The Art of Magical Living — Issue #40: The Fool’s Journey and Mindbending Synchronicities

Dear Michael:

First, I wish you and yours a lovely holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. I attended a lovely Solstice fire ritual Saturday night, and we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah as well. 

For those of you in the Tarot Magic course, I hope you are several days into the Journey into the Major Arcana, which is the powerful core experience of the course—and one that never fails to blow me away. (If you want to join the class, or if you need a last minute gift, links to my courses are at the bottom of this email). 

This Journey into the Major Arcana begins with the unnumbered card—The Fool. For those unfamiliar with the experience, each week the student props up the week’s card from the Major Arcana next to their bedside. Every morning and evening for seven days, they do a meditation and recite a special prayer or reading for that week’s card after rising and before going to bed at night. 

Then—and this is where it gets really wild—they look for manifestations of that card’s archetype in their day-to-day life. 

I and the other students began our week with The Fool on the solstice. Every day, I wake up, greet The Fool with a meditation and prayer, and then ask for him to show himself in my day. 

And yesterday he showed up in a way that left me utterly astonished.

When I do copy editing for my news organization employer, I often have the TV on as a sort of “white noise” in the background. I like to find old horror movies, and lately I discovered that the free streaming service Tubi has tons of them. Thanks, Tubi!

So I saw a suitably fetching title—“Crypt of the Vampire”— and began to stream it. In between editing stories, I’ll glance at the screen. And what I saw gave me chills (and still does, right now, as I’m typing this).

This was what I saw on the screen. 

I paused the movie, stunned.

There was a fool (a fool with a hunchback, in this case) with his big walking stick and a dog. Compare that to The Fool card above, which had been the focus of my daily meditation and prayers. 

This, friends, is real magic. 

But it gets even wilder. 

I skimmed the listing of similar films and saw another I had never seen but that sounded interesting—1965’s amusingly titled “Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors.” So I turned that on and got back to work. 

About twenty minutes later, I heard the unmistakable voices of actors Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, so I glanced at the screen. 

I shit you not—this was the image. 

It was a guy SHUFFLING A DECK OF MARSEILLE TAROT CARDS!

Now I was really freaked out. Peter Cushing’s character laid out a four-card reading. And it started ... like this. 

The Marseille Fool!

Now I have done this Journey into the Arcana before, several times, before I introduced it to my students. And it has always sparked some incredible synchronicities. 

But nothing quite as literal and absolutely magical as this mind-blowing encounter with The Fool. 

I encourage you to do this journey, too, even if you aren’t part of the Tarot Magic course. Go through the deck numerically, from the Fool (0) to The World (21), one card per week. Prop the card up next to your bedside. Greet the card each day, then stay alert as you go about your life. Pay attention to the things you see. The songs you hear. The images that pop up on TV. 

More than anything else I teach in tarot, this journey reveals the secret, symbolic, magical heart at the center of these amazing cards. 

Try it—trust me, it is a life-changing experience you will never forget. 

And f you’re a procrastinator and still need to buy someone a meaningful gift (it happens!), I wanted you to know that The Art and Magic of the Tarot: Foundations is on sale for just $79 until January 1st. 

Just select the gift option at checkout—and you can pay in four installments, making it less stressful. 

And if you want to have YOUR mind blown, and deepen your relationship with the tarot’s major cards, please join us in the Tarot Magic course. If you email me, I’ll give you a special price on that, too, as my holiday gift to you. 

I’ll have a lot more news coming in early 2025, including a wonderful update for those of you who have tried unsuccessfully to find copies of my book, Magic for the Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change, which went out of print. Stay tuned!

And for my gamer and tabletop roleplaying game friends in particular, I am incredibly excited to launch Rockers & Rollers: The Roleplaying Game of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll, which will be coming to Kickstarter in March.

But more about that in the next email.

In the meantime, I wish you and yours warmth, love, and cheer as we honor the turning of the wheel and the return of the sun. 

With love, 

Michael