Arcana by Clara Blackwood

Author reads from latest at Origo Friday at 5

Patrick Connors – Toronto:  Clara Blackwood lives and writes in Toronto.  Her first book of poetry, Subway Medusa, was published by Guernica Editions in 2007.  Her work has appeared in journals in Canada, the UK, and Israel.  Visit her blog at clarablackwood.wordpress.com.

“Clara’s Arcana is one of the most intense collections I’ve read in a while,” said Dane Swan, whom you might remember from the release of Beyond the Continuum: http://newz4u.net/archives/15694. “By offering the work in a chapbook before a full collection is available, Clara is preparing her readers for a powerful book in the (hopefully) near future. Hearing these poems is one experience, but reading them was almost spiritual. Just as the tarot cards represent various parts of the self, the poems in Arcana force us to question the reader’s many “sides.”"

Blackwood beckons us in her introduction:  “Welcome to the world of Arcana.  This world encompasses pagan and Judeo-Christian motifs, personal mythology and Jungian psychology.  In creating these poems based on the twenty-two Major Arcana in the Tarot, I am deeply indebted to the cards themselves.  The four decks which have special import for the poems are the Arto Tarot, Rider Waite Tarot, Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot, and Tarot de Marseilles.  I highly recommend these specific decks for their layered symbolism, aesthetic power, and also as companion pieces to Arcana (the added dimension of Ekphrasis,  if you will).  I wrote the first of these Arcana poems four years ago while working for a psychic hotline.  In the day and  often in the  evening, I would do tarot readings over the phone. During this time  the cards became such a presence in my life, it’s  hardly surprising  they found their way into my poetry.”

On Friday, October 28, from 5-7 PM, at the metaphysical bookstore Origo, in the St. Lawence Market area, Blackwood will be holding an event in support of Arcana.  Here’s the store website:  http://origobooks.com/

“This is a very special event for me.  For two hours I have to entertain!  I am giving a chat on Tarot, then I am doing a reading from Arcana as well as a book-signing. Then, I will do short Tarot readings for anyone who buys the book.

“The Tarot reading itself has a $20 value.  Origo has a lot of events there, one-night courses which are a real bargain for people.

“I’m a little nervous about this, but I’m up for the challenge.  It’s like I’m back in school doing a presentation.  There was a lot of effort in putting this together.  The two worlds of poetry and Tarot combine beautifully; with all their respective symbolism and metaphor, it is a natural fit!”

Diane Mascherin was involved in the design of the book.  “Diane and I just had a little bit of correspondence.  She exceeded my expectations, which is hard to do.  I’m very fussy about my aesthetic sense.  It can be a real source of anxiety for me.  She captured the feel of it.  These poems are very personal and important to me.

“I didn’t want a hokey, creepy, or new-age look to the book.”

“Designing the cover for Clara?s book was more like a shared creative   connectedness”, said Mascherin, also the facilitator for the Toronto Renaissance Conspiracy, “something we didn’t know existed between us – or maybe she did – until I sent my first version to her. Clara’s poems seem to have that same connectedness ? each one is like a painting that easily pulls you in.”

I asked Blackwood to tell me about Tarot. “The origins of Tarot are mysterious.  There are different theories.  Very old, perhaps Egyptian or Indian.  Then, different decks came about from European countries such as Italy, France, and Germany.  Certain decks have been banned.   Tarot transcends so many things.  Also, it’s the forerunner of our modern playing deck. Cups became Hearts, Swords became Spades, Pentacles became Diamonds, Rods (or Staffs) became Clubs.  Spades are the darker suit, and tend to deal with conflict. Cups refer to matters of the heart, Pentacles with money, and Rods with enterprise or creativity. Most people whom I have done readings for are concerned about love or money.

“Arcana is a series of Tarot.  For me, unifying themes are a big concern.  I wanted everything to come together here.  There are parallels in Christianity and Paganism, for example.  It fits together very well for me.  I’m interested in mythology, mysticism, but I also celebrate Christmas.  I wasn’t calculating about it.  The work had a mind of its own.

“I found that Tarot is loaded with symbols from multiple sources.  Norse mythology and other pre-Christian Pagan as well as neo-Pagan, for example.  Even components of Islam are in Tarot.

“I am going into a lot of abstract, primordial symbolism here.  Tarot deals with archetypes of cultural consciousness, with access to the subconscious.  It’s very powerful in that way.

“The poems in this book are very concentrated.  Most of them are pretty serious, although there are elements of humour in them.

“I am getting a real response from a variety of people.  People who read Tarot like it and appreciate it on a different level than most readers.  Other poets are also telling me how much they like it.  This really allowed me to feel really free with the strong mystical foundation and explore, to go where I wanted with it.”

I asked her if she identifies with the figure in the poem, “The High   Priestess.”  “A lot of women like The High Priestess card.  It is tied to secrecy, the mysteries. Knowledge is power.  She is a guardian because she makes the decision of what and how much she reveals.  Her power is a lot more subtle; tied into the idea of feminine power.  What she allows people to know, and how worthy they are.  Sometimes certain cards come up a lot.  It’s about our own personal quest, and understanding ourselves better.  I am comfortable in that solitude which is necessary for writing.  The High Priestess is comfortable with silence.”

There is a great deal of flow in Arcana, as many poems continue the thought and spirit evoked in the previous one.  The segue from “Fortune” to “Justice” is particularly striking, asking the question, “So what is it you really want?”

“”Fortune” is a prose poem.  The subject matter required such a break.  Fortune is such a wild card.  It really encompasses everything.  A very experienced Tarot reader once said that nobody knows where it’s going; there are so many variables.  Fortune is really about impermanence.  The wheel will keep moving. What is it that is in your life, why you are here, what do you want to want to accomplish.

“The card and the poem “Justice” are really borrowing from the Egyptian Ma’at, Balance.  The heart gets weighed at the end of life.  If it is too heavy, there is no eternal life. Things like regret, despair, anger, and jealousy make the heart heavy.  If you are living your life the way you would want to be living it, why would you covet or be jealous?

“I wrote “Justice” in the second person, addressing the reader.  Because they make that choice, to fulfill their potential, which is a recurring theme in a lot of religions and philosophies.

“As Shakespeare said, “To thine own self be true.”"