Ryan Seacrest: The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business

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An Astrological Profile

Sun in Capricorn

Ryan Seacrest is the consummate Capricorn — ambitious, career-minded, and determined. He’s got three planets in the earthy sign — the Sun, Mercury, and Venus — and like Capricorn’s signature animal, the mountain goat, he won’t let anything stop him from reaching his goals. His rising sign is Capricorn, too, which means the face he shows the world is true to his Capricorn Sun.

Seacrest has been the host of American Idol since the show premiered in 2002. For most of the show’s first nine years, he routinely exchanged barbs with judge Simon Cowell — but secretly, Cowell admired Seacrest’s drive.

“I’m going to hate reading this,” Cowell once said, “but Ryan has a tremendous work ethic. He wants all the glory, but he’s prepared to work for it, and I’ve never heard him complain.”

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A Snapshot of Tarot History

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Here’s a snapshot of tarot times gone by – a style and beauty cover from a 1940 copy of McCall’s magazine, by photographer Nickolas Muray.

As a photographer, he was acclaimed for his portraits of celebrities, as well as the images he created for high-end advertisements and magazine spreads. Muray was also an Olympic fencer, bringing home a bronze medal in 1932. He was romantically involved with Mexican artist Frida Kahlo for many years.

The cards on the table are from a Marseille Tarot, which is still readily available. The plaid design on the back of each card is called a tarotee design. The Wands, or Batons, look almost like the Swords — except for the fact that the Swords have curved blades.

In the Tarot de Marseille, as is standard among Italian suited playing cards, the pip cards in the suit of swords are drawn as abstract symbols in curved lines, forming a shape reminiscent of a mandorla. On the even numbered cards, the abstract curved lines are all that is present. On the odd numbered cards, a single fully rendered sword is rendered inside the abstract designs. The suit of wands is drawn as straight objects that cross to form a lattice in the higher numbers; on odd numbered wands cards, a single vertical wand runs through the middle of the lattice. On the tens of both swords and batons, two fully rendered objects appear imposed on the abstract designs. The straight lined wands and the curved swords continue the tradition of Mamluk playing cards, in which the swords represented scimitars and the wands polo mallets.

Image source: The George Eastman House Collection on Flickr.

Pamela Colman Smith and William Butler Yeats

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You might have known that Pamela Colman Smith and William Butler Yeats were friends. Pamela, of course, was the artist behind the Rider Waite tarot — the world’s most popular deck, released more than a century ago. Yeats was a poet and a playwright who influenced many of Smith’s drawings.

While Yeats was — and is — world famous, Smith’s star didn’t shine as brightly. Even so, she managed to cast some of her rays as far as Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I live now.

In fact, one of Smith’s drawings of William Butler Yeats ran in the February 6, 1904 edition of The Minneapolis Journal.

Click here to view a PDF copy of the newspaper page.

For more on Pamela Colman Smith’s art and work, check out the biography I wrote for her book, Susan and the Mermaid. And if you’ve never seen the National Library of Ireland online exhibition of Yeats’ life and times, click here.

Click here to order Susan and the Mermaid.

Have You Seen this Card? UPDATED with the Answer

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Do you recognize this image?

It might look rare, antique, and obscure, but it’s a detail of an actual tarot card, from a commonly available deck that you can still buy for a reasonable price. In fact, it’s from a deck you should probably have in your collection, if you’re a die-hard enthusiast or a serious student of the cards.

Which card is it? Can you name the deck? Take a guess, and leave your answer in the comments. Tomorrow I’ll reveal the source.

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Did you see the responses in the comments section? Richard Todd and Guido were correct! The card is the first trump in the French Ducale Tarot deck. According to Thomas L. McDonald’s State of Play blog, the card depicts an Italian Pagliacci and a French jester holding his ninny stick.

http://www.stateofplayblog.com/2011/02/closer-look-french-tarot-trumps-1-2.html

You can find all of McDonald’s posts on the French Tarot deck here: http://www.stateofplayblog.com/search/label/Tarot.

The Deck of a Lifetime

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Last night, I dreamed about running into an old friend — a woman I knew 25 years ago. In the dream, she told me she was dying, but she needed my help to finish and release a tarot deck.

Her deck was, for the most part, complete. She had chosen images to represent the 78 things she loved most in her life — people, places, and things. It was my job to interview her about each image, to expand on their significance, and then, in an odd twist, to bury the “leftovers” — the objects that wouldn’t make the final cut. At the end of the dream, I was carrying a shovel in one hand and a spade in the other, so I could get ready.

I woke up thinking about the idea. If you had to narrow your all-time favorite things to a list of 78, which would you choose? And how would you fit them into the larger structure of a tarot deck?

  • The Fool
  • The Magician
  • The High Priestess
  • The Empress
  • The Emperor
  • The Hierophant
  • The Lovers
  • The Chariot
  • Strength
  • The Hermit
  • Wheel of Fortune
  • Justice
  • The Hanged Man
  • Death
  • Temperance
  • The Devil
  • The Tower
  • The Star
  • The Moon
  • The Sun
  • Judgement
  • The World
  • Wands
  • Cups
  • Swords
  • Pentacles

Image source.

The Brujo Mayor’s Predictions

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This just in from the BBC:

Mexico’s grand warlock predicts Obama will lose

Mexico’s self-appointed grand warlock has predicted that US President Barack Obama will lose the 2012 election.

Antonio Vazquez, who calls himself the “Brujo Mayor”, or grand warlock, leads a Mexican tradition of “brujeria ” (sorcery), centered in the south-eastern city of Catemac.

He has been making new year predictions for 25 years, with mixed results.

He also forecast that two more Latin American leaders would be diagnosed with cancer this year.

Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo have all been diagnosed with cancer in recent years.

Tarot cards

The grand warlock predicted that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who claims to have beaten an unspecified cancer, would have what he termed a “terrible relapse”.

Speaking at a news conference in Mexico City, Mr Vazquez – who gets his insights from tarot card readings and astrology – put the cancer cases down to “witchcraft” against Latin American leaders.

Of Mr Obama, he said: “I feel Obama will lose. They will attack him a lot. The Republicans have all the money in the United States and so they are putting a lot of pressure on him to make mistakes”.

He also said that Syria would be invaded, although he did not specify by whom.

“I see more problems with Syria than Iraq and Korea. Syria is against the Islamic world and against Europe and the United States. There could be an invasion there or more deaths and deaths and deaths.”

Though he claims an accuracy rate of up to 80%, Mr Vazquez has a mixed success rate.

Last year, he foresaw that the euro would weaken and recession would return to developed economies but he also predicted, incorrectly, that a Latin American leader would be assassinated.

In 2008, he erroneously foretold the death of US singer Britney Spears.

Image source.

A Celtic Cross for the New Year

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Here’s a variant of the Celtic Cross I designed to help you look forward to the new year. The spread is based on the traditional Celtic Cross, but the meaning of each position is enhanced by the message of an antique postcard. Simply shuffle your tarot deck, lay out 11 cards according to the diagram, and interpret your cards according to the following descriptions. (You can also click on the image to see it full-size, and print it out scaled to fit a standard sheet of paper.)

  1. “To pay you a New Year’s call by proxy.”  A standard Celtic Cross reading often starts with a significator — a card that signifies the subject of the reading. In this case, the proxy card could represent you — if you’re doing a general reading for yourself . Alternately, the card that falls in this position could represent something — or someone — that will pay you a call during the coming year.
  2. “A Happy New Year to You.” A crossing card represents the energy and mood of the moment. The card that lands in this position promises to bring you happiness, in one form or another, by midnight tonight.
  3. “Here’s to your health.” New Year’s Day is often a time when we resolve to eat right, exercise more, and improve our health. The card in this position, however, refers to the foundations of good health, and it describes at least one physical strength you already enjoy.
  4. “A Happy New Year to You.” The old year and the new cross paths in this timeless illustration. When you shuffle and spread your own deck, the card that lands here will tell you about one important lesson from 2011 that you’ll carry into 2012.
  5. “Best Wishes for the New Year.” What is your fondest hope for the year to come? What’s your most heartfelt desire? Picture it here … but remember to be careful what you wish for!
  6. “A Happy New Year!” A young boy, dressed in green, the color of creativity and growth, greets the year with a beaming smile. He carries a basket of flowers on his back, and he holds an invitation to celebrate good fortune. The card that lands here will illustrate something you’d like to invite into your life this year — and it will show you how well you’re prepared to welcome it.
  7. “A Glad New Year Be Thine.” In a traditional Celtic Cross spread, this is usually the place where we look for information about self-image. In this vintage postcard, a young woman, dressed in her finest gown, cloak, and hat, stands at attention. She holds a walking stick, which suggests that she’s ready to start off on a new adventure. Are you equally prepared for the journey of 2012? The card that lands here will tell you if you’re ready.
  8. “Happy New Year to You.” Whether you realize it or not, you have an audience. Do the people around you like what they see? Do you delight them? Amuse them? Surprise them? Check the card that falls here to see yourself through their eyes.
  9. “A Very Happy New Year | Oo! Hoo! Oo! Hoo! | To You! To You!” The owl symbolizes our deepest hopes — for wisdom — as well as our darkest fears. Which one are you willing to face head-on this year?
  10. “Good Luck and a Happy New Year. May Good Fortune Favour You.” Here you’ll find at least one reward you can expect in 2012 — the most likely outcome of the journey you begin today.
  11. We’re not done yet. Let’s throw a wild card for a sneak peek of at least one joyful surprise you can look forward to this year — and know, as you look at the vintage card in the illustration, that its message is my wish for you this year, too.

Your joys increase a hundredfold

in every year to follow

Cares by so small they can’t be told

And all your fears prove hollow.

A Telegram from Pamela Colman Smith

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Look what Google delivered this morning! A telegram from Pamela Colman Smith!

It’s dated January 23, 1907. Pamela sent it to her friend Mary Fanton Roberts just to let her know that she’d be stopping by at 7.

Who was Mary Fanton Roberts?

Mary Fanton Roberts was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1864. When she was a young girl her family moved to Deadwood, in the Montana territory, where her father had mining prospects. When she was old enough, she and her sister were sent back to New York to attend the Albany Female Academy. After finishing school, Roberts pursued journalism and became a staff writer for four years for the Herald Tribune, the Journal, and the Sun in New York. During her long career she was editor of Demorest Magazine, editor-in-chief of New Idea Woman’s Magazine, managing editor of The Craftsman, and creator and editor of The Touchstone Magazine and Decorative Arts magazine. Her longest period at one publication was seventeen years as editor of Arts and Decoration. She often wrote articles on the topic of decorative arts and home decorating, and published two books,Inside 100 Homes, and 101 Ideas for Successful Interiors.

In 1906 she married William Carman Roberts, writer and editor of Literary Digest for thirty years. They lived in Manhattan and Waterford, Connecticut.

Roberts was very involved in the artistic, theatrical, and literary circles in New York City, and met and became friends with many young avant garde American artists, including Robert Henri and John Sloan. Through her husband she met many writers and poets, including Theodore Dreiser and Bliss Carman. Roberts was active in organizations such as the Women’s City Club, Pen and Brush, and the MacDowell Society and also attended countless art openings, theater performances, and other social events. As an avid supporter of modern dance, she became friends with many performers, including Isadora Duncan and Angna Enters. After her husband’s death in 1941, Roberts moved to the Chelsea Hotel, where she lived for the rest of her life. She maintained lifelong relationships with a wide circle of friends and continued to correspond with them and attend social events until her death in 1956 at the age of 92.

Image source: http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/images/detail/western-union-telegram-1907-10208