I got up early today, went back to bed with the cat for a cuddle, then started making notes on Etteilla's tarot. This is of course the granddaddy of all divinatory tarots: before that they were always made for gaming. Etteilla stands at the junction between tarot as a game & the nineteenth century occultists' adoption of it.
Then to town for a wander round looking for a flat. I had set my heart on the area around the peace gardens, but have to admit that perhaps it is too small an area, since there are only about four buildings that would fit my criteria, & all of them expensive, with huge apartments. Whereas what I want is to sell my tatty terrace when the cat dies (can't move the poor old thing now), buy a shoebox in the city, & hopefully have some change left over!
I didn't realise how this wander would feel to me: it marks a further move away from my mother, since I bought my house to be near to her, which I now realise was a big mistake.
Also today the new concourse at New Street Station opened, so I had a wander in. I'm impressed with the way they've hacked essentially a new station out of the old one, in the process opening up that part of the city centre, so that the station no longer acts as a mammoth bollard in the middle of the city. The picture is of course of when the existing station was new.
The midland metro is also being extended: who knows it may finally lead to the conversion of the old central methodist church into flats! Corporation Street would be quite an address to have. I may have to look to Digbeth in the search for a flat. Oh well, more anon on that & doubtless on Etteilla, I even scared myself yesterday when I drew some cards out of a virtually unknown deck & found my exact mindset looking back at me!
------------------
Do you see the cobbles on the streets? Everywhere you look, stone & rock. Can you imagine what it feels like to reach down with your bones & feel the living stones? The city is built on itself, all the cities that came before. Can you imagine how it feels to lie down on an ancient flagstone & feel the power of the rock buoying you up against the tug of the world? And that's where witchcraft begins. The stones have life, & I'm part of it. - adapted from Terry Pratchett
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are moderated before publication