Sometimes people searching for my scholarly work on Sylvia Plath, or for my poetry or short stories, find this blog accidentally, and get confused. Yes, I am the same Julia Gordon-Bramer. I am three things, quite equally divided: a tarot reader, a Plath scholar, and a writer (sort of my own version of the triple-goddess, if you're familiar with Robert Graves' writings). At this stage in the game, it would be impossible to pick one as my passion is enormous for all. Additionally, I'm also a college professor, another thing that I love, and it's been a great way to communicate the passions above. Being a professor is less a definition of me, however. It feeds and sustains the other aspects.
I thought I'd blog here about these aspects, to give you a better understanding of me, my approaches, and my great blessings.
Tarot--
I have been reading tarot cards since I was sixteen years old. That's almost thirty-two years now, at the time of this writing. I grew up never considering myself as "psychic," per se, but rather knowing that there was something different about my perceptions. I knew that I feel connections on very deep levels, to the point of taking on a person's pain, fear, anger, love, etc. Honestly, it's sometimes been a problem. I've spent a lifetime learning to separate and detach. I knew that I could walk into a room where something had happened, and that the room itself held onto the vibrations in ways that were sometimes oppressive. I knew that an event would take place that everyone else could seemingly shrug off, and good or bad, I carried the feelings of it for days.
From the first time I held my own deck, the tarot has always spoken to me, always been a part of me in this indescribable way. I was knocked out by the beauty of it, and initially taught myself to read from the little white booklet that comes with every tarot deck. I think that this was a great way to learn, actually. I was going on the bare bones card interpretations, and forcing myself to rely on natural first impressions, hunches, and feelings.
For many years, I read the tarot cards relying on books because I did not truly trust my own intuition. I will say that the best book I have found, and the book that taught me the most (with uncannily accurate interpretations), is Jane Lyle's
Understanding the Tarot. While it is out of print, it can often be found for a song on websites such as Alibris and Amazon. There is a great deal of information on the Internet as well, and
Mary Greer's Tarot Blog has always proved a fascinating resource for me, with fun clips, interviews, and discussion.
Life, however, has taught me the most in regard to being an excellent tarot reader. Over the years, I have been developing myself intuitively, through tarot and in other ways: drawing pictures from mental projections, reading people without cards, and prophetic dreams and visions. For the record, I believe that many of my spiritual gifts strengthened and clarified when I began to practice
A Course In Miracles. ACIM is not a religion, but a series of steps along with scripture for enlightenment. It is about connecting with the God source, and owning one's own power as a child of God. I recommend it to everyone.
If someone were to ask me what my greatest spiritual power is, I would say that it is to connect with people, to see their own godliness, and directing them to reach their highest potential.
Plath Scholarship--
When I began graduate school, working toward my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, I almost immediately realized that the work of Sylvia Plath, my favorite poet and author since my teens, was loaded with imagery and symbolism from the tarot. At the advice of my professor (who was also a fan of my tarot reading, brought me into his classes to read the cards, and was the one to encourage me to go professional), I began pursuing just how deep these symbols affected Plath's work as part of my Poetry Form and Theory final semester project.
Thus began "The Plath Project"--my working title for
Fixed Stars Govern a Life: reinterpreting the work of Sylvia Plath through mysticism and the tarot. I have been at it almost five years now. My first discovery was initially that the book
Ariel--and all of Plath's work--is built upon a framework of tarot order: the first poem of
Ariel, for instance, "Morning Song," is card number zero, for the Fool. Take a look. If you know the meaning and appearance of the Fool card, it's all right there. Likewise, card number one, The Magician, is her poem, "The Couriers," card number two, the High Priestess, is "The Rabbit Catcher," etc.
That took me about three months to identify. That was the easy part. I began to write a narrative of Plath's life, before her husband Ted Hughes (widely known as a cabbalist, alchemist and occult practitioner), her time with Ted Hughes, and what Ted did with Plath's work after her death. It still stuns me that no one thought to look at Plath's oeuvre in this way in the almost fifty years since her death. I began to build my case for reading Plath in a new light.
What I couldn't deny, though, was that as I was pulling apart this work, really looking deep into double meanings and such, there were other occult influences. Tarot, for one, is based upon the Kabbalah. Hermeticism, an occult practice drawing from ancient roots with a self-actualization/magician spin, calls it Qabalah. Hughes was a known practitioner. Tarot and the Qabalah led me into the mysticism of the Hebrew language and Gematria; alchemy (especially Jungian alchemy); Greek mythology; astrology and astronomy; and the parallels with history and the world; and the arts and humanities. I came to see that Plath's poems each contained six facets which mirror the six sides of the Qabalah's Tree of Life. It got deep. It has been a time of rigorous and intense study for me. I have never learned so much, and Plath's genius continues to astound me.
Lucky for me, as a tarot reader, I had a cursory understanding of some of this. Also lucky for me, as a tarot reader, this work has given my tarot work so much depth and understanding of the cards' meanings, symbolism, etc. The Plath Project has made me a better, smarter, more spiritual person. I have had an education and a half through this work, delving into classics, history, philosophy and ideas so heady they had frightened me away from studying them for too many years prior. Five years ago, I had no concept of alchemy beyond the Philosopher's Stone and maybe some Harry Potter references. Today, I am a student of Jungian alchemy and the process of individuation, with special attention to its application through the tarot. I am still teaching myself the detail-laden aspects of astrology, Greek myth and the epic poems, the medieval classics, and more.
Sylvia Plath
Knowing how to unlock each of Plath's poems gave me exciting ways into her meaning--meaning that once one knows what to look for, seems quite obvious. And yet, even her most famous poems have been completely misunderstood. Until now. It is my life's work, and my greatest joy next to love of my family and friends. I have learned the hard way that academics are slow to open their eyes and instantly dismiss spirituality as BS. It will take a while to get them to see. But the rest of you? I welcome you to my work. I am trying to publish chapters as I can, and nearing completion of the book. I hope to find a publisher this year, if I can only find the time to start looking.
Writing--
I have been a writer since I was six years old, when I learned that my letters to family entertained and amused. As an adult, I have worked in virtually every field of writing: journalism, marketing, advertising, public relations, technical and more. I played with poetry and stories off and on through my teens and twenties, and began to get serious in my thirties. It wasn't until my forties (isn't this the time when we find ourselves and life begins?) that I really had something to say, some personal power to draw from, and had discovered my own voice. I began to publish poetry and stories, and to even win some awards. Like all writers, I have had my ups and downs. As I study the Tao, attempting to separate from the ego as best I can, I am less interested in submissions and defining my success through publication. Still, I get articles, poems and the occasional story published fairly frequently. You can find some of my work searching my name online, or write me for a list of publications.
Thanks for your interest!
