The ferryman!

Today's card is the 6 of Swords. It's Air of Air, which probably explains why I feel a bit spaced out today. (That and the fact I only slept 4 hours last night). 

I don't want this card today. I don't welcome it. I associate it with bad times and pain, with slinking away after troubles but carrying all the crap with you, inside your head. Air of Air could certainly represent overthinking, dramatising, catastrophising, and all those other '-isings' so beloved of Albert Ellis in his REBT writings. 

I also associate this card with an 80s song, 'Don't Pay the Ferryman.' 

It was late at night on the open road
Speeding like a man on the run
A lifetime spent preparing for the journey

He is closer now and the search is on
Reading from a map in the mind
Yes there's the ragged hill
And there's the boat on the river
And when the rain came down
He heard a wild dog howl
There were voices in the night (don't do it)
Voices out of sight (don't do it)
Too many men have failed before
Whatever you do

Don't pay the ferryman
Don't even fix a price
Don't pay the ferryman
Until he gets you to the other side

In the rolling mist, then he gets on board
Now there'll be no turning back
Beware that hooded old man at the rudder
And then the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared
And people calling out his name
And dancing bones that jabbered and a moaned
On the water

And then the ferryman said
There is trouble ahead
So you must pay me now (don't do it)
You must pay me now (don't do it)
And still that voice came from beyond
Whatever you do

Don't pay the ferryman
Don't even fix a price
Don't pay the ferryman
Until he gets you to the other side

The ferryman always seems an ominous figure, the huddled shapes of what we assume is a woman and her child trustingly presenting him with their backs as he poles them across the water. I wonder if they paid the ferryman already and what that could mean about their chances of getting to the other side?

I know it's a 6, and a 6 has good connotations, but I don't like this card. I've never liked it. At best it looks like cutting your losses and refugeeing out of turmoil, and at worst it feels like heading into the unknown with a stranger at your back who has the distinct upper hand. And I really do not want this card today. 

So I'm going to shuffle it back into the deck and walk out into the beautiful blue and go buy some veg. 

Visual cues vs attributions in 2 of Wands

Original Rider Waite Tarot 

Today I've drawn a card that can often be puzzling. The figure in 2 of Wands stands atop what appears to be a castle, holding a globe and a staff. Behind him,  a second staff is mounted to the wall (see the mounting attaching it there?) The figure looks out toward the sea over a harbour town. To me, he looks like a merchant contemplating trade. That's what it's always looked like to me, and I always tend to associate it with business, planning, ambition, etc. And yet when we look at elemental attributions, 2 of Wands is Water of Fire (along with 5 of Wands, 8 of Wands and Queen of Wands).

What is the 'Water' of 'Fire'? Well, Fire is of course passion and drive. What could be the 'watery' aspect of Fire? Water is all about emotion and relationships, so based on elemental attributions, this card should point to passions and drive that extend beyond the self to other people, and their passions and drives. The Water of Fire personality might take on roles such as conflict resolution, moderator, crisis counsellor, trauma counsellor, a Samaritan volunteer, trained listener, and have assertive empathy/insight.

Looking at the card and thinking of those elemental attributions, you'd rather expect to see other people depicted. And yet, the figure stands alone above the town, looking out to sea. The action of looking out to sea has always tended to represent contemplating the 'rest of the world' or the 'vastness' of the world. To drive that point home, the figure literally holds the world in his hand.

This comparison of visual cues vs attributions is interesting, and when we incorporate the meaning of the number 2 into the elemental attribution, we also start to see aspects of duality, balance, cooperation, choice, yin and yang...and 2 + Fire = a choice that must be made about what action to take, because Fire is also the element of action. So the 2 of Wands points to thinking about how what you do impacts others -- those closest to you (the village) and the rest of the existence -- everyone else in the world (out to sea), and even the planet itself (the globe).

If I go by just the picture, my reaction is that the figure is dressed like a wealthy merchant, and as trade routes, especially those that led to great wealth, were by ship, his looking out to sea holding a globe logically represents planning his 'world domination' (even if in reality that just means becoming the wealthiest man in his small shipping village). This would lead me to interpret the card as something to do with business ventures, plans, marketing or whatever, and any of those could be perfectly valid readings of this card, but then there are occasions when a card turns up and your initial associations based solely on visual cues don't quite make sense. You've asked about how to deal with your monster-in-law and the 2 of Wands turns up. So what? Are you supposed to go into business with her? Focus on work or your own goals and ignore her? Not necessarily. This is where elemental attributions and numerology can add depth and solve those mysteries left by 'intuitive' meanings (which are really just your personal associations with or reactions to an image).  Using attributions, you see that maybe the card is advising you to consider things from your monster-in-law's point of view, or to take a more 'global' perspective on the situation. Maybe it's asking you to consider the effect that your little war with your monster-in-law could be having on everyone else around you, and on your future. That sort of thing.

Today is my wedding anniversary, and taking a broader perspective on how my actions affect others is a good theme for today.

Slow and steady and a wary eye

I have a warning today not to splash out, from 4 of Pentacles from the Original Rider Waite Tarot.

Four is the number of stability and Pentacles is the suit of element Earth. The 4 of Pentacles is Fire of Earth, (along with Ace of Pentacles, 7 of Pentacles, and King of Pentacles). It represents seeking shelter, structure and safety for our physical bodies and material wealth. It is a fierce defender of the status quo.

The card advises me to keep my head down today. Don't take risks in the Earth realm. I should be careful with my money, probably check my accounts just to make sure, eat sensibly, take it easy with my back (which I did twitch day before yesterday, doing something as simple as leaning over to pick up something I dropped on the floor).

It is a day for taking no risks with myself, my stuff, or the routines of my life. Slow and steady and a wary eye. (That doesn't sound very 'fiery', but for Pentacles, it is the essence of life, so yeah!)

I can do that.

Oh you better watch out - King of Swords

Well, look who turns up again today. This time I actually drew from the Original Rider Waite Tarot Deck. (The image I was referring to as Original yesterday must have come from a PCS deck. I googled it.  I'd forgotten the brown coloration of the Original. Pardon the scan, my mac and I don't see eye to eye on things).

The King of Swords has the elemental affinity of Fire of Air. The other Fire of Air cards are Ace of Swords, 4 of Swords and 7 of Swords. The Fire of Air personality has a passion for what is 'right', and puts his or her principles before everything, including relationships. The King of Swords in particular tends to be a confrontational skeptic, a crusader against injustice, and so might become a class action lawyer, political theorist, ideological apologist, or take on the role of spokesperson for a particular cause.

He holds the sword in his right hand, the hand that corresponds to the left hemisphere of the brain, which is dominant in language, perception of facial expression, body posture and linguistic functions such as tone of voice, pauses, stress, and rhythms of speech (known as 'prosody'). In other words, the King of Swords can read you like a book, as soon as you stand before him and open your mouth.

He sees you when you're speaking,
he knows what you don't say,
he knows when you've been bad or good
 so be circumspect for goodness' sake

... or something like that.

Anyway, I've drawn the King of Swords two days in a row, so what's he saying to me?

'Oh, you better watch out,
You better be sharp,
Don't let anybody keep you in the dark,
The King of Swords
Is telling you now.'

King of Swords - where did those butterflies come from?

Radiant Rider-Waite Tarot 

The King of Swords is my astrological correspondent, apparently. Aquarius is King of Swords. Let's take a look at him.

He sits on a black and white throne engraved with a sort of inverted triple moon -- but instead of a full moon in the middle, there's a butterfly. Beneath that, two more butterflies. Beneath that, just behind his left shoulder, what appears to be some sort of dancer in the clouds. I don't tend to associate the King of Swords with butterflies or dancers, to be honest. I wonder how they got there. Funnily enough, I never noticed this before in all the years I've used RWS. Let's take a closer look at the original...yep! There it is! Big and bold as life. Actually, that 'dancer' is rendered in more detail in the Original RWS. It's actually a couple, facing us, looking toward the King's head, and the figure in front is pointing. Interesting.

Original RWS

I wonder why the birds in the sky were left out of the Radiant image. I wonder why the King's foot isn't visible. I wonder why his perch on the edge of the promontory is given so much more emphasis in Radiant, and why the Radiant cloud formation looks more like it has a hole in it than the rendering in Original RWS. Maybe no reason. But that hole really catches my eye, and doesn't lend King of Swords good associations!


All these variations could impact the way we read this card. The King in Radiant looks more isolated to me. Without the birds, there is less movement in the card. He appears 'higher' in the scene in Radiant than in Original RWS, more set apart from it. Also, in Radiant, the top of his throne is seen, whereas it goes off the top of card in Original -- this seems to bring him forward a bit in Original, but makes him more static in Radiant, to my eyes. His foot peeping out gives him more a feeling of leaning toward the viewer, whereas having them tucked under the robe in Radiant makes him seem more closed off. Finally, the face in Radiant has a glassy stare, whereas in Original, his eyes seemed cast to the side as if in thought. These are all very subtle cues that will play on the subconscious of the reader and could render quite different results, depending on the sensitivity of the reader to visual cues. (Plus I just prefer the Original, which probably explains why instead of talking about the King of Swords, I've ended up comparing Radiant to Original RWS!)

Well, I'm emerging today here on the blog, a bit like a butterfly (and I did use a butterfly as a logo for a few years, now that I think about it), and I've analysed a card in a King of Swords sort of detachment. So not entirely out of step for today.

Can you believe I have to work today? Sunday working. Oy.

A Birthday Reading: The Cygnus Spread

Caitlin Matthews offered me this Cygnus Spread as an option for a birthday reading, as yesterday was my birthday. Here's my reading using Caitlin's spread with the Original Rider Waite Tarot:

The cards are laid out from left to right in a line of 7, then card 8 is laid above and card 9 below. The first three cards are the past, fourth card is the 'blessing', last three cards are the future. Card 8 is where you're navigating, and card 9 is how you're steering.

The spread moves in this way: Emperor - 6 of Swords - Ace of Cups - High Priestess - Ace of Swords - 10 of Cups - Strength. I am navigating toward 9 of Cups and steered by 9 of Pentacles.

Something's happened in the recent past to break open my heart, to move me from a place of rulership and dominance to a more vulnerable, open and receptive state. (This process is not finished.) The blessing of this is beginning to learn when to speak, and when to keep still. It is a knowledge that some lucky folk seem to automatically have. Others of us have to acquire the skill through hard practice.

The future holds a decision to create a happy home through this softer approach. On a more mundane level, it denotes the decision to buy a house, and suggests a strong outcome. (Good news!) The Strength card does face in toward the spread, toward the 10 of Cups, suggesting closure and completion of that particular sequence of cards. I hope that means we really will buy a house this year. I am steering toward self-satisfaction, and navigating by my personal definition of 'domestic tranquility'.

I notice that four of the figures in the spread face us, looking square at us, and not at the spread itself. This to me signifies growing self-awareness. I have become aware of my Emperor-like qualities, and more significantly, the vertical line down the middle of the spread consists of forward facing figures: 9 of Cups - High Priestess - 9 of Pentacles. 'Nine heralds change,' as the saying goes, so 'changes in love, family and friends,' and 'changes in money, wealth, means and ends' both stem from the mysterious lady in the centre, who reads from her book of wisdom and plumbs the depth of her insight. I've certainly learned a lot over the last couple of years, and have a lot more to learn, there's no doubt about it. Some things that were secret came to light, and nothing will ever be the same.

If we mirror the cards in the wings of the cygnus, I can see more transitions: from iron rule to interplay, from retreat to joy, from emotionalism to determination.

In summary, my birthday spread confirms where I've come from, the coping strategies I employed that were not very helpful. It suggests I have gained some insight as a result of these experiences, and that the course I now steer is one that may lead to greater happiness and fulfillment. All in all, quite a positive selection of cards.

Divination 3 x 3 x 3

My friend Chloe at Inner Whispers has done a You Tube in which she shares her three favourite divinatory tools and invites us to do the same: tarot, oracle, Lenormand/other. After much deliberation, I have selected my 3 x 3 x 3. Here they are in random order:

Top Three Tarot Decks 

1986 Blue Box Thoth Tarot

My journey with the wonderful Thoth Tarot has been chronicled on this blog. If you look on the right side bar and click on 'One Deck Wonder: Thoth' you can read all about it.

I have three copies of this deck. My first copy was the small purple box Thoth, purchased for a workshop at a TABI Tarot Convention. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear the presenter (she wasn't on mike) and the people around me all had a negative reaction to the deck, which reinforced my perception of it as cold and unreadable.

When I at last decided to confront my fear and distaste for the deck, I made a commitment to using it exclusively for a time. I did all my blogging with it, my personal readings with it, and my client readings with it. I tried to ready Crowley's guidebook, The Book of Thoth, but found it impenetrable. I bought Tarot: Mirror of the Soul by Gerd Ziegler, but even with my limited knowledge, I knew his was an idiosyncratic and unhelpful take on the deck. Finally, I found Lon Milo DuQuette's book Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot and I was on my way.

If this were the only tarot deck in the world, it could easily keep you busy for a lifetime.

Yellow Box The Rider Tarot Deck 

Edward Arthur Waite and Pamela Colman Smith created what is now the classic tarot deck, and it is available in all sorts of colorations. There are clones (exact same images but with lines and coloring revised) and their are 'RWS-based' decks (too many to count! - Druidcraft, Anna K Tarot, Hudes, Aquarian, just so many). But when I have a tough question or am reading for a client and want to be able to answer clearly and confidently, the old standard yellow box Rider is just the ticket. Could not do without it.

Morgan Greer Tarot (US Games 1979)

This deck is special to me because it was the third deck I ever bought. It is a RWS-based deck, notable in its day for being borderless. It is the deck I turn to even before my yellow box Rider (or other RWS clones). It's not particularly beautiful, but I like it. The backs have no relation to the fronts in style or coloring and not reversible, but I like it. It's full of mustachioed men like something from 'The Joy of Sex', but I like it. It's a workhorse of a deck, shuffles like a dream, I've had it from the start and I like it.

(Honorable Mention: Druidcraft
I have Druidcraft and I used it a lot for years, but I hardly ever pick it now. I won't get rid of it though. However, I hardly ever use it so I can't really say it's a favourite.)

Top Three Oracles
I have to be honest and say most of my oracles were bought either to use as altar decorations or just totally on a whim. I do occasionally use a few of them for divination and here they are:

Morgan's Tarot (Morgan Robbins)
Read my introduction to this fabulous oracle here: 10,000 Words in a Cardboard Box. And it gives wonderful readings such as this: Have you ever been Biff Tannened?

I love this deck. Here are a few of my favourite cards:

Teen Oracle (Cinnamon Crow Dixon)

I learned about this oracle from Steven Bright of Tiferet Tarot. It is a very straightforward deck when you just want an answer. Black and white images with red text give it a 'you can't ignore me when I'm being this literal' feeling, and cards are simple as: Stop, Speak, and Relax.



Oracle of the Shapeshifters (Lucy Cavendish and Jasmine Becket-Griffith)

I may be the only person in the world who actively dislikes the artwork of Jasmine Becket-Griffith. I do not like these cards. I don't like any of her work. I do not like these bug-eyed, button-nosed, big-headed girls who like aliens suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome. BUT...Lucy Cavendish must be some sort of world-class witch because I have never used a more uncannily accurate oracle. For me, the book is indispensable. The cards are useless without it, and in fact, I often don't bother with the cards but just use the book, opening it at a random page instead of drawing from the deck.


Lenormand and other 
I do not use any 'other' types of divination, having given up dealings with runes, crystals, herbalism, and such like. I'm pure cartomancy these days. Here are my three favourite Lennies and 'other':

Esmeralda Lenormand

I didn't even know about this deck; it was a gift from a friend, and has become my favourite Lenormand. I use it for all my client readings and it is my go-to for my own personal Lennie readings as well. I love the rich colours and textures, and the little prompts and icons. All the information you need is right there on the card, and when laid out in a grand tableau, they look like a glorious patchwork quilt.



Titania's Fortune Cards
This was my first Lenormand, before I had even heard the word 'Lenormand'. If you buy it, ignore the companion book. It bears no relation to any traditional Lenormand system and will only confuse you. (I actually threw mine away.) They have a crazy, 'flashing colour' thing going on with them, making them look like lurid photo negatives. You get a sort of tatwa thing going when you use them. Here's a draw I did with them: Lenormand Daily Draw.

Psycards

The Psycards are a set of 40 cards inspired by Carl Jung's work, and based on the principle of 'archetypes'. I used to have the book but I traded that set, then a few years later decided I wanted the cards back and bought the deck only. It's okay, the book is not really needed.

Here's a reading I did with Psycards: Emperor Energy -- Not Welcome Lately.




Well, that was exhausting. :)

I hope you enjoyed reading about my favourite decks. What are your faves? I'd love to hear! If you do a You Tube or write a blog, please link to it in comments below. :D

Tarot Wisdom: A Fool Reading for the New Moon

Original Rider Waite Tarot Deck, 1993

Tonight is the new moon, and it seemed like a nice time to try out Rachel Pollacks Fool Reading from her lovely book,  Tarot Wisdom (page 25).

Pollack explains that the Fool represents nothingness, complete freedom, the realisation that we are beyond all boundaries imposed by our various concepts of ourselves. Or rather, simply being beyond all boundaries, without knowing it. And 'Foolish behaviour' is  when we act as if there were no boundaries, unfettered by possibility or consequence.

I will reveal only as much of my reading here as I feel comfortable with. I'm sure you'll understand.