YouandTheTarot

  This year the oldest of the boomers, including myself, are turning 80 years old. Is this the new 80?  Sure, there are new aspects. For example, given our family histories, many of us wouldn't have anticipated still being alive at 80. More of us are working for income. Some of us are expert at technologies such as AI. But, overall, for the human species, 80 is still 80. Most often an aging professional will come for a tarot reading to sort out the disappointment that they can no longer approach work like they used to. For example, they can't put in the long hours. If an early riser, by 3 PM they're exhausted. In addition, they wonder, since crises in work raise their blood pressure, if they will have to hang it up. One did hang it up because of challenges managing diabetes. For the generation whose members changed the rules in Americana these realities are a shocker. And for those realities - that's where what's known as "radical acceptance" kicks in. De...

  Globally, the players at the top of heap are dropping like flies. That is, a result of the Epstein files. There have even been two arrests in the UK. Might there be a suicide as there had been in the 1960s John Profumo sex/national security scandal? But, the focus is on which Friends of Jeffrey will be forgiven. That is, enough to open the possibility of a comeback. That return to grace could range from regaining some kind of title to full reputational restoration. The latter was accomplished by Wall Street tycoon Michael Milkin. His misconduct was so bad that not even the elite lawyers at Paul, Weiss couldn't prevent his serving a prison term. Right now, given Bill Gates' town hall mea culpa about two outside-his-marriage affairs with Russian women and traveling places with Friend Jeffrey (but he never stayed overnight), the spotlight is on him. The comments following The Wall Street Journal coverage are primarily negative about this guy. Most rejoice at the hits he's t...

The first card in the mystical tarot is the one for risk. And the buzzy  Substack post by Citrini Research  positions and packages AI as a big risk to the stock market, employment throughout the US and the role of humans in sectors like real estate which historically demanded that kind of go-between. Also at risk is the age-old value put on high intelligence.  By 2028, no employer might care about your IQ. So, stop guiding your children to study hard and get top grades. Instead, maybe tell them to get good with their hands or prepare their heart to work in personal services. Here's a snippet from Citrini: "It should have been clear all along that a single GPU cluster in North Dakota generating the output previously attributed to 10,000 white-collar workers in midtown Manhattan is more economic pandemic than economic panacea. The velocity of money flatlined. The human-centric consumer economy, 70% of GDP at the time, withered. We probably could have figured this out sooner...

  The need for a human being to confide can be intense. Even if it's to an AI chat bot. But that can get you in all sorts of trouble, including being brought to the attention of the law. The Wall Street Journal discloses how automated reviewers at OpenAI monitor the content of ChatGPT accounts: "While using ChatGPT last June, [Jesse] Van Rootselaar described scenarios involving gun violence over the course of several days, according to people familiar with the matter ... Her posts ... alarmed employees at OpenAI. Internally, about a dozen staffers debated whether to take action ... Specifically that would be to refer the matter to law enforcement. Instead, OpenAI simply suspended the account. Would lives in Canada have been saved had law enforcement been brought into the loop? We'll never know. But now chat bot users know this: Their communications on those platforms are not entirely private. There can be legal consequences. The same applies to sharing at a meeting of 12-s...

  Whether the system is simply rigid - like the British monarchy - or toxic - like too many families - what's created are "spare parts." That is, those human beings not critical to the stability, functioning,  revenues or the branding. Very early those spare parts get the message that they aren't needed. Don't quite belong.  So it was predictable that spare Andrew would walk on the wild side, Harry would bolt to another culture and Margaret would embrace the global cool of the jet set. Maybe compassion is due, along with accountability in the system which allowed this to be standard. Anne was among the few who found a way around that fate. Such a state of being lost with no one seeming to look to find you is depicted in the tarot by the Nine of Wands. Recently I attended a lecture by an entrepreneur. Back when they were an addict. They ascribed that descent into compulsive whatevers to not being a real presence in a family of three children. Along with their young...

Bentley is 10 years old, has only 3 legs and, unlike the other canines in the shelter, wasn't doing anything to sell himself.  After 20 years away from animal rescue, I knew I had to spring into action. Bentley probably sensed the importance of the meet-and-greet and made the smart pawing/licking moves. Off he was to the sofa in his forever home on December 4, 2025. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush of getting sprung from the shelter. Whatever. He had no initial trouble with the 7 steps from my apartment to the outside. Then he did.  It was obvious that I would have to relocate to true ground floor housing. But there were 2 things. 1) I was not ready to pull up these just-planted rootlings and 2) I would have to pony up 2 months rent to exit the lease prematurely. That would be on the top of the purchase of a car, pricey dental work and just last week paying back the IRS for the $1,400 + interest that was sent to me in 2025 in error.  I did tarot card spreads on this keep-...