I've had a series of interesting synchronies recently. 

I started two new courses at the local community college.  One is "Cost and Risk Management" part of the Project Management (PM) program, and the other is "Ethics and the Professional Role" part of the Teacher/Trainer of Adults program.  The text book of for the PM course is Waltzing with Bears.

Synchrony #1 : Shortly after I started these courses, I bought and started reading The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper. 

In this book Cooper talks about the problems that exist with computers, and devices that use computers for their user interface.  Long story short : he calls these as "Dancing Bears", because people are more impressed with what the devices are able to do (i.e. "The bear is dancing!"), than how well or how poorly they do it (i.e. "The dance is hardly graceful."). 

It struck me as curious that I would be reading a book that refers to things as "Dancing Bears" when I am taking a completely unrelated  course which uses a book called "Waltzing with Bears" as a textbook.

Synchrony #2 : Monday, I actually started reading the textbook.  The preface of the book is titled "The Ethics of Belief".  This preface talks about William Kingdon Clifford and the speach he gave to London's elite Metaphysical Society in 1876. 

Clifford offers that there are some beliefs which people do not have a right to have.  For example, a ship owner "is bothered by worries that the ship is old and in poor condition and wasn't built very well in the first place."  Eventually he quells his doubts; after all the ship has gone through a number of storms and still made it to port everytime, so why not this time.  "The ship puts to sea and is lost with all hands."  Clifford claims that the shipowner had no right to believe that his ship was safe, and therefore is guilty of putting those lives at risk.  And this is so even if the ship had not been lost at sea.

It was just bizzare for me to read this in this book while I was taking a course in Ethics, and that this book was not related to this course.

Synchrony #3 : I've been thinking of going to Montréal for a while now.  It's been nagging at me for some time, almost a year.  There's a number of things that are coming together to tell me to do just that sometime soon.

Synchrony #3.1 : The book The Alchemist has been on the top list here on Zaadz.  So I recently bought this book without really knowing what it was about.  And I read it.  It was such a good book, and so timely for me.  I really believe there's something in Montréal for me.  I don't really know what it is, so my pretext for going there is to find a job.  Who knows, that may be what I'll find there.  It reminded me to be attentive to omens, such as those I'm describing here.

Synchrony #3.2 : My sensei is pregnant, and she's due really soon.  In fact, her doctor pulled her off the dojo floor.  So, for the dojo to continue running smoothly in her absence, my role as a support instructor is more important.  However, as of mid-February there will be no classes for almost a month, which means that I don't have karate as an excuse for not going to Montréal.

Synchrony #3.3 : I looked at the prices for going to Montréal by train and bus.  VIA has a special promotion at the moment for traveling a small number of trips, one of which is Toronto-Montréal (59$ (normally 122$)). 

Synchrony #3.4 : I don't really mind missing classes in college. However, it so happens that in both my courses, there will be no lecture during the first week that karate is off.

So, what does this all mean?  First, that the courses I'm taking are appropriate for me at the moment.  Second, I should take advantage of the window of opportunity given to me to go to Montréal.  (I better book soon, because I noticed just now that the date I was originally planning to leave has the special fare sold out.)

I have a new online toy!  Lately, I've been exploring Tarotpedia.  It's relatively new, so there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of content, but that's part of the fun.  I've sprinkled my tables of correspondences here and there.  I added a couple of content pages, one on the Cube of Space, the other on the Tree of Life, and I intend on adding more.

If you too are interested in Tarot, then I encourage you to go over and have a look.  Hopefully you'll both learn something new and contribute something new.

My boyfriend and I went to see "An Inconvenient Truth" last night.  In this documentary Al Gore (who used to be the Next President of the US) talks about Global Warming and all the problems we're facing if we don't act now.  And these aren't only problems we might encounter in the future, but also problems that we have already suffered through because of Global Warming. He shows some very revealing stats using graphs that indicate just how off balance we really are.  Throughout the presentation he comes up with as many objections that the skeptics might have as possible and thoroughly debunks them.

This is a real problem.  We are feeling it's effects right now.  For the most part, the effects are not positive.  And they are only going to get worse.

There are solutions, and some can be economically profitable.   The governements must be part of the solution.  There are legislations that ought to be passed to enforce reduction of greenhouse gases and other contributing factors to Global Warming.  Businesses must be part of the solution.  Corporations can make the choice to have their processes and products be more environmentally friendly; some of those options even have the potential to give them greater profits.

We each must be part of the solution.  There are things we, individually, can do to reduce our negative impact on the planet. http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/

I highly recommend that you go see this film.  Bring some friends (carpool :) ). 

It took me over a year before I could write about this next card.  I also haven't written about any other card after this one.  After this, I started attending and participating at a local tarot share group.

So here it is :

=======================================================================

February 23, 2004

The High Priestess

The elusive one. 

 That she is.  I could not bring myself to write about this card for over a year.

Ironically, The High Priestess takes up a lot of room on this card.  She is larger than life.  She is intimidating, both because of her stature and her title/position.

In front of her is a big back cauldron.  This is a classic symbol of witches.  Fumes are coming out of it from the brew she concocted.  She seems to be pulling a rainbow out of the cauldron, although she may be pouring it into the brew.  Around the outer rim, there is gold trimming.  It's quite elaborate and beautiful.  There's a handle on each side of the cauldron.  At the very front, there's a golden dragon's head embedded on the cauldron.  The head has a ring hanging from it's snout.

Behind the High Priestess are two columns.  One is black, the other is white.  Some leaffy vine is growing around the columns.  The columns look like those of Greek and Roman temples; tall cylindrical pillars with grooves along them.  At the very top, the columns end with a simple scroll design and a flat plateau.

Sitting on the pillars is an arch.  The arch is black and starry like the archwayh where the Fool was.  On our left, above the black pillar, we see the planet Earth.  On the other side, above the white pillar, we see a Yin-Yang.

A moon crescent is floating above the High Priestess' head.  It's horizontal with the base at the bottom and the points going upwards.  The crescent is white, and the "rest" of the moon is invisible, transparent, it doesn't obstruct the arch behind it.

There's grass growing on the ground, as well as mushrooms.  Which means she is either outside the temple or the temple was built without a foundation.  There is also a dead, leafless shrub rooted beside the High Priestess.  The abundance of mushrooms may be what she needs for her brew.  Mushrooms feed on dead organisms and on feaces.

Is she trying to suck the life out of nature?  Or is she trying to restore it?  Whatever she is doing nature seems to be part of it.

As for the High Priestess herself, she is tall, blue.  She has long curved horns.  Her wings are big and long.  They are folded about her.  She has sharp elbow claws, and wing claws.  Her left wrist sports a silver bracelet.  In her right hand she is holding a scroll with runes written on it.  On her head is what looks like a pearl necklace, but she wears it like a crown.

 

I have mixed feelings about this card.  The name itself reminds me of organized religion, which I have all but completely rejected.  The High Priestess is someone who would have dominion over my spirituality.  Whether this is good or bad remains to be known.

This card reminds me of my mother for some reason.  Probably because of the religious and spiritual aspects of the card.  Except that my mother doesn't wield this much power.  Cooking.  I miss my mother's cooking.  The cauldron and the steam coming out of it reminds me of cooking.

The black and white pillars supporting the arch of the Universe, I think they represent the light and dark side of things.  That the Earth is above the black pillar suggests that the world is in darkness; in contrast, the Yin-Yang above the white pillar represents enlightenment.  The columns themselves are symbols of rigidity.

Many see her as the female counterpart of the Magician.  Her power is more internal than that of the Magician.  The High Priestess represents a more spiritual power.  She is mysterious, solitary, and yet commanding in the face of others.

I see her more as the female counterpart of the Hierophant, because he is sometimes called the Pope, who is the head of the Church.

I really don't have much to say about this card.  I don't relate to it very well.  It will be interesting to revisit this card later on.

"Building a Mystery" -- Sarah McLachlan.

 

-- Joël. 

Here are my original writings for the second tarot card.  It's hard to believe that it's been almost four years since then!

=======================================================================

November 21, 2002

The Magician 

Trick or Treat

The first thing I notice is that the dragon on this card is in movment.  The is a dynamic card.  He is a red dragon, very noticible.

There are curtains in front of the magician.  They are open.  It could be as if they were to decorate a window.  However, in this setting it seems more like the dragon is putting on a show on a theatre stage.  The curtains are dark blue and look like they're made of a heavy matertial.  They are tied open on each side by gold rope.

Before the dragon are the four symbols of the suits of the minor arcana.  Left to right : cup, pentacle (coin), sword, firebrand (wand).  The cup and pentacle are to the dragon's right (our left), the sword and the wand are to his left (our right).  He probably uses them in his show.

Behind the magician is a crystal ball sitting on a pedestal.  Crystal balls are the most common symbol of clairvoyance and fortune telling.

For now, the magician is holding a gold ankh, the Egyptian symbol of life.  He is holding it at it's head with his right hand, his whole body hovering over it.  It almost seems like he's sitting on it and pulling himself up using the ankh, "bootstrapping" himself in the air.  Life is supporting him.

High above the dragon, a golden infinity symbol is floating.  The concept of infinity is a difficult one to grasp and accept.  It refers to the lack of an end or boundary, the opposite of zero, nothingness.

The dragon's wings are spread.  He is in movement.  In the middle of a performance.  He knows how to use all the objects surrounding him, not only to entertain an audience, but also for more serious purposes.

There is grass in front of the magician, but beyond the curtains, the ground disappears.  All we see is the twilight sky.  An illusion?  All smoke and mirrors?  Perhaps it's all just to set the mood...  Or perhaps there really is no ground there.  Some sort of portal?  Whatever the cause, the background is successful at giving an air of magic, that something magical is happening.

The dragon is looking upwards.  His upper body, his wings are positioned to move up and right.  He is stretching his neck out to look at something more closely, but he's not reaching  his hands to touch or grab.  He's looking at something behind the curtain or in the sky.  Maybe he's reading the stars, studying them like an astrologer would.

His wings don't look like they're apt for flying or even just gliding.  The webbing on the wings seem too small, short, too near the bone structure to be useful for flying.  Almost as if it's underdevelopped or severed.  For whatever reason, the wings' poor structure are a handicap for this dragon, and yet he is clearly flying or floating.  He is doing this quite well in spite of his anomoly.  He has overcome his handicap with his magic.

As a magician, this dragon has knowledge that is not common, that not many people are willing to learn nor are mentally capable of learning.  He has well-defined muscles, but he far prefers using his wits.  Moreover, he has a wide breadth of knowledge, as suggested by the number of different objects at his disposal.

How does he choose to use his knowledge?  For good or for evil?  Does he use his power for his own selfish gain, or for others' benefit?  It's up to him to decide.  He is not required nor expected to make the same choice consistently.  For now, he seems content to use his magic to entertain.

 

This card reminds me of the wise sorcerer Merlin, of the Arthurian legends.  Or of Gandalf from Tolkien's books.  Beyond the magic, these characters have great wisdom, and are very resourceful.

Despite the name of this card, the main themes I get out of this card are wisdom, knowledge and innovation.  There are a lot at one's disposal, knowing how to use items in the environment is key.

I feel like this card characterizes me well.  Like this dragon's seemingly deformed wings, I feel like there are things about me that hinder me somehow.  I think I have some mild form of Dyslexia.  However, I have risen above that.  I like to think that I'm a resourceful person, innovative, creative.  I just finished my degree; to earn it, I had to acquire knowledge and skills.  This is a degree in Computer Science, a field which many consider mysterious, almost occult!! :)

Again, Craig's description of my aura works well with this card.  The entertainer, the juggler.

∞.  One of many symbols I've seen and learned to use in school.

I also think of Craig when I look at this card.  Not romantically.  This card is not emotionally charged.  Craig is very knowledgeable about the world.  He pays attention to world events.  He thinks about them.  He generally likes things that require thought.  He much prefers the problem-solving process than the implementation of a solution.  He is a time-junky.  He would love to have infinite time, but wouldn't know what to do with it.  He likes to entertain people, but prefers to do it indirectly, using masks and gadgets, "illusions".

The dragon is holding on to Life.  I thought of letting go a long time ago.  I still occasionally have passing thoughts of it.  But I prefer to hold on to my Life.  It's not always easy, but then I think of what I could miss, how other people would feel, the confusion, the sorrow, the anger that I might leave behind.  Not worth it.  Life is worth holding on to.

This card is also about "non-standard".  I like non-standard.  Craig pointed that out yesterday.  I like new things, new ideas.  l like using tools for more than their intended or standard use.  While I like creativity in general, I have a particular affinity for creativity applied for practical purposes.  I like doing things differently.  I like exploring, trying new things, new foods.  All this does not preclude caution, however.  This is where wisdom comes in.

The magician also reminds me of professors, teachers.  Their goal is to transfer knowledge to those willing to learn it.  They do so through performances at the front of the room, where the audience is the class of students.  Another area where I am a performer, my role as a tutor.

I like this card.  To me, this is a positive card.  There isn't much emotion in this card, but one emotion I do get out of it is pride.  Not in the sense of arrogance, or cockiness.  Pride in the sense of one's humble appreciation of accomplishments.  Dignity.  Awe.  Respect.

I suppose that in a more negative context, this card could inspire a feeling of arrogance, cockiness, etc.  It could also suggest using powers for evil, for self gain.  Someone manipulative, deceitful.  This card seems easily influenced by context.  "Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"Puff the Magic Dragon..."

 

- Joël

=======================================================================   

I've been dabbling with the Tarot for some time now.  I bought my first tarot deck in 2002 as a birthday present to myself.  It was the Dragon Tarot deck.  In the companion book, there was a suggestion to study each card one at a time, looking at the imagery and also to find a personal relationship with the card.  Following this suggestion, I started writing up on the first few cards of the major arcana.  Unfortunately, I haven't sustained the practice.

I will reproduce here my writings from then.  Here is the first one :

=======================================================================

November 19, 2002

The Fool

 The Begining

Surreal columns aside, arround change to starry nightsky.  Standing at the edge of the world.  Behind him is a checkered path.

Should he jump into the unknown or turn back?  He uses his dice to decide. 

Wearing checkered vest, red and green -- complementary colours, pair of colours used for Xmas -- supposed birth of Christ -- a new era.

Wings spread, look shreaded.  Caught in a fight?  Head pointing down.  Gateway too low for him to pass fully erect.

Scepter / wand in his right hand.  A jester's weapon.  Head of the scepter that of a dragon.  Used to poke fun at the King -- a privilege only to the King's fool.

Cards above the dragon.  Aces.  4.  One for each suit.  Spade, Diamond, Clubs, Heart.  3 rays  eminating from the cards.

Bubbles galor! Fragile, yet powerful.  Naturally spherical, bubbles will change shapes when forces are exerted on them -- Don't we all?

Dragon looking to the left but his body is directed towards the right.  Like we do before crossing a street, look both ways before stepping on the road.  Or perhaps it's from a sense of awkwardness.

The twilight sky behind is multi-purple high above, and greyish nearer to the checkered road.  Stars from the gate are seeping in.

The harp is sitting on the ground, unused.  Another weapon of the entertainer.  There's a petal design at its bottom corner.  Simple design, but not plain.

Is our dragon a gambler?  Is he willing to bet his life on the roll of a die?

 

I don't particularly like this card.  This card inspires immaturity rather than youth.  Carelessness, selfishness.  It reminds me  of Phil, and these are attitudes of his that I do not like.  It also suggests to me worldly knowledge, but lacking the wisdom to use it.

I like playing cards.  In fact today I played 9-5-2 with people from work.  It had been a long time since I last played.  I grew up playing cards and dice with my family.  Many happy memories playing games.  Seems like games are the only plane on which my father and I relate.

So I don't completely dislike this card.  My feelings towards it are somewhat ambivilent.  The Dragon's tail is looping around his left leg and pointing towards the right.  Like this dragon, I often feel I'm looking in one direction in life and moving in another.  Perhaps I'll get to where I'm looking towards, but never using the shortest path.

The harp is set aside, like any musical instrument of mine would be.  I never had great interest in learning to play music, nor had I the talent to inspire me.  I also don't often turn the radio on, or play music on my computer.  I am much more visually inclined.

The bubbles look like crystal balls.  But they hold memories, elements of the past, rather than predictions of the future.  Some of us like to leave our past behind, which seems to be part of this Dragon's dilemma.  But who are we without our Past?  Our history is a part of us, whether we like it or not.  Without our memories we become confused.

The checkered road.  There's an expression "a checkered past".  It refers to misdealings in a person's history.  Haha!!  "Misdealings".  No pun intended.  However, a "misdeal" is a term used in card games when cards are not dealt properly for some reason or another.

Anyways... back to "checkered past".  This expression is often used about people who wish to change their life, away from their old lifestyle of wrong doings.  This dragon seems wanting to get off this checkered path, but where's the road beyond?

The archway is painted with stars in the night sky.  Space and the night both associated with the unknown.  The columns delineate the gate into the unexplored.  Armed only with his sense of humour and toys for amusement, the foolish dragon sets himself towards the new uncharted territory.  He is ill prepared, but he doesn't care.  Somehow he knows everything will be alright.

The first die fell on a one.  Is he hoping for the other one to fall on a one as well, thus giving him Snake Eyes?

I still haven't mentioned the gold trim a either side of the road.  There's really not much to say about it.  "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."  This dragon looks nothing like Dorothy?  Perhaps he's a "friend" of hers?  Of course I had to slike in some gay content in here!!   :) 

Other things of note that I don't have much to say about... this time around!

• Vest is stretched in a curved pattern
• Dragon's colour is green
• Head on Jester's stick is gold
• Columns cast a shadow, nothing else does (just enough on dragon for 3-D illusion)
• Point of horizon is low (~1/3 from bottom of card)
• Road is 7 tiles wide

It seems strange to me that this card be assinged the number zero.  Why not one?

I already mentioned Phil.  This card also reminds me of Janet.  She seems like a happy-go-lucky person.  She has her own "wisdom".  She likes to entertain, yet she is not really responsible... not by nature.  And she is about to do something rather foolish:  moving in with Christiaan.  She is going to do the same mistakes she struggled so hard to get out of with here previous relationship... it's already begun!  She hasn't learned her lesson yet!  That's another theme I get out of this card : not learning from past experiences.

The card reversed : I get a sense of vertigo.  Greater illusion of space as a background from the archway.

This card also reminds me of the image Craig has of my aura.  He describes it as a big clown juggling, entertaining his audience.  Behind the juggler is a big leather ball.  Inside the ball is a little boy.  The boy is controlling the juggler, making the audience focus on the entertaining clown and diverting their attention from the boy.  Craig's description of my aura is how we first started conversing at a personal level, beyond banalities.  He could see the little boy inside the ball.  The boy let him in, intrigued by the fact that he found him, and did not pose a threat.

"I pitty the Fool"  -- Mr. T

 

-- Joël. 

=======================================================================

 

This article was on the front page of the local newspaper.  Jon Evans is one of my boyfriend's best friends from university.  I really admire him for having the courage to go to some of these dangerous places, or even for travelling the world altogether.

Here's the article :

======================================================================= 

Adventurer's fiction rings true

Real life puts the thrill in thrillers

COLIN HUNTER

DAVID BEBEE, RECORD STAFF Novelist Jon Evans, a graduate of the University of Waterloo, has just finished another of his adventure novels, tentatively titled Absolute Darkness.

<a href="http://ads.thestar.com/click.ng/site=citymediagroup&VChannel=the_record&SubChannel=front&position=bigbox&HChannel=news"><img src="http://ads.thestar.com/image.ng/site=citymediagroup&VChannel=the_record&SubChannel=front&position=bigbox&HChannel=news" /></a>

TORONTO (Jul 11, 2006)

My heels burned, my knees ached, my back itched, my pack felt like an anvil, but I had grown accustomed to my various agonies, and God knew I had a lot to think about.

Those words are fiction, taken from the pages of the thriller Dark Places by novelist Jon Evans.

And the words are also true, inspired by Evans' real-life struggle to endure altitude sickness during a trek through the Himalayas.

To Evans, truth isn't necessarily stranger than fiction. But it certainly does make for great fiction material.

The 33-year-old Waterloo native lives by the author's mantra: "Write what you know."

He wanted to set a book in the Balkans, so he went there, gathering material that fuelled his second novel, Blood Price.

Over the past couple of years he has dodged incoming mortars in Iraq and travelled through tumultuous central Africa on public transit. He has filled his mind with story ideas in Paris, London, Egypt, China and around South America.

"Every time I travel I see something that is defining, yet so deeply weird that I couldn't have imagined it on my own," he says between sips of coffee.

On this morning, Evans is relaxing in the comparatively unexciting confines of Java House on Toronto's Queen Street West.

It's a favourite haunt from his days as a computer programmer at a nearby firm.

He's decompressing, having handed in a manuscript for his next novel (tentatively titled Absolute Darkness) to his publisher just hours earlier.

Gy coincidence, it has been exactly one year since he handed in a draft of Invisible Armies, which was released just over a month ago to positive reviews in North America and overseas.

His novels are not highbrow literature -- nor does he intend them to be. They are the kind of fast-paced page-turners meant to be devoured in airports and on beaches.

Toronto, like most places on earth, is just a pit stop for Evans. He's en route from his Montreal home to his parents' cottage in Muskoka for a little R and R. Then it's off to Russia, where he'll board the Trans-Siberian Railway and chug eastward to China.

That adventure is "just for fun," he says. "But then again, I never know what is going to turn into a book."

Evans was eight years old when he vowed he would one day become a published author, preferably a best-selling one. He read voraciously, immersing himself in four or five sci-fi novels a week.

But writing his own masterpiece, he soon discovered, was much easier in theory than in practice.

"I wrote a very, very, very bad fantasy novel when I was 15," he admits, lowering his shaved-bald head in exaggerated shame.

"I hope no pages of it survive."

Evans didn't give up hope on his writing career but was also realistic enough to know that an education in something more practical might help pay the bill.

So he enrolled in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo, which left him eminently employable after graduation in 1995.

Thus began the lifestyle that he has enjoyed since: work for eight months or so in a high-paying techie job in some big city, then quit, travel to some faraway land and write a book about it. Repeat. "I think it's fair to say I'm easily bored," he says with a chuckle.

His recurring protagonist, Paul Wood, is a self-effacing 30-something computer programmer who treks around the world between jobs -- semi-autobiographical is an understatement.

Book sales have been strong enough lately that Evans hasn't needed to supplement his income with high-tech jobs.

"I haven't had a day job in about three years," he says. "I strongly recommend it. It's very nice."

Sometimes it gets frustrating, though, when story ideas refuse to go from his brain onto the computer the way he'd like. For every book that gets published he has scrapped many more, and several are lingering in half-written limbo.

He's even toying with the idea of a children's book about a squirrel in New York City, though he imagines his editors would prefer he stick to international espionage.

For now, he's happy to relax. Well, relax as much as any author can while waiting to hear if the publishers like the new book or not.

He knows that, soon enough, he'll be in who-knows-where doing lord-knows-what, culling material for more fictional non-fiction.

"It's great," he says. "I have a very enjoyable life, getting paid for something I would do for fun anyway."

chunter@therecord.com