Arthur and I had a blast on Saturday (into the wee hours of Sunday) at Jeff Mach’s Totally Normal Event. The vendors room had art, musical instruments, jewelry, furry/erotic costumes, books, video games, and some of the most amazing, er, “toys” I’ve seen in a long time. I did a number of tarot readings with the erotic Nybor Deck and the brand-new Pirate Tarot (which Arthur had given me for Fathers Day), both of which worked very well.
By a bizarre series of “coincidences,” the other people that were supposed to appear on the Magic for World Domination panel never showed up, so I was “forced” to reveal the secrets of the Illuminati all by myself. Later that evening, I moderated a panel on Magical Mavericks with Deborah Friedman, a gender-bending Wiccan priest/ess and heretical Hebrew Kabbalist on my right, and Arthur Moyer, inventor of Omnimancy, a completely intellectual system of magic in which deities and other spiritual entities are unimportant, on my left. Deborah was horrified to find herself the magical conservative on the panel, but we had a lot of fun arguing.
My son Arthur didn’t make it back to our room till 6:00 am or so, but he had a smile on his face, so I didn’t ask any questions that a parent wouldn’t want to hear the answers to.
On Sunday morning, I was videotaped by a team from Vidgle.com called Con Goer doing a tarot reading for their interviewer. This should be up on their site by July 3rd or so (I’ll post a direct link when it is).
If you’re looking for subculturally friendly fun in New Jersey, stay in touch with Jeff Mach’s posse.
What ever happened to the Illuminated Tarot you were preparing for publication? I remember you writing about it in the ’80s.
I was never able to get a contract for it, so I never could afford the time to do all the final artwork. It’s just another project floating in mid-air due to lack of investment capital.