The Major Arcana

This fantasy sketch is based on the Thoth tarot.

THE FOOL rises from the womb of innocence. He is Parsifal and Dionysus, spiraling from the readiness of heart into risk. THE MAGUS, on wings of creation, works the dual strands of truth and illusion into an imperfect fabric of energy. THE PRIESTESS cultivates the vast garden of her inner vision through arid terrain, the moon her guide. THE EMPRESS is beauty. She is mother and lover, the fruition of generosity, while THE EMPEROR with the fire of Mars fathers the completion of her gifts. He, however, must care to know what power can generate, and what can destroy. THE HIEROPHANT rules the dominion of mind. He unites with Venus, she who implements the wisdom of his energies to inform and to instruct. But THE LOVERS have little need of this, their contradictions concerned merely with the complexity of union. Their progeny complete the ceremony of generation. From this path THE CHARIOT rolls forth, unshackled, to seek the fortunes of the Grail. This sovereignty attempts balance, but ADJUSTMENT is necessary. No amount of fortune and creativity can be sustained without weathering the storms of imperfect direction. Then comes THE HERMIT, with quiet wealth of inner clarity, the stranger who seeks union only with those who foster his vision. What unexpected gifts come from FORTUNE? The sun, the center of the wheel, emanates outward into realms of possibility, into LUST. The energy of transformation burns brighter than propriety. It consumes it utterly. But there is a stalemate — THE HANGED MAN loses trust of intuition, comes to the naked reality that life abounds in struggle, despair. DEATH. Osiris rules these parts, the skeleton with scythe harvesting decay among the swimming predation and the gaseous bubbles. This is transformation of old into new, the broken essence that leads to creation. There is no temperance here. ART, the integration of fire and water, light and dark, male, female, death, rebirth, is the thirst of the lion and the eagle. Examine the inner realms of the Earth; by cleansing you will find the hidden stone. The giant balls of THE DEVIL, with the horned energy of Pan, culminate in the third eye of laughter that sees the dry, staid folly of ignorance for what it is. THE TOWER has been destroyed, the outmoded hindrances, gone. From the sheer mass of chaos comes transformation, knowledge of being. THE STAR is a guide liberating us from the bonds of fanaticism and illusion; THE MOON shines over this struggle. It is the seductive charm of shadows, drawing attention to blind forces. Be vigilant. THE SUN radiates at the center of creative union. It is ripening and fruition. THE AEON of Horus is at hand. There is no condemnation, only recognition of what has fallen from harmony. From thence comes the dance of completion, elemental grace, the great expanse of THE UNIVERSE.

The Imaginarian

In the mind
of the imaginarian
there are bubbles
that become
urgent as molasses,
the placid movement
of time a drudgery.

But then wings
of angelic forms come to light
and a vast horizon of being
stretches outward
to new adventures.

Go for those adventures,
o wingéd Pegasus,
and with equine strength
weigh improbably upward
like a vast eagle.

Not So Simple

Here are some topics we discuss as examples of science and technology reporting in my classes, bringing home the point that oversimplification of information often leads to lack of clarity.

Graphene

This 2013 article was posted to reddit about two weeks ago and got plenty of upvotes as if it were a new and easy magical thing -

http://gizmodo.com/5990876/lockheeds-new-carbon-filter-takes-all-the-effort-out-of-desalinization

Graphene has awesome potential as both an electrical conductor and a molecular sieve, but there is more work to be done to make its use practical on a larger scale. This MIT article from last year looks like a more reasonable update on graphene’s use as a filter - 

http://news.mit.edu/2015/repair-graphene-leaks-0508

Wolves

Check out the different focal points of this video and article, both from 2014 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/opinion/is-the-wolf-a-real-american-hero.html

The feel-good style of the video has touched far more hearts than Arthur Middleton’s more balanced analysis published a month afterward, but the question is do we want to dig deeper? 

Fiber

This article focuses on meat and cheese -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3534246/Western-diets-high-meat-dairy-salt-eroding-gut-bacteria-scientists-say.html

This article focuses on fiber -

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/cp-cmf040516.php

Which of the two gives a more accurate depiction of the research?

Rocket Science

Finally, consider this op-ed from last year, which encourages us to
understand discovery as hard effort rather than a moment of epiphany -

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/opinion/it-is-in-fact-rocket-science.html

These kinds of distinctions are important when evaluating information.

Bread Keeper

at the nexus
of lord and loaf
the grain supply
the holders of plenty
and the bread beggars

the shepherd of sums
exacts his due
from the low places
he himself
bathed in the glass light
of heaven

father, son, ghost
the one law
of plentitude
in communion

blessed the high walls
of providence
sun, soil, and rain
on the fields of eternity

blessed the plow and yoke
the share exacted
the protection given

blessed the poor
the compliant
the copper-filled pockets
of towns become
cities, states, nations at war