[-empyre-] A clairvoyant, a publisher, a card player walk into a pub...

[Ruth Skinner]

Hello empyre,

The last year has generated lots of thinking about technology in relation
to the unknown and the conspiratorial (the good and the very not so good).
I echo Sally McKay's thoughts on the present: "Everything is super-charged,
damaged, intermingled, resilient, vulnerable."

In the early weeks of COVID, I tried relating our encounters with
high-keyed *crisis* to a few different images: medium Eusapia Paladino's
technique for freeing her hand to perform medium-y actions, Zoom screens
and raise-hand functions, and personal memories of visiting Bude in
Cornwall. Bude was the last home of illustrator Pamela Colman Smith, and it
is hard to see the seaside town in anything but her imagery. Smith
illustrated one of the most canonical Tarot decks, the Rider-Waite-Smith
deck, but ended her life impoverished. Her former home is now a pub. Glued
to my screen in lockdown, I couldn't help but retroactively imbue an
electrical surge experienced in Pamela's house to nearby undersea
fibre-optics cables that connect Bude and so much of the world (including a
neighbouring military station known for its mass surveillance and
information-gathering). Bude is a great stopover for anyone looking to
visit the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle. You can read that
essay here: https://www.blackwoodgallery.ca/publications/sduk/tilting/deception-is-a-co-effect-which-cannot-be-neglected

Blackwood's call for these two complementary issues of *SDUK: Tilting*
sought texts that addressed the uncertain present, and Blackwood also
worked to quickly put money in contributors' hands in a time of crisis.

I research artists' publishing and distribution practices, and I operate an
imprint that leans toward clairsensory strategies and things. This research
enfolds a Canadian clairvoyant who worked playing card cartomancy and was a
voracious self publisher. The two acts were inextricably linked: card
readings were "free" but done in return for book purchases, making for a
stunning distribution model. It's a method that I keep in mind when
developing publishing projects with collaborators, like this
perception-driven, hypnosis-based card game with artists Faith Patrick and
Sarah Munro: http://ednapress.com/blackbox.html

Looking forward to winding down this month with you,
Ruth

p.s. Thanks to Renate, Arshiya, Jennifer and all the contributors and
conference presenters. I've circulated Raqs Media Collective's *Afterglow*
<https://www.yokohamatriennale.jp/english/2020/concept/> to friends for its
breathtaking texts and its allegiance to resource-sharing; thinking over
Tim Murray's Yogi Berra quote and the resulting discussion that emerged
(muttering "The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be” to myself for weeks);
xtine burrough and Jennifer Gradecki's thoughts towards participatory work
/ co-creativity; Margaretha Haughwout's work with the Coven Intelligence
Program immediately put in mind the upcoming The Witch Institute
<https://witchinstitute.com/> out of Queens U and artist Christina Battle's
recent video work <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B3L1eEolK8> (ritual and
spell) for Partners in Art. *Bev Pike's new cards!* And a fellow researcher
here at Western University, Katie Oates, spends time with the wonderful
Hamilton Family Fonds in her own research about spirit photography and
affect.
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