A Four Queens Interview Series: Regarding Beauty…with Christopher Marmolejo
Welcome to this special 5-part series on beauty. Why beauty?
I’ve been working on a collection of essays that takes the dump as its central image—a place not typically celebrated for its beauty. The essays cover difficult material (suicide, addiction, sexual assault, erasure…) but what I noticed upon re-reading my current draft is that every essay is saying something about beauty, and this is what, in fact, may most strongly connect all the essays to one another.
Excuse me, but what?! This is not what I was expecting to discover in my read-through! So, I’m keen to know what brilliant minds make of beauty—and at this particular moment.
I’m delighted to continue the conversation with Christopher Marmolejo. Be sure to check our their links below (you’ll want to!)
One thing I learned quickly during these interviews: beauty’s path is often the errant path. I hope you enjoy and thanks for traveling down this path with me. — x Selah
Christopher Marmolejo’s Website
The Witch Wave Podcast with Pam Grossman, Ep 129, featuring Christopher Marmolejo
Their REMARKABLE book, Red Tarot
If you're a tarot reader and haven't yet explored the remarkable Red Tarot, make it a priority! Order a copy or borrow it from your local library today. This book is a vital contribution to the field of Divinatory Poetics and an essential read for anyone interested in tarot and divination. “This book is about shedding red light on each card in the tarot to reveal it as a prism of political praxis”—YES!!!💘
B I O
CHRISTOPHER MARMOLEJO is a Brown, queer, and trans writer, diviner, and educator. They use divination to promote a literacy of liberation and are the author of red tarot: a decolonial Guide to Divinatory literacy. They were born and raised in San Bernardino, California, among the pines, in community with the Yuhaaviatam clan of the Maara’yam (Serrano). They work with students around the world to plant and nurture the seed of a divinatory practice, finely weaving tarot, astrology, and curanderismo with critical, decolonial Black queer feminist epistemology.
Hi friends—a new year and a new cycle are just around the corner. I’m excited to bring back this popular offering for what I very strongly suspect to be a fascinating 2025—x Selah
