Spread for 2018

Spread for 2018 Using Pam's Vintage Tarot

This is my spread for 2018 which will probably take me all year to analyse, here are a few initial thoughts. 

The cards to the right are the months. Top row is Jan, Feb, March, April and so on. The Sun and the Page of Swords are the them cards (both jumpers). The Ace of Cups is the shadow. 

Row one:  Assess whether my knowledge represents reality...analyse from a different angle....attend to structure as well as the finer points (notice the hierophants tiny shoes)...commit. 

Row Two: News of outcome...shout hurrah...successfully defend...do a happy dance. 

Row Three: Brief audit pentacles wise but don't get stuck here...watery energy arrives for a reason...

Impressions 

These cards may not be the most exciting but they are (dare I say it?) pretty drama free. I have four cups cards which contrasts with my first year of doing daily draws when I had almost no water energy at all. The colour red dominates the top row but aside from there is a lot of blue - symbolising calmness and truth. 

I read that wherever the sun card appears it should be considered central. The sun's light leads to truth, clarity and sureness. It also particularly emphasises cards in close proximity - here the confidence of the Page of Swords. Nice also that the word 'love' appearing next to Pam's signature connects to the dove below. 

I first drew the Ace of Pentacles as the shadow card then the Ace of Wands as a clarifier. I looked again at the instructions and the shadow is the card at the bottom of the deck (Ace of Cups). This tells me I was meant to get an Ace of any description in this position. Hence this is not a beginnings year but a finishing things year and lovingly so. Until then new endeavours must remain in shadow. Numerologically this is a hermit year for me (day and month of birth plus 2018). The nine is the end of a cycle signifying completion and letting go. 


The star is a card of vision but as Katz and Goodwin say without action it is 'like a compass in a prison'. Interesting that it appears close to two receptive cards. Although I notice the feet (symbol of direction) getting closer to water - the queen by the shore and the king dipping a toe. The star in the final position makes perfect sense then pointing to a new cycle that will begin in 2019. 

Happy New Year All! 

never to old to play

Today's Draw: Six of Summer, Victorian Fairy Tarot

Well I'm not ready to sit on the sidelines reminiscing my youth. I've been worn down a couple of times through excess cares. At times I've pretended to be out of joi de vivre just to get along. Which made two miserable people instead of just one. Yet I've always managed to get 'young' again.

Poverty and ill-health aside I wonder when and why people take the permanent decision to be old at heart. It doesn't seem to affect everyone. I know octogenarians with way more life in them than thirty year olds. 

I'm grateful I have my health and the leisure to learn and play today. 








  

My friend the queen of swords

Today's Draw: Queen of Swords, Victorian Fairy Tarot

Here she is smashing the popular stereotype that intelligent women must be frumpy. Her body is not just something to carry her brain around and she dresses it well. The most elegant and refined queen in the deck. 

Of all the queens I would turn to her for style advice and I believe that unlike some she would give it freely. She's not the sort to pretend that her 'just so' outfit was the first thing that fell out of the wardrobe. Nor does she do false flattery. 

She may not be the most flamboyant (that crown belongs to the Queen of Wands) but she understands the science of colour, knows what shapes work together and can spot poor quality fabrics at twenty paces. She IS discerning but she is also diplomatic. It makes no sense for a swordly lady to be blunt. 

It's up to you if you take her advice. If you do she'll be pleased to have helped. If you don't she won't be affected. 

Two become one

Those keys and the crossed fingers raised a wry smile this morning. We have a new wifi radio and I was expecting set up to cause a day of dreaded password pandemonium. When one new account triggers a reaction through all the other ones and before long you have no idea what you're logging in or out of. Or maybe that's just me?

K has long believed instruction manuals to be an unnecessary distraction. I read them cover to cover (to the point I don't dare press a button at all). 

Yet we are changing in our old age....K diligently reading, me impatiently prodding and poking, him tutting. 

We got it working! Which is a very good thing as I've already thrown out the receipt and guarantee. That use to be K's department too.

Attainment

Today's Draw: The Hermit, Pam's Vintage Tarot

In 2018 The Hermit is my year card as well as my soul and personality card. Once, twice, three times a hermit...hmmm. According to Waite the Hermit is not about 'occult isolation'. I believe this means not hoarding and hiding special knowledge for fear of critique, contestation or even combination with other knowledges.

The hermit is a wayfarer, one who goes ahead. In my line of work it is important to seek new insights. Less positively always being ahead can become pathological. If the insights gleaned are never shared one may as well be a laggard. 

As Waite states the way Hermit holds up 'his beacon on an eminence' suggesting that this card is about 'attainment'. For me that will require intellectual exchange not stockpiling. 

I've been pondering my word for 2018 - perhaps this is it. 

No off switch

Today's Draw: Ace of Swords, Pam's Vintage Tarot

An ace of thoughts on a Sunday? Not looking likely...Enough to take my cue from the olive branch and go placidly amidst the noise and the haste.  Although now Ehrmann's poem has me thinking...

Fixes

Today's Draw: Five of Pentacles, Pam's Vintage Tarot

The lame figure may suggest a problem from the past that a person cannot shake off. Perhaps they use alcohol or other substances as a crutch to make the situation more bearable. From a rational perspective this never solves the problem. Yet I can understand why people do it. Most likely because they do not yet have the inner or outer resources to cope. 

It is easy to tell people to face their problems head on when we know nothing of their actual circumstances. I'm reminded of something a blind and mentally disabled woman said to me at an art workshop 'some things cannot be fixed so they are just left broken'. I knew exactly what she meant. The fixer in me still fights it. 

Visitation

Today's draw: Ten of Cups, Pam's Vintage Tarot

I'm often guilty of glancing this 'happy home' card which usually triggers eager thoughts of living in a cottage by the sea. 

On closer inspection I'm not sure the couple in this card own the little cottage to the right. The man's body seems to be oriented in a different direction (the east) although the woman does seem to tilt her head and point her finger towards the cottage. May be they have different aspirations. Maybe I'm making too much of things. 

I read this week that, according to census records, Pamela Coleman Smith lived in Didsbury, Manchester for a while as a child. If true it would be nice to visit. Verifying this will be my weekend project. 

slow and steady

Today's Draw: Nine of Pentacles, Pam's Vintage Tarot

According to Katz and Goodwin this card depicts Rosalind in As You Like It. In Act 4 scene 1 she admonishes her suitor Orlando for his tardiness: 'I had as lief be wooed of a snail'. adding 'because even though he's slow he carries his house on his head'. 

The lady's dress and the vines signify affluence but as this is a nine card I guess her 'fortune' wasn't just handed on a plate. The snail is a good reminder of the value of self-sufficiency and steady progress on the road to financial independence. 

curious

Today's Draw: Pam's Vintage Tarot, The Hermit

I have never quite bonded with my 'Original Rider Waite'. Maybe as I'm of the generation that has been quite spoilt by the plethora of decks available. Or something to do with the production of old images on very new looking card stock. I felt this a pity as the RWS contains colours and symbols with very specific meanings that modern decks often overlook. 

So treated myself to this limited edition based on scans of a first edition and including an extra ten cards with illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith. This bridge sized version feels far more mysterious and magical with muted colours on semi-matte linen stock. I can imagine finding it in a dusty corner of an antiquarian bookstore down a cobbled alley. A happy form of pretence which fits with the curious original meaning attributed to the card. 

Mind and matter

Today's Draw: The Goddess Tarot, Magic/The Magician

Here the Goddess Isis appears without the usual ceremonial tools suggesting hers is a very simple yet extremely powerful practice. The headdress and hawk hint at mind magic. Using intellect to bring about a change. 

Yet there is also creativity here - the magic she works with her left hand. The wall paintings and the Goddess's golden gown (illumination) signal there is more than just words making up the world, things matter too. 

The hawk and hieroglyphics tell me that to have magical day I need to work with a balance of visual and textual sources. Although, like the card, my study room is warm and cosy it will be good to go for a walk this crisp November day. 

Wishing all a magical Saturday! 

Happiness is a verb

Today's Draw The Goddess Tarot, Nine of Cups


This card has a more relaxed inviting feel than the traditional RWS (a guy sitting arms crossed as if defending his trophies). The cups have been laid out to nourish other bodies and souls and the woman's gaze falls upon the beautiful moons and stars that she embroidered on the tablecloth.


This reminds me happiness is not something we own, certainly not as a sole property. It is something we do - whether making an ordinary cloth special, sharing a meal with others or simply sitting in nature. 

Good cheer

Today's Draw: The Goddess Tarot, Three of Cups

Well this is a merry card. Pumpkin spiced lattes all round? 

The enabler

Today's draw: The Goddess Tarot, Lakshmi/The Wheel of Fortune

After yesterday's Christmas shopping traffic frenzy things look pretty clear today. I've had my eye on a navy sequin dress for the party season and am off to try it on. Taking Lakshmi along for a second opinion although being strongly attracted to sparkling things she may not be the most objective shopping companion... 

I'll need to leave for home by 3, after that the only way out will be by aircraft. So hopefully there won't be too much damage. And yes I am fortunate. 
  

intent

Today's Draw: The Goddess Tarot, Three of Staves.

The ten of cups jumped out today (already seen a few posts back) so I stopped shuffling and went with the next card which follows on nicely. The fiery rays of the sun indicate the resolve to act with intent and the woman's red belt signifies the energy to transform intention into creation. 

The guidebook states that with her plans in motion the woman waits for her ships to come in, confident they will carry the treasures of Goddess Freyja. A nice card of the day. 

Healing space

Daily Draws: The Goddess Tarot, Nine of Pentacles and Six of Swords

Yesterday's draw was the nine of pentacles. This card emphasises enjoying beauty and pleasure that we have created. A little before it turned dark I cleared up my papers and put away the laptop. I lit some candles placing alongside  jewellery that belonged to my grandparents and others preceding them that I never met. As night fell I did an ancestor spread. It was such a lovely experience. 

The 'wartime' fireplace has been on my demolition list since we moved here and the candlesticks which belonged to K's mother were going to be put away until I noticed their moonly shape. Anyway glad both were still here last night...

Today's card is the six of swords which I drew today can indicate moving to a calmer place. I am reminded by this that I can create healing space exactly where I am. 

movement which heals

Daily Draw: The Goddess Tarot, Rhiannon/Movement

Rhiannon is accompanied by three magical birds from the Happy Otherworld. According to Waldherr their song was believed to be so powerful as to 'lull the living to death, restore the dead to life and heal all sorrow'. 

I like the re-envisioning of the chariot as movement which heals or healing through movement. I prefer this image of graceful movement to renditions emphasising thundering, disorientating speed or those which are curiously static.  

The meaning offered by the guidebook is of smooth transition into the next phase of life as if we are pulled by the forces of fate and fortune. This reminds me that some of the best, most healing transitions I have made have been when someone has kindly showed up to cheer me on or even walk part of the journey with me. I am grateful for that. 

whatever it means to you is true

Daily Draw: The Goddess Tarot, Ten of Cups

A lovely card to begin my week with the Goddess tarot. There is no need to analyse this one. The ten of cups will mean something different to each of us. This version perfectly captures it for me. Gazing at the moon, stars and sea. 

Ramble alert

Daily Draw: Earthly Souls and Spirits Oracle, Peace

The ghostly white enveloping the witch brought to mind Samhain or All Hallows when the veil between worlds is traditionally thought to be thin. This 31st of October is the 500 year anniversary since Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of All Saints' church, the catalyst for centuries of sectarian troubles which are still playing out now.

I'm convinced there's some significance in his choice of church and date. At first I thought of the charitable practice of leaving gifts of food and lighting fires by graves to warm the bones of the dead who were thought to rise on night prior to the feast of All Souls. Perhaps Luther expected an audience? Dismissed. By this time the Catholic church had clamped down on such 'superstitious' practices. 

Nevertheless the souls of departed loved ones would be on peoples minds at this time. I think the significance has more to do with Luther's objection to the sale of indulgences. These were spiritual IOU's which promised an accelerated passage from purgatory to heaven which the church was selling to raise money for building projects. 

It's just a theory which I can't prove. Got me thinking of my Dad. At one time he'd have been interested in the mystery. In his later years his brilliant mind was diminished by years of alcohol abuse. Beautiful manners and social graces gave way to coarseness. 'Humour' became a rant of expletives. I remember one about Protestants 'squatting' in his church...He was angry up until the day he died (I think I am a bit angry too). I had a dream last night about him organising his send off in a pub called the Ship of Air. Perhaps he's moved on and I should too. I don't want to die angry. 

   

owl medicine

Daily Draw: Earthly Souls and Spirits Oracle, Relax

This card has a waning moon on the reverse which suggests the calm that comes after releasing things that no longer serve us. Clearing out clutter whether physical or mental to make room for the new. 

I believe the owl also symbolises transition. Certainly owl knows it cannot carry everything and still fly. Perhaps it is telling me to keep my eyes peeled and travel light. An opportunity may come along that I want to swoop on. 

Religion and magic

Daily Draw: Earthly Souls and Spirits Oracle, Devoted

This card reminds me that I don't have a regular (or indeed irregular) spiritual devotional practice. I've been thinking setting up an altar in my study but it seems so daunting. What if I get it wrong and and invoke a whole load of unintended effects? 

Perhaps this concern with rightness of ritual stems from my Catholic upbringing. There is a saying that you never stop being a Catholic you can only be a lapsed one. According to catholicbridge.com if you are serious about leaving you have write them a letter. I wonder how many people have omitted to do that? 

Nevertheless the Vatican advises 'It remains clear, in any event, that the sacramental bond of belonging to the Body of Christ that is the Church, conferred by the baptismal character, is an ontological and permanent bond which is not lost by any reason or fact of defection.' 

That I am stirred by the Benedictus (partly based on the Latin mass) reminds me of my love of church music. As in the card I used to love lighting a candle in prayer. Maybe I'll pop into a church again one day...


Magic, like poetry, resists precise definition; and in particular its connexion with religion is perplexing. There would appear to be no religion without magic at its foundation and certainly there is no magic in any significant sense without deep roots in religion. 

E. M. Butler

Anything but

Daily Draw: Earthly Souls and Spirits Oracle, Spontaneous


This card reminds me of what a creature of habit I can be. My usual practice is to glance at the image and read the book meaning at length. Except with this deck I can't. The creator intended this deck to be read visually and intuitively and provides only a brief overview of what she emphasises are her interpretations. 

That I have a such a text bias is a good reason for working with images. I wonder if I could dare myself to abstain from book meanings for a whole month? Researching the written word is such a well worn neural pathway...Perhaps if I do a few twirls like this young girl I'll glimpse something shimmering beyond my usual field of vision.  

Why not seize the pleasure at once? -- How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!

Jane Austen 

snow-flakes

Daily Draw: Earthly Souls and Spirits Oracle, Soulful

Out of the bosom of the Air, 

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, 

Over the woodlands brown and bare, 

Over the harvest-fields forsaken, 

Silent, and soft, and slow 

Descends the snow....

This is the poem of the air,

Slowly in silent syllables recorded...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882

Rose moments

Daily Draw: Earthly Souls and Spirits Oracle, Focus

Just as this girl and the bird gaze at the roses sometimes when we focus on what is going well, on what is lovely everything else falls into place. If not at least we will have had a few moments of joy. 

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses. Alphonse Karr, 1808-1890

Slowing down and taking notice

Daily Draw: Earthly Souls and Spirits Oracle, Mindful

This was the first card I drew but in my rush to 'consume' this new deck I overlooked its subtle beauty. Including the lovely lacework star in the top right corner. 

The deck came so thoughtfully packaged in star spangled tissue paper, with a quality box, soft pouch, a candle, a pocket sized moon phase calendar and even some potpourri and a few chocolates. A delight for the senses and a lovely gift to receive this rainy Saturday. This deck wants me to live more consciously in the moment, to slow down and take notice. So I will. 

Strength

Daily Draw: Goddesses Knowledge Cards, Ix Chel

I drew the Triple Goddess three times more this morning and took it out of the deck because it was getting a bit odd (albeit in a nice way). My next draw was Ix Chel and I placed the cards side by side to see what I might glean.

I was struck by the two big cats. The lioness appears lower than the Triple Goddess indicating the Goddess is in control of her strength. Yet the lion's eyes do speak of a challenge or dare. By contrast the jaguar's gaze is wary. She remains watchful, attentive as she protects Ix Chel.  

Both animals are born with rosettes for camouflage. Lion cubs lose theirs as they mature into adults (although they may retain some on their face) but jaguars retain their spots for life. 

I'm reminded it is often wise to exercise strength with discretion than announce it with a roar. 

The crone again

Daily Draw: Goddesses Knowledge Cards: Triple Goddess

The Crone returns as an aspect of the Triple Goddess. I read on a Wiccan site that to have a relationship with the Crone you must seek her out. I'd like to do this not only through internet research. The Crone is associated with Samhain, a time of honouring the ancestors. Perhaps I'll begin there. 

Webs

Daily Draw: Goddesses Knowledge Cards, Spider Woman

These Goddesses definitely want me to take my time to get to know them. As I've played with the deck this week the same cards keep coming up - this being one of them.

This brought to mind spiral like thinking - the practice of returning over and over to an object of study or a concept and each time making a slightly different interpretation. Sometimes broadening out, sometimes narrowing down, sometimes, sometimes adding another skein or thread. My understanding of the cards has developed in this way through the daily draws. 

I've been pondering today how recursive and linear thought might be shown to be mutually reinforcing rather than oppositional. I can't make those connections yet. Probanly because i"m being to linear....Maybe Spider Woman will help me better understand how knowledge works as a web. 

Softly and lightly

Daily Draw: Goddess Knowledge Cards, Demeter

Susan Seddon Boulet's use of colour and the way she creates illumination and ethereal effects with the lightest and finest of strokes has me gripped. Perhaps these cards are more for meditation than blogging as a I feel my words (and camera) can't do them justice.

Anais Nin has beautifully described her work: 

'these figures are out of our dreams, those which flee from us upon wakening, those which are dispersed like dew at dawn, those which fall apart between our fingers like dust roses. 

Susan has a more muted step, or perhaps she is invisible...more soft-voiced, soft-gestured, as the images do not escape from her. She can return from her voyages with intact descriptions...from places never visited by us but which we remember' 

This Greek mother Goddess Demeter gave the gift of agriculture. The message I take is to cultivate a softer voiced, lighter footed way of being in the world. 

Kaltes

Daily Draw: Goddesses Knowledge Cards: Kaltes

Recently as part of Pull Pen Paint I participated in a session on the divine feminine. I was struck by the fact that although I most of my decks are by women artists and creators I have none specifically dedicated to the goddesses. It made me question myself. Including how I pride myself on being critical and gender aware in the way that I consume, appraise and cite academic texts but to date not so much with tarot and oracles. 

So I have purchased a couple of Goddess decks (purely for the purposes of gender equality)...

This is the shapeshifting moon Goddess Kaltes manifested as a hare - a lunar creature sacred to her. She guides us compassionately to the mysteries of life. I can't find much more about Kaltes on the web. Maybe I'll sit with her a little longer. There is more than just words making up the world. Thank Goddess for the cards...

trustliness

Self Trust Spread using The Wild Unknown Tarot, (C) Kim Krans, Harper Elixir

I think I mentioned a while back that I won an instagram competition for a place on Pull Pen Paint, an online course using the cards as prompts for journaling and art making. I've taken a break from daily draws and am using the PPP prompts instead. This is the self trust spread. 

It was interesting to get two perceiving cards. The King of Swords, my illuminated self, perceives analytically and is fair. The High Priestess perceives intuitively and can be ambiguous. She represents the shadows so it is intriguing to find her in the position of where I can cultivate my light. Focus on inner illumination perhaps? 

The High Priestess is the archetype of the refusal of the call, refusal of ordinary world obligations. Perhaps why this is why the six of pentacles appears as my shadow card. I am afraid that if I embrace the Priestess' mysteries I will become ungrounded and materially unproductive. 

The ten of cups signals how to cultivate and trust both light and shadow. Completing things already started will give energy and create new space for intuitive or creative practices. 

Overall the energy of the spread is water - creativity and emotions. The High Priestess dominates as a major arcana card. According to elemental dignities (I have been reading Mary K Greer) her water together with that of the ten is strong and receptive prevailing over the air and the earth. 

Rather than yielding to the pressure to be like my male counterparts (here the king of swords, proving points and defending arguments) maybe the message is to learn to trust myself to channel a more feminine energy. 

always learning

Daily Draw: Anna K Tarot, Three of Pentacles


I enjoy learning new skills and seeing work in progress. Both the three of pentacles and the eight are favourite cards. Although sometimes the distinctions between the two become a bit blurry. The three is I believe often associated with mastery. This seems to be emphasised here as different from the traditional RWS image the craftsperson works unobserved, unattended. This suggests he or she has achieved a degree of autonomy and can be trusted to do a job well for its own sake. 

I have often wondered why the master appears before the apprentice in the eight. Or why the apprentice appears so late in the suit. Perhaps this speaks to the fact that life is not always a straightforward upward trajectory. We master one set of skills and then later in life we need to learn something new. 

Or (the more I mull this) actually we really want to learn something new. Isn't it wonderful that life continues to present those opportunities? 

happy to see the hermit

Daily Draw, Anna K Tarot, The Hermit.  

I took a photo of a lantern yesterday and here he is the lantern carrier although depicted here with a candle. Being a double hermit (this is my life and birth card) it is always a sigh moment when this card shows up. This version I find especially beautiful. Those wonderful wonderful blue tones...

The rain is lashing down outdoors with the odd crack of thunder. This together with the appearance of this card reminds me I am fortunate to have a place of stillness, a mini retreat from the world. Today I am tucked up with mug of tea reading Sepulchre by Kate Mosse - a novel which features a mysterious deck of tarot cards. There is a difference between solitude and loneliness. 

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is richness of self.

May Sarton, 1912-1995

Centering

Daily Draw, The Wheel of Fortune.

Ups and downs, light and shade. All part of the tapestry of life. The wheel of life turns slowly at times. Sometimes it needs to turn more quickly. If you've ever tried to slowly fill a bobbin on a sewing machine you will know the need to regulate the speed. Too slow and the result is a knotty, loopy mess, too fast and the bobbin spins out of control altogether. 

This wheel is not simply turning but being spun. The Crone's kindly face suggests the change is for the best. As she spins she places her right hand on the wheel perhaps to steady it. Or maybe this is a clue for the woman trying to ride the wheel? The closer we are to the centre the smoother the ride. 

Queenly self care

Daily Draw, Anna K Tarot: Queen of Pentacles. 

This lady is a down to earth queen. She offers practical advice for all manner of collywobbles. Eat well, take some exercise outdoors, get an early night. A natural nurturer she knows the importance of fresh linen on the bed, a candlelit bathroom, clothes laid out for the morning. Such things are easily overlooked when we are overworked, tired or stressed but that is exactly the time to practice little acts of self care. 

Cycles

Daily Draw: Anna K Tarot, The High Priestess

Like the moons in the card everything occurs in cycles. Difficult times will pass and better times come around again, and on and on...Blessed with this wisdom the High Priestess can sit in stillness observing change with compassion. Time to reach deep into the well within rather than trying to alter change from without. 

even if you are a small forest surviving off of
moon alone
your light is extraordinary

- reminder 

Nayyirah Waheed. 

Frozen

Daily Draw, Anna K Tarot: Three of Swords. 

In the bitter cold he's walked a mile to offer her his heart and now it breaks. For her more than himself. His face is full of concern as she trudges through the snow away from the home he wanted to share with with her. He can't see but her heart is breaking too. She loves him but fears her wounded self will become a burden to him. She would rather carry those heavy swords alone. What is the hardest thing? When you want so much to love someone back to life and they won't let you? Or when you walk away from a loving soul for their own good? 

medicinal

Daily Draw, The Green Witch Tarot, The Sidhe/Temperance

This potion maker has all the ingredients, tools and resources she needs to create something magical. Her work being subtle alchemy she's fully focused on the task, paying attention to infinitesimal interactions of each addition to the pot. To an observer she appears patient yet being immersed a state of flow time does not weigh heavy on her. The moon is high and still she continues. 

Traditionally this is a card of balance and healing. For me this means applying the imagery of this rendition quite literally. To light more candles, read books and learn about medicinal herbs and essential oils.  

burn softly

Daily Draw: Green Witch Tarot, The Sun

After the lord of shadows here comes the sun...I'm a little concerned about the eagle in this card who looks to be repeating the error of Icarus...

 

The cosy cottage symbolises contentment, harmony and comfort. The stones and the cart suggest that the residence is the outcome of hard work. A fair amount of material success is needed to purchase a home in such an idyllic location. Yet the card also speaks of the importance of physical wellbeing which is easily forgotten in and amongst out daily commitments. Allowing ourselves to burn out is irresponsible to ourselves and those who rely on us. The card reminds me of the need to make a haven, right where we are now, however small and attend to self-care. There may be peace and even joy to be found in small things like the soft light of a candle and an oil in the burner. 

dark to light

Daily Draw, The Green Witch Tarot, The Lord of Shadows.

The moth in this card is moving from darkness to light. I suppose quite apt for an eclipse day. Or should it be the other way around - moving from light into shadow? 

This card sometimes speaks of abrupt endings - which it is human to fear. I tend to prefer a gentler fade in fade out approach to life's changes. This Lord is patient but where there is stagnation or lack of growth he arrives with his besom to make a clean sweep. Through cleansing new optimism arises. Negative influences are removed enabling positive ones to enter. As the guidebook states 'old situations give way to new ones, and the past is left behind as a person moves on, released from prior commitments'. The yew tree in the image represents renewal, the lunar moth symbolises transition. This card is growing on me...

She's back again

Daily Draw, The Green Witch Tarot, Nine of Chalices

I drew this card earlier in the week and now she's back. My earlier guidebook inspired thoughts were of intuition, intention, aligned energy and hope. I wonder if there is something else I'm missing? Or if is she asking me to reflect more deeply on those attributes. She is quite a glamorous lady, perhaps she just wants me to put some make up on and do my hair? 

Another funny ting looking back over the blog the last four cards are in the numerical sequence 6, 7, 8, 9. Maybe something in that? 

tarot tomfoolery

Daily Draw: Green Witch Tarot, Eight of Wands 

According to the guidebook this is a card of good career news coming swiftly. So that got a loud harrumph this morning. And then...

I got home to find I have won a place on an art, journaling and oracle class on Instagram with proper tuition from practicing artists. Woohoo! Looked again at the book - good news from a distance - tick! Good news about a creative venture - tick number two! I'll take that. 

Pootling around on the web I found a quiz - what kind of tarot reader are you. It was fun. The profile I got included a five card spread which includes your personal tarot journey, strengths, opportunities for growth, blocks and guidance needed. I wanted to post but then I will use up all my cards of the week...anyway if interested the link is here: http://ethony.com/tarottutorials/

I am glad I have this tarot tomfoolery hobby. Wishing all a happy weekend.