Sssssss!
The Year of the Snake Officially Begins
Dear Substackers,
As promised in my post from January 1, the first day of the calendar year, I sat for my annual Tarot reading a week or so thereafter. Now that it’s January 29, the first day of the lunar new year, and the Year of the Snake has once again sunk its fangs into us, I share herewith a portion of what I learned from Madame Sidney and her wicked pack of cards. Let’s start with the Five of Cups:
My interpretation:
The melancholic poseur has brooded long enough. Let him count his blessings and get to work.
In other words, it’s time to forget about the chaos of 2024, that draconian Year of the Dragon, and start anew. All in all, a propitious message.
As for those 12 Houses of the Holy, which you may or may not associate with the 12 months of the year, the forecast is as follows:
1. Solar child, wave your freak flag high! A thousand flowers bloom in your glorious presence!
2. Waste not, want not. ’Tis the season to conserve resources.
3. Yours is the voice of authority. Weigh your words carefully lest the proclamations which issue from your lips be misconstrued.
4. Keep the hearth fires burning.
5. So long as the lion remains tamed, your strength could endure forever, theoretically.
6. Body scan complete, you are physically and mentally fit for another year of active duty.
7. You will finally come to understand the meaning of that ridiculous saying: “It’s not fair, it’s love.”
8. Peacefully float above the razor’s edge. Dream on, visionary.
9. Cadmus and Harmony drink toasts to one another, having renewed the bonds of their alliance.
10. Put your house in order. It’s as simple—and as difficult—as that.
11. You are not yet ready to walk on water, but at least you might prove to be a good neighbor.
12. The world is not worth conquering. Focus on the task at hand without attachment to outcome.
I hope these gnomic musings prove useful as we slither our way through this serpentine Year of the Snake. In any case, let us all pray for a more focused creative energy in 2025.
In other news, “raw” versions of the next episodes of Books Are Burning!, Guitar & Pen, and Texting have already been livestreamed. Here’s a sample:
“Cooked” versions are coming soon. In lieu of a menu, see Tomek’s thumbnail for the inaugural episode of season 4 of Texting:
Friend of show Steve W, by the way, has already cross-posted BAB! #13 on the Idiotville YouTube channel. You should actually watch his edit first as he’s a much better “cook” than I am:
There are quite a few more collaborations with Idiotville in the queue. Watch your inbox and my YouTube channel for updates.
Stay tuned as well for more leaked excerpts from the forthcoming audiobook version of Earnest Games read by your favorite author, songwriter, and publisher in permanent exile. Have you heard this one yet?
P.S. My current research, for whatever reason, is still focused on Biblical matters. As it happens, the first book I’m reading this lunar new year is J.M. Allegro’s The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross. Check out the cover image:
Fitting, is it not?
Sssssss!