Show Me Your Deck

The first card drawn is number five from the abstract deck, representing the intersection of Muladhara (I am) and Vishuddha (I say). This card, depicted as a millstone, signifies how one's sense of safety, security, and identity is impacted by communication, emphasizing the power of the physical self and voice to effect positive change, as encapsulated by the haiku "spoken millstones, crush injustice, lying rubble, pulverizing truth". The hosts discuss the importance of being mindful of one's words and intentions, highlighting the speaker as the active agent in creating change.
The conversation then delves into the complexities of intentions and ethical principles, noting that while intentions inform actions, results are what truly matter, and ethics often resides in a "gray in the middle" rather than absolute rules. They use examples from religious traditions, such as the detailed interpretations in the Talmud and Mishna, and workarounds for Sabbath laws (like "Shabbos elevators" or subtly prompting a "gentile friend" to turn off a light), to illustrate how rigid principles can lead to inconvenient or seemingly ridiculous situations, obscuring the original intent of reverence. The second card drawn is The Sentinel of Seeds, which is identified as the Knight of Pentacles in the Tarot. Its message, "Do the work that now needs doing," reinforces the theme of action and prompts listeners to evaluate if their "pillars" (principles) truly serve them now. This is further explored through anecdotes of a coach suspended for helping disadvantaged students and a teacher forging a signature to ensure a student received meals, highlighting the tension between principles, intentions, and the desire to do good in complex situations.
The third card revealed is number 15 from the "Projections of Joy" or the "sassy deck"), representing Manipura or the solar plexus, with the theme of "fire on fire" and "I do on I do". Its message, "Potluck your gratitude," focuses on giving versus sacrificing, receiving versus taking, and abundance versus scarcity, emphasizing collaboration and community over individual burden. Rituals are discussed as powerful tools for directing intention and aligning communities, but cautioned against being merely transactional or performed without full presence. The fourth card, number 11, Defend, is identified as the Justice card in the Tarot. It calls for defending one's actions by first acknowledging an inner "gut level" answer to whether an action was right, before attempting justifications. This leads to a discussion of "The Good Place" television show, which explores moral philosophy, point systems, and what it means to be a "good person" in a complex world. The final card, number 15 from "the professions" deck, reiterates the "fire on fire" theme with the profession, "I profess that I do everything from the intent of balance". This capstone emphasizes that balance, rather than perfection, should be the guiding intent, recognizing that life requires constant, vibrating effort and adaptation, much like a dancer maintaining balance or the body regulating homeostasis.

What is Show Me Your Deck?

A podcast with Dean Sage and Jack Kirven where they explore the intersection of oracle decks and chakras, using their original decks to create new insights. Dean's deck is a modern translation of the Tarot that removes gender-norms to reveal the deeper, non-gendered meaning of the cards. Jack's four decks play with the traditional chakra system, examining the way they intersect, rather than using them in isolation. The show allows inspiration to arise from the intersection of all decks using both intuition and chance. Dean pulls his cards as the Tarot reader does, while Jack relies on dice to see which cards his decks will offer up. The result is a reading and a reminder that uses the language of chakras and the diversity of the Tarot.