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Present Project: Tarot Cards

October, 1959

A CHANGE IN OUR MASTHEAD has been made for this issue of our magazine (with “I’m sorry” said in all six directions) from New Horizons to HUNA VISTAS and, if six letters arrive to say this name has been used by six other magazines, Cigbo is going to be spanked with a folded Confederate dollar bill. (He always has to take the blame, being little and never quite sure what is his fault and what is not.)

ABOUT 200 OUT OF THE 946 HRAs whose names have been on the lists since 1953 have responded to the invitation in the last issue to join up afresh and take part in the promising work of tearing apart the lore surrounding the Tarot Cards, then putting the good pieces together again to get something new, delightful, and possibly closer to the truth. While this is not a large mailing list for our “magazine,” it is fair, and it is bound to grow as the fun becomes fast and furious.

MOST OF THE ARRIVING LETTERS have been full of approval for the Tarot investigation, although some say the writer knows nothing of the subject as yet. HRA A.F. of California says flatly that she does not like the Tarot, but hopes there will be something else of interest in the releases.

HRA M.M., also of California, writes in part, “I can’t tell, even on rereading (the first issue) whether you are seriously planning a study of the Taro or whether it is merely one of your whimsical ways of starting a new group to further Huna. Please elucidate. I have had a couple of friends who interested themselves in Taro Cards, but I have never investigated them at all, so know nothing about how they are used or whether there might be some occult knowledge gained from their study. Please allow me a little fuller knowledge of your real intentions. I felt you were talking with your tongue in your cheek and were putting the ritual of the Taro meeting in the same category as Cigbo.”

WHAT IS IT THAT ONE SAYS when one tells a joke and no one laughs? One painfully explains, or one says, “Skip that one.” In all seriousness, I would like to kid off the boards most of the foolishness which is taken so seriously by lodge members and also the sucker bait stuff offered by the “course” peddlers who set out to “invite” the sucker in every possible way to fly into the web and receive the “secret, ancient and forbidden wisdom initiation” all for a donation to the Foundation for Sucker Bilking. To my admittedly distorted sense of humor, the imaginary Lodge, with Cigbo as Keeper of the Door and myself as “High Card” or Two of Clubs, adds up to fun, and I feel that with a study of the Taro undertaken in such a serious manner as I propose, we should take time out for a bit of relaxation and a few grins. The study now begun is part of the general Huna investigation which we have been carrying on for several years.

HRA G.H. OF CANADA WRITES, “I just can’t understand how you are going to make a CLEAN SWEEP (of current books and beliefs concerning the Tarots) and at the same time ask for opinions on the books which clutter the (Lodge) Room. Or do you want every fellow member to present material to which he or she has access? If so, can I mention THE EGYPTIAN REVIVAL or THE EVER COMING SON IN THE LIGHT OF THE TAROT by Frater Achad, and especially the chapter, ‘More Light on the Tarot Trumps’ and the UNIVERSAL TRADITION, which transcends what we call ‘Light and Darkness.’ Is the material ‘scant’ because it must be looked at only in the light of Huna since you say ‘Huna remains the standard measuring stick for use in an approach to all psycho-religious material?” Looks as if it is true that whatever any man may know, the human race knows more, and that it is only on a basis as broad as humanity itself that the structure of truth on any subject can be reared. Perhaps you think Huna is the Universal Tradition, but if so, dear LODGE SWEEPER, let us see what this ‘Initiation’ can do for us. For another thing, you will have to prove to me that ‘William James has not yet been equaled as a writer on psychology.’ Oh, the FOOL. Could it be that this is the end and not the beginning?”

THE LODGE SWEEPER REPLIED that he had said that all material worth its salt in evidence of verity will be brought back after suspicious inspection. The discussion is wide open and ideas and contentions are invited. For instance, I had never heard of Frater Achad and his books, and have written to beg the loan of the material so that I may be informed. He might be the ultimate authority on all of the truths surrounding the Tarot, for all I know. I contend that a “Universal Tradition” is not necessarily true even if it is generally believed. Once we all thought the earth was flat, but it turned out not to be. Yes, for me at least, everything has to be examined in the light of Huna. I have found no other system which includes so much so well, and if I find someone who says that the Taro does not allow the three selves of Huna, I shall pout and pack up my doll rags and go home. William James came the nearest to Huna, so to me, he is the very greatest. Besides, his degree reading is by far the highest of any person I have ever discovered writing in an exploratory vein about psychology. If anyone can find as inclusive and well-based a set of beliefs as those of Huna to use as a measuring stick, I want to know about them and will stand open to conversion, but if Frater Achad is to be the authority to offer a better measuring stick, I want to have him take off his mask and come clean as to his standing and as to the authority upon which he bases HIS authority. If anyone wonders why I am so suspicious, may I point to years and years of sorting clay feet to try to find shoes which are filled by feet worthy of the name. I am not a teacher and NOT an authority. I welcome all questioning of my opinions. If we are to get to first base in this investigation of the Taro, we must all exercise the greatest care in accepting the statement of anyone. (This applies, painful though it may be to him, to High Card in particular. Poor chap; he knows so very little and SUSPECTS SO VERY MUCH.) To make myself clear on the matter of “authority” let me say that if I learn in due time that someone has better proof of his favored beliefs than I have for mine, I will go over to his side. But if he simply says, “This is true because I say so,” then mine is the old “Retort discourteous”… whatever that may have been.