The Uncrossed Path Blog
Welcome to The Uncrossed Path Blog, where each post delves into the art and practice of cartomancy, focusing on traditional approaches to tarot, playing cards, and Lenormand, grounded no-nonsense divination. Here, you’ll find explorations of cartomantic techniques, interpretations grounded in cultural and philosophical insight, and discussions that emphasize clarity over mystique. Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or a discerning seeker, these articles offer a rigorous approach to understanding the cards, with an eye on truth rather than trend.
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A Prediction Method Featuring Thoth Tarot
Old loves never truly fade, especially for someone as sentimental as I am. My journey into cartomancy began at fifteen, starting with playing cards and the Gypsy Fortunetelling Oracle. It wasn’t long before I ventured into Tarot, sparked by a gift from my cousin Katarina. She gave me her Ancien Tarot de Marseille by Grimaud, as she was more focused on another deck. The moment she introduced me to it, I was utterly captivated. The Thoth Tarot, with its stunning imagery, was easily the most beautiful deck I had ever laid eyes on.
The Season of Detachment
The fall is here. The vitality of summer is leaving us, as we descend deeper into the dark of winter. A season of transitions, of liminality which can be witnessed in the amber tree tops and the chill of rain on our windswept faces. It is also a season of letting go: just as we mourn the passing of summer, we mourn all the unfulfilled desires. More than ever, we are faced with time and our own temporality. But instead of embracing the nature of the season by acknowledging the losses, we cling to the empty husks of our missed opportunities, failed relationships, and all other unfulfilled dreams.
The Power of Falling
A Rusalje ritual is an ecstatic dance practice from the Homolje region of Eastern Serbia, performed by the women called Rusalje (pronounced as ruh-sah-lye, “the falling women”). The practice, which is now largely extinct, used to take place on the holiday of Pentecost. It takes place on the 50th day after Orthodox Easter, colloquially known in Serbia as “Duhovi” (spirits) - a Christian holiday, dedicated to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. On this day, the people of Duboka village would gather in front of the cave, and start playing the music and dancing the traditional dances. All of a sudden, one of the women would fall to the ground in a violent trance.
The Ancestral Transmission
In Serbian folk religion, Saturdays are reserved for the dead. It is the day we pay our respects to the dearly departed. For the very same reason, it is believed that people born on Saturday can peer into the Otherworld. Because of this, I pay special attention to Saturdays and my bond with my ancestors and celebrate it with simple offerings: a beeswax candle, a cup of coffee, and some incense. The very same way they respected their ancestors whenever they visited their graves.
The Magic of a Bell
Bells have a special place in my memories. Most of them relate to one of my favorite childhood holidays: The Lazarus Saturday, otherwise known as “Vrbica” (loosely translated as “The Little Willow” or “Willow Day”) in Serbian folklore. It is a holiday for which children need to don their best apparel and go to the church adorned with willow wreaths and little bells hung around their necks. As the holiday marks the resurrection of Lazarus, the willow branches are given out by a priest (in lieu of palm branches in Central Europe) to represent children greeting Jesus with palm branches, and the bells are supposed to represent the overpowering of death.
The ‘Other’ Woman’s Longing
I was always of the meaning that it is not our job as fortunetellers to pass judgment as long as it is not related to the art of card reading. Whatever question is put on the table in front of us, we need to read the cards for it. And we need to do it to the best of our ability. In any case, petty bourgeois morals never held value for me anyway.
‘Drama Queen’ Projections and New Relationships
“I need your help, I fucked up bad!” are the words I hear regularly. And behind them usually lies a problem caused by a blind, anxiety-induced, projected reaction in the love sphere. This we often tend to label as a ‘drama queen’ response, but let us be honest, all relationships affect us greatly. Some relationships we leave as a wiser person, some we leave richer or poorer, and some we leave as downright damaged husks of a human being. It is particularly the latter kind that often tends to cause problems in all future relationships, or even prevent us from ever trusting another person again altogether.
Eyes Wide Shut - A Love Reading
If you are lucky to be in a long-standing relationship, you most probably had moments of uncertainty that called for an immediate reflection. Or in simple terms, you most probably asked yourself “How are we doing right now?” Or the old favorite: “Where will we end up?” But when these questions do pop up, experience tells me that most of us simply ignore the situation, and comfortably push any concerns under the rug, hoping to continue the smooth sail. In that case, there will come a time when you will no longer be able to ignore the situation, and you will be forced to look into the mirror of your relationship. Is it already too late?
The Agony of Choice
According to one of the greatest sociologists of the 20th century, Zygmunt Bauman, we are always confronted with a choice, and that choice is almost always agonizing (2000). Why? Because the modern society has primed us with the fear of missing out. Once we make a choice, we automatically lose the possibility of ever knowing what could have been if we went for plan B. And if this was not true, I would have to be honest and say that there would be hardly any work left for the fortune tellers.
Lack of Reciprocity
“My sister abandoned me once again,” a client states in a bitter and disappointed tone. I gathered that this is a recurring issue, which the client confirmed. She wanted to know what is the core issue in their relationship, since the client’s sister has an easy time discarding my client from her life, only to come back and repeat the process all over again.
Work Transitions
Making yourself indispensable to your employer is a pretty good strategy in today’s work market, especially when it is time to ask for a promotion. A client of mine felt stuck in his current role, taken for granted and underappreciated. He was eager to explore the possibility of assuming a position with more responsibility, and of course, a better salary, as he started getting on more tasks. He wanted to know what the new role at work would bring him.
Enchanted Circle
Do we ever come out wiser out of our relationships? After a messy breakup, a chaotic divorce, or after simply being left without a decent explanation, how many times do we sit down with ourselves and think about the experience that we have accumulated during a love affair that never ended in a ‘happily ever after?’ In my experience - rarely. More often than not, we tend to repeat our relationship patterns, and as a result, we get tangled in a new emotionally abusive situation so much that we find it very difficult to see our position clearly and make a cut.
Cursed, or simply exhausted
Being a cartomancer with a South Slavic background often means that you are confronted with clients believing that they have been cursed at least 80% of the time. Folk magical practices and Western ceremonial ones are very much alive and kicking within the borders of Former Yugoslavia, and naturally, when weird and hard-to-explain events occur, some people get rather nervous.
On 30’s and happiness
A few days ago I had a chance to watch an episode of a new documentary series on the Dutch national program NPO3 entitled “30 en nooit meer…” (“30 and never again…) where every episode adds a different ending to the title, each covering what people in their 30s will allegedly never do or be again. The first episode focused on people in their 30’s and their (often futile) quest for happiness. The episode’s full title is “30 and never unhappy again”.