I like chocolate

[sqbr]

I haven't been in a very post-to-the-interent mood but a few things:

Wedding is in a week and a day OMG! For the many guests who have likely not looked and may have lost their invites: Details here. I realised the pre dinner drinks/nibbles are booked from 5, not 5:30 like it says on the invites, oops. Apologies to those we didn't invite, we're not having an open ceremony, sorry :( I have every intention of throwing a big, open, "Yay we're married!" party at some point but am not going to even think about organising that until after the honeymoon. I couldn't even be bothered with a hens night.

Mostly organised but a few things still need to be done and these niggle away at me.

I ate a whole medium sized easter egg today, it made me remarkably jumpy, but oh it was good.

Currently teaching myself the basics of Tarot with a guide Cam got with a set he bought for gaming. It's not something I believe in(*) but is so prevalent in fantasy and our culture in general I thought it'd be interesting to have a better understanding of. An idea I had: if stuck for the plot of a story, do a tarot reading. The open-ended interpretation and dense imagery seem perfect for germinating plot ideas.

(*)No offense to those who do, I'm skeptical about pretty much everything.

Comments

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

There is no need to believe in the supernatural powers of tarot for it to be useful - its useful for working out how you feel about something by throwing different suggestions at you. But as you point out, its perfectly useful for story ideas etc without applying to real life either.

But the symbolism is a powerful and complex one that rewards a closer look anyway. I have many books etc.

[alias_sqbr]

Yes, I found it quite interesting to do (crappy and simplistic :)) readings for myself and see what interpretations my brain came up with. Much more interesting than horoscopes. The book was quite remiss in that it implied that it told you all there really is to know, and didn't mention all the interactions between cards and stuff which I came accross looking on wikipedia. Personally I'm not sure I care enough to learn about that stuff, maybe in the future since currently I've moved onto reading about the discovery of other galaxies. I have a very short attention span :)

Promethea is definitely one of the Tarot-influenced fictions that made me want to understand the cards better (and gave a much more visceral description of the meanings of the cup, wands etc than the introductory book I read :)), another is "Last Call" by Tim Powers. I should read it again and see if I enjoy it more.

I didn't mean to come accross as quite so dismissive, but I didn't want people thinking I was about to go around giving people readings etc since that's very much against my character. Hmm. See, now I'm thinking about why people with vague, superficial, unspecified "spiritual" beliefs who smugly claim to Know Things bug me more than pretty much any other religious standpoint that isn't actively socially destructive (and thus I am paranoid about people thinking I'm one). Perhaps a question to ponder when I'm less sleepy :)