Rowan Tarot

'Mystic Bastard' Day Two

2013-05-21T06:45:00.002+01:00

Deck of the Bastard 2013, Mystic Faerie 2007

Today's draw from Mystic Faerie and Deck of the Bastard has produced The Star and Queen of Wands. This morning I woke up with a distinct feeling that today is a good day for fresh starts, and this combination of cards suggests I can reach my highest aspirations if I take determined action. I didn't think about the configuration of the cards when I threw them on the scanner, but I like the way the Queen of Wands has ended up pointing to The Star. It's like she's saying, 'You can have this if you want it.' (With a subtext of: 'But if you want it, you have to stop talking and grab a big stick and start beating your life into the shape you want it to take.') That might sound violent, but the Queen of Wands isn't known for subtlety. It's actually interesting to me to see The Star, which I always feel is a subtle, gentle card, combined with the Queen of Wands, who always seems to me quite showy and brash in her approach to things. She doesn't always have to be, but she is certainly a take-no-prisoners type.

I woke up this morning with the idea to do visualizations during my meditation sessions, to visualize my life the way I want it to be. Then I remembered I have a CD I bought years ago of a kind of guided meditation for weight loss and healthy living. So I dug that out and dug around and found my earphones, and then I came to the PC to find that I'd drawn The Star + Queen of Wands for today, which reinforced my thoughts and actions of the morning.

Well, if I'm going to have time to listen to that CD, I've got to cut this short. Working 8.30-6.15 today!

'Mystic Bastard' Day One

2013-05-20T06:29:00.001+01:00

I'm combining two decks this week, Mystic Faerie and Deck of the Bastard (so-called because it is made up of cards from several different decks, all mixed up together and made to look aged). I drew one card for each day of the week using the Mystic Faerie, then drew cards for each day of the week using Deck of the Bastard, to see how they work together. Today's cards are:

Mystic Faerie 2007, Deck of the Bastard 2013

The cards suggest that though today may be a day of trouble, I should keep things in perspective.

The Nine of Swords usually represents troubling thoughts or bad dreams. (In the Mystic Faerie deck, the swords are represented by the red thorns on the vine.) The only troubling thoughts I've been having lately are about my gooshy thighs, so chances are today's will be not much different than the usual. (Though I actually did have a really weird dream last night, most of which I cannot remember except for one scene where I am in my grandmother's house and find a back room that I never knew about, in which there is an empty hospital bed with green sheets, and a chair in the corner holding what looks like a lifesize doll. The doll suddenly stands up and starts giving me a review of the contents of the room, and she's in nurse's scrubs wearing a surgical mask, but for some reason has a pig snout. I hurry out of the room and someone tells me the thing was provided by the hospital and is 'one of those new electronic people things called a "slave"'. But I digress).

Of course Temperance, though its occult meaning has more to do with alchemy, in readings is taken to mean moderation or a middle path. I don't really know why Temperance is an unpopular card, as actually, moderation and a middle path are the keys to nearly everything. The woman in the image on the card (actually an angel) is holding a cup in her left hand, and I have no idea what is dangling from her right hand. Possibly a shackle? I don't recognize it.

So when trouble raises its head today, I will try remember not to bash it back down with a sledgehammer, but to be more temperate.

Mystic Faerie Tarot - the Sidhe they ain't

2013-05-19T10:12:00.001+01:00

Mystic Faerie, 2007

I just received this deck the other day. I bought it used on a whim. Published in 2007, art by Lynda Ravenscroft, book by Barbara Moore, it's the Mystic Faerie Tarot. My first reaction to it is -- wow, is it tame in comparison to the fearsome and otherworldly Sidhe. This deck is gentle beyond gentle in comparison. I won't know for a while if it is a 'keeper'. Some decks come in and go out of this house so fast I barely remember having them (like Crystal Visions, for example). I can say that I find the majors very appealing, beautiful even. The minors are a bit twee, and already I am finding annoyances with them, because the deck both attempts to be RWS, but is also squeamish about the more negative cards. The courts are a bit on the insipid side as well. Still, it is early days with this deck - I only just opened it yesterday! So I don't want to reach any snap judgments. Perhaps this deck will help me see the fae with a softer edge, experience a lighter, softer side. I tend to be attracted to sharp edges, mostly, and dismiss this type of deck (not for nothing am I Queen of Swords), though I do keep buying them and giving them a shot. So there must be the potential there, if I ever find the right one.

I can say I quite like the art. It seems art nouveau, and I've always loved both nouveau and deco (which probably explains why I never got rid of Thoth, so that I finally got around to looking at it more closely. Though I actually just paused for consideration before mentioning Thoth and Mystic Faerie on the same page. Gosh, I just had a thought of throwing Thoth and Mystic Faerie in the ring together, that would be absolute carnage! But maybe these faeries are tougher than they look.) I like the borders. The thing with borders is, I can't make a hard and fast rule about them. Some decks I can't stand ornate borders and whack them off with scissors. Some decks seem to need the borders. This is one of the decks where an ornate border works.

I can also say that this deck would, for me, lend itself best to single card or small draws, because the cards all look so much alike that when laid out in a large draw, it all just becomes one big monochrome of swirlies and bubbles and makes me want to scoop them all up and go find another deck. It seems to be best read by prior knowledge, with a little 'intuition' based on a few details in the picture. There are very, very few nods to esoteric or occult symbols in this deck, and those are exclusive to the majors.

So today we've got The Moon, and I see it as showing today's mood swings. I've already had quite a few and it's only 10 AM. Crabby and howling, that's me. ha ha Poor hubster. Must go have a look at the calendar.

Night and Day

2013-05-18T07:21:00.001+01:00

Trying to shuffle this morning, a card came flying out of the deck and fluttered to the floor. I call those 'jumpers', and sometimes I pick them up and put them back in the deck with no thought, other times they strike me as calling attention to themselves and I set them aside and proceed, taking them into account at the end of the reading, and sometimes they strike me as the 'true' answer to the query and I look at just the jumper and forego drawing any others.

Today I decided to stick with the jumper as my card of the day, Dreamer Two from Tarot of the Sidhe.

I knew at once why this card flew out as soon as I looked it. Last night at bed time, I impulsively decided to do sitting meditation right before getting into bed, complete with candles incense and bell ringing. Then this morning when I got up, I felt compelled to go wash face and hands, rinse mouth and go straight to the meditation bench again for morning meditation. Night and morning. I think the card is reinforcing this as good for daily routine. It is certainly a simple matter, as my meditation space is in a corner of my bedroom anyway, and meditating just before retiring and upon arising lends itself easily to meditation styles. Last night I contemplated things I am grateful for. This morning, I did one of my favourite visualizations about the cycles of daylight. So there it is in the card, nighttime sitting, daytime sitting. A balance.

In a reading for others or for different situations, there are many interpretations of this card. As the subtitle suggests, it could mean a truce. Meeting someone halfway. Or drawing a line, creating a border or separation--the half black, half white sides do not curve into each other like yin yang, so there is no long-term blending here. Just a truce, maybe. A balance, perhaps. Division, polarity, stalemate, temporary balance, these are all terms associated with the Two of Swords (or Dreamer Two in the Tarot of the Sidhe). So if this card were drawn in an actual reading, one would have to consider in what way a decision, division, stalemate, or holding pattern is happening with regard to the topic of the reading.

Well, I'm returning to work today after my holiday. Yes, back to work on a Saturday! A great weekend to all the lucky Monday-Friday folk! :)

Just (You do it to yourself)

2013-05-17T08:19:00.001+01:00

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

Rider Waite Smith

This is an alarming-looking image for an easy Friday morning!

Dreamer Seven, 'A Coward Betrays', from Emily Carding's Tarot of the Sidhe, is the equivalent of 7 of Swords, which in RWS shows a man carrying swords which he's apparently stolen, tiptoeing away from some tents. Traditionally, the card is taken to mean some sort of unethical behaviour or nefarious scheming. But it's also sometimes interpreted to mean studying and learning (such as in the Druidcraft Tarot, though he might as easily be plotting or scheming something underhand, I suppose.) Learn Tarot suggests these meanings, as well as:

The Seven of Swords can also indicate a hidden dishonor - a choice you or another has made that does not do justice to the highest. We all make wrong choices that we want to hide. Some of these are minor, some serious. Your inner voice will tell you when this is happening. When you see the Seven of Swords, take a good look at what you're doing because hidden dishonors will eat away at your happiness and self-respect.

That is a profound interpretation of this card, and I think it is quite pertinent to the image seen on the Tarot of the Sidhe Dreamer Seven card. It is a full moon, in a clearing amongst bare trees. Five wraith-like beings have apprehended a male sidhe. One of them holds a knife overhead in a threatening manner, as if he would plunge it into the sidhe's chest. From behind a tree, another sidhe watches, in hiding. What are these terrible wraiths? What has the green-shirted sidhe done to deserve this? Is he the coward who betrayed? Or is it the other figure peering around the tree? I believe it's the overall sense of the thing rather than the details that must be considered with this particular card. Emily Carding's verse for Dreamer Seven:

'At times the shadows in Dream are hidden,
And from the depths will emerge unbidden,
They must be faced, the challenge met,
Lest dreams be tangled in cunning net.'

It seems to me the card is about facing up to things. If you do something or think something that you know is beneath you, that is not up to your own standards, or that denies the dignity of yourself or someone else, you have betrayed both yourself and that other person. You have, as Celie puts in The Color Purple, 'sinned against [their] spirit.' Or your own spirit. Or both. Something you've done or thought that makes you feel slimy, sneaky, sly, or just plain dirty, that's what the Dreamer Seven card depicts. Maybe those wraiths on the card are the conscience, making us 'pay' for it, showing us what we think we deserve. We do feel cowardly and small when we behave or think in ways that we feel are wrong. And we do, like cowards, want to hide from our own actions and thoughts. But we can't hide from them. Eventually, we have to look at them and make amends, or else, as Learn Tarot suggests, the 'hidden dishonors will eat away at [our] happiness and self-respect.'

Certainly a fitting card for me today. Some of my behaviours have presented themselves recently in a new light, in the light of how they affect those around me. I never realized, or never allowed myself to realize, the consequences of certain of my behaviours and attitudes, but it has been pointed out to me. I mean, I knew I felt bad about them, but could never really see how they might be perceived by others, until recently. So now I have two choices: feel guilty about the past, or accept the message I have received and behave differently.

Have you ever read Eckhart Tolle? He has some amazing ideas about something he calls the 'Pain-Body'. Maybe those wraiths holding the sidhe captive in the Dreamer Seven card are actually his Pain-Body! Especially that really scary one, with the knife, oh yes. And even that face peeping from the behind the tree is the Pain-Body, because the Pain-Body loves it when we are in its thrall. Even the circles radiating down from the moon start to look like bonds. Dreamer Seven, the Pain-Body card. I know I realised that my own behaviour is my Pain-Body. Some people have ferocious ones. Lucky me, I'm one of those people.

(If you are interested in learning more about Pain-Body, I highly recommend both 'The Power of Now' and 'A New Earth' by Eckhart Tolle.)

An Invocation of the Fey

2013-05-16T07:49:00.002+01:00

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

'The Mysteries'

Here and now are the Mysteries.

Out of no stored and storied past

Of things long lost,

But the breathing moment of time.

Out of no twilight

But that which falls upon the hills this night.

The old trees partake of them,

And the voices of the grass,

The ghost-white blossomed elders,

And the first clouded glow

Of the rising moon.

If we can hear.

If we can see.

Out of no buried past they come,

But from the fields of our own home

Is reaped the grain

That makes the bread of their feast.

Out of the flowers of every summer

Flows the honey of their mead.

Look -- between the stones is a blade of grass,

And all the rites of the high Mysteries,

And the runes of all witcheries,

Are written upon it.

~Doreen Valiente

We're back!!!

2013-05-15T14:44:00.004+01:00

We went to North Devon ... and got rained on. A lot. But we also managed to get one good day's walking in and it happened to be on the hubster's birthday. We walked one of the most beautiful stretches of the Southwest Coast Path, a circular walk we devised using the OS Explorer map (139) -- Hartland Quay to Hartland Point and back. It was WINDY. It rained a bit. It was cold. We both managed to get sun/wind burn on our noses and cheeks. Also saw some coastal towns and fishing villages on the other days. (Plus the inside of every Morrison's in North Devon. We always end up food shopping. Or toilet paper shopping, or birthday cake shopping. It's always something.) Good holiday, despite the weather. AND our stupid cottage flooding on the last night (don't ask).

Resting having climbed the Stairs of Cirith Ungol

SW Coast Path, Hartland Quay Hotel carpark (aka 'before')

The sun made a brief appearance and turned the water blue (my fingers were already there).

The bauble hat. Everyone needs one. Good for balance.

Taken by...taken by the wind...

A waterfall on the SW Coast Path

Hubster stopping for breather in Clovelly (aka 'after')

Clovelly -- it's hard work both uphill and down!

2013-05-10T09:27:00.001+01:00

It's walking season, and we're away again! We'll be tramping the coast path in North Devon, so fingers crossed for brilliant weather.

If you'd like to order a reading, please by all means do so. I will read for you as soon as I get back next Thursday, 16th May.

Namaste!

Now that's a power squat

2013-05-10T06:51:00.001+01:00

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

My Card of the Day is Warrior Two: Power Awakes. Interesting, as I woke up this morning at 4.59 AM. I didn't feel terribly powerful at that hour, let me tell you! It's getting that time of year, though. See, I have one of the most deeply entrenched circadian rhythms on the planet -- when it's dark it's time to sleep, when it's light it's time to wake up and that's that! So of course during this time of the year when it gets light at ungodly hours (like 3.30 AM in June), I struggle. I've got an eyemask around here I use during this time of year; it went in a drawer for the winter months. I need to dig it out again!

Anyway, today's card is Warrior Two (2 of Wands) from the Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding (2010). It's a beautiful card. The sidhe is covered in blue body paint (or else really is blue) and decorated with red and orange swirls, wearing a red loin cloth. His hair and face have a distinctive shape, almost as if splitting in two. He squats in a kundalini yoga frog pose, his forearms crossed in front of him, palms facing out. Emerging from his two palms are dragons of fire, which curve about each other over his head.

The palm chakras are often overlooked, but it is believed there are chakras on the palms of the hands and on the arches of the feet. The traditional way to stimulate these chakras is to rub the palms of the hands together vigorously, and for the feet you can rub them together, dance, or stand firmly on the ground. In the Warrior Two card, the sidhe has his foot chakras pressed together and his palm chakras facing out. The foot chakras are said to draw energy from the earth, so I imagine he has activated his foot chakras and now has them pressed together to send the energy up through his body, where it emerges from the palm chakras. The palm chakras are associated with trust and control issues, creating what you want in life, and healing (yourself and others). The sidhe in this card has transformed himself into a conduit of energy, drawn from the earth (whose core, after all, is fire) and sent out into the universe like twin fiery dragons.

Of course, after this dramatic ritual, the sidhe must carry on with life, and thus there are two paths leading away into the horizon. Which one will he take? They are parallel paths, suggesting that whichever he takes, things will work out. They always do.

This card suggests that we open ourselves to receive power, to muster the power that lies within and to tap into the powers of the universe, to direct our attention and our energy to choices that must be made, and to be assured that whichever path we choose, we will eventually reach the mountaintop.

What power do you need to awake in your life today?

Heart of Faerie and Faeries' Oracle

2013-05-09T08:29:00.000+01:00

Heart of Faerie Oracle and Faeries' Oracle are the two decks created by artist Brian Froud. The Faeries' Oracle came first (2001). The cards were created from images originally published in his book, Good Faeries/Bad Faeries. Then a few years later, Heart of Faerie came out (2010). Some people have strong thoughts about the differences and similarities between these two decks. I certainly don't think you need one in order to understand the other--they are both stand alone decks. But, to me, they also work together very well. I bought the two of them at the same time last year, so that may colour my opinion, though actually I have worked only with Faeries' Oracle since then, leaving Heart of Faeries until just this week.

There is a subtly different feel to the two decks. Faeries' Oracle seems more ethereal and otherworldly, whereas the Heart of Faerie seems more earthy, or anchored more obviously to the natural world. A large part of this is that the images in the Faeries' Oracle mostly show individual faeries or groups of faeries (Froud likes to draw them piled on top of each other, as if the world absolutely teems with faerie of all types) in a dark, empty or indistinct background. This lack of context lends a feeling of separation. Also, in Faeries' Oracle, there is a whole class of faeries Froud calls 'Singers', which are abstract beings of radiant light and energy. (These are actually my favourite images of faerie and I wish he would do a whole Singer deck!).

The Heart of Faerie Oracle, on the other hand, seems to me to show more faerie against a natural background of trees, leaves, twigs, flowers, starry skies. Even those cards with an indistinct dark background somehow make you feel it is the night sky as seen from earth, rather than a sort of cosmic blackness. Also, it seems to me, though I've done no counting and it may just be my perception, that there are more humanoid faerie in Heart of Faerie Oracle than in Faeries' Oracle. These factors make Heart of Faerie feel more earthy to me than Froud's first oracle. When I first got the two decks, having done no work at all with faerie in any capacity, oracle decks or otherwise, I felt more comfortable looking at the Heart of Faerie, and that's why I decided to put it aside and work with the Faeries' Oracle instead. It seemed best, and I'm glad I did it.

Some people feel that the two decks don't work together very well and like to keep them separate. Others shuffle the two packs together and feel they harmonize very well. I quite enjoy shuffling the two packs together, though it must be said that because the Heart of Faerie cards are very slightly larger than the Faeries' Oracle, when you cut the deck you will cut to a Heart of Faerie card nearly every time. People have theories about how this shows the Faerie Oracle faeries are more shy than the Heart of Faerie or that they don't like being mixed in, but actually it just shows that when you grab cards by their edges, the edges you grab will be the edges of the bigger cards. You can't cut to a card whose edges you can't touch. I have briefly considered trying to trim the Heart of Faerie, but it's a fool's errand as the difference in size is so miniscule that trimming would only make matters worse, so best to just leave it. Chronata at AT says that if you shuffle and cut the deck with cards facing up, it is more randomized. I haven't tried that yet.

To give you an example of what I feel is the fundamental difference in these two decks, I've chosen two parallel pairs: The Green Woman and the Lord.

Faeries' Oracle, Froud (2001)

In the Faeries' Oracle, the Green Woman and Lord (called 'Himself') show distinct aspects of pagan Lady and Lord. The Green Woman seems to be part tree, part deer, part woman -- she's got a couple sets of horns and pointy ears, long, twiggy fingers,and a face that is somewhat goat or sheep-like. Her hair is like animal fur growing out into twigs and branches She has an exuberant confidence because she is fully one with the earth and she has permanence. The Lord, or 'Himself', in contrast, has a more serious, poignant look. He is crowned with stars and looks more delicate and fragile than the Green Woman. His cycle is short, he comes and goes, continually dying and being reborn. He's an earthy star man, a starry earth man -- he comes to the earth, he returns to the stars. Something like that. The Lord ('Himself') seems more 'sympathetic' to me -- we as human beings can relate to his cyclical, finite (if you will) nature. Whereas the Green Woman seems altogether more able to look after herself, thank you very much.

Now compare those images to their equivalents in the Heart of Faerie Oracle. You get the same earth-connection and confidence in the Green Woman, the same pathos and delicacy from the Lord of the Forest, but check out the difference in the tone and feel:

Heart of Faerie Oracle, Froud 2010

Do you see what I mean about the Heart of Faerie being more 'earthy' and less 'ethereal'? We have a strong, confident female force, and a male force with a deep intensity. Again, compared to her, his image is weaker (the image is less distinct, colours blurred and muted).

It's not entirely accurate to say that the Heart of Faerie Oracle seems more 'human' than the Faeries' Oracle. That's not it exactly. The only word I can think of is that it is more 'earthy'. I do not think that one is better than the other. I like them both. If you are interested in owning faerie decks, I would say these two are essential for your collection. I might even go so far as to say, these could be the only faerie oracles you would ever need. (Until Brian Froud publishes another one!)

It's not about the abs

2013-05-08T07:13:00.002+01:00

Can you ask the faeries for sensible daily advice? You can ask, but you might not always get. And then, sometimes you do. Having worked out yesterday, I thought this morning I would ask what I could do to sustain the momentum, and like yesterday's draw, one card led to another. (Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian Froud.)

Heart of Faerie Oracle, Froud

What can I do keep up the momentum with the working out?
I need to figure out what is keeping me captive. The reason I have become resistent to working out has to do with being held captive by something. The Heart of Faerie Oracle companion book says the Captive Man shows us that we are in thrall to false ideals that may be harming us. Of course I probably do have false ideals where the issue of fitness and health are concerned. First, I have perfection in mind as a standard against which I measure myself. Most of us have a tendency to do this, some of us more than others. Second, I have a false ideal that eating well and working out will weave some sort of barrier against ageing, illness and pain. That's something most of us have a tendency to do, too. We don't do it consciously, but somewhere inside us, we feel we've made a deal: If I do 'this' (whatever it is) then you (the universe, I guess) promise that 'that' won't happen to me. If I cook a homemade meal every night and keep the house looking great, my husband will never have an affair. If I go to church every Sunday then I won't ever have any doubts or worries to plague me. If I workout to a strict regime and eat well and lose weight and do my best, then I won't get old, get sick or die. These thoughts are not something we consciously do, because they're irrational. It's called 'magical thinking' (at least I call it that) and it's not at all an example of skillful means. So when something happens to break the deal (I worked out and did well and still my knees are dodgy and I got plantar fascitis--or even less logically, I worked out and ate well and still I lost my job), then we say, 'Screw it, who cares, this doesn't work. Bring on the Doritos.' We may not know we're thinking that way, but we probably are.

Heart of Faerie Oracle, Froud

Just to be sure I was on the right track, I asked: What is it that is keeping me captive? The Queen of Owls wasn't sparking much in my intuition, so I had a look at the companion book again and got a jolt - 'When your physical body becomes the only thing you can focus on, turn to this bright gentle being.' Her key words are physical healing, wholeness and wellness. And this is the thing that is keeping me captive - too much focus on the physical body. I do of course dislike the imperfections of my body. I mean, I know it's not perfect when I'm at what I consider my ideal weight and fitness level, but at least then I feel proud to be living in it, and like dressing it, and sit up straight and like to catch glimpses of myself in the mirror. But when I feel out of kilter--I've put on weight, or I haven't worked out and have lost muscle tone -- then I feel very, very judgemental of myself and I don't really care so much what I wear as long as it covers me up and isn't too tight, and I don't feel so confident. The Queen of Owls is telling me that to get back to where I want to be, physically, I actually have to not focus so much on the physical. Or rather, not focus on it solely.

Heart of Faerie Oracle, Froud

Okay, so if I don't focus on the physical what am I supposed to focus on? The Joy of the Future card comes up. (And just out of curiosity, I peeked to see what card was next in the deck and it was The Lady of Joy, so...) This card advises me to focus instead on the present moment. In typical faerie fashion, the card that advises me to stay in the now makes reference to thinking about the future, when in fact it's advising me not to think about the future. How can I think about the future without thinking about the future? By living in the now. Because if I live in the now, I am not worrying about the future, and when I'm not worrying about the future, I am taking joy in the future. Yeah, of course. Obviously.

But seriously, I know what this is getting at. I remember what life was like when I was doing well with my diet and exercise. I actually cultivated this exact stance - I didn't worry about the consequences of my actions, but focused instead on the action itself. When I worked out, I was working out. When I ate a bowl of strawberries, I was eating a bowl of strawberries. And, yes, I did take smug pleasure in drinking 8 or more giant glasses of water a day and snacking on strawberries and rice cakes while those around me ate crisps, and being able to do 40 press ups on my toes. But the pleasure came from these actual things, not so much as insurance against some big bad future. And so, by taking pleasure in the moment, I was also feeling the Joy of the Future. I felt a little a glimmer of that yesterday when I was doing my workout. The joy of movement in that moment, without worries about whether the time spent working out would 'pay off' in less flab on the upper arm or a smaller butt. And that is really the secret to the whole process.

So, yeah, you can ask the faeries about mundane daily things. What's my mantra for today then? 'Right now in this moment, I am not eating fudge.' :)

Chunky monkey

2013-05-07T08:06:00.002+01:00

I drew a card this morning from Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian Froud and thought, 'What? Just the other day I was more or less advised by Tarot of the Sidhe to get more down to earth, and now I've drawn "The Dreaming"? Make up your mind!'

And so I drew a second card to expand on the first -- The Paradox. Oh, ha ha. Well, aren't you cute this morning. Yes, it's a paradox, hardy har. Something's good, but it's also bad. Something's bad, but it's good. Yeah, I get it. Dreaming's good and bad, yeah.

So...I drew another card. What exactly am I supposed to do, eh? And I drew -- The Pan. He's taking a flying leap, just like the Fool in my other draw! Okay, I've got you. It's okay to dream...if I then do something. It's okay to think about stuff...if I then do it. Otherwise, it's not okay to just talk to myself about stuff. (Or write blog entries about it) I can see that. Jeez, stop harassing me!

Heart of Faerie, Froud

All I know is this morning I feel and look like a big flabby water balloon with a string tied around its middle. Glad it's warmer now. Time to stop thinking (or dreaming) about eating well and losing this weight I've put on. But no leaping or else my downstairs neighbour will be up here banging on the door again wanting to know what the heck is going on. Got to shop for some low impact (non impact!) workouts--instead of more tarot and oracle decks! In the meantime, I'll do my best to modify those I can, and fingers crossed he's not home down there! Grumpy old git.

Tough love, faeries. Tough love.

Faery Craft by Emily Carding

2013-05-06T11:30:00.001+01:00

I'd like to share a few thoughts about Faery Craft: Weaving Connections with the Enchanted Realm by Emily Carding, even though it's not a tarot book. It is actually related to my recent posts because 1) it is by the creator of the Tarot of the Sidhe (though the deck is not even mentioned in the book), and 2) it concerns faeries in general, in line with the two decks I've committed to working with over recent weeks: Tarot of the Sidhe and Faeries' Oracle.

This is the only book I've ever bought (or read) about faery. I bought it because it's by Emily Carding, whose work on Tarot of the Sidhe I so greatly admire. I don't know what to think about faery. Despite my interest in things esoteric, I am actually quite a hard-headed realist and skeptic. Some of you who also consider yourselves both a mystic and a skeptic might understand what a difficult position that sometimes can be! My spiritual path is quite earth-based, and I do not mess with otherworld realms much. I sense that something is 'flying around' out there (it's the best way I can think of to put it), but I feel no need to have any of those things turn their attention upon little old me. My workings are done with shields firmly up. In fact, I'm pretty sure my shields are up all the time, even when not needed. This is one reason I feel consideration of faery is good for my development. Another reason is that feeling I get when I venture out into the natural world, the feeling of a spiritual presence in the elements, and by that I don't mean the usual earth, water, fire, air, but also rivers, trees, rocks, and hills. Even a clearing or a fall of water into a tiny pool takes on the feeling of an entity to me. I want to greet them, honour them, admire them; there's something there, something more than just grass or moss or flowing water. And it's that feeling of spirit in the natural world that, to me, is the enchanted realm of faery. Forget little girls with wings (like the fairies at the bottom of the garden), or frog women wearing wreaths on their heads (like Brian Froud's illustrations), or slant-eyed wraiths with a dangerous edginess (Tarot of the Sidhe). Those are just individual artists' attempts to capture the feeling. That's not what the fae look like. Who knows what they look like. If they even look like anything. Artists famed for their depictions of faery agree on this point:

by Brian Froud

'I discovered faeries really by making it up, by trying to imagine what it was...but it was always about feelings. So I brought all my skills as an artist to bear on trying to get the form and shape of what I was painting to feel like something that was elusive and invisible'. ~ Brian Froud, qtd in Faery Craft

'[From an early age, believing in faery] was just the most natural thing, and it wasn't a cute little game we played, it was just that they were there, and we could leave them things, and we could feel them. We couldn't see them particularly, but we could always feel them, so I just grew up thinking it was the most natural thing in the world.' ~ Wendy Froud, qtd in Faery Craft

by Wendy Froud

'People want to believe what I'm showing them is real, and they go, 'Oh, that's how they look, isn't it?' and I say, 'Well, actually, no. It's how they feel.' You've got to bring people to some place where they can understand and feel it, and also that is a genuine opening, a genuine gateway to the reality...the problem is, when you try to express this stuff, everything fails. Words fail, pictures fail, everything is failing in one of the most astonishing and beautiful events. So to do what I do is trying to do the impossible, but I believe in it passionately.' ~ Brian Froud, qtd in Faery Craft

And so you see, the faery realm has nothing to do with a blur out of the corner of your eye being a leprechaun that has just sprinted past you. It has everything to do with feeling 'something', and not knowing what it is, but knowing nonetheless that something is there, and it's got a kind of awareness, it's got a depth, it's got an antiquity, and it is somehow connected to the land and to you, and that you want to be with it, acknowledge it, respect it. The desire to communicate, or at least commune, with these perceived forces is the desire to 'weave connections with the enchanted realm,' at least for me. It has very little to do with decorating a faery altar, or flapping around a field in Cornwall wearing a velvet basque and gauze wings with glitter painted on your face, though to your surprise you may find yourself doing these very things. That's something else that's so amazing about faery. The aspect of freeing up your spirit.

Oh yeah, I was supposed to be reviewing the book. Faery Craft is a really good introduction. It's divided into eight chapters:

Ch 1 Knowledge - A bit of background on faery lore and various ideas about what faery are. (Ancient gods? Aliens? Fallen angels?)

Ch 2 Connection - Explains the four elements and some symbols associated with otherworld, with really excellent meditations/exercises for you to try.

Ch 3 Trust - Ideas about seeking a spirit guide and also about manifestations (if that's the right word) of spirit in the natural landscape, with lots more activities suggested for you to try.

Ch 4 Honour - Altar and offerings, basically ways to acknowledge the fae

Ch 5 Magick - Circle casting and various consecration rituals

Ch 6 Joy - Joining the faery community - That would be other people who love faery and like to get together for some of that costumed frolicking. Some good introductory information here about various paths and organizations. LOTS of photographs and suggestions for dressing up and doing rituals.

Ch 7 Inspiration - Interviews with faery community luminaries: RJ Stewart, John and Caitlin Matthews, Zardoa and Silver Flame of the Silver Elves, T Thorn Coyle, and many more (including the Frouds).

Ch 8 Balance - A final exercise involving the septagram, or faery star.

I really enjoyed reading this book and have been enlightened by it to whole communities whose existence I knew nothing of, as well as inspired to explore otherworld for myself in my own way. Definitely recommended, even if you're a skeptic.

Soulmates

2013-05-05T06:14:00.000+01:00

Tarot of the Sidhe, 2010

Today's card from Tarot of the Sidhe is Dancer Two, Soulmates. In RWS, it would be Two of Cups. We see another twilight landscape under a low-hanging full moon, a pool of water, mountains and green grass. Rising up from the pool, the water forms itself into two faery shapes, standing back to back, one female, the other male. Their arms form a shape reminiscent of heart shape. The water churns at the surface (one can imagine the surface had been bubbling and churning in the moments before pushing itself up into the faery shapes), and the moonlight forms a rather miraculous little rainbow there. A golden fish leaps up out of the water on the left, and dives back in again on the right. So there is the circle of the moon, the circle of the pool, the circle of the rainbow, and the circular route of the fish arching over the water. I like the way the shapes of the faeries are flow into one another. This is a moment caught in time, a spontaneous surging upward of the water, and it will merge back into one and sloosh back down into the pool the second after we leave the card, and calmness will once again settle over the face of the pool, reflecting the moon.

It's a wonderful relationship depicted in this card. Strong and sure and always there, like the mountains and the earth and the water, predictable and dependable like the cycles of the moon, but beautiful and amazing like the rainbow, precious and life-filled like the leaping fish. The upward surging of the water into the faery shapes is like the surges of love that can wash over and amaze us, even after so many years.

This is a lovely card for contemplation of the nature of love, or for reflection on the beauties and joys of the relationships in your own life. They surge and ebb and flow, but always they are there.

Apples and apples

2013-05-04T06:05:00.004+01:00

I saw this spread, originally posted by Arwen, featured on Chloe's blog at Inner Whispers.:

*Center Card: Your World
*Left Card: The best way to describe your world
*Right Card: The one thing you should think about changing

I thought I'd give it a try so here's what I drew from Tarot of the Sidhe, Emily Carding, 2010:

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

I was surprised by this. I haven't exactly been feeling on top of the world lately. Though there is essentially nothing wrong, I have been feeling like there is. You know what I mean? And while these cards at first look positive (the Fool, who knows no limitations, with the 'granted wish' card), they also show a lack of direction, or at least untapped potential. The Fool and Dancer Nine in combination creates an unstable, ungrounded, up-in-the-air situation. Fortunately, the Maker Six offers a way of anchoring them.

So, yes, like the Fool, I am unfettered in many ways. No kids at home, no family ties here, nothing to bind me, nothing to 'take up my time'--I have the freedom of the Fool to take any leap that strikes my fancy. And in fact, getting myself into this situation was in itself a leap of the Fool. But this Fool has been flying through the air since 2002. Even flying can get tiresome after awhile -- and we know what happens to astronauts who spend too much time in space. They lose bone density and their muscles deteriorate. They lose blood volume and their sense of balance. Their immune systems are weakened. In essence, the longer they're up there, the less fit they are for real life on earth. So while space flight and weightlessness sounds like a big adventure, it's not sustainable. Same with the Fool's leap. It's a great thing, if you eventually come down. But it's no way of being as Your World.

And so the best way to describe my world is seen in Dancer Nine, where the figure is in silhouette, existing in a twilight realm, distracted by her own vague dreams and wishes. She's only got one toe on the earth. If she ever comes out of this state of mind, how much time will have passed? And how much will she have accomplished? It's a beautiful card, and the time and freedom to indulge in 'making wishes' all day is enticing, but again, is it the best way to live your life in the World? You can't dream forever. At some point, you have to make it happen. Or at least get up and go make breakfast.

Which leads to the one thing that needs to be changed. The spread isn't saying I shouldn't enjoy my freedom, or set limitations for myself. I'm not saying I should abandon dreaming. The spread position is called 'The one thing you should think about changing,' which implies that everything else about my World is all right. And the one thing I should think about changing has to do with groundedness. The card is Maker Six, Generosity. An apple tree having a big faery face, offers apples in its outstretched branches to the sidhe below. Both the tree and the sidhe seem happy with this arrangement. The trunk of the tree is thick and strong and though we can't see the ground it's connected to, we know that is firmly rooted in the earth, drawing energy and sustenance from it, and offering the fruits of that synergy to the world. There is a give and take going on between the tree and the earth, and the tree and the world (represented by the sidhe).

The one thing that needs to be changed then, is my relationship to the earth and to others. I need to reconnect to earth, I need to reconnect to my own body, and I need to reconnect with other people. To reach out and pick an apple and to eat it is to take a real action, not a dream action. To bring forth fruit and to offer it freely to the world is a real action, not a dream action. What I must do is figure out what fruits I can bring forth (or have brought forth but have taken no notice of) and how I can offer them to the world. And not just dream about offering them, but actually doing it, like this apple tree hands the sidhe an apple and can then stand and watch her eat it and know she has been filled.

....I was going to say 'Much to think on'....but surely that is the point of this whole spread. Not much to think on. Much to do. It doesn't matter what it is today, I should find a way to give. A way that grounds and nurtures both me and the other.

Fortunately for me, in my reading of Emily Carding's Faery Craft, as soon as I finished writing this post, I read a meditation -- and could it have been more appropriate? It is called 'The Apple Seed', and its purpose is to help you find your gift. 'You may already have a good idea of where your strengths lie and what gifts you would bring to the world of Faery... Keep strong connections with the land and your otherworld allies, and this will help you uncover your potential. This exercise was gifted to me by faery to help you on your way...' In the meditation, you contemplate an apple, visualise it sliced in half horizontally to reveal the pentagram-shaped seed formation within. When one of the seeds lights up or otherwise gets your attention, imagine taking it out into the palm of your hand, where it will change shape and become a symbol of 'what you are here to share with the world.' You are to ask your faery ally, in your mind's eye, to accompany you to plant the seed in the ground of otherworld. When you come out of the meditation, you are to make notes or draw the symbol so you don't forget. Then you are to slice the real apple in half, choose a seed to represent the one from your meditation. Take the seed and two apple halves to a special place in nature, if you can, and offer one half, eat the other half, and plant the seed in the ground. This meditation is on pages 157-159 of Faery Craft. So...I have my Bank Holiday project then! Isn't it amazing, the synchronicity of the tarot spread and the meditation?

Sit like a rock

2013-05-03T05:30:00.000+01:00

Tarot of the Sidhe, 2010

Time to get back down to earth today with Maker Prince from Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding. He is the Prince of Disks (Thoth), or Knight of Pentacles (RWS). He appears to me some kind of satyr, having horns on his head and the legs of a goat. The Maker Prince sits in rock pose (vajrasana), a yoga pose of sitting in a kneeling position on one's heels, feet and knees together. It is said to be a very grounding pose which also aids in digestion.

It seems appropriate that the Maker Prince would sit in such a pose, as he is possibly the most grounded and practical of the all the tarot courts. We see him in Tarot of the Sidhe depicted with elements of nature that echo his personal qualities. The trees, strong and slow-growing, are like his steadfast patience and slow pace. The dog represents his faithfulness and commitment to service. The hedgehog is his humble, retiring nature. The owl is his quiet wisdom, the butterfly represents the transformative potential of all these slow and patient qualities.

The Maker Prince is decorated with woad tattoos of the faery glyph (featured on the backs of the cards), and on his belly is the symbol for the element of earth, an upside down triangle with a line across the bottom tip, which seems to cross his bellybutton. I'm not sure what the brown bit is that billows out behind him, but I like his wild green hair and the little tiny bird perching on his antlers. The dog beside him is a white dog with red ears. This is one of the faery hounds of otherworld, known as Cwn Annwn (which apparently is simply Welsh for 'hounds of otherworld'). In Welsh tradition, these hounds were said to ride the night skies at certain times of the year, times which also correspond to migration of geese; apparently the myth of the Cwn Annwn rose up because the noise of the geese sounded like a pack of hounds to the people who spun these stories. In any case, the Cwn Annwn were said to accompany spirits of the recently deceased to the afterlife, and so they came to be associated with death. It is said that later Christians appropriated the myth and turned the Cwn Annwn into the 'hounds of hell' who dragged damned souls to perdition. So, looked at one way, this card depicts a demonic horned figure with blank, scary eyes and a hound of hell. But looked at another way, we have a nature sprite communing with the creatures and the environment that it understands itself to be deeply at one with. I know which view I prefer.

Feeling salty today?

2013-05-02T07:56:00.001+01:00

Tarot of the Sidhe, 2010

Well, yesterday we blew away the old, and in today's card from Emily Carding's Tarot of the Sidhe, we rise up again, renewed with card XX Judgement.

The traditional Judgement card of course depicts the resurrection of the dead as prophesied in the New Testament:

Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ~ 1 Corinthians 15: 51-55

Instead of the usual depiction of an angel blowing the trumpet and the dead rising from their graves in their new incorruptible bodies, we see here in this card a series of sidhe, mountain spirits perhaps, each standing on her own hilltop, sending out a similar call to awaken.

The sidhe in the foreground stands with her back to us, looking at us over her right shoulder. She holds her arms out in a palms-up gesture, and she is naked, her body decorated with woad tattoos. On her head is a crown which holds back her rainbow-coloured hair. From her back stream the series of ribbons that serve as wings in many of the Tarot of the Sidhe images. We can see the similarities to the Rider Waite image at left. In the RWS card, we see in the background what might be clouds or mountain peaks. We have the Angel of the Lord blowing the trumpet, and the naked folk rising from the dead. The palms-up gesture can be seen in the blonde woman on the right, who stretches her arms out as if to receive the sound of the trumpet, almost like she wishes to bathe or shower in it. The man on the left seems to be lost in adoration, and all the other figures hold their arms outstretched joyously. This is not a card of 'Judgement' as in a Day of Divine Retribution. This is a card of hearing a call that moves us into true potential, of waking from a long 'sleep', or state of unawareness, into awareness/acceptance of our innate, actual perfection (the 'corruptible' putting on 'incorruption'.) Thus spiritual death is swallowed up in victory.

On the Tarot of the Sidhe Judgement card, we see that each hill has its own sidhe sending out a call, which is represented by colours issuing from their mouths. The sidhe sound out their own trumpet calls to their own souls. Did you think they were calling to us? I don't think so. (Maybe because actually, though the figure is looking over her shoulder at us, she doesn't seem to look particularly inviting. It's almost like she was busy in this activity and we interrupted her, or she's looked over her shoulder to just to see what was behind her. She doesn't appear to be beckoning and doesn't look particularly friendly! If anything, she appears focused.) The sidhe, I believe, are not our guardian angels, they are not our spiritual guides, though they don't mind us learning from them, just as they learn things from us. We humans are spiritual beings anchored very firmly in the earthly realm; the sidhe are spiritual beings, too, who it would seem can move more freely between realms. They are different beings whose experience of the realms remains mostly unknown to us. Perhaps it is as difficult (if that's the right word) for them to believe in and commune with us from their side as it seems to be for us to believe in and experience them from our side. It's an interesting question to contemplate. But I do not feel that sidhe, even just as artwork in a deck of cards, independent of any possibility of actual existence, are hovering around just waiting to help us out. How arrogant to think an entire class of being, an entire intelligence, exists only to aid and watch over human beings. How immature. If the sidhe do exist, they would surely be a part of the whole mentioned in the chant from yesterday:

Om purnamada purnamidam
purnat purnam udachyate
purnasya purnamadaya
purnam evavashishyate

This is whole (or full, or absolute, or complete).
That is whole (or full, or absolute, or complete).
The whole comes into being by way of (or emerges from) the whole.
Subtract the whole from the whole, and the whole remains.

This reminds me of a teaching of Jesus, 'Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?' This certainly sounds a lot like 'Take the whole away from the whole and the whole remains,' because salt actually cannot lose its savour. The answer to Jesus's question is: That can't happen! I believe that is his point. Salt cannot be separated from its savour, anymore than we can be separated from our connection to everything else. And that web of wholeness, that totality of existence, would include the sidhe (if they are real). Jesus's teaching continues, 'If the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden underfoot.' This teaching is like a zen teaching. It shows us that none of us is worthless, deserving to be cast out, because by our nature we cannot become worthless. We are whole and cannot lose our wholeness, just as salt cannot lose its saltiness. The fact that many Christian teachers have not seen the obvious (that salt cannot lose its savour) and taken this teaching to mean that if a person doesn't behave in the expected way or hold the right beliefs that they should be cast out or sent to hell has no bearing on the teaching's true meaning.

All of that digression just to say, no the sidhe in the Judgement card are not calling to us. They are singing their heartsong and calling to themselves. They are singing a song of joy at their connection to the mountains, the clouds, the light, the sound of their own voices, and each other. They are rising up to realisation of their wholeness. They are calling themselves out to commune with the absolute. They are singing the song of the universe. Maybe they are intoning a long and vibratory 'oooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.' They're enjoying their own salty savour. :)

Beltane, and a new day

2013-05-01T06:30:00.002+01:00

When I woke up this morning, I thought of a phrase from one of my favourite books, 'Anne of Green Gables': Today is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.

It's Beltane and we've got a card today with the sun sending out huge beams across the entire sky! And along with it, the wind sending leaves whirling around our Airy Princess of Swords, or Dreamer Princess in Emily Carding's Tarot of the Sidhe. I remember reading somewhere that Beltane, or May Day, used to be a day when people would take out their old winter bedding (probably some sort of bag or mattress stuffed with straw or wool or a combination of things gathered the previous summer), mats and the rushes or mats from the floors and burn them. Very practical; one can imagine all that bedding from the winter being pretty used up and ready to be replaced with fresh! Even though we don't need to do that anymore, we can continue the spirit of that ritual by looking at the things that perhaps used to make us comfortable but which are now outworn and ready to be replaced, and light our own Beltane fires to figuratively burn them away.

Today's card is the Princess of Swords, who stands with her left hip toward us, right foot perched up on a rock (a very bold and assertive posture for a girl), her shoulder raised and chin held down toward the chest, which is a flirtatious or mischievous pose, really. The rock actually looks like a giant crystal. And out of her right hand she releases leaves, which are picked up by the wind, swirling around her in, to her point of view, an anticlockwise direction, and flying up behind her into the sky. The companion book has this verse:

'Her leaves are whispers on the wind
She will tell them how and why you sinned
She gleans her knowledge from the earth
And dreams of what its gifts are worth'

The image to me looks like she is releasing some sort of spell. It's one of the 'witchiest' looking cards in the deck in that way, in my opinion.

So instead of trying to figure out Carding's cryptic verse, I am going to relate it to the phrase I woke up to today: Today is always fresh, with no mistakes in it. Imagine that the leaves are those things you realised yesterday (with the Dreamer King) that ought to be cut off from your life. The Princess of Swords also releases them (maybe those are the 'sins'), but in a gentler way than her warrior father. She conjures them in her hand, then releases them to be carried away on the wind. It occurs to me that this would make a beautiful ritual for today's Beltane:

Imagine the brilliant blazing sun over head (or go out into it if you can today). Sit or stand in meditation with a loose fist, the other hand cupped around it. Think of all those things (or just those few things, the most important things) that you wish to release in your life and picture them as gathering in your hand. Feel the energy building in yourself, the desire to effect change growing and growing. Generate some true intent, feel it as a kind of burning or energy in your chest and arms, or where ever in your body you happen to feel it. Focus on the desire to well and truly be rid of these things. When you are ready, when the energy seems at a peak (if you wish, stand up and prop up one foot like the Dreamer Princess for this process, why not?) , lift your hands, open them, imagine those things as tiny, tiny leaves floating above or lying lightly on your hand. Send all that energy of intent down your arm and let it swirl there with those tiny leaves. Take a deep breath, and blow them away upward. Visualize the leaves flying away, and with them, feel the energy you raised leaving your body along your arm, and mixing with the leaves as they fly away around you anti-clockwise, away up into the air. Imagine them unfurling into full-size leaves and blowing away around you, like the Dreamer Princess in the card. Imagine your hair and cape whipping about you in a great wind of change. See and intend for these troublesome things to be lifted up and and carried away onto the horizon, where they will dissolve and dissipate and exist no more.

When the leaves are all gone and the wind dies down, give thanks. You might want to say a word, maybe even 'Today is fresh, with no mistakes in it.' Continue to bask in the glow of the Beltane sun, either literally or in your mind's eye, as you feel free of these troubles. Perhaps spend a bit of time visualizing your life now that you have released them, or just imagine the warmth of the sun as you feel your breath going in and out.

Happy Beltane and blessed be.

[A further note: Remember, you are already fresh with no mistakes in you. :) You are part of the totality and you are whole. Today's mantra: Om purnam -- translation:

This is whole. That is whole.
From wholeness comes wholeness.
Remove wholeness from wholeness, and wholeness remains.

In other words, we're all one, nothing is more significant than anything else. Just one big joyous ball of everything! Dance to it!! Om shanti shanti shanti!]

Swift justice

2013-04-30T06:14:00.002+01:00

Look who's back already today, the King of Swords, or Dreamer King, from Emily Carding's Tarot of the Sidhe. The Dreamer suit is associated with element Air, as are Swords in the traditional RWS tarot deck (and Golden Dawn tradition). In this card, we see the King of Swords in close-up, riding a dragon through the night sky. Behind him is the full moon. The Dreamer King wears a golden winged helmet, his hair flies out on either side. He has oversized epaulets of gold and golden gloves, with a rather simple shirt that laces at the neck. His high collar appears to be made of fire or blazing light, and is part of a cape that streams out behind him (reminding me of the capes seen in the Thoth tarot). The Dreamer King holds his sword up before his face, in an attitude often depicted of warriors. I've never known quite why they did this as it would seem to me to make you vulnerable with your vision obscured. On the other hand, perhaps it is to create a connection between the sword and the eye before battle commences, so that where the eye goes, the sword will follow. (I'm reminded of the many times Aragorn does this in Lord of the Rings).

The hilt of the sword is decorated with a giant, open eye, which the King has held up right in front of the Third Eye chakra. He holds the sword in the left hand rather than the right, perhaps implying that the sword is linked more to the heart and the intuition than the King realises. The Sword suit, after all, is the suit of logic, reason, thinking, planning, strategy, and so on. Not feeling or intuition. But actually, there is a lot of emotion in all of the Sword suit. So maybe the Sword cards are somewhat in denial of their true nature.

What is the nature of the Dreamer King? 'He is known throughout the land for dealing justice with the king's fair hand,' according to the companion book to the deck. (Each minor and court card in the book gets a 4-line verse by way of explanation. That's it, along with a few key words). His title is Gift of Judgement. To me, Aragorn of Lord of the Rings is an excellent example of a King of Swords. So is Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird.

That eye on the sword probably represents the clarity of the Dreamer King's vision, meaning his ability to see through to the truth of the situation, and mete out justice accordingly. In this way, the card is reminiscent of the Justice card from the Cosmic Tarot, where Lady Justice's laser eyes penetrate to the truth and then also burn away the dross at the same time. I am sure that the Dreamer King's sword is lightning fast to cut off that which needs cutting off, swiftly and surely.

Message for the day: What needs to be cut off in your life today? What needs to be examined with clarity and then dealt swift but fair justice, without hesitation or further deliberation?

(The answer for me probably has something to do with the junk food always found in abundance on the staffroom community table!)

Who are the Sidhe?

2013-04-29T05:30:00.000+01:00

Tarot of the Sidhe, Emily Carding 2010

This is the beginning of a One Deck Wonder with Tarot of the Sidhe, the Faeries' Oracle and reading of the book Faery Craft by Emily Carding. I embark on this journey with a kind of fragile uncertainty, because I am skeptical about faery on the one hand (my logical side) and wary of them on the other (my Christian upbringing--and general wariness of dealing with unknown entities). I don't know what they are. I don't know if they exist. I don't know if I want to know. But I want to know. It's like that. So I am also excited at the prospect.

I bought Tarot of the Sidhe because though at first the images actually disconcerted me, I could not escape their power to reach out of the cards and touch me, even when viewing images online. From the day I opened the deck I knew it was powerful and important. It's taken me three years to be ready to take a closer look.

Who are the Sidhe?

This spread was created spontaneously whilst I was shuffling the Tarot of the Sidhe, the deck I will be using for the period of Beltane to Midsummer. I was wondering 'Who are the Sidhe?' I then asked seven questions to correspond to the seven points on the faery star, beginning with the center top point, and working around clockwise:

1. Who are the Sidhe? Maker Six (6 of Coins)
2. What is their relationship to humanity? The Lovers
3. What do they offer to humanity? Dancer Eight (8 of Cups)
4. What is their relationship to me? Dreamer Prince (Prince of Swords)
5. What do they offer to me? Dancer Queen (Queen of Cups)
6. What do they need from humanity? The High Priestess
7. What do they need from me? Dreamer King (King of Swords)

I have attempted to write the answers spontaneously whilst staring at the cards in question. I have not edited or changed the words that came to me, and I stopped typing when the words stopped coming into my mind.

1. Who are the Sidhe? The Sidhe have been here from the beginning. They are at the deepest part of all human mythos. They were there in the Garden of Eden. They are there in the sunshine and the growth of the good earth. They are there in the spirit of wonder and of temptation. The wonder of the power of the earth to bring forth food and abundance. The temptation to mischief or even evil as a result of that abundance. The Sidhe are always giving, often taking, always watching.

2. What is their relationship to humanity? They are our forgotten other self. They are the yearning that we can't explain. Like magnets we attract and repel each other. But we can't stop yearning for each other, humanity and the Sidhe. We're fatally attracted.

3. What do they offer to humanity? They can save us or they can pull us under. They offer us hope and despair. They will not show us the way. But they will go along the way with us. They will rejoice if we get it right, and they will spare not if we get it wrong. They do not easily give up hope on us. They are not invested in our outcome beyond their desire to see all beings achieve their utmost. They don't care if we ever know they're there, as long as we keep growing.

4. What is their relationship to me? They don't have a relationship with me. My mind is shielded by rational thought. My skepticism locks them out. My ears are and eyes are closed to them because of my constant whirling thoughts and seeking of reasonable answers, of proof.

5. What do they offer me? They offer me freedom from fear of the hidden depths. They offer me the ability to breathe under the water of my own inner world, which is their realm. It is the only place where I can ever meet them, where any of us can meet them. They offer me the power to delve there, unafraid, with eyes and ears open.

6. What do they need from humanity? They need a bridge, they need us to be willing to offer a bridge, not for them to cross, for they can move freely between the worlds, but for us to cross. They cannot offer the bridge, it is for us to make that effort. They need for us to release some of our dependence on the concrete, material world, to allow ourselves to fade into the mystic, for to become one with the elements of the material realm is to open ourselves to the spaces that lie beyond. This is the space inside the atoms and between the atoms, this is the ultimate reality of the material realm and our dependence is upon the illusion of the reality. When we enter the spaces, we enter the realm of the fae.

7. What do they need from me? May my sword of logic and reason become my third eye. May the thing that has shielded me from their realm be the very bringer of the crystal vision. The Sidhe need me to be a warrior of words, a warrior with the sight.

Wow...I'm pretty gobsmacked. I honestly don't know where most of that came from. I really tried to close off my thinking mind and let words flow through me based on the images. The deck really seems to want to be read that way, at least for me. I mean, I know a deck doesn't want. Oh, you know what I mean.

Card of the Day: Dreamer Eight

Tarot of the Sidhe

Today's card is the equivalent of 8 of Swords. The image shows a figure, overwhelmed by the surrounding mirrors hanging from a spider's web. She's in the middle of the web. She herself has spun the web--a web of self-deception and overthinking. The mirrors represent how we see ourselves, the web is the elaborate 'story of us' that we tell ourselves. Perhaps the shadowy figure trying to break out of the mirror at the bottom of the card is the self attempting to break out of the mirrors of self-doubt and false images.

The card reminds me that I can quite easily trap myself in a web of self-defeating thought and beliefs. The message for me today is to stop thinking these kinds of thoughts. They are not skillful means -- they are just mean!

Today's message: Don't be mean to yourself. Whenever you have a bad thought about yourself today, recognize it as the act of spinning a web to trap yourself in. Stop!

[And now that figure in the mirror at the bottom of the card does look to me like it's shouting STOP!]

Having a clearout

2013-04-28T10:03:00.000+01:00

I've selected the decks I'm ready to find new homes for and here they are. From top left:

~~Inner Child Cards, in zippered pouch with hardback book £10~~ SOLD
~~Pathfinders Tarot £5~~ SOLD
Pamela Coleman Smith Commemorative Set £15 (it is heavy though)

Celtic Wisdom Oracle £5
Oracle of the Grail Code £5
Roots of Asia Tarot (trimmed of top and side borders, titles intact) £10
Aquarian Tarot £7
~~Sacred Sites Tarot £10~~ - SOLD
~~Harmonious Tarot (trimmed to borderless with numbers handwritten) £5~~ SOLD
~~Celtic Messages £15~~ SOLD
~~Postmark Lenormand make offer~~ NO LONGER ON OFFER
~~Melissa Lenormand, 2nd edition make offer~~ SOLD
~~Tarot of the Old Path, with companion book £20~~ - SOLD
Hudes Tarot, with companion book £20
Blue Owl Lenormand £1
Pixie's Astounding Lenormand Cards make offer
Not pictured (because I forgot to put it in the picture) - Mystical Lenormand £5

I will post these in UK and Europe, buyer to pay shipping. Prices negotiable, please don't be shy of asking. If you are interested in enquiring about any of these decks, please leave a comment or send me an email to rowan_tarot@yahoo.co.uk.

Beltane - Summer Solstice: It's Faerie Season!

2013-04-28T05:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday even though it was freezing cold, I couldn't help feeling suddenly overwhelmed by the first flush of Beltane fever, and the impulse hit me to end my One Deck Wonder with the Cosmic Tarot and focus on faeries from now until Summer Solstice. I found my book by Emily Carding, my two copies of the Tarot of the Sidhe, and my Faeries' Oracle by Brian Froud. They will be my exclusive divinatory tools from now until Summer Solstice. I am excited!

The book, Faery Craft, is not related to the two decks, but instead is about Faery lifestyle and practices. I haven't read it yet but have flicked through it on several occasions. It contains some information on Emily Carding's (and other's) ideas about faery, and there are lots of exercises suggested to help you get in touch with the faery. The remainder of the book focuses on the Faery lifestyle, a community of people who enjoy expressing their faery vision through artwork, writing, festivals and events--and dressing up!

Wow, do these folk like to dress up. The book is filled with snapshots of Carding and her friends and community members in costume, and also contains helpful hints about creating your own faery outfits (on a budget). 'Upon first glance [the Faery community] can seem flaky and superficial, but there is so much love and genuine magic to be found within!' Carding writes. The fact that a large portion of the book is made up of an exploration of this community is a strength for now (publication date 2012), but could be a weakness in a few years when the information becomes a bit dated. Then of course, it will come around to being useful again when it becomes a historical snapshot of an era in the Faery community. So it all works out, I guess. I look forward to reading it.

The tarot deck, Tarot of the Sidhe, was created by Emily Carding as well, and published in 2010 by Schiffer. I am lucky enough to have two copies of the deck, one I bought myself, and one was trimmed and presented as a gift to me by a lovely friend. (Thanks, Chloe!) The deck is so very special. I have not worked with as much as I would have liked, but I intend to make up for that over the coming weeks. I will be posting about Tarot of the Sidhe most days between now and Summer Solstice.

Finally, Brian Froud's luminous Faeries' Oracle had to come out to play with the others. I first saw this oracle when visiting a friend. At that point, I had never considered buying a faerie deck. I didn't understand faeries and people who said they saw them or dreamed about them or communed with them, or whatever they thought they did. To be honest, I still don't understand it, I'm still quite skeptical about it, but I feel an energy when I contemplate faerie, just when I spend time thinking about them in an open manner, it's almost like some sort of energy is drawing near to me, and this intrigues and also frightens me a bit. I want to immerse myself in faerie for the coming weeks, and see where it takes me. I have a feeling it could get very interesting indeed. Any of you experienced Faery folk who wish to offer me advice and guidance, I am all ears. (You might remember the incident of my lost eyeglasses last year!)

My collection

2013-04-27T08:26:00.001+01:00

I've just made a spreadsheet of my tarot/oracle collection. It is hard to track because it is in a state of constant flux. I buy and sell/trade on a whim. So I never quite know what I've got, and the things I used to have I don't dwell on. I tried to remember what I've had in the past, but what's the point? They're only cards, after all, out of sight out of mind. Which makes collecting a bit silly, really. I ought to get rid of many of these, as I never use the majority of them. At present I own (the ones I'd be willing to part with today have a star):

TAROT -56 decks

Ancient Italian Tarot

Anna K Tarot, 1st ed.

Aquarian Tarot*

Art of Life Tarot

Arthurian Tarot

Celtic Tarot, Davis

Celtic Tarot, Davis (with blue edges)*

Christmas Tarot

Cosmic Tarot

Crystal Tarot, Trevisan

Crystal Tarot, Permutt*

Deck of 1000 Spreads

Diamond Tarot*

Druidcraft Tarot

Eight-bit Tarot

Faerie Tarot*

Gaian Tarot

Giant Rider-Waite Tarot

Golden Dawn Magical Tarot

Golden Tarot, Kat Black

Grail Tarot

Haindl, jumbo German

Halloween Tarot

Harmonious Tarot*

Hezicos Tarot

Hudes Tarot*

Inner Child Cards*

Legend: Arthurian Tarot*

Morgan Greer Tarot

Original Rider Waite Tarot*

Pathfinders Tarot*

PCS Commemorative Tarot*

Pearls of Wisdom, 2nd ed

Prairie Tarot

Radiant Rider Waite

Rider Tarot Deck, yellow box

Robin Wood Tarot

Roots of Asia Tarot*

Sacred Sites Tarot*

Servants of the Light Tarot

Silicon Dawn Tarot

Sol Invictus

Star Tarot

Tarot of the Old Path*

Tarot of the Sidhe

Tarot of the Sidhe, trimmed

Tarot: the Complete Kit

Thoth Tarot, blue box

Thoth Tarot, green box

Thoth Tarot, purple box

Titania's Star Tarot

Touchstone Tarot

Universal Waite Tarot

Vanessa Tarot

Wheel of the Year Tarot*

Wicca Moon Tarot

ORACLES - 27 decks

Angel Insight Pack*

Bach Flowers Cards*

Bach Remedy Cards* -- SOLD

Blue Owl Lenormand*

Camelot Oracle*

Celtic Messages*

Celtic Wisdom Oracle*

Chakra Meditations

Druid Animal Oracle*

Druid Plant Oracle*

Faeries' Oracle

French Cartomancy Cards

Goddess Oracle

Goddess Power Pack

Green Man Tree Oracle*

Heart of Faeries Oracle*

Highlanders 1864 Poker Deck

Lenormand Oracle Cards

Melissa Lenormand, 2nd ed*

Morgan's Tarot

Mystical Lenormand*

Oracle of the Grail Code*

Pixie's Astounding Mlle Lenormand Cards*

Postmark Lenormand*

Rune Cards*

Titania's Fortune Cards

Way of the Horse

Summary: The Columns

2013-04-27T06:18:00.000+01:00

Summary
Looking at the columns of the spread gives an interesting summary. Overall, the spread suggests that this is a time in my life where I have potential (Sun), but also a lot of confusion and uncertainty (Moon). A certain ruthlessness is required (sword cards), but I am making progress, as I am leaving behind certain patterns of behaviour that no longer serve me. Or at least, I should leave them behind. Things like...complacency, self-defeating habits, defensiveness, and giving up of control of my own life. It seems clear from this spread that the onus is upon me to take care of my own little internal scabs...but it's also important that I accept as genuine any compliments or positive feedback I receive from outside sources, particularly in relation to my talents (though not necessarily in relation to financial decisions!).

The advice offered here is peculiar, but not unsuited to my personality. It's not telling me to change my basic nature, but I think to use those qualities to their fullest potential to effect change. I am told to carry on with my solitary explorations, be both logical and skeptical, and to be wary of instances where there might be some sort of attack or challenge. I think the final column is telling me more to wake up and use the skills I have than to turn over some big new leave into uncharted territory.

I think maybe I can do that. :)

Line Four: Finances

2013-04-26T05:52:00.000+01:00

Line Four Finances
Heart of the Situation - Seven of Swords Rx
What to Leave in the Past - Strength Rx
Others - Two of Cups Rx
Advice - Five of Wands

Now on this line, curiously, there was a clump of cards in my deck that had somehow become reversed, even though I hadn't purposely shuffled to get them. So, I left them reversed. Three of four cards reversed, wow.

The Heart of the Situation is Seven of Swords reversed. Now, the Golden Dawn title of Seven of Swords is 'Unstable Effort', and the description of the card is 'partial success, yielding when victory is within grasp, as if the last reserve of strength were used up Inclination to lose when on the point of gaining through not continuing the effort.' (Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot). The card being reversed suggests that my recent efforts in shifting my savings around to find a better interest rate have not been wasted efforts. I've done something instead of not doing anything. I believe having a reversed card here rather than one that might have a similar meaning in an upright position helps to underline that this is a new sort of behaviour for me. I assertive in some things (really!) but terribly passive in others. In this case, what for many would seem a routine and simple action, for me really was like uprooting myself, turning my usual behaviour upside down.

The thing I should leave in the past is Strength Reversed. Interestingly, the Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot has this to say, 'The course of Strength is the reciprocal path which straddles the Tree of Life from Geburah to Chesed. ... This corresponds on the human body to the channel of energy that connects the right and left arms. (True strength is achieved when both arms work in harmony).' Now, I never knew that, and it gives a new resonance and depth to the Strength card. I like this image of the Strength card linking the two arms to work together in harmony. If the Strength card is reversed, it's the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Or even like having one's hands tied behind one's back. I can understand that in relation to my finances, definitely! And the card in its reversed position shows the opposite of that, and again, the appearance of a reversed card suggests to me turning past behaviour on its head.

Wow, the card regarding Others shows a Two of Cups in reverse. I didn't know what to think of this at first. My usual thought with Two of Cups has to do with partnerships, friendships, or even love relationships, and so, to see the Two of Cups reversed suggests to me not to look for sincere partnerships, etc, where finances are concerned. The Golden Dawn meaning is 'Harmony of masculine and feminine united. Harmony, pleasure, mirth, subtlety, sometimes folly, dissipation, waste, and silly action, according to dignity.' It's that last bit that struck my eye, as again it's not something I instantly think of with Two of Cups. Dissipation, waste, silly action. I've never been one to waste money, but I have wasted time, missed out on good interest rates on my savings through inaction. But the card position is not focused on me but on Others. So I take it to mean I should not place too much credence in what Others say or do with regard to money. I must make informed choices and not be too trusting, particularly if that trust is based on friendship. (For example, if someone I know had told me a few years ago to invest in IceSave--which I didn't do, even though lots of reputable sources were encouraging it!)

Finally, the advice is Five of Wands. Generally it's a card taken to mean petty squabbles or irritations, especially in RWS interpretations. Obviously that doesn't work as advice. At first I thought it might mean standing up for myself, but the card doesn't really go in that direction (that would be more a Seven of Wands thing). The Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot says, 'Geburah is the Sephirah identified with Martial energy and destruction. This destructive quality is not "evil" but is in fact necessary purification.' So it's good to know that the strife is at least necessary! The book goes on to say, 'It should be noted that the Five of Wands, like other fives, do not always signify certain defeat, but they point out trouble is present.' Well, maybe the card is a warning, then. The advice is to be wary of strife, and in particular quarreling. So I suppose it means I should keep a watchful eye on all accounts and also be wary of financial matters causing quarrels. This could of course, be strife within myself. All these reversed cards representing new behaviours will of course be stirring up unsettled feelings and doubt within myself. Mustn't let those feelings cause me to be a b*tch, and must be prepared to fight and argue (perhaps with banks, etc), if needed. That's what I'm seeing. So I guess my original impulse was pretty much right. Squabbles and irritations. Watch out for 'em.