Goddess Power Pack: The Goddess Cross

The Goddess Power Pack by Cordelia Brabbs (Godfieldpress, 2005) arrived the other day and I just had to try it out using a spread I found in the book called the Goddess Cross. You draw five cards and lay them out with one card in the center, then one under that, one to the left, one to the right, and one above. Leave them face down and consider them in turn.

Goddess Cross, Goddess Power Pack by Cordelia Brabbs

Middle card: You
Card to left: An aspect you need to work on, possibly to 'tone down', but use your intution in interpreting
Card to right: What you should aspire to in terms of your personality
Card below: Where you need to shape up your act to get the most from your life.
Card above: You should make your actions and decisions from this state of mind.

Let the cards ask the question

West, US Games 2008

Halloween Day with the Halloween Tarot by Kipling West

Wow, another court card, and who better to greet us today than the King of Pumpkins himself. Today I want to try out a technique I read about at Aeclectic Tarot, in a thread called 'Using the Cards to Generate the Questions.' The technique was suggested by a member named Chiriku:

1. Draw a tarot card and contemplate it. What question does this card bring up in your mind regarding the situation you face, or even just the day itself?

2. Draw a second card which will answer the question suggested by the tarot.

The first card will trigger a question, issue or problem that is present somewhere in your mind. Images from the card will likely put a fresh spin on the question. Then the second card will give you a new way of looking at the question, a possible solution, a projected outcome--there are many possiblities.

She thinks she knows it all (and maybe she does)

West, US Games 2008 

Tuesday with the Halloween Tarot by Kipling West

Another court card today, we have Page of Bats, or Page of Swords. Instead of holding a sword, though, this page holds a pair of sunglasses and looks back over his/her shoulder toward a bat hovering there. One notices at once that symbols of the other suits are all over the Page of Swords: a ghost on the scarf (Cups), a pumpkin on the jerkin (Coins). The only thing missing is an imp (Wands). The bag is gaping open, but I cannot make out what is inside it.

I suppose the deck creator included symbols of other suits because, of all the pages, this one seems most in command of herself and to a degree of those around her. She uses her wits. The Page of Swords is known for playing devil's advocate, she enjoys debate and argument, and do to this effectively, you have to be able to anticipate the opposition. There's no other way to do this than to understand them. This understanding comes through observation. She's taken off her sunglasses to get a better look around her. She wears the symbols of the other suits because she can twist an argument to appeal to these audiences, at least long enough to get her point across. She's a clever little thing.

Running in circles

West, US Games 2008

Monday with the Halloween Tarot by Kipling West

The Knight of Imps -- Knight of Wands -- is certainly a fiery chap! Even his horse has steam pluming from his nostrils. They're dashing off for adventure, accompanied by an imp flying alongside, and watched in wide-eyed wonder by the ubiquitous cat.

So who is the Knight of Wands? In my mind, he's the teenage version of the King of Wands, who for me is James T Kirk. What would the 'teen Kirk' be like? Overconfident, unprincipled, charismatic, popular with most, envied by all. Everybody knows his name. His reputation precedes him. The girls love him, the boys want to be like him, the teachers are charmed by him. He's  Mr Popularity, Most Likely to Succeed. He'd also be voted Most Likely to Die Young, if high school year books had that category. Risk taker, boundary pusher, adrenaline junky. Sometimes he grows up to be Captain Kirk. Sometimes he just stays the cool-but-crazy-kid with the fast car--annoying and immature. Or worse, the Knight of Wands is  Eddie Haskell of 'Leave it to Beaver'. A well-groomed 'weaselly wise guy', Eddie is the perfect example of the shadow aspect of the Knight of Wands. I can't think of a character to represent the Knight of Wands in his positive aspect at the moment. Any thoughts?

Busy little devils

Halloween Tarot tin

This week I will be drawing from the Halloween Tarot by Kipling West. I have the mini version in the purple tin. You know, I often say that all decks should come in a tin. It's eminently sensible.

The Halloween Tarot is a novelty take on the traditional Rider Waite deck. Most cards look very much like Pamela Coleman-Smith's images. The suits have been changed from Wands, Swords, Cups and Pentacles to  Imps, Bats, Ghosts and Pumpkins. This sort of thing typically annoys me, and I have to admit it annoys me in this deck as well. (At least I'm consistent.) I bought this deck because my Hubby is so totally into Halloween. We trim up for Halloween and have a movie fest, usually take a small trip somewhere (like the supposedly haunted Tamworth Castle) every year. In fact, our Halloween observances are more elaborate than our Christmas. So, I got the deck for his amusement. To be honest, I don't actually like these gimmicky 'themed' RWS clones, but I said to myself, 'Hey! It's Halloween after all. Lighten up, already!' So I'll be using this deck daily Sunday-Saturday. 

I hear that train a-comin', it's rollin' round the bend

It was lovely to visit Chloe in London yesterday. The train journeys there and back again, though, were less than stellar. I knew that would happen because yesterday morning, as my last Hezicos draw of the week, I asked 'What will my journey be like?' and then turned over:

Hezicos Tarot, Griffin 2010

Oh great, I thought. Delays, missed trains, bad stuff in general. But at least the end result will be happy. Didn't have time to post that draw yesterday morning, though, had to catch the 8.02.

What next?

I've been locked out of my email account for a week or so and I've submitted four forms to try to prove to MSN that it's really my email, but the verdict always come back 'insufficient evidence.' So, my old email accounts are locked, I guess forever. This is worrying to me. I suppose if they're locked up tight and no one can ever open them, they are probably safe enough. But if they're going to lock them up tight, I wish they would just go ahead and delete them. Then I wouldn't have to always wonder what the consequences will be.

So, I thought I'd ask tarot. What will be the consequences of my locked email accounts? Three card draw:

My contacts -- 9 of Coins
My finances -- High Priestess
Unknown consequences -- 10 of Wands

Hezicos, Griffin 2010

My friends have nothing to worry about, they are safe. That's a relief. And my finances are protected by the secretive nature of the few companies I deal with. They will not be fooled. The worry about 'unknown consequences' will plague me if I let it. But there's no reason to worry. If something happens, I will just have to seek out those who can help me bear the burden -- and find the solution. Ten of Rods does suggest something VERY annoying may happen. But it just as easily suggests a feeling of doom looming over me that I decide to shoulder and carry around. That latter one is most likely.

I don't think I have much cause for concern. No doubt there are thousands upon thousands of 'locked' emails floating around in cyberspace.

Never fear, if you are interested in ordering a reading, I have a new email:

rowan_tarot@yahoo.com

Today I am off to visit my friend Chloe, of Inner Whispers, and geek out over tarot cards! Yay!

Livin' the dream?

Hezicos Tarot, Griffin 2010

Today's card from the Hezicos Tarot is 10 of Coins. I seem to draw this card a lot, no matter what deck I'm using. In this version, we see a happy family of little Hezicos people, standing outside their mushroom house. The house is reminiscent of childhood drawings which are said to communicate a stable home--if a child draws a house with a big door and windows, it means they feel there is openness and freedom in the family. If there is smoke rising from the chimney, there is security and warmth in the family. If two parents and children are present, there is a sense of wholeness. A path leading up to the door indicates involvement with others, and so on and so forth. Most of those elements are seen in this card.

Ten of Coins in its positive aspect indicates security, contentedness with one's day-to-day life. It also can indicate conventional thinking, comfortable routines. It does not necessarily show happiness or emotional fulfillment. It rather shows stability in the day-to-day, what might be considered 'routine contentment'. In its negative aspect, it might indicate that this routine contentment trumps the pursuit of 'true happiness'. After all, no one in the picture is really smiling. The children look shy and tentative, the wife looks up at her husband with a sort of proprietary pride, and to be honest he looks back at her with a rather weary expression. 'Domestic tranquility ..to ourselves and our posterity', as set forth in the Preamble to the US Constitution, that's what we see in the 10 of Coins. But who knows what's going on inside these people. (By the way, click that link and watch. It's ace! Huge influence on my childhood, that show...)


The Rider Waite Smith version of the card holds more of these subtle nuances of domestic contentment without much sign of a deeper emotional fulfillment. We seen generations of affluent people, but not much to show a meaningful connection between them, or any indication of the state of their inner lives.

It's good to consider both the usual positive meaning of a card and also its shadow side.

The 10 of Coins coming up for me so often seems quite accurate on both counts. I am, in the main, quite grateful and content with my domestic situation. On the other hand, the 'snug' situation I am in makes it easy to settle back, reminding myself to be grateful for what I have, and not do any reaching or stretching or risk-taking that might lead to a more vibrant inner experience.

Deck Review: Chakra Meditations

Chakra Meditations by Swami Saradananda, Watkins, 2010

This 52-card deck is not designed to be used for divination, but for meditation. They come in a sturdy, multi-purpose box and are standard tarot card size. The cards are of good quality with a light lamination (ie, not plasticky). 

The deck condenses the information contained in the book Chakra Meditations, by Swami Saradananda, Watkins, 2008. I have owned this book since it first came out. It contains full page illustrations and instructs you to meditate on these images. It's always been difficult to prop the book for this purpose. I was really pleased to discover that a deck had been produced containing these images. 

For each chakra, you get 6 cards: an inspirational quotation, questions to ask yourself regarding that area of your life, 3 meditation activities, and a yantra card. Here are the yantra cards:

Crown, brow, throat, heart

Solar plexus, sacral, root

Chakra Meditations, Watkins 2010

 These yantras contain the traditional number of petals, the Sanskrit character and other elements pertaining to the chakra's energy. The back of the card explains the image. It is suggested that you meditate on the image for sessions of 20 minutes while intoning or silently vibrating the seed sound of each chakra. 

The other 5 cards per chakra all have the same image, which is a larger interpretation of the chakra  incorporating the yantra and expanding on the meaning. There is a human figure in each with the location of the chakra pinpointed. You may have noticed that the crown chakra card above looks different from the rest. The crown chakra does not have a yantra; instead it has the more integrative card, so that all 6 of the crown chakra cards have the same backs.

Here are the solar plexus and heart chakra backs, for example:

Notice the yantra plus other elements illustrative of the chakra's meaning/energy

There are also 3 extra cards containing inspirational quotes which show the chakras in balance on the card back:

Chakras in balance

I believe you could actually take the yantra cards, one of the balanced chakra cards, and one each of the integrated cards and put together an interesting set for divination. I haven't tried that yet, though. 

The box is a sturdy box with a magnetic closure. It is a very strong magnet--I tested it by holding the box upside down and the box did not fall open even though the weight of the deck was against the lid. The lid props up into an easel configuration and frames a card for meditation, similar to the Art of Life Tarot. 

I think this deck is excellent value for money. I have loved these images for years in the book, and am really pleased to have them in card form. 

Lenormand Daily Draw

Titania's Fortune Cards

Literal meanings: 'Travelling children at work.' Well, that isn't the half of it! Today between 9.30 and 2.15, there will be 6 groups of school kids visiting the library.

This draw didn't tell me much so I drew another:

Clouds: confusion. Yeah, I bet! There will be Rhyme Time sessions (for 0-2 yr olds) going on at the same time that primary school classes are in. The timings of the visits are too close together. (The powers that be have booked them back to back, forgetting, I suppose, that assembling, taking off coats, seating, getting attention, then closing, getting ready to go, queuing up and leaving all take time. What do they care? They are  not going to be there.)

Confusion as an outcome card is not a surprise either. So let's ask, 'What can I do to help the situation run smoothly?'

Garden. Right--send them all outside. Ha! No, okay. I see this as asking for help amongst my 'network', and perhaps just having fun with it and not worrying about it (or seeming to, anyway). If I don't make it seem like a problem that things are running amok, then they probably won't get too upset about whatever confusion happens. So...'Act like you're having fun.' ;)

Another day of going forth to give an Academy Award winning performance! 

ETA: I'm back from work. The day was pandemonium, but everything turned out all right in the end. And that's the last of the class visits for this year's October festival! :D

Isn't she lovely?

Hezicos Tarot, Griffin 2010

Today the Hezicos Tarot offers me the Star card. I am quite taken with this image. It is one of my favourites in the deck. The colours are beautiful and the scene is so evocative, with its mossy rocks, tumbling blue stream, water lilies and blue pickerel weed. As in the traditional RWS image, from one hand she pours water onto water, from the other hand she pours water onto land (or in this case, rock). However, she does have both feet on the ground rather than one on land and one on water. The liquid pouring on land and water is said to represent the integration of our dual nature of body/spirit, conscious/subconscious, baser/higher. The pitchers flow in an endless supply. The card is always representative of hope and renewal.

I quite appreciate the depiction of the woman in the image. Her body is not oversexualized as you see in some tarots, such as the Druidcraft. (Don't misunderstand, I love the Druidcraft, but why do the nudes have to be 19-year-old Page 3 models?) I like that this small-breasted figure is crouching in a manner to do with the task at hand rather than to emphasize certain parts of her anatomy. Okay, I like that she's got tiny tah-tahs. It makes a change.

In fact, I think they might just count as two of the 8 stars from the original RWS. Five in the sky, one on her headband, where are the other two?

I don't know why, but the more I gaze at this card the more I love it. She has such a demure look on her face. What a feeling of peace and hope you see here. The crystal purity of the stream. The life inherent in the colours. The movement of the water. I can even imagine the cool feel of the moss underfoot. I notice her foot is even casting a shadow. This would be an easy card to fall into for meditation.

I may just have to give that a go. (I hope there's a fleece jumper just outside the frame!)

Funny old deck

Hezicos Tarot, Mary Griffin 2010

The court cards in the Hezicos Tarot are curious things. All of them are close-ups of people wearing headgear and jewelry to indicate their suit. The pages and knights are in profile. The queens and kings face front and look squarely at the viewer. But there's nothing at all in the image to indicate the card meaning. With the courts in Hezicos, you are left to your own devices, your own prior knowledge of the meaning of the card.

Actually, for me this is the case with nearly every card in the Hezicos deck. While I find the images very pleasant and the colours beautiful, to read with this deck, I find I must call upon prior knowledge, and then search out any tidbits within the card that I might use to build upon. The meanings do not jump out at me. There's nothing in that King of Rods card, to me, to indicate the sort of assertive, confident 'show man' that I associate with this court character. The 6 of Rods makes me think more of playing on a rocking horse than making a triumphal entry, and that bald little fairy in 9 of Coins looks more like she's engaged in a personal hygiene moment than relishing her abundant good fortune. Still, enough of the RWS elements are there, instantly apparent in most cases, to prod me along, and the colours are so pretty I just go with it.

Today's draw says to me, as the tarot has been saying to me for some time now: If you follow through on your intentions today, you will feel great about yourself and will enjoy a deep sense of satisfaction.

So, let's do that, then. :) What are my intentions today? I guess the first thing is to identify them (though the King of Rods is not one for making plans--he just does. Right, there's my answer then! Get off here and go do something!)

'Lighten up while you still can -

-- don't even try to understand. Just find a place to make your stand, and take it easy.'  (The Eagles, 'Take It Easy')

[All images from Hezicos Tarot by Mary Griffin]

Do this - The Hermit

I like this Hermit card. He reminds me very much of the Laughing Buddha, or Chinese god Hotei (also Miluo Fo or Miluo Pusa), the god of Contentment and Happiness. He is one of Japan's seven lucky gods, and is associated with magnanimity. So, he is a bit of a stretch from the usual Hermit, who is a tall, thin ascetic treading the path to enlightenment with head slightly bowed. This Hermit balances on a pile of rocks, both his staff and his lantern giving off light, and with a benevolent and welcoming look on his face. 'The way to enlightenment is rocky, the path is not straight,' he seems to say. 'There isn't even a path! There's just a journey that you make up as you go along, a lot of scrambling. But there are so many joys to be had -- and you don't have to give up the "good stuff" to get there!' Notice his lantern does not contain an esoteric six-pointed star. It just has a plain old candle. But the wand does glow with an ethereal light, wrapped about with a purple ribbon that reminds me of the kundalini...I should look for opportunities today to include the senses in my meditation practice, and to remember that life is not all about discipline. Even the Hermit likes his pies. Apparently.

Don't do this - Queen of Coins 

On the other hand, I should not use this as permission to go too far into the senses and the material. The Queen of Coins here wears an exotic headdress which seems to be made of a net of black pearls. Very costly. Her earrings, necklace and little crown are gold coins. The Queen of Coins does not necessarily mean wallowing in material excess, but of all the court cards, she is probably the most likely to! I think this card is reminding me that what I need is not the perfect all-natural incense, or the perfect arrangement of items on the altar, or a new deck of cards, etc, to facilitate my practice. She's turned up, possibly, to curb my recent obsession with ordering stuff online! It has been completely ridiculous lately how much I've ordered. I'm scared to even look at my order history, the brutal truth! Stop this acquisitiveness, this card warns. And how about making it just one biscuit today?



Outcome - 4 of Swords

The outcome of taking a self-forgiving, middle way (which doesn't include going crazy in the other direction) will be peace of mind and restful sleep. The 4 of Swords is often associated with meditation that heals and restores. In other words, I will feel better today all around if I put the brakes on going after the sparkly stuff and try not to beat myself up for not being Mother Teresa. :)

I like this card. Isn't it interesting that the little man asleep in his cot has his own versions of the Hermit's lantern and slippers sitting there on the floor beside him? It's been a long day of scrabbling around on the rocks, but the scenery was beautiful, his packed lunch was tasty, and even though his little room is simple, it keeps him warm and safe and offers him the full spectrum of life experience (as seen in the rainbow of colours in his bedding). He has all he needs.

Looks like somebody's got a case of the Mondays

This week I will be using the Hezicos Tarot, created and illustrated by Mary Griffin. This morning I decided to draw three cards for the day. The first shuffle I wasn't thinking or paying much attention and drew Queen of Rods, 5 of Swords and 4 of Coins. I figured, hmph, I will concentrate and draw again. It's early. So I drew again and got:

Hezicos, 2010

So, there seems to be no escaping the 5s today. The Queen of Swords (me) is caught between the 5 of Cups and 5 of Rods. I believe this is going to be a day in which my moods and events are deeply coloured by the weather. A day of little emotional peaks and troughs and petty irritations, that I just need to get through.

The thing about daily draws, though, is they are never as dramatic as you might think. You pull 'Death' for the day and think, 'Oh good lord! What is going to happen that will be so 'transformational'??' And it might turn out that you learn a new shortcut on MS Word. :)  So this could just be me getting pissed off about slogging to work in the rain.

Esoteric Cross: Chakra Correspondences

Esoteric Cross 

This is the spread I did the other day called 'Who Am I?'  In my previous post I examined each card individually and for this entry I was going to look at the cards as a whole, but it occurred to me that there are distinct chakra correspondences here that could prove useful. Moving the cards around after you've laid out a spread is something I picked up from Mary K Greer's book, 'Tarot for Yourself.' As I was studying this spread in its original layout and thinking about the questions, I realised that each question rather neatly fits in with a particular chakra.

Original spread:

1) Who am I?
2) Where do I come from?
3) What deep energy powers me?
4) What higher truth guides me?
5) What is my task?
6) Who is my hidden self?
7) What will I discover when I leave this form?

------------4------------

5----------6/1---------7

------------2------------

------------3-----------

Chakra rearrangement:

Crown chakra --     7) What will I know when I leave this form?

Brow/Third Eye --   4) What higher truth guides me? 

Throat --                 5) What is my task?

Heart --                   6) Who is my hidden self?

Solar plexus --       1) Who am I?

Sacral --                 3) What deep energy powers me?

Root --                    2) Where do I come from?

When the cards are rearranged in a straight line and read from bottom to top, you may see that there are chakras in need of opening, or in some instances of toning down. My cards run thus:

Crown - 3 of Swords 

Brow - 7 of Wands

Throat - 10 of Cups

Heart - 8 of Pentacles

Solar Plexus - Page of Pentacles

Sacral - 4 of Cups

Root - 10 of Pentacles

This run of the cards suggests to me that I have a good solid foundation, but perhaps I may be a bit 'too' grounded in the root chakra, because some of the higher chakras seem in need of work. For example, the sacral chakra as 4 of Cups seems highly accurate for that aspect of my life right now, and is an ongoing problem. Some effort needs to be made to open the sacral chakra. My seat of dynamism, will power and personal achievement, the solar plexus, is immature and needs shoring up. My heart is too focused on self-criticism to do its job of lovingkindness, which leads to the throat chakra. I give too much voice to feelings--perhaps I whine too much. (What? me?) The brow chakra shows that I am a bit conflicted in this area, or rather, that I am too concerned with protecting myself from malign forces to be very open to higher communication. And I think my poor crown chakra is wholly neglected. (In fact, I'm almost certain that's the case!) 

It's really good to reflect on the condition of the chakras, because sometimes we manifest symptoms of a chakra imbalance and it never occurs to us that that is what is going on.  I have been aware of imbalances in my throat and sacral chakra for some time, but I neglect those in meditation. My root chakra is so strong that my attention seems to just stay there, where it's comfortable. The poor crown chakra never even gets a look-in, bless it. :) 

Why not give this esoteric cross/chakra MOT a try?

Taking action

Universal Waite, US Games 1992

There's no point in reading the tarot at all if you aren't going to take some action, or change your thinking, or at the very least do some reflecting on the message of the cards. I think lots of us are guilty of throwing the cards, having a look, thinking, 'Hmph, good point,' and then going off to continue the very same behaviours that led us to the cards in the first place. We write it up and then don't change anything!

This week I've received some really meaningful messages from the cards, thanks to a technique introduced to me by Rachel Pollack -- the wisdom reading. I feel that this is a technique I will continue to use!

On Monday, in a reading about Life Purpose, I was told to beware the shadow side of the Knight of Cups.  He can be envious, spiteful and self-pitying, amongst other unattractive traits! At the very least, his emoting and self-absorption can lead to torpor, which I have certainly suffered from for the last few weeks. (On the day I did that reading, I set up the Giant Rider Waite cards on my altar -- 8 of Swords on left, 7 of Pentacles on right. Then I did a visualisation. I was the woman in bindings. I slipped them off, freed my hands, and proceeded to knock over the swords. To my surprise, they snapped easily, as if they were made of thin plastic. Then I stepped over into the 7 of Pentacles card and the man and I looked at his plants. Then he led me back into the 8 of Swords card and together we picked up the broken swords and flung them into the sea and stood there listening to the waves. It was an amazingly vivid journey into the cards, and since then, I've felt more 'awake' in myself. I did not plan this journey, I intended only to slip my bonds. The rest of it occurred spontaneously.)

Who am I?

Esoteric Celtic Cross 

Having seen Rachel Pollack's Esoteric Cross Spread in action on Kerry's Neopagan Priestess blog, I changed the order around and laid the cards out my own way: 

1) Who am I?
2) Where do I come from?
3) What deep energy powers me?
4) What higher truth guides me?
5) What is my task?
6) Who is my hidden self?
7) What will I discover when I leave this form?

------------4------------

5----------6/1---------7

------------2------------

------------3-----------

Lay out the cards face down: 1, 2, 3. Then at the top of the column place 4. Then go across, placing 5, tucking card 6 horizontally under card 1, then laying down 7.  (In the above photo, I forgot to tuck card 6 under card 1, but in the real one, I did...sorry!)

To read the spread, turn the cards over one by one, beginning with card 1, considering each answer on its own before moving on to the next card. When you turn over card 6, lay it across card 1. Consider how these two 'selves' work together (or against one another) in your life. Consider how this combination of cards manifests in you. This in itself could take quite some time. Then examine the full spread and the cards' relation to one another.

Of Wands and Swords and What to Do

'Stop wasting time,' I found myself writing in my journal today. 'We don't have 'all the time in the world'. Get on with it.'

So.

What is time? How can I make best use of it? What should I do with the time I have been given today?

I was certainly not expecting the cards I drew from the Original Rider Waite Tarot Deck:

Original Rider Waite, US Games 1993

I turned to the cards for an easy answer. But 1) the tarot doesn't give the easy answer, it gives the answer, and 2) this question doesn't have an easy answer.

In the human experience, which really is the only context in which we can understand it, time really is a constant battering of conflicting priorities. Our attention is called from all sides. We can but pay attention to one thing at a time before turning to the next thing. This is not to say that time should be spent in a reactionary way. The boys in the 5 of Wands card are not just reacting. They are also taking initiative, both reacting to events and planning their next step. They aren't actually trying to hurt each other and neither is time trying to hurt us. But the activity of the boys in the card is a relentless barrage, and so is the human experience of time. It can be as spirited or as gentle as we can manage to make it, but it is relentless nonetheless. This is an important lesson. If you drop your wand, time may beat you down. It might hurt you without meaning to. It neither wants to hurt nor heal, it just wants to keep whacking away. How you take the whacks is up to you.

Something clever and new: Lenormand Daily Draw

What is happening to me today?

LoScarabeo Lenormand Oracle

AM 7.22
Key theme: learning, education, secrets
Prediction: 1) I will learn something clever that I can pass up to someone higher. 2) A sneaky secret will be revealed that I feel must be shared upward.

PM 21.43
Accuracy: Low
What happened in relation to the cards: There were several interesting things that could literally fulfill these cards. The first thing I did was quickly timetable the reading list for a book group and send it to central office. Then a junior member of staff came to me to let me know she had taken initiative to weed/tidy the fiction section. A few other things caught my attention during the day, but now I can't remember them all. The upshot is, though, even though the cards played out literally, I'm still not sure how I could have seen it in them ahead of time.

These trial and error attempts are probably pretty boring. I'll only throw them into this blog occasionally. :)

Don't feed the plant!

Chloe's post today about Life Purpose, based on the 7 of Coins, led me to ask what the 7 of Coins has to say to me today.

Using my new Crystal Tarot (Trevisan), I shuffled the deck and searched out the 7 of Coins, then laid it out with the card before it and the card after it:

Left: What seeds am I watering in my life right now? -- Knight of Cups
Right: What seeds should I watch for opportunities to water today? -- 8 of Swords

Crystal Tarot, Elisabetta Trevisan

Lately I've been watering seeds of the Knight of Cups. He is one who believes very fervently that there is a Purpose to Life! He is extremely passionate about it, in fact, he's almost all passion. But it's not Wands passion, not an energetic, goal-driven mission, but a more romantic, idealistic, meandering and capricious kind of passion. Of all the knights in the tarot deck, he's the man to send forth with only the instruction, 'Go find a quest and fulfill it.' He's unlikely to ask, 'Well, what am I looking for, and more importantly, why should I listen to you?'  He is the most likely to believe there is such a thing as The One True Soul Mate, as well, and is the most likely to engage in a short, vague search, then a long, long time mooning and emoting about not having found it. The Knight of Cups even thinks there is some sort of noble beauty to a life spent on a quest for a prize that he has no clear idea of,  nor any notion what he might do with it once he finds it. His subsequent breast-beating and hair-tearing can become a show performed for his own gratification, something he can wallow luxuriantly in and label his 'Dark Night of the Soul.'

UK Tarot Conference 2012

Yesterday was the 2012 UK Tarot Conference in London and what a packed day it was! I absorbed so much information -- I'm going to try to hit the high points here so I can look at them more closely later. Feel free to skim if it gets tedious!

Bringing Tarot Alive by Tiffany Crossara

Tiffany did not present us with a lot of historical knowledge about the Fool. Instead, she turned up dressed in a Fool costume, led us in a brief brainstorm about the qualities of the Fool, and then a rather longish meditation session, the gist of which was to imagine going to a wardrobe and taking out a Fool costume and putting it on. (My Fool costume consisted of tights with a diamond pattern of white, green and yellow, sparkly red tap shoes, and a long, gauzy purple tunic with pointy tails that trailed down to just above my knees and ended in gold bells. It had poet sleeves and cuffs that extended over the hands. My Fool's hat was a gold crown that extended up and out in misty tendrils and on each was a tiny bell, like something you might see in Shadowscapes Tarot.) We then were meant to imagine jumping off the cliff, then to wake up and actually get up and move around the room. As this was the first exercise and we'd had no ice breaker, I found this awkward, and so seemingly did many others because we moved a bit more like shuffling zombies than 'Fools exploring the space'. Tiffany asked us to stop and examine the nearest person and give the impression we get of their energy in the form of Major Arcana, Minor and Court cards. I was told I am the Hanged Man, Emperor and Hierophant. (Can't remember now my minors and courts, though one woman said I had 'page energy'. Hmph)

Lenormand Draw: French Cartomancy (Work spat)

This one surprised me with how quick it happened.

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo 

AM:  6.30
Key card: House
Prediction: An argument at home, about work.

Puzzling. Why would we argue about work? I frowned at the cards and left them lying in front of the PC.

Accuracy: HIGH
What happened in relation to the cards: Then at 7.40ish AM, I'm in the kitchen making my lunch. Hubby comes in, rumbling through fridge, muttering about buying a salad. We have minor sharp words about why he waits until he's walking out the door to even start looking for something. I end up giving him half what I'm making for myself. He leaves the room and it dawns on me, whoa! We just had the argument. So I have to run to the loo and wait for him to come out to show him the cards and tell him our spat was predicted. Ha ha Now he's gone, I've got 20 minutes before I have to go, but needed to throw this up here to share.
Observation: It seems to me the more you overthink the cards, the less accurate they are. Just go with what it literally seems to be saying to you right off the bat.