Grab your favorite tea and a full deck of tarot cards: Join Ev, Karoline, Sophia, and our special guest Grace Candido-Beecher as they take a tarot card out of Prof. Trelawney’s book.
In this episode:
- Are you Trelawny or Hermione?
- Slytherin’s cups are upside down
- History of magic lesson
- The Hanged Man— more than just a pub
- Grindelwald is good at yoga
- Lord Procrastinator
- Did Dumbledore fall or jump?
- Harry as indecisive dude
- The lightning had the audacity to strike our recording-tower
For more from our guest Grace:
- gracevictoriaarts on Instagram
- Voldemort: The Definitive Study of Tom Riddle-the Man Who Would Become “He Who Must Not Be Named” by Grace Candido-Beecher (available April 28th in all* bookstores)
- voldemortbook on Instagram
- voldemortbook on Tumblr
Resources:
- Tarot for Change: Using the Cards for Self-care, Acceptance, and Growth by Jessica Dore
- Horcruxes and the Tarot on MuggleNet
Pub’s Jukebox: The Hanged Man by Split Seven Ways
I loved your tarot card episode! I especially appreciated the cross-over into Troubled Blood territory. Robin got the perfect spread just before she goes to meet Strike for her 30th birthday:Two of Swords (a difficult decision), Justice (seeing things clearly) and Two of Cups (love/mutual bond). She had all of the signs from the universe to show her feelings toward Strike and he would have easily reciprocated, given the near miss after the American Bar fiasco and subsequent curry with whiskey. I understand Jo has to keep us on the edge of our seats until book 10, but maybe Robin will dust off her deck and hopefully her next spread will give the readers hope for the best!
I often see myself in Hermione, hopefully mostly the good parts, but this was a reminder to me that I can be similar to her on the not-so-good days as well. I don’t think I’ve ever berated someone because of the way they processed their bunny-death grief, but I do have a tendency to be skeptical toward those who talk very seriously about tarot cards, or its great-uncle, astrology. I think I get caught up in the idea that it’s a fad, that the meanings are random and we latch onto the pieces that “make it work” to prove that the whole thing makes sense. (Apparently, I’m a textbook Leo — and indeed I was born in early August.)
But as the hosts so eloquently stated, that’s the point. You can draw any combination of cards at any point in time, or make any given prediction, and it gives meaning simply because it offers you some guidance on how to think about your life. The universe is often giving signs, and we’re usually not reading any of them, but tarot can give one window into one set of signs. The fact that you drew the cards that you drew is the permission you might need to take those signs seriously. And so many of our traditions are based on this kind of thing. For instance, religious prayer doesn’t (ordinarily) have any inherent power, but it transforms an individuals habits and mindset just by the act of dedicating time and attention.
Heck, even talking endlessly about Harry Potter is pretty much the same thing. It might be a fad, and it might be a random story that doesn’t technically have any bearing on my life, but there are enough meanings woven into it for me to latch onto that it has this powerful effect. And if I take it seriously enough that I tell people earnestly what my Hogwarts house is, or quote from one of the books when I’m trying to make a point — sue me.
Sometimes, you just need the right thing to come around.
Hermione, if you had grown up with the Tales of Beedle the Bard or if your grandfather had been a Seer, you might have found comfort in it too. I hope the right thing comes around one day and you’ll see why Divination is much more than meets the eye.
I, much like you and Hermione, consider myself a skeptic. But what you say actually puts me in mind of something I heard yesterday on a Harry Houdini walking tour (centennial of his death, RIP).
A lot of the early mediums and spiritualists, rather than doing the whole knocks-clangs-rip-you-off thing, were essentially grief counselors in fancy trappings. Have someone bereaved say whatever they need to say to an empty chair and hope they find peace – not too far from how we help people process grief today. Even if the spirit of the person isn’t actually there, putting it out into the world helps in and of itself. I imagine one could look at tarot the same way – not as divination from on high, but as a tool for self-reflection.