An AI Can’t Do This

I felt semi-terrified posting on FB last week about my new tarot blog—to 400+ friends and family. The news is out. I tell stories with tarot cards and share my reflections.

Then I realized an AI can’t do that yet, and it made me feel better.

Is it just me or do people bristle when they look something up and see that Google now thinks we’d rather have an AI search the internet for us? The Google AI reminds me of an internship I did years ago at a marketing agency, writing social media and blog posts for small local companies. On the first day I was instructed to “find stuff on the internet and recycle it as advertising, and try not to make it sound like you are copying it word for word.” I was appalled, although the field of advertising is not known for it’s stellar ethics (ie: Mad Men and general psychological manipulation).

But that’s where we are now, inside a suboptimal recycling machine, and intellectually-particular content is buried underneath a mountain of the same boring, generic sh** that Google throws up first. I don’t need an AI to make this more obvious for me.

Even if it weren’t so corruptive and soul-crushing, AI’s environmental impact is horrifying. It’s probably the main reason why Trump wants to hoard the Great Lakes; AI data centers need an insane amount of water, apparently.

But the upside is that it feels like revolt merely to put something in the world that an AI can’t do yet, even if only a few people will read it.

What we might be feeling in the days ahead …

There is a simplicity to this reading. Firm, clear, decisive, we begin with the Queen of Swords.

In this deck, The Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans, she’s called Mother of Swords, and it’s no coincidence this card depicts a wise owl. Swords can be said to cut through the bologna. We’re candid, and connecting with others easily, like a mom who is understanding even when she calls you out on your crap.

There are no cups in the reading—so emotions are not forefront—amd I’m a bit thankful to see it.

We start out this weekend and go into next week weilding sharp and perceptive mom energy … clarified by the 7 of Materials.

Traditionally this is the 7 of Pentacles (or Coins) and—from The Muse Tarot—a figure who’s been very much on the move down a distinct track (that’s us), takes a pause.

It’s about checking results.

We’ve reached a milestone (however large or small) with something we’ve been working on, and we’re getting a little feedback. You can exhale, rest a minute, and assess where you’re at.

Then, keep going in a direction you’ve deduced is working well, or course-correct.

Ok. Sounds fine.

But the next bit of the spread is what another tarot reader I like would call ‘spiritual big jobs.’

The challenging stuff we face this coming week is represented by The Emperor and Death.

Yikes.

These two are big wigs—both major arcana cards, which means they hold more weight, and flag something significant.

The Emperor advocates a world where authority is respected. He represents structure and order, the kind we might see in a truly democratic government, for example. And the Death card means an ending that initiates great change.

These two cards appearing together suggests that a structure we’ve always relied on is so done.

It’s not dying. It’s dead.

It’s the end of an era and we must accept the inevitable. The Death card, unlike the Rider-Waite-Smith version, is also giving a Silence of the Lambs vibe here, and I’m reminded of FBI agent Clarice Starling’s nightmare of the lambs going to slaughter, screaming :(

Death paired with The Emperor plainly means we’re struggling with the realization that this is the end of a long-established way of thinking. In the greater world and in our own small orbits, the Death card heralds new beliefs (the sun is rising in the east!) but this is not an easy adjustment.

From Jessica Dore’s Tarot for Change, “No one goes whistling, willing, into the ‘initiation.’ We must be sturdy enough to endure the fire of transformation.” Not to put too fine a point on it.

So, what’s our ‘Advice’ already?

I believe the ‘advice’ position in these readings also gives us insight into the way we’ll feel should we apply the advice to the ‘obstacle.’

Warning: brief mention of magic ahead.

The Ace of Wands tells us there is something pretty great for the taking if we meet our goblins on the path with passion—there is something in the air that needs to be fed.

From Jessica Dore’s Tarot for Change (which I love to quote in these posts) …

“Wands is also called ‘staffs,’ [and] if one has a staff, one is not passive; he has direction. Wands have to do with our desire, the initial spark of response within us before we have time to think about what it means (and in doing so repress our feelings about that thing or engage in some sort of avoidance). This is often what therapists are working on with people—the raw stuff where there is potential for new life and learning, the stuff that precedes action. It is less measureable, more dense, and when we learn to work with it: magic.”

This is the Ace of Wands.

The clarifier that appears with this ace is the 5 of Inspiration, better known as the 5 of Wands. If you know the meanings of the cards in tarot, you’ll know that this card represents people at cross-purposes, a competitive sense that the enviroment lacks a coordinated effort (and fighting for fighting’s sake is just exhausting). But when this card appears as advice, it’s message is very clear.

Stop trying to pick sides and aim, instead, to see from multiple perspectives. When we get above working with an either/or (or, us and them) framework, we begin to see new ways to respond. What would happen if you approach this week’s hassles in a way that doesn’t require that you choose one thing and discard the other?

We must evolve our methods.

Because the Emperor/Death combo signals that an old system of thinking is dead as a doornail now—so you’re gonna have to.

Further Advice

The astrologers always make a big deal of an eclipse.

I know nothing about astrology, but I did notice that next week's solar eclipse on Saturday, March 29th has shown up on The Emperor card, which is just so cool.

I’d guess that around that time there will be a shift (spiritual big jobs) in the news and in our individual spheres. It’s a guess, but it’s probably what the astrologers would tell you as well.

But note that the oracle cards begin with the sentiment ‘All That Glitters.’ Something that seems too good to be true is likely too good to be true.

This card also means that how you’ll reap your rewards in the next while won’t look the way you think it should. So look out for quiet, unexpected miracles in your life instead.

The ‘Blessed’ card is probably the best card in this deck—so, although the good stuff may not come in the form you’re hoping for, it’s coming nevertheless.

The last two cards—both wolves—reinforce that the week(s) ahead should be … interesting. I rarely pull the same animal from different decks in the same reading. Well, maybe never :)

And these wolves are doubly coincidental because I mention ‘lambs screaming’ —and we all know what wolves do to lambs—in the bit about the Death card. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re dealing with some intense sh**.

AI universally steamrolling over imagination and intellect—whether we want it to or not. The U.S. administration ignoring the orders of judges and the rule of law. Apparently, the state of Texas has been utterly bought by two oil and gas tycoons. And, for some reason, Poilievre can’t read the room and thinks that what Canada wants is a leader who tears other people down. The Liberals and Conservatives are not on opposite sides anymore.

This last week I’ve been hanging on to a speech by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (incidentally also a billionaire, but a nicer one) where he concludes that the kindest person in the room is probably the smartest. According to his theory, there is an evolution in thinking that must happen in order to consistently act with empathy—and this makes me truly love this guy.

Our world, as we know it, is not going back to the way it was. The Emperor is not coming to save us. We have to do that on our own.

And wolves represent community and protection, and turning knowledge into wisdom through activism and mentorship. They uphold the well being and longevity of the pack. Wolves (vicious as they can be) lead us toward new and helpful secrets, so stay curious.

Every small, curious step in this new land might help.

Resources

Baron-Reid, Colette. The Spirit Animal Pocket Oracle. Penguin Random House, Canada, 2023.

Baron-Reid, Colette. Wisdom of the Oracle. Penguin Random House, Canada, 2015.

Chris-Anne. The Muse Tarot. Hay House, 2020.

Dore, Jessica. Tarot For Change. Penguin Random House, Canada, 2021.

Krans, Kim. The Wild Unknown Pocket Animal Spirit. HarperCollins Canada, 2022.

Krans, Kim. The Wild Unknown Tarot. HarperCollins, Canada, 2016.

Pritzker, J.B. Graduation Speech, Northwestern University, 2023.