How do I shuffle a new deck correctly?

This is translation of article: https://ugolokvedmy.blogspot.com/2024/01/blog-post.html

This question always arises when you buy a new deck of cards. It doesn't matter what kind of cards they are — Tarot, Oracle cards or ordinary playing cards (for poker and other games). The manufacturers stack the cards in package in order, and if you mix the cards incorrectly before using them for the first time, then we will get too many cards in a row that are close in the suit. This is not good, especially when using mantical practices. Of course, most tarologists use the random card selection method, and in this case it may not seem important whether the cards are shuffled or not. But it is still better to use mixed decks, especially since the process of shuffling the deck has not only practical, but also magical meaning (it is important not only to shuffle the cards, but also to remove excess energy from them, and shuffling helps to do this very well).

So, you bought a new deck of cards, and you need to prepare it for work. Most deck preparation practices describe how to prepare a deck energetically. But few people write, how exactly to shuffle it. I have developed a fairly effective way of shuffling a new deck, which immediately allows you to get a tool ready for immediate work. This practice does not imply the use of additional magical practices, but only because everyone has their own method of magical activation of the deck. And in this case you can decide for yourself how you activate the energy of the deck: before shuffling or after, it is at your discretion. Here we consider only the technical aspect.

Well. We bought a deck, took off its packaging, got acquainted with the cards or even worked on it (it all depends on what kind of deck it is, in a familiar system or not, but this is also not the subject of this note). Here we answer the question, how do I shuffle the deck?

1. Take the deck in your hands and shuffle, as playing cards are usually shuffled.

At this stage, primary mixing is taking place, but it is still very insufficient. This is only an auxiliary stage, which allows us to increase the randomness of the sample in the next stage.

2. From the resulting shuffled deck, we randomly start choosing one card at a time in any order: one from the bottom, one from the middle, the next one closer to the top, and so on. At the same time, you need to remember that the first and last cards may be next to each other, so it's better to pull out more cards from somewhere in the middle.

3. We put each card face up in front of us (you need to see the image of each card). This allows you to control the process, and you will see that in this case the cards really get in any order.

4. Periodically, the cards can be shuffled again. That is, you take out 10-15-20 cards, then shuffled, take out another 10-15-20 cards, shuffler again, and so on.

5. This method is suitable for shuffling cards with only straight significations, as well as with reversed ones. In order for the deck to contain reversed cards, you need to put one card straight, turn the second card reversed, and do this in turn, alternating "straight, reversed, straight, reversed..." and so on alternating to the end. In this case, the cards should also be placed face up in order to better control the mixing process of straight and reversed cards.

6. When all the cards are placed face up in front of you in a new deck, you need to take it and shuffle it again. At the same time, if the deck has reversed cards, there will be exactly half of the reversed ones. That's all, the deck is ready for practical use.

Regardless of whether there are reversed cards in the deck or not, they will be very well mixed.

It is always better to take cards out of the deck randomly, and such decks do not require careful shuffling, because there are no repetitions, so, if you pull out cards randomly, there will be an absolute random (guided solely by Providence and your inner voice).

For decks with reversed cards, this method is suitable in the sense that if you turn over only part of the deck, then straight and reversed will still be about 50/50 (even if some card turns over after assembly the wrong way — here the Will of Chance plays, but this is not a disadvantage).

This method is applicable to absolutely any deck. Random sampling allows you to get to know the deck better at the same time. And pay attention to the last card — this is the deck's answer to your readiness to work. These are always very interesting cards for me. And the decks themselves perceive this method of shuffling very favorably.

Basic energies of Men and Women

This is translation of article:
https://ugolokvedmy.blogspot.com/2023/06/blog-post_3.html

Some people believe that our world is dual, and this is not in doubt. Yin and Yang, Day and Night, Moon and Sun and... a Man and a Woman. But in this article I want to get away from the concepts of duality, and just tell you why I consider that Women exist in the energies of the Moon, and Men — in the energies of the Sun.

And these are not opposites. These are just two types of completely different energies, especially since there are much more of them.

Many people have already discoursed about the nature of men and women before me, what is the fundamental difference between these two types of biological creatures. Of course, now, in the contemporary world, there are some completely incomprehensible for me non-binary personalities and other undecided people, but in this case these are all psychological conventions, because, in the biological sense, there are males and females. Including among people. But a human is more than just an animal (even if it can't decide on its gender). It's all about the contents of the skull. That is why it is necessary to make a note that in this blog we are not talking about ordinary human males and females, of which there are a lot on planet Earth and whose existence is not far removed from the existence of ordinary animals. I want to talk about Human nature, among which there are such wonderful creatures as Men and Women (that's why — with a capital letter).

What is the fundamental difference between a Man and a Woman?

In my opinion, a Man exists in the energies of the Sun, and a Woman — in the energies of the Moon.

If we consider archetypal correspondences, the Sun is always something bright, noticeable, simple, understandable (and therefore warm, joy, cheerful — but this is in the minds of ordinary people). The Sun is a seething energy, it is strength, growth, power. The Sun requires straightforwardness and clarity. The Sun highlights everything, puts everything in plain sight. There is no hiding from the bright light. The Sun has either "yes" or "no". The Sun cannot say "well, not everything is so unambiguous". The Sun always has everything unambiguous. The logic of the Sun is either forward or backward, either we do or we don't. The logic of the Sun fits the idea that dinosaurs either exist or do not exist. Everything is very clear and understandable.

The Moon is different. The Moon — this is shadows and Shadows (according to Jung), it's imagination, it's illusions, it's even delirium and nightmares. The Moon can frighten and can be frightened. The Moon shines with the reflected light of the Sun, and that is why it is often considered a secondary being, and this is true, but from the point of view of astronomy, the Moon is secondary to the Earth, and not to the Sun. That is why I do not consider the Moon as an alternative to the Sun. But it is still the opposite of the Sun, it's true. But everything that is not a source of its own light is opposite to the Sun. In this sense, no other object in the Solar System is a source of its own light, so, there is no difference between the Moon, Earth, Mars and Saturn (although the difference in albedo here may confuse someone), because they are not all a source of their own light. Yes, you can shine a flashlight somewhere and light a fire, but... if we still return to the logic of the reasoning of archetypes, then the Moon is a fantasy. This is creativity. It is the ability to create something that did not exist before.

In his reflections about women, Osho said that the main creativity of a Woman is the birth of children. And Men are engaged in creativity in the field of art (and science, and other things) because of their inability to create a new life, i.e. this is the compensation for their inability to create in the biological sense. Here, of course, you can get carried away thinking that the birth of a child is, although complex, but still an extremely understandable biological process, where two homozygotes combine to form a single-celled formation with a full set of chromosomes, but again: in ordinary men and women, the nature of reproduction is not much different from other biological ones systems with a less developed cerebral cortex, this is all understandable.

But actually, the birth of a new Person is a really fascinating, creative, entertaining process. 

In first, the appearance of the desired child is always preceded by Love. First between the parents of the child, then it's love for the child. Now I don't want to go into the details of ordinary chthonic beings, who exist in accordance with social programs from the outside (and, frankly, I don't want to write constant disclaimers), who give birth to children accidentally due to excessive alcohol consumption or because parents insist on grandchildren, or for some reason else (there are thousands of different reasons). It is very important to understand here that Men and Women, in my concepts, are always conscious creatures who always understand what they are doing and why. These are individuals who do not act on the principle of "being determines consciousness". For Men and Women, about whom I will write on this blog, consciousness determines being, and there can be no other way. If someone exists differently, sorry, then this is not about you. Therefore, Love in the birth of a child is an important and integral factor. Moreover, this love is sincere, does not require sacrifices, it is a natural dictate of the soul, truly altruistic. Love doesn't ask questions. And this is definitely not egoism, which, according to Camus, is covered by altruism. Yes, there is really a lot of selfishness in the birth of children among ordinary people, and for many ordinary people it is the birth of children that allows them to justify all the problems of their earthly existence. Nevertheless, the real creativity in creating a new life will appear precisely from the desire to create a new beautiful being who will create, breathe Life, enjoy Life and that is why multiply the Beautiful and Wonderful. A child born in Love will never become a source of Evil. In fact, the creative approach in creating new People is the multiplication of Light (in an esoteric sense, especially since this blog is planned as absolutely esoteric).

I think I will write a separate article about what Light and Darkness are, because for me these are not dual concepts for a long time either. And I talk about the nature of Light and Darkness as about Ether and Chthony. Both of these concepts do not have the coloring "good and/or bad". Therefore, there will definitely be an explanation. Now it is important to understand something else: the energies of the Moon suggest working in the field of the incomprehensible, sometimes inconscient or unconscious.

That is why it would be appropriate here to recall the archetypes laid down in the Senior Arcana of the Tarot, where there are several dual pairs in which the concept presented in this note is perfectly described:
- this is the Magician and the High Priestess
- this is the Emperor and the Empress
- this is the Sun and the Moon

All three pairs perfectly describe what I want to say, but since this concept will be obvious only to tarot readers, I will still describe in detail what I mean. 

As for the Moon-Sun pair, I have already written above. The sun — this is all that is obvious. The Moon — this is all that is not obvious. You can see everything in the sunshine. If the Moon shows something, then, as a rule, it is not clear what it shows. A rare full moon can please us with sufficient illumination, and even then here we come to the concept of Shadows again — there is easy to make a mistake.

In the Magician-Priestess pair, the Magician is responsible for male energies, and it is always about manifestations, fulfillment, willpower, active actions. This is a powerful archetype of straightforward possibilities. The most important thing is that this archetype assumes the maximum use of its capabilities with their demonstration. The Priestess, always showing the female aspect, is always something under the veil of secrecy. This is knowledge that is not shared with the public. This archetype assumes that he speaks only to the chosen ones, only in the right ears, because the Priestess always knows who can hear her and who can't. Not to mention that this is the "earthly" level of the Senior Arcana (although I don't want to delve into this topic now, I'll tell more about the Tarot Arcana in a separate project someday). The Priestess is a female aspect in a harsh patriarchal world, where men need women just to fill in their missing functions (it is also childbearing). There are many nuances here, the main thing for us now is to indicate that the Priestess is the female lunar aspect. On Tarot cards, there will always be an image of the Moon next to the Priestess. Although there may not be an image of the Sun on the Magician's card. Nevertheless, no one doubts that the Priestess is the first hint of the lunar energies that guide Women.

Next comes the very obvious Empress-Emperor pair. The Moon is always present in the images of the Empress, this is actually a statement that a Woman is the Moon. And the Emperor's cards often depict the Sun, and this is also a statement that a Man is the Sun. The archetypes of Tarot depicted this correspondence very well in these arcanas, bringing to the fore the question that I had been doubting in a long time: can a woman be a mentor?

The archetypes of the Tarot give an unequivocally positive answer to this, assuming that the Empress is not only a mother, a parent and a nurse, she is also an educator in terms of a mentor. The Emperor is a man who dictates his terms. And if the Archetype of the Mother is laid in the Empress, then the Emperor is the Archetype of the Father.

And the child is the result of the creative activity of the Mother, which is already being honed by the straightforwardness of the Father.

But who really brings up a child?

And what is parenting? Isn't this a creative process? A child is an amorphous consciousness that has two key properties: on the one hand, the nature of the brain, although the brain of children is very elastic, it can (and should be) developed; on the other hand, unlimited possibilities of the external environment (not limited, because a child can be taught anything; there are no such things in our a world that could not be taught in principle). The task of educators (which parents should be first) is, on the one hand, to understand the physiological capabilities of their child and, on the other hand, not to limit his development, to give him the maximum possible range of available knowledge.

In this sense, the Mother (Woman) gives the child freedom with her Love. As a creative being, a Woman must do everything to transform an amorphous consciousness into a Personality. A Person can be either a Man or a Woman. At the same time, it should be understood that there are men in whom lunar energy is strong, and there are women in whom solar energy is strong, and then a certain distortion begins, which can lead a person away from the state of a Human-Person. But we will not consider these aspects now, since they do not play a role in this article. It is important to understand that raising a child is always a creative process. And with creativity, it is better for Personalities existing in the lunar energies. And in this sense, for me, as for a person who is primarily concerned with the contents of the skull, it is not so important to be a Man or a Woman, as it is important to be a Person dash Personality. It is the Personality that must be brought up in each individual. It is the Personalities that should appear as a result of the union of a Man and a Woman. But these are quite rare events, and Personality, as a rule, appears in a person not because of, but in spite of, sometimes it is just a manifestation of the law of Karma.

And here I have a disappointing conclusion: Women can develop children, unlike Men, because education is not the dictate of someone else's will. The father educates by dictating his will to the child. And common fathers, as a rule, have children so that to whom it was possible to transfer "everything acquired by backbreaking work", because "why have I been so hard at this job?". In the common world, everything is always extremely simple, although both men and women exist at this level in the energies of the Earth — that is, according to the principle "what you sow, you reap." The common (Philistine) level of existence is simple, and therefore the energy of the Sun is closer to it. Because the Sun warms the Earth. But the sun just shines on the moon, and that makes it neither hot nor cold.

But in any case, without going into unnecessary details, here we should to understand that creativity in all its manifestations — from art to science — this is the ability to work with everything incomprehensible, unknown and even sometimes unknowable. Ordinary people are always afraid of those (at least, they are wary) who easily navigate shadows, fantasies, and sometimes even outright nonsense. In this sense, any scientist will also always exist in the lunar energies. For it is for the layman "the night is dark and full of horror". For Women, night is a time of creativity. Including in the field of childbearing (of course).

Therefore, there is such an archetype in the Tarot as the Hermit, who in different decks can be depicted as both a man and a woman, because gender does not play any role in this archetype. However, night is also often depicted on this card, sometimes even without the moon. Cognition is always a journey into the unknown. In this sense, the learning process itself is the transfer of information for a Person from the unknown to the clear, it is the disclosure of information, its transfer from shadow to light, from the Moon to the Sun. But the lunar energies are primary here. Only those who are not afraid of darkness in all its senses are able to plunge into information deeps for the purpose of research, which often also multiply knowledge. In some sense, scientists do not bring information to light, they multiply the area of the unknown for ordinary people. Here Socrates' "I know how much I don't know" shows that the ocean of knowledge is really limitless, and you need to have enough courage to dive into this ocean (especially knowing that some do not come out of there, considering how many scientists have ended their lives with severe psychiatry). But it's not about the Hermit. It's about the ability to work with the incomprehensible.

Women are able and even like to work with the incomprehensible, it is easier for them to navigate beyond logic, relying on intuition. Men prefer to deal with a clear and logic.

And here we should to understand, what is primary and what is secondary? With all due respect to Men, history shows that this world is developed by people who exist in lunar energies. The feminine aspect of any personality implies creativity. When as a male aspect requires clarity, and sometimes it is a rejection of everything incomprehensible.

In a good way, pure Men and Women are a statistical rarity, although such people are found among us. Of course, there can be no question that some man is a real Woman, and some woman is a real Man, because it is impossible to alter the nature of things. I don't care if someone agrees with me or not, I proceed from the fact that any person is a combination of biological, physiological, mental and energy-informational factors. Only a biological human female can become a true Woman, just as only a biological human male can become a true Man. There are, of course, also genetic abnormalities, but these are all natural anomalies that are not a statistical norm, so, these exceptions can be discarded as confirming the rule. Although I personally don't care about true Women and true Men. I don't really care who lives how. I am talking here only about the energies of one or another representative of Humanity.

If a man exists in the lunar energies, he will be very creative, he will very much want to learn the unknown. Such a man, as a rule, will become a scientist. It is important to understand that when I talk about the energies in which some person exists, I am not saying whether it is good or bad. Each Personality is beautiful in its own way. There are no people in whom there is not something good or something bad. All of us (each on our own, even the chthonic people) are a unique set of psychological, physiological and mental properties. On planet Earth — it is important to understand — no two people are the same, even identical twins will be different if they are given freedom of choice from the very beginning and not forced to dress the same.

And that is why it is important to understand that some people live in the prevailing lunar energies, and some in the solar ones. Lunar energies are important because they are creative energies. And solar is passive energy from the point of view of creation, they work only with what is. If a person has no desire to deal with something that is not clear, then you will never force him to deal with it. However, this does not mean that Humanity does not need solar people. That is why here I am already moving away from the concepts of Man, Woman. The concept of Person as such is more important here, in which there will always be a combination of both energies. Actually, there are a lot more of energies, but now the main thing is to understand that there is a fundamental starting condition: is a person ready to deal with the unknown or not. This is the basic setup on which everything else is built. Misunderstanding of the essence of this issue leads to negative (sometimes even tragic) consequences of education, which in itself is an absolutely creative process. It is impossible to engage in education in solar energies. This will not be education, but formation (that is, the formation of a personality according to predetermined patterns, which in general is violence against a Person and is absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of Creativity).

Therefore, it is impossible to try to achieve unambiguity in the question, can women develop children as Personalities or not? Or should this be done only by men, as carriers of ideology? (there is such a thought I've been holding on to for a long time in past). Practice shows that loving parents in any case will bring up a Person whose gender will definitely not be in the first place, but the desire to develop will be. At the same time, it should be understood that there are a huge number of Women with great willpower, and there are a huge number of Men with a huge craving for the unknown. In general, I really hate the desire to label and simplify society, dividing it into some subspecies. Even the archetypes themselves are a very conditional convention that really makes it easy to work with people existing in the energies of the Earth.

The Earth is an extremely simple level of existence, it is pure Biology and the primacy of the laws of Nature, and it is a complete denial of the right to the dominance of Intelligence in human life. At the same time, I ask you to understand me correctly: this level of existence can also be extremely reasonable and rational. This is the level of triumph of instincts, this is the joy of simple existence, where the main thing is to eat delicious food, sleep sweetly, have fun and so on. This existence is like a Big Child. It is a prepersonal level, where the external environment plays a dominant role in the development of a person as such. Whether someone likes it or not, but this is the main part of the population of our planet. This is neither good nor bad, it is something that each of us constantly deals with, every day, without exception.

The child still has his whole life ahead of him. At the same time, the child is faced with a choice (karmic): to develop or exist, as it will turn out (or as it turns out).

If we want to understand how all three types of these energies work, consider the example of an unfavorable external environment. People existing in solar and/or lunar (yes, a combination is possible) energies will try to do something with this environment. Lunar people will apply a creative approach, make beautiful repairs with their own hands for two hundred dollars, look for beautiful blouses in second-hand shops and paint the concrete walls of their huts with beautiful mandalas bought in a nearby newsstand with felt-tip pens. Solar people will try to correct the unfavorable environment, they will defend themselves, they will fight, they will dictate their will, they will strive to make the environment favorable. That is, lunar people will transform the environment, and solar people will generally remake it. The earthly energies of a person will make him spin like a squirrel in a wheel, accepting unfavorable conditions as they are, without even trying to do something with the environment. The phrase "nothing depends on us" sounds only in the mouths of people who exist mainly in earthly energies.

And then the question arises: what should parents do so that their child does not grow up in earthly energies?

In fact, the answer is already given above. First, it is necessary to understand the physiological limitations of the child's brain: what he can and cannot do.

And secondly, not to limit his creativity, intervening only in cases where it is necessary within the framework of safety. Moreover, using an exceptionally reasonable approach. Along the way, explaining to the child the reasons for his concern (like, don't put the plug in the socket, we don't want to do repairs after the funeral).

Interestingly, Common Sense can (and does) exist for people of all three types of energies. And even more, as soon as common sense begins to prevail in this or that person, as from the level of earthly energy, he somehow rises to the level of solar or lunar. Then the peculiarities of personal development begin, formed primarily in the process of ontogenesis. There are, of course, correlations between subspecies within specific archetypes (for example, the archetype of a Woman can be divided into gestagen women a la Carmen and estrogenic women a la Ophelia), but these are details that do not play a role in this article.

If we look at the practice, we see that women in this world are really much more likely to deal with the unknown than men. For men, everything is simple. "An order has been given to them to the West" (conditionally), and they will go, not realizing that there may be pitfalls in the order. And women are more often interested in any incomprehensible like esotericism (for example, there are much more female tarologists than male tarologists). By the way, in the past there were more witches than witchers, although, it is impossible to say who was stronger and better in terms of intellectual abilities. Statistics are a thankless thing, because most often we are dealing with an unreliable sample. You can only work with obvious factors. And it is obvious that men are more likely to act straightforwardly than women. The history of Humankind itself has put all the dots over the "i" in this matter. Another thing is that there are much more people existing in the energies of the Earth, and that is why they feel like a force against those who exist in the energies of the Moon and the Sun that are completely incomprehensible to them. At the same time, earthly people quite easily obey people who exist in solar energies (all rulers, all major heads and real leaders always exist, and have existed, and will exist in solar energies). And Earth people will never obey or even try to understand the people who exist in the lunar energies.

To put it simply, people of earthly energies are afraid of both. But if at least something is clear to them with solar people, then nothing is clear at all with lunar people. Since solar people have obvious energy that they can easily direct to their defense, lunar people sometimes look quite defenseless in the eyes of the layman (even when this is absolutely not the case). Therefore, it is easier for earthly energies to resist the Moon than the Sun, although, a more serious answer may be just from the lunar people, not the solar ones. But these are details.

Actually, I wanted to talk about the nature of mentoring. But it is impossible to talk about this issue without understanding the basic principles of personality psychology from an esoteric point of view.

In fact, it does not matter in which energies the Personality will develop. The Personality will eventually shape itself as it sees fit. And he/she will develop, gradually learning to combine any types of energies that he/she will need for further development. A Person in the process of personality formation must realize what he/she really wants to do in this life. Parents' ideas "about a better future" will rather interfere here, because true love is the provision of opportunities, not protection from dangers. Parental control is good as long as the child himself does not realize the fragility of his physical body. Then the struggle of common sense and curiosity begins. And curiosity is the absolute zone of the Moon, although it may seem to someone that it is not, curiosity is the Sun shining everything out. The fact is that the lunar energies force a person to explore the Darkness from the inside. There is more courage in the lunar energies than it seems. That is why people exploring the unknown are the bravest creatures on our planet, because they are not afraid to explore how deep the Rabbit Hole is.

Thus, summing up the above: you always need to be aware of the energies in which you exist. Interestingly, this is more obvious to people who exist just in the lunar energies. The Sun often blinds, hiding the true nature of things. When the shell is too visible, it is difficult to see what is inside. Of course, all scientists and esotericists are beings of lunar nature. All good politicians or military men are creatures of the solar nature (although there are almost no good politicians and good military men left in our world). And the main mass of the earth's population exists in absolutely logical for them terrestrial energies, being a substrate for the appearance of solar or lunar people.

Is it possible to change the paradigm of your existence? Sure, of course. It's always possible. For the most important thing that any person has is free will. Absolutely everyone has it. Even those who refuse to use it, because the refusal to use free will is also a free choice.

There all sorts of bad stories about violence against a Person come to mind here. But I don't want to speculate on this topic, because all these problems are perfectly described in Gianni Rodari's children's book "The Adventures of Chippolino", written by him already in 1951.

I do not deny that we live in an imperfect world. However, we have a choice: to live in this world consciously or not. I prefer the first option.