Professional Tarot Readings by Feresight
The road is never closed. Tarot can help you find your way through the confusion!
Real-life reader, real-life cards.
Direction, focus, decision.
Professional results at a fraction of the RL cost!
500L or your goodwill payment. If not satisfied, do not pay.
IM Feretian String inworld
Professional Tarot Readings by Feresight
The road is never closed. Tarot can help you find your way through the confusion!
Real-life reader, real-life cards.
Direction, focus, decision.
Professional results at a fraction of the RL cost!
500L or your goodwill payment. If not satisfied, do not pay.
IM Feretian String inworld
Professional Tarot Readings by Feresight
The road is never closed. Tarot can help you find your way through the confusion!
Real-life reader, real-life cards.
Direction, focus, decision.
Professional results at a fraction of the RL cost!
500L or your goodwill payment. If not satisfied, do not pay.
IM Feretian String inworld
Professional Tarot Readings by Feresight
The road is never closed. Tarot can help you find your way through the confusion!
Real-life reader, real-life cards.
Direction, focus, decision.
Professional results at a fraction of the RL cost!
500L or your goodwill payment. If not satisfied, do not pay.
IM Feretian String inworld
might hold up to thirty images on one piece of wood. The "pips" or numbered cards were the forerunners of our modern playing cards. The trumps are thought to have represented archetypical characters that appeared in frequent Italian parades of the time. At some unknown point in time, someone began to use the cards for divination. 
The Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) Tarot is arguably the most important influence on the reemergence of card divination. Conceived by Arthur Edward Waite, the paintings were a commission to illustrator Pamela Coleman Smith, who received a pittance for the work. Waite supplied the meanings and symbols for each card, but Smith also researched and developed visual interpretations of her own. The resulting Tarot was published in 1909 to small acclaim, but its reissue in the seventies spawned a new generation of Tarot readers. Most modern readers learned the skill using a RWS, and many still favor it over the hundreds of beautiful decks created during the last few decades.
search turns up several established Tarot societies and forums. A search for Pamela Coleman Smith results in extensive scholarly attempts to recreate her life and works. Within the Tarot community, Smith has posthumously received the recognition and admiration she deserves. 
ey. A complete set of images from RWS radiated from the central dais. The Fool's traveling bag, a stick-and-kerchief affair containing elements of the Tarot suits, hung suspended in the center. A fox labeled "pet me for wisdom" yielded a notecard detailing the Fool in different aspects and interpretations, symbology, and further discussion of the Journey.
Card number one (the Fool is zero) is the Magician, wonderfully playful and rich in texture and layer. Directed to touch a podium for its magic, I found myself looking at myself in full Magician pose among the tools of his trade. Truly magic, and a huge boost to the ego.
"My work is usually semi-abstract. I remove all visual things that are not necessary for the message so there's no texture or scripts unless the shape can't deliver the content."
"I constructed an environment made of girders and gears, a factory of steel and steam; some broken parts showing vulnerability. The woman represents strength, resolve, beauty and fragilty. Strength can be gained and strength can be lost; under every strong person can be found a fragile, vulnerable person..."
In the 1920s, African Americans clung to Egypt as THE benchmark of African intellectual heritage, because they, like every other American, bought into public perceptions of the so-called “Dark Continent”—a place of savagery where people grunted like animals, hoping for a Tarzan to swing through and rescue them. Today people know more, but still fairly little. Teachers don’t know too much, so who can expect their students (who may become teachers themselves) will match that low bar? Of course, if you have African friends, take classes or read on your own, or have been lucky enough to travel, more information comes forth. Still, it seems as if the interested might like to have a little more info readily available, even right here in Second Life.
With that in mind, Saminaka built its library/bookstore. Slate, Scroll & Stick (a name that alludes to Muslim, Christian, and traditional modes of education) is now sitting pretty on the sim, and this Wednesday night will host an opening of a 
slideshow about Timbuktu while launching an in-world hippo book The African Intellectual Tradition, and a second little volume, Nigerian Authors.
Putting these things together, I decided to ask a few friends some questions—market research after the fact. The Timbuktu slideshow is all about ancient universities—but the mere mention of “Timbuktu” had some residents ask “Is it a real place?” It still has a back-of-beyond sound to it, and my guess is relatively few Saminaka visitors know that it’s in Mali, much less that it housed a university older than any in Europe except Bologna—though the universities in Morocco’s Fez and Egypt’s Cairo are older yet. In fact, as Oliha Yiwama underlined, the university was invented in Africa. (China has even older higher educational traditions, 
but they were organized in a different way, without degrees).
I asked BlackMink Toshi, owner of "Someplace Else," which includes a concert stage area and tropical lounge, as well as an African Village, open for group and personal use free of charge, what she knew about Timbuktu. “Only what I have read,” she said, betraying a skeptic’s (correct) view of scholarship. “And you know what? I did not like some things I have read, that may or may not be true. Seems to me that African people were engaged in some things that may have set the stage for being taken advantage of. Whenever you find a system of "royalty" you can bet that someone is being mistreated—everyone cannot be kings and queens, and I suspect that some persons were mistreated for the sake of this ‘royalty’ and/or ‘intellectual’ tradition. In any case, whatever they were doing ‘intellectually’ was not enough to prevent being mistreated on the basis of color or factors related to it. Bragging...and showboating gold to ‘visitors.’ and offering 
them gifts of ‘slaves’ may not have been in the best interest of the culture.”
This hardly seemed the time to wax enthusiastically about ancient manuscripts on optics and astrology, linguistics and history—for I could not deny that a manuscript considering slave-taking in Islamic jihads by no means condemned it. Indeed, BlackMink kept this from being an “Isn’t Africa great?” feature with her independent thoughts. “Great,” she said, ‘but guilty at times of ‘Inappropriate behavior.” It’s worth remembering; intellectuals everywhere have distorted findings and misdirected people, and some have become heads of state, enthusiastically misleading their followers.
I moved quickly to a new topic, familiarity with modern African universities. When I inquired how many there were, Feretian String hesitated and said, “I would guess...oh....10?
” She pointed out her education had been very Eurocentric, and that since becoming a Saminaka resident. she had “started reading the folktales and other bits from [the] library and the welcome area exhibits. And I'm fascinated by the photographs of Nigeria and the art! I am hooked.”
She wasn’t alone in her unfamiliarity, by any means. Several citizens hazarded the guess that there might be “one or two.” Linda Sautereau, a university professor by trade, knew differently. “Universities in Africa...lord...must be hundreds.” Likewise, Sentwali Gabilondo guessed 150, and PHaTTSaMM Fizz said, “I am sure hundreds...having visited Kenya and Zimbabwe. They are not strangers to higher education.” I don’t have the exact count myself—unwilling to wade through Wikipedia to get it—but it is indeed in the hundreds. Nigeria alone has scads of universities, polytechnics and other higher degree-granting institutions. And many African professors have landed teaching positions in American schools, lest anyone think their education is in any way behindhand.
African authors? Only a few had had a taste, which seems a pity—nothing can convey a real feel for a place and culture faster than a good novel. Sentwali named Wole Soyinka, Diop, Kagame, Mongo Bete. Chinua Achebe (who shares a birthday with this author) was the first name on his lips, and was also mentioned by two other readers, BlackMink Toshi and Linda Sautereau. Achebe, who authored (among many other books) the excellent Things Fall Apart (probably the most frequently assigned African novel in U.S. classrooms), is now 78 and teaching at New York’s Bard College. After a car accident in 1990
, he was confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down.
His vigorous prose uses traditional Igbo proverbs to explore the impact of Western culture on Igbo life. BlackMink commented, “He has pointed out the inability of some African cultures to recover from devastation to the point of being capable of preserving themselves thus are still ‘helpless,’ as things fall apart.” Linda heard Achebe speak at Princeton last year and counted herself lucky.
“I can say one thing,” she said. “His body may be ailing, but his mind is keen and he has the most wonderful view of life of life. He didn't see his life as extraordinary. He did what had to be done in the time he lived. It was inspiring to see someone who was so comfortable with himself, his life and the world, despite the hardships he had suffered. His spirit shown, through his voice and his demeanor. He didn't seem like a man who was ailing at all--still vibrant...involved...active...it was awesome! From my perspective, as a black woman ‘of a certain age,’ I felt like my best days are ahead of me.”
Asked about other great minds of Africa, PHaTTSaMM Fizz brought up Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Shaka Zulu, while Sentwali named Cheikh Anta Diop. The ever-provocative and always quotable BlackMink named Robert Mugabe. She expanded, “Robert Mugabe has visibly done more towards the effort of producing justice than any African leader. He has proven himself to be quite ‘smart.’ ‘Smart’ meaning the ability to get things done. He reminds me of the Jews in Israel, as he is taking the same direct action to reclaim the land of his ancestors, and I think he should receive the same support as Israel.”
Miles Barbasz, in SL a creative photographer (his interpretive self-portrait shown here) and also the developer of Nago Wes Estates, is an academic and an Africanist in RL. He admired a different set of Africans, quickly reeling off a list that included Okot p'Bitek, Kwame Gyekye, Wande Abimbola, V. Y. Mudimbe and Kofi Asare Opoku.
Unsurprised at a general unfamiliarity with African intellectual history, he commented. “One of the most prevalent misconceptions about precolonial African cultures is that they were lacking in intellectual sophistication or substance because their modes of knowing by and large were not encoded textually, as was and is the case in the West. However, such a notion is grossly misguided, because what the ancient African world teaches us is that intricate religio-intellectual traditions can be encoded and transmitted non-textually via proverbial knowledge and ritual practice, to name only a few methods. Moreover, indigenous Africa is also highly instructive in that it forces us to realize that intellectual activity is meaningful only to the extent that it can be effectively manifested in everyday life for the betterment of individuals and humankind.”
Indeed, the oral traditions of Africa passed along much knowledge over the centuries, both esoteric and practical. Bases other than the familiar base ten system were used to calculate currency in West Africa for centuries, and the Kuba culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo is said to have one of the hi
ghest proportions of geometric design combinations in the world—a mix of mathematics and art, as is polyrhythmic drumming. West Africa’s Fulani cattle herders knew cowpox rubbed in an incision would prevent smallpox long before Jenner made his “discovery” in England.
But knowledge did not remain only oral. Besides the early importation of Arabic literacy in parts of East and West Africa, and of European literacy of various stripes—not only in colonial times, for numerous royal children studied in Portugal in the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries—indigenous writing systems are also known. 
AbaBrukh Aabye’s early Eritrean/Ethiopian builds (see Saminaka Compass 6/28) includes an inscription that dates from the fifth century B.C.E. The region’s ancient Ge’ez script was employed in everything from stories of the Christian saints to histories to works of literature. Ge’ez and its descendent, Amharic, use only two African alphabets. Nubian, Bamum and Vai cultures created their own writing systems, and some other ethnic groups, like those of Nigeria’s Cross R
iver region, employed pictographs in communication.
PHaTTSaMM noted, “Africa is the 'cradle of civilization'--most of European descent have forgotten or are ignorant of that fact.” But they are not alone; many with that blood watered by the Senegal, the Niger, the mighty Congo and the Benue are equally unfamiliar with Africa’s great gifts. Take the opportunity to learn more on Saminaka, and join us for Wednesday’s opening (see Events, below) or at any convenient time.
Saminaka just can’t resist an opportunity to torture prims into an opportunity for exchange, encouragement, and expansion of minds. It was Oliha Yiwama’s idea, after he saw the now-defunct Free African Bookstore in Saminaka’s Nupekwo compound. “Build a library and bookstore,” he nudged. And Artaud Bohemian further nurtured this idea, pointing out that too few people knew about Africa’s rich intellectual traditions, about Sankore and the other universities that once made Mali’s Timbuktu a rich and celebrated center of learning. Feretian String had lots of good ideas and landmarks, and also contributed the library lions for the exterior. Other friends added advice and questions. Complete stranger and now frie
nd, consultant and publisher madddyyy Schnook lobbed some great building materials my way, when he saw me wondering dazed in a shop. The result? Wednesday will see the opening of the Slate, Scroll & Stick, Saminaka’s center for reading, writing, talks and discussions.
Why “Slate, Scroll & Stick”? The “Slate” comes from Koranic educational traditions, which predated colonial schools in many parts of the continent. Using water-based inks, students write their verses and created colorful non-representational illuminations on wooden slates, washing them off at the end of the day. The “Scroll” comes not only from ancient Egyptian practices, but from the ancient Sudan and Ethiopia, where writing traditions are millennia old as well. And the “Stick”? Even those parts of Africa that didn’t have an alphabet often used graphic symbols with
specific meanings. Some, like the Ibibio, Efik and Ejagham of Nigeria’s Cross River area, drew them with sticks in the earth as well, conveying messages that might indicate a meeting was scheduled or refer to some other event.
The building (still unfinished as of this writing) will combine a traditional Hausa exterior from Nigeria with wall paintings from Mauretania on the interior. Portraits of notable Nigerian writers and scholars will hang on the walls (with bios nearby in a library book), and a video corner with informative, entertaining videos about Nigeria provides multimedia information. The lecturn currently "speaks" a poem by the late Nigerian poet Christopher Okigbo, and will change regularly.
The Slate, Scroll & Stick has nooks for relaxing, books to read or sit on, and places to think and write. There are library books that contain links to out-of-print volumes (mostly on Nigerian history and culture—we ARE Virtual Nigeria) scanned and available on the Internet, and some non-African tomes (including those that deal with SL content creation) that can be read in-world. The booksh
op portion includes both notable Amazon links and inexpensive in-world volumes. Some are my slideshows in a takeaway package, but others will be the products of our new Egbe Akowe writing group.
We had our organizational meeting last week, full of fun and crackling with creativity. We are going to meet on Tuesday evenings at 6pm SLT in the SS&S. Our initial plan is to take turns originating a key word or phrase. Members will write a riff prompted by it during the week—whether poem, a bit of fiction (or hey, a whole novel!), non-fiction, etc.—and turn it in for distribution by the following Monday.
At the meeting, we do two thing
s—share our reactions to what’s been written, and participate in a group in-meeting writing exercise. This might be a round-robin storytelling rampage, a timed poem, or could move in any direction. We had a goodly number of interested parties, but you can still join us—hit the Subscriber at the Manatee Lookout Palm Wine Joint, or the one inside the SS&S itself. It’s a Subscribe-O-Matic, so you don’t have to worry about dropping one of your 25 groups.
Posts
All Comments
