With the new year comes lots of new things. I'd like to draw some of them to your attention and also ask you to share something with readers... 1st Up: Prediction Contest Yep. I'm going to be announcing this for some time to come. In my last blog post I announced a prediction contest. It's very simple: make a prediction for this year. The contestant with the most accurate prediction wins his or her choice of any Tarot deck published or distributed by Llewellyn. For full details click on this LINK. 2nd Up: The Latest Issue of Hermetic Virtues Magazine Hermetic Virtues is rapidly becoming the premier journal of traditional ceremonial magick, following in the great tradition of magazines

Most people now accept that the fact that the Tarot cards do not go back to ancient Egypt, Atlantis, or some other source from thousands of years ago. Most knowledgeable Tarot researchers also acknowledge that the Tarot didn't evolve out of the Kabalah. In fact, the associations of the Kabalistic Tree of Life came long after the Tarot began. They were popularized by Eliphas Levi during the nineteenth century's "French Occult Revival." But when it comes to the designs of the Minor Arcana cards—the ones that are most like a deck of playing cards—most people think they're all pictorial and dismiss any deck that doesn't have images on every card. In actuality, it was only about 100

Today was not really traveling, it was attending the INATS convention. It's not huge—you can walk it and see everything in an hour or two—but it's great to see the trends that are going on and what people will be selling in the coming year. Lots of crystals and gems. Lots of clothes. And of course, lots of books! I went around the floor a few times—you never really see everything the first time. For me, there were a few standouts: Flash cards decks. One for learning astrology, another for learning the Runes, and another for learning Tarot. A giant tuning fork. Made of reconstituted crystal, it was about two-feet long and perhaps .75 inches thick. When sounded, it could

It almost always happens that when I go to any event, someone tells me they'd like to write a book. Sometimes their approach is one of looking for advice. Sometimes they are more aggressive ("I can write a book better than that!"). I always encourage them and offer to help. This is because when it comes to occult books, there really isn't any competition. You see, I don't know of anyone who buys just one occult book. When someone gets one of my books they end up buying books from other writers. And if they buy a book by someone else, they eventually get one of my books, too. Even if someone is writing on the same topics as I do, their book is publicity for my books and my books are