Day 1 - Saturday, ruled by Saturn: Obstacles and Blockades
Card : The Sun XIX John Wayne
Right off the bat I should say my view of the Sun card is based on the Tarot de Marseilles, and I find Waite's Sun something of a ludicrous joke. Therefore, John Wayne riding a horse is something of a joke on Waite's card. Wayne was the kind of guy I hate: All-American, overpaid and privileged, sexist, untalented, one-dimensional, uncultured, anti-intellectual, and a staunch Republican. Despite his he-man persona, he was a coward who continually deferred military service in WWII and lied about it. He was a chain-smoker who eventually died from that particular addiction to fire.
A surface reading could suggest what obstacles and blockades I will face today will be to do with the Male Ego, it's outward-moving arrogance, its forceful hegemony, its inability to accurately see itself. It could indicate political, ideological strife, as Wayne was a founder and head of
The
Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a paranoid group of conservative anti-communists who helped HUAC blacklist left-leaning Hollywood writers, directors, and actors. This is the dark side of the Sun card, seen in the very word "SUN" on the card, which is cast like a shadow and black, like the film at the bottom of the card, black from being exposed to light, alluding to the blacklist and the char and soot that remains from a conflagration.
Looking deeper, the 2 male figures atop the card remind one of the 2 figures on the Marseilles Sun card. They are Gregory Peck and Joseph Cotton from the film
Duel in the Sun, and they are both enraptured by the sun-bleached female figure at the card's centre [Jennifer Jones]. Jones was a mediocre talent at best whose career was made possible by the machinations of her producer husband, David O. Selznick. The point being: the female here is a cypher (
la femme n'existe pas) and the men are really drawn to the power of the Sun - their own intrinsic male energy - like moths to the flame.
While this card today may mean little more than it's sunny outside [which it is] and I would do well to make hay while it shines [which I plan to do], it may also warn of the folly of hubris, getting up on one's high horse, the outward desire for something which is really a surrogate for one's own will to power, and the ramifications of playing with fire.
Addendum: I did indeed get out early and was able to complete 3 jobs before the rains started late in the day. While taking a customer to a clinic to get insulin, he told me of a transgender friend who asked for a spoken-word bible for Christmas. I quiped "What, read by John Wayne?" and instantly remembered the card. Meanwhile, in the U.S., an anti-Semite killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue. I don't know if he's a neo-Nazi or what - the Nazis were a male Death cult - but this kind of outward-focussed anger and unchecked brute violence - the All-American John Wayne solution of solving every problem with a gun - epitomizes the adverse aspect of The Sun card.
Day 2 - Sunday, ruled by the Sun: Inspiration and Goals
Card: Temperance XIV Sound & Color
Temperance suggests striking a balance. During the golden age of Hollywood, there were only a few color films made, and most of these were costume dramas and spectacles, such as
Gone With The Wind and
Robin Hood - made to take advantage of the full spectrum of colors. Sound came to motion pictures at the same time as the stock market crash and the Great Depression. Hollywood's response was to put on a musical - grandiose song and dance numbers epitomized by the kaleidoscopic choreography of Busby Berkeley. These types of films are anything but temperate, but what they did at least attempt to temper was the everyday reality of the era.
Being moderate in my indulgences has always been a struggle for me. As has knowing when to stop, not taking on too much, and checking myself so as not to become a workaholic. I have often found that there's nothing like undesirable work to make one know what it is one wants to create and to give one the impetus to create it - once one finds the free time. similarly, all play and no work makes Jack just as dull. The notion of art as an antidote or counter to reality is one i reject; art is an integral aspect of life, and unlike insipid, disposable culture, true art returns one to reality - the reality that manual labour and domestic squabbling inures one to.
This evening, a couple friends of mine are coming by for a night of fun. I won't be indulging in temperance as such, but i will endeavor to be temperate. What's more, i have some 7 hours before they arrive - plenty of time to do some needed chores around the place and also to do some creative work in the music studio.
Addendum: The chores took longer than expected, so music will have to be deferred to tomorrow. Cakes and ale there were, and a modicum of moderation - no dancing on the table with a lampshade on my head, but nevertheless a certain amount of sensory dislocation. I will endeavor to do better next time.
Day 3 - Monday, ruled by the Moon: Dreams and Fears
Card: 7 of Coin - Cabin In The Sky
The film
Cabin In The Sky is literally a dream - all the events concerning Heaven and 2nd chances turn out to be the fevered imaginings of the main character. Nevertheless, it's a card about redemption and hopes fulfilled - hope for one's future and hope for one's own abilities to change. The fear is death and one's inability to straighten up and do right by the people one loves. After a night of intemperance, I was beset with some fevered dreams myself. I had neglected the one I loved; she was lost and I couldn't recognize her. I woke up disoriented.
This card represents the marginalized. it signifies carving out joy and expression for yourself even in adversity. There is a fantastic aspect to the card, a
castles in Spain quality, just as there is also a tough luck and abject reality at its core. Many theatres in the Southern U.S. refused to play the film because of its all-black cast. Issues of black and white reinforce a subtext of right and wrong, and the resistance the film faced underscores the card's theme of perseverance.
But first and foremost the 7 of Coin is a card about music - music as pleasure, music as palliative, and music as pardon. Today I will put in some time working on music, and try at the same time to enjoy the playing of it.
Addendum: the day started slow; it poured rain so i made a big pot of cauliflower soup. When the sun appeared, I did some manual labour for a Sikh mother and son. In the late afternoon I went out to the music studio and worked on a song. It went well - it's after 9 and I've just come in for the night.
Day 4 - Tuesday, ruled by Mars: Conflicts and Challenges
Card: The Tower XVI Anti-Trust
As conflicts go, this is about as big as it gets. This card has essentially the same meanings associated with the Waite-Smith card, with an emphasis on how the studios thought their control of the film industry was invulnerable and indomitable. When the U.S. government finally succeeded in forcing them to dismantle their unfair distribution monopoly, it meant the beginning of the end for the Studio System. The arrogance of the studio big-wigs allowed television to develop and grow in dominance without Hollywood involvement. Then, instead of distancing itself from the rather infantile fare on tv, at the height of post-war Hollywood popularity - with more educated people attending movie houses than ever before - Hollywood dumbed-down their product, insisting success was predicated on appealing to the lowest common denominator.
I must say, having drawn this card, I don't much care for my prospects today. The suggestion is some dreamworld I have been living in is about to come crashing down. Of course, it may also suggest major changes are afoot in the power structures that surround me and that I'm a part of - the Studio System took a decade to totally collapse after all. This card marks the movement away from a stable of actors on contract churning out movies en masse in tried and financially true formulas toward a plurality of independents and equals working on more individual projects. This dismantlement of the Studio System allowed for more creativity and freedom for writers, directors, and performers. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I built a new music studio over the summer, fixed up my painting studio while I was at it, and am in the process of renovating a garage into a living space for my sweetheart to relocate to from Winnipeg. This latter fact will certainly affect the power structure around me, and the dynamic regarding my relationship with the
studios is certainly new, such that it will undoubtedly impact how the work is created and its ultimate form. Just how this all relates to events today, I can't quite grasp - I'll have to wait and see.
Addendum: Well, my house wasn't hit by lightning, but I had to put off working in my new music studio because the neighbour is having his roof replaced. 5 or 6 guys showed up, playing 80s soft-rock and otherwise making a racket pulling off old shingles. Also of note: I was given access to the email account of my recently deceased writer friend. I spent hours going through letters, organizing those that were of interest and trashing those that weren't. This has significance when we consider The Tower is often likened to the Tower of Babel, and that my recently departed friend was a writer who first introduced me to tarot. I will just note, that of all the hundreds of emails, there is sadly little of true emotional weight - every missive airily resides on a rather rarified intellectual plane. I wonder if death didn't simply put an end to that, or if it opened-up and freed the soul.
Day 5 - Wednesday, ruled by Mercury: Interactions and Change
Card: 10 of Spades - White Heat
As for change, this is arguably the least yielding or amenable card in the deck. It is unquestionably a card of death, and here with the film
White Heat is added rage, insanity, and suicide by police. As I noted while drawing for the last Planetary Week, there have been around me lately a number of deaths. This card may allude to them, or suggest more are in the offing. The flames engulfing Cody Jarrett [James Cagney] look like wings - the wings of a Fallen Angel or a Guardian Angel. Either way, it marks a dramatic change, be it an embracing of one's fate or an ending that's difficult to accept. It should be noted that today is Samhain, Halloween, All Saint's Eve, and the beginning of Allhallowtide - the time of remembering the dead.
Friends tried to dissuade Cagney from taking the role, as he was getting on in years and Cody seemed to be a parody of the gangster characters he made famous in his youth. Originally based on the real-life Ma Barker Gang, Cagney (along with close friend Humphrey Bogart) changed the script to focus on his character, a psychopath with a possible Oedipus Complex. One of the details introduced is Cody's debilitating headaches, an illness suffered by both my mother and myself. The scene on the 10 of Spades occurs at the film's climax, where Cody howls one of the most famous lines in movie history: "Made it Ma, top of the world!" In a sense, Cody has made it to the infamous end point of his murderous spree and death drive, becoming an almost arch-gangster if not arch-angel figure. By accepting a tired role Cagney himself had made cliché, he altered it to reflect the viciousness of the post-war world.
This is the end of Spades, the air suit, where hopefully one can call a spade a spade after all the smoke has cleared. The card is a little like an X-ray - a radioactive insight into an internal maelstrom. I certainly have some fears as to what this could indicate as subtext, but hopefully it means good riddance to bad rubbish and the end of mindless self-destruction.
Addendum: well, as far as I know, I didn't die. Being Samhain, however, the door between this world and the world of the dead was opened its fullest. Ruminating, I recognized something incisive about my writer friend who just recently died (his Xtian name meaning "Spade of Fame"). Namely, that he believed what he wanted to believe, filtering his experience to align with him rather than him with it, and in so doing kept himself ignorant of a certain ugliness and mess - his own included - which helped keep him going all his 86 years, but also kept him from fully experiencing people, places, and even himself. As a result, the profile of his life was distinct but shallow, an aspect this card has in spades.
Day 6 - Thursday, ruled by Jupiter: Power and Influences
Card: Knight of Batons - Marlene Dietrich
I was wondering when a Court card was going to appear. In the GAHT deck, the Knights of the male suits are female. As much as for her acting and singing, Dietrich was known for dressing in men's clothing and heading the Hollywood
Sewing Circle - a group of women who were a little more than friends.
On the card's foreground is Dietrich from
The Blue Angel, a version of the
Of Human Bondage story, the popularity of which allowed her to leave Germany for Hollywood, along with film mentor Von Sternberg. Over their next 6 films together, director and star crafted a unique look and persona for Dietrich, one which made her an indelible icon. Hitler himself was enamoured by this icon, and openly courted Dietrich's return to Germany. She not only rebuffed his overtures decidedly, but was outspoken in her criticism of the Nazis. She created a fund and gave her salary to help Jews fleeing Nazi tyranny. During the war, she worked tirelessly on USO tours and raising money for war bonds, eventually receiving the Medal of Freedom and the Legion of Honour for her efforts. Dietrich had tried to help her sister leave Germany but the sister remained with her son, running a cinema for officers from the Bergen-Belson concentration camp. Dietrich later disowned her sister and nephew, claiming to be an only child.
I have always admired this strength of character in Dietrich, her political and moral convictions as well as her dedication to her craft - she would tell the lighting men how to light her, using the technical language of cinematographers and gaffers. Both of these attributes, as well as just the simple pluck to be oneself, are things I aspire to. I will try to stay mindful of these noble traits throughout my day.
Addendum: As it happened, I had a very straight-forward and rather uneventful day. As something of a nod to Dietrich's political involvements, I voted in the current provincial referendum. Otherwise, I decanted some home-made wine, did some gardening, checked on a woman's home for whom i'm house-sitting, and spent a good 5 hours working in the music studio. In the evening, on the local public television channel, they played the documentary
Marlene.
Day 7 - Friday, ruled by Venus: Love and Attraction
Card: 5 of Spades - Gilda
Personally, I have never liked
Gilda. For one thing, Glenn Ford is one of the least appealing male actors of his era. Rita Hayworth, while a poor actress, is obviously vivacious and energetic. What disturbs me about the film - what makes me cringe and turn away from the screen - is the shamelessly salacious way the film exploits Hayworth's sexuality. In fact, it can be argued that
Gilda is the beginning of the spate of degrading adolescent male-oriented fantasy-like films that permeated the late 50s and early 60s. I knew today's reading was going to be difficult, or at least tangential, because again, like last week, my sweetheart is 2000 miles away. But when I pulled the card, it only took me a second to realize what the draw was about.
Aside from an excuse to indulge in prurience,
Gilda is at core about a love-hate relationship; one which, like all such relationships, is obsessive, selfish, and destructive. For many years, I was in just such a relationship. On and off again as these things usually are, it took me a very long time to recognize the deep levels and true nature of abuse going on in the relationship, let alone do something definitive about, to say nothing of working to recuperate from it all. My spouse was also traumatized by this person, undergoing slander, ostracization, threats of violence, and a very concerted campaign to sabotage the bond she and I were forming. This "Gilda", if you will (the names are surprisingly similar), continues to appear in our lives, through mutual friends, chance encounters on the street, and bad dreams. Indeed, I had one last night - I was helping someone change a flat tire on a very busy highway bridge when this "Gilda" showed up and commenced to hector me.
In some ways, this is a reversed reading - the pitfalls of love and the dangerous side of attraction. And yet in another way it's not - this is the 5 of Spades, after all, a card of aggression, defeat, humiliation, jealousy, deceit, and gloating. In this way, a reversed meaning would corroborate my gut feeling for the film and see 2 people spared the crimes of passion. Rather than Ford's character Johnny being defeated by Gilda, he is lucky to escape with his life. Removed from the glittering gold lamé orbit of Hayworth in the foreground, Ford can make his way toward the distant silvery figure of Miss Liberty. I interpret this card on this planetary day to signify getting past toxic love and embracing instead a love that nourishes.
Addendum: Further to my metaphor, it may be worth noting that the 4th atomic bomb ever to be detonated was decorated with Hayworth's photograph and dubbed "Gilda".
And what about those who just want to have a Deck of the Week, Card of the Day reading? They can just jump in and leave the planetary lore away. 
) and can't but notice it.