Not long ago, I asked some of my peers and friends if they had any beliefs or practices regarding tarot that might be considered controversial by their fellow tarot readers. Some interesting items came up. The question was sparked by a controversial thought that has been bubbling in the back of my mind for several months now. This month, I'm going to talk about some of the specific items my friends mentioned. I'm going to save my controversial issue for later in the month. Although I know that different readers had different ideas about shuffling, I didn't realize that some thought their particular belief would be considered controversial. Specifically, some people felt that their

I can hear the cat lovers out there saying, "There can never be too many cats!" But I have heard some of my fellow tarot lovers remark on the number of any sort of themed decks. "How many fairy-themed decks do we need?" Or "How many cat decks are possible?" What do you think? As a deck creator and as a tarot lover, I don't think that any one deck can be the end-all-be-all exploration of any theme. Every artist and creator will present different ideas, both in images and in deck structure. In addition, people are drawn to tarot not just by themes but by art. If there are several decks exploring a theme, all with different artistic styles, then a person can use whichever appeals most to

Several years ago I was the editor-in-chief of FATE magazine. It was really a thrill to do that because I had been reading FATE since I was a kid. One of the topics that was always of interest to readers of FATE was the aura. For the Llewellyn Encyclopedia I wrote this about the aura: [The aura is an] emanation or set of emanations that extends around objects and animals, including the human body. There are multiple beliefs as to the number of different types of auras that extend around the body. Some say there are seven, others say five or three. The aura extends from just above the surface of the skin out to infinity. It becomes more and more ethereal as it extends further from the

That's right, the headline reads you can see me live, tonight. I am going to be giving a video interview with Anita Perez and Tidal Millar tonight, and you can see it on your computer. Thursday, August 29, 2013 8:00 p.m. Eastern——5:00 p.m. Pacific Live Interview with me on Aphrodite’s Kitchen Tune in and listen or WATCH: www.paraencountersnetwork.com Next Thursday, the 29th, I’m scheduled to be talking with hosts Anita Perez and Tidal Millar of Aphrodite’s Kitchen. Among various topics we’re going to be discussing is Tantra as a complete spiritual system. Even though most people think Tantra is just “that sex stuff,” it’s actually a full Pagan system that has been