Friday, May 9, 2014

U-Predict - The Tarot Talks about Archeology and the Bible (air dates – April 22 and April 29)

I know this is dangerous ground; to many people the idea of mixing the tarot and anything to do with the Bible is blaspheme.  But since the early beginnings of U-Predict, we have been using the synchronistic archetypes that readily appear when tarot readers read simultaneously to look at the archeological mysteries that cover our planet.  To move to the archeological mysteries surrounding the Bible, one of the most mysterious books on the planet (who actually wrote it, when was it written, and what was left out) was just a natural follow-on to previous experiments.  And the news cycle was ripe; first we had the U-Predict broadcast on April 22nd to determine if a small scrap of papyrus had been discovered that strengthened the argument that Jesus had a wife. A few days following that show, a U-Predict regular, Mary Brown sent me some interesting articles that talked about how little archeological evidence there was that there had been an exodus out of Egypt by hundreds of thousands of Hebrews.  I put the blogs together because they are two different sides of the same coin; a relic that sheds doubt on a New Testament  story that is told and the lack of relics that puts doubt on an Old Testament story that is told.  What is most amazing is what happened when Jean Maurie Puhlman added Angel Tarot card to the mix.  The angels gave us the best advice about the entire book itself.

The Reading Room for the April 22 show included: The Reading Room included:  Ivy Lieberman, Jean Maurie Puhlman, Ivy Liberman, Mary Brown (Tarotdactyl), Becky Greywolf, Anita Perez, Patti Phare-Camp, Camille Kea, and ReeNee Cummins.

The object read for was

On September 18, 2012, HDS Professor Karen L. King announced the existence of a papyrus fragment dubbed “The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” at the International Coptic Congress in Rome.” (Harvard Divinity School, http://gospelofjesusswife.hds.harvard.edu, April 10, 2014).

The cards immediately began discussing how upsetting this idea is to the status quo.  ReeNee Cummins talked about how that some of the other professors at Harvard Divinity School and elsewhere did not see the idea of “wife” in a modern context; that these women were seen as other servants of God, and would not have conjugal duties.  Ivy Lieberman brought up the idea that everyone seemed stuck on Mary Magdalene as his wife, when it could have been another woman.  The cards demonstrated just as much disruption would be caused if early Christians had powerful women disciples who preached the same as the men. 

Of course, The Hierophant was the most visible of all the cards.   This is the card that represents tradition, and/or a large contingency of people and institutions that want to keep it that way. The 6 of Cups, which speaks of preserving things and nostalgia also figured prominently. What we surprising was the fact that the Death card also showed up in synchronicity.  To most in the Reading Room, this spoke of the transformation that would happen if women we given their real place in the history that is described in all of holy books written at this time.  Tarotdactly talked about the Shekinah, a word that “just popped into her head.  ReeNee defined it as the “feminine face of God” that seemed to be lacking in this discussion – and all discussions like it.
The rest of the Minor Arcana were cards of arguing and dissension.  We had 5’s of Wands and Swords; we also had the 8 of Swords, a card that talks about being bound up in thinking a certain way.  In fact, the 8 of Cups figured prominently in BOTH readings, telling us to get past these points and move on.

Jean Maurie’s Angel card chastised us for losing the real message – that of loving our neighbor and having compassion for all living things.  This is not the first time that we have gotten this message when we have spoken about Jesus.  It may be the tarot, but it is much more spot-on than many modern clergy; it was his message and the application of the message that was most important.

And so we moved on to the show on The Exodus from Egypt on the 29thThe Reading Room for the April 22 show included: The Reading Room included:  Ivy Lieberman, Jean Maurie Puhlman, Ivy Liberman, Mary Brown (Tarotdactyl), Anita Perez, Patti Phare-Camp, Camille Kea, and ReeNee Cummins.

One of the best articles on the entire topic was:

One of the most telling statements from this article/Nova broadcast is the following:
“Is there mention of the Israelites anywhere in ancient Egyptian records?
No Egyptian text mentions the Israelites except the famous inscription of Merneptah dated to about 1206 B.C.E. But those Israelites were in Canaan; they are not in Egypt, and nothing is said about them escaping from Egypt.”

Other research turned up similar comments about lack of evidence. 

However,  an ardent group of religious Bible scholars claim that if you move the Exodus story back further in history, there is a period where it matches:

“…much less attention has centered on the timing of the mid-18th-Dynasty abandonment of Avaris (biblical Rameses) that occurred “after Amenhotep II”, and was followed by an inexplicable occupational gap. Did the abandonment occur during the reign of Amenhotep II, at the end of his reign, or during the reign of Thutmose IV?” (http://www.biblearchaeology.org/research.aspx)

So we began by asking if there was a recording mistake, and the actual events happened further back in history.  Anita Perez reminded everyone that if we followed the matrilineal lines, we may have a more accurate picture of history.

ReeNee asked if it mattered; she asked if we could just accept these Bible as a book that was about faith, hope and a better tomorrow.  That when (again) Jean Maurie’s Angel cards opened up.  The Archangel Chamuel old us “There is a better way!  Pause for reflection and insight.  Dare to be Different.  Gabriel told us to “Release ourselves from burdensome situations.”  Gabriel also told us that “We were working too many hours, trying too hard to please others.”

The only Major Arcana card we got was the Fool, the card of having faith and stepping off into the future unafraid.  Again, are we too busy trying to prove or disprove the book to miss the message?  The Minor included the Knight of Swords (have both sides rushed in fervently trying to prove something instead of talking about the miracles that faith can bring about).  If all the religious books were seen in that light would the world be a better place?  U-Predict...



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