated you with less consideration than you deserved (4 Leviathans) and you’ve learned how to be a survivor (5 Submersibles), but the residue of that trouble is still clinging to you and has made you fear you will be on the end of the next refusal. There might even be some sense of replaying trauma (6Airships).

4 Airships (4 Swords)

PRESENT:  But now you are in the right mode, with 2 Navigators to see you through, to consider your course.  By water and air, you discover ways of blending your feelings and your thoughts. Sit down and contemplate the path you really want before you rush off. (4 Airships)

2 Engines (2 Wands)

FUTURE:  The dynamo is powering up (2 Engines) and you can risk moving forward either on your own or even in partnership with another. Two heads are better than one and socially more fun! You know that you can make the best headway by blending both sides of your nature: the side that does things by hand, naturally, and the fair side that can arbitrate and be considerate. (Spirit Gauge) You gain the tenacity to assert yourself or to stand up for others. (7 Engines)

7 Engines (7 Wands)

E. THE MIND & HIDDEN MOTIVATION:  Your thoughts lead you to be careful of how your pave your path, and you have a strong defensive sense that has contributed here to your sense of being stuck just out of the main flow of things. Your own instinctive path is the destiny that can lead you now.

          Your motivation is blent of a fear of being used and sense of your own good ideas. Exploitation can be avoided when you assess mindfully.

F. TRIGGER FROM PAST & PROPULSION TO THE FUTURE: Your sense of purpose, your survival, is upheld up the good ideas that you still have to accomplish: good working practices, persistence and your care for others shape your path forward.

          What propels you on your path is an aptitude to be generous. Whether you volunteer for an environmental charity or support the rights of refugees or displaced persons, there is a strong sense of you working to make things more equitable for yourself and others.

II Aviatrix (High Priestess)

FINALLY. Because there is one reversed card in this spread, I randomly add a card to augment and support it. This card is II Aviatrix (High Priestess), the card of the lone woman with a strong ethical and educational trajectory guiding her wings. What do your dreams, visions and innate intelligence reveal to you?  Examine these and you will find your way forward.

Do You Keep the Challenging Cards You First Drew?

    

9 Airships

SPRING CHALLENGE 

The London launch of Steampunk Tarot: Gods of the Machine was held at Watkins last month.  You can view the talk that I gave with 124C and Major Jack Squares. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa91LuFZT_k&feature=youtu.be

Several interesting questions arose during the question-time afterwards, including the challenge that some of the cards were somewhat dark in their subject matter. This is undoubtedly true as they depict the affairs of the Imperium where war and conflict have frequently arisen. 

In an era when tarot packs now depict topics as various as breeds of dogs to ghosts and spirits, there has been a steady trend for tarot art to become less challenging and more fluffy, comforting or psychologically supportive.   If we look at early tarots, like the Sola Busca or Tarot of the Emperors, the earliest tarot with a pictorial minor, we find quirky, macho images of men at war, serving men at leisure and martial rulers of nobility: they are pretty intimidating.  If we examine early tarot meanings, we find a variety of challenging cards that have become muted over time.  The Swords are largely challenging, the Wands can be disputive or oppressive, the Cups can have an emotional blight and the Coins can be downright hard work.

Every month for the last year, I have sat down and written this monthly blog, but each entry has received few comments and the followers have not been many. Part of this is about the fact that this tarot has not yet published in USA, and that people are as yet not familiar with it, yet I thought I would check this for myself. So I decided, as this is the challenging month February, time of Lupercalia, when cleansing and self-examination are necessary, to ask  ‘Why is no-one reading or commenting on this blog? ’

I drew three cards from the top of three pile cut to represent the answer to this question. These came out on top:

XX Regeneration reversed, Messenger Submersibles reversed, Messenger of Airships

Then I drew three cards from the bottom of the cut, to represent the teaching that guides the top three cards.

XV Cyborg, 3 Submersibles, 2 Airships



Messenger of Airships



The top three are undoubtedly challenging, especially with the first two reversed.  XX Regeneration reversed ( XX Judgement) shows two people emerging from their regeneration capsule, Messenger Submersibles reversed  shows a joyful messenger (Page Cups), while Messenger of Airships (Page Swords) shows the messenger daringly, knife in teeth, about the launch from the wing of her aircraft.

They are saying, ‘You could chose to abandon this association or transform what you have. The spirit messages at this juncture cannot be received while people are overwhelmed. Stay with the challenge of this and find intelligent ways through it.’



                   

                      3 Submersibles



2 Airships

XV Cyborg (XV Devil) shows the part-human, part machine and his dilemma, 3 Submersibles (3 Cups) shows the meeting of three nations to make an alliance, 2 Airships ( 2 Swords) shows 2 rival craft having a truce or parley.

The teaching cards speak of not being limited by the shadow of this challenge. The way in which the Cyborg looks towards the two cards of reconciliation tells me what I need to know: a fruitful alliance is at hand where collaborative energy can meet. I am starting a dialogue which, currently is one-sided, but it won’t stay that way.

It’s interesting that both lines have a major, a cup and a sword. I also note that teaching cards have a 3 and 2, showing that this blog is young and in its fledging years. Cups and Swords say that this reading is about relationship with the principles and discrimination of this pack.

STAYING WITH THE CARDS

When you draw difficult or challenging cards, the temptation is to slide them back into the pack and reshuffle. But by staying with the cards  we first drew, we often find new illumination. So, in the interests of teaching how we might do this, I kept these same cards and reshuffled them, now setting them upright. I also chose, unseen, three new cards to mix into the shuffle. As you can see, the chief tool of this method of staying with your challenging cards is to ask the right questions. Questions are the key to everything.

This time I asked some relevant questions that had arisen from the previous spread:

1. How do I transform this blog?

2. What do the spirits have to say to those who are overwhelmed?

3. How do I stimulate the dialogue with my readers?

We now have three cards answering each question:

1. How do I transform this blog?

8 Leviathans reversed. XX Regeneration, 9 Leviathans



8 Leviathans



9 Leviathans



Two of the new cards are here; 8 Leviathans (8 Coins) shows a welder at work on a machine, while 9 Leviathans (9 Coins) shows two off-duty airmen enjoying their leisure. They show that the undervaluing I feel from doing repetitive work with no feedback is what needs to be transformed. Maybe I need to let go of it for a few months and have a break?

2. What do the spirits have to say to those who are overwhelmed?

9 Airships reversed, 2 Airships, Messenger Submersibles

9 Airships (9 Swords) shows the dreams of an airman of a dirigible disaster, but this card is reversed. Looking at fears and imaginings in the light of day, with the help of dialogue, enables the message to be joyfully delivered. While we entertain fears, we have no dialogue.

3. How do I stimulate the dialogue with my readers?

XV Cyborg, Messenger Airships, 3 Submersibles

Reclaiming wisdom from fear by dealing directly with the needs of the readers, so we meet on the same footing.



XV Cyborg



    AN INVITATION TO YOUR  ISSUES

     So, if you have read this far, then may I request that you send in your issues for reading on these pages?  I can only do one a month. Answers will be publically shown here, but all  personal details will be unidentified. Please message me on Facebook or append your issue here. I will do my best to respond.







How the Hermit's Lantern of Truth Can Become a New Year Beacon

   

Last night before sleep, I was reading one of the wise books of our people, comparing the esoteric understandings that connect the Imperium with our world: ‘Occult tradition teaches us that entering the astral level allows us to create reality out of thought, even to leave behind artefacts for others to find. Beyond the doorway waits the lantern, a gift from previous hermits who have made this journey before him…’ (Rachel Pollack, The Shining Tribe Tarot).

I was moved to draw three cards representing this figure to understand this wisdom better, L’Hermite from the Marseilles Tarot by Alexandre Jodorowsky and Philippe Camoin The Inventor from the Steampunk Tarot, the Hermit from Rachel Pollack’s original Shining Woman Tarot (now retitled Shining Tribe Tarot.) I give these comparisons for the benefit of all who are not yet fluent in the Imperium’s tarot.  The conventional lantern of the Marseilles Hermit has become the glowing sphere of the Inventor in the Steampunk Tarot, while the Shining Woman’s Hermit has a Thoth-headed being with a staff who has to go within to find his lantern.

For all in the Imperium, the Hermit/Inventor is one of the ultimate creative Gods of the Machine, the one whom the ancients of both our worlds understood as Thoth/Tehuti/Hermes.  The kindling of the lantern happens only in the darkness and silence of meditation, which is why the Inventor is shown within his study.  All creation 

kindles in the laboratory of 'the astral plane,' where we receive the imprint of inspiration in our imaginations.

This commentary upon the Hermit card reminded me forcibly of the Guild of Artificer’s Manifesto that governs the whole of the Steampunk Imperium. Parts of this manifesto are read out in the intervals between our work, to keep us mindful of the wisdom that guides us:

The perfection of knowledge collected from the book of nature has ever been at the heart of all professors of the arts and sciences.  The pursuit of whatever gives a clearer light and unmystifies the truth is the lantern by which each lady and gentleman has made their way upon the path to wisdom.  Whatever gives promise of a greater or purer light has drawn inventors, engineers and practitioners of the many arts and sciences to expend their skills and energies to perfect a better beacon by which all beings may walk without stumbling.

                                      - From the Guild of Artificers’ Manifesto

Artificers and creators within the Imperium believe implicitly in the ongoing sacred path of technological and artistic discovery, for what we each create builds upon what has gone before us.  The idea that what each of us creates can become a beacon to others who are not yet born is a very potent one.  The continuity of what is truest within our creative imagination is the very cave we enter when we seek to give of our best for this new year that is beginning.  What lantern of truth burns within you?  Let’s turn to the source of wisdom to guide us onwards into this year. I asked three questions arising from this passage above, on behalf of us all:

What is the light of wisdom?

What is the skill that keeps that wisdom illuminated?

How do we walk without stumbling?

Drawing one card from the Gods of the Machine (major arcana), one from the Leagues (minor arcana) and one from the Legates (court cards), I continue the comparison of cards. The top line are from the Steampunk Tarot, the second line are from Rachel Pollack’s original Shining Woman Tarot  and from the Marseilles Tarot by Alexandre Jodorowsky and Philippe Camoin.

  

1. What is the light of wisdom?  - Cosmic Blueprint (or Shining Woman or the World) The Cosmic Blueprint shows the harmonious interplay of the four leagues that make up the Imperium which is the heart of the Machine itself. By transcending the limits, the light of wisdom can reveal itself as a dancing jewel which is both universal and also deeply activated within each of us.  The Shining Woman and the World both dance as androgynous humanoids, recalling the hermetic wisdom of Adam Kadmon or the Macrocosmic Man that is the archetypal potential of all human beings. While the World shows the four guardians of the universe in the shape of the four holy creatures,  Shining Woman has the whole universe within her so that it can be mediated to all.  In Cosmic Blueprint, this androgyneity and universality is shown in the emblems of Mars, Venus and Earth inscribed on its free-flowing mechanism.

          The Cosmos or Universe is a dancer and the light that it generates is the light of wisdom for us all.

2. What is the skill that keeps wisdom illuminated? – 9 Leviathans (or 9 Stones,  or 9 Coins) 9 Leviathans shows two off-duty companions in their hydrofoil, enjoying the fruits of their personal time.  They refine their accomplishments by relaxing, enriching their skills by exploring their creative abundance.  Shining Woman’s 9 Stones rejoices in the flying of her hawk, an art that takes great concentration and craft, while the 9 Coins is ‘the wish card’ enabling heart’s desire.

          The skill that keeps wisdom illuminated in us is honing our innermost desire in a multitude of ways: by practicing the things that teach us poise, by rejoicing in the abundance of our skills. This makes the circuit to keep us well lit.

3. How do we walk without stumbling? – Lady of Airships ( or Gift of Birds or Queen of Swords) Lady of Airships steers by the winds with precision. She lays in a course and follows it, but if the winds sent her craft about, she can trim her dirigible’s rigging to keep afloat.  As the most outspoken of  the Legates, she doesn’t flinch from facing difficulty and her assessment goes to the heart of things.  She is always honest and astute. Shining Woman’s Gift of Birds is a bird-headed shaman with a flute. When danger strikes, she becomes a shadow dancer who follows her inspiration. Marseilles’s Queen of Swords is incisive in the same way as her sisters.  They each have the self-esteem to believe in themselves and what their senses show them, with unerring inner poise.

          We can walk without stumbling when we heed the truth that the lantern shows us. By pretending obstacles are not there, or by negotiating with them, we will indeed stumble. By raising our lanterns high, we can find our way, create new pathways through labyrinthine dilemmas and walk honestly as best we may.

          May the peace and blessing of the New Year give you opportunity to go within, find your lantern, refuel it and hold it high as we all face the uncertainties and potentials of the months to come!

INTO A NEW STAR CYCLE

From Stricken Tower to Comet: Into the New Star Cycle.

At Solstice time this year, we witness the completion of a star cycle.  Rather than seeing this as an end of the world scenario, let’s focus upon what is leaving and what is coming for those alive during this transition. Since Solstice offers us the opportunity to return home to the heart of our hearth, let’s ask the cards to show us how to cleanse the way of the new phase  that is arriving, just as we would for a guest, and how to give it our best welcome.

               

                               What do we leave behind? 

10 Airships (Swords) is a graphic reminder that there are many things we leave behind and that need to go down, like the Imperial airship here. If we’ve been paying into ‘end of the world’ scenarios, then to understand that we are survivors who can look forward to doing things differently. Old grievances or sufferings that have not been assuaged should not be inflated or carried forward into the new phase. What are you glad to see the back of?

3 Leviathans (Coins) show that it’s not enough to pull together but then also sabotage any cooperation by criticism or faint praise. When the public good is continually undermined by those who cannot work well together, nothing is achieved. It becomes like the work of Penelope who fended off her suitors by saying she would make a decision only when her weaving was finished: she worked by day on the weaving and by night unwove it, prolonging the time by years. When self-sabotage or criticism are left behind, how does that change things?

3 Engines (Wands) is intent on its own speed and proficiency, its mastery and ambition, like any despot bent upon world domination. The technological advances we have made are mighty, but so has been the hubris.  Just because we can achieve a thing, doesn’t mean that we should, at least until we’ve understood the consequences. Leaving arrogance behind, we cleanse the way indeed. What gift does humility bring to the world?

                     

                                                What do we welcome?

Ace of Engines (Wands) The first card of the new sequence is an Ace, rekindling the passion and the power to make a good beginning. The radiation of that power infuses everything, bringing a sense of innovation, asking us to find the courage and vision.  A sense of ignition and take off can help us attend eagerly with our life’s adventure.  What are your energies and enthusiasms inviting you to engage with at this juncture?

XII Suspension Tank ( Hanged Man) is the only God of the Machine in this reading, so let’s attend to it carefully.  After the brilliant ignition of the first card, how can we read it?  This God suggests that we trust the process with maturity of outlook. Rather than rushing into the fray, we can take time to align with our destiny, stripping back the inessentials to mature this phase forward.  Our engagement must be deep and devoted. How does your devotion realize the gifts of this new phase?

6 Airships ( Swords) shows a party of people who’ve embarked on a new phase of their lives. Whatever foul-ups we leave behind, we commit to new perspectives and opportunities from a different standpoint. We do not have the option to jump ship to another planet: we have to find ways to live with the one we have. What if we ourselves are the envoys and messengers of what is arriving?  What seeds lie within us to germinate? Who will learn from us? What journey must you take to move forward in this new phase?

To sum up the theme of each triplet, we add up the pips of the League cards or numbers of any Gods of the Machine cards and discover that what we leave behind is XVI The Stricken Tower, while what we welcome is XVII The Comet, revealing how timely and natural is this transition. From the downfall of institutions that have served their term, we move into collecting the starlight.

                            

                        What has to be cleansed?  What is arriving?

XVI Stricken Tower (Tower) The stripping away of illusions, old conditionings, ancient regimes of oppression are all pulled into the wake of the old cycle. Cosy security meets crisis as the breakdown starts. Behind the panic of economic melt-down and institutional collapse, the real spirit of the age is striving to transfigure itself. As the masks are pulled away, what face is left? What is struggling to emerge and be born?

XVII Comet (Star) was believed anciently to be like a great cosmic broom that swept away residues with its long tail. Here the Imperium scientist catches the sparkling dust in vast chambers to fuel this new phase. What arrives is invested with hope and aspiration of millions. Inspiration is what brings emotional expansiveness and a new tomorrow. Where are you being guided? What is the hope you keep ever before you?

May you have a blessed Solstice time!