Bubbly Friday

It's Friday at last. Hooray! Glad to see the weekend ahead, and so I have the 7 of Cups card this morning. We have a pretty blonde faerie surrounded by lush greenery, flowers and each cup has a little burst of effervescence hovering over it. So many choices, and all of them looking good. So many opportunities for happiness. 'The gates of happiness open to her and she is filled with joy,' according to the companion book. I'm certainly filled with joy at the prospect of two days of freedom and rest.

So that's it for the Nathalie Hertz Faerie Tarot this week. What did you think of it? For me, like many faery decks, and many other themed decks, I found several cards annoying off track from the traditional meanings I associate with them. But it isn't off enough that I will get rid of this deck. At least not for now! I think it is a very colourful and attractive deck, and I enjoy looking at it and playing around with it, though I'd almost certainly never choose it for a serious reading.

Have a great weekend!

He's bad, he's bad, shum on

Wow! Look at this guy from the Faerie Tarot. Now he's a devilish devil. :) Nathalie Hertz says he is a 'rascal and a joker demon' who enjoys food, material goods, parties and pleasures of the flesh. She goes on to say that he is a generator of 'creative and life-producing forces'.

Well, okay. So she's got a revisionist way of looking at the Devil card. That's fine. Her divinatory meaning is 'power and psychic energy, charisma, magnetism, audacity, success, fulfilled desires, unbridled sexuality' and the list goes on. Clearly she is a fan.

I take a more a traditionalist view of the Devil card. He is intensely interested in the flesh and the pleasures thereof, but his motives are not in our best interest, and giving in to his 'charisma and magnetism' will lead to no good for us. This is a very 'Christian' interpretation, but I do think it is quite traditional and I often read the card this way. On the other hand, and this, too, is in keeping with Christian tradition, the Devil has no actual power over us that we do not actually give him, and his temptations, charisma, magnetism and 'audacity' are all the weapons he has in his arsenal to lure us in. He is not difficult to escape. (As we see in the RWS image, in which the man and woman are chained, but their binding are quite loose and easy to slip). If we find ourselves bound to our temptations or anything negative, harmful or destructive, we can't blame the Devil. We've given our power over to those things, he hasn't done it. So when we do give in to temptations, we can't blame anyone but ourselves -- and we shouldn't blame, but recognize, and then slip our bonds to freedom.

What will I be tempted by, recognize and escape from today? How about you?

Well, Kirk does mean 'church'...

Today I'm working from home because I have a dental appointment. I have a lot to get done today, but being at home with no distractions will help.

I'm a bit nervous about the dentist, not because I'm afraid of needles (though I don't love them) but because it hurts to hold my jaws open for a long time. Oh well, the King of Wands tells me to buck up.

There's something very Shroud-of-Turin-esque about this King of Wands! He's got the flattened nose and prominent cheekbones, beard, mustache and long hair. He's even got the crown, though the King of Wands seems to have a crown of feathers instead of thorns. Still, very Christlike. I've never really seen a Christlike King of Wands. It's an interesting concept, and also a bit unexpected in a faery tarot. The King of Wands here has flaming wings, the truffula tree staff seen in all the wands cards in this deck, and walks through a rather bleak landscape, accompanied by a boar. The boar stands for courage. I like the king's green robes, decorated with gold swirls, and his blue mantle, though I would have thought such garb might be more befitting a King of Pentacles. I think the three red diamond shapes hanging from his belt are just embellishments - I can't think of any symbolic significance to them.

Overall, he's no James T Kirk, my go-to character for a quick guide to King of Wands qualities. Still, I hope I deal with my dental visit and my first day of using technology to work from home with his fortitude and creative problem-solving!

Singing in my pointy shoes

Faerie Tarot, Hertz

Yesterday was a good day at work. I had a one-to-one (called '121' or '1:1' by my employers) with my manager and we have begun to discuss a work plan for me. Then for the afternoon, I did actual work on the internal corporate website. Just plain rote work, but I felt like I was actually getting something done.

Today I believe I will continue in that vein. I've drawn the Page of Pentacles for today (and funnily enough, I've drawn a court card for every day this week!). The LWB to the Faerie Tarot says the Page of Pentacles represents 'application, thinking, study, desire to learn, new ideas; reliable colleague, an honest worker, intellectual work, earning money.' These are all fairly common interpretations of this card, and I agree with them. I don't really see how sitting and playing a lyre on a hillside gives any hint to these meanings, though. I wonder what is the point of having an illustrated card if the illustration doesn't give a good indication of the meaning. Surely it would be easier for the student of the deck if you just used plain pips, so they could examine your LWB without ideas brought about by the card illustration? My first reaction to someone sitting on a hillside playing the lyre to the birds would be of someone quite emotional and artistic, not someone like the Page of Pentacles who would rather be examining the bird's feathers or grubbing around in the grass trying to figure out how the root system works.

Got a dentist appointment tomorrow - apprehensive!

Whoa, mule

Faerie Tarot, Hertz

I've been seeing these TV ads for years, featuring glamorous models whose eyes bleed when they apply eyeliner, and a voiceover saying something like, 'If your eyes were bleeding you wouldn't ignore it. Bleeding gums when you brush your teeth is not normal.' It's an ad for a product called Corsodyl. After my tooth breaking on Saturday, I found myself paying attention to this ad, and made a note to buy this stuff on Sunday, which I did.

I followed the directions on the back of the bottle. Swill in the mouth for 1 minute and spit out. While I was swilling, I was a bit alarmed to read on the bottle that it said to avoid contact with bleached clothing. What the what?? And the stuff was burning like fire, too. I dutifully waited one minute to spit it out.

Ten minutes later my tongue felt like I'd scalded it in boiling water, so I started googling this product. I went to the NHS website and other reputable-looking sources of information. Turns out the active ingredient can cause allergic reactions, such as swelling of the salivary glands. It can cause intense burning sensations. If you get it on bleached fabrics, it can stain them brown (the bottle of course never mentioned brown). It can also STAIN THE TEETH BROWN, and after a course of treatment you may have to go to the dentist to have them cleaned. You what?? No way. I went and poured the rubbish down the sink and continued to read. I felt like an idiot for buying something based on an advertisement. I never do that.

I'll call the dentist today from work (since he's finally OPEN) and when I go to see him to get this pesky tooth fixed, I will ask him about spitting blood when brushing teeth as well. I've had a bit of blood in my spit for years...I mean YEARS. But it's just a bit and some days there isn't any, so you know, you just ignore it. Until something happens.

The Knight of Swords can throw himself rather headlong into things, particularly things which he considers a righteous cause. However, his impulsiveness can cause him to commit errors, create more problems for himself, if he's not careful. Which is exactly what I did. I'm just glad I didn't remain Knight of Swordsy about it and carry on valiantly in the face of burning sensations, charging forward in the face of pain and instincts of retreat. The Knight of Swords on this card seems more to be picking his way through the snow on a decidedly reluctant-looking steed (giving his rider a backward glance that is full of 'what the heck are we doing out here' attitude) than charging off the side of a cliff. Good good.

Tooth Faerie?

Yesterday I broke one of my teeth in half on a stupid Snickers bar. I swear, getting old sucks. (It was the same tooth that had a big filling in it that a small bit broke off a year or so ago. The dentist filled it, but I guess there was not much enamel left, because a different hunk has come off it this time. I believe the root is still quite healthy, though.) Fortunately it didn't hurt and still doesn't hurt, but of course as it happened on a Saturday, I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to even phone the dentist, and this is not the best timing with my new job and so on. Typical! So I thought I'd do a reading on it, and just asked, 'What's going to happen with this tooth?' I drew three cards and decided to keep them reversed and just use the card meanings straight out of the Faerie Tarot LWB to see what Nathalie Hertz would say about it.

I've drawn the Strength card, which is my year card for 2014, so I'm thinking this is a 'character-building' exercise for me this year. Ha ha. I think it also shows that I will deal well with what happens -- I hate the dentist, and it's not because they hurt me. It's because I have really incredibly tight jaws and sitting and holding my mouth open for so long for them to do dental work causes my jaws, where they hinge, to burn, ache and cramp up. I mean, it really bloody hurts, and I usually have tears running out of my eyes and into my ears during the process -- not from crying, but the involuntary tears of tremendous effort. I am not looking forward to that.

Now the cards that interest me are the reversals:

Two of Pentacles reversed is 'unforeseen expenses, evasions, financial problems, unpleasant letters' according to the LWB. Well, I can see which interpretation to go with for emergency dental work! I looked at the dentist's website and a crown (which is what I'll probably end up having) starts at £300. Yay.

And finally, Two of Wands reversed is unusual. Hertz gives the upright 2 of Wands an unusual interpretation of stagnation and indecision (though to be fair I have seen it as a crossroads card in other decks). In the reversed position, she says it is 'better, announc(ing) innovation, hope and surprises, great happiness, changes, a possible miracle.' Well! So at least the outcome of the dental work won't be negative. But I wonder at the possibility of a 'miraculous' dental experience. Maybe I'll have an out of body experience...pfft.

The Page of Wands questions, and I question this Page of Wands

It's Sunday -- yay! Another day off work. I am going to find it easy to get used to having every Friday and Saturday off. And every bank holiday weekend, I'll get the full thing. That will be nice.

sample with full border

You may have noticed that I've trimmed some border from these cards from the Faerie Tarot (Nathalie Hertz, US Games 2008). I found that there were just too many borders on the deck and all the colours distracted me from the image. At left is a sample of the Ace of Pentacles, just so you can see. Originally there was an extra band of colour, picked up from some splash of colour in the image of the card (in the case of the example, hot pink) and used as a border, going paler at the bottom where the title is printed. I found these bands of colour drew my eye outward, away from the main image, and within the image, focused the eye on the colour detail. So in the Ace of Pentacles here, it drew too much attention to the pink mountains in the background. In the Page of Wands, too much attention to the yellow wings. (Although that's the only 'fiery' element I see in the image, so maybe in that instance it was a good thing).  Also they made the cards a less manageable size. So I cut the top and sides off the cards and left the titles at the bottom. I do like them both ways, but I enjoy looking at them more and they're easier to handle without that outside colour bit.

Anyway, today is Page of Wands. I like this chap, but he doesn't look very Page of Wandsy. He's standing on a leaf, and it appears to be autumn, which rather mucks up my theory that the suit of wands is summer and pentacles is autumn...it also doesn't have much in common with the element of fire, which I associate with wands. Maybe wands is the autumn suit, then, which makes even less sense than pentacles being autumn. But never mind, let's just go with it. He's standing on a floating leaf, about him drift other leaves. He's wearing what might be the top of an acorn as a hat, and blowing a horn. Turning to the LWB, I find it is not very helpful at all:

'This imp looks toward the horizon as he passionately plays his long horn. His melody brings an important message: inviting us to take the road, to analyze a course in life. Playing skilfully, he embodies the potential of know-how. His goals are clarity and objectivity. The soft notes of the long horn can be heard beyond the fog. They make the dead leaves dance and inspire all to live peacefully. Divinatory meaning: An intellectual, well-disposed person, communication in letters, new ideas, creativity, integrity, reflection. Small journeys, international concerns. A loving and sincere partner.'

The LWB goes on a bit more, but you get the idea. Here's why I find it useless. He's the Page of Wands, a traditional bringer of messages, that I can go along with. But when has the Page of Wands' goal ever been clarity and objectivity? When has he ever meant skill, or an intellectual, well-disposed person? And why is he surrounded by dead leaves? The Page of Wands is full of enthusiasm and strong views, true he's bright but he's more into arguing and debating and more about hubris and playing devil's advocate than 'inspiring to live peacefully.' He's the student who is always challenging the teachers with questions they can't answer and always asking 'Why?' or 'Why not?' He's not playing the pipes of peace in a freaking autumn fog.

Beginning to remember why I seldom use this deck.

And why is this thing called 'Faerie Tarot' and then throughout the LWB, every instance of the word is spelled 'fairy'?

Pfft.

Slumber on

Faerie Tarot by Nathalie Hertz, US Games 2008

I know I keep banging on about how tired I am but get this. Last night I fall asleep on the sofa at 9.00. I wake up at 1.30 am and have a cookie and take a bath, get to bed at 2.00 am. I sleep a little but start to wake up around 3.00. I get up at 3.18. I read a book, piddle around online, go back to bed at 5.20 am. I get up again at 6.30 am. What the heck!

So I'm glad to see that today's card from the Nathalie Hertz Faerie Tarot shows that I will be able to take it easy and rest today. I definitely feel a nap coming on.

I like this card, with the little faerie all curled up asleep, her crazy little toes pointing every which way and the truffula trees standing guard in the background.

It's been awhile since I used this deck, but I think it's
spring - cups
summer - wands
autumn - pentacles
winter - swords,
which makes pretty good sense, even though I always look upon the suits as wands, cups, swords, pentacles, and that is the traditional order. It's more traditional, I think, to have the suits correspond to elements rather than seasons. But that's me being rigid, and faerie decks aren't known for being traditional!

So anyway, the gal's asleep and hopefully so will I be at some point today. Or at least solidly asleep for 8 hours or so tonight.

Week in Review: Faerie Tarot

Eh, I'm fed up of Lenormands right now, let's look at something different today. How about a week in review using a tarot deck?

Faerie Tarot, Natalie Hertz, US Games 2008

Now, what a colorful deck, I really like this one. I trimmed some of the outer borders off the cards because I thought there was just too much distraction in their original form, and I quite like the effect. I haven't used this deck nearly as much as I ought to, it's actually really quite charming. 

The Faerie Tarot: New Deck Exercise

I don't like new deck interview spreads. I find them contrived and silly. But I do like a technique I found on Aeclectic Tarot called 'Balancing the Moment.'  You go through a new deck and identify your most favourite and least favourite cards, and read the shadow meaning for your most favourite, and the upright meaning for your least favourite.

I thought I'd try this technique out on my new Faerie Tarot by Natalie Hertz, US Games 2007. The kit consists of box with slip sleeve in which nestles a tuck box containing the deck and a Little White Book. A fold out spread poster of the ubiquitous Celtic Cross is included. To be quite frank, I'd have been happier with just the tuck box. In my opinion, there is too much packaging in tarot decks. It's a waste of resources, a waste of storage space, and makes the deck more expensive than it might otherwise have been. Does anyone use those spread posters they include in these sets? Or those dreadful organza bags? I don't know.