It's my observation that many people are looking into their pasts. These pasts may be genetically based ("My great-great grandparents came from…") or spiritually based ("I feel such a pull to the ________ tradition…"). This can be a great thing or it can be a horrible thing. This was brought up in a wonderful post by Taylor Ellwood entitled "Cultural exchange vs cultural appropriation." Although I agree with Mr. Ellwood's conclusions, we have some disagreements over the details that get there. He states that "[c]ultural appropriation is the wholesale stealing of a given culture's practices." I respectfully disagree. For example, if someone who was not of a particular culture

I have been studying the Tarot and giving readings with it for many decades, thousands of readings. I used to give readings at psychic fairs for as many as forty people a day. That can be really exhausting. The Tarot was one of my earliest occult studies. I've read hundreds of books on the Tarot. I wrote the introduction for one book on the subject (The Rabbi's Tarot), use the Tarot as part of the work in my own books, including Modern Magick, and wrote an entire book on the subject, Tarot & Magic. My novel, The Resurrection Murders, includes the use of the Tarot, too. I was awarded the title of Tarot Grandmaster by the American Tarot Association. I'm sharing these bona fides

Many people think of their tarot decks as a collection of 78 wise friends who they can turn to for advice and guidance, and I agree. But many people also agree that decks as a whole have a distinct personality. In our lives, we have many people who we turn to for advice and guidance. For work issues or prioritizing, we may approach our manager. For concerns about clients or projects, we bounce ideas off colleagues. For advice about our love lives, we may turn to a close friend or sibling. We have friends who know will give a kick in the pants, if we need it, or ones who will just listen and sympathize. We know both the area of expertise and style of these people in our lives and turn to

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Tess Whitehurst, author of Magical Housekeeping, The Art of Bliss, The Good Energy Book, The Magic of Flowers, and the new Magical Fashionista. Mundane is an illusion; only magic is real. With that in mind, even the most everyday things can be vehicles of divine inspiration. This includes getting dressed in the morning. You're going to do it anyway, so why not make it a magical act? Here are three ways that you can do just that. Clear Closet Clutter. If you've read any of my books or spent much time at either of my blogs, you know that I have to start with this one—I'm obsessed with clutter clearing. Think of it like this: we are