Welcome to the digital written component of my Dramaturgy MFA thesis: COVEN-19, or Unprecedented Times. In the spirit of iterative process, queer failure, liminal exploration, and utopian practice, I am writing this thesis as tarot: 22 essays, spells, rituals, and magickal ramblings about Coven process, each inspired by tarot symbols and interpretations specific to its corresponding card. Like the tarot, this thesis is performative and always happening, always there-but-not-there.
The major arcana tarot cards are numbered 0 through 21, outlining one version of the fool's journey -- but as evidenced through these card-chapter time stamps, which indicate the order in which I am moving through my thesis, the cards can be navigated in infinite ways. Common themes, theories, art ancestors, quotes, and citations circulate throughout this thesis deck; meaning is therefore deeply interconnected, and no card holds more critical or scholarly weight than any other. This is an experiment in ways to hold power with, rather than over, meaning-making: I need the reader as an actor needs a spectator, to move my words through time and space.
And so, please read these cards in whatever order feels satisfying to you. Allow your choices to structure your meaning-making experience. For a divinitory reading experience, you can pull major arcana cards from a tarot deck, or this website, and navigate the pages accordingly. You can alternatively choose cards based on the corresponding images and key words. Eventually, I will link certain key words and citations to each other, so that you can click through the deck with new directional inspiration? That would be cool.
Also, register to experience our Coven's Beltane ritual, and follow us on insta @umass_coven19 and on our cool tumblr blog.
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