11: Human Conditions - Guiding and Being Guided
Cosmic technologies are not sciences, but poetics that enable more intuitive, deeper knowing through curiosity.
“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” – Rumi
The way of the intersectional mystic is an emerging path, and as such may bring with it considerable confusion and uncertainty, especially at first. But as both an intersectional feminist and a mystic, you are not alone in this journey, which countless others have made before you; after you, many will follow. Not only did your ancestors face and overcame daunting and dangerous conditions, which made it possible for you to be born, but you yourself have made it this far in life because you have been able to see your way through so many challenging situations where the outcome was unknown. Thus, your connection both to ancestral knowing and your own inner teacher should offer some comfort in difficult times.
But it is easy to feel overwhelmed and unclear, to find it difficult to weigh up and decide between multiple options, or imagine that we have lost our way. We can and should exchange ideas and support with others, but sometimes we need more than caring advice or reassurance. At these times, we can connect with our own imaginations and intuitions to help us understand and interpret our emotions, concerns and priorities in light of the conditions we are facing. A number of mystical tools and techniques can support us in guiding and being guided.
Mystic teachers throughout the ages, who experienced deep insight and developed powerful wisdom traditions despite crises of faith, encapsulated, preserved and passed down such tools and techniques for us to inherit. Of course, some so-called tools are suspect or questionable in their usefulness or value – for example, things like angel numbers and Ouija boards are closer to gambling than they are to wisdom traditions, since they are motivated by randomness or chance encounters between players, and have no history or legacy of storytelling to offer a meaning-making framework. Most mystical tools also fall much more under the heading of art than science, although Einstein reminds us that ‘All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree’. Many scientists would be quick to dismiss the usefulness of the mystical practices described here as pseudoscience, and for good reason – such practices are not scientific endeavours and should not pretend to be. Instead, we can regard them as signposts on the continually emerging map of our individual and collective life paths – we need not necessarily follow their instruction, but in any case, are better informed for their presence.
Tarot and astrology are key long-standing mystical practices that can be a source of inspiration and insight supporting our intuition and clarity regarding cosmic conditions. They are but two of innumerable traditions about guiding and being guided, arising independently across civilisations, because of the fundamental human belief in the spiritual, and desire for insight beyond that of the mundane. Tarot cards have an enigmatic cross-cultural history, reflecting the flow of international trade and travel in the ancient world, with their modern incarnation crystallising in the Italian Renaissance in the 15th Century. They are composed of major and minor card groups, or arcana, and are a predecessor of the contemporary playing card deck. Astrology is the interpretation of the movement of the planets, stars and other heavenly bodies. In their regional and global variations, both practices have long served mystics as guiding practices enabling information to flow from the realm of the spiritual to the realm of the mundane. Tarot is the systematic interpretation of illustrative images drawn from archetypal symbols and elements related to key aspects of human experience. Astrology is the systematic interpretation of the movement of universal bodies (planets, stars, asteroids), corresponding with spiritual meanings that humans have developed over time.
It is not the aim of this book to convince or persuade readers of the verifiability or validity of these widely used cosmic technologies, but rather to highlight their usefulness for accessing creative intuition and insight into challenging situations. Furthermore, while even practitioners can have great differences of opinion regarding the specific relationship between the movement of astral bodies and life on Earth, and seek to explain (or not) the uncanny empirical patterns many tarot readers encounter, we do tend to agree on the usefulness of these and similar divination strategies. This is because they primarily function not as predictive tools with unfettered access to the future, but rather as poetics that enable more intuitive, deeper knowing through a process of curiosity.
Tarot is about symbolism, and asking questions like: What does the image in the card represent for the reader, in relation to what they are currently experiencing? Tarot practitioner Jessica Dore (2020) reads the tarot through the lens of contemporary therapeutic concepts and modalities, making important and unexpected links between traditional interpretations of the cards and evidence-based approaches. Astrology, in contrast, is about patterns. Its questions include: what do these bodies, whose placements on a map at particular moments in time correlate with specific intervals and kinds of Earthly existence, suggest about energetic relationships, planetary activity, and thus the emergence of human history? Operating at the level of storytelling or narrative, archetype and metaphor, these methods of guiding and being guided serve as portals into the divine, connecting with our meaning-making receptors and allowing us to better understand our place in the world.
For humans, the meaning-making creature, our interpretations of reality are powerful and can be causally efficacious: that is to say, our individual and collective beliefs undoubtedly have a degree of sway over our realities. However, because the process of interpretation sits more on the side of art than science, it stands to reason that they should lay outside the bounds of the charge that they are somehow unscientific. Intersectional mystics, on the whole, respect science, and incorporate knowledge of particle physics and biology into their healing practices. Tarot and astrology, from this view, are cosmic technologies, a valuable set of resources that can help us to contextualise, ascertain, and transform our psychic states, as well as develop shared understandings that support collective orientation towards common goals. For some examples of how other intersectional mystics have approached this political-spiritual interface, see the titles of workshops at the 2020 Queer Astrology Conference.
Cosmic technologies are extraordinarily useful in situations that require more than intention and will alone. Tarot, astrology, and similar tools are practices of poetic interpretation that allow us windows into our personalities, the ways our minds and hearts tend to work, the things that cause us internal conflict and pain. They can offer us suggestions for areas of focus in order to produce the best possible outcomes, help us to interpret our mental and emotional states, allow our current worries and fears to become more visible, and point us towards resources and opportunities we did not recognise as such by portraying them in a different light. This enables us to more intuitively decide upon the appropriate courses of action, generate more creativity and abundance, and interrupt cycles of negativity in our lives.
Tarot is intensely personal, such that you may be the best placed to offer yourself individual readings after you have familiarised yourself with how the cards work; this is a simple skill that takes primarily practice and time to develop, with some creativity and the poetic ability to use metaphor to make links between image and reality. Astrology, however, is more complex, a language that takes time to understand and speak. As such you may wish to rely on the skills of experienced practitioners, or begin with an accessible text, such as You Were Born for This by Chani Nicholas. For those with some astrology experience seeking a more in-depth critique, in Post-Colonial Astrology, Alice Sparkly Kat (2021) develops a scathing deconstruction of Western astrological mythoi that belongs in every intersectional mystic’s library.
You may wish to self-teach these practices or rely on the interpretative talents of others. As with any art form, experience is an excellent teacher so use discernment when choosing whose work to trust. There are many intersectional mystics who are practicing and sharing this work online, offering suggestions for tarot spreads or providing astrological interpretation services for free, donation, or as a fee-paying service. In particular, be aware of charlatans and grifters, who unfortunately abound in this space, and do not give away your trust – or your money – easily. A useful litmus test is the extent to which their astrology, by its very nature a universalist art form, remains at the level of the individual, or whether it reflects the wider social, political and economic conditions of the world.
Queer intersectional feminist astrologer Chani Nicholas has set the tone for the current generation of radical astrology that is deeply politically engaged, and a community is emerging that will shape the discipline for years to come. Notably, Nicholas reminds her readers that what she serves is a buffet of wisdom from which we can draw selectively, repeating the refrain: “Take what works for you, leave the rest” – which, ultimately, models a healthy, open, humble and wise attitude towards guiding and being guided.
Further Reading and Resources
· Brown Sisters. How to Survive the End of the World Show w/ Chani Nicholas (2020) Allied Media Conference 2020 Plenary. Available at:
· Dore, J. (2021) Tarot for Change: Using the cards for self-care, acceptance and growth. Hay House.
· Farley, H. (2009) A Cultural History of Tarot: From Entertainment to Esotericism. London and New York: IB Tauris.
· Finley, J. Turning to the Mystics Podcast. Centre for Action and Contemplation. Available at: https://cac.org/podcast/turning-to-the-mystics/
· Huxley, A. (1947) The Perennial Philosophy. London: Chatto and Windus.
· Queer Astrology Conference 2020, https://qac.queerastrology.com/schedule/
· Nicholas, C. (2020) You Were Born for This.
· Sparkly Kat, A. (2021). Postcolonial Astrology: Reading the Planets Through Capital, Power and Labour. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.