Via Brokelyn, I came across an article about a bar that recently opened in Brooklyn called The Minor Arcana. Owner Jesse Levitt was inspired to give it that name after receiving a tarot card reading on Coney Island.

I wish Mr. Levitt much success in his new venture - it sounds like exactly the sort of place where I would enjoy a drink with friends.

The Fairy of Paradise with a star in her hair, from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Garden of Paradise."

Billy Corrigan describes the Smashing Pumpkins’ new tarot-themed album, entitled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope:

"The story of the album is based on 'The Fool's Journey,' as signified in the progress of the Tarot. It is my intention to approach this by breaking down the journey of our life here into four phases as made by these different characters; the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic, and the Mystic."

Stylized "Tarot" cards feature in Tiana's Showboat Jubilee at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. One of the cards appears to be a Two of Hamsas. (Photo detail from LaughingPlace.com.)

"I learned, among other things, that some of the Tarot cards are based on rituals evolved in Marseilles and that, even now, the very graffiti in the town contain cabalistic signs and symbols." —Books of the Times, Vol. 1, 1978

(Click photo for source.)

Once I sat high up

on Fortune's throne,

garlanded with all the blooms of prosperity;

indeed I was in the bloom

of blessed happiness,

but now I have tumbled from my eminence,

robbed of my glory.

* * *

Fortune's wheel turns:

I am cut down and fall;

another is raised to the heights;

the king sits at the peak,

too much exalted -

let him beware of ruin,

for under the axle we read

the name of Queen Hecuba.

* * *

Fortuna Plango Vulnera

(Seria LXXVII - fol. 48b)

Carmina Burana

This is part of an occasional series of Tarot images I encounter in the world, inspired by Craig Conley's enchanting Trump L'Oeil Tarot of Portmeirion. The photos were taken during a recent trip to the Stamford Museum and Nature Center. I spotted this cauldron on the grounds of the Heckscher Farm, near the maple sugaring and apple cider house. A beautiful Ace of Cups.

This tower is on the grounds of the Bendel Mansion.

Seen on Thames Street in Newport, Rhode Island.

Alexander Voet II's "The Elderly Fool and his Cat," c. 1660. Via BibliOdyssey.