The Poetics of Discerning Cosmic Mysteries through Tarot

I recently decided to dive into the tarot. As a system of collective symbols and thought, I have never really felt connected to it. Rather, I have honed my esoteric inquiry into the runes (thanks to an invitation into them by my friend Dan Blair). Or I have read the Tao Te Ching in numerous translations cover to cover again and again over almost 30years. Or I have stared at the sky in awe and wonder even with a limited view on Yelamu / San Francisco pondering my insignificance.

Tarot, which I was introduced to in high school, though, was something that felt distant. It's as if I didn't belong to it or it to me. A wall stood between it and me, one I could not reach around, under, or above. I couldn't discern its meaning.

I admire people who have deep connections to its lore, legacy, and mystery. Close, dear friends use it regularly as a tool for insight, reflection, and decision-making. I see the direct impacts it makes on these friends, and see that the tarot is part of the Cosmic Mysteries. It is something that many, many other relatives use / have used / will continue to use, and that makes it a tool for expressing interiorities externally.

John and I picked out a the Rainbow Heart Tarot Deck by Rachel Rosenkoetter from a bookstore in Palo Alto while we were on a date. The colors, imagry, and gold edges caught our eye and our queer rainbow hearts. It was one of those impulse purchases that actually speak to something deeper. Maybe something desired unknowingly.

The deck is wonderful. John and I both connect with its colors, textures, symbols, and stories. It is easy for us both to read them, and we can tell stories about the cards with and to each other in ways that deepen both personal and collective understanding of our individual interiorities and how the interact with and impact each other.

Then, like many with ADHD, I became obsessed with tarot and the myriad ways others interpret similar ideas, symbols, stories, and concepts. I added to my collection the Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris, the Tarot of the Divine by Yoshi Yoshitani, and the Transparent Tarot by by Emily Carding. I also picked up Michelle Tea's Modern Tarot.

This week, I was in need of a bit of creative inspiration. I randomly pulled one card from the Thoth deck. It was the Seven of Wands. I cross referenced against the other decks. Read Michelle Tea's words. Stared at the cards. A poem came asking for transcription.

So far, I have drawn a single card each morning. And each morning I cross reference it; sit intently with the cards. A poem comes, and I transcribe.

I'll keep going until inspiration fades. For now, it feels quite magical to be discerning poetics through conversation with the Cosmic Mysteries as expressed through tarot.

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"The Tower on 25 July 2025"

All Seeing Eye

Strike down falsehoods

Shatter lies into a million times a million pieces

Shake so strongly Man fears Your Truths

Set aflame towering power that

One felt so inevitable, so certain, so foundational

Cast out royalty; reject celebrity

There are no gods among Man

The Tower is no more

Flood the land once again

Make Man remember Your Nature

Storm like none other than You

And when calm and clear skies return

May Man be made utterly inconsequential

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"Seven of Cups on 24 July 2025"

Oh, dreams intoxicate me

Lull me into inaction

Still, pondering unfulfilled wishes

A toxic inertia filling seven cups to overflowing

Unsure feet slip beneath me, and

My right hand rubs against goldSmoke billows, and poof:

Behold! A towering din of questions for which

I have no answers

Only whelm over

I do not want to be wrong

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"Nine of Wands on 23 July 2025"

She is the sun at noon, and

The moon in Sagittarius

Firmly planted, stalk bending like

Sunflowers tall and ready to burst

Nine arrows armed with

Combusting craniums protect

Her inner sanctum, a

Roving home with a rooster's tail whose

Song wakes both the living and the dead

Rejoice, she heralds! Rejoice in

Witnessing who you be in

The light of the noonday sun and

The glow of the Archer's moon

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"Seven of Wands on 22 July 2025"

All of them be

The One Among Many

Assured of who they be

The hammer, ready to strike,=

Holds firm at its apex

Sun ablaze illuminates steel

Stance wide and firm,

Wings ready for flight

Flames ignite alchemy

A resurrection, a rebirth, a revelation

Of Being in relation to

All of them be