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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Today's Draw: The Goddess Tarot, Three of Cups
Well this is a merry card. Pumpkin spiced lattes all round?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
