Satu's Tarot Diary

Closing the Blog

2011-12-23T00:54:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone.

Since I am no longer really on Second Life anymore I thought I should close this blog and create a new one which I would like to dedicate to my studies of the Tarot. The idea is that I will do exercises, sample readings, introduce spreads and look at single cards and their meaning. If you are interested...just follow me here:

Holding all the Trumps

I will leave this one open for a while longer and then delete it at some point.

Embarking on a Journey through my Fairy Tale Tarot (by Lisa Hunt)

2011-12-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

I have so many beautiful decks and I'd like to study some of them in greater detail with the help of the LWB (or not so little and not quite so white books) that come along with the deck. I recently stumbled over my Fairy Tale Tarot by Lisa Hunt and did some readings with it. Apparently the deck and me work quite well together but I will have to study the fairy tales behind the cards in detail in order to be able to work really well with the deck. So I'll be going through the deck and recording my results here.

If you would like to see the images, you can look them up at http://www.thefairytaletarot.com/ as I will only be able to post up to ten images from the deck here for copyright reasons.

Will be starting out with the first card: 0 Innocence (The Fool). Stay tuned.

Satu

Two-card reading for my son

2011-11-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

I asked two questions about my son. First I asked what his most prominent character trait was and drew "The Sun" and then I asked what he needs most from us and drew "The Chariot".

The Sun as a character cards shows that he is a friendly and lively personality, that he is trusting and confident and active and has a "sunny" disposition. So far that seems to be the case. The Sun also points to him having a strong ego. That, too is true as he's a typical Aries, strong-willed and stubborn. He's only 6 months old but you can already tell. If things don't go his way: "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" :D His ascendant is Leo, so there's a lot of fire in his zodiac, which also corresponds nicely with the "Sun" card.

The Chariot makes a lot of sense, too and I think it is a message for me especially. My son being very lively, curious and adventurous he has a lot of Chariot energy. The Chariot shows someone ready to go forth into a new life, a new phase and I think the crucial point here is that I need to allow him to do that. I'm a bit of a mother hen. I'm very careful and constantly worry and while I need to help and support him, guiding him, I need to slacken the reigns and allow him to go forth and make his own experiences. I know that will be very difficult for me and will probably remain a constant challenge. Let's just hope he doesn't want to take up motor gliding, parachuting or stuff like that.

New You Tube Tutorial (finally)!

2011-10-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Finally I got round to making another YouTube tutorial on the meaning of the Major Arcana (this time it's the Magician and the High Priestess) and one containing a sample reading with a special focus on the Magician. They are currently still uploading but they should be online by tomorrow at the latest.

Enjoy

Satu

Here's the link to my channel.

Daily exercise: Today you should avoid....

2011-05-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is another easy exercise that you can do and note down in your tarot journal. You just draw a card and complete the sentence "Today you should avoid...".

My card today is:

Legacy of the Divine Tarot. by Ciro Marchetti. © 2009, Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the publisher. Card images are protected intellectual property and may not be recopied or reused in any manner without written permission from the publisher.

The king of cups could actually stand for a person or for a quality in you that is not advantageous today. So there are two possibilities to complete this sentence.

Today you should avoid the advice of a sensitive, caring man as he is someone who is mostly led by his emotions and you need a level-headed person with a certain professional detachment to turn to for guidance.

Today you should avoid taking decisions following your gut feeling. It would be wiser to take your time and think things through properly.

"Today is a good day to" - draw

2011-05-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Here's an easy tarot exercise you can do every day even if you have very little time. You just draw a single card, look at it (you can look up the card meaning in the little white book if you are still insecure) and complete the sentence "Today is a good day to...".

It's best if you write it down in your tarot journal and later jot down some of the day's events so you can have a look how accurate your draw was or whether you should have picked up on a different idea represented by the card you drew.

Here's my card for today:

The card you can see here is the "Three of Coins" from the Legacy of the Divine deck (see entry below for copyright info). My sentence is:

Today is a good day to get some serious work done.

Resuscitating the blog: Daily Draw

2011-05-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

The two of wands shows a situation where you are somewhere "in between". You have two (or even more) options and have not decided where to turn yet. Often this means you are not quite content with your current situation and think there should be "something more". The important thing about this card is that it tells you that you have everything you need to achieve what you want. In this version of the card this is symbolised by the key that will fit the lock on either chest. In the RWCS version of the card the man on the card is holding the world in his hand while he gazes out at the horizon not realizing that he has already got it all.

This is the crucial lesson of this card. In order to get what you want you need to figure out what it is that you want and what will make you happy. As we all know that is not always as easy as it seems. Especially because we tend to feel we want something but often that something we have set our eyes on is not what we "really" want nor is it what will make us happy.

So this card reminds you to choose wisely and think about your goals and desires and then take the right steps to achieve them.

Pet peeves

2010-08-31T05:18:00.000-07:00

Last night in my tarot class I talked about how you can use the tarot for self-exploration and I suggested an exercise that I'd like to add to my blog. You can use either the full deck for this or just the Majors and you should jot down some ideas in your tarot journal as probably at a later stage your attitude may change and it's interesting to see how it does.

The idea is the following. Take some time to look at the cards and pick a card you particularly dislike or that you don't like coming up in a reading because it doesn't really "speak" to you. Which card makes you shudder or shrug? Is there a card that you find hard to interpret because it doesn't really mean much to you?

This card and its meaning can give you some valuable insights on yourself and issues you might have that you are probably not fully aware of. For me when I started doing readings one of my pet peeves was when the Hierophant turned up. I didn't really know what to say or how to read this card as it meant so little to me and I didn't like the Hierophant figure.

So I started exploring the card trying to find out why I just couldn't become friends with it. First of all it's the Rider-Waite rendition of it, this yellow-faced guy on the throne whose mask-like face doesn't show any emotion, the kneeling priests with their tonsure. He looked fake and waxen. Somehow this Hierophant spells "bigot" and "hypocrite" to me. Frozen in this formalized posture, sitting above his disciples, not looking at them. And in a way that pretty much sums up my associations with what I would call "organized religion". Scholars and priests who appear non-human, stern, joyless and out of touch with everyday life. Formal gestures and ritualistic behaviour seemingly counting more than genuine devotion.

It tells me a lot about my approach to religiousness. The zodiacal attribution of the card is Taurus, an earth sign. I was born on the cusp between Leo and Cancer with Cancer rising, lots of fire and water. I place a lot of emphasis on genuine emotion and passion. For me believing and being religious means actually feeling the presence of God, being able to touch, smell, feel, see, dance, taste, love "God". Religion is nothing formalistic for me. It needs to touch my heart. So I am very averse to the idea of there being strict rules, structures, dogmata.

On the other hand, I am and always have been a sceptic, a thinker, someone who lives inside their head a lot. If the Hierophant is Mulder, I'm Scully. He's the believer, I'm the one looking for rational explanations for the unfathomable. This also shows in my approach to tarot which is rather scientific.

Cards that you dislike or find problematic can tell you a lot about shadow aspects of your personality. Character traits, talents, fears, desires that you repress and do not like dealing with for reasons of past experience, education, moral beliefs etc. One of my major shadows is having trouble believing. I am a dyed-in-the-wool sceptic. I think, I second-guess, I mistrust, I double-check. Part of it is probably rooted in my upbringing and personal history. Both parents are university graduates. Mum used to be a teacher. In our family when we were sitting down to have lunch or dinner and anyone had a question like, "Why is it called... in the first place?" or "What's that writer's name again who wrote...?" someone would go fetch the a dictionary or encyclopaedia. It bugs me if there's anything I do not know. I value knowledge, education, curiosity, an enquiring mind, proper research. In that light of course subconsciously I think of "merely believing" as an inferior quality. Knowing is better than believing or hoping.

The other issue I have with trust and faith is that as a child my mother mistrusted me very much and I found that difficult to deal with. I remember one particular incident where my mother found my grandfather's violin that had been sitting in a closet in my grandparents' old bedroom in our house which my parents were occasionally using as a guest bedroom. The bow hair and one or two strings were ripped. She accused me of having played with it and broken it, which I denied. But she didn't believe me. That disappointed me very much and made me very angry. Much later when I thought about the incident I thought it was no wonder the string/s and the bow hair were broken because the room wasn't always in use and so the heating was usually off and only turned on when there were guests. So probably it was the extreme temperature changes in the room and the long time it had been lying there without care. In any event, I remember this clearly to the present day and I guess one of the behavioral patterns I took over from my Mum is to be generally mistrusting. People are crooks, children break things.

The trust issue is a recurrent motif in my life. In the past I have almost always been very badly disappointed whenever I trusted someone blindly. When I had faith in someone and stopped worrying and being sceptic and careful, most of the times I got a kick in the keister. As soon as I let them under my skin, lower my defenses...wham! That hurts. And you pick yourself up again a couple of times and you get there again...and again...and again. And sooner or later you remember the last words of Deepthroat (Not what you think! The guy on x-files!!): "Trust no one!". Or in other words: Trust is good, control is better!

So I'm having my issues with trust, belief and faith in a number of ways. No wonder I didn't like the Hierophant. So I tried to find qualities in the Hierophant that I admire or that I think could make my life better.

What I think I'm in awe of with the Hierophant is his ability to believe in something so deeply and trust in it so completely that probably not even all evidence to the contrary could sway him. Probably he does not ignore reality and the evidence there may be that what he believes in could be wrong but he is so firm and secure in his belief that it cannot unsettle him.

Once I said to one of my ex-boyfriends that my ideal partner was someone I could trust so completely that if I found a naked woman in our bedroom closet and asked him about it and he just shrugged and said, "I have absolutely no idea how she got there and I don't know this person!" that I'd believe him without the shadow of a doubt. I'm not sure there is any such person, anyone who deserves that level of trust, says the sceptic in me. The believer (who has a teeny tiny voice) pipes, "Yes, there is. If you only let him". They're still battling it out over my husband who I trust deeply even though my inner sceptic often throws in a "for now...until the opposite be proven".

Same with religion. I don't like dogmata and believe that spirituality and religion should free you and empower you, not chain you. On the other hand, I admire people who have a strong faith because it gives them guidance. Sceptic old me has to find it all out for herself apart from the occasional feeling of being "guided" or seeing signs. I find it very hard to communicate with my "guides" and to receive any clear messages because my inner critic and censor is very strong. So probably the Hierophant could teach me a lesson or two in believing and accepting higher forces.

Class again tonight

2010-08-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my holiday and will be teaching at Mystic Academy again tonight. The class takes place from 12 noon - 1 pm at Mystic Academy.

I'll be talking about the various uses of tarot in life and the many different possibilities there are in working with the tarot.

Some thoughts on Fortune

2010-07-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

While working on the appendix of my book where I'm compiling some keywords for every card from my notes I had a closer look on some of the cards again and there were some things I noticed about the Wheel of Fortune (i.e. simply "Fortune" in some decks).

The first thing was that decks differ on the notion whether or not the wheel turns by itself or is being turned by someone. Some decks show a figure turning the wheel (Like the Tarot of the White Cats/ Lo Scarabeo).

Yet other decks show the wheel as if it's turning all by itself like in the Rider Waite or the Thoth deck where there is no apparent initiator of the wheel's movement. It is either turning by itself or is moved by some invisible cosmic force. I turned to the historic decks to see what the original idea may have been and found a version of the card in two of the Visconti Sforza decks that was very similar to the Sharman-Caselli rendition of the Wheel.

In this version of the card the wheel also seems to turn by itself but at the centre of the wheel you see a blindfolded female figure (Fortune) who spreads her arms and appears to be holding the ascending and descending figures. She doesn't apparently turn the wheel but is unaffected by its movement and the blindfold suggests that she's indiscriminate as to who is on the ascending side and on the descending side. In another historic deck, the Tarot de Marseille, you see that there's a crank attached to the wheel just like in the Tarot of the White Cats but its end points out of the card's border so we cannot see who is turning it.

It probably is one of the major questions in life. Who or what is responsible for how our life plays out? Is our fate already laid out for us and we can only hold on and try to enjoy the ride as the somewhat cynical image in the Tarot of the White Cats suggests? Is there someone or something who plays cat and mouse with us? I'm not a great fan of that fatalistic view. I like to believe that we have a choice and that our thoughts, actions and attitudes can change the course of our lives and (ripple/butterfly effect) also the lives and fates of others.

Maybe it's just an illusion but I'm holding on to it unless anyone can prove me wrong.

This is one of the reasons why I do not use the tarot for actual "fortune telling". When you come to have a reading done you will see that what I talk about is mostly the present situation its possible outcomes, your options, possible pitfalls etc.

It's the age-old "anvil on your head" question I think I discussed here earlier. If I told my querent: "I drew the "Anvil on your Head" card for you. This means that in five minutes an anvil is going to drop on your head".

What would happen? It could be the querent takes my prediction seriously. They'd say, "Oh, geez, thank you, Satu" and step aside. The anvil drops and misses them. Now...was my prediction wrong?

It could also be they say, "Oh, geez, thank you, Satu", step aside and the anvil drops on their head anyway because fate anticipated their stepping aside. And you'd hear me say, "See? I told you so!". My predicition would be accurate but if it didn't serve to save the querent, why have the reading in the first place?

What could also happen is that they'd say, "Yeah, sure...an anvil. Right!" and laugh about my prediction. They stay seated and after five minutes they are still sitting there, no sign of the anvil. Question is...did that prove me wrong? Or did their fearless attitude perhaps in some way keep whoever dropped the anvil from doing so? We'll never know.

It's basically a question of how you perceive life. And I just like to believe that we choose our own path. There may be things or events we have little or no influence on, so "fate" does deal us a hand but it's still up to us to play it.

Some people even go so far as to believe that the hand fate deals us has been "chosen" by our immortal soul because the experiences that can be gained in dealing with these matters in corporeal form includes valuable lessons and experiences that are stepstones on the path to perfection. I'm not sure I believe that. In any event, I refuse to believe that we are not in control of our fates and that our future is already written in stone.

So I kind of like the idea of the Marseille wheel. There is a crank, yes. So there is a way of turning the wheel. But it is difficult to tell who's actually turning it. Maybe sometimes it's us, sometimes it's somebody or something else.

Another thing that occurred to me about the Wheel is the rotation. The further away from the centre of the wheel you are, the longer it takes for a full turn. When you imagine yourself close to the centre of the wheel you'll be turning a lot faster and the phases of ascending, descending, high point and low point will blend into one pretty much. When you take the "scenic route", sitting on the outside of the wheel, the phases of being "up" and "down" will probably be a lot more perceptible. For me that means, the more centered you are, the more you have found your inner core, the less external events and life's ups and downs will affect you and if you really find the centre, the movement will stop. Everything will turn around you and leave you totally unaffected. That is probably what "being in the moment" or "awareness" means. I think that state is one most of us are unable to reach but getting there is probably one of life's great secrets.

Cards:

All rights reserved. Used by permission of the publisher. Card images are protected intellectual property, and may not be recopied or reused in any manner without written permission from the publisher.

The Sharman-Caselli Tarot. by Giovanni Caselli and Juliet Sharman-Burke, Connections, 2005.

78 Sentences

2010-07-29T05:03:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on a book about Tarot and Creative Writing. I found the book "Tarot for Writers" by Corrinne Kenner and Arwen's blog, which are both very helpful but as far as I know there is nothing available in German so far.

That is one of the reasons I haven't been updating my blogs as regularly as I would have wanted to. I have been busy writing up a rough first draft which now has 102 pages.

I've been trying different methods suggested in Corrine's book or ideas I had to use Tarot for writing and, picking up on an idea Corrinne mentions in her book, I went through my entire deck of World Spirit Tarot cards and spontaneously wrote down the first sentence that came to mind when turning over the card. It's a fun thing to do and definitely something that can get you out of writer's block. If I remember correctly, Corrinne suggested writing a story from the 78 lines that you get. I would find that very difficult with my 78 sentences. However, I think some are maybe worth exploring further.

So I was thinking that might be a good exercise to do in a tarot journal. Just shuffle your deck (whichever deck you are using), put it on the table and turn over card by card. Then jot down a sentence for each single card. Try not to think about it too long. It doesn't need to sound good or be very original. Write down the first sentence that springs to mind. You can do the fine-tuning later if you so wish.

That way you'll have a list of 78 sentences to go with your current deck. Rather neat as I find some of them very revealing and most of them move away from the traditional LWB meaning/interpretation of the card. I quite liked it as it gives me some surprising insights into some of the cards. Moreover, I now have 78 sentences that I might try and use in stories.

If you want to use that exercise for writing what you could do is drawing a card at random, looking at your list and taking that sentence to be the first/last sentence of a story. You could also pick a number of cards and make it your goal to work the sentences you made up for those cards into a story.

Let me just give you a few examples of the sentences I wrote down looking at the cards. Of course I'll have to translate as I wrote them in German.

Ace of Pentacles: "Dang! Now I'll have to go up to the attic and dig for that ugly plate aunt Gertrud gave me. She'll expect me to put it on display".

Nine of Swords: "No! Go away! Just leave me alone!".

I think it's a neat exercise that manages to get you away from reciting book knowledge about the cards and that has you writing spontaneously. I quite like it though I still have my doubts that I could work my 78 sentences into a story. I suppose if you want to do that you'll need to take out some of the spontaneity and go sentence by sentence building up the story. I like the spontaneous version better though.

Dare you to write a story using the following sentences:

I can't believe it! I think we just struck oil! (Seeker of Cups)

I wonder what's keeping him so long, she thought (Nine of Pentacles).

She hadn't noticed that ring on his left hand before. (Seven of Wands)

The night was lit up by countless torches (Nine of Wands)

What an unbearably arrogant git! (Seer of Swords)

If you would like to see the images, you can have a look on Taroteca, the World Spirit Tarot is on there.

Images from:

The World Spirit Tarot. by Jessica Godino and Lauren O'Leary. © 2001, Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. 2143 Wooddale Drive. Woodbury, MN 55125. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the publisher. Card images are protected intellectual property, and may not be recopied or reused in any manner without written permission from the publisher.

Teaching at Mystic Academy

2010-07-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I started teaching at Mystic Academy. I'll be doing tarot classes there on a weekly basis. Every Monday from 12-1pm SLT I will be talking about tarot basics. I'm trying to keep the theory down as much as possible and do practical reading exercises whenever possible.

This week I'm going to talk about the second half of the Major Arcana and the role of the elements in the tarot.

Halfway there

2010-05-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today I received an e-mail saying that I passed the written exam by the First German Tarot Association, meaning that I only have to pass the oral exam now and I can call myself "Tarot Association Certified Reader". I'll try to arrange something for this summer. It's a bit complicated as there are no examiners in the direct vicinity but I'll have to go to Cologne to take the exam and I'll probably have to do that during the summer holidays so I have enough time to prepare.

I'm greatly looking forward to that though.

Tarot Class at Spirit Mountain

2010-05-19T13:12:00.001-07:00

Today's Tarot class at Spirit Mountain proved unexpectedly difficult as I was using voice in Viewer 2 for the first time and there is no longer the small "lock" icon next to the talk button. So at first I tried holding down my mouse button all the time which didn't work as I had to work my display board and flip my cards. Then I tried to turn to settings but as I don't have a "Middle Mouse" on my Macbook I didn't really know what to make of that either.

Eventually one of the people who were attending my class could help me. So I set the key for "toggle voice" to my "tab" key and then it worked fine. Phew.

Moreover, this was the first class I did without Corwin at my side, which felt awkward too as I had come to rely on his support and it was always a nice feeling to see him sit there in the audience. But I suppose I should remember what I am teaching that there's no use in trying to keep the Wheel of Fortune from turning, it only makes things harder. Things are what they are and it is not in my power to turn back time.

On the bright side, Niles could make it so there was a familiar face in the audience, too. The next class will be on the Minor Arcana and will take place on Monday 24th May, 12pm SLT. The third of my basic classes will take place on Monday 31st May, 12 pm SLT.

New Celebrity Tarot

2010-05-04T07:16:00.001-07:00

In my other blog I have been doing some celebrity readings and stuff and thought I'd copy my last entry from there as it might be interesting as I have linked numerology, astrology and the tarot:

Today I’m going to explain about the link between numerology, astrology and the Tarot. As an example, I will use Robbie Williams (or Robert Peter Williams).

According to Indian numerology, there are a couple of numbers that determine our lives and our character. For example there is the “psychic number” which is the checksum of the month you were born in and tells you something about the way you see yourself. It shows your talents and your basic character. For Robbie Williams, who was born 13th February, this number would be “2″. Its significance lessens the older you get and the “destiny number” becomes more important. In the Tarot this number would correspond to: II The High Priestess.

The destiny number is calculated by adding the single digits of the day, month and year of your birth. For Robbie Williams that would be:

1+3+2+1+9+7+4= 27 = 2+7 = 9

In the Tarot that would correspond to the card of IX The Hermit

Finally there’s the “name number”. You may have different name numbers as you are called differently by various people. So in the case of Robbie Williams his given name is “Robert Peter Williams” but most people know him as just “Robbie Williams”.

To calculate the name number you match each letter of the name with its value according to the following chart:

A-J-S =1 , B-K-T =2 , C-L-U =3 , D-M-V =4 , E-N-W =5 , F-O-X =6 , G-P-Y =7, H-Q-Z =8 I-R =9

Robert+Peter+WilliamsThen you add the values until you get a single digit number. For “Robert Peter Williams” that would be:

(9+6+2+5+9+2)+(7+5+2+5+9)+(5+9+3+3+9+1+4+1)=96=9+6=15=1+5=6

As there are 22 cards in the Major Arcana of the Tarot, any number between 1 and 22 will be all right, 22 being the fool. So here we get two cards we can attribute to the name: XV The Devil and VI The Lovers.

Astrologically he’s an Aquarius with Leo as his Ascendant and a Scorpio Moon. The sun sign stands for your personality, the Ascendant shows someone’s potential and the way you interact with others. the Moon Sign tells you something about their emotions.

Aquarius is attributed to the card: XVII The Star. Leo is attributed to the card: XI Strength and Scorpio is attributed to XIII Death.

Now what can we conclude about Robbie Williams from this numerological and astrological data and the Tarot cards associated with the numbers?

1. The Psychic Number: 2 “The High Priestess”

This reveals that there is a lot of sensitivity and also a strong feminine personality aspect. Underneath the cool exterior, there is a very vulnerable, sensitive and emotional personality. The High Priestess points to a person who feels that there is more to life than our rational mind can grasp and this person will probably be looking for this “something”, trying to find answers even with unconventional methods. This person would be highly emotional with good instincts and intuitions could be spiritually interested or even have a psychic streak.

2. The Destiny Number: 9 “The Hermit”

Whereas the High Priestess shows the starting point, the influence of the “Hermit” will grow especially from the mid-thirties onwards. It shows that this deep knowledge of there being “more” to life is still driving him. The Hermit stands for a path of transcendence, for someone on a mission. That mission is to find answers and to reveal the truth behind things. So as he grows older it is more likely that he feels discontent with having achieved material success and fame. It is likely that he wants to be taken seriously as an artist and that is more important for him than the actual fame and money. He is likely to take life more seriously as he grows older, to look for meaning and sense in other places than he used to. The Hermit also shows that he can be very solitary and retreat into himself, keeping things bottled up and trying to solve them on his own.

3. Name numbers: XV Devil and VI Lovers

The Devil hints at his tendency to do everything he does excessively and points to his drug and alcohol excesses just as well as to his affairs of the past. The Devil points to a charismatic, magnetic personality who has sex appeal but finds it hard to keep the right measure in what they do. These persons are likely to What is behind this is that he needs and wants to be loved for who he really is. It may sound corny but someone with the Lovers as their name card will be very dependent on what other people think of them. They need appreciation. They are also people who are driven more by their emotions than by their rational mind. They find it hard to make choices and decisions because they take them very seriously. Once they choose a path, commit to a cause or a person, they feel the need to stick with it. Therefore they might have a tendency to shy away from commitment until they are really certain it’s the right choice.

4. Astrology: XVII The Star; XI Strength; and XIII Death

The Star representing his sun sign stands for the eternal optimist, a person who believes that things will be all right in the end. It also points to “star qualities” in the literal sense, someone who sparkles and stands out. Strength represents the side he shows in interaction with others: there he is lively, full of energy and power, charismatic, outgoing and extrovert, a real stage hog who is very self-confident and not easily unsettled. These two make up a perfect cover and facade to hide his somewhat gloomy Scorpio moon. Death shows that he finds it difficult to deal with losses and letting go of things. It is not easy to upset or disgruntle someone with an Aquarius sun and Leo Ascendent but once you have managed for this person to hold a grudge against you, the Scorpio moon will cause him to remember that for a long time. With a Scorpio moon you don’t forgive and forget easily. Also there is a tendency for self-hatred and self-destructive behaviour which we can see in his drug career.

On the whole, if you throw all these qualities together, you get a very alluring mix. Someone with a magnetic personality, who is outgoing and lively but who has depth – and some darker qualities that sometimes add to a person’s appeal because a star without scandals and abysses would be boring very easily.

However, if Robbie manages to keep “Death” and “The Devil” in check, there is still room to grow. I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of him.

New Class in SL on 10th May

2010-05-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

I needed a bit of a break from duties in SL in order to get used to my new situation. As from next Monday, 10th May, I would like to take up my classes at the Open Air Theatre at Spirit Mountain again.

I'll be starting out with my 3 beginners classes again:

Tarot for Beginners I: The Major Arcana 10th May 12pm SLT

Tarot for Beginners II: The Minor Arcana 24th May 12pm SLT

Tarot for Beginners III: The Tarot Courts

and Reading Techniques 31st May 12pm SLT

I'll announce all my classes through my group and the Spirit World group, through Twitter and on SL Events.

Hope to see you there. :)

New Video Tutorials

2010-04-27T10:12:00.001-07:00

Today I uploaded two tutorials on The Major Arcana.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAZI_ZqK3QI

New Video Tutorial

2010-04-19T10:19:00.001-07:00

To see it in better quality, perhaps it's best to watch it directly on youtube:

Daily Draw: The Star

2010-04-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

I asked my Legacy of the Divine deck for some advice today. The question was "What is important for me to know at the moment?". The card I drew was the Star.

The Star has always been one of my favourite cards and I especially like the Legacy of the Divine version because it incorporates imagery from another Major Arcana card, the Tower. You can see the a female figure clad in a sparkling, seethrough dresslike drape and a shining, helmet-like headdress dancing in a sparkle of stars above a lake or a river. Her movements look flowing and effortless. Over the palm of her right hand you see a bright star hovering as if she holds it. When you look at her hands closely she seems to be pouring out the smaller sparkles as if she's sowing stars. In the background you see the ruins of what you can clearly identify as the Tower from this deck. You can recognise the shape and the symbols of the four elements on the four supporting pillars. The remains of the tower must have been lying there for a while as they seem to be overgrown with plant life.

For me this card shows that there is hope even if what you thought was stable and solid has come tumbling down like the tower in the background of the card. It shows that in the difficult and dark times in our lives we need not dispair as there is the hope and the promise that things will improve. The lightness and ease with which the figure dances through the air over the skeletal remains of the broken-down tower is exhilarating. It shows a way of dealing with the major and minor crises in our life. When we are faced with dark times and there just is no sun shining for us providing light and warmth, we need to become the star that shines in the darkness. I am not an astronomer and you may correct me if I'm wrong about this but as far as I know the energy that makes a star shine is created in its core, so a star - as far as I understand it - shines from deep within. A ball of glowing plasma held together by immense gravitational forces.

So in order to shine and radiate we need a force that holds us together, something we can rely on - like gravity. This card ultimately leads to the question what forces or influences in our life "hold us together", keep us going, sustain us. What are things in our lives we can count on now in the times when everything we thought was safe and stable came falling apart. We can find this force nowhere but within our own selves. The towers that we build are all very nice but eventually fall victim to time and will be replaced by different - maybe even better - constructions. However, we should not come to rely on them too much as we need something that keeps us going if everything else in our lives fails.

The Star is the card that reminds you that indeed there IS a source of light buried deep within your own self and that you. It's a consolation to think that even though a lot has changed on the surface of our beautiful planet, when we look up into the night sky what we see is not so much different from what people saw decades or even centuries ago. There are things that are eternal and cannot be taken from you, no matter what.

Of course this also points to spirituality and the belief in a higher principle that we can trust in.

My first video tutorial

2010-04-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Here is my first ever video tutorial. My idea was to do some tutorials that really make you start from scratch, showing the first steps like buying the first deck, breaking it in, familiarising yourself with the cards, exercises, the card meanings etc etc.

I'll try to embed the youtube vids here hoping that it works. ;)

The Seven Sword Itch

2010-04-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

Cards by permission of Baba Studio, copyright Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov http://www.baba-store.com

Today I drew the Seven of Swords from my Victorian Romantic Tarot. The card shows a man who is dressed like a soldier walking away from a settlement in the background of the card. He is carrying three swords and a wooden chest is tucked under his arm. He is looking back over his shoulder, probably to see if anyone is following him. The sky looks as if it could be either dusk or dawn, most probably dawn, as if he's sneaking away before people in the houses you can see in the background wake up.

There is a sense of doing something forbidden here, the notion of feeling guilty and of not wanting to be detected. So often this card is interpreted to mean lying and cheating. I will try to have a closer look at the card today to find if more facets to it.

I'll write down some questions that pop into my head when I look at the card.

1. Why is the man looking over his shoulder to see if nobody is following?

2. If he has been stealing the chest and the swords, why did he do it?

3. Who did he take the chest and the swords from?

4. Where is he going?

5. What is he hoping to do with the chest and the swords?

6. What will happen when the village/town in the background wakes up?

I think his looking over the shoulder is a clear sign of a guilty conscience. He is aware of the fact that what he is doing is not entirely ethical in one way or another. He travels alone and he travels at the break of dawn, suggesting he does not want to be seen or asked any questions.

From his clothes he does not look as if he would have to steal to get by. One of the swords he is carrying is in a sheath at his side suggesting it is his own sword. The other two or three he is carrying in the other arm are probably not his. If he got attacked now, the swords would not be much use to him, they are more of an obstacle, he would have to drop them to draw his own sword. So he didn't take them out of necessity. Obviously he has no need for them as he has his own sword. He only has two hands, so he could only wield two swords at best. Why then does he take three? It seems that he is preparing for a battle or for bad times. Even though there is no apparent need, he tries to get what he can lay his hands on. In a way it's a defensive stance. We do not know what the chest may contain but I would assume it is something valuable. But we do not see it, so we are kept in the dark about the value of what he is trying to pinch. On the other hand, maybe he didn't steal the chest at all but has been carrying it all along and is trying to protect it.

Who then are the villagers? Are they his enemies? Are they friends? Did they maybe offer him shelter for the night and he thanked them by taking French leave like that? Who or what is he running away from? The card does not give us any clues about that but it is a valuable question one might ask in a reading if the card pops up. Is the querent probably running away from someone or something, trying to sneak out of a situation? Could the chest contain a burning issue that he knows he should tackle?

Where is he headed? From his attire one could assume that he is a soldier and he could be coming from a raid in the enemy's village sneaking weapons and a chest of gold (or provisions) to his camp. That would mean he outwitted the enemy, managed to trick them and gain an advantage for his own troops. So this card can also point to someone cunning or sly who knows all the tricks. In any event it points to covert activity.

What happens when the sleeping village awakens and the villagers notice the chest and the swords are gone. Are they going to follow him? Will they try to take revenge and punish him or will he get away with it?

The card's positive side could clearly be seen in the image of the soldier who manages to sneak into the enemy's village to steal provisions and weapons. It suggests cleverness, wit, cunning and being able to cover one's tracks. However that is always risky business and a bit of a gamble apart from the ethical questions it could raise.

The negative aspects are of course betrayal, stealth and lies, trying to hide something, to escape unnoticed. This does not necessarily mean someone is cheating on you or stealing from you if this card turns up in a reading or - as for me - in your daily draw. It could be that you are trying to avoid unpleasant business or that you are not taking the direct path. It could also mean that you are not honest with yourself. Swords being the suit (that among other things) represents thought and communication there is likely to be some form of miscommunication or misunderstandings or lack of communication. Rather than confronting the villagers, our soldier here sneaks out at dawn, he is looking for the easy way out of a situation.

This, too begs the question: who are you in the card? Are you the sleeping villager - unaware of the covert activity (or turning a blind eye to it)? Or are you the thief stealing away? Or maybe both?

I find this card often appears in relationship spreads and people tend to jump to conclusions when they see it thinking their partner is cheating. I think that is just one possible interpretation of this card, one aspect of the Seven of Swords taken to the extreme. I would only assume it to mean anything like that if the surrounding cards support that impression. Mostly the card deals with how we betray ourselves and sneak out of situations without actually facing the facts.

It figures that it would appear in my daily draw right now in a number of ways. Firstly, I just went through a breakup and am currently trying to avoid full frontal confrontation with all the implications and consequences of it by keeping myself busy and distracted. I cannot yet fully let go and although I know it would be best to take a time out for a while to allow things to sink in and make it easier for both of us to let go, I cannot bring myself to contemplate complete radio silence yet even if it would only be for a short while. This card is probably a reminder. I'm trying to carry the chest and the swords although maybe it would be fairer to leave the chest behind. I'm sure it will be possible to keep in touch and to stay friends but I suppose it will need time. The other thing is that I should be working today as I still have a paper to mark that I need to return on Monday at the latest and my flat is in dire need of some tidying. Currently I'm trying to dodge that as I cannot concentrate on anything much.

Having said that, I think I got the message the card had for me today and will try to get some work done now. As I will need to have my wits together for the marking I think I'll start with the tidying. And I'll try to keep communication with my ex at a minimum to give us both time to digest what happened before we can maybe open the chest together some day and rummage through the treasures it contains reminiscing.

Copyrights

2010-03-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Tarot Enthusiasts!

It startled me a bit when I heard that other bloggers got into trouble for using images of the cards in their blogs. So I wrote a couple of e-mails to ask what rules there are for using the cards. Most publishers are quite strict and you are only allowed to use up to 10 cards from up to 3 decks from their product range plus you have to quote the copyright.

Makes it hard for me to use these images from the various decks I've been using. I'll take out all the images from earlier posts and will in the future only post images according to the conditions the publishers names. I'm a little uncertain about using the Rider Waite and Crowley decks as I usually show the English language version of the cards here on the page but I live in Europe. So I don't know whether to follow EU copyright or US. To make it easier I won't use the images of the Rider Waite at all for the time being.

Thank you all for your patience and your understanding.

Facing my "enemies" - Temperance

2010-03-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you have made the same experience. There are cards in the deck you find easy to grasp and can relate to, cards that instantly put a smile on your face when you are doing a spread or at least cards you instantly feel you can say something about. And then there are those that always make you feel you are just repeating some key words you have once picked up from a book, cards that you have never really grasped and that make you feel uncomfortable when they appear in a spread.

For me, one of those cards has always been the number XIV of the Major Arcana: Temperance (sometimes called Art or Alchemy). It has always remained quite vague in meaning to me. I have read somewhere that especially the cards you do NOT like and those you feel you can NOT relate to can tell you a whole lot about yourself and teach you some valuable lessons. So here I am today, trying to dive into the depths of this card hoping to come up with some pearls of wisdom.

The card in the Rider Waite deck shows an angel who is standing at the bank of a river (or maybe a lake), one foot on the ground, one foot in the water. The symbol on his chest, the triangle is the symbol of the fire element, so Waite seems to have identified this card with either the Archangel Michael (who is sometimes associated with the fire element) or Gabriel (who - in the Jewish tradition is associated with fire). Numerological the cross sum of the card, 5, points to the sefira "gevurah" (or "geburah") on the kabbalah tree of life. Ths sefira is also associated with the archangel Gabriel. He is the angel of annunciation and the one who records and exercises God's judgement.

In the cycle of the Major Arcana the card is between Death and the Devil, so the element of judgement seems to be clearly represented. Also, despite the setting sun you can see in the background of the Waite version of the card, this card belongs to the "night cycle" or "underworld cycle" in the Major Arcana. The association with the Underworld and Judgement is strengthened by the lilies you can see growing at the bank of the river. The river that we can see on the card could be the river Styx, the one you have to cross in order to get into the Underworld. The lilies could point to the Fields of Asphodel that those souls were sent to who were neither judged good nor evil. The lily is also associated with the Archangel Gabriel.

So the card is one of those cards that lead us back to our own centre, to examine our soul, our subconscious, that which remains when the ego has died. In the tarot the Sun is associated with the self. The setting of the sun can also be found on the Death card which directly precedes Temperance. It suggests that these two cards lead us away from the conscious, light side of ourselves, away from the ego into the realm of shadows, the subconscious, our inner world, the centre that Jung termed our "Self" (as opposed to our conscious side, the "ego").

The angel on the card holds two chalices and is pouring water from one into the other. This could symbolise scales with which the angel measures and judges the soul that is entering the underworld. It also stands for finding the right measure between ego and subconscious, integrating the shadow parts of ourselves to make our personality whole. In this sense, the card often points to the need of healing - in a physical, psychological or spiritual sense. We need to regain balance and stability, need to align our centre and find the right balance. The idea of balance can also be found in the Victorian Romantic version of the card where the angel can be seen balancing on some kind of barge. The barge could stand for the ferry across the river Styx, the angel being the connection or bridge into the world of shadows. This careful weighing and balancing that can be seen on most representations of the card is generally associated with the need for moderation in one or more areas of our lives. There is an imbalance that we need to even out in order to become whole.

The Thoth deck by Crowley calls the card "Art". Maybe because Crowley whose lifestyle was anything but moderate also didn't like the idea and concept of "moderation". Actually I think this idea of "moderation" is what creates my personal ambiguous feeling about the card. Somehow it feels "lukewarm", neither fish nor flesh, somewhere in between. Be humble and moderate. Very unbecoming of a Leo like me even though I'm born on the cusp. I like to think in extremes and go to extremes in my emotions. Maybe this is why the card feels "squishy" to me. When I look at the angel on the card I want to say to him, "Come on! Enough of all this pouring water from one cup into the other. What are you trying to achieve? Do you want to have the exact same amount of water in either of the cups? Good Lord, you're a pedant! What happened to good old 'give or take a bit' and 'rule of thumb'? Not good enough for you? And what's with those feet? Couldn't make up your mind whether you want to stand on solid ground or in the water? Didn't want to get your feet wet, eh?"

He would get me very impatient, this angel with his careful, deliberate pouring...again and again and again...until he gets it juuuuuust right.

Maybe that is exactly what he is there to teach me. Haste makes waste. Think before you act. When you want to create something worthwhile you need to know exactly what you are doing. It takes practice and it takes time. Crowleys idea of "Art" points to a creative act that has to come from within our own selves. Balancing the opposites, mixing, gauging, carefully weighing until you get it just right. Crowley links the card closely to the idea of alchemy as does Haindl (who even calls the card "Alchemy").So what does the angel on the card gain, what is the reward for all the trouble he takes? Alchemy is the process of transmuting lesser metals into gold, the process of creating a panacea or the elixir of life, a remedy that is supposed to cure all diseases and makes you immortal. Not such a bad reward after all. Something seemingly worthless is transformed into something immensely valuable and beautiful by just finding the right measure of ingredients. This card speaks of creating art, of making something beautiful (Crowley's idea of "Art"), of healing oneself and/or others. Julia, the person I took tarot seminars with - closely links this card to therapy: the idea of regaining (mental) balance and harmony, reconciling conflicting emotions or aspects of your self and (re)integrating them. Therefore creating something better, more valuable: a whole, healthy personality. And it needs a lot of good judgement, patience and fine-tuning to achieve that.

To sum it up this card is the gateway to our inner self, the preparation needed in order to 'survive' the confrontation with our inner demons (represented by the Devil which is the next card in the cycle). This enables us to take them with the proverbial grain of salt and ensures that we don't get lost in extremes. The Devil is the exact opposite of that, he is excess and exorbitance. The water element in the tarot stands for emotion and the subconscious. The devil would hurl us straight into the river, immersing us deep in our emotions (both positive and negative) and our subconscious, whereas the angel on the Temperance card still has one foot on solid ground, just carefully dipping his toes into the water.

He helps us find inner harmony and balance, remaining stable when faced with our inner demons. He is the force that is able to transform seemingly worthless elements into something unique and beautiful by just finding the right balance and the right measure.

He is creative, not in the way that the Empress is creative - her creative force stemming from necessity and natural urges. The Empress just allows things to grow, to develop all by themselves. Not in the way that the moon is creative - painfully giving birth to something from deep within, a creative frenzy or rush. He is balancing conscious thinking and realism and the dark, subconscious urges, blending them and combining them. In a way he is the true artist, combining handicraft and skill with inner 'genius'.

In some of my earlier blog entries I have written about Tarot and Creative Writing. If I try to see Temperance as a writer, it would be the one who is able to combine original ideas and a wild imagination with knowledge about the 'craft' that is writing (how to create and use a 'round' character, how to construct a plot that is able to capture the reader). Someone who is able to blend the trivial "know-how" of writing with the products of an ingenious, creative mind in a way that the 'workmanship' does not show (at least not at first sight) and creates something unique and beautiful.

So maybe this card DOES have some valuable lessons to teach an impatient hotspur such as myself. ;)

PS: I removed the images of the cards for copyright reasons. Sorry.

Being a responsible tarot reader

2010-03-09T00:01:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I held a class in Second Life about Reading the Tarot, about how to use spreads and grand tableaus, how to combine different decks, using wild cards and how to interpret cards. I always begin this kind of thing with talking on how to pose the right questions.

I have just filled in an application to join the General Tarot Association in Germany (Tarot e.V. - Erster Deutscher Tarotverband) which means that I have to adhere to their Code of Honour. I am a firm believer in such codes of ethics because being a tarot reader - as trivial as that may seem at first sight, especially in a virtual world like Second Life - is a great responsibility. Of course there are those who want a reading "just for fun" to see what the cards say, not taking it too seriously. But then there are people who are looking for help and advice because they are in over there heads and would like some answers from a "neutral" point of view. So when reading for other people you have to consider the possibility that they will take you seriously and that they will base their decisions on what you said in your reading.

So for me it is absolutely essential that I point out that I am indeed fallible. My readings have been known to be quite accurate but in no way will you ever hear me say that whatever I say will definitely come to pass. Some readers claim to see everything and to never be wrong, they take it as a matter of professional pride. I believe that there are people who have visions and a very good intuition, people who can channel - drawing on sources outside their own conscious mind - without having to get into a deep trance. All that is possible. But still - it is their subjective, limited human mind that interprets the messages received and breaks them down to answer the querent's questions and that is where we can go wrong. If you make it clear that your reading is ONE way of looking at things, it puts things into the right proportion. I always point out that I cannot and will not take any decisions for anyone. You will never hear me say things like, "You have to leave that swine!". Even if it was my deepest conviction this would probably be for the best. ;) I try to leave my personal judgement outside as best I can.

All you can do as a reader really is to point out various "doors" or "paths". It's your querent who is in control of their life and has to choose which path they want to take, which doors to close. All you can do is pointing out some pros and cons, giving them some new food for thought, some new ideas to ponder, some hope and support.

Another thing I do not like doing in my tarot practice is answering "Yes or No" type questions. A lot of people will see in that evidence that tarot does not "work" because answering simple yes or no questions is the easiest way of proving it wrong.

"Do I have red hair in real life?" - "No." "Ha! Gotcha!!! Didn't see THAT in yer cards, huh?"

Again I have to point out the subjectivity of my interpretation of the cards. Maybe the cards indicate the right answer only I have it wrong. And with a 50/50 chance is is quite likely that indeed I am.

The question is more: what do you want and expect from the tarot. I see it as much more than a tool for basic divination. It can open new perspectives, explain reasons and causes, point out weaknesses and strengths, things that are much more helpful and useful than knowing whether or not something will come to pass in the future.

For example. If you ask (as a lot of people do), "Does he really love me?". What if the answer you get is "No"? You're going to be depressed and maybe you will cause a scene later ("Waaaaah! You don't love me anymooooore!") and put further strain on your relationship which is probably not as it should be anyway, otherwise you would not have reason to ask whether or not he loves you. If the answer is "Yes" it still doesn't answer the more interesting or important question here, "Why do you have reason to doubt it?".

So in these cases I often use a spread that shows the "current state of the relationship" (BOTH sides) and draw a few wild cards to indicate the future development. That is a lot more helpful than going about it YES or NO style.

"He seems a little preoccupied with something else. For me it seems he is under a lot of pressure at work and maybe doesn't always appreciate you the way he should. Perhaps that is something you could address some time" is definitely a more helpful answer than a simple "YES" or "NO".

The important thing for me is that I'm there to help someone to find the answers within themselves, help them see a topic from a different perspective. So if you ask if tarot "works" - for me it does, as it usually does what I expect it to do: provide me with some fresh ideas to process and add to my view of the issue at hand.

If your main goal is to help people find answers within themselves this means that you are not going to sugar-coat anything but that you are not to scare the living hell out of your querents either. Mumbling "Oh oh..!!" while you are dealing the cards or drawing in air through your teeth going, "aaaaagh...this doesn't look good" or exclaiming "Holy Crap!" will probably not help (see cartoon above). You don't want to be the poor dinosaur here.

So assuming you just dealt "The Tower", "Death" and "Ten of Swords" for your querent of course it would be wrong to say, "Things look peachy, everything is going to be all right!". But it is not going to help anyone if you say, "Terrible things will happen to you!" either.

Depending on the deck you use, those three cards look gloomy enough to tell the querent they are probably not going to win the lottery and meet the love of their life tomorrow. But the cards - especially Death - will scare a querent and you should point out what this could mean before they make up their own interpretation which could be: "Oh my God, I'm going to die in a terrible accident!".

No...the tower indicates a sudden, unexpected event that has a serious impact on the querent's life, sometimes that is something that is beyond their control but it can also be something that comes from deep within. Death means that there are things in their life that will have to change, things they have to let go of because they no longer carry or are no longer serving them. Ten of Swords means ending something deliberately.

So...what this could for example mean is something happens that makes you realise just how unhappy you are at your current job and - as you have been thinking about a job change anyway and have an alternative - you decide to finally take that leap, leave your old job and start something new. All in all that would be quite positive. The tower often has a very liberating quality, breaking things that have become too restrictive. This will definitely be a time of some upheaval in the querent's life but usually those are followed by a change for the better. The same cards could point to someone breaking out of an unhealthy relationship, finally plucking up the courage to break it off. In any event they are probably not the most pleasant cards but they do have their positive sides as any apparently positive card has its shadowy sides.

So, take care not to scare anyone to death while at the same time being frank and open, not sugar-coating things too much. Be tactful and diplomatic in how you express things but always tell your clients what you see, not what you think they want to hear.

Another principle of mine is that I like ending readings on a hopeful note or that I like giving some sort of concrete advice what the querent could do. Even when things look dire, there is always some advice, some lesson in the cards, something for the querent to take back with them that gives them hope or helps them in dealing with the matter.

The late Hajo Banzhaf, the most well-known tarot expert here in Germany, often used the "quintessence" to anwer the question, "What attitude could help me deal with this matter?". You get the quintessence if you calculate the sum of digits on all the cards in the reading. Aces count 1, courts do not count, Majors and Minors count the number that is printed on the card. For example if you have: King of Wands, Ace of Coins, Temperance and 9 of Cups the quintessence of the reading would be: 0+1+14+9 = 24 = 2+4 = 6: The Lovers. So this could for example be a decision which you will have to take wholeheartedly, something where you feel it is worth a little sacrifice. You would have to listen to what your heart says much more than to what the mere facts say.

If the quintessence is a two-digit number below 22 (The Fool here takes the place 22), you have two cards. For example if the quintessence is 17 - the Star you can further contract it to get 8 - Adjustment (Justice).

If you don't like calculating the quintessence you can always draw some additional cards or draw cards from an angel deck, a totem animal deck, an ascended masters deck etc. to find an energy, an attitude or a thought that might help the querent deal with the situation you have just analyzed with them.

Tarot and Creative Writing Part II

2010-03-06T00:59:00.000-08:00

I've been working on the subject again and thought I'd try out a spread I devised based on the pyramid model of Gustav Freytag (German writer and literary critic). He developed a model to explain the general structure of the classical five-act tragedy. Later I discovered that Corrinne Kenner uses the same model in her book "Tarot for Writers". Why is it that I can never be the first person to have an idea? ;))

Anyway. Even though Freytag's model dates back to 1863 and refers to the classical Greek tragedies, you will notice that even today a lot of stories, films and books work on the same basic principle that is:

1. Exposition - Setting the scene, meeting the main characters, introducing the situation

2. Inciting Element, Rising Action - Something happens to create a conflict, to pose a

problem, to place the characters into a situation where they have to take action

3. Climax and Peripeteia (Turning Point) - The tension rises to a maximum, the protagonist is facing a pivotal moment, determining whether things will change for the good or for the bad

4. Falling action and denouement - Tension falls again and the outcome is usually stalled in

the denouement before finally turning towards the so-called "catastrophe" or conclusion

5. Catastrophe: The final resolution

I think this is a useful structure you can base your plots on and of course you can draw a card for each point of the plot structure. I would find it useful to draw some more for the exposition (like one each for protagonist and "antagonist" and one for the setting or one for the protagonist and one for the 'conflict' they are in etc).

I'll try it out using a random draw of cards from the Rider Waite deck.

1. Exposition: Three Cups, Four Cups, Six Wands

2. Rising Action, Inciting Element: Five Cups

3. Climax: Nine of Wands

4. Denouement: Five of Pentacles, Four Swords

5. Catastrophe: The Devil, Death

1. Exposition: A king has three daughters and an illegitimate son who is a captain in his army, the sisters live in luxury while the son is left out but he feels a loyalty to his father and serves him faithfully

2. Rising Action: The king finds out he is terminally ill, the girls learn they cannot inherit his fortune, it would all go to his illegitimate son

3. The king is very weak and rules the country from his sickbed. The sisters fake reports about the neighbouring king's army and persuade their father to engage his army in a war with their neighbours, sending their half-brother into a battle he will most likely get killed in. They know they cannot win this war and their plan is to negotiate a peace marrying the youngest princess off to the neighbouring king and have her kill her husband later so the three sisters would own both kingdoms. When their father has second thoughts about starting a war with the neighbouring kingdom, the sisters kill him.

4. When their half-brother learns he and his soldiers are being sent into war with an enemy army they are no match to, it dawns on him that his sisters want him dead. Worried for his father he goes to check on him and finds him dead in his bed, the sisters "mourning" claiming he died in his sleep. He suspects his sisters killed the old man but he does as he is told and takes the army into battle. Yet arriving in the enemy's country, he turns himself in and surrenders. A messenger arrives and the sisters learn of their half-brothers captivity and execution. They procede according to their plan and the youngest sister marries the enemy king

5. When the youngest Princess tries to kill her husband according to plan, she finds that her husband knew about her plans. Their brother had managed to convince the enemy king not to kill him, telling him of his suspicions against his sisters. As the enemy king's ally he gets his father's kingdom, the sisters are executed.

*lol* I didn't really know what to make of the cards and before I knew it I had this very medieval plotting and scheming thing. It's probably nothing I would use in my writing really but I think it's still good practice. :)

Writing practice with tarot cards

2010-02-24T01:59:00.001-08:00

I just bought "Tarot for Writers" by Corinne Kenner as I'm hoping to overcome my writer's block and jumpstart my writing projects again.

So today I would like to try a method of character creation suggested in the book that uses tarot cards as prompts. The exercise suggested is mostly for practice purposes. I tried a number of draws yesterday and found that - although it sometimes resulted in interesting characters - I would find it difficult to actually use the characters I generated in any of my writings.

Anyway...here's how it's done:

Draw a card each to answer the following questions:

- Is your character male or female?
- How is he or she?
- What does your character look like?
- What does your character do for a living?
- How does your character spend his or her free time?
- Does your character have a spouse, children or a pet?
- What are your character's hopes and dreams?
- What does your character fear most?

Today I'm using the Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris.

1. Male or Female?
Queen of Pentacles - female

2. How old is she?
Ten Wands - in her prime, so I'd say 35

3. What does she look like?
The Universe
(image removed for copyright reasons)

She is tall, slender and elegant, her looks are slightly exotic because she is part Hawaiian. She has a feline grace in her movements and long, wild black hair.

4. What does she do for a living?
Knight of Wands - she is a professional motorcycle racer and stuntwoman

5. How does she spend her free time?
The Devil - she has a very active sex life and likes wild parties

6. Does she have a spouse, children or a pet?
Five of Wands - She is too busy to be in a steady relationship but she has pet snakes.

7. Hopes and dreams?
Seven of Wands - she hopes to become famous and be the best in whatever she does, she is very ambitious and needs to come out number one all the time

8. What does she fear most?
Knight of Pentacles - Inactivity, philistinism, being confined to suburbian family life with house, garden, kids, a dog and a cat, having to commit to someone or something, meeting deadlines and other people's expectations

(image removed for copyright reasons)

While the draw generated quite an interesting person again, I would find it hard to make her the protagonist of a story or a novel I'm writing as she doe not have enough "antagonism" in her character traits and the thought of that person does not inspire me to come up with a plot or a setting. However, I think it's a nice idea in order to practice moving away from the immediate card meaning as you would find it in a book or may have memorised it. You have to look for tiny clues on the card (like the snakes on the five wands) or let the "idea" of the card inspire you.

To sum up, I find this a useful exercise for my tarot reading but not so much for my writing. I'll let you know when I've tried more from the book. :)

Today's card: 3 of Swords from three different decks

2010-02-23T06:33:00.000-08:00

Above you can see the three of swords from the Transformational Tarot, the Druidcraft deck and the Legacy of the Divine Tarot. I was studying these cards in order to find commonalities, something like the "essence" of the card. (You can NOT see them anymore as I removed the images for copyright reasons.)

The card from the Transformational Tarot is unusual in its imagery as it shows a person that has been stabbed in the back with a sword in the top left corner of the card and a woman lying in her lover's arms in the foreground - the head of the lover has been replaced by a skull making it look as if the lady is lying in the arms of death. Both the dead body and the couple are lying in a field of red flowers that is being divided by a dark line running like a river through the image from top right to bottom left.

The image on the Druidcraft card shows three swords resting on a heart-shaped stone slab that lies at the foot of a big tree. The bark of the tree has been peeled away in the middle (or ripped open by growing) and has been pierced by the three swords to make three holes.

The Legacy of the Divine card shows the face of a woman with a heart tattooed or drawn onto her cheek. On the left of her face you can see three swords. A tear runs from her eye and crosses the heart on her cheek as if dividing or breaking it in two.

One commonality I see in all three images is that of hurt, loss and sadness. The image of something being "torn" or "broken" appears in all three cards. The field of red flowers is broken by the river-like line running through it, the bark of the tree is ripped open and the heart on the cheek of the woman is divided by the tear running across it.

So something is destroyed or taken from you and causing you hurt. For me all images also contain the element of vulnerability. The lady on the Transformational Tarot card is bare-chested leaving her exposed and vulnerable, the person in the background has been stabbed in the back meaning they must have turned their back to someone also leaving them vulnerable. Just like the wood under the bark of the tree is exposed to the piercing swords. The woman on the Legacy of the Divine card cries - which is often viewed as a sign of weakness and of showing your vulnerable side.

Two in three cards carry the heart as a symbol (which can also be found in the Rider Waite deck) and the red flowers on the third card as well as the lady's red dress also point to matters of the heart, to love and emotions. So the hurt that has been caused is of an emotional nature, something has wounded the heart of a person when they were most vulnerable.

The card shows someone having opened themselves trustfully and having been hurt in the course of it. That is often difficult to deal with. So one aspect of the card is definitely the classic "heartache" or "broken-heartedness".

Threes are usually cards that show a development, progress, a dynamic taking something to the next level, so it's not a static card though it may appear that way from the card images. Something was broken and a person got hurt yet there is the element of "coping with it" and "moving on".

The Transformational Deck shows the lady quite comfortably embracing death, giving in to her lover with the skull for a head. For me this carries the hint of actually enjoying this pain, maybe wallowing in self-pity. And it makes me ask, "Who is the person lying dead in the background?" - a previous lover? And who stabbed them? - her new skull-headed lover or maybe she herself?

Is it an active card or a passive card? Usually someone suffering and hurt is the passive part and that can very well be the case but sometimes a person actually wields the swords that hurts them. This would point to the rational mind (swords) versus the heart and having to take decisions that cause hurt or are very difficult to take because the heart rebels against them.

The tree in the Druidcraft card will remain scarred, so the card may have long-term effects on a person leaving them scarred and possibly less likely to expose their vulnerable sides again so soon. What happens to the heart on the woman's cheek? If it's painted on, it could be smudged or washed away, so her tears could cause permanent damage, too. But then she could paint it on again. If it's a tattoo, the tear only temporarily "breaks" the heart. In any event the "Legacy" heart will heal whereas the Druidcraft hurt is more permanent. It is very unlikely that the person in the background on the Transformational Tarot card will get up and say "It's only a flesh wound!" so here, too something is lost permanently. The same is true for the image of the heart pierced by three swords you probably know from the Rider Waite deck. It is to be assumed that would leave scars as well.

The "essence" of the card for me is the feeling of loss and sadness, of having been exposed and vulnerable and having been hurt in the process. What the effects of this are and how quickly and to what extent this hurt will heal is probably different for every individual. Some just get back in the saddle, some retreat into their shell and become extra careful after an experience like this.

What advice does this card have to offer. First and foremost perhaps that it is always risky business to open yourself up and exposing your "soft spots" because - yes, you can get hurt. On the other hand - only if you open yourself are you fully able to receive and appreciate love. So maybe it's a risk worth taking.

The card also shows that not all is destroyed and that life will go on. It is okay to feel sad and hurt as long as you know that the dark clouds will eventually lift again. There is always the danger of becoming too absorbed in this feeling, of drowning in self-pity or becoming cynical. The card warns you not to.

All in all it's a card I don't like appearing in my spreads because it stands for hurt, sadness and disappointment or difficult decisions that need to be made. On the other hand - change always hurts a bit or at least feels unpleasant. Do you remember losing your first teeth as a child? Or the pain that growing too fast can cause? Or the feeling when you know something is not good for you or does not serve you anymore and you know you have to part with it? The first time away from home for a long time - I remember being rather home sick after the first excitement wore off. But if I had tried to avoid that - I would have missed out on a fantastic experience.

And honestly...there are very few people who'd still be happy if they had stayed with their first ever boyfriend or girlfriend. I know I certainly traded up in hindsight. ;) So maybe it was worth the hurt of breaking up and moving on.

So I think it's important to see the dynamic in this card, it's a card of progress and moving on, change and transformation. And that often causes (temporary or even permanent) hurt. It's just part of life.

Three Cards for Valentines Day

2010-02-09T07:30:00.001-08:00

Not long and it's Valentine's Day again. I am still looking for the perfect pressie for a very special person and although I am sure it'll come to me, I thought maybe I could gain insight using the tarot.

I have recently read that tarot was a great tool for finding gifts for your loved ones. Somehow I am having problems believing that it can get this concrete but then tarot probably only is as good as the reader. *grins*

Well...I'll give it a shot. But I'm not asking what I can give my personal "Valentine" because I know he is following this Blog. Instead I'll ask what would be the perfect Valentine for T to give B (friends of mine).

The three cards I drew (using the Legacy of the Divine deck) are:

King of Coins, 6 Swords, The Tower

Okay. The King of Coins is someone who is pragmatic and realistic, reliable, steadfast and also usually someone interested in the material aspects of life. He enjoys expensive clothes, food, drink and is able to enjoy himself. In combination with the 6 of Swords, which indicates the journey into the unknown and leaving known territory behind, I would suggest an exclusive holiday where they'd be really pampered. I know that this - in their situation is not possible because he is not free. So perhaps the perfect Valentine for him to give her would be a radical change (Tower) of their situation so they'd be able to travel together and move forward into the unknown.

As he would most likely not be amused if I suggested that I would stick with the elements of "enjoying the material sides of life" - "venturing into the unknown" - "doing something radically different". Perhaps they could sneak away for a weekend at a nice hotel or he could treat her to a nice meal in a city they have not yet been to and to add the Tower element, he could maybe do something adventurous like taking her wildwater rafting or something like that (she'd enjoy that but no bungee jumping or parachuting or the likes, she hates flying). ;)

Any ideas of your own what these three cards could represent as a gift for Valentine's?

Good things come to those who wait...

2010-02-04T08:22:00.000-08:00

I'm very sorry that I have been neglecting this blog for quite a while as my life became very busy on a number of fronts. Things having calmed down at least a bit now, I'll try to update more regularly again.

Having read so much about "Brangelina" in the press lately I thought it might be fun to do a reading on their relationship to see how my tarot deck copes with celebrity gossip.

What's the status of the relationship between Hollywood actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie?

I used the relationship heart, a spread I was given by SL tarot reader Morgana Fillion. I combined it with a three card time-line to see what will happen or in which direction the relationship will go.

Cards 1-8 are spread out in a heart shape. I tried posting the layout but when I hit "post" it always ends up screwing it up so that the numbers are all just a mess. So what you do is put down 1 as the bottom tip of the heart, then 2 and 3 above that, leave out one row place 4 and 5 where the two round bits are at the top of the heart, 6 and 7 to the left and right in the row you left out and 8 at the centre.

Deck used: Victorian Romantic Tarot

1: The basis of their relationship - that's the foundation it is currently standing on, what they have in common and what attracts them to each other.

2: What she brings into the relationship - her "investment" into the relationship, her energy

3: What he brings into the relationship - his "investment" into the relationship, his energy

4: What she currently gains/gets out of the relationship

5: What he currently gains/gets out of the relationship

6: Her expectations

7: His expectations

8: The next step; a central issue for them

9,10 and 11: future development of their relationship

The Sun as the basis of their relationship shows that they are both able to enjoy life, that they enjoy each other's company, that they like spontaneity, are both strong characters that are outgoing and lively. There is a great deal of trust between the two of them and they both like to play and take things lightly, looking on the bright side of things. They both rather "do" then "think up" meaning they act spontaneously, impulsively not thinking through every step of the way. The Sun as the basis of a relationship shows warmth, strong emotions and is not at all a bad card.

The current energies are what could be more troublesome. Her card is Ace of Swords, his Nine of swords. Swords being the suit of rational thought, criticism and the analytical mind it seems that at the moment this spontaneity and liveliness is gone or subdued by critical thinking, learning processes and analyzing. Her energy is the wish for clarity, setting strict boundaries, learning, the need to communicate and re-evaluate things. This is not a bad energy if the relationship hit a rough spot because it shows she is open to learn, to analyze, to clarify things and to talk. However, of course it is a rather cool, neutral and distanced energy, too. His card is Nine of Swords, showing he is brooding, thinking and worrying a lot. There is something on his mind that's troubling him and he is scared things might get worse. Nine Swords could indicate a guilty conscience but also sleepless nights, worries and troubles. Sometimes it points to someone worrying about very vague things, things that are not yet manifest but more lodged in their imagination, their own fears. However, both cards would in my view point to there actually being difficulties between the two of them.

What they get out of the relationship is again rather equally distributed between the two of them. What that indicates for me is: if there are difficulties it is something they are going through together, both of them - as a couple. It's not that one of them is unhappy and the other is drifting away. Her card is Page of Wands, his Knight of Wands. Both most likely represent an aspect of their personalities that is currently brought out more strongly by the relationship. Both are fiery cards, show a strong will, passion and a lot of action. So you could assume that they are heaving heated discussions but there is also still a strong element of passion between them. Both being male character cards on the more dominant side (wands = fire element) it could very well be that there are power struggles as both of them like to be the one holding the reigns.

Their expectations show that they are both worried that things might get out of hand. Both cards are sevens (numerologically) that are usually not very harmonic. Her cards is Seven of Swords, which means that she needs clarity, needs and wants some issues addressed that she finds hard to talk about or that she fears might be hurtful and cause further trouble. Seven Swords can point to someone not being entirely honest, so it could be that she thinks there is something he doesn't tell her or there is something she is afraid to tell him, however, she feels that there is a need to clarify these things. He has the Chariot, the urge to move on, to change something, to take initiative. Given the other cards I would not necessarily interpret that as the wish to "break out" of the relationship and to get away from it all but it could be the thought has crossed his mind.

The next step and/or an important issue here is represented by Five Swords which also points to difficulties and could even imply that there will be fighting and they might be hurting each other in the process.

All in all there are lots of swords and wands, cups and pentacles being absent here could point to them not spending much time in each other's physical company and to gentle emotions being blocked out right now by critical thinking, will power, passion, fire and most likely harsh words, too. So indeed it looks as though they are going through a very difficult phase.

The three future cards show page of cups, eight of wands and ten of wands, indicating a sudden change for the better, maybe a holiday or a journey together, flirtation and tenderness but ten wands shows that this might only be temporary as the problems will still be there. Ten wands shows someone trying to carry "too much". So probably it's all just a little "too much" at the moment and they are struggling under the weight of a number of issues - they both have their careers and they have six children that and marriage problems on top could very easily feel like too much to shoulder.

So from my reading I would gather: yes, they are having a difficult time but currently they are still trying to make things work. It does not look as if they have given up already and I'm not picking up on any signs of an actual separation or divorce yet. What connects them and what they have in common is the only Major Arcana card apart from Brad's Chariot. So this still weighs heavy, their connection runs deep and made them very happy in the past. It could very well be an energy that carries them through the bad times. It will continue to be "wobbly" from what I can see in the cards but for me there is no clear indication that it's over yet.

The best of luck to them. :)

Well...I suppose I should be reading the yellow press more carefully now and see if my cards were right. *lol*

Hope you enjoyed this reading.

Will be back in the New Year...

2009-12-28T01:38:00.000-08:00

Hello all...

I'm currently on a holiday and internet access is more limited than I originally though, so I will be back with updates when I'm back in the New Year. Sorry about the break.

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-22T02:26:00.001-08:00

I haven't been able to post for a couple of days, life being hectic because of Christmas preparations and my planned trip to London falling through because of the snow - grrr! Well, I suppose it's no use crying over spilt milk. And as there's nothing like retail therapy to cheer you up I just ordered a new computer and will soon be fast as lightning.

Behind today's door in my advent calender I find a card from the Fairy Tale Tarot (which I've learned to love):

Page of Swords (Finist the Bright Falcon)
You find the story belonging to the card here: http://www.oldrussia.net/story.html

(Image removed for copyright reasons).

The Fairy Tale Tarot attributes fairy tales and legends to each of the 78 cards. Some are rather well-known, such as Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, others I have never heard of and have to read up on, which I find very entertaining.

"Finist the Bright Falcon" is a Russian fairy tale about the youngest of three sisters who is a daydreamer and gets bullied by her older sisters. She has strange dreams which she follows and - after quite an ordeal - she finally gets the tsar's son (of course) and they live happily ever after. You can read the whole story if you follow the above-mentioned link.

In this story, Raise, the protagonist reaches her aims through her faithfulness and endurance - which is not a quality that I would have attributed to any of the sword courts. The swords being the suit of the air element for me always have the connotation of being volatile rather than steadfast. On the other hand, I think that swords people often have high standards, high ideals, strong convictions and an innate sense for justice which they are very likely to be true to and follow against all odds. So in that sense they are faithful - but more to their own convictions and beliefs than to other people.
Raisa, the protagonist of the story, has to be clever and use her wits and cunning to trick her nosey sisters that keep pestering her and try to harm her. So the card also carries the notion of being clever and alert, guarding what is important to you (in this case Raisas secret).

When Raisa's sisters trick her and hurt the falcon and drive him off, she is determined to find him and follows her own path, no matter what her family or people she meets say about that. She hardly ever doubts that she is on the right path and does not let other people convince her otherwise. She is an independent thinker - which definitely is a page of swords quality.

On her quest she meets the three Baba Yagas (three witches that are sisters) who help her and she always manages not to violate the rules laid out for her and she is not scared off by the strange things happening at the Baba Yagas' houses. So I would take that as the quality of being open-minded and eager to learn. She takes the witches' advice even though they stand outside of society and would probably not be considered suitable advisors by other people. I think this is a trait you'd find in most swords courts. They are generally open to new opinions and new views and curious to learn new things.

If you have a moment, do read the story. I liked it and the illustrations are very nice, too. :)

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

Trying a new spread I found today. I'm using the "World Spirit Tarot".

You draw three cards and put them on the following positions:

1. Who are you?
2. What do you need?
3. How will you get it?

My cards were:

(Images removed for copyright reasons)

1. 5 Swords
The card shows a person who has been hurt in battle. They are wounded and their defenses (swords) are broken. The victor can be seen in the black ground and they seem to be dancing for joy.
The querent here is someone who has been badly hurt and badly disappointed. They are still very vulnerable and feel hurt and helpless while the person (or energy) that hurt them seems happy and to be enjoying themselves. The querent has had some very negative and hurtful experience that they are trying to process. It may also be something that is resurfacing from the past.

2. Seeker (Knight) of Cups (rx)
The Seeker of Cups is "seeking" nothing less but the holy grail. He has very high ideals about love, romance, true friendship and everything concerning interpersonal relationships. He is very romantic, emotional, creative and sometimes spiritually interested as well. He can be a bit of a dreamer and can get very much carried away by his emotions, so he is prone to overreact. The reversal could point out that the Seeker here does not point to a particular person that the querent "needs" but the querent needs someone who can fill the shoes of the seeker. The querent needs someone who believes in true love, friendship and romance, someone who believes in these ideals without question and will not give up looking for them.
Cups energy is always healing energy. So maybe the querent needs someone to "heal" them, heal their broken heart and shattered trust.

3. Six of Pentacles (rx)
Six Pentacles is all about giving generously, supporting and helping others. Again the reversal for me points to the fact that this is something happening more on the inside than on the outside. The querent perhaps will have to be a bit more generous as far as their expectations are concerned and they need to watch the balance of giving and taking, they might be prone to either give too much or take too much.

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

Behind today's door is: Nine Swords of the Art Nouveau Tarot by Matt Myers.

(Image removed for copyright reasons).

The card shows a couple in purple clothing. The woman is lying on her side, the man is standing behind her, looking down on her. In her hand you can see a dagger she is holding close to her body as if she's hiding it and there's a sword lying next to her in her reach.

The woman seems to feel a threat as she clutches the dagger and seems ready to use it to defend herself. So she seems worried and afraid in the best case or even planning a murder in the worst.

Which leaves me with two questions about the card image:

1. Why does she feel she needs the dagger in her hand?
2. Why does she not use the sword?

The man is unarmed and does not seem to pose a real threat. He is standing, looking down at her but you can not detect any aggression or malevolance. Either he is hiding something or there actually IS no threat, yet the lady feels she needs the dagger to protect herself. She could of course have bad intentions herself, she might want to kill him because she is jealous or has something to hide.

However, she does not use the sword. It is within her reach, she could take it and use it. But this card is not so much about open hostility or aggression. It is more about hidden fears and worries or hidden motives. Whereas the sword would be a weapon you'd use in an open, blatant attack, a dagger is more of a weapon used in defense or in stealth.

Something is on the lady's mind that makes her feel she cannot sleep in peace without being alert and vigilent. There is something troubling her, be it that she is scared of something or worried. She is hiding the dagger keeping it close to her body. So she could also be hiding something potentially harmful or hurtful to somebody else.

This is a bit different from the Rider Waite image of the card where you have a person sitting up in bed worrying, the nine swords hanging over them as a threat.

The swords are not pointing at the person, so the threat is not immediate and may very well be imaginative. But the figure on the card seems defenseless, frightened, worried, scared or desperate. The lady in the Art Nouveau Deck could actually turn things around and become the threat herself.

The Fortnightly Tarot Exercise

2009-12-13T04:02:00.000-08:00

In my tarot group on Second Life I post a tarot exercise every second Sunday. This Sunday's exercise is the following...

Draw a Major Arcana card and write down what (in your understanding of the card) this card NEVER is or never does.

Example: The Hierophant never doubts.
The High Priestess never rushes.
The Emperor is never inconsistent.

I picked this exercise up on Twitter, I'm not sure who it was by anymore. Could have been the Tarosophist.

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-12T03:43:00.000-08:00

Behind today's door is: (Image removed for copyright reasons)

4 Wands of the Lenormand Tarot.

On the card you see three yellow and black birds in a tree that look as if they came there to nest. There does not (yet) seem to be any rivalry amonth them, they are curiously looking at each other. When I look at the card, I ask myself though if it will stay that way or whether they will start quarelling. The two birds who are higher up in the branches seem a little closer and more directly interacting but the bird in the middle has its head turned and is watching the third bird with interest.

In classic tarot decks, four wand is mostly about harmony, completion, being welcome and welcoming. In this card it is not yet clear how the situation will turn out, whether the third bird - that looks as if it arrived later as it's sitting below the two others and is looking up at them - will be welcomed or chased away. Maybe that's the point of this card: making yourself at home and becoming part of a community whichever shape or form that may take. For me it's about settling with whatever you feel comfortable with but the important thing is that the three birds here will be defining what "home" and "togetherness" means for them. So perhaps that is the idea behind the card.

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

(Image removed for copyright reasons).

Behind today's door I found the Two of Wands of the "Forest Folklore Tarot". On the card you can see a little fairy standing amidst white flowers (daisies or marguerites). There are two brightly lit "wands" sticking in the ground in front of her. They seem to be thick flower stems with a light on top of them. The girl is looking to the left out of the card, which makes me wonder what it is she is looking at.

Generally one would expect her focus to be on the most striking object on the card and that would be the two brightly lit wands next to her. Yet, something outside the card must be more fascinating than the glittering lights and the flowers. For me this is part of the energy of the two of wands - looking out to something else instead of what is there before you, not feeling quite content with what you have. She is distracted by something and we don't know what it is.

The image of the little girl here also conveys the idea of curiosity and fascination with the world around her. There are so many things to see and to explore. That makes it hard for her to focus on one thing. She seems a little confused. She is not smiling of laughing, her eyes look to the left and up and her mouth is slightly open as if she's astonished or amazed.

I think when confronted with choices we often feel like the little fairy. There are so many things to see and we get distracted and confused and sometimes we don't even notice the obvious, the bright light right under our noses.

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

Behind today's door I found the Four of Cups of the Tarot by Carl W. Röhrig. In its symbolism the Röhrig Tarot is a bit of a mixture between the decks by Crowley and Waite. I like the imagery but I hardly ever use the deck because the cards are so big. It's difficult to shuffle and you need a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig table.

(Image of the card removed for copyright reasons).

The 4 Cups in the Röhrig Tarot looks a bit friendlier than the one in the Waite deck. Waite has a person sitting under a tree sulking. The Röhrig version calls the card "Luxury" taking over the name from Crowley's Thoth Tarot. On the card you can see a giant whirl in blue and purple at the centre of the card. There are four cups standing on the ground three of which are to the right of the whirl.

It got me thinking...are the three cups being filled from this whirl of colour or are the contents of the cups being sucked into the whirl? It's not easy to determine. The other cup standing to the left seems disconnected. Around the blue and purple whirl you can see what looks like expensive cloth and gold nuggets. The blue and gold striped cloth in the top left reminds me of the death mask of Tut Anch Amun.

On the ground you find some words in English and German "love, care, emotional wealth, tenderness, luxury". So all in all it seems a very positive card, speaking of wealth, care, tenderness and living in luxury.

So has Röhrig dropped the idea of "sulking" or "brooding" of the Waite card, the idea of missing opportunities because one is too focussed on ones problems, moping and moaning?

I believe this idea could be expressed in the cup standing to the left. It is far removed from the others, only two little gold nuggets are falling into the cup. It has no connection to the colourful swirl of gold and expensive cloth.
Even though we live in luxury, there are always cups in our life that are half empty and we tend to focus on those. When you do, you do not notice what you have, you only look at your two tiny nuggets in the left cup and mope. So if we focus on where we find our lives lacking, we can sometimes miss the positive aspects.

The other thing I'm detecting in the card is that the swirl seems to absorb everything and while at the outside of it you can still determine patterns and details it all becomes blurry in the middle. So perhaps if we get "sucked in" by luxury we no longer value and appreciate the single "bits" that our luxury is made up of.

So maybe from time to time we should stop and look at them. When I feel bad what I do is trying to write down the things that I am grateful for in my journal. And even though I feel bad I'm always surprised how much is left that I am grateful for and happy about.

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-08T00:32:00.000-08:00

Behind today's door I found "The Empress" from my new Transformational Tarot deck. It jumped out when I got ready to shuffle for a reading.

(Card image removed for copyright reasons).

The Transformational Tarot uses collaged elements from old paintings and modern drawings and combines them in a rather unique way. On the Empress card we see Eve in Paradise, holding the apple. We can see a female torso that looks like a tree and a green snake crawling diagonally from the left breast to the right hip. There are lilies and red roses.

For me this card is very much about preconceived ideas of femininity. Eve as the archetypical mother. The lily is a very ambiguous flower symbol as it is both linked to motherhood and fruitfulness and virginity. In Greek mythology the lily was born from a drop of milk that fell to the ground from the breasts of Zeus's wife, Hera and there is also a legend saying that Eve cried over a lily when she found she was pregnant after expulsion from Eden.
Yet, at the same time the lily is linked to the Virgin Mary in Christian tradition.
At the same time, lilies are thought of in connection with death.

Red roses are almost similarly ambiguous as they are both associated with the goddess Venus and in Christianity the rose, with its five petals, was associated with the five wounds of Christ and with martyrs' blood. More commonly, we associate red roses with beauty, romance and love.

So this card combines the images of the saintly virgin (Mary), the goddess of love and beauty (Venus) and the archetypical mother (Eve) that are all concepts that have influenced our (Western) concepts of femininity.

Funnily enough the snake in the picture is like a "barrier" between Eve in paradise and the lower part of the tree-like female torso so the sexual and birth-giving part of the feminine is cut off here from "innocent" Eve before eating the apple.

The Empress card is generally associated with motherly qualities, creativity, common sense, patience, forgiveness and sacrifice (on the Thoth Empress we get the image of the Pelican who was long believed to feed his young with his own blood). Here we get some other images mixed in. Eve striving for knowledge of herself and of the world - losing her innocence but in the process becoming a source of new life and the ruler of her own kingdom.
It is always seen as "the original sin" and man's (i.e. woman's) betrayal of God. For me personally, man becoming self-aware by eating from the tree of knowledge was inevitable, the logical consequence and all part of the master plan.

So here we get Eve becoming aware of herself, of her femininity and of the power that lies in it. She can give birth - not only in the literal sense. She can be the mother of ideas, projects, art. She rules and shapes her own kingdom more through creating and growing than through setting boundaries and imposing rules and limits. That would be the other side of the coin - Adam's job as depicted in the Emperor card. In this deck it actually gives you Adam as the Emperor.

(Card image removed for copyright reasons).

So in this deck we have two worldly mother and father figures (as opposed to the heavenly mother and father in the High Priestess and the Magician).

So what does this card mean to me as a daily draw: for me it means becoming aware of my femininity and using both my creative powers and my nurturing/homely side which I will put to good use later on as I will be painting, drawing and doing some chores around the house. :)

If you are a man...maybe you'd want to call your mother and thank her? :) Or discover your own inner "Eve".

Tarot Advent Calender

2009-12-07T05:31:00.000-08:00

(Card image removed for copyright reasons)

Behind today's door I found the Six of Pentacles from the Victorian Romantic Tarot.

On this card we see a very elegantly dressed lady who with her gloved hand seems to be reaching for a small bunch of yellow flowers offered by a rather plainly dressed little girl carrying a basket full of flowers.

My first assumption when I looked at the card was that the little girl is selling the flowers to help make some money for her family. Her rather plain clothes let me think she is poor and depends on the elegant ladies generosity to support herself and her family.

On the other hand we don't see that the lady in the elegant clothes is offering any money. Perhaps it is in fact the little girl who is being generous and making the gift. Perhaps she picked some flowers and thought the lady was in need of some cheering up. After all, she looks very elegant but not particularly cheerful.

In any event, the Six Pentacles is all about giving somebody what we think they need - be it actual material values and financial support or offering your help and support in another way. The idea is that you give without expecting something in return.

If we stick with our first scenario, the lady buying the flowers off the little girl, it is to be expected she would give the girl more than the flowers would actually be worth and she would buy the flowers off the girl not because she needs them but because she wants to help her. And when she sees the flowers later that day she will feel reminded and it will make her feel good about herself and maybe the nice yellow flowers put a smile on her face.

If we think about the second scenario, the girl offering the flowers to the lady because she thinks the lady looks like she could use some cheerful yellow flowers in her life, the little girl would have been observant, noticing what is needed and acts on that feeling. And even though the lady would obviously have more to give in a striclty material sense (which the Pentacles suit might lead us to focus on first), it is the girl who gives as she feels that there is someone who is in need.

In both cases the idea of the card is to give freely without expecting the other to reciprocate because you feel that they are in need.

In little over two weeks' time it's Christmas and I think the Six of Pentacles is a very Christmassy card. Of course Christmas is all about presents but often we buy them mechanically just because we feel we have to. ("Oh damn it...I still need a present for grandma!"). I think we all know that. And maybe sometimes we should try and take a step back, look closely and think - what does this person need most? And give it - coming from the heart.

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-06T04:36:00.000-08:00

I got called away to an emergency yesterday so I couldn't post. I'm sorry.

I am currently working through the "21 ways to read a tarot card" by Mary K. Greer using my Voyager Tarot deck as I long wanted to familiarise myself with this deck a little more. Funnily enough I drew "The Hierophant" as the card to go through all 21 reading exercises with. I'm currently in my "Hierophant Year".

That means, if I add all single digits of my birthday this year until I get a number between 1 and 23 (23 would be 0 = The Fool), it adds up to 5 = The Hierophant. For example. If today is your birthday you would calculate the following:

0+6+1+2+2+0+0+9=20 = Judgement (and 2+0=2= The High Priestess as quintessential card).

The exercise I'm doing today is to write a story in which the characters, symbols and images of the card come to life. When I looked at the card I noticed for the first time that there is actually someone standing at the foot of the big statue at the centre of the card. The figure is dressed in orange, like a Buddhist monk and is tiny compared to the statue.

(Card Image removed for copyright reasons).

Ganju stood at the foot of the giant stone statue looking up trying to see its eyes.
"Why only are you so far away, my Lord?" he asked. "I cannot see your face, I never know, are you pleased with my ways, are you angry at me, are you discontent with how I live my life? Will you watch over me and keep me from harm?"
He didn't know where to turn anymore to have his questions answered. God seemed so far removed from everything, his ways so mysterious and incomprehensible. He WANTED to believe but frankly, God didn't make it easy for him.
He felt so small in the presence of his gigantic stone effigy and looking out into the plain and at the colossal mountains enclosing it made him dizzy. It was like he was a speck of dust in this vast wasteland, so unimportant and small that God had probably forgotten all about his existence.

His mouth was dry and his tongue stuck to his palate after the long walk through the dusty plain. Life was made up only of hardship, he thought and sat down to take a sip from his flask.
Suddenly he noticed a dark red spot between some rocks at the entrance of the vast cave the statue stood in.

Curious, he waked closer to see what it was. He was quite surprised to find it was a poppy flower growing between the rocks as if it didn't know there was not enough water. He stood and watched the pretty red flower swaying in the hot wind and smiled.
He didn't know how the seed had gotten to this most unlikely of spots or how it had grown in this climate but it blossomed defiantly amidst dust, sand and rocks.
Ganju wished he could just flourish like this flower in the faith that God would provide just enough to live.

He got up and after he had left his offering, he went home. There he was greeted by his wife Sita who was cooking rice for their meal. Babu, their little son was sitting outside on the stairs that led down to the well watching a beetle that was crawling on the ground.
Sita looked out of the door to see if he was all right. She stepped out and stroked his little head. Babu didn't turn around. He kept watching the beetle intently but a smile crept across his round little face as Sita caressed his head. He didn't have to turn around to know who was there behind him, watching over him, so he could dedicate his full attention to his studies.
He prodded the beetle with his finger, laughing as it scurried away to hide in a crack in the dry earth.

Ganju smiled. Perhaps sometimes children could teach their parents just as much as their parents could teach them. From Babu he could learn a lot about faith.

Advent Calendar

2009-12-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

”I'm sorry that I could not post for two days now. But to make up for it I'll post a tarot story today which I wrote using a "Tell Me a Story" spread I found on the web. Here's the cards I drew:
1. The hero: Knight of Cups
2. The Theme: The Empress
3. Past Influence: 7 swords
4. Conflict/Challenge: The Lovers
5. An Ally/something or someone that helps the hero: 8 Cups
6. The Future (development of the story): The Fool
7. The Resolution: The Wheel

I was using the Legacy of the Divine deck and the underlying theme was the Empress:

(Card image removed for copyright reasons)

The 7 swords is not genuinely a PAST influence in my story as I made the betrayal or dishonesty part of the plot development but the knowledge about how the betrayal can be accomplished comes from the past, so maybe that's okay. But well...here goes my story:

SUMMER
A long long time ago in Finland, there lived a young man called Jussi. He lived with his parents in a small house right at the shore of a lake. He was a dreamer and much to his parents' dismay, he loved sitting by the lake, daydreaming much more than he liked setting traps, hunting, cutting wood or doing other useful things around the house. He could sit for hours watching the dragonflies dancing over the water lilies, softly singing to himself and thinking out wild and romantic stories.

One day his father grew very impatient with him and made him come to the forest with him to help him and the neighbours to cut wood. For hours they worked hard but when the men took a break, Jussi decided to go for a walk instead. The sun shone so brightly though the trees and the air was filled with the smell of birch leaves and the humming of insects. So Jussi wandered off enjoying the sounds, smells and sights of the summer forest. After a while he felt hungry and tired and sat down to eat some bread and drink some water. Leaning against the trunk of a tree he watched two squirrels chasing each other and fell asleep.

When he woke, he could no longer hear the other men in the distance. He couldn't tell how long he had slept as it never really went dark in the summer but the sky had turned distinctly dusky. Jussi scrambled to his feet and wanted to hurry home, getting very worried about the telling-off he could expect from his father. But what was that? Didn't he hear someone singing? Yes, it was definitely a girl singing. The sweetest sound that Jussi had ever heard. His heart beat faster as he turned into the direction from where the voice seemed to come. There he saw her.

The most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes upon. Creamy-white skin with rosy cheeks, long dark hair flowing down her back, a flowing green dress closely hugging her lithe form. The girl was kneeling beside a wicker basket picking berries. Jussi cleared his throat and she looked up startled.
"I am sorry, I didn't mean to scare you", he said.
Her expression brightened and she smiled at him.
"To make up for it you could help me pick berries", she laughed.
The time flew by as they picked berries and mushrooms, laughed and talked.
Suddenly she got up, took her basket and said, "It is time for me to go. I've had a wonderful time with you. Thank you."
"Wait!", Jussi grabbed her arm. "I don't even know your name. I'm Jussi."
He smiled at her blushing softly. "I'd really like to see you again."
She pulled her arm from his grip. "If you really like me," she said, a shadow flitting over her milky-white face, "you won't ask me for my name. If you want to see me again, you will find me." Then she turned and hurried off into the woods.
"But...but when?" he shouted after her but she didn't seem to hear him.

Jussi's father was very surprised that after the wigging he had given him Jussi was all of a sudden very eager to help him laying traps, hunting and cutting trees. But of course Jussi was only hoping to see the pretty girl again. But days went by without a sign of her. Then when he had almost given up hope, he saw her sitting on a tree trunk combing her hair. She smiled and got up when she saw him. They spent a wonderful time together again and through the summer they met many times in this fashion. However, Jussi grew more and more anxious and impatient. He didn’t want to wait for their chance encounters but every time he asked her whether they couldn’t meet at a specific time or a specific place, she evaded.

When autumn came, Jussi had grown so attached to her that he decided to ask her to marry him so she would be with him always. Every morning he went to the forest with his father hoping to see her. One day Antti, their neighbour from across the lake noticed Jussi looking over his shoulder every so often.
“Are you waiting for someone, lad?” he asked laughing.
Jussi nodded. “There is this girl, you know?” And he told Antti all about the girl, their encounters and his plan to marry her.
“You know”, Antti said, “I never wanted to believe these foolish old tales. But haven’t you heard of the Forest Queen?”
“No”, Jussi replied. “She has been living in these woods since the beginning of time. She is said to be so beautiful that every man must instantly fall in love with her. But no man can possess her.”
“You mean, that is why she only ever wants to meet here and never at a specific time?” Jussi asked.
“It is said that no man can ever bind her to him because that would mean that she would become a mortal. However,” he said and paused dramatically, “my grandmother told me there was a way to force her to follow you and become a mortal woman.”
“And how can I do that?” asked Jussi impatiently.
“The only way you can gain power over her and make her do whatever you want is to call her by her name.”
“But I don’t know her name!” Jussi moaned.
Antti shruged. “Well, that’s too bad then. But maybe she’s not the Forest Queen after all. Maybe she’s just playing hard to get.” He laughed.

The next time Jussi met his mysterious girl, he took her hand, looked her in the eyes and said, “We have known each other for quite some time now and we always have such a wonderful time. I...I want to tell you that I am very much in love with you and that I would like to ask you to marry me. What do you say?”
She looked up and he saw concern in her eyes. His heart sank.
“Why change anything?” she asked. “It is wonderful to know that you love me as I love you. We have each other and we have our times together. Why would you want to change that?” “Because I want you by my side. Every day. Every night. I want to share my life with you”, Jussi blurted out.
“As much as I love you, this is something I cannot give you”, she said. “I am a child of nature, I belong here, I need to be free.”
“Then at least tell me your name!” Jussi exclaimed. She jumped to her feet.
“If you really love me, my darling one, then you will never ask me that ever again!” she wept and hurried off into the woods.

For the following week, the girl was nowhere to be seen and Jussi grew more and more desperate when he met Old Ilma who lived close by and always helped his mother make bread. She was like a grandmother to him.
“What are you so sad about, my boy?” she asked him seeing his long face. “Come, sit with me for a while and tell me all about it.”
Jussi did as he was told and when he had finished his tale, the old woman smiled smugly.
“So you want to find out her name, do you?” she asked and winked.
“Yes!” he blurted eagerly.
“When I was a child, my mother always told me the story of the Forest Queen. And when you believe the ancient tales, there is a way to find out her name. You need to wait until the moon is full and find the forgotten lake. Then, if you lie down and keep absolutely still, you will be able to hear the reeds whisper her name.”

When the time had come and there was a full moon, Jussi set out to find the forgotten lake which was a small lake surrounded by dense woods. He lay down and listened into the darkness. He lay absolutely still not daring to move or make a sound. Then, when he had already grown all stiff, he finally heard a soft murmur.
“Sssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuvi!” “Suvi”, he thought. “Summer. What a beautiful name.”
He scrambled to his feet, shaking out his aching limbs and ran home excited and elated.

He could not wait to see the girl again and kept wandering around the forest hoping to catch sight of her. Then finally he spotted her and she waved at him and smiled.
He ran to her and shouted, “I love you, Suvi! I want you to be my wife!” Her face darkened and she looked as if an arrow had just hit her.
“No!” she cried. “No. This was not meant to be! Why did you do this?”
“I love you!” Jussi replied “And I want you to be mine. Please, Suvi. Marry me!”
“I will marry you”, she said gravely, put her hand in his and followed him home.

Suvi was as good a wife to him as she could possibly be and Jussi was happy and proud to have such a wonderful woman at his side. Yet, as the time went by, he came to realise that she was no longer the same. She hardly laughed anymore, the sparkle in her eyes he had loved so much had dulled and although she was loving and kind and took good care of him, he missed the joyful and carefree girl he had met in the forest that summer. Several times he caught her standing at the window looking wistfully out into the forest. This made Jussi very sad.

“Suvi”, he said one day and took her hand. “Are you happy?”
“I love you, Jussi and I am happy when you are, my darling husband”, she said and looked away. “That is no answer to my question, Suvi”, Jussi insisted. “Are you happy here with me?”
Suvi looked down. She silently shook her head. Jussi nodded and felt a lump in his throat. He knew what he had to do but he also knew that it would break his heart.
“Darling”, he said and looked at his wife with tears in his eyes, “It was a horrible mistake to take you away from where you belong. But I love you so much and I wanted you with me. Now I know that I cannot own you and that I should have been happy with what you could give me. I love you with all my heart, Suvi. But I want you to be happy. I release you from our marriage. You are free. You can go wherever you please.”
“Thank you!” Suvi whispered and kissed him lovingly. Then she got up and without looking back, she disappeared through the door into the cold night.

Jussi cried for days missing her so badly that he thought his heart would break into a million pieces. His only consolation was imagining her running through the forest, laughing, her hair dancing in the wind, her feet barely touching the ground. Winter passed and even though Jussi still missed her badly, the wounds began to heal and more and more he remembered the wonderful times they had laughing, chatting and teasing each other, kissing or holding hands. He smiled to himself when he thought about her being happy again. He had done the right thing. Of that he was very sure. He should never have forced what was not meant to be even though he had done it for love. It had been selfish love though, he thought. She had begged him not to try and find out her name if he really loved her, had she not? Jussi sighed deeply and went down to the lake looking out over the icy surface that got more and more cracks every day. Soon the ice would have gone and he could go fishing again or swimming in the lake. The thought made him smile. But now was not the time. There was a time for everything and no matter how much you want time to stop or move at least move more slowly there was no changing it. All you could do was wait.

When the first snowdrops and crocusses poked their heads threw the thawing snow, Jussi’s heart sang. It was the first sign that the time of seemingly neverending darkness was passing. Soon there would be sunny days and birdsong, the bright green of sunlit birch leaves and then it would be summer when the sun would not set until long after midnight.

As summer arrived, Jussi went fishing in the lake and helped his father cut wood and lay traps. It was strange being in the summer forest again without any hope that he would see her again. But it was good. Everything was just as it was supposed to be. Jussi sat down in the shadow of a birch tree, leaning against the trunk, closing his eyes, the rays of the sun warming his face. “I knew I would find you here, my beloved.” Jussi started up and looked up incredulously. There in the sunlight stood Suvi. More beautiful even than in his memories.
“Please take me home, my darling husband”, she said.
“But...I thought...?” Jussi looked puzzled.
“Don’t ask”, she said and smiled.

Jussi nodded. “Love doesn’t need to ask questions."

Tarot Advent Calendar

2009-12-01T02:11:00.000-08:00

:) Only 24 days till Christmas now. It's a German tradition to have advent calendars on which you open a door every day and find a bit of chocolate inside or advent/Christmas themed pictures, depending on the calendar you have. I have one that gives you a gemstone every day. ;)
So I'll draw a single card every day and write what I connect with this card and what it could mean for that particular day.

Today I'm using the "Osho Zen" deck and the card I find behind the door for
1st December is:

Participation

(Card removed for copyright reasons)

In the last 3-4 weeks before Christmas things can get very hectic. It is important we do not forget what this time is all about. For the Christians it is the time of preparation for the arrival of the Messiah, the saviour. With the birth of Christ, God makes the ultimate sacrifice to his creation. He becomes mortal in order to share the experience of physical existence and in doing so redeeming his creatures for all their mortal shortcomings. He actually became mortal and "participated" in his creation experiencing it as a mortal being with all the limitations of physical existence.
The 4 of Fire in the Osho Zen - called Participation - is all about participating in what is going on around you, about becoming aware instead of mechanically ploughing through life without really noticing what is going on. Especially when times are hectic one can forget to actually "be there", to particiapte and actually experience life. For me this card is also about sharing with other people, being open and welcoming to new ways of thinking, new experiences and beliefs.

Cast your Courts

2009-11-30T01:56:00.000-08:00

Today I'm going to cast another court card. That means, I am looking for an actor/actress or celebrity who I would cast to play the court card I drew. I'll be using the Thoth deck by Aleister Crowley and the court card of the day is...

...the Queen of Swords

(Card image removed for copyright reasons).

The Queen of Swords is a mature, intelligent woman. The Crowley deck depicts her sitting on a throne of clouds, far removed from all matter and substance, highly intellectual and an abstract thinker. She is also very independent and can be very critical up to the point of cruel which is shown here in her holding a head that she just cut off with her sharp sword.

Astrologically she rules the last decan of Virgo and the two first decans of Libra. She is distinguished and cool, has an air of unattainability. She can come across as cold, cruel and haughty. She is clear-cut and logical, a sophisticated, elegant woman who has emancipated herself. The fact that her arm on the Crowley card appears twisted and her posture very unnatural can point to the fact that she controlled up to the point of being uptight or dogmatic. That means she is sometimes too intolerant or inflexible to be able to adapt to new circumstances quickly even though she is a fast learner and a keen observer.

The Thoth deck shows her bare breasted which could point to her female self-confidence. She is proud and not ahamed to show herself, on the other hand her lower body is draped in a light blue skirt emphasizing the upper part of her body as being the more active one. She is not the motherly, nurturing type and could sometimes be seen as the "woman without a womb" who mainly lives her sexuality on a brainy, intellectual level. You could call her "Sapiosexual", a term
coined by author Darren Stalder, meaning that you are attracted to a person's intellect in a sexual way.

To cut a long story short, the ultimate "Thoth Queen of Swords" for me would be played by Glenn Close who could play the part very well.

Distinguished, smart, sharp, cool and eloquent. The perfect Queen of Swords for me.

Tarot Meds

2009-11-29T11:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the exercise of the day: Tarot Meds. If the card you draw was a medicine, what would it be for/against? What would be its side effects?

I'll be using the Voyager Tarot today:

The Child of Worlds (Page of Cups) - Player

(card image removed for copyright reasons)

This wonderful medicine helps you against listlessness and when you tend to brood or think and live in your head too much. It helps you ease up and enjoy life and all it has to offer as it will tickle out your inner child and make you play.

Known side effects are similar to ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). You get distracted too much and cannot focus on anything or follow anything through. You might find you don't take things seriously enough.

Three Cards - Three Words = One Sentence

2009-11-26T14:03:00.000-08:00

To break in my latest acquisition, the Victorian Romantic Tarot, I am going to use a nice little exercise: 1. Draw three cards. 2. For each card write down ONE word you associate with it. 3. Make a sentence out of these three words. Et voilà...your advice for the day.

Ten of Pentacles, Nine of Pentacles, The Hanged Man

(card images removed for copyright reasons)

Ten Pentacles: affluence
Nine Pentacles: luxury
The Hanged Man: rut

You may live in affluence and luxury but you will soon feel you find yourself in a rut and need to change your ways.

Six Word Memoir

2009-11-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

Today I'm going to do a tarot exercise I saw on the Aeclectic forum but which was picked up from this site: http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/. The six word memoir.

I'm using the Osho Zen Tarot today and my card is:

XXI Completion

One piece is missing - it's yourself.

Casting the Courts...

2009-11-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

As I was talking about the Courts last night, I thought I should do a little court exercise and I thought of something I will make a regular feature of this blog: Casting the Courts.

If you could pick an actor or another celebrity to play your court cards, who would you pick?

I'm using the Druidcraft today and will be starting with the Princess of Pentacles

In the Druidcraft deck, the Princess of Pentacles is a pretty, dark-haired girl holding the pentacle symbol like a mirror, absorbed with her own appearance. She is dressed in a green dress, indicating closeness to nature and she is barefoot, standing with both feet on the ground which also indicates a connection to the earth element. Despite the fact that she is using the pentacle as a mirror I would not see her as vain or pretentious. She looks more curious as if she is just discovering her own femininity. Her cloak is red (royal colour and the colour of the root chakra) and it is richly embroidered, so it suggests that she is rich and of a wealthy family. The root chakra red also shows her connection to earth, her stability, just like her posture (feet slightly apart). She has a healthy, well-nourished look which also indicates wealth and that she enjoys the good things in life. Her cloak is swirling around her, her whole posture therefore looks playful as if she's imitating the "grown-ups". She is standing on the rocks, her hair is loose and flying in the wind, so she looks like someone who is used to playing outdoors, climbing, running and exploring. Dark-haired but with a rather pale complexion she is still what beauticists and style experts would call a "Celtic type" and a "winter type" (should she be wearing green at all? ;) ). Anyway, this connects her to the North which is generally associated with the earth element. The sky is blue suggesting winter and the time of day is dawn as you can see the sun rising. In the background you can see some spirals on the stone, standing for natural cycles, the endless/timeless universe. Again, like on the Ace of Pentacles (see in my earlier posts), you can see a birch tree standing for new beginnings. So...this is a budding young lady who is very down-to earth, enjoys being in nature and has a feeling for natural rhythms. She is very natural in her demeanour, not pretentious, enjoys life and everything it offers and is more interested in the material world around her than in abstracts. So here's who I would cast to play the Druidcraft Prince of Pentacles:

a young Martine McCutcheon

or Hanna Zetterberg, the girl (now woman) who played "Ronia: The Robber's Daughter" in the adaptation of the book by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.

Unsolicited Advice

2009-11-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

First of all I am sorry I didn't post yesterday as I had too much work and a tarot class on SL last night. So today I'll post two to make up for it.

The first idea I picked up from a reading exchange I participated in. The idea was to do a reading for someone without a question to go on. The reader was supposed to think of a question that they thought the querent needed an answer to right now. It was highly interesting as we all got some advice we probably wouldn't have asked for but that was in any event astonishingly useful and suitable. Of course I don't have a particular querent here, so I cannot intuit a specific question I could read on but I thought about drawing three cards and make them my "Advice of the Day" for whoever thinks this is applicable to them. ;)

I'm using the Thoth deck today.

9 wands, The Chariot, Aeon

Wow...someone is very eager to make changes here. ;) The wish and desire to change rises from the subconscious, from the bottom of their heart. My advice to them today:

This is a great time for changes in your life, you have the power and the means to achieve great things and to move forward into a completely new realm. Observe the charioteer though. His visor is closed, he doesn't need to SEE where he is going, because he feels and knows where his goal is, it's in his centre, the grail that he holds. So...before you set out to revolutionise your life, the world or the known universe...be sure WHY you are doing it and WHERE you want to be going.

Tarot Teachers

2009-11-22T05:15:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to use a wide variety of decks on here to show how many different ones are around, so I'll try and use a different one every day until I run out of decks I own. ;)

Today's card comes from the "Circle of Life Tarot", which uses round cards. Not very practical as it's difficult to shuffle but it's a nice idea.

My exercise for today: If this card was a teacher, what subject (not necessary one of the classic school subjects) would it teach?

The High Priestess would teach the following subjects:
Yoga
Meditation
Divination

Good News

2009-11-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

I found this in a forum thread on Aeclectic Tarot and liked the idea very much. You draw a card and see what "good news" it has for you.

I would like to dedicate this to my sister Corvinia who is in dire need of some good news right now. As she's a Vampire Princess on SL I'm using the Vampire Tarot and am asking "What good news is there for my sister Corvinia?"

The Devil:
This is a time when you have the chance to free yourself from unhealthy entanglements, addictions and bad habits, somebody's bad influence is losing its power over you and you can shed your chains.

The next interesting encounter: who, when, where?

2009-11-20T12:15:00.000-08:00

Q: What is the next interesting encounter in my life?
Deck used: Margaret Petersen Tarot

Draw three cards:
1. Who?
2. When?
3. Where?

1. Who?
Two of Coins (=Pentacles)
You will get together with two people who most likely belong to your closer family (siblings, parents, cousins, uncles, aunts).

2. When?
"The Wanderer between the Worlds" (= Temperance)
At the end or the beginning of the month (so within the coming 2 weeks)

3. Where?
"The Sun"
In the South, outside or in a lively and warm place where you feel safe and warm. So...that could be a holiday or a family home.

Tarot Haiku

2009-11-19T01:18:00.000-08:00

RWCS 5 of Pentacles
(Haiku: 3 lines - 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables)

Nothing in my hands
I feel I have nothing left
except for my hope

Tarot Anwering Machines

2009-11-18T06:20:00.000-08:00

Again I found this exercise/game on Aeclectic tarot and thought it was a wonderful idea.

Task: What would you hear if you called this card and reached its answering machine?

1. Draw a card
2. Think of a message the card would give you

Card: Four of Cups - World Spirit Tarot

"Hello. You have reached the Four of Cups. I'm awfully busy moping and brooding. So no matter why you are calling - whether you have found the true meaning of life or you are calling to tell me I've won the lottery - please don't bother leaving a message, I don't feel like listening."

The World Spirit Tarot is my latest acquisition and I am so glad I bought it. Its a beeeeautiful deck and the images really talk to me. Vibrant colours, symbols from different cultures, impressive artwork. I love it!!!

The fortune cookie game...

2009-11-17T04:48:00.001-08:00

I am quite certain most of you will know fortune cookies and the type of wisdom or prediction that you find inside. The exercise for today is:

1. Draw a card
2. Write a "wisdom" or "prediction" based on this card that sounds as if it could come from a
fortune cookie.
3. This is today's fortune for you.

Card: Ace of Swords from the Bohemian Gothic

2. "A clear, critical mind will help you cut through the entanglements and the chaos in your life."

II Advanced fortune cookie...(for fun)

I have found a variation of this game on Aeclectic Tarot and thought it would be fun. A friend of mine once said fortune cookie predictions only ever make sense when you add "...in bed". So...the second exercise for the day: What would the card you drew be like...in bed?

"You are demanding, critical and rather dispassionate...in bed."

Oh my...what a boring card to be in bed with. ;)

Exercise: ONE card - ONE sentence

2009-11-16T02:14:00.000-08:00

From the Druidcraft deck

ONE card - ONE sentence:

1. Write down a question.
2. Draw a card.
3. Give a one-sentence answer to the question.

Q: Will the project I am currently "incubating" be successful?

Ace Pentacles: It will be hard work to realise but it is an idea with great potential for (financial) success when you use your resources wisely, keep both feet on the ground and give it time to grow and develop.

Some thoughts on the Ace of Pentacles in general and the Druidcraft version of it in particular.
Pentacles (Coins, Disks) belong to the element Earth and therefore most often address material issues. The Ace is "germinal" Earth energy. Aces are like eggs that carry all the potential of the energy their suit represents. So in the context of the question about a project idea it certainly means that the idea has potential if taken care of in the right way. Growth as brought forth by Pentacle/Earth cards is usually organic, that means it takes time, patience and care. So the notion of giving it time to develop and ripen is there in the card, too. If any of the card suits points to money being made it would quite evidently be Pentacles aka Coins. Earth energy is stable, realistic, pragmatic and can bring forth good, solid results if handled correctly. In the context of the above question it means that expectations should be realistic, one needs to go about the matter pragmatically, with both feet on the ground, one step at a time.

The Druidcraft version of the card shows a birch tree which is a symbol of fertility, birth and promising new beginnings. You can see some stars in the sky but the lower part of the sky is orange/yellow so I think it could be sunrise - which would also stand for a new beginning, a new dawn. The lower part of the card shows a cave and some heavy rocks and a bear coming out of the cave. The bear here represents the North and the element Earth. In the Lenormand oracle cards the bear also stands for posessions and wealth. Bears use their resources wisely, eating a lot while they can, building up enough strength and reserves for the winter, this would suggest wise and provident planning and the need for the necessary "reserves" or capital to rely on.
Both the bear and the rocks are heavy and difficult to move (ever tried to push a rock or better yet a bear out of your way?), this would suggest it is not an easy feat. So it will take hard work and dedication.

Daily Tarot

2009-11-16T02:02:00.000-08:00

I have been working with the cards for almost 20 years now. I'm doing readings on Second Life and in Real Life and do classes and talks on the tarot and its symbolism.

One of the features in my SL Tarot group (Tarot - Mirror of your Soul) is the fortnightly tarot exercise that I send out by notecard. That idea came from the tarot diaries I keep in RL where I do reading exercises, card meditations and write down thoughts and ideas about the cards to familiarise myself with the cards and their imagery.

So I thought the next logical step as a Second Life tarot reader and teacher would be to create an online tarot diary to share my thoughts and ideas on the cards with other readers or people who have been attending my classes. So here we go....