the card × philosopher essays
Long-form, primary-source essays pairing each card with the philosophy it has been quietly carrying for six hundred years. Each one ends where a reading ends — with a question. New essays are added steadily; the full 22 major arcana are on the schedule.
The Hermit and Plato's Cave: Why the Lamp Matters More Than the Mountain
The Hermit stands on the summit but still holds the lantern up. Plato's cave explains why: the philosopher's job is to go back down. Card essay No. 1, with primary-source citations.
Temperance and the Golden Mean: Aristotle's Most Misunderstood Idea, Poured Between Two Cups
The angel's impossible pour is a better picture of Aristotle's doctrine of the mean than most textbooks manage — the mean is an ongoing adjustment, not a compromise. Card essay No. 2.
The Wheel of Fortune, the Stoics, and the Gita: Three Answers to the Same Turning
The Wheel is the card of what is not addressed to you. The Stoics and the Bhagavad Gita took that fact seriously — and reached instructively different conclusions. Card essay No. 3.
Also in the series: a guide to tarot art — where the real cards live, from Renaissance gold leaf to 1909.