Astrology, Tarot, Numerology, oh my! Divination's been all over the news lately. Here's your weekly roundup:
Bar Owner Uses Tarot to His Advantage Most divination experts agree that Tarot readings are a conversation: the cards provide insight into your current situation, then leave it to you to use the information and "fill in the blanks." So The Brooklyn Paper profiles a savvy New York bar owner, Jesse Levitt, who decided to ignore the nay saying, doomsday "advice" a Brighton Beach Tarot reader provided him -- that it was a bad time for Levitt to open a new bar. Instead, Levitt acted on instinct and renamed the bar Minor Arcana in a nod to Tarot and his own ability to interpret his destiny. Read more »
I Ching and the Avant Garde Movement The New York Times profiles elderly artist Rachel Rosenthal as she recalls the impact that iconic composer John Cage had on her -- specifically through his faith in the I Ching, or the ancient book of changes. She recalls Cage's belief that change was constant, and that in a nod to the I Ching, Cage "just was ... He made chance sexy." Rosenthal notes that this influence was later adopted by their mutual friend, the late, great choreographer Merce Cunningham, who often improvised his dance performances by turning to the I Ching to determine his next move. Read more »
A Casual Look at Numerology Although the Wall Street Journal may not throw around terms like "Life Path" or "Base Vibration" when dealing with numbers, the financial publication is definitely obsessed with digits (specifically as they relate to the DOW and unemployment). But to truly gauge the power of numbers, one WSJ contributor took a step back and compared "lucky" and "unlucky" numbers across cultures, focusing on why 13 in particular has had such a bad rap in Western civilization. Read more »
