Tarot Magic Adventures

YOUR TAROT VALENTINE

2012-02-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

With Valentine’s Day in view, I’ve been reading about it inthe book, “Curiosities of Popular Custom,” (printed in 1897), along withrelated topics on Candlemas and St. Brigid, (because I view Valentines as anextension of the goddess Brigid’s feast, based on the ancient practice ofhaving a festival spread over a week or more, especially due to periodiccalendar adjustments). Like many, thisbook brings up the theory that in ancient times, young people drew names of theopposite sex, to be temporarily paired with a young man or woman in honor ofthe goddess Juno Februata; this might also tie in with a belief that birdschose their mates at this time. [Notehowever, that the practice in honor of Juno may just be speculation, as modernscholars can’t relate this to any classical texts.] Later, the Church supposedly tried tosuppress this custom by substituting the practice of drawing the names ofsaints, so a young person would give a year’s devotion to whichever saint he orshe drew. This wasn’t pursued with agreat deal of enthusiasm, so the day soon enough reverted to the practice ofdrawing names of the opposite sex. Especially charming is the French usage, tied in with the tradition ofcourtly love, where the sentimental bond was such that, “During the year eachstood to the other in the relation of Cavalier and Lady of Beauty, the knightbeing bound to the honor and defense of his fair one, for which she repaid himin smiles and silk favors.”

Many practices and superstitions have grown up aroundValentines. One usage that wasprevalent, though something people expressed more playfully than seriously, wasthe notion that the first member of the opposite sex that you laid eyes upon onSaint’ Valentines would be your chosen one for the year. This even applied to married people, andpeople of all ages, for the famous diarist Samuel Pepys and his wife had funwith this each year. Sometimes Pepys andhis wife would arrange a morning visit to another couple—not as “swingers,” ofcourse, it was just for fun with friends. On another Valentines morning, Mrs. Pepys jokingly held her hands overher eyes so she wouldn’t gaze on the crew of workers painting their diningroom, and on another, a sweet little boy was sent up to her room to deliver apaper valentine: he had written her name in gold on bright blue paper. (From 1667, this may be the first recordedexample of a paper valentine.)

Readingabout all of this, it occurred to me that you could have a little fun with yourtarot deck when you get up on Valentine’s morning. The following exercise is somewhat more inthe tradition of drawing the names of saints or the just-in-fun practices ofpeople like Pepys and his wife, which is to say, it is for purposes ofinspiration and learning more about the cards; (it is not for lonely persons tochoose some ghostly lover in preferment to flesh-and-blood ones). While shuffling, pose a question like, “Whichof you will be my Valentine?” or “Whowill be my spiritual Valentine?” Then,go through your deck until you come to the first card that portrays a distinctpersonality of the opposite sex. Thiscard character then becomes a spiritual sweetheart, so that you can spend theyear getting to know this card personality by reflecting on his or herqualities. Notice also whether thispersonality is reflected in people you meet of the opposite sex, (though this doesnot obligate you to date them). Think about how this particular tarotpersonality would act in and contribute to relationships. The making of relationship is one of theprinciple functions of the great goddess, so here we do get back to the worksof Juno Februata and other seasonal goddesses.

BOYCOTT PEPSI CO’S CELEBRATION OF SOCIOPATHIC ANIMAL CRUELTY

2012-02-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

I apologize for using this blog as a political soapbox, butI have become aware of an atrocity that I can’t stay silent about.

Fritos, a brand of Pepsi co, has just awarded a milliondollars to Jonathan Friedman, creator of the Super Bowl Fritos ad about killinga cat, because it was apparently the audience favorite. Anyone who has ever lost a cat or dog—especiallyif the pet went missing and you don’t know what became of him or her—knows whata profoundly painful and agonizing experience this is for the pet owner, not tomention the poor animal. That is, anyonewho has an ounce of empathy knows this pain. If you do not have empathy, which of course makes you a sociopath, thenof course you would not feel any sympathy either for the owner or for theanimal. [Note that although I am anAsperger person, and Asperger people are often characterized as not havingempathy, I dispute this: Aspies can have empathy, we’re just not skillful atdemonstrating it publicly.]

The fact that so many people were so devoid of empathy as tofind humor in this sicko ad is truly scary. The lack of empathy is at the root of all kinds of social atrocities,and these things are on a continuum. IASSERT that the sort of people who think that torturing and killing cats, (aswell as tormenting their distraught owners), is good, innocent fun are the samepeople who think that torturing and humiliating prisoners of war, or urinatingon the dead, (as has also recently been in the news), is also good fun.

Anyway, I urge anyone who values human decency to boycott FritoLay, as well as its parent company, Pepsi Co, plus other Pepsi brands includingQuaker, Gator Ade, and Tropicana. Itwill certainly be tough, because they are into so many different products, butyou can go to Pepsi’s website, http://www.pepsico.com/Brands.html,to find out which products are part of their brand.

Looking for Opportunities in the Year of the Dragon

2012-01-17T18:23:00.000-08:00

This year, Chinese New Year falls on Monday, January 23rd,so it’s just around the corner. Different years are supposed to be auspicious for anyone who was born ina year ruled by the same animal sign, so 2012 should be a significant year foranyone with the sign of the dragon, (born in the years 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952,1964, 1976, 1988, and 2000).

In my previous post, where I suggested throwing black-eyedpeas as part of a New Years celebration, I mentioned the bean-throwing ritualthat is part of the Japanese Setsubun festival; men with a given year’s animalsign are the preferred persons to officiate at such ceremonies. If there are any dragons in your socialcircle, you might encourage them to take a focal role in whatever festivitiesyou may be planning in 2012. (Just as2012 should be good for dragon people, dragon people should be good for 2012.)

The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac are also pairedwith the five elements of fire, earth, metal, water, and wood, and 2012 is aWater Dragon year. 12 signs times 5elements = 60 different sign-element combinations, and every 60 years the cyclerepeats. This also means that whenanyone reaches the age of 60, he or she might experience a landmark year, becauseit has come back around to both his or her sign and element. Therefore, 2012 should be a particularlyinteresting year for anyone born in 1952.

Curious as to whether the Chinese zodiac year would giveanyone a special advantage in a presidential race, I looked into the birthyears and signs for President Obama and the Republican contenders, but none ofthem are dragons. FYI, Obama is MetalOx, while Romney is a Fire Pig, Gingrich is a Water Sheep, Paul is a Wood Pig,Huntsman is a Metal Rat, Santorum is an Earth Dog, and Perry is a Metal Tiger.

The Hierophant on the Front Porch

2012-01-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

A happy Friday the 13^th to all! For nighttime reading, I go through a greatmany books related to my different research projects, so it’s alwaysinteresting to come across passages in books that relate, synchronistically, toarchetypal symbols that I’m exploring in unrelated projects anddiscussions. Among other things, I hopeeventually to write a book on the hidden magical traditions relating todifferent types of vernacular architecture and living spaces, which would getinto ways that we can appreciate and engage the magic in ordinary houses andother types of buildings. At the moment,I’m reflecting on the cultural uses of front porches, so, using our onlinelibrary catalog, I did a keyword search for “porch,” and got the book “PorchStories: A Grandmother’s Guide to Happiness” by Jewell Parker Rhodes, [NY:Atria, 2006]. It is through these typesof keyword searches that I become aware of other books, that, though unrelatedto my topic, take my curiosity off in new directions.

So, I had been thinking of porches as transitional spaces,where we mediate between our public and private worlds. Also, because of the ways front porchesproject into semipublic space, they say something about how we presentourselves to the world. However, inlight of our previous discussion about the Hierophant, we can see how thegrandmother who shares her wisdom—often as she sits upon the front porchtelling stories--takes on a hierophantic role, and how the front porch thusbecomes a hierophantic space. That is,it becomes a place where we can demonstrate deep values through “things said,things done, and things shown.”

To illustrate how Rhodes’grandmother was effective in transmitting her values, the author says,“Grandmother’s guidance is everlasting. More than anyone, she taught me how to live. She taught me how to nurture myself, and mychildren, with words.” She goes on todescribe the many living spaces where this teaching occurred: “Like a magicianor conjure woman, she turned all spaces into womanist spaces. The kitchen table, the garden, the porch, achild’s bedroom, the living room, even the basement with its coal furnace anddamp laundry were all spaces where Grandmother taught values as effortlessly asshe breathed. Wherever Grandmotherreigned, there was spiritual uplift and healing” [137].

So, this suggests a new image for the Hierophant: the elderon the front porch. Now, I’ll have to gothrough my more modern-themed tarot decks to see if anyone has thought ofthis. I’m also curious as to how thedifferent fairytale decks might portray grandmothers.

By the way, “Porch Stories, though a very slim book, has alot of other good stuff in it, including some family experiences ofcommunicating with the dead, and pithy African-American proverbs like, “Everygood-bye ain’t gone,” and “Every shut eye ain’t sleep.”

Contested Values in the Year of the Hierophant – Jan. 12

2012-01-12T14:47:00.000-08:00

Every year has a number that corresponds, in terms ofmagical numerology, to a tarot card. For2012, 2+1+2=5, giving us the Hierophant card. The Hierophant can denote the transmission of teachings and traditions,which also relates to the preservation of cultural values. For Americans, this being an election year,we can expect a contest over what these values are, and who has the right toclaim and “own” them. We can also seethis contest at large, as many other countries have undergone changes that haveresulted in different groups asserting different values. Bear this in mind if the Hierophant comes upin any of your readings this year. Youmight think about how your personal situation, or whatever matter is inquestion, might relate to this larger cultural debate.

The potentially revolutionary qualities of the Hierophanthave not been appreciated, as many writers see it as denoting “theEstablishment,” and if they have a troubled relationship with theEstablishment, they’ll interpret the Hierophant in a negative light. However, the Hierophant is the Number Fivecard of the Major Arcana, and when we look at the Five cards in the MinorArcana suits, they deal with energetic forces of change, denoting thedestabilization of the previously stable conditions portrayed in theFours. (In numerology, the number Fivehas a lot to do with the circulation of elemental energies, which is why thepentagram symbol is used to store and to move energy.) In the Swords and Wands cards, which dealwith contests of ideas and causes, the struggles that are portrayed ofteninvolve conflicted relationships with larger groups.

Viewing the Hierophant as a force for change in 2012, we canthink about calling upon the many different “wisdom traditions” that we haveaccess to, because they still flow as subcurrents through our society. (This is a different take on what ClarissaPinkola Estes calls the “rio abajo rio,” “the river below the river.”) A challenge for this Hierophant year is toidentify and align with the kind of traditions and institutions that nurtureand empower people. Then, our nextchallenge is to transmit this wisdom in keeping with the teaching style of theHierophant—which, in the ancient temple of Eleusis, was toconvince through “things said, things done, and things shown.”

SUGGESTION FOR NEW LUCKY NEW YEAR’S TRADITION

2011-12-31T14:13:00.000-08:00

Many people mark the transition from New Year’s Eve to NewYear’s Day with different celebrational customs. For many Americans, singing “Auld Lang Syne”and watching the Big Apple Ball drop are traditions that evoke nostalgia andsentiment, but in different regions of the country, and of the old world, othercustoms aim at inviting New Year’s luck. So, some Irish people leave a silver coin on the windowsill, bringing itin at the stroke of midnight, with the wish that the household never lack for money. Many other customs center on lucky foods,such as eating cabbage on New Year’s Eve or Day because the green symbolizeswealth.

When I spent New Year’s with friends from Texas, we dined onblack-eyed peas with bacon, because black-eyed peas is the traditional NewYears dish for luck in the South, (the peas symbolizing coinage), and many addbacon, (as pigs have long denoted prosperity, plus we can think of the modernterm, “bringing home the bacon”). Reflecting on this, it occurs to me that as a new musical tradition onecould play a recording of the Black-Eyed Peas’ hit song, “I Gotta Feeling.” With its catchy line, “I gotta feeling thattonight’s gonna be a good night,” this is an auspicious “spell song.” While many/most of the songs we listen tonowadays are blues or ballads with sad tales to tell, when we look at the rootsof song—in the ethnopoetics of shamanic societies--so many of their songs weresimply repeated lines, intended to produce magic results, such as love,protection, success in hunting, healing, and general well being.

Someone aught to compile a list of songs that generate luck,because it would be neat if some popular performers could put together somealbums of music for effecting magic. TheBlack-Eyed Peas would be ideal for the job. They could even invite Kevin Bacon to sing with them, so they couldentitle the album, “Black-Eyed Peas and Bacon.” Bacon is actually musical (performing with his brother Michael as partof “The Bacon Brothers”), and he did appear in will.i.am’s “It’s A New Day”video.

Incidentally, members of the Black Eyed Peas will beperforming at different New Years’ events tonight, but because the individualswill be at different venues, it’s not as auspicious as if they performed as agroup. However, if they did all worktogether on New Years, they could scatter black eyed peas over the crowds theway Shinto priests and Japanese celebrities scatter soy beans over the crowdson Setsubun, (the Spring Festival linked to the lunar New Year), to drive offthe devils, [i.e. to disjar negative energies—I believe that I have elsewherewritten about how such customs utilize principles of energy medicine in realigningthe energy body, much like pressing the “refresh” button on your browser]. Japanese festival-goers scramble to catchthese beans, and carry them home for luck. This is similar to the New Orleans customof carrying a fava bean from the St. Joseph’s Day altar in your coin purse to ensure thatyou will always have money, or the wider southern custom of carrying a blackeyed pea, for the same reason.

Thoughts on “The Wheel” and “The Fool”

2011-11-20T09:54:00.001-08:00

I always have a selection of books on hand for night-timereading, so one of the books I’m currently working my way through is “TheHistory of Court Fools” by Dr. Doran (no first name given). It was published in 1966, but the Victorianwriting style makes me suspect it’s a reprint. Naturally, I am always looking out for tarot symbolism. On page 91, the author cites an old saying that“if a man would rise in the world, it were better for him to let go a descendingwheel, and to hang to one going up-hill.” This is good advice when The Wheel of Fortune appears in your readings,but it requires discernment, because you need to be attentive to what is goingon in your world in order to identify all of the ascending and descendingwheels, and to be frank with yourself as to which wheel you are riding. It is proactive advice, reminding us that wedon’t need to be bound to one particular wheel.

The author brings up the court fool’s ability to speakfrankly—it’s really true, the traditional jesters were given thatprivilege. They also had free access tothe king or lord at any time of day—a privilege accorded to none of the otherministers. There are many cases wherethe Fool used his [or her] privilege to dissuade a ruler of some disastrouscourse of action, sometimes speaking out against social injustices. (This kind of brings to mind the “Occupy Wall Street”movement and the old Quaker injunction, “Speak truth to Power.”) Different writers have commented on how TheFool in the tarot, as an unnumbered card, has the ability to bargeinto the card sequence or reading anywhere he likes. So,when the Fool appears in your reading, you might think about how he may beinterrupting the flow of the reading with a warning. Also, in the interest of bold speech, are youbeing frank with yourself or others? Isthis a situation where there is the proverbial 500-pound gorilla in the roomthat no one is willing to talk about?

Something that surprised me in reading this book is that thepractice of keeping a jester was very extensive, almost universal, rather than some quaint, obscurecustom practiced only by a few. Thecustom extends back into ancient times, and not just monarchs, but the lessernobility and even church officials kept fools. This custom was also practiced in the Orient, and in the New World, where, for example, the Aztec ruler Montezumaalso had jesters. In order to generate aconstant stream of witticisms, many fools were very learned, being fluent indifferent and ancient languages, and educated in the classics as well as otherfields of learning. They also had to begood psychologists, attentive and intuitive enough to read theiraudiences. Jesters were generally verywell paid, and many were rewarded with lands and titles.

Another thing that surprised me is that women could serve asfools, and some of them were quite the celebrities. There are some tarot decks which featurefemale fools, though I can’t, offhand, recall which. Although I think it’s a good thing to tweaktarot symbolism in order to tease out new insights, I had found female Foolcards to be a little discordant with what I previously knew of historicaltradition. However, now that I have readabout lady jesters, I have revised my opinion. One of the earlier-known female fools officiated in the household of theRoman philosopher Seneca. Other notableswere Artaude du Puy (in the service of Charles I and Jeanne of France, circa1373), Madame d’Or (called a moult gracieuse folle by St. Remy in 1429), awoman called La Jardiniere as well as a certain Jacquette both served Catherinede Medicis, the dwarf Mathurine entertained the court of the French king HenryIV, and a Spanish folle named Capiton traveled with the Hapsburg Don Juan ofAustria. The last female fool on recordwas Kathrin Lise, who served the Duchess of Sachsen-Weissenfels-Dahme as lateas 1720. For anyone aspiring to write ahistorical fiction novella [or nonfiction, too], a story based on a lady jesterwould offer the reading public some novelty.

Last Workshop for 2011:

2011-11-04T04:20:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, for those who are interested in coming out to myworkshops, I will be at the Triple Goddess from 1 to 3 this Sunday for the lastworkshop of the year. Tapping into theSamhain season’s still-high-flying energies, we will explore Faery Worldencounters with the “Fairy Ring” and “Faeries” oracle decks. This includes finding ways that faeryenergies may be active or activated in our lives, as well as some amuletic usesof the Faeries cards. As described inthe previous post, another of our themes will be “things that scare you,” usingthe Halloween Tarot. Everyone will alsoget a chance to be the focus of the “Holographic Card Projection” technique,which is where we direct multiple images of a given card (that each individualselects for him or herself), to help each individual achieve a more holisticmanifestation of its qualities in his or her life. In the interest of toggling our amygdalae toaccess synchronicities and altered states of consciousness through T.D. Lingo’s“frontal lobes supercharge,” we will also bring back the dark chocolateinduction.

Scary Tarot Treats for the Halloween Season

2011-10-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

Normally, after my first-Sunday-of-the-month workshops, Ilike to discuss some of the ideas and tarot symbols we engaged. Unfortunately, I had to turn my attention tocompleting another project, and now we’re more than half way through the month,so I don’t remember much. However, I amlooking forward to the November 6^th session. Even though we’ll be 6 days away from the 31^stof October, the high energies of Halloween will still be crackling in theatmosphere. We can stretch thoseenergies, because astrological Halloween isn’t until November 8^th,(15 degrees Scorpio).

A big part of the American Halloween is its emphasis on thespooky stuff, related to our childhood—and atavistic human—delight inexperiencing the shivers, (even if some of the decorations and other props canget a bit hokey). Although Neopaganscelebrate Samhain as the Celtic New Year, and therefore also a time forcelebrating the cycles of life and meditating upon the past, the future, andour connection to the Ancestor World, the Faery World, and the World of Nature,we can’t ignore the tricks and treats and fun and games that make up thegreater festivities of our American Halloween. So, in honor of this aspect of the Halloween season, I’m thinking abouthaving “Things that Scare You,” as one of our themes. When we can “tame” our fears, (the wayMexicans do by celebrating the Dia de los Muertos with sugar skulls and otheramusements that treat death playfully), we assert power over them.

I’ve been wanting to do something special with the colorful,whimsical “The Halloween Tarot” by Kipling West and Karin Lee, so here is anexercise that we may try on the 6^th, in the vein of “Things thatScare You.” Shuffle the Halloween deck(or any deck) while posing a request like, “Please show me five things thatscare me.” Then, place your deck faceup, (so you are looking at the pictures), and go through it until you find oneof each: a Pumpkins card (Pentacles), Imps (Wands), Bats (Swords), Ghosts(Cups), and a Major Arcana card. Itdoesn’t matter what order you find them in, just pull out the first of eachtype that you find.

To interpret these cards then, we are looking at them interms of how the things these cards represent—both in terms of theirtraditional tarot associations and in terms of the unique imagery of theHalloween deck—may in some way denote some issue that is “scary” for you. This could be some area of avoidance orresistance, if nothing else. In thiscontext, even cards that people normally regard and respond to as highly positiveare to be scrutinized for what kind of anxieties they may arouse. For example, “The Sun” card could denote afear of “shining,” of showing off your talents or stepping into some publicposition, while the Ten of Cups/Ghosts, the happy family card, could denotesome discomfort with family commitment, and the claims that “family ghosts” mayhave on you. If you happen to draw acard that would normally be your significator, it could indicate a fear of“being yourself.”

To apply the extra layer of the Halloween Tarot symbolism,you could view the Ghosts as representing things that haunt you emotionally,the Imps as things that get in your face or try to trip you up, and the Bats asthe anxieties and obsessing over problems that are flitting around in yourbrain. The pumpkins are a little harderto interpret in terms of a scare factor, because, they’re so colorful andcheerful. Perhaps in thePumpkins’/Pentacles’ material world associations, we can see them as symbols ofthe futility of clinging and craving in this ephemeral mortal life. Jack-o-lanterns give off light for a fewfestive evenings at a time of year when the nights are getting longer anddarker, but then they’re thrown on the trash heap to rot. (This echoes the “gardens of Adonis” of ancienttimes, and gets into the Buddhist idea of “dukkha” = suffering /unsatisfactoriness, that all existence is change and separation.) However, I don’t want to close this exerciseon a downer note, because it is also in creating those little festive touchesthat we get to exercise some creativity, and also to exercise some caring,because we thereby offer a little cheer to our fellow beings.

By the way, the little manual that comes in the box with theHalloween Tarot cards is well written up by Karin Lee. Though the lwb’s (little white booklets) thataccompany tarot cards are necessarily brief, this one is pithy in its cardinterpretations and philosophical content.

Although the above exercise was created with the HalloweenTarot in mind, it will probably work well enough with other types ofdecks. There are also some gothic andvampire decks out there, but I haven’t gotten around to obtaining any ofthese. I imagine that the tone of thereadings would certainly be darker, requiring a more emotionally mature groupof querents.

Once you have had some time to contemplate what sort offears your cards may point to, think about how to take action to mitigate them,and even ways that you can confront those fears as you align yourself with thepowerful energy currents of Halloween. (Refer to some of my past years’ blogposts on the “feng shui ofHalloween.”)

Plans for this Sunday, October 2nd

2011-09-27T13:43:00.001-07:00

Hi all! Because I’vebeen trying to get out some other projects, I haven’t come up with anything newand special to demonstrate at this Sunday’s workshop. So, we will start with the Round RobinTarot—as there really is more to explore with this technique. Then, I will demonstrate the Spinning BasketFortune Teller. Also, for those who areplanning to come: if you have any questions on your mind that you would like toput to the tarot and other oracle decks, and you don’t mind bringing them up inthis public format, we can do different types of readings to address yourquestions.

Finding Your Teacher, continued

2011-09-10T07:47:00.001-07:00

So, we have been considering how to approach major tarotfigures as teachers, based on a reading exercise utilizing the Wizards Tarot,and in the previous post, I cited a reading that got The Hierophant as masterteacher. (The other flanking cards inthis reading were the Four of Pentacles and The Magician, and the HiddenTeacher card was The Wheel of Fortune—I will get around to these in a bit.)

To continue with the example, in the Wizards Tarot, theHierophant is represented as the centaur Chiron as master teacher, and hefunctions as professor of mythology in the “Mandrake Academy,”the magical school around which this deck is structured. Because Corinne Kenner designed this deckwith Golden Dawn correspondences in mind, the Hierophant is conceptually pairedwith Taurus. I believe the person whogot this as her teacher card is a Taurus, but I wasn’t focused in on theastrological aspects when this card was drawn, and so failed to mentionthat. Otherwise, this would have beenone of those “Aché!” moments. (Asmentioned in my posts of last September, Puerto Rican practitioners ofEspiritismo, Santeria, and brujeria bang on tables, ring bells, and shout“Aché!” whenever an interesting synchronicity manifests, as a way of thankingthe Spirit World for the confirmaciones. (I think that the Aché may come from the Yoruba Ashé, which is anexpression of spiritual force.)

If you happen to get a teacher card which corresponds to oneof your special signs or planets, (such as your sun sign, moon sign, ascendant,and their planetary rulers), that says something about a teacher who can alsohelp you learn to be yourself, by exemplifying traits that you may havesuppressed in the process of trying to accommodate the rest of the world. If you can identify people who exemplify thequalities of your planet or sign, notice what sort of knowledge they have toshare, as well as their teaching styles.

Also, if you are into astrology, you could take a look atwhat’s going on with the planet or sign in question. In the case of The Hierophant as portrayed inthe Wizards Tarot, in addition to seeing if anything interesting is transitingthrough or aspecting your Taurus house, you could also look at the activitiesof the planetoid Chiron. Since thediscovery of Chiron, some astrologers have come to see Chiron as ruler orco-ruler of Virgo because of his detail-oriented approach to healing andproblem solving, though some argue in favor of Sagittarius, as it is the signof the Centaur. Because expansive tarotarchetypes like The Hierophant cannot be confined to one planet or sign asdelimited by any single imposed system such as the G.D., you might think ofwhat other astrological qualities this card suggests. For example, we can see that the Hierophanthas Jupiter/Sagittarius/9^th House qualities in his concern with thecultivation of the Higher Mind, as well as his dedication to transmitting aGrand Vision of cosmic harmony, achieved through religious and philosophicalsystems and institutions that uphold an idealized social structure.

Getting back to the other cards in the example reading, theMagician was the flanking card to the right, which suggests this person’slearning experience is likely to involve finding practical ways to apply thelessons of the Hierophant, because the Magician is concerned with manifestingchange in the material world—especially in ways that actively and consciouslyengage the elemental qualities of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. The left flanking card was the Four ofPentacles, which is the most materially oriented of all the cards in the deck,what with the Pentacles representing the Earth element and the Foursrepresenting solid structures and foundations. Taken together, all of these cards point to a year of learningexperiences in which she gets to work with a variety of materials and seepractical results, which also jives with a Taurean concern for the materialquality of daily life.

Because these cards add up to Ten, (4 + 5 + 1 = 10), herHidden Teacher card is The Wheel of Fortune, which, in the Wizards Deck, ispersonified as the school counselor. This would suggest that the lessons she gets out of this semester in TheSchool of Life will put her in a position to counsel others, which alsosuggests that people who have need of the sort of knowledge that she has toshare will be attracted into her life, and may especially need help in takingtheir lives in new directions. When thestudent is ready, the teacher comes; when the teacher is ready, the studentcomes.

Finding Your Teacher, continued

2011-09-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

I continue to think about the work we were doing with the Wizards Tarot and what the Major Arcana cards in their personas as teachers at a magical academy can teach us about the school of life, so I have been reviewing the cards drawn at the workshop last Sunday. (The special techniques we were applying to these cards are outlined in the previous post). Although I have occasionally touched on how the cards can be viewed as personal teachers with teaching personalities, I have not had a chance to give this concept a great deal of thought, so the group practice sessions are learning experiences for me, too. Seeing how different cards come up for people with different situations provides opportunities to make new discoveries about the cards. Then, when I sit down to work on this blog, the writing process also becomes a process of “writing for discovery.”

One participant got the Hierophant as her master teacher, who, in this deck, is personified as Chiron, and serves as the professor of mythology. In classical lore, Chiron was the centaur who was teacher to Aesculapius, (who, under Chiron’s tutelage, became a physician, and then the god of healing), as well as to Heracles, Achilles, Perseus, Theseus, and a number of other heroes. Indeed, Chiron as the Hierophant is a teacher’s teacher. In the “Mandrake Academy,” Chiron serves as professor of mythology, and we can relate this to the Hierophant’s concern with the transmission of lore and tradition.

If you happen to draw this card, you might want to delve into how the subject of mythology can be relevant to modern life by consulting Jean Shinoda Bolen’s books, “Gods in Everyman” and “Goddesses in Everywoman,” because she explains how the archetypal qualities of different Greek gods and goddesses are active in different areas of our lives. Also, Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ book, “Women Who Run with the Wolves” draws on archetypal themes in folk and fairy tales to find meaning in different experiences. These are genuine healing stories, which Estes relates and explains in her wonderfully incantatory style.

The centaur Chiron is sometimes also discussed in line with the archetype of “the wounded healer,” because he was accidentally wounded by Heracles, and, despite all his healing arts, he was not able to cure himself. When I think of a great teaching personality who fits this archetype, I think of Milton H. Erickson, sometimes known as the father of medical hypnosis. Erickson often used story-telling as one of his healing techniques, as do many traditional healers. (In fact, one of my ongoing sideline research projects involves cross referencing the works and techniques of Erickson with those of shamanic and other folk-magic healers from societies throughout the world.) Erickson himself was crippled and in terrible pain from polio and post-polio syndrome, so he had to use all kinds of hypnotic techniques on himself, just to be able to function. Some of the books I have read on this subject include “Uncommon Therapy: The Psychiatric Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.” by Jay Haley, “My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson,” as edited by Sidney Rosen, and “Milton H. Erickson, M.D.: An American Healer,” by Bradford Keeney and Betty Alice Erickson. Many people—not just Erickson’s patients, but his friends, students, and even chance acquaintances—have stories of how Erickson would casually tell them some little anecdote or adage, or make some other passing comment, and it was just what their Unconscious minds needed to hear, because their attitudes would be forever altered (reframed), or in some cases, they were able to shed bad habits on the spot. Unfortunately, Erickson did not believe in psychism or supernatural anything, despite the fact it seems no one has been able to reproduce his successes.

In one of Erickson’s notable cases, he created a character known as “The February Man” to help recast an individual’s memories and reactions to negative experiences; this was as part of a more comprehensive program of therapy to help a patient whose anxieties about parenthood were stemming from a cold and loveless childhood. Erickson hypnotically regressed this woman to different ages of childhood, and introduced himself into her memories as a (fictitious) family friend, who showed up at different times over the years and came to be known as the February Man. In this persona, Erickson sort of walked her through different memories and life events, while helping her to reframe them in a new and more positive light, and derive insights that would enable her to respond more positively to new situations.

I have often thought about how, through creative visualization, one could introduce different tarot figures with the ability to offer different types of guidance into one’s fantasies, and as a way of reframing one’s memories. (In line with this, the King of Cups would make a particularly good February Man.) You could do this using any tarot deck for images to concentrate upon, though the Wizards Tarot lends itself exceptionally well, because of the engaging portrayal of some of these different “professors.” Tarot artists do differ a lot in this respect, as there are some decks where the characters look out of the picture space to meet your gaze, and/or also project distinct personalities. In other decks, the human figures may seem preoccupied and distant. Of course, the portrayals can also differ within any given deck.

OK, now that I’ve written this, I find it necessary to take another look at my Wizards deck--that’s part of that “writing for discovery,” I discover things that come out of the writing as I go along. So, I find that most of the teachers don’t meet the viewer’s gaze, as they are focused on their different subjects of study. (Perhaps it’s an indication of my level of engagement that I imagined it to be otherwise.) All the same, with the idea of a tarot figure as a personal teacher, you can use your imagination as to how that teacher could take you in hand as his or her student. In the case of the Hierophant, in his historical role as the instructor of initiates in the Eleusinian mysteries, he explained and revealed what they needed to know through “things said, things done, and things shown.” So, when imaginatively engaging with tarot figures, whether the Hierophant or any other, think about what teachings they might convey to you through “things said, things done, and things shown.”

To be continued … I will pick up on more of this reading in the next post.

Finding Your Teacher

2011-09-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Part of the fun of working with tarot theme decks that use unconventional imagery is the possibility of engaging those decks in ways that might not work so well with any other tarot deck. So, at this past Sunday’s informal, drop-in workshop, we were working with the Wizards Tarot, which is patterned after a magical academy, to see how we can relate different teaching personalities and learning situations to the magic of living.

To try out one of the exercises we experimented with:

Shuffle the cards while posing the question, “Please show me how to get the most out of this semester’s learning experience in the school of life,” or, more simply, you can recite the old Taoist adage, “When the student is ready, the teacher comes.” When you feel you have shuffled enough, set the deck of cards face up before you and go through it until you come to the first Major Arcana card, which will represent a member of the Mandrake Academy’s teaching staff. This represents a major teaching influence that you can call upon and gain from, and may denote a person or experiential situation. If a person, he or she may be someone you already know, or who is soon to enter your life to bring a valuable lesson. Of course, you can take a proactive approach and seek out persons with strong teaching personalities and knowledge to share.

Also, take note of whichever cards come before and after your teacher card, and treat them as flanking cards in a three-card spread. If your teacher happens to be the first card, treat the card on the bottom of the deck as the one which goes before it. The flanking cards are likely to be Minor Arcana cards featuring scenes of Academy students, and will provide clues as to areas of life significant to your learning experience, or ideas on how to actualize that experience. Sometimes the card on the right may also be a Major Arcana/teacher card, which suggests team teaching, or one teaching influence affecting another.

Because each of the Major Arcana card teachers serve as a professor of some magical subject of study, consider how delving into that subject (or approaching that subject in some new way if it is already something you have been studying), might help you find new meaning in your experiences, (including in relation to the archetypal experiences this card represents in more conventional tarot symbolism). Also, look at material images in the flanking cares to consider whether they represent certain “school supplies” or “learning materials” to utilize. The flanking cards’ elemental associations also say something about the nature of your learning experience: Swords emphasize intellectual energies, Wands creative ideas, Pentacles are for practical hands-on learning, and Cups show the affect on your inner life.

After looking over your three-card spread, you can now turn your attention to your “Hidden Teacher” card. There is a hidden teacher in every learning experience, and that is the teacher that you become by virtue of being able to pass on what you gained out of that experience. In fact, in learning and, in turn, teaching, you become part of a “lineage.” To discover the teaching personality that you are likely to express as a result of this semester in the Magical Academy, add the numbers of the three cards in your reading, and then (if necessary) use magical numerology to reduce that number to a number between one and twenty-one, which will correspond to another Major Arcana card and professor in the Mandrake Academy.

Note that you could also apply these techniques to other tarot decks, and then consider how you would perceive the Major Arcana cards as teachers, and the Minors as learning situations.

With the next post, I will elaborate on some of the tarot teaching personalities.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL WITH THE TAROT FOR SEPTEMBER 4TH

2011-08-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

I’m looking forward to this Sunday, September 4th, when I will be back at the Triple Goddess. I will show up even though it’s the Labor Day weekend, because some people find that a convenient time to stop by. Having recently introduced the Round Robin Tarot technique, I’d like to start out with that again, because it would be good to get some more practice with this—especially with looking for connecting themes and images among the different cards that are drawn for each individual. (See the previous post for a description of the round robin technique.) Even if you are a regular visitor, there’s always something new to get out of it, as there is always a different mix of participants and card decks being used. I’m planning to use the Osho Zen Tarot deck, which uses some strikingly different imagery. (This deck, which is published by the Osho Zen Institute in Switzerland, is illustrated by Deva Padma, and edited by Sarito Carol Neiman.)

Then, because it’s back-to-school for a lot of young people and others, this is a good time to try out “The Wizards Tarot” (by Corrine Kenner and John J. Blumen), which is set up using the theme of a school for aspiring magicians—The Mandrake Academy—where the teachers of the different magical arts are portrayed in the Major Arcana cards, while the Minor Arcana represent four different groups of students, much like the different student households in Harry Potter. Normally, I tend to avoid anything which seems like an obvious imitation of anything else, so I had misgivings about a card deck that appears to be modeled after Harry Potter. However, because the artwork is so splendid, and the whole idea of belonging to a magical academy is such an intriguing concept to get into and work inside of, I believe there is great potential for exploring and trying new things with this deck. By the way, a group of my old friends had a shared sense of having belonged to a special academy in a past lifetime, though the memories were different depending on the person’s orientation—for some it was more of a military institution, for some the emphasis was on the arts, for others magic, etc. It all taps into certain archetypes of a grand educational institution and experience, which I believe also contributes to the popularity of Harry Potter.

I have long maintained that we can experience the different tarot cards as teaching personalities, each with its own teaching style, so this is an opportunity to better get to know the cards as mentors. One little quibble I have with the minor cards in the Wizard’s deck, is, although they do represent the students, shown in their school uniforms and everything, they otherwise reproduce the standard Rider-Waite-Smith imagery, but I would like to see how different Minor Arcana situations could be rendered as learning challenges or “teachable moments.” (Nevertheless, I do appreciate the massive effort it took to bring out this deck, and realize that reworking the Minors would have taken a lot longer.) As a group, perhaps we can contribute some new ideas on interpreting these cards in the context of lessons in the magic of living. Also, the group setting provides an opportunity to enter a collective fantasy.

School time is also a time to “get back to basics,” so if we have some extra time left over, I will trot out some of the more basic tarot techniques that I haven’t demonstrated in a good while.

ROUND-ROBIN-TAROT

2011-08-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

The “Round Robin Tarot” technique that we demonstrated at the Triple Goddess earlier this month seems to have worked well, because it kept everyone engaged for a good while. Because it enables everybody to participate and provides a lot to discuss, this would be an ideal technique for any tarot study group.

How this technique works, is, each person brings or chooses a pack of tarot cards or oracle cards, then all sit in a circle, with the intention to focus on one person at a time, each in turn. So, the first person introduces him-or-herself, and then we invoke the interconnectedness of all people and all things to help bring forth information that would be good for that person to know. Next, the participants shuffle their cards, with each person pulling one card. Going around the circle, each person shows his/her card, (and also mentions which deck is being used), while we discuss potential meanings. After that, we shift focus to the next person and go through the same process.

I provide a place in the hand-outs to write down the cards and decks used, so people can afterward reconstruct (or at least try to approximate) the cards that were drawn for them when they get home. Even if you don’t have the same tarot decks, if you can set out some of the corresponding cards from your home deck, you can get the big picture and pull out new meanings by contemplating the cards as a group.

By the way, I did not invent this particular technique. The credit goes to a classmate in a weekend Photoshop seminar, but I unfortunately do not recall her name. (On that occasion, a group of us went out to lunch, and we had just one tarot deck among us, so we passed it around with each person taking a card from the deck as we read for different persons in turn.)

Back to the idea of interconnectedness: because a lot of us have an interest in the spirit world, group participation tarot exercises allow us to appreciate how spirit connections are part of the interconnectedness of all people and all things that we are invoking. I have touched on this in some previous posts, such as how spirit helpers converge in a high-vibration place like the Triple Goddess. So, as a number of psychics say that were are always surrounded by various spirit presences who are interested in our well-being, when you and I or anyone else get together, my spirit helpers are hobnobbing with your spirit helpers and those of everyone else present. (I don’t see it as being like we drag our spirits mentors around with us wherever we go, but rather, they are “present for us” in an extra-dimensional sort of way, and when two or more people come together, more extra-dimensional channels of exchange are open.) Now, it is possible that my spirit friends are aware of some things that it would be useful for you to know, and your spirit friends might have some special knowledge of concern to me. On such occasions, our spirit friends can exchange information with each other, and the Round Robin Tarot also provides them another means of connection.

THE MAGIC OF INTERCONNECTEDNESS for August 7th

2011-08-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

This Sunday I will be back at the Triple Goddess for a free and casual session of tarot and other oracle card deck exploration. Anyone is welcome to drop in as I demonstrate different card reading techniques. If you don’t want to participate by reading and having your cards read, it’s OK to just come and watch. My theme for August is “The Magic of Interconnectedness,” which I also relate to “the mysteries of the grain” for the old celebration of Lammas. Activities will include a “Tarot Round Robin” where each person gets a chance to be the focal person while the rest of us draw cards for him or her from different decks. We will also do some exercises involving different oracle decks to look for themes across many decks, probing into Animal World and Ancestor World connections, too.

Shining on the Cards

2011-07-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Before I turn to the next theme, I want to say a little more about the Magic of Shining, which is always a sparkling topic, even though we are now closer to Lammas (Aug. 1) than Midsummer (June 21), and we in this latitude of the north are beginning to notice the length of evening light receding.

At the last workshop session, I handed out glass runestones with the rune “Dagaz/Daeg,” i.e. the “Day” rune painted on them in gold, because it relates both to the theme of shining illumination, and runelorists associate it with Midsummer. (This rune figure is like an “x” with the two ends closed with vertical lines, its outline somewhat reminiscent of a stylized axe or a butterfly; some Native Americans used the same figure to denote butterflies in design motifs.) I briefly discussed how you can use that rune magically, when you want to flood some matter or issue with light, (opening things up to full daylight), and also how you can use the runestone itself to amplify positive images in a tarot card layout, (effectively turning it into a tarot spell) by placing the runestone on top of cards where the combined symbolism would be meaningful.

So, to elaborate on the technique: when you get a tarot spread whose good energies you want to stretch, or when you are doing a tarot spell by laying specific cards out to make a visual statement about things you want to manifest in your life, you can enhance your arrangement with things like flowers, crystals, and gemstones, and also with runestones.

On that July 3rd session, one of the questions we put to the cards was, “Where, in my life, can I activate the Magic of Shining?” We did this in combination with mixing the Botticelli and Mantegna decks, because they are embossed with gold and silver, and because the Mantegna features a special assortment of cards not included in the standard tarot. A little while afterward, I tried to reconstruct some of the readings, though because time had passed, my memory may not be a 100 percent. However, yesterday I pulled those cards again to experiment for this blog write-up, and one gentleman’s reading, if I recall correctly, consisted of the Botticelli 3 of Swords, Mantegna’s Grammatica (XXI, Grammar), and the Botticelli High Priestess. Grammatica is in the “Arts and Sciences” class, and the pamphlet that comes with the Mantegna deck explains it as “Memory. Writings remain like an indelible memory.” I would interpret it as meaning that he can extend himself magically be using “shining words,” and I believe he did afterwards mention an interest in composing poetry. Grammar also has to do with the underlying structure of language (as well as other systems), so that is something that can be probed, in line with the High Priestess’s role as one who explores the mysteries below surfaces and appearances. How the first card, the 3 of Swords applies to all that, may suggest creative ways to express human pain and conflict. In the Botticelli 3 of Swords, a beautiful lady holding a lily drags a man, (who is in a prayerful trance), forward by his hair. This may suggest entering a meditative state and then allowing the muse to pull you where she will.

After I lay these cards out, I set the Dagaz runestone on the book the High Priestess is holding. I got an interesting visual effect, because the late afternoon sun was blasting through my glass door at such an angle, and also because the frosted glass runestone is slightly lens-shaped, the intense sunlight caused it to glow, which further illuminated that part of the High Priestess card. This provides a good image for visualization: one can easily imagine the High Priestess opening her book as the light of knowledge shoots forth. Then I set the runestone on the golden vase which the figure of Grammatica carries, considering how one could imagine a consciousness-altering elixir shining through. Then I played around with Loica (XXII, Logic), which another one of our friends got as her focal card, featuring a lady holding a small veiled dragon. The Mantegna brochure’s advice for this card is “think over problems,” so the Dagaz rune placed over the dragon could assist a visualization of the dragon as a messenger whose veil parts as it breathes mentally illuminating light instead of flame. Another lady got Cosmico (XXXIII, labeled as “Vital Functions”) as her key to shining magic, and as this angelic figure holds up the orb of the cosmos, it was easy to set the round, glowing runestone on top of that. (By the way, the Renaissance magician Marsilio Ficino said that an image of the cosmos makes the most powerful talisman.)

I similarly experimented with the other cards that I could recall coming up on the 3rd, and looking over the Mantegna cards in general, the images lend themselves very well to this kind of enhancement. I was somewhat stumped, however, with what to do with card XXXXVII, “Saturno,” which another participant had drawn, because it shows the god Saturn swallowing one of his children. However, it makes for an interesting play on Saturn’s myth if you place the runestone on top of the naked child who is being hefted up to Saturn’s mouth. In the original story, Saturn swallowed his children because he feared one would dethrone him; however, when Jupiter/Zeus was born, the Goddess Rhea, tired of seeing her children devoured, substituted a stone wrapped in swaddling, which Saturn swallowed whole; Rhea then had Zeus reared in secret. So, placing the runestone there can alter the reading, being symbolic of consuming the light of knowledge. This is something you could do if a Saturnine disposition is causing melancholy, or if Saturn in your horoscope is giving you a hardship transit.

Similar principles of decorating card layouts with symbolic objects apply for other runes, magical sigils, gemstones, and small talismans. When I try to think of which tarot cards might be effectively paired with which magical symbols and objects—well I can’t even begin to think about it, it’s too much. The best way to approach this is to let your own readings and personal situations suggest the best enhancements.

THE MAGIC OF SHINING

2011-06-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of drafting my handouts for next Sunday, which include tarot exercises involving “the magic of shining,” so I am trying to articulate what this means, and will try to explain a little more about it here.

In spiritual and magical systems throughout the world, we often find a high value placed on bright and shining things, as well as shining qualities of character and spirit. So, shiny, sparkling objects or substances (such as gold, silver, crystal, glass, etc.), are used in spells, charms, and sacred medicines to attract the attention and affect the potency of the Spirit World. For example, among the Ki-Kongo, one puts oneself in alignment with the powers of the Spirit World by invoking “the flash of spirit.” (Here I reference Robert Farris Thomson’s “Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy.”) Some of this relates to the qualities of “like attracts like,” because of the shining nature of spirits and the Spirit World. In Asia, certain nature spirits and elevated types of spirits are called “dewas” or “devas,” meaning “the shining ones,” with roots related to our own word “deity.”

In a book I recently read on the Salish People of the Pacific Northwest, [“What I’ve Always Known: Living in Full Awareness of the Earth” by Tom Harmer], people who seek relationship with the elder nature spirits are referred to as the “come-alive people,” and, as a shaman explains, undertake a training which includes “cry[ing] to the powers of this world for soemthin’ to make the world shine for ‘em again” [38]. This terminology is used throughout the book, as when Harmer wonders, “… who are they, the ones who wait for a person, out in the mountains? Who show themselves, give instruction, do things for a person?” the shaman replies, “They’re the ones who make the world shine when we sing their songs!” [30].

Shining qualities are not just attributed to the spirit, but also to the mind, as when the Buddha says, “This mind is luminous,” with the idea that as you purify your thinking through meditation and mindfulness, the light of wisdom shines through.

In mythology, a quality of shining is especially associated with gods and goddesses who are friendly to humans, as in the case of golden Aphrodite, who bestows “golden gifts.” In “Goddesses in Every Woman,” Jean Shinoda Bolen relates this to “Aphrodite consciousness,” which “is present in all creative work,” and “Whenever Aphrodite consciousness is present, energy is generated: lovers glow with well-being and heightened energy; conversation sparkles, stimulating thoughts and feelings” [228, 229].

In folklore and ethnopoetics, we see that shining qualities of appearance and personality are especially characteristic of kings and queens, wonder children, virtuous maidens, fay-like women, and heroes, (e.g. the knight in shining armor). Robert Bly explores this concept in “Iron John,” describing the archetype of “The King [who] in his upper room comes toward us with a shining face—he blesses, he encourages creativity, he establishes alone an ordered universe” [113], or the archetype of “The Woman who Loves Gold,” (and her trace, “The Track of the Moon on the Water”), which recognizes, nourishes, and inspires talent and other glittering qualities in people. Describing how this latter archetype can shine through individual females, Bly says, “The Gold Woman in the other world sends her radiance down through the atmosphere, and the radiance appears on the girl’s face” [135]. For those of us older folks, Bly sees the experience or memory of the experience of these archetypes as helping us to recover our core creativity. Citing what William Stafford describes as “taking in our fingers the golden thread,” we can ask, “What were the delights we felt in childhood before we gave our life over to pleasing other people … or doing what they wanted done? Mythologically, catching hold of the end of the golden thread is described as picking up a single feather from the burning breast of the Firebird” [ Bly 112]. I relate this to the process of re-discovering the creative qualities in one’s Sun sign (among many other things). We may be intrigued when we are young and first learn of the different sun signs, but after a while we take them for granted, and some of their related personality traits get suppressed as we get older and have to conform to the world’s expectations. Going back to rediscover you sign can give you an unexpected source of new energy and vitality.

Related to the management of daily life, the concept of shining is a desirable personality trait. So, different peoples, including the Japanese, Balinese, and Thai, have social injunctions to cultivate a “bright face” or a “bright heart,” because that helps to promote social harmony and uplift everyone around you. Contrast this with certain aspects of American individualism, where you “let it all hang out” and indulge your every passing mood, without regard to the effect on other people. Note that these observations of our effect on other people may seem to contradict what I said in the previous paragraph about rediscovering our core personalities and the things that bring us pleasure, but they’re really not paradoxical when you explore their nuances. When we are able to cultivate a shining spirit, heart, face, and mind, we put ourselves in greater alignment with Deity.

Well, I could go on and on, but those are a few of the thoughts I am laying out. You can see that the concept of shining has many applications, and can be appreciated on many levels, both mundane and sublime. Next Sunday, we will explore these different meanings through the tarot, with the nature of the cards determining whether the most mundane or sublime aspects are present for us.

SHINING TAROT MAGIC FOR JULY 3RD

2011-06-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hey all—I’m back from my California hiatus, and I’m preparing for the next MAGICAL CHAT, which is Sunday a week, July 3rd. Even though it’s a holiday weekend, people still like to drop by the Triple Goddess, whether for something fun to do on their staycation, or something novel for out-of-towners. (If you have 4th-of-July houseguests who are open-minded, consider bringing them down.)

I will bring my seashell oracle, and also have a number of deck-mixing techniques to demonstrate along the themes of “mysteries of the deep” (which I always like to do for the July workshop) and “the magic of shining,” which ties in with the heightened powers of the recent Summer Solstice, and is also a widespread theme in world magic.

So, the agenda is roughly that we’ll start out by mixing bibliomancy with tarot to see if we can provoke any “shining images” to shoot forth. Then, we will do the seashell oracle, which involves reaching into my basket of shells with your left hand to grasp a shell that represents your unconscious motivations, and with your right hand for one that represents conscious aims. All the shells have different divinatory meanings, and as always, can holographically convey many levels of meaning. Next, we’ll do a three deck combination reading involving the Mermaids deck, the Pirates Deck, and the Shapeshifter Deck. Your Mermaid card will represent something meaningful from your fantasy life; the Pirate card some area of life where you are forced to deal with some gritty reality, and the Shapeshifter a suggestion of what sort of hybrid being you can emulate to harmonize fantasy with reality. Because both the Pirates and Mermaids decks also feature multiple images of treasure chests, we will also do a little treasure hunt to find the buried treasure in your life.

We’ll continue the deck mixing experiment by mixing the Boticelli deck with the Mantegna deck to discover where you can activate the “magic of shining” in your life. Both the Botticelli and the Mantegna are lavishly embossed with gold and silver detailing that really makes them sparkle. They are from the same company and the same size, so it is easy to shuffle them together. While the Botticelli is a modern deck that uses Botticelli imagery to illustrate standard tarot meanings, the Mantegna goes back to the 1400s, but it is not a conventional tarot. Although a few of its cards overlap with conventional tarot, others bring in the muses, as well as the planets, the human conditions, the geniuses and virtues, and the arts and sciences as different allegorical figures.

Reminder--I'm on Hiatus, No June Session

2011-05-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

Hi all! This is just to remind everyone that I shall be out of state, so I won't be holding my usual first-Sunday-of-the-month workshop. Until July, then, best wishes for a pleasant summer!

Faeries and Flowering on May 1st

2011-04-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is May 1st, popularly known as May Day or Beltane. Because it is the first Sunday of the month, I will be back at the Triple Goddess from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Because Beltane is a big day for the powers of Faerie, I will be demonstrating techniques using various faery oracle cards, and ways that we can relate to our faery friends. As with all of my “magical chats,” even if you came out for previous sessions, feel free to come back, because the cards are always leading us to new discoveries.

The other theme for the day is “the magic of flowering,” as May is a month when the woodland wildflowers, as well as many of our favorite garden flowers, are at their prime, plus the time around May 1st is the Floralia celebration honoring the goddess of flowers. Some people may think that a goddess of flowers would be kind of frivolous, and something of an afterthought in pagan religion, but this is not the case, as this was one of the Romans’ most ancient festivals, and they took this six-day festival quite seriously. According to E. O. James, “there is every indication that it began as a rustic feast connected perhaps with Aphrodite as the goddess of flowering plants (Antheia), held at the appropriate season at the end of April” [170].

Floral imagery is used extensively in the RWS versions of the tarot. In psychological symbolism, flowers can represent processes of growth within the psyche. For example, in discussing the fairy tale “Jorinda and Joringel,” Jungian analyst Sibylle Birkhauser-Oeri discusses how the hero dreams of a blood-red flower which provides a solution to his problem, explaining, “The flower thus represents a natural process of growth which takes place somewhere in the psyche without the conscious mind initially being aware of it” [“The Mother” 54]. In folk magic, (particularly in Mexican and South American shamanism), the idea of flowering relates to manifesting good luck. So, we shall also do tarot readings to discover areas of life where we can experience the magic of flowering.

By the way, I was going through Arthur Edward Waite’s book, “The Pictorial Key to the Tarot,” to see what he says about floral symbolism, when I glanced at his write-up on The Empress card, and saw something related to the magic of opening as discussed in the previous post, but also ties in with the current topic: “In another order of ideas, the card of the Empress signifies the door or gate by which an entrance is obtained into this life, as into the Garden of Venus … ” [83].

Now, I’m sorry to have to announce that there will be no Triple Goddess session for the month of June, because I am going to have to make a trip to California to attend to some family concerns. However, if the plan should change, I will announce that here.

Opening the Tarot, Part III

2011-04-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

In the previous post, we were looking at the significance of body language in tarot graphic illustration, in relation to ideas of openness. Taking another look at the Queen of Wands in comparison to the Empress in body language, both have open laps and sit with legs apart, (rather than in a crossed or demure drawn-together position), though their long gowns do drape decorously over their knees, (and the Empress’s lower body is angled to the right, with legs drawn closer together than those of the Queen of Wands). These hints at sexual openness suggests some Aphrodite energy, which ties in with our theme of opening as it relates to the month of April. April is both the month of opening and the month dedicated to Aphrodite and her divine powers of opening, as previously mentioned. In the RWS deck, the Empress is explicitly associated with Venus/Aphrodite, (as shown by her heart-shaped shield with the glyph of Venus on it), while the fiery energies associated with the Queen of Wands suggests that she can be the most passionate and sensual of the queens. Despite this, the Queen of Wands is less ready to engage the viewer than the Empress, for she gazes off to the right, and both of her hands are occupied.

When we look at the body language of the four kings, we notice that the King of Swords looks us square in the face, so he is definitely aware of us, but that sword he is wielding blocks any impulse on our part to go right up to him. In these respects, and in the military accessories, the King of Swords’ symbolism resonates with that of The Emperor, (who often has a militaristic orientation). On the other hand, The King of Cups’ open body language makes him more approachable, in keeping with his traditional “Mr. Nice Guy” personality. However, although the King of Cups is facing forward, he is slightly angled to the right (which is his left), while gazing at us slantwise. This may indicate that, though kindly disposed, he may regard us the Querents as something of a distraction.

The only other RWS Minor Arcana cards where the figures look us full in the face are the Four of Pentacles and Nine of Cups. In the former card, the man is greedily clutching a pentacle in a way that erects a material barrier between us and him. The latter shows a jolly man in front of an open (half-circle) arrangement of cups that suggests hospitality, yet our host’s crossed arms indicates that he is selective about who he invites in. There are other cards that show celebration and conviviality, but have a more closed-off quality. For example, the Three of Cups is a festive card that depicts three women dancing, yet theirs is a closed circle, as if to tell the viewer, “Three’s company, four’s a crowd.”

Although the RWS deck’s use of body language and other imagery makes some philosophical statements about concepts of open and closed, there is no reason that other designers couldn’t deal with these issues differently. This gives would-be designers something to think about, and is a reason for users to experiment with different decks on different occasions.

Opening the Tarot, Part II

2011-04-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Picking up on the discussion about “the magic of opening” and images of openness in the tarot:

A certain degree of openness can also be seen in the postures and other body language of the human figures portrayed in the cards. This is particularly noticeable with some of the characters in the Major Arcana. For example, the figures in The Magician, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, and Justice are all viewed frontally, they meet the gaze of the viewer, and their arms are outspread, (i.e., not crossed or in other closed-off positions). In card interpretation, this can indicate that if they represent different people in your life, they are likely to be approachable, and also aware of your concerns. If these cards stand for general principles rather than individuals, the knowledge and experience they pertain to is more accessible.

Those of us who are into tarot often like to engage the cards as personal teachers, (and the idea of the Major Arcana as teachers [at a magical academy] has been elegantly developed in Corrine Kenner’s “Wizards’ Tarot”), so we might experience these more open figures as the kind of teachers with whom we might enjoy more of a rapport, (just as, when you look back on your student days, you can probably recall some teachers who you could relate to more than others). Of course, if you are using card decks other than the classic RWS, the artists may have changed some of these details, so that then becomes meaningful when you are pondering the cards you have drawn. (Synchronicity factors are at work in the particular deck of cards you choose to work with on a given occasion.)

Some figures in the tarot are viewed frontally and have an open gaze, but in other ways, their posture or other imagery is closed off. A classic example is the High Priestess, who sits wrapped in an enfolding cloak and holds a closed book, showing that she has knowledge to offer, but you won’t penetrate her secrets easily. Even The Magician card, which I have just cited as an example of openness, has a slightly equivocal quality, because he stands behind an altar table as well as a bed of flowers which form something of a barrier. So, one might interpret this to mean that you may have a better chance of establishing a rapport with him by focusing on a common interest, perhaps by asking him about the lessons of elemental Fire, Earth, Air, or Water, as symbolized by his magical tools. Another card whose figure has a frontal stance and gaze, but where there is a barrier between the character and the viewer, is The Chariot. Likewise, although Justice has an open gaze and posture, her raised sword can keep the viewer at a distance. In fact, in cases like Justice and the Emperor, where both of the character’s hands are occupied, there is the suggestion that their duties keep them somewhat at remove. Contrast Justice and The Emperor with The Magician, The Empress, and The Hierophant, who, although they hold different wands or staffs in one of their hands, have the other hand free, which suggests a greater ability to reach out to you, the Querent.

To better appreciate different figures’ qualities of openness, accessibility, and awareness of the Querent, we can compare certain Major Arcana figures to Minor Arcana figures with which they have an affiliation. So, the Emperor is a “High King” to whom the kings of the Minor Arcana owe fealty, and likewise, the Empress has a certain relationship with the Queens. So, we see that while the Empress is one of the most open figures in the deck, (because of her position, gaze, and other body language), none of the queens meet the viewer’s gaze, and only one, the Queen of Wands, has a full frontal posture, (though her head is turned to the side). The fact that the four queens are either looking off in different directions, or looking down at the symbols of their elements, shows them as being more concerned with the duties, contingencies, and worries of their respective suits. Also, it is interesting to note that the Queens of Swords and Wands, representing the more ethereal elements, gaze off to the right, (the direction of the future), while the Queens of Cups and Pentacles, representing the heavier elements, gaze downward, with their bodies oriented to the left, (the direction of the past).

By the way, if oftentimes happens that with these little graphic nuances that I write about, I only first become aware of them because I am writing about them. This is an example of “writing for discovery.” Also, the more I explore these details in the cards, the more I appreciate the level of thought and intuition that Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Coleman Smith put into these cards, (even though some purists have accused them of junking up the tarot by adding superfluous symbolism).

Well, I still have more to say about the body language of tarot characters, but I will have to pick that up in the next post. TO BE CONTINUED.

The Magic of Opening and Tarot

2011-04-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday’s workshop theme was “the magic of opening,” in keeping with the month of April’s association with the word, aperio, “I open,” (because at one point, it used to open the year, and because spring equinox opens Nature’s year), as well as the month of April’s being dedicated to Aphrodite and her divine powers of opening. Our tarot exercise therefore involved posing questions and doing a card search to find areas in your life where you can find a magical opening. This was more involved and subjective than other April card searches we have done, (such as searching for the Fool card to identify some area of life where you may feel that the Universe is playing a cosmic joke on you, but where you might also encounter rewarding synchronicities), because people had to go through their decks until they found a card whose imagery conveyed the idea of opening for them. So, here are a few thoughts and observations on images of opening in the tarot, (using the RWS as the standard).

Because the Judgment card shows people who have risen from their graves, it can denote a change in status or a new phase in life that result in things opening up for you. It is also apropos of Easter/Springtime’s theme of emergence.

Another card that hints at emergence is The Moon, which portrays a crayfish, (which can represent impulses that come from some very deep, primitive part of the Self), partially emerging from the water (of the Unconscious). In her book, “Tarot as a way of Life: A Jungian Approach to the Tarot,” Karen Hamaker-Zondag discusses the rising of symbolic images from the unconscious, when, “In The Moon stage we open up to these inner images” [168]. Notice, also, that the road shown leading off into the distance is an “open road.”

A card that conveys a very reassuring sense of openness is The Sun. The Sun’s face is gazing straight outward with its extended rays like the open arms of the joyful child. The “idea” of the Sun can also suggest being out in the open, in open country, the freedom of nature, etc. Yet, there is that wall there, though it suggests not so much a barrier as a protective enclosure, and although the sunflowers echo the sun-face, they are a cultivated plant.

Some of The Sun’s imagery is echoed in The Lovers, where a sun image is the background for the angel, whose arms are spread in blessing, and the man and woman, whose arms are also outspread. The man and woman in this card are nude, suggesting their openness and honesty with each other, as well as their essential humanity. We see similar body imagery in Judgment, The World, and The Star.

Some cards can have images of openness, yet remain somewhat equivocal. In the Star card just mentioned, the woman is out in open nature under an open sky, but her preoccupation with her task makes her slightly closed off to the viewer, and although there is openness in The World’s joyful dance, she is enclosed in a sacred circle. When cards have mixed imagery, you have to think about how the themes of open and closed play off of each other in your particular situation.

The Fool is another tarot figure who is out in open nature under and open sky and a radiant sun, with arms spread in an opening gesture, but the chasm he’s about to step off into represents a more dangerous open. Unlike the figures whose nudity suggests a lack of social pretensions, he is fully clothed.

Some Minor Arcana cards may hint at the idea of openness, though overall, they have a more closed-off quality, with their human figures confined within their own little worlds, (or elemental spheres). An interesting example is the 8 of Cups. The Number Eight has a very organized character, which can contribute to a sense of comfort and security, but which can also convey the feeling of being locked in. This can conflict with the very fluid, emotionally expressive nature of the Cups, which can then lead to the desire to leave an emotionally confining situation. The RWS card illustrates this with a person who has turned his back on the cups, and is wandering off into the wild, following the path of the river. That he may have found some emotional opening to pursue this adventure or make this escape is suggested by the arrangement of three cups on top of five cups, with a gap in the top row. The symbology might have been different if the cups had been in two tight rows of four, as that would have suggested more of an emotional holding pattern. This shows how the little graphic decisions made by the artists/designers can bring in quite different nuances.

Well, I have more to say about themes of openness in the tarot, so I will carry this into my next post. TO BE CONTINUED …

Looking forward to April 1st and the first Sunday, April 3rd

2011-03-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to April Fools Day, it is believed to have originated in France, which was the first country to adopt the Gregorian calendar. The games and jokery came to fill the celebrational void that was left when the calendar change resulted in the date of New Years being moved from April 1st to January 1st, (which used to be the winter solstice). Imagine how disoriented you would feel on the eve and day of January 1st if, for some reason, they made another calendar change and moved New Year to some other day! Back then, the April Fools jokes also poked fun at backward people who insisted on celebrating New Year the old way on April 1st. In France and Italy, the fish is the symbol of April Fools Day, and a popular April Fools joke is tacking a fish to other peoples’ clothes without their knowing it. Shops feature baked goods and candies in the shape of fish, and fish are also featured on greeting cards. The idea was that in April, young fish are naïve and easily caught. Coincidentally however, the fish is also sacred to Aphrodite (who rules April), as well as the symbol of Pisces. (Although the precession of the equinoxes has put the calendar days out of sync, April 1st used to be both the Spring Equinox and the day the sun entered Aries, leaving Pisces, the sign of the fishes and of the old year.)

In some previous years, for the first Sunday in April, I demonstrated tarot readings focused on the Fool card. Also in line with the theme of April fishes, we sometimes also did a card search for the Page of Cups. (Because, in the RWS deck, the Page is gaping with surprise at a fish that emerges from his cup, the idea is, where in your life does it seem like the Universe is playing some cosmic joke on you, yet where, at the same time, can you find unexpected rewards?) Last year, we did a card search for Judgment, phrasing the request, “Please show me where I can find new life,” with the idea that the card to the left of Judgment denotes a potential source of renewal, and the card to the right shows where or how you can express energies that reinvigorate you. All of the afore-mentioned cards are harmonious with April’s theme of awakening, opening, and emergence, because the Fool is going forth on a new adventure, the Page of Cups is opening to new emotional experience and growth, and Judgment graphically portrays emergence as rebirth.

This year, I’m thinking of broadening the card search by having us ask the cards a general question about which areas of life are opening up for us. This will take more than the usual amount of consideration as people go through their decks, trying to identify themes of awakening, opening, and emergence in their cards, so we will allow time for plenty of questions and discussion. There are actually a great many possibilities, not just in the traditional meanings of certain cards, but in certain graphic elements. Of course, different decks may also bring in different graphic elements. I have just purchased a copy of Corrine Kenner’s “Wizard’s Tarot” (illustrated by John J. Blumen), which is my favorite new deck, so I am excited to explore ways that we can magically interact with this deck, and—for Sunday’s session--how we might be able to relate the new images to the magic of opening. The card normally titled the Fool is now “the Initiate,” so it seems appropriate to that idea of new experiences.

COMING OUT IN APRIL

2011-03-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

We are now well into that emerging, opening-out stage of spring. The crocuses have already bloomed, and daffodils are starting to poke their spear-like leaves out of the earth; at the same time, flocks of robins, blackbirds, grackles, sandhill cranes, and killdeer are flowing over the northlands like a flood. In less than a week it will be April, and of course on April 3rd, the first Sunday, I will be back to resume another year of teaching magic and tarot tips at The Triple Goddess.

Because my fist session typically falls close to April Fools Day, I sometimes build my theme around the Fool card and ideas about the Cosmic Trickster, but the first of April has another association worth exploring. The month of April is said to take its name from the Latin word “aperio,” “I open,” because, before a number of historical calendar changes, April 1st was the New Year, and also the date of the Spring Equinox, so it “opened up” the year. (Just as in springtime, we also see the world of Nature opening up.) However, there is an alternative theory that April takes its name from Aphrilis, referencing the goddess Aphrodite/Venus. In fact, the ancients also celebrated April 1st as the day in honor of Aphrodite Virilis (or Fortuna Virilis for manly fortune). Before they identified their goddess Venus with the Greek Aphrodite, the Romans honored her as a goddess of agriculture, associated with the force that drives the growth of plants, (similar, also, to their original view of the god Mars). We can see that Aphrodite as love goddess is also a force of nature, among whose golden gifts are life and growth.

Because there is a vast field of lore associated with “the magic of opening,” I will try to discuss some of the ways we can incorporate that in our lives, while also exploring how the mysteries of Aphrodite are associated.

Tarot Numerology and Tarot Spells

2011-02-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

In the most recent series of posts, I have been demonstrating a number of ways that we can explore the numerology of our birth dates, and the current year 2011, by linking them with tarot card imagery. These techniques include looking at card numbers associated with a person’s birth day, month, and year to get something of a personal tarot portrait. Another technique involves adding the numbers for the birth day and month to get a special card correspondence out of that, and then adding the number/card for the present year, to get another number card signifying something that a person with such a birth day and month might get out of this particular year.

There are, of course, many other configurations you can get by arranging all these numbers, and I invite you to experiment and explore the different possibilities. Some folks my wonder if, with so many different ways of manipulating cards and numbers, this isn’t ultimately some very arbitrary mumbo jumbo. However, if certain images and meanings you derive from them have a special resonance for you, then go with your feelings in pulling new insights from your arrangements.

In addition to using these arrangements for philosophical reflection, you can work with their imagery by turning them into tarot spells. A spell is a multi-media, multi-sensory affirmation, and a tarot spell combines visualizations and verbalizations of things you’d like to manifest in your life with the delightful visual and tactile qualities of the cards. So, for example, if the inmates in one of these layouts hints at certain blessings or certain challenges, you can visualize yourself enjoying the blessings or rising to meet the challenges, while also thinking about practical ways that you can improve or mitigate your circumstances. You can also help empower your spells by finding ways to express the cards’ qualities in daily life.

Now in the course of this discussion, I’ve been using President Obama’s numerology for my examples, and just as you can do tarot spells directed at other people as well as yourself, this may raise some concerns that people might use this knowledge to try to influence other people, whether to help people they admire or hinder people they oppose. There are a number of points to consider in regarding what we view as manipulative magic, and how people who are concerned about acting ethically can avoid it. It goes without saying that no one should project hateful and harmful thoughts and wishes toward anyone else, if for no other reason than that which we put out into the Universe comes back to us by becoming our personal reality. Fortunately, people do have a certain natural level of psychic immunity to suggestions—even magical and subliminal suggestions—that go against their well being or that are repugnant to them. Consequently, although we live in this enormous cauldron of psychic and subliminal influence, where vast numbers of people and institutions are consciously trying to affect our behavior, we tend to respond only to those suggestions for which we already have a predisposition, and treat the rest as so much white noise. In the case of politicians—and especially the president—in a country such as ours, where public opinion is roughly 50-50 on so many issues, you can figure that at any given moment, any number of people are thinking about how they’d either like them to succeed or fail at one thing or another. The actions of presidents and other persons in power do have a bearing on our private lives, so you can’t blame people for pinning so many of their hopes and fears on them.

If you are concerned about the actions and policies of some public figures, and wish to magically convey your ideas for changes or improvements without trying to force your will on them, an ethical way to do that is to perform your spell with the attitude that you are visualizing an ideal of how you believe life can be better if they follow such-and-such a course of action, and that you are holding those images out for their Spiritual Selves—Guardian Angels included—to take up if they acknowledge the beauty and wisdom of the vision.

More on Numerology-Tarot Card Correspondences

2011-01-29T07:45:00.001-08:00

We had been looking at how the numerology of a person’s—and in this case, Barack Obama’s—birth day, month, and year can be added up and then broken down to correspond with tarot cards that serve as Soul symbols and Personality symbols, as well as challenges for a specific year. However, when we contemplate the individual numbers that make up a person’s birth date, we can see further tarot correspondences by looking at the cards associated with the individual numbers for day, month, and year.

So, in the case of Barack Obama, whose birth date is 8-4-1961, Eight corresponds to Strength, Four to the Emperor, 1961 (1 + 9 + 6 + 1 = 17) to the Star, whose 1 + 7 further breaks down to 8, the number of Strength. From a general psychological viewpoint, we tend to resonate to the number associated with our birth day moreso than our birth month and year, so it is interesting that Emperor energies are central to Obama’s numerology. Because Strength comes up twice in this formula, the powers of the Strength card are also underscored in his life. Similar principles apply when we look at his year card portrait: 8-4-2011, which combines Strength and the Emperor with, once again, the Emperor, meaning that those already central Emperor energies will be emphasized this year.

Seeing that the different components of the birth date correspond to tarot cards, a person’s birth date suggests a natural tarot arrangement that comprises something of a personal tarot “snapshot,” and which can be mused upon for purposes of magic and meditation. How many cards you would include in such a layout depends on whether, in the process of breaking down the numbers, you get cards between ten and twenty-one, which in turn can be reduced to cards between one and nine. Some folks may get a good number of cards in their arrangement, but everyone will get at least three cards out of the process. In Obama’s case, you could use a three card layout: Strength-Emperor-Star, or a four-card: Strength-Emperor-Star-Strength. Because Strength is used twice, you would need to pull a Strength card from another deck if you wanted to do this as a card arrangement. If, instead, you wanted to focus on Obama’s presidential challenges for the year—or anyone’s challenges for a given year—you could lay out an arrangement based on the birth day and month, plus the card for the present year. Furthermore, you could also do arrangements based on whatever numerology-card correspondence combinations you can come up with for a person, including layouts based on his or her Soul and Personality Symbols.

One other quick observation on playing with President Obama’s card combinations: If you add his birth day and month, you get the number Twelve, which corresponds to the Hanged Man card, and which, in turn, can be broken down to Three, corresponding to the Empress. Traditionally, the Hanged Man could denote issues around life in suspension, though modern tarot readers emphasize its positive aspects related to time out for meditation, self sacrifice, and the ability to see things from a different perspective. Mary Greer relates it to unconditional love and complete devotion to one’s work or cause [“Tarot Constellations” 69]. The Empress denotes generativity and abundance, and relates to the creative forces of the number Three. We already looked at the numerology by considering Three’s creative qualities applied to the Emperor Year. However, in considering Obama’s personal life, we can also see the Empress symbolism has bearing on the central role Michelle plays both as wife and First Lady. So, for example, if you were musing on Obama’s Emperor Year numbers, using the basic numerology system described in previous posts, 3 + 4 = 7, and represented that visually with tarot cards, Empress + Emperor = Chariot, you get a certain harmony in the pairing of Empress and Emperor, and can consider how the idealized archetypal pair inspires the movement and innovation suggested by the number Seven, and by the Chariot. (If one wanted to get into Chinese symbolism, the harmonious relationship of Emperor and Empress is essential to the balance of the cosmos, and is denoted by the dragon and the phoenix)

OK, to conclude my discussion on how a person’s birthday numbers can provide images and arrangements for tarot meditations and spells, in my next post, I will discuss why and how you can use such techniques. Also: how to use tarot spells in a way where you are not trying to use coercive magic to force other people to do your evil bidding, but rather, put positive images out into the universe as suggestions for empowerment or improvement.

Obama’s Numerology, continued

2011-01-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

For those who were confused by the previous post, I have gone back and edited it a little, which I hope will better explain the two different systems of looking at a person’s “year card.”

So, to continue the discussion: we have gotten an inkling as to how Barack Obama’s August 4th birthday numerology might have larger implications in the Emperor year 2011. Now, let’s take a closer look at how his birthday numbers correspond to some other tarot cards, and the sort of personal meanings these cards can hold.

In a system which I believe was developed and introduced by Angeles Arrien, and which has been further articulated by Mary Greer, you can find Major Arcana cards that serve as Life-Time Soul and Personality symbols. This involves adding the numbers in your birth day, month, and year, and then breaking them down numerologically to get a number between one and twenty-one, (if possible--not everyone will be able to do this), and then a number between one and nine. Everyone has a number between one and nine that corresponds to one of the first tier of Major Arcana cards, and this card serves as you Soul Symbol. For persons who can only get one tarot card correspondence, that functions as both Soul and Personality symbol. The Soul card symbol pertains to a core need for spiritual fulfillment, and the Personality symbol reveals some unique form of personal expression that you display as a means of meeting your soul needs. When the Soul and Personality qualities are combined, the underlying spiritual drive is more immanent in your personal expression.

When we distill the numbers for Barack Obama, born on 8-4-1961, we find a Soul card number of Two, which corresponds to the High Priestess. An individual with this Soul symbol will strive to see into the nature of things. In the political arena, such a person would want to explore all the issues, as well as the needs and philosophical motivations of the different political actors and factions. Whether those are qualities we Americans value in our leaders, I don’t know, but I would hope that it provides the ability to establish some common ground.

Getting a personality number between ten and twenty-two for Obama, I have discovered, is interesting, because it makes a difference whether you do the numerology horizontally like this: 8 + 4 + 1 + 9 + 6 + 1 = 29 and 29 = 2 + 9 =11 (the Justice Card, though in some systems, the Strength card ), or whether you initially stack the numbers vertically, which is the technique that Arrien and Greer use, and which in Obama’s case results in 20, (the Judgment card). [For numerological reasons that I am not sophisticated enough to understand, it appears that the horizontal method casts a nine.] I won’t attempt to replicate the vertical example in this blog, because I’m not sure I can get the numbers to line up in the right columns. So, it would seem that Barack Obama has two personality cards, depending on whether you add horizontally or vertically. This does not suggest a split personality, as both Justice and Judgment share the High Priestess’s number Two as their root or Soul core. Here, we might see the High Priestess’s emphasis on intuition expressed through a personality that tries to understand both sides of an argument, and that tries use this understanding to achieve transformation.

So, that is some of what we can learn about President Obama using the Soul Card and Personality Card system. However, there are still some other observations to be made in relating his numbers to tarot cards, and how a person’s tarot portrait can be used in empowering meditations and such, so this discussion will be continued in the next post.

President Obama in the Emperor Year

2011-01-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

In a recent post I mentioned that 2011, being an Emperor year, is potentially auspicious for a president, so I have been taking a closer look at President Obama’s numerology. Barack Obama was born on 8-4-1961, so if we apply the basic technique for magical numerology demonstrated in the previous post, by adding the birth month (8) to the birth day (4), we get 12; then, we reduce that to the smallest number, so 12 = 1 + 2 = 3. The creative qualities of the number Three can combine with the Emperor’s concern with establishing order and laying foundations, so we have the potential for a very productive year. And indeed, because Obama’s Three combined with the Emperor’s Four yield Seven, the number of innovation, this can lead to the creation of systems that actually solve problems.

There is, however, one aspect of the Emperor that some folks may regard as being somewhat disconcerting, and that is his military interests. Although the Emperor archetype has various ancient father-god affiliations, the Golden Dawn system of tarot interpretation associates the Emperor card with the war god Mars, and indeed, the figure in this card is typically portrayed with weapons and armor, often wearing a ceremonial helmet, (a practice historically associated with the emperor Constantine). Consequently, Obama’s 2011 could also see more creative forms of warfare and military build-up. However, let us hope that the afore-mentioned problem solving potentials will ensure security by finding more creative diplomatic arrangements.

The system I have described that involves breaking the birth day and month to a number between one and nine is slightly different from, but ties in with the system for obtaining a personal year card, developed by Angeles Arrien, who refers to this as the Growth Symbol for the year. The latter technique involves adding the individual numbers of your birth day and month to those of the present year, and then breaking them down to a number between one and twenty-one. This gets you a personally meaningful tarot card correspondence. So, in Obama’s case, we add 8 + 4 (i.e., 12) to 2011 to get 2023, which breaks down to the number 7, associated with the Chariot. So, his personal growth for this year will likely involve taking control of forces that want to pull in different directions, and harness them to ride a wave of energy into the future. However, other persons might get a number between one and twenty-one, so their challenges would relate to those higher-numbered cards. Basically, the difference between the two Year Card systems I have described is the former relates the card of the year to other basic numerological principles, while the latter more specifically relates the year to the symbolism of a particular card determined by one's individual numbers. Of course, as there is a relationship between the cards' symbols and numbers, the two systems do have a certain amount of overlap.

Having gotten into Obama’s numerology, I have a great deal more to say about it, including ways that it brings in the symbolism of other tarot cards, and how Michelle is part of the picture, and even how one could use this information to construct tarot spells promoting global well-being. However, as I find it difficult to get computer time, I shall try to break this information up into a series of short posts over the next few days or weeks.

Surveying Your Empire in 2011

2011-01-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

In the previous post, I ended with a suggestion about surveying symbolic worlds and setting them in order. Because 2011 is an Emperor year, you can work with some basic numerological correspondences by adding the numbers of your birth day and year, reducing them to a number between one and nine, and then adding them to the Emperor’s number Four. This gives you a new number that illuminates some possibilities for structuring your own world. (Note: the principles and nuances here are slightly different from finding your personal year card, which involves adding your birth day and year to the number Four, and then, if need be, reducing that number to 21 or less, to identify a corresponding tarot card.)

For example, suppose a person was born on May 6th, so 6 + 4 = 10 = 1 + 0 = 1. The Number One is the impulse to lead and innovate, so this combines with the Emperor’s will to create structure and stability. Furthermore, because 1 + 4 = the energetic Number Five, this in turn may facilitate social change.

In the case of someone whose birth day and year gives Two, the Emperor’s will to create structure and stability guides his or her ability to promote relationships and foster understanding, which supports more satisfying personal and social relationships.

For a birth day and year that make the number Three, you can find creative ways to apply the Emperor’s planning and decision making to new innovations and ideas.

A birth day and year that yield the stable and foundational number Four, combined with the Emperor year’s number Four, may result in especially solid new structures and levels of personal organization.

The number Five’s multi-sensory, multi-tasking qualities combine with the Emperor’s ability to think big, yielding a multiplicity of new possibilities.

The number Six’s interest in the quality of social life combined with the Emperor’s interest in social engineering can generate lifestyle improvements.

When the number Seven’s innovative qualities are applied to the Emperor’s structures, a positive result may be the creation of systems that do a better job of solving problems and meeting human needs.

The number Eight’s concerns with organization can combine with the Emperor’s executive functions to realize a grand vision and projects carried out on a large scale.

The Emperor’s ability to bring ideas into reality applied to the number Nine’s powers of magical proliferation can result in stability that generates abundance.

For a better understanding of applying the year card to basic numerology, you might also refer to my last year’s comments on the Empress Year card.

CARD OF THE YEAR

2011-01-17T17:13:00.000-08:00

This new year, 2011, has the Emperor as its year card, because in magical numerology, 2 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 4, the Emperor’s number. This makes it a potentially good year for building more stable structures and for accomplishing realistic goals. However, as the Emperor is also concerned with boundaries and consolidation, he also tends to require some discipline, austerity, and self-sacrifice.

In terms of our larger economic situation, people who have been slammed by the hard times have had to do a lot of retrenching, whether that requires streamlining and refocusing their businesses, or going back to school, or moving in with their parents or children. However, once these people have gone through the worst and lost what there was to lose, (getting down to the bare bones—after all, the Death card’s 13 [13 = 1 + 3 = 4] is a shadow factor for the Emperor), the groundwork that they lay for the next phase of their lives will likely be informed by the Emperor’s practical outlook, based on what is most secure and workable. While this probably won’t translate into immediate benefits for society in general, it will make a difference in the long run. Although the Emperor may sometimes set some narrow boundaries in accommodating the reality principle, he also has the ability to see the big picture and take the long view.

I believe that the Emperor as year archetype bodes well for President Obama, because the Emperor tarot card seems to be favorable for incumbents. For example, I predicted that George Bush II had a good shot at a second term, because the Emperor was the card that came up when I inquired as to who was most likely to win that particular election. Perhaps now that the worst part of the Recession seems to be getting behind us, Obama will be able to do more to restore order in the symbolic cosmos which the Emperor’s orb and crown suggest, (the 8-sided crown being a medieval symbol for the ideal society). This is also a good time for us as individuals to survey our own symbolic worlds and consider the best ways to set them in order.

POSITIVE ENERGIES FOR 2011

2011-01-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

Because the tarot encompasses a broad array of human life experiences, and human life is often frustrating and challenging, we necessarily draw a good number of cards that are ambiguous or disappointing. However, there are times when we need to focus on positive images, including at the start of a new year, when people traditionally surround themselves with auspicious things. Here is a little reading you can do to pick out three cheerful images as qualities that you can activate in your life in 2011:

Shuffle and cut your cards as you pose the request, “Please show me three positive energies that I can summon and amplify in my life in this upcoming year.” Then, placing your deck face up, go through it and pick out the first three cards you come across that give you a strong, clear message of happiness and cheer. This is of course somewhat subjective, (and also somewhat dependent on the deck you’re using), so don’t worry about traditional meanings, just go by what cards evoke a positive response for you. However, to avoid ambiguity, it is best to bypass any reversed cards, even if they would otherwise be perceived as positive. Lay the cards out before you, considering them individually, and taken as a group—and then think about proactive things you can do to bring those cards’ energies into your life. Also, throughout the year, you might want to keep an eye out for little synchronicities that build up around these images.

This Sunday

2010-11-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick reminder that I will be at The Triple Goddess this Sunday, November 7,(from 1 to 3 p.m.), for my final magical chat of the year. I am planning to demonstrate tarot magic techniques for health and well being. These include moving the cards' archetypal energies through your personal energy field (for a feng-shui type renewal), plus using tarot cards in a holographic technique for repairing inner archetypes.

Plans and Forums

2010-10-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

My last chat session/work shop of the year will be on November 7th. I am still thinking about what I ought to plan, but one likely activity is the “Tarot Cards’ Parade,” which we have done in previous years. This is a parade where you don’t have to get out of your seat, because it involves passing certain cards around the circle in a way that moves their chi through our energy fields. (I believe I discuss some of this in past posts on “the feng shui of Halloween,” though you may have to dig for those, because I don’t think I’ve put tags in my older posts.)

While recently reading a book about healing rituals among the south Slavs, I learned of a healing technique that utilizes the energies of a mass of people in procession. In Slavic culture, there are a number of traditional occasions for making processions through a neighborhood or community. Some of these are masked carnival processions, while others are more serious religious or special purpose processions that do not involve masking. On these occasions, sick people will come out and lie down in the path so that the people in the procession will step over them. So here we have a folkloric example of taking advantage of the stream of chi that a procession generates. My tarot cards parade is similarly designed to move beneficial chi through the body and spirit.

I’m also thinking about a magical working that involves the holographic effect of multiple persons directing the energies of specific tarot cards (i.e., the same cards, but from multiple decks), at each person in turn, to help individuals more fully manifest special qualities in their lives. If you are planning to come, you might think about whether there is a special card whose energies you would like everyone to concentrate on, to bring them into your life. The idea behind this is to holographically refresh different archetypes within us, and this engages the tarot itself as an archetype of wholeness.

I will continue to think about additional activities for November, including bringing back the Faery Friends. In the meantime, I have been participating in a discussion forum at “Complete Life Healing,” (see the link in the left-hand column). Some of the ongoing discussion involves the intelligence of the body, (such as body memory, ensoulment, power of the spoken word, etc.), challenges of Asperger’s Syndrome, Tarot and divination, and getting into writing. Feel free to look in on and participate in any discussion threads that interest you.

SYNCHRONICITY AND CONFIRMACIONES

2010-09-30T16:26:00.001-07:00

I love the tingly feeling I get whenever some sort of synchronicity makes itself evident, and I can see that many others feel the same, because when having our tarot sessions, or spiritual discussions, or other types of discussions, some striking synchronicities will often come up while we’re “comparing notes.” In the presence of these meaningful coincidences, I’m so much in awe that I want to acknowledge it, but generally, the best I’ve been able to muster is some expression like, “Far out!,” or “How about that?” However, as a result of my current reading in “Healing Dramas” by Raquel Romberg [see previous post], I’ve become aware of the importance of acknowledging synchronicities in the Puerto Rican spiritist and magical systems.

The terms used in Puerto Rico are “comprobaciones” or “confirmaciones,” because they confirm the manifestation of messages and other assistance from the spirit world, “which always produces an excited reaction in brujos, sometimes marked by their banging on the table followed by Aché [So be it, Power, or Amen],” [p. 119]. Romberg noted that they sometimes also ring a bell when they become aware of another synchronicity, or some other message from Spirit.

For the brujas espiritistas Romberg worked with, (as with us), confirmaciones could involve simple, every day things--for example, when learning that a particular herb is needed for a magic working, and it happens that a gardener friend has just offered you some of this herb. Romberg learned that, “Manifestaciones and comprobaciones can happen at any time … for they express a basic objectifying principle of a ‘so be it,’ or a potential energy that might burst—as a capricious genie might—as a result of any word and thought we utter, any image and gesture we enact, and any object we manipulate,” [p. 121].

We can see that confirming the spirits enhances the flow of communication and generates more synchronicities and other manifestations. After all, when a person acknowledges you and shows an interest when you’re speaking, you’re probably more likely to say more than you would to someone who is inattentive. Confirming synchronicities also enables us to become more receptive, because it helps to maintain that state of “hopeful expectancy” which keeps the channels open.

Embodying the Cards

2010-09-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

Next Sunday, the Third of October, will be my next magical chat at The Triple Goddess in Okemos. We will be focusing on court cards, so some of the reading techniques I will demonstrate include, “The Royal Court in Residence,” “Knight’s Quest” (i.e. “Pentacle Quest”), and the Medieval Castle version of the Dollhouse Oracle. Because I have only one castle, I’ll have to demonstrate for one person at a time. However, while you are waiting, everybody is free to look on and contribute their own insights, or just amuse themselves by browsing around the Triple Goddess. It is especially fun to use the various King Arthur themed tarot decks for doing readings with the castle.

Because of my interest in medical anthropology, I am currently reading the book, “Healing Dramas: Divination and Magic in Modern Puerto Rico,” by Raquel Romberg, and I’ve been thinking about how some of her observations can be utilized in the divination and magic that we do. Romberg did her field work among a number of individuals who practiced an eclectic mix of Espiritismo (Spiritism), Santeria (which draws from African religions), and brujeria (folk magic); they call upon saints, orishas (African deities), and other types of spirit guides for divination, trabajos (magic working), and healing.

Among other things, Romberg explores issues around body memory and embodiment as they apply to ritual and spirituality. The Puerto Rican healers believe that aspects of your self presentation, such as the types and colors of clothes you wear, as well as other expressions of your personal style tend not only to reflect your own personality, but those of your “protecciones,” your guardian spirits. I interpret that as meaning that we tend to have an intuitive sense of alignment with those protecciones, and that’s why we favor certain looks. However, you can get out of sync with the spirit powers that “rule your head,” as when you try to dress in conformity with the customs of some social group or institution. If you feel that you’re not in harmony with your spiritual forces, consider whether your manner of dress is the best expression of who you are. Colors are especially emphasized in the African derived systems, and seem to be common knowledge and a regular topic of conversation in countries where Santeria, Candomble, Umbanda, Voudon, and similar systems have a larger cultural influence. (I’ve encountered this in other authors’ works, too.) Also, when you want to align yourself with certain orishas or spirit powers to gain specific benefits, you can surround yourself with their colors and other symbolism. There is a lot more to the concept of embodiment than I can get into here, but people who relate to different spirit powers will find those qualities and personalities also being expressed through their body language, physical bearing, tone of voice, reflex reactions, and other somatic signatures.

A number of tarot practitioners will also try to attune to the qualities of a card’s archetype, mostly through choice of color, (though this will vary with different decks), but also through movement and other physical expressions. This can be done as a way of getting to know more about a card’s meanings, but it is also something you can do when you have done a reading for advice, and a certain card personality comes up in relation to a potential course of action. (My book Tarot: Your Everyday Guide is all about advice readings.)

Astrologers also suggest the use of color and other modes of personal expression for aligning with planets. A good source is Barbara Schermer’s “Astrology Alive: Experiential Astrology, Astrodrama, and the Healing Arts,” where she suggests role playing activities, including how to “walk” with the bearing of different planetary types.

While we are working with the court cards next Sunday—or whenever a court card comes up for you—it will be interesting to consider whether those cards’ personalities have been revealing themselves in your physical presentation. Also, if you haven’t read my article “The Hats We Wear in Tarot,” (see my Articles links), the different sorts of headgear featured in the cards’ illustrations adds another level of interpretation that is quite revealing.

When Fairytales Collide

2010-09-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I described how to do the Fairytale Village reading, so now I’ll try to offer a few insights on interpreting fairytale themed tarot cards in this context. Actually, this exercise does not need to be done with fairy tale cards, as ordinary tarot cards will do. However, by matching fairytale cards with fairytale places, we can see how our different life stories—as we are all living out multiple narratives—may be harmonious, or may be colliding.

I also want to mention that when I’m interpreting peoples’ cards at my chat session/workshops—or wherever—I’m just giving them some potential interpretations based on whatever pops into my mind at that moment, but those are by no means all of the possible interpretations for those cards, or even the most relevant interpretations for the individuals in question. Because I’m dealing with a high level of distraction due to trying to attend to all the group, (and as an Asperger’s person, I have a lot of mental noise, anyway), I often overlook the obvious, or don’t think of other things that would be good to mention. So, whatever interpretation I give you, that’s just something to use as a jumping off point, to help you start pondering some of the different meanings that could apply. Likewise, the interpretations that I discuss in these blog posts are just meant to be food for thought, but by no means conclusive. As always, you have to think about how a card’s different traditional interpretations and visual cues, as well as the emotions the cards evoke in you, can apply to your own life situation.

So, to get on with a sample interpretation. If I recall correctly, one person got “The Empress” from the Mahoney deck, which uses Cinderella as its illustration, in association with the Gingerbread House. The dominant figure in this card is the fairy godmother, (though Cinderella is also present), so this deck emphasizes the Empress’ abilities to help make dreams come true. I don’t remember exactly how I interpreted this card, but I think our discussion touched on the querent’s managerial job, and images of strong women leaders. As a general interpretation, one could look at whether this querent has some high expectations of the leadership role she would like to model, perhaps using her position to help other people fulfill their potential. This is a good thing—don’t get me wrong—but one then has to consider what this means in terms of the temptation and potential danger that the Gingerbread House stands for. Among other things, it could mean that you are being tempted to overextend yourself in trying to help others, or to make more promises than you can keep. This could also apply to promises you make to yourself—or to your Inner Child, as the Inner Child has to be considered in these fairy tale readings. Note that the combination of story imagery here also gets into a lot of Mother issues: your mother, your mothering techniques, your internalized mother, other mother figures in your life, etc. An alternative interpretation might focus on the “idea” of “the Cinderella story,” which is the hope that some big, lucky break will transform your way of life, and having that distract you from more practical goals.

Because a playset invites us to be playful, one can also think of approaching these things with a playfully proactive magical mindset. So, you could say, “OK, this is my gingerbread house, I’m taking ownership of this gingerbread house, so I’ll make the rules and assert my Empress powers productively. So, I’ll let you have just enough of a taste of the sweets to revive you if you’re feeling low, but I won’t let you go into sugar shock.” And if you are going to take charge of the gingerbread house, you can also take charge of the stove that is at the heart of the house as your special challenge. One thus transforms this from a story about temptation to a story about nourishment.

The stove is a traditional symbol of transformation, and Cinderella is also a story about transformation. In her book, “The Mother: Archetypal Image in Fairy Tales, Sibylle Birkhauser-Oeri mentions that “in Silesia, the flames licking out of the oven door are called the fire mother” [70]. The witch in “Hansel and Gretel” is an evil fire mother, but there are many positive expressions of this archetype. In the fairy tale “Frau Holle,” the oven serves as one of the vehicles of initiation which test the heroine and prove her worth. Oeri notes that, “The property of fires or stoves to give spiritual rebirth is founded on a psychological fact: if a person draws near to some inner passion, it causes a lowering in the level of consciousness and thus facilitates contact with the unconscious. In a powerful emotional state a transformation can take place, which always seemed like a rebirth or liberation.” She illustrates this with the Austrian tale, “The Young Wolf,” in which a girl, “in conjunction with various strange rituals,” throws the young wolf into the fire in the stove to transform him into a handsome young man. “He is exposed to the fire of passion by the anima and changed by it” [71]. (The anima is the idealized feminine soul-self, or a man’s inner feminine self.)

Well, that shows how when we combine these fairy tale themes and images, one train of thought leads to another. Now, not only are we considering the interaction between “Cinderella” and “Hansel and Gretel,” but we have “Frau Holle” and “The Young Wolf” as subtexts. This also goes to show that a cheesy cardboard playset can be a tool in making deeper psychological associations.

A WALK THROUGH FAIRY TALE VILLAGE

2010-09-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, (the Sunday of Labor Day weekend), our magical chat session focused on fairy-tale themed tarot decks. Because I have a fairy-tale themed pop-up playset with seven pop-up structures, one of our activities is “a walk through Fairy Tale Village,” where you can draw seven cards, prop them up by the different pop-up structures, and then derive meanings according to their associations. The pop-up playset, which was created by the design team of Michael Welply, Jim Deesing, and Laszlo Batki, is something I found online after doing keyword searches for pop-up playsets. However, as this playset may be hard to find, this exercise could be done without the playset, as a seven card spread.

For those who were unable to join us, here is the basic technique: shuffle and cut your cards while saying something like, “Please show me some stories that are playing out in my life.” Then place the first card in front of “Grandma’s House.” Grandma’s House represents a place where you can feel secure and go for comfort, though depending on the card you draw, it may be a safe place or it may be hiding some danger, (as in the “Little Red Riding Hood” story, this is the place where the wolf lies in wait).

Note that when, in this exercise, I use the word “place,” this could be an actual physical location, but more likely it is a metaphorical place, such as an idea, frame of mind, or life situation.

The next card goes in front of the Three Bears’ House. This could be a place where your Inner Child is trespassing, or simply a place where you don’t belong, because you’re not among “your own kind.” The term “your own kind,” could refer to people that you feel “at home” with, or a community that is supportive of your growth needs.

The third card is the Gingerbread House. This could be a place of temptation, (with your card offering visual cues as to whether you are the tempter or the tempted), or it could be a place of challenge where you overcome limitations, as in the story of Hansel and Gretel, Gretel uses her wits and quick thinking to save the day.

Next we arrive at the three piggys’ homes. Card number 4 is the Piggy’s Straw House, some area or your life where you have not built a stable structure. Card 5 is the Piggy’s Stick House, where you have built a somewhat more stable structure. This place may be OK for a temporary stop-over, but not secure enough for you to spend the rest of your life. Card 6 is the Piggy’s Brick House, a place where you have done a good job and can enjoy greater security.

For the last stop, we go to the center of the village, which is the Wishing Well. This represents some of your wishes or fantasies for the future.

By the way, as additional level of interpretation, you could toss a die, and the number that comes up (from 1 to 6) could denote the Fairy Tale Village structure where your attention or energies are most focused at present.

Looking forward to Sunday with hopeful expectancy

2010-09-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

First, a reminder that this upcoming Sunday, September 5th, I will be at the Triple Goddess demonstrating tarot techniques with four different fairy tale decks. Even though it’s Labor Day weekend, people still like to come by, so I will be there too. Second, in my past few entries about the fairy tale decks, I forgot to mention that the artist for the Inner Child deck is Christopher Guilfoil, and for the “Fairytale” deck, Alexandr Ukolov is the illustrator, but the artwork is done by Irena Triskova. (I’m afraid I’m not clear on the distinction there.)

A little while ago, I brought up the topic of the Inner Child in relation to these decks. The Inner Child was a particularly hot topic in, if I recall, the 80s, but now one doesn’t hear about it quite so much. Does the fact that the Inner Child is not so much a part of public discourse mean that we’ve all settled into better relationships with our inner children, or is it that we—at least as a society--have had to shove the Child aside in the need to focus on material survival issues? Or perhaps I have a distorted view on this, as here in Michigan, we’ve been in recession for a lot longer than the rest of the world?

Engaging the Inner Child can be your key to reviving a sense of wonder and delight, yet back when this was a prevailing topic, much of the discourse around the Child was negative in tone, because it focused on aspects of the Child that had been abused or neglected, or aspects of the Child that manifest as complexes. A complex is a condition where one of your subpersonalities takes control, so you behave differently and may start doing and saying things that lead to embarrassment and regret. In this respect, when the Child grabs control, it can be compared to the negative aspects of animal transformation, as discussed earlier, because both are forms of regression to a primitive state which involves a surrender of conscious guidance. It seems that one of the easiest ways to identify the Inner Child within yourself is to think about psychological issues that stir up a lot of old hurt and anger, frustration and deprivation. This can lead us into negative feedback loops if we dwell on it. At the same time, however, the Child can bring revitalization by leading us to forgotten sources of wonder and pleasure. For example, if, as a youngster, your family stifled your curiosity about nature because they didn’t want you to go outside and hurt yourself or get dirty, you could get involved in some naturalist activities as a way of reawakening your curiosity.

Where there is curiosity, there is vitality. Another great thing about curiosity is even when you are locked into a life situation where you can’t bring about any immediate changes, you can still indulge your curiosity. … And while we’re on this topic … this is another opportunity for me to tout the tarot as something to keep curiosity alive. You can always ask the cards questions like, “What is the next bit of good news that I have to look forward to?” or “What is my next lucky break?” A question like, “Who is the next luck-bringing person that I will encounter?” opens a state of hopeful expectancy that connects you with your larger human society, because then, with each person that you encounter, you’ll be wondering, “Is this the person?” “Is that the person?” In her book, “The Tao of Psychology: Synchronicity and the Self,” Jean Shinoda Bolen points out that when a person is in a state of hopeful expectancy, helpful synchronicities are apt to occur, and she notes that this is the state of mind that typifies heroes and heroines in fairy tales. It is what Jung called “the archetype of the miracle,” or the archetype of “magic effect” [Bolen 81,80].

Animal World Encounters in Fairy Tale Tarot Decks

2010-08-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Looking through my four fairy-tale themed decks and picking out cards that can be seen to represent supernatural helpers, I find that in addition to such like genies and fairy godmothers, there are a good number of animal helpers. The animals fall into various categories, including ordinary animals who are helpful in some way, extraordinary animals (like Puss in Boots), and animals who are magical in some way or magical by nature. A few of the cards in Hunt’s deck feature animals who are elevated in terms of being god-like or especially powerful beings, (such as in her Magician, based on the Chinese story, “The Thunder Dragon”). I don’t count certain stories, such as the Golden Goose, where the animal is treated as an object rather than an actor. Remembering that my last post was about the Inner Child’s experience in the fairy tale world, it appears that in a majority of the stories, it is not a child but a young adult who interacts with the marvelous animals. However, I think there is something about the animal world that engages the inner child’s sense of wonder.

One way to look at animals in fairy tales is from the psychoanalytic view, where the symbolism is similar to what you might encounter in dreams. In dreams, as with the tarot, animals can represent the instinctive nature. When our instincts are expressed in a positive way, we are more intuitive, discerning about our personal needs, and better able to sense danger. We see this in the Fool card, where the Fool’s little dog is barking to prevent him from stepping off a cliff. However, the negative expression of the animal nature is when we are ruled by our appetites—a condition which is underscored in versions of the Devil card, where two chained human figures sport horns and tails. If you got a card illustrating a tale where a person is turned into an animal against his or her will, that could be a warning that you are getting into a situation where you are losing your grip, much like being spellbound. As Sibylle Birkhauser-Oeri points out in “The Mother: Archetypal Image in Fairy Tales,” “the phenomena of magic spells are caused by autonomous contents of the unconscious taking possession of the person” [46]. On the other hand, tales where a person willfully shape-shifts into some type of animal, or accepts help from certain types of animals, can point to the ability to connect with certain instincts or animal qualities and use them to advantage. In all of these cases, the type of animal encountered or transformed into would be symbolically significant.

Cards illustrating animal transformations and animal helpers are most abundantly featured in the Lisa Hunt “Fairy Tale” deck, and Hunt is already well known for her “Shapeshifter Tarot.” (This deck is also similar to the Shapeshifter in that faces can be seen in some rocks and trees, suggesting the vivacious intelligence of the natural world.) I’m still familiarizing myself with these cards, because I don’t recognize all of the stories that are illustrated, but in the Hunt deck, I count a dozen cards that portray animal transformation, and a dozen that portray magical or other helper animals, though one of these also involves transformation. (One, “the Golden-headed Fish,” involves the transformation of a fish into a person in order to be helpful). The Mahony-Ukolov “Fairytale Tarot” has about ten cards with helping animals, and about ten cards where the story involves animal transformation. Of course, these different decks also have cards that feature animals in other roles such as “the Three Pigs” or “Country Mouse, City Mouse,” where the animals are characters, but not magical or helpers.

Whether with animal helpers or transformation into animals, one can’t help but wonder if some of these tales are echoes of old totemic relationships, or other types of guardian spirit relationships. When these images come up for you in a tarot reading, it certainly encourages you to explore these animal powers in relation to your inner and outer worlds.

STORY THEMES IN OUR LIVES

2010-08-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

I’m in the process of experimenting with some theme decks based on fairy tales, trying to come up with new tarot activities and techniques for the first Sunday in September, when we will look into some of the major archetypes that are met with in fairy tales, including the Inner Child, the Supernatural Helper, and also archetypes of skill and resourcefulness. Whenever I conclude one of my magical chat sessions, I immediately start worrying about what to do for the next one. So, for the next month, my mind is scanning, scanning, scanning/churning, churning, churning, until I come up with a workable agenda—which is usually not, however, until the day before.

The decks which I am playing around with are Lisa Hunt’s “The Fairy Tale Tarot,” Isha and Mark Lerner’s “Inner Child” cards, and “The Whimsical Tarot” by Mary Hanson Roberts. I have also just ordered another “Fairytale Tarot” deck by Karen Mahony and Alexandr Ukolov, so I won’t be able to comment on that one until it arrives. Hunt’s “Fairy Tale” tarot and the Mahony-Ukolov deck use illustrations from tales and legends for all of their cards, while the “Inner Child” and “Whimsical” decks use them for the Major Arcana and some, but not all, of the Minor Arcana. I also have a pop-up playset, called “Fairy Tale Village,” (by the design team of Welply, Deesing, and Batki), so I’m thinking about some interactive things to do with the cards and pop-ups. (In my article on the Dollhouse Oracle, [see my links to articles], I discuss potential ways that cards can be used with play-sets.)

So, I’ve been thinking first about the Inner Child, because so many stories center on the child, (in keeping with the child ego state which sees itself as the center of the universe). Although the term “inner child” gets tossed around a lot, there are a number of child-personalities within us, many of which are also illustrated in these various fairy tale decks. I can’t begin to enumerate all of the Inner Child personalities that can be active in us at different times, or that we encounter in the world’s myths and legends, but looking over the three decks in my possession, a notable type that emerges is that of the Child Adventurer, which overlaps with the Questing Child. This, of course, ties in with the Fool archetype, and also engages the idea of the tarot itself as outlining an adventure or quest as one engages the lessons of the cards.

An example of the child adventurer/questor is Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” portrayed by the “Inner Child” deck as the Seeker of Wands, and by the “Whimsical” deck in the Six of Wands. Another is Pinocchio: the “Whimsical” deck portrays him facing the puppet master in the Devil card, while the “Inner Child” deck features him as the Child of Swords. Pinocchio can also be seen as the archetypal child who is getting into trouble as he learns to tell truth from falsehood, and right from wrong, which is why the latter deck equates him with the Page of Swords, even though Wands might seem a more obvious choice for a boy made of wood. That aspect of the child nature that gets us into trouble when we are too inquisitive or willing to transgress boundaries is also portrayed by Goldilocks, in the “Fairy Tale” tarot’s Five of Pentacles, and in the “Whimsical” tarot’s Justice card. (The latter is very amusing: it shows Baby Bear pointing Goldilocks out to a Keystone Cop.) If you have ever done something mischievous, and then found yourself lamenting, “Oh, why did I do that!?” you may have been high-jacked by one of these aspects of the Inner Child. In a tarot reading, coming up with one of these or similar characters could be a warning against allowing such impulses to get the better of you.

Another well-known fairy-tale type is that of the vulnerable and victimized child, these decks having different versions of Cinderella, the Goose Girl, Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood, and so on. Some people object to passive characters in fairy tales. However, if we look more closely, we see that many of them are also resourceful. In the less familiar version of Cinderella, (which is the version that the “Inner Child” deck portrays), Cinderella effectively acts as a sorceress, going to her mother’s grave to conjure the things she needs. (This actually echoes some old Norse sagas, where the hero goes to his mother’s grave mound or the heroine to her father’s to acquire magical implements.) The Goose Girl also uses magic to get information, (and interestingly, a horse’s skull was also used in Norse shamanic practices), and Gretel is quick to take action in her story. The so-called passivity of fairy tale heroines (and many heroes as well) has been explained by N. J. Giradot, who says, “Heroes and heroines in fairy tales … do not ordinarily succeed because they act, but because they allow themselves to be acted upon—helped, protected, saved, or transformed—by the magic of the fairy world” [cited in Marta Weigle’s “Spiders & Spinsters: Women in Mythology,” p. 211]. Although there is a lot more that could be said about child personalities encountered in these cards, for my next post, I will try to develop some thoughts on the Child’s encounter with the Supernatural World.

Celebrating the Interconnectedness of All Things

2010-07-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned that this upcoming Sunday we will be exploring some Ancestor World issues with the Faery cards and Tarot cards. Actually, I want to broaden that theme of interconnectedness to also be thinking about how we can reach forward in time, and also look at metaphors of interrelationship such as the connecting Web--all tied in with Lammas and the mysteries of the grain.

However, in line with the ancestor explorations, another thing to think about is an interest in the mystical as a potential legacy from some line or lines of ancestors. After all, the fact that you are reading a blog on tarot magic or setting foot in a New Age bookstore means that you are a mystically inclined person. Showing an interest in the metaphysical would attract extra support from the Ancestor World, because it signals that you are more receptive to spiritual wisdom and advice. So, when we do some of our card readings, it will be interesting to note whether cards like the High Priestess, Hierophant, or others that indicate a transmission of spiritual teachings come up. The Faery decks also have some cards that point to wisdom traditions.

Now back to the theme of interconnectedness: Alice O. Howell, in her book “The Dove in the Stone: Finding the Sacred in the Commonplace” (which is a collection of her musings as she explores the sacred isle of Iona), adds to our perspective on degrees of separation by pointing out that we are only a few “touches” away from many historical personages. She relates: “I had struggled to make history come alive for the sixth graders it had been my good fortune to teach. ‘How many ‘touches’ away do you suppose you are from George Washington?’ I asked them. Well, not as many as you think. When my father was a little boy, he was taken to the World’s Fair in St. Louis, and at that fair was a booth where there sat a very, very old black man to whom you could pay a nickel for a handshake. This man’s father had been a slave on Washington’s plantation and he had proudly let George Washington hold his son, then a baby. Now my own father had sat on his lap. So, from Washington to the old man was one touch, to my father was two, and to me three. Only three bodies stood between my students and the founding father of our country! I was giving them fourth touches as they eagerly stretched out their hands. Now they could run home and give fifth touches to others.” Howell goes on to say, “Since my father was always meeting interesting people, I was also only two touches from such as Mark Twain, Eisenhower, Queen Elizabeth, Goering, etc., etc. (I myself had been forced to sit in Mussolini’s lap.) The next day, the kids came in to give me touches from all kinds of celebrities themselves. This exercise made history far more immediate” [58-59].

So, what is magical about that? Well, it’s an affirmation of interconnectedness. It’s not that celebrities are better than anyone else, but knowing that we’re only a few touches away from various celebrated personalities helps light up the web of interconnectedness in our minds—it makes the criss-crossing strands more VISIBLE to us. And any time we become more aware of our interconnectedness, more synchronicities will occur for us.

If you’re coming out on Sunday, ask your friends, family, and coworkers about any encounters they’ve had with notable persons, so you can convey some touches. Also, if you get a chance to talk to knowledgeable family members, find out what your different grandmothers’ and great-grandmothers maiden names were, and we’ll find out if any of us are long lost cousins.

LAMMAS SESSION UPCOMING plus a note to followers

2010-07-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

Our next Magical Chat is a week from tomorrow, that is August 1st, so I’m planning activities for Lammas. I shall bring back the Animal Cracker Oracle, which was actually inspired by old Prussian New Year’s traditions, but which I have adapted for Lammas and its association with the Mysteries of the Grain. Tarot and Faery card readings will be built around Ancestor World issues.

If you are planning to come on the 1st, you might want to give some advance thought to the idea of Family Gifts & Blessings as well as Family Curses—and here I use those terms to mean repeating patterns and other things much broader than some good fairy or angry gypsy placing a spell on one of your ancestors, (though we can’t rule those out)—to be better able to identify such patterns if they come up in the bibliomancy or card readings.

Now, I’d like to say “Hi” to everyone who is following this blog. For those who have arranged to receive e-mail postings, I’m going to start tinkering in order to add some features to the blogsite, so I hope this won’t send you a bunch of empty mailings, and apologize in advance if it does. I’m pretty inexperienced with this, and I’m working with the world’s worst dial-up connection, so I’ll be trying to figure it out as I go along. Also, even though I haven’t gotten around to sending personal greetings, (and I don’t know whether or not this is a breach of blog etiquette), I am really delighted that you find Tarot Magic Adventures interesting enough to follow—so thanks to you all!

Seashell Divination

2010-07-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, July 4th, I demonstrated the Seashell Oracle as part of the Magical Chat session. Because I haven’t had time to write an article about seashell divination, I’ll explain a little about how I developed this, and what some other authors have done with seashells.

For a while, I had been demonstrating the Spinning Basket Oracle, which involves tossing small items and fetishes into a flat, round, spinning basket and then interpreting their symbolism in the context of the patterns they make, and I had included some seashells in that. (I haven’t brought the spinning basket out this year, as I’ve done it several years prior, so I don’t know if there would be enough public interest in seeing it again.) Then, Dawne made me a gift of “The Ocean Oracle” by Michelle Hanson, which consists of 200 cards with pictures of seashells. Hanson's cards’ divinatory meanings are based on the individual shellfishes’ behaviors, appearance, common and scientific names, etc. Hanson used to use her own massive shell collection for divination, but hit on the idea of photographing and turning them into cards for greater portability, as well as making them available to all. For the Oracle I demonstrate, I use a basket of my own shells, though because of the physical handling, I don’t include my more fragile specimens. However, there are still enough to make for some interesting readings, going around the group as we do. (I have not gotten around to counting how many shells I use.)

To use the “Ocean Oracle” card set, you look over the images and pick out the shells which seem most compelling, either because you are attracted to them or repulsed by them. Then, you turn over the cards to get the interpretations on the back. You can pick out any number of cards for this, and also arrange them in patterns. For my group demonstrations with my shell basket, I find it best to have the basket passed around the circle, with each person, in turn, picking out two shells. With your eyes closed, pick out a shell with your left hand, to represent unconscious motivations. Then, with your eyes open, use your right hand to pick out a shell that you are particularly drawn to; this represents conscious directions you are taking.

In making interpretations, I use Hanson as a resource, as well as Sandra Kynes’ book, “Sea Magic,” and Katlyn’s “Ocean Amulets,” [Mermade Magickal Arts]. As usual, I add my idiosyncratic views and personal experiences based on my material culture and medical anthropology knowledge bases.

Despite these varied sources of interpretation, there’s always so much more that could be said when contemplating the symbolism of the shell in the context of one’s own life. For example, at the afore-mentioned session, the most popular shell of the day was the “Common Sundial,” Architectonia nobilis, (which I found at Mustang State Park in Texas). This snail’s flattened, rounded outline and distinct spirals with checked markings suggest a sundial or a staircase. The specimen featured in Hanson’s cards is the Giant Sundial, Architectonia maxima, but similar meanings can apply. Hanson says this shell stands for “patience.” Kynes notes that sundial shells “can help us get out of linear ruts and move on” [113], and I made some comments about structuring one’s life and thinking about how we measure time. However, there are other points that could have been discussed. Like all seashells, the Sundial can advise that we have to live our lives in increments, but its appearance underscores the need to take things one day at a time, and take manageable steps—baby steps if necessary. Looking at the scientific name, there is a seeming contradiction in that the shell is called the “Common Sundial,” probably because it is fairly common on sandy Atlantic beaches, but the species name is “nobilis” instead of “vulgaris.” This could suggest that in trying to create structure, we can find noble qualities and refined pleasures in the common things of daily life. The shell also suggests Native American concepts of moving in a sacred manner by moving with the sun, and how this is utilized in healing practices.

Thinking about these shells also leads us to make connections with other things in culture. The idea of the sundial suggests looking at sundial inscriptions. In May, I mentioned how Harriet Beecher Stowe was inspired to structure her life according the motto on a sundial which read, “I count only the sunny hours.” A good source on sundials is the website http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/gatty/sundials/221.html. It lists (among others) a Latin inscription from the sundial in the Dresden Altmark that reads, “Correct the past, direct the present, discern the future.” Interestingly, this can also summarize some of the goals of divination, including tarot.

By the way, although, for practical purposes, it’s convenient to talk about seashells as material objects, in interacting with them, we must remember that these once housed living beings, and send them blessings, such as wishes for a good rebirth.

A Day Dedicated to Undersea Mysteries

2010-06-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Profuse apologies for being so out of touch and not having posted anything in so long! I will be coming to the Triple Goddess this Sunday, July 4th, from 1 to 3 p.m. as usual. Even though it’s the Independence Day weekend, I find that people still drop by the shop on holidays, so I’ve made that commitment to showing up on holidays as well. This Sunday I will bring the Seashell Oracle and demonstrate some spells and other magical things you can do with seashells. I will also demonstrate reading techniques with the Tarot of the Mermaids, the Tarot of the Pirates, and the Shapeshifter deck. For our metaphysical discussion, we’ll entertain some ideas on the need to become hybrid beings as a way of surviving in this new world.

House Charms for Sunday, June 6th

2010-06-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

Just a short note that I will be showing up at the Triple Goddess on Sunday, June 6th, from 1 to 3 p.m. I will bring along the doll houses for the Dollhouse Oracle, and this time I will try to spend more time working with individuals on their house symbolism. I will also share some thoughts on applying Tarot images to your own house for use as house charms, in tarot spells, and in Feng Shui applications. For those who will be able to join us, if you want to bring along a floor plan of your house, (taking note of its compass orientation), we can apply several layers of interpretation to that. In fact, if you have the ability to enlarge your floor plan or sketch it onto a larger sized piece of paper, we can explore its use as a tarot layout. Also, we will continue to open with the bibliomancy, (as part of our “crowd sourcing to Spirit”), so this time we will want to be thinking about how the insights from the bibliomancy might carry over to the house symbolism. I apologize for not writing more, but for now and the next few months, family demands are keeping me particularly busy.

Mixing Fairy Cards and Tarot Cards, Part III

2010-05-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

To continue my discussion on how the fairy cards can interact with tarot cards, based on results we got at the Sunday, May 2nd session: there are two more readings to look at, (as, aside from people who were dropping in or out, there was a core group of six persons beside myself).

One participant got “The Child” as her Heart of Faerie card. Aside from the fact that we can see fairy-like qualities in young, innocent children, faeries are, folklorically, very drawn to the pure and exuberant energy of children, and we also have J.M. Barrie’s charming story that fairies are born of children’s laughter. When mixed into her Botticelli tarot deck, the Child was flanked by the Eight of Swords and the 10 of Pentacles. The Child in question is gazing at a little ball of light toward the left, so she is also looking in the direction of the Swords. This makes for an odd pairing, as it is not easy to visualize the very young, light-hearted, winged being interacting with the bound man standing in the forest of swords that the Botticelli card portrays. At the time we discussed this, we considered different possibilities, including some family issues, (related to the “generations” that the Ten of Pentacles can denote, and the fact that this individual was in the process of renewing contact with another branch of her family). Thinking about how this can more specifically engage Fairy World energies, perhaps taking a child-like attitude of wonder, which includes “magical thinking,” could provide a way out of whatever complications the Eight of Swords may denote. Behind the Child in the Faerie card is the face of a tree-like entity, indicating the Child’s affinity with Living Nature and ability to feel protected in the dark forest. One could transmute the imagery in the Botticelli Eight of Swords by imagining the surroundings as more of a fairy forest, where the Swords stand for challenges that make the situation more of a game or adventure. The Ten of Pentacles off on the left, here pictured as a palatial house with a path of coins leading up to it, might indicate the protective solidarity of Family that makes it possible for the child to indulge in fairy frolics.

In our final example reading, the participant chose to mix her Faerie card, which was “The Dreaming,” into the “Fairy Circle” oracle, rather than a tarot deck, which provides the interesting opportunity to see how the Froud faeries may interact with the traditional Celtic fairy entities portrayed. The Dreaming portrays a beautiful woman, awake, but with eyes closed, surrounded by a diverse population of nature spirits and other elfin beings. From my own point of view, I tend to see this as expressing the idea of a universe that is intensely alive and in constant communication with us, and for Wendy Froud, this card is about creative imagination. The Fairy Circle cards that came up were the “Garconer” to the left of the Dreaming, and the Lhiannan Shee to the right. Both are cards which are about illusory romantic ideals, so the challenge for this person is to use her fantasies creatively, without being drained by them. To explain: the Garconer (also known as the Glanconner, and is called “the love talker”), is a spirit that appears to a woman as the man of her dreams, but then drains her energy, while the Lhiannan Shee, known as “the Fairy Sweetheart,” is a fairy woman who can be vampiric, but who also bestows poetic gifts and inspiration. We had discussed the need to be discerning in the types of dreams one pursues, and how one can take advantage of creative visions without being drained by them. As I think about this further, it seems that one way we can test the value of our fantasies is by determining whether they generate ideas for creative activities or other things that enrich the lives of our loved ones, and of other people in general. If one has an interest in fiction writing, this would be one application, (though there is still a need to avoid being too taken with your own fantasy world). Another way might be to create beautiful experiences for others—perhaps fairy fantasy themed parties or just the little extra touches that add a dimension of fairy elegance to daily living.

This is a bit of a digression, but I am reminded of Harriet Beecher Stowe, (author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”), who incorporated so many creative ideas into her home that she impressed her niece, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who then made women’s living spaces a theme in her articles on utopian housing. If I recall correctly, Stowe herself had been impressed by the inscription on her uncle’s sun dial, which said, “I count only the sunny hours,” and made that her motto for living. (By-the-by, Stowe and Gilman, like others of their family, exhibited Asperger’s symptoms; there were also clairvoyant and metaphysical interests in that family.)

We did a number of other things at the magical chat session, in addition to drawing the fairy friends and mixing them with tarot decks, we did the bibliomancy by pulling random books off the shelves, we did the Doreen Virtue “Messages from the Fairies,” and for some, I was also able to do a Beltane reading with the Fairy Circle cards. I neglected to write down the results of the bibliomancy and various of these others. Ideally, however, we could be examining the whole spectrum to see if certain ideas, images, and themes emerged for the different individuals. As my big theme for Beltane is Fairy World, it would be interesting to consider how even the bibliomancies might tie in with this. In June, I will bring back the different pop-up doll houses and medieval castle for the Dollhouse Oracle. Last time, I was concerned that I didn’t devote enough time to exploring and explaining the metaphors of the different tarot cards in the different rooms of peoples’ lives, so next time, I will still be doing it in the group teaching format where others can look on, but I will focus on one dollhouse reading at a time, so that we can all walk through the rooms together. We’ll also do the bibliomancy, and if time permits, some other types of readings. However, with the metaphor of the house as the day’s theme, we might think about how these diverse readings tie in with the house symbolism.

Mixing Fairy Cards and Tarot Cards, Part II

2010-05-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

One of the things that distinguishes “The Heart of Faerie Oracle” from Brian Froud’s previous Faeries Oracle is the inclusion of nine Faerie Queens: The Queen of the Golden Bough, Bedlam, Night, Day, Passage, Owls, Hearth and Home, Shadows, and Laughter. In folklore, there is a certain amount of crossover between fairy queens and goddesses such as Diana, Holda, and Freya. Fairy queens also have Ancestor World connections, as we see with some of the Irish fairy queens depicted in Mason and Franklin’s “Fairy Circle” Oracle, where certain fairies (such as Aine) have been regarded as clan mothers. Consequently, when you get one of the fairy queens in a reading, you might consider the possibility that some protective maternal powers are coming through.

At our May 2nd workshop, two persons drew fairy queens as their “fairy friends” (cards to take home). Coincidentally, these are sisters, one having gotten the Queen of the Golden Bough, and the other, the Queen of Passage. In such a case, it would be interesting for them to compare notes as to whether they have sensed any spiritually protective and guiding energies associated with a strong maternal presence at pivotal times in their lives, (as both of these fairy queens have liminal qualities, i.e., they are concerned with life’s transitions.) Because I had only one of each type of card in my give-away deck from which people drew these fairy talismans, it is possible that a single maternal entity is trying to connect through the two different cards—though of course, all of us have a multitude of maternal (and paternal) energy streams from which we can draw inspiration when we consider our genetic heritage.

When we mixed the fairy cards into our respective tarot decks to see how these fairy energies/entities might express themselves and offer guidance in different areas of our lives, the one sister got The Moon and the Two of Pentacles in association with the Queen of the Golden Bough, and the other got the Five of Swords and the Three of Pentacles in association with the Queen of Passage. (The latter was using the “Princess” tarot, which I don’t have, and I failed to note what the former was using, so I can’t reconstruct whether there were any unique image combinations, and so will have to stick to general interpretations.) Wendy Froud emphasizes the Queen of the Golden Bough as a card of soul healing, and also for healing “World Sorrow,” which is that sense of grieving for everything that’s wrong with the world. Because the Moon has a lot to do with the Unconscious, including dreams, dream exploration and the like can be a good way for this person to access the sort of healing that the Queen of the Golden Bough has to offer, and, indeed, this fairy queen may well be sending her comforting communications through Unconscious channels. The Two of Pentacles would suggest finding a way to bring the Queen’s healing, nurturing energies into the demands of daily life, to create a greater sense of balance by infusing life with soul. In the other reading, the Five of Swords, in common with the other Fives cards, can signify a time of transition, when a previously secure situation has become destabilized; with Swords cards, the changes in question can activate the survival instinct, sometimes also challenging a person’s ideals. However, the Queen of Passage is good for offering guidance when things are in flux, because she enables us to see events as part of a progression, as well as the creative opportunities present in times of change. This relates to the pomegranate which she holds, a fertility symbol showing, “[t]here is growth in the future.” Here, the Three of Pentacles reinforces the idea of applying these energies to creative projects.

To be continued.

When the Fairies get into your Tarot Deck

2010-05-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

OK, looking at ways the Heart of Faerie cards can interact with tarot cards, for clues as to the unique ways that fairy energies can manifest in life.

Two of the fairy friends that were drawn at Sunday’s session were #29, The Green Man, and #56, The Challenge. Graphically, there are some similarities, because the former features a being with a leafy, mask-like face, and the latter a character with a leafy mask; both gaze directly outward. Both images also use the mystique of the mask as an interface with Nature, and I believe someone in our group mentioned something to the effect that the mask provides a transitional space for us to look outward through the eyes of Spirit. Do I recall this correctly? Does anyone remember more specifically what was said? The Frouds actually use the mask as a motif repeated throughout The Heart of Faerie.

The person who got The Green Man as her fairy friend was using “The Whimsical Tarot” by Mary Hanson-Roberts and Dorothy Morrison, which uses images from fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Here, The Green Man was flanked by the Page of Rods, (depicted, simply, as a horn or trumpet), and the Eight of Swords, (which in this deck is illustrated with a sleeping Rip Van Winkle.) Now the Page of Rods can represent communication, (though the trumpet in this illustration also suggests something of a wake-up call), and the Green Man suggests an Intelligence within Nature that is willing to communicate. Although Rip Van Winkle is portrayed sleeping, his sleep is almost something of a communion with Nature--at least as it is shown in this illustration. (I think the Eight of Swords’ meanings, in this context, denote more of a holding pattern.) So, what I’m getting here is a kind of paradoxical message: wake up to the voice of Nature by relaxing into Nature. (The term “relaxing into Nature,” is, I believe, used by Tom Brown, the Pine Barrens tracker, to convey the idea of being totally at home in Nature.) The person who drew this card already considers herself a nature person, so perhaps this reading just offers suggestions for greater attunement. If this person has a garden, she might want to put out some sort of a Green Man image, just as a means of returning the greeting.

The person who drew “The Challenge” card combined it with the Shadowscapes Tarot, (the new deck by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law), getting the Nine of Wands to the left and the Hermit to the right. This person views the Nine as representing challenges she has previously met, and the Hermit as keeping one’s own counsel. One way that the mask as an emblem of the fairy folk might apply to this card combination is that folklorically, in their interface with humans, the Fae may try to appear as human, but can’t totally disguise themselves. For example, mermaids always have wet skirts, or the Huldre folk and others may appear hollow behind. We also see this in Ben Okri’s novel, “The Famished Road,” where the forest spirits manifest as human, but there’s always something “off” about them—they can’t quite get it down. The person who drew the Challenge is a Pisces, and I think that a lot of Pisces folk are almost like mermaids or other beings who exist only partly in the human world. To meet the challenges of “the real world,” Pisces (or any number of others, including spiritually oriented persons, or persons who are neurologically different) have to invest a lot of energy in “passing for normal.” In this case, the prior Nine of Wands challenges may have involved assuming different personas, (as Wands can get into identity issues, and a persona is also a mask), in order to take on the challenges, yet still be able to preserve her Hermit’s need to have some personal space. This person also got a [Doreen Virtue] fairy message card exhorting her to “be yourself.” This isn’t necessarily a contradiction, because we have many quite authentic sub-selves, and these are what we can draw on when we assume different personas for different situations.

This reminds me of another aspect of Faerie, that is, it seems that all different cultures recognize different types of fairy beings who have some similarities across cultures, but also culture-specific differences, because fairies try to communicate and interact with us in ways that we can understand, and that make sense in our cultural context. With this in mind, assuming a persona isn’t being phony—it’s facilitating communication.

This also suggests a little ritual that a person could do with The Challenge card—or indeed, with any number of other fairy or tarot cards--when trying to assume a persona or get psyched up for a specific role or event. A lot of actors have little rituals to help them get into character, or just to help them transition into a different mode. So, Jack Lemmon would use the phrase, “It’s Magic Time!” when he was ready to get started, and if you’ve seen the movie, “All that Jazz,” Roy Scheider (playing the Bob Fosse character) would stand in front of the mirror, and with a certain flourish, announce, “It’s show time, folks!” Similarly, you could stand in front of the mirror, flourish your fairy or tarot card, and say something appropriate to what you’re trying to achieve, related to the symbolism of the card. In this way, you are also engaging the shape-shifting qualities of fairy magic.

To be continued …

A Tarot Rite for Sharing Blessings with Spirit

2010-05-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon, we concluded our chat session with a little ritual that was new, so I thought I’d write it up for those who weren’t able to be with us. As I often say, these get-togethers are a chance to bring our spirit mentors along with us, to a place where the better sort of spirits converge, so they can share information by hobnobbing with each other, and we can benefit from their collective wisdom and advice. So, as we had a nice little circle arrangement, we used tarot cards as a way of circulating blessing energy for ourselves as well as our friends in Spirit.

To do this, each person pulls “The Star” and “The Ace of Cups” cards from his/her personal deck. The Star represents spiritual sources, and the Ace of Cups chalice can serve as a symbolic libation cup. Among ancient peoples, offering libations was one of the most common ways of showing respect to Spirit. (If you’ve read the Iliad, you may recall how the principal characters—even the gods--always had their libation cups at the ready.)

Now, with your left hand, raise The Star card, and say something like, “We honor our friends in Spirit, whose blessings and wisdom flow through us!” The left hand is the receiving hand, which draws from the Unconscious, so visualize energy being drawn from the realm of Spirit, and channeled through your being. Then, with your right hand, which directs energy outward, hold the Ace of Cups before you, pointing toward the center of the circle, and say something like, “We offer gratitude to all our friends in Spirit!” The energy thus directed to the center is both concentrated and amplified for all in Spirit to enjoy. Then, each person touches his or her Ace of Cups chalice card to the next person’s Star card as a way of creating a circuit of energy that flows through the circle, and say something like, “May all beings be refreshed by the free flow of spirit!” (This, of course, includes the Fae folk as well as other friendly spirits.) The circulating energy refreshes humans and spirits alike. Then, as part of a coordinated motion, have everybody bring their hands and cards flat to the table and say something like, “So be it!” to bring things to a close.

Also: I took a few notes on some of the readings we did, where first we selected Fairy Friends (from the Heart of Faerie deck), and then inserted them into tarot decks or others, in order to see how those fairies’ energies can operate in different areas of our lives. Among other things, we also paired our fairy friends with Doreen Virtue’s “Magical Messages from the Fairies” oracle cards, to give them a chance to speak. Although we had a lively discussion on the implications of the different cards, I shall take another look at my notes, to see if I can offer further insights into how the faeries might express themselves through the tarot in upcoming posts.

Faerie World Adventures

2010-04-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

This Sunday I will be demonstrating techniques with the Faerie Oracle and the Heart of Faerie Oracle cards, among other oracle and tarot decks. As we work with these cards, a question to consider is, how can these fairies help us to enhance our relationship with a Universe that is intensely alive and in constant communication with us? (See my March 30th post on communications from the Living Universe.)

Wendy Froud, who has done the write-up for the Heart of Faerie cards, describes the cards as revealing, “how the wisdom of Faerie transforms life & relationships.” Transforming life and relationships suggests possibilities for shamanic engagement, because it recalls Serge Kahili King’s definition of the shaman as, “a healer of relationships: between mind and body, between people, between people and circumstances, between humans and Nature, and between matter and spirit” [“Urban Shaman” 14].

Pursuing an interest in shamanic healing, I have been re-reading Margie McArthur’s book, “Faery Healing.” (She also maintains a site at www.faeryhealing.com). Margie defines Faery Healing as “the practice of reestablishing communication and working relationship with our kin of the subtle realms of the Earth, the Elementals, the Earth Beings, the Faeries, and ‘the small clans of the Earth’s delight,’ to use Fiona Macleod’s charming phrase” [183]. Margie’s assertion that, “To do Faery Healing we must be prepared to go into the Heart of the World, that innerworld place where the Flame of Being burns brightly and connects us all by virtue of the Fire of Life which sparks and blazes within all life,” is echoed by Brian Froud’s desire to “experience the love and wisdom that comes from the hearts of the faeries and from the heart of Faerie itself.” The second part of “Faery Healing,” provides different healing techniques, starting out with suggestions for the art of “being hollow,” “body sensing,” how to clear intention and attention—note that the Frouds also emphasize paying attention as part of your bargain for the faeries’ insight and wisdom—different levels of grounding techniques, working with the elements and quarters, shapeshifting, finding faery healing allies, and so on. Something that I hope to learn more about as we explore these things together is how the different types of fairy cards might be used to help with grounding, (for example, cards portraying beings with their roots in the Earth), issues around being in touch with your body and with Nature, (the cards have a lot of images of bodies in harmony with Nature, even aspects of nature that some might consider icky), achieving that “hollowness,” paying attention, shape-shifting, and so on.

By the way, in the March 30 post, I was wondering if others had encountered decks that give a sense of a highly animated universe, and Javier responded with a number of suggestions with links, so you might want to refer back and take a peek at some of those. I do think that there is a lot more that could be done here, by aspiring tarot artists, in conveying ways that the Universe can communicate to us through the cards.

Faeries into Poetry

2010-04-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to next Sunday, May 2nd. In honor of Beltane, a time when the energies of the Faery World are amplified, I will demonstrate different types of readings with Faery Oracle cards. Because the Frouds have just released a new deck, the “Heart of Faery” Oracle, these cards will be included among the others passed out as Faery Friends talismans to take home. However, as this deck is so new, I’m still in the process of familiarizing myself with it.

To help get to know this deck, I’ve been using it in bibliomantic experiments. For example, last night I went to hear the poet Diane Wakoski read from her new work, “The Diamond Dog,” at the Triple Goddess. To help get attuned, I was going through some of her other poetry books, and because she is known for her deep imagery, where the juxtaposition of striking images provokes striking insights and sensations, I got the notion to insert Faery cards into the books, and then consider how the Faery imagery and card meanings might provoke additional insights.

So, to demonstrate the technique for this blogpost, I have just shuffled and inserted random cards into random pages of “The Diamond Dog.” Among these, I find card 38 between pages 42 and 43 of The Diamond Dog. The card features a boyish sprite with silvery opalescent wings and a silvery opalescent glow; he flies by an ancient tree whose twisted form shines silver-gray in the moonlight. A little golden door at the base of the tree features Dagaz, the Day-rune, which some notable runelorists say can serve as a portal into other dimensions. Meanwhile, goblin faces take shape in the folds of the tree. This card is titled, “The Pan,” with reference to the immortal boy. Glancing at the two poems on these pages, I notice that in “The Secret of the Ring” on page 43, the poetess speaks of glancing at her “old hands,” which, “seem ringless except in owl-light, when Silver Boy points to the stone set in an invisible band on my marriage finger.” Aside from the obvious image of the silver boy, one can see a correspondence with the old hands and the gnarled tree, which then suggests a correspondence between the envisioned diamond on the ring finger and the jewel-like door in the tree.

Incidentally, in last night’s conversation with Diane, I mentioned that I enjoy her works because of her material imagery, including sensual images of things like fruits and gemstones, because for me as an Asperger’s person, it’s easy to relate to things, but difficult to get into concepts, except that material things provide me the entryway into deeper concepts. Diane replied that things serve as the entryway for her, too.

Continuing to consider the resonance between the card and the poem, I see that in the Wendy Froud write-up for the manual, she mentions how the Pan sees life and death as “an awfully big adventure.” This is a reference to the book “Peter Pan,” where, at a certain point, Peter thinks he’s going to die, and tells himself, “Death will be such an awfully big adventure!” Applied to this poem, this isn’t necessarily a portent of death--though of course, we’re all headed in that direction, and the older you get, the more you’re reminded of that fact. Rather, I think it says something about an artist’s mindfulness of death, as in the Heinrich Böll quote cited in a recent post, that, “The artist carries Death within him, like a good priest his breviary.”

Well, I could go on and on about the other poem-card image associations I have in front of me, but the silver boy image is especially serendipitous. This technique of making associations between cards and texts could actually work with any pack of cards, (even ordinary playing cards), and any book, (even the dictionary or phone book).

Perspectives on Judgment, Conclusion

2010-04-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

Picking up on the Easter Sunday readings around the Judgment card, the remaining readings that I recall brought up the Minor Arcana cards. One was the Six of Swords, Judgment, and the Ace of Wands, and the other was the Two of Swords, Judgment, and the Four of Swords.

In the case of the Six of Swords, this suggests that although there may be tension and conflicts in the general environment, (which may well be the case for a lot of us in this hard times economy), this person should look for an “opening,” to take advantage of some peaceful interlude between cycles of conflict and hardship, for Judgment’s work of self-remaking. The Ace of Wands suggests that the process of rejuvenation will generate a strong, focused quality of energy that can be directed into new projects and enterprises. Aces also get into identity issues—and the Ace of Wands in particular—so this also suggests a rejuvenated sense of Self, where the person is also likely to be strongly self-identified with whatever new project she puts her energy into. We also touched on the idea that when the Ace of Wands comes up favorably placed in a reading, you are strong in your own energy, and that portends success.

The reading with the Two and the Four of Swords cards flanking Judgment suggests renewal through the ability to manage conflict. The Two and Four are both cards of balance. However, as the Swords stand for elemental Air, the trick is to balance something as mobile, insubstantial, and, well, “airy” as air. The Twos often require us to negotiate between the needs of Self and Other, which could involve compromising personal ideology, though the Two of Swords also has a traditional meaning of mediating between two other parties. Here, the ability to be able to see from both parties’ points of view is a key factor. In the Four of Swords, one uses the desire for stability to create a safe place amidst conflict, and in this context, there is also a suggestion that the rejuvenation process needs to be extended, indicating the possibility of a healing retreat. If we want to bring in time factors, we’ve looking at how we can use the qualities of the Judgment card to align with the energies of the season for springtime renewal, so this would suggest a recovery period that extends beyond Spring, (maybe even 4 months beyond the Easter/Equinox period). Because the first card suggested weighing the needs of another party or parties, this could mean that the subject needs to recover from the empathic strain of mediating their needs, or that the other party/parties also need to be engaged in the healing process. (The individual who drew these cards is a Pisces, so mediating with others would draw on her capacities of intuition and empathy, but she would also need time to recharge afterward.)

The other thing I’m reminded of in relation to the idea of creating a safe space is Carolyn Myss’s definition of “an elegant spirit.” Part of that definition is the fact that anyone who enters your energy field knows they are in a safe space, where they will not be unfairly judged, and will be treated with compassion. I believe that Jean Shinoda Bolen also talks about that somewhere, probably in “Goddesses in Every Woman.” This is the idea that you create a “temenos,” a temple precinct, within your energy field, and within your relationships. This idea is also reflected in the Four of Swords card.

After the reading, we turned our layouts into “tarot spells,” by altering the readings (if desired) by adding mitigating cards to supply the qualities that individuals felt they needed to enhance their own rejuvenation processes, then visualizing ourselves going through that process of renewal, and then expressing our renewed selves in effective ways in our inner and outer worlds. (If you like your reading just as it is, you don’t have to modify it; just visualize yourself going through the process it depicts.)

Perspectives on Judgment, Part 3

2010-04-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Continuing to ponder how Judgment’s principles of rebirth and renewal apply to readings done last Sunday, two of the readings contained all heavy-hitting Major Arcana cards.

One 3-card spread was Justice, Judgment, and the World, suggesting more outward-looking transformations experienced on a larger social scale, that is, personal renewal achieved by promoting principles of justice and balance. (The person who drew this is a Libra, so one thinks of Gail Fairfield’s “Choice Centered Astrology,” which describes the Libra/Venus mission as creating beauty and harmony; also, when you get cards that strongly suggest your own astrological sign or significators, this suggests being yourself.) The World can suggest expressing these qualities in your personal life and environment, but there is also a sense of bringing harmony to more extended spheres of influence. If I’m not getting things mixed up, I believe this reading was done with the Ciro Marchetti Divine Legacy Tarot, so again, you have the central angel harmonizing the principles to either side of the Judgment card as part of this renewal process, (and creating continuity between these principles). There are similarities between Justice and Judgment, because both imply some critical decision making, and there is natural continuity between Judgment and the World, because as the last two cards in the Majors, the World follows Judgment as part of the natural progression through transformation to a higher and happier state of being.

The other reading, which featured Death, Judgment, and the Tower, reveals transformative processes that are profound and ongoing. We had been talking about how the card to the left of Judgment can reveal parts of you that you may have left behind, and that you can renew yourself by rediscovering these personalities, qualities, or interests. However, the person who drew these cards was a younger person still in school, so we tended more to look at the Death card as perhaps pertaining to the different Selves one may try on and then discard in the process of making decisions about what studies and careers to pursue. This could apply to a lot of other things a person can be identified with, such as peer groups, friendships, personal interests, beliefs and causes—because they all go into that sense of Self. To feel a little more at ease with having to deal with major transformations, you could think about where, in your past as well as in your current life, have you been able to use what we might call shape-shifting skills in adapting to different circumstances, different groups of people, different peoples’ demands on you, and so on? How have you been remaking yourself.

Another thing—which I didn’t think to mention—is Heinrich Böll’s reflection that, “The artist carries Death within him, like a good priest his breviary.” I didn’t think to ask whether this individual was an art student, but I know a lot of young people deal with a degree of intensity in their artistic explorations that generates internal drama. If you identify with this, Death and the Tower can have bearing on art as a continuing transformation process. The Tower can denote a jolt of inspiration, but from the artists’ point of view, it could also be about disassembling and reassembling one’s art installations to get different creative combinations. Here, you can welcome transformations as opportunities for self-invention and creative performance.

I think the deck used for this reading was the “Mystic Dreamer Tarot,” with art by Heidi Darras and text by Barbara Moore. In this deck, the Judgment angel faces left, the direction of the past, which, being the side of the Death card, also suggests that a return to a past transformation may be a source of renewal. The Death card features a shrouded grim reaper figure, from which emerges an ecstatic spirit woman made of starlight, which further suggests that idea of creative self-invention and re-invention.

I have a little bit more to say about the Judgment readings, but as I have to devote several days to family matters, I probably won’t get back to this til next week.

Perspectives on Judgment, Part 2

2010-04-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

To pick up where I left off, at Sunday’s session, we had been doing card search readings focused on the Judgment card, and the cards flanking it as showing an area of your life or personality that could undergo renewal and an area of life or activity where you can express your new sense of selfhood.

In the case of the person whose first card was the Queen of Wands, the key to rejuvenation could be to reignite some very fiery, feminine inner self. (The deck used was Ciro Marchetti’s Legacy Tarot, whose Wands Queen has a smoldering gaze.) Queens are particularly concerned with nurturing the qualities of their suit, so how might that suggest some form of self nurturing? The flanking card in this reading was the King of Cups, which could denote a different facet of self expression (with regard to taking charge in some emotional matters), but which in this particular case also seemed to have bearing on a personal relationship. In this Marchetti deck, the Judgment angel’s outspread arms and glowing hands reach out to beyond the picture space, which has the graphic effect of spiritually joining whatever is featured in the flanking cards--in this case uniting the Queen of Wands and King of Cups.

The Empress, which two persons drew, also involves re-awakening that inner feminine creativity, but as part of a grander vision of how life could be improved and made more beautiful. In some of my January and February posts, I talked about this (2010) as being an Empress year with the potential to nurture dreams, so this could be an especially significant year for these individuals, pointing to major opportunities for remaking themselves. One of these persons drew the Sun as the other card, which indicates that the Empress qualities can be allowed to shine, bringing health, happiness, and recognition. The combination of Judgment and the Sun may predict recognition that brings promotion. I don’t remember what the other person’s flanking card was, or which decks were used. (Anyone and everyone: feel free to post here to refresh my memory if I have forgotten your reading or gotten parts of it wrong.)

To be continued.

Some Perspectives on Readings with the Judgment Card

2010-04-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

For those who weren’t with us on Sunday, one of the things we did was get out the Tarot decks and pose a request to the effect, “Please show me where I can experience new life.” Then, we shuffled and went through our decks until we came to the Judgment card, and noted the cards to either side of it. As we discussed, the card to the left of Judgment can represent parts of your Self that could stand to undergo renewal, transformation, or uplifting--often because they can represent aspects of your personality or other interests that you had to suppress in trying accommodate society and make your way in the world. The card to the right of Judgment shows ways that you can express your rejuvenated selfhood.

When I got home Sunday evening, I tried to reconstruct some of the card combinations that came up. I can’t remember all of the readings, as there are some that I’m fuzzy about, so in the future I’ll have to take notes. Now, as time permits, I’ll try to write down a few observations on what I recall. As I’m not able to get to my computer on most days, it will take a little while to work through this.

From what I recall, a number of the first drawn cards (on the left of Judgment) were what we call “people” cards, in that they feature certain Tarot personalities. Among these were the Knight of Swords, the Queen of Wands, the Knight of Pentacles, and the Empress.

The Knights represent your ability to get involved in something in a very focused way, so in the context of this reading for resurrection/rejuvenation, the people who got knights might think back on focused activities of the past that made them feel “in the flow,” “in the zone,” that made the sense of time go away or made them feel alive and invigorated with a sense of new possibilities. In the case of the Knight of Pentacles, this could denote immersion in some material world activities such as crafts, or gardening, or looking after some basic financial or maintenance concerns, whereas the Knight of Swords could pertain to involvement in ideas and causes.

The person who drew the Knight of Pentacles was using the “Universal Fantasy Tarot,” which portrays the Knight as a small, black goblin who rides a squirrel which is clutching a coin. This imagery very much suggests focusing on the little things, including what some people might look down upon as money-grubbing details. If this card comes up for you in this context, it could mean that you have been neglecting some of the basic contingencies of life, perhaps out of a desire to focus on more spiritually refined ideals. If so, the Knight of Pentacles gives you “permission” to indulge your more materialistic instincts, (consider the instinctual activities of the squirrel), as something that would be beneficial at this time. The card to the right of Judgment was the 2 of Swords, which indicates that attention to small, material details can be helpful in mediating relationships, and that this ability to create balance between Self and Other, or between other individuals, (such as two children?), can lead to greater confidence and harmony.

By the way, when we did the bibliomancy, where we pulled random books off the shelves and read passages, I think that the person who drew the Knight of Pentacles was the same person who pulled a book on gardening. I no longer remember the message, but it may have been on gardening as a focusing activity. Taking another look at the “Universal Fantasy” card, I see that the goblin knight and his squirrel are portrayed amidst a bed of golden flowers, (which also has implications for prosperity). Those of you who were taking notes might want to give some more thought as to whether your bibliomancy has any resonance with your Tarot reading.

I do not recall which deck was used with the Knight of Swords, but the other card in the reading was the Magician. Because the Magician is concerned with achieving worldly mastery through exploration of the elemental qualities of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, this spread would suggest applying Knight of Swords intensity to the quest for knowledge and skill.

In my next installment, I’ll get into the Queen and Empress. In the meantime, Barb Moore has been posting a really excellent series of articles on the Court Cards on the Llewellyn Journal webpage. The one on the Knights can be found at http://llewellynjournal.com/journal/article/2101. Barb does a really great job of getting to the essence of the court characters, to better understand what they mean when they come up in your readings.

More Magical Uses for Easter Eggs

2010-04-06T14:35:00.001-07:00

At Sunday’s Magical Chat, in discussing magical uses for Easter eggs, we talked about how eggs are used in different shamanic healing techniques, and my idea of how one could enhance such techniques by using eggs dyed in herbs and spices with beneficial qualities. An example was turmeric, which can be used to color eggs, and how in India, both Hindu and Muslim brides as well as babies may be rubbed with turmeric because of its auspicious golden glow. Looking through various sources on natural dyes for Easter eggs, I see that some other substances used to color eggs include beets, red cabbage, red onions, walnut husks, coffee grounds, caraway seed, sage, spinach, marjoram, young beech or wild apple leaves, and cherry or crab apple bark.

Also, I have been looking through my notes on traditional healers, and thought you might enjoy reading about some specific instances where eggs are used. The following comes from “The Mixe of Oaxaca: Religion, Ritual, and Healing,” by Frank J. Lipp. The author had gotten a bit of fright after falling into a ravine on one of his rambles. Because the Mixe (like many traditional peoples) believe fright deranges your energy body with a form of soul loss, he called in a healer. Lipp relates, “Beginning with the most painful area, she then rubbed my head with two eggs. The state of fright is not absorbed by the eggs but ‘taken off’ before it can spread through the body …” [Lipp 178]. The curer afterward buried the two eggs as an offering to the “Night Wind,” which she considered to be the malign spirit that seized his soul on the mountainside where the accident occurred.

This practice of rubbing the body with eggs is very widespread, especially in Latin and Middle Eastern culture areas, as well as South America. In her book, “Woman Who Glows in the Dark: A Curandera Reveals Traditional Aztec Secrets of Physical and Spiritual Health,” Elena Avila explains how she has found the egg useful in her practice of curanderismo: “I have been astonished at how rubbing an egg over someone’s body has helped me to read their energy. This tool has become a doorway that helps me to read peoples’ souls.” (The egg rub is part of the “limpia,” a spiritual revitalization process.) Avila is also able to use the egg in divinatory diagnosis, by breaking the egg and dropping it into a glass of water to “read” it, once the ritual treatment is finished. She says, “What I do at such times is to look at the relationship between the egg yolk, which symbolizes the individual, and the egg white, which represents the energy that does not belong to the client because she has just released it in the ceremony of the five directions.” [Avila 36, 166] Note that Avila uses the term “energy that does not belong to you” as a way of describing intrusive energy forms that others might label as evil spirits.

The next example is more unique, because it involves eating an egg as a way of recovering a lost soul fragment. This comes from Venetia Newall’s “An Egg at Easter,” and the original source is a 1966 National Geographic article by Peter Kunstader, who was working in northern Thailand, and reported a situation where, “a member of the Karen tribe [was] cured of fever when one of his thirty-two souls—which had escaped and so caused the illness—was recaptured inside a hard-boiled egg. Friends called to the soul repeatedly and, when they were able to balance the egg on a small stick stuck in the ground, they knew it had heard and gone inside. The sick man was then given this to eat and made a good recovery” [Newall 109]. This concept of having multiple souls is also very widespread, so dealing with soul loss is something which plays a primary role in shamanic cultures everywhere.

If you’ve ever experienced feelings of disorientation or fragmentation, you could be said to be experiencing a form of soul loss. To perform a little self healing after traumatic incidents have left you feeling a bit “beside yourself,” you could decorate an egg with your name, your birth-date, your astrological symbol, and other symbols that are special to you, then ceremonially eat the egg with the idea that you’re pulling some of your own energies back into your body. This would also be a nice treat for a child who has had a bad day at school, or any of the other number of upsets that children are sensitive to.

Incidentally, the idea of charming the wandering soul fragment into an egg reminds me of Russian fairytales in which a sorcerer hides his heart or spirit in an egg.

In Communication with the Universe

2010-03-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

I’m in the process of reading “The Secret Life of Nature” by Peter Tompkins (co-author of “The Secret Life of Plants”), which especially deals with the Fairy World as part of a Universe that is intensely alive and in constant communication with us. Tompkins’ statement that, “The idea that the entire universe communicates with the interior of our bodies and minds has been part of esoteric religious tradition for thousands of years” [213],” also has implications for divination techniques like Tarot and Bibliomancy.

Ancient peoples viewed divination as more than just a self-serving practice based on the desire to know what’s coming down the road so you can take advantage of it. When you get out your pack of Tarot cards or other divinatory tools, you are both saying and signaling, “Hey, I’m ready to pay attention.” This is a respectful act, because it amounts to paying attention to what the Living Universe is trying to tell you, and paying attention is paying respect. There is an exchange of energy here, a metaphysical coinage, an energy offering.

When we take the shamanic view, we approach the larger, Living Universe and all its individual life forms and expressions of life as kin to us. We can look at divination as a way of opening a friendly conversation with our spiritual kinfolk, so there’s nothing dark or boding or fearful about that. Persons with strong family feeling take pleasure in being in touch with extended family members; this is one of the reasons that so many Native Americans begin speeches as well as prayers with a greeting to “all of my relations.”

This can provide creative inspiration for Tarot artists: one could come up with something of an animists’ Tarot deck or Oracle, where you have not just human figures, but illustrations where the human figures are interacting with faery and spirit forms, as well as with other natural entities, and with natural and man-made features of the environment that are in some sense animated. I think I have come across some decks that at least hint at this. Can anyone jog my memory or suggest Tarot decks that illustrate this sense of communication with the larger world, and with the Intelligence of Nature?

Giving You Something to Write About—March 17, 2010

2010-03-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

With the start of April getting closer in sight, I’m pulling my stuff together for my first-Sunday-of-the-month visits to the Triple Goddess, (with the first on April 4th, which is also Easter). As always, these sessions are free and casual, and among the reasons for stopping by are that novel events like my “magical chat sessions” give you something to write about.

If you blog or keep a journal, or if you are a person who tries to be dutiful about writing letters or e-mails to friends and relatives, you know that it can sometimes be difficult to find much to say beyond reporting about the weather and everyone’s health condition. However, if you happen by the Triple Goddess on one of these Sundays when I have some activity set up, such as the Faery Friends, Dollhouse Oracle, Animal Cracker Oracle, etc., at least you can write up something like, “I stopped by the Triple Goddess today, and there was this lady who was telling fortunes with animal crackers …” (or what have you). Think about it—how many places are there in this area (or anywhere) where you can just wander in and see something like that going on? Also, if you participate in the demonstrations of Tarot reading or other oracles, that gives you additional fodder for writing, because you can explore the meaning of whatever reading you got.

Just a reminder—if you would like to further probe the significance of your readings or other topics of interest, you can post questions and comments to this blog. I will be happy to respond, because there are always so many additional insights that one can pull out of a reading or discussion.

For those who are unfamiliar, when I come to the Triple Goddess, I demonstrate Tarot techniques or other Oracle techniques (among other things). Typically a small group of people will be present, and if it involves Tarot reading, people will bring their own cards or can borrow demonstrator decks from the Triple Goddess. As we delve into whatever is the theme of the day, individuals shuffle and lay out their own cards, and then we go around the table discussing the readings. If you are shy about having your situation discussed in a group, you aren’t obligated to participate. It is OK to just look on, and you can pick up pointers for reading that way.

A big advantage of the group experience is that when people come together, their Spirit Mentors also come together. Just as individual human persons have different knowledge, insights, and talents, so do people in Spirit, so this is an opportunity to tap into the greater collective wisdom of the Spirit World. And of course, a high vibration place like the Triple Goddess already attracts the better class of spirits. Some things I hope to continue to develop throughout this year’s sessions are new ways that we can CROWD SOURCE TO SPIRIT.

This is also why I very much encourage participants and onlookers to butt in as we discuss different peoples’ readings. If someone has drawn certain cards (or whatever), and something pops into your mind about their meanings, do speak up. Even if your comment doesn’t seem entirely pertinent or significant, it may be that you are getting a message from Spirit, with something that somebody there needs to hear. Also, with the Synchronicity Factor, a message for one can be meaningful to many. Often, in analyzing or discussing someone else’s reading, things will come up that speak to my own concerns. I think this is all the more the case for group members when a number of people come together.

Another good thing about these sessions is that the good folks at the Triple Goddess allow—and indeed encourage—us to work with their demonstrator decks. So, if you’ve been thinking about buying a particular Tarot deck or other oracle deck, but are wondering how it would work for you, or if you just want to familiarize yourself with a lot of different decks, this is a great way to try them out.

By the way, among the things we’ll be doing at the April 4th session are a Tarot reading and Tarot spell on the theme of Resurrection, which will be focusing on the Judgment card. If you have a chance to come by a little early, you might take some time to go through the demonstrator decks to see if any of them have a version of the Judgment card that you’d like to try working with. Note that you don’t have to use the same deck for both the reading and the spell—it’s fine to use two different decks.

Apologies: Spammer Posted Comment

2010-02-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

I'm still relatively new to blogging, so some things still surprise me. I just had to remove a comment to the last post, because it turned out to be pornographic spam. My apologies to everybody who is following this blog! If you got the comment link in your mailbox, I wouldn't recommend following it, because it could well have viruses. I have now altered my account so new comments will be monitored before being posted. --With profuse apologies, Janina

Festival Energy

2010-02-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

A Happy Fat Tuesday to Everyone! (Or as we call it in this part of Michigan, Paczki Day.) This is the last day of Mardi Gras in New Orleans (and everywhere else, of course). Mention Mardi Gras, and most Americans think of a big boozefest, but I think it has magical potential, related to the feng shui effect which I have previously discussed in reference to Halloween and masquerading traditions. So, for example, I mentioned how a person in need of healing can engage The Principle of the Fantastic as well as the energy of the crowd, (“the swarm”), by dressing up in some outlandish get-up and parading. This form of shape-shift and the moving stream of chi both revitalize the energy body. (I apologize that I have not gotten around to tagging my older posts, but you can find some of this discussion in February of 2009 and October of 2008.)

To align yourself with the psychic energy stream that Mardi Gras generates—even if you aren’t a Catholic—it would be good to follow it with some form of fasting or abstinence, where you give up certain indulgences for a few weeks. The problem with Mardi Gras in America is that we don’t engage in fasting afterward, and without the lows, you can’t appreciate the highs, so they become meaningless bouts of overindulgence.

If you’re familiar with the movie, “The Sound of Music,” you know who Maria von Trapp is—and she was a real person who wrote a great book: “Around the Year with the Trapp Family.” In my old notes, I have some of her comments on the need for Lent, and I just did a search to verify that you can find some of this online, with keywords like “Maria Trapp ‘lean weeks of Lent.’” To paste in a few quotes from Maria Trapp:

“Nobody could stand a Thanksgiving Day dinner every day of the year. There can only be mountains if there are also valleys. It is a pity that the Reformation did away not only with most of the sacraments and all of the sacramentals, but also, unfortunately, with the very breath of the Mystical Body — that wonderful, eternal rhythm of high and low tide that makes up the year of the Church … Modern man lost track of this. Deep down in the human heart, however, is imbedded the craving to celebrate, and, in a dumb way, the other craving to abstain, perhaps to atone. In general, these cravings are no longer directed in seasonal channels, ... So modern man one day — any day — gets up and says, ‘Let's celebrate!’ And without any warrant, he decrees that his town from now on will have a festival on, let's say, August 18th; and as he can dance and eat and drink on any day between January 1st and December 31st, the most he will experience is a ‘good time.’ But he will never be able to "celebrate a feast.’”

Turning to other seasonal events, we have just entered the Chinese New Year of the Tiger, so, Happy New Year! The official start date was this past Sunday, which was also Valentine’s Day, so the celebrational energy has been very high, with so many festivities falling so close to each other.

A Year that Nurtures Dreams

2010-02-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

A special Empress quality that I alluded to previously is the ability to nurture creative dreams, so I’m hopeful that this year as an entity will help nurture all of our dreams.

The Empress is a tarot card that brings up a number of archetypal goddess associations, and the Empress ability to nurture dreams can be related to Jean Shinoda Bolen’s discussion of “Vision Carriers” in relation to Aphrodite as Alchemical Goddess in her book, “Goddesses in EveryWoman,” pp. 229-32. (Tarot illustrators have traditionally incorporated Venus/Aphrodite iconography into the Empress card.) In stressing the necessity of believing in your dreams and working to actualize them, Bolen points out that, “Often it is essential that another significant person believe that dream is possible: that person is a vision carrier, whose faith is often crucial.”

Bolen goes on to discuss how special women have often acted as vision carriers in offering encouragement to notable men, but regrets that it has been less common for men to nurture the Dream for women in their lives. Be that as it may, when we become aware of how important it is to offer encouragement, we can all become Vision Carriers for more people, and the Empress year prompts us to think about how we can offer encouragement on a larger scale. To help understand how this has played out in your life, think about all of the people you’ve encountered who have encouraged you in one way or another.

One can also think of ways that Society has helped nurture some individual dreams. For example, as a youngster in the city of Detroit, my school system sent me to Saturday classes for talented kiddies at the Detroit Art Institute. Each weekend, we carried our boards and easels into a different wing of that museum, to study and translate our inspiration from the art of different cultures and masters; this was very enriching and enabled me to feel special. I believe that when both individual persons as well as social institutions help young people to feel special, they are less likely to become alienated and anti-social.

By the way, a current film that conveys the Empress quality of Vision carrying is the recent Disney animation, “The Princess and the Frog.” If you haven’t seen it yet, I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler if I mention that the prince in the story undergoes major transformations after being turned into a frog. Prince Naveen had always been lazy and selfish, but as a result of his adventures in the swamp with Tiana, he resolves to work hard to make her dreams come true. I have heard that this movie has not done well at the box office, but for magical people, it’s a “must see.” Also, I love the priestess, Mama Odie, and her bottle tree—and the Shadow Man is right up there with the other great Disney villains.

Our Years in Memory

2010-02-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

To pick up on the previous discussion of 2010 as an Empress Year because 2010 adds up, numerologically, to the Empress’s number “3,” this gives us a way to think of the year in terms of a personality. So, as different events occur in our lives and in the larger world, we can reflect on how these events either relate to or do not relate to Empress qualities. Of course, the same principle applies to our personal Year Cards, so we can also reflect on how well these cards are able to characterize our more personal experience of the year. (See the previous post explaining personal Year Cards.) However, in looking back, it may be easier to associate the card for the year as a whole, (as opposed to the personal Year Card), because there’s a little less math involved.

Thinking of different years as different personalities is a good mnemonic, (i.e., it helps us form memory clusters). When, in later years, we look back on our personal timelines, we might reminisce, “Oh yes, that event happened during an Empress year, and it was followed by that other event in the Emperor year, leading to such-and-such a development in the Hierophant year.” (This example could pertain to a situation where you started acting on a creative dream one year, had established some foundations for it by the next year, and had achieved some social authority in your relative field the following year.)

Also, mindful that 2010 is an Empress year, whenever the Empress comes up in a Tarot reading, you can think about how the matters it pertains to relate to your experience of 2010 as a whole. (Again, this also applies to your personal Year Card.)

Year Cards offer an additional level of interpretation to apply when you are doing tarot readings that involve a time line reaching into the past or future. So, if you are working toward some long-term goal and wondering when you’ll reap the rewards, if the Chariot (#7) comes up in a critical position such as the outcome position, that could—in addition to whatever else that card normally represents--denote the year 2014, (or whichever year is your personal Chariot Year). Similarly, when you are working with card spreads that include a position pertaining to the past, (such as the “below you” position in the Celtic Cross spread, which can sometimes point to past influences that exert an Unconscious motivating force), you might add up the numbers to see if the card in question may also point to a particular year whose significant events left a lasting impression or have some other bearing on the present matter.

CORRECTION TO YESTERDAY’S POST--ON YEAR CARDS

2010-01-31T09:04:00.000-08:00

When I wrote about Year Cards yesterday, I fired off my post in too much haste, so I didn’t adequately explain the method for calculating year cards, and that in combining numerology with tarot, you can experience year cards going up to the number 21. That is because in the narrowly focused technique I was describing, I was just concerned with the most basic building blocks of peoples’ experience, as personal year experiences are informed by the year as a whole, which is an Empress year, and hence my reason for distilling the birth date and Year Card numbers to between 1 and 9.

So, to clarify the basic year card technique, the way you get your personal year card is you add your birth day and your birth month to the current year. So, for a person born on January 4th, he/she would add 1 + 4 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 0, which gets 8, and corresponds to the Strength card, while a person born on June 23rd would get 14 (6 + 2 + 3 + 2 +0 + 1 + 0 = 14), which corresponds to Temperance. However, if a person was born on January 4th and the current year happened to be 2098, his or her numbers would add up to 24, (1 + 4 + 2 + 0 + 9 + 8 =24), which takes us outside of the tarot deck. In that case, he or she would have to add 2 + 4 to get 6 (the Lovers) for a personal year number. Because 2010 gives us such a low number (3) with which to do magical numerology, most of us won’t have to break our numbers down too many times to get a number below 22.

So that is how you find your personal year card, though there are other nuances. Angeles Arrien, who as I have said I believe invented the technique, reckons the year from birthday to birthday, as opposed to the calendar year. However, others go by the calendar year, and I tend to go along with that, because in our cognitive perception and memory, we tend to experience years as entities. Thus, when Queen Elizabeth had had a particularly bad year, she described it as her “annus horribilus,” and a lot of us think of 2001 in a certain way, due to 9-11.

Now, getting back to yesterday’s exercise that involved looking at 2010 as an Empress Year, and thinking about how that could combine with our personal year card experiences: for the purposes of that particular exercise, I was having everybody condense their year card numbers to one digit between 1 and 9, because as I have said, we were looking at the most basic building blocks of the experience. Also, when you have a year card number or other type of number of 10 or above, you have one of the 1-through-9 numbers as a seed or shadow factor at work. So, a person whose Year Card number is 13 (Death), has 4 (the Emperor) as a background influence--and when you think about it, both Death and the Emperor are concerned with consolidation and setting limitations as a way of forming structures; (a “terminus” is necessary in laying out and defining a structure). Looking at the lower numbered cards as factors in the higher numbered cards, in fact, viewing them as “tarot constellations” is another Angeles Arrien innovation introduced in “The Tarot Handbook,” and further developed by Mary K. Greer in “Tarot Constellations.”

CLAIMING YOUR POWER IN 2010

2010-01-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

As we get farther into 2010, we can also think about its tarot card correspondence, which is The Empress (2 + 0 + 1 + 0 = 3, the number of the Empress card). Last year’s card was Justice, and at that time I wrote about how that might have pertained to the new Obama administration and other world trends. As the Empress stands for abundance, as well as the ability to nourish creative visions, let’s hope that this is good news for the economy, as well as a good year for “cultural creatives.”

To get a notion of what an Empress year could mean for you personally, add the day and month of your birth, and then break that number down, if necessary, to a number between 1 and 9. So, March 7th = 3 + 7 = 10 = 1 + 0 = 1. Now, consider how traditional numerological symbolism harmonizes your number with the Empress qualities. So, if your birth day plus month equals 1, the pioneering impulse of the Number 1 unites with the Empress’s creative abundance (3). Adding those numbers, 1 + 3 = 4, we see that your initiative combined with the Empress’s creative abundance will lead to the Number 4’s stable foundations. Because the Number 4 also corresponds to the Emperor card, that brings additional nuances to the interpretation; in this case, the Emperor’s ability to “make it so.” So, in this particular example, while The Empress is the year card for 2010, the Emperor is the year card for the individual whose birth day and month add up to 1. (You get your year card by adding your birth day and month to whatever the current year is, and then reducing those numbers as described.)

What we are doing is looking at how larger Empress Year qualities shape the individual’s experience of his or her personal year card.

I don’t know for sure who came up with the original idea of linking birth date numerology to tarot cards, but I believe it was Angeles Arrien, because in Mary Greer’s 1984 book, “Tarot for Your Self,” Greer demonstrates a number of these techniques, including how to find Personality and Soul cards, and credits Arrien as having taught this to her. You can learn a lot more about creating your “tarot profile” in Greer’s book, as well as in Arrien’s, “The Tarot Handbook.”

To continue with how the Empress year might be experienced by the other numbers:

For the person whose birth day and month add up to the number 2, the Empress’s creative abundance combines with the value you place on relationships, leading to more stimulating and meaningful ways of engaging larger groups of people, (#5). The additional energy of the Hierophant as your year card can help you communicate these things.

For number 3, the Empress’s creative abundance combines with your natural creativity, doubling the benefits and leading to the easy expression of good energies, (#6), often in a community of celebration. The additional energy of the Lovers as your year card can help you harmonize these energies.

For #4, the Empress’s creative abundance combines with your ability to create structure, leading to a workable creative vision (#7). The additional energy of the Chariot as your year card can help you take control of your life.

For #5, the Empress’s creative abundance combines with your versatility in channeling multiple energies, enabling you to achieve critical mass in your ability to influence larger communication networks (#8). The additional energy of Strength as your year card can help you grapple with these energies.

For #6, the Empress’s creative abundance combines with your ability to promote social harmony, leading to a wealth of opportunities, (#9). The additional energy of the Hermit as your year card can help you discriminate, to focus on the more meaningful paths.

For #7, the Empress’s creative abundance combines with your visionary ability to see ahead of your time, leading to pioneering innovations (#1). The additional energy of the Magician as your year card can help you identify resources.

For #8, the Empress’s creative abundance combines with your ability to organize your world, leading to rewarding relationships and your ability to nurture others (#2). The additional energy of the High Priestess as your year card can help you gain the necessary insights.

For #9, the Empress’s creative abundance combines with your ability to multiply your options and resources, leading to even greater creative abundance (#3). The additional energy of the Empress as your year card can help you nurture your dreams.

In the above examples, I arrived at the potential interpretations by blending and harmonizing the qualities of the different numbers and cards involved. Each new year will be different of course, because it involves new numbers and tarot archetypes that are blended in a different mix in a different way. For people who are really into numerology, there are additional levels of complication that could be brought in, but I won’t get into that.

Finally, you can also use your numbers for this year to create a personalized “tarot spell of the year.” So, in the example of a person whose birth day and month add up to the #1, you could lay out The Magician (which is card 1), the Empress (the card of 2010), and the Emperor (your personal year card), and visualize yourself bringing about the changes you’d like to see through actions associated with these cards. Similar principals apply for the other numbers, unless your birth day and month add up to #3 or 9, because then your spell would require two Empress cards; however, it’s OK to just make do with one Empress, or raid another deck.

AUSPICIOUS BEGINNINGS AT THE END OF JANUARY

2010-01-29T07:14:00.000-08:00

Belated New Years greetings to everyone! I have been using my time to work on what will eventually be a book on activating the magic within individual tarot cards. I actually started on that book many years ago, but then the project stalled, so for the month of January 2010, I was really keen to renew my efforts and make some headway on that. (And I have a bunch of other projects in addition to that one.) The writing is slow going, due to the demands of work, school, and family. I work as a transcriber, so when I come home after eight hours in front of the computer and a long commute, I’m feeling pretty stiff, and it’s hard to force myself to get back in front of the computer to do my programming and other homework, let alone to write. On top of that, I have certain relatives who need my undivided attention, so I seldom have free weekends. I take various evening classes, weekend seminars, and online classes working towards developing skills in multimedia and web development, but I’ve had to cut back on the classes due to the family obligations.

Actually, when I am writing, I don’t do my composing in front of the computer. All of my stuff for books and articles I write by hand, on scratch paper, while sitting in bed, or at lunch, or whatever. Consequently, I have thousands and thousands of notes that I have yet to transcribe to disk and integrate into article and book projects. I can’t compose in front of the computer because that causes me to fall into a trance, due to the brain disorders I have as an Asperger’s person. I’d like to say I see fairies while in trance, (like the Victorians believed you could do when you fell into in a “brown study”), but I only experience it as a temporary form of non-existence. Transcribing does not cause me to go into trance, because it involves different sensory functions, and programming is also different, especially as I’m a new learner.

Looking back on the beginning of this year, people often make New Year’s resolutions, and it is often joked that half of those resolutions are broken by the end of the first day. For this reason, I think we should also celebrate January 2nd, as a day for second chances, and to affirm that we all need and deserve second chances. By the same token, if January is the month for new beginnings, February could be considered the month for second chances. This is make all the more meaningful by the fact that Chinese New Year falls in February. Even if you aren’t Chinese, you can seize on this as a chance to celebrate anew, and to renew your commitment to improvement.

Indeed, if we look at the world’s New Years festivals, we see that they fall throughout the year: Iran and some other Middle Eastern societies start the year at Spring Equinox, Thai New Year is in April, Jewish Rosh Hashanah is in September, and the Celts had two new years—May 1st and November 1st . There’s always another New Year coming along. I’m not suggesting, here, that we get lazy about our resolutions for self betterment. Rather, I look at it in the spirit of that old 1970’s cliché, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” With each dawning, we are renewed.

A Cavalcade of Tarot Characters and Faeries

2009-10-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Next Sunday, November 1st, will be my final magical chat for this year, and because it is the day after Halloween, I will demonstrate the technique of passing Tarot card characters from multiple decks around the circle in a way that lets you participate in a masked Halloween procession without having to get out of your chair. (We did this at the same time last year.) Based on the idea that masked processions circulate chi through a community, the purpose of parading the cards is to circulate their archetypal potencies through your energy field, in a way that has a regenerative effect. (See previous October’s posts I’ve done on the “feng shui” of Halloween—I haven’t had a chance to go back and put tags on my old posts, but hope to do that eventually.

Also, because Halloween is a time of the year when the faery mounds open and the faery people go trooping over human byways, this is a time for faery magic. Because I haven’t done much with the faery cards this year, (other than May Day/Beltane, which is the other big faery high day), I’ll demonstrate readings using the Fairy Ring oracle deck to see what Faery World energies are at work in your life this Halloween-tide. I’ll also pass out faery friends from the Froud deck, and, if there is some time left over, do other sorts of readings with the different faery oracles.

Upcoming Session—plus more about why spell casting is good for you

2009-09-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

I am getting stuff together for the next magical chat, which will be on October 4th. In addition to seeking continued words of wisdom from the spirit mentors by using "collaborative tarot," I will demonstrate a tarot technique called “The Pentacle Quest.” Premised on the idea that we’re always on some kind of a quest, it takes you through the points of the Pentagram to show you some things about the nature of your current quest, including what stage you’re at in that quest. Then we will transform our readings into Pentacle Spells. Also, if time permits, I will demonstrate a tarot technique for identifying “Your Next Luck-Bringer.”

Now, to pick up on the previous idea of asserting the will to disrupt the bodymind’s stasis and establish a new regime: when we look at certain disciplines like Yoga, which have both physical and spiritual components, or when we look at traditional magic and healing practices, we can see that they often involve all sorts of actions which, by putting your through your paces, take you out of your homeostatic routines and force you to assert your will in ways both physical and mental, and large and small.

In the case of magic, different types of spells often require you to assemble special ingredients, and set time and space aside for little rituals; this can also involve repeating such rituals over an extended period of time. Magic rites have a transformative effect because even those spells which are intended to work changes in your outer world are a sort of self-enchantment: by acting on your bodymind they necessarily involve changes in consciousness.

As great sources of spells and rituals for self-enchantment, here let me plug my books “Tarot Spells” and “By Candlelight," which are designed to be nondenominational and provide simple rites and spells with anyone can do; for people who enjoy the ritual experience, there are added suggestions for things you can do to enhance these rites and spells. [I will add links to my books when I’m able to get around to it.] Of course, there are many other excellent ritual and spell books out there.

Furthermore, if you want to devote some time to spell casting, the spells you try your hand at don’t even have to apply to your larger goals in order to serve as acts of will. For example, your larger goal may be to lose weight or to quit smoking, but, as an exercise in will power, you could make a daily practice of doing spells to attract luck, promote prosperity, or send healing energy to a friend, or rituals to release stress or to honor your ancestors or the nature spirits—among the numerous other ritual actions that can serve as the basis for daily practice.

Training the Will

2009-09-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

At the September 6 magical chat session, we were discussing how the Page cards of tarot can apply to taking on new disciplines, and one of the topics that came up in relation to this is the problem of will power. This is an issue addressed by Elmer and Alyce Green in their book, “Beyond Biofeedback.” They point out that our bodymind systems settle in to and try to maintain a “homeostasis,” which is a static condition of being that includes both the good and the bad. So, whenever we try to make a change—even if it’s a change for the better—our bodyminds reflexively rise to resist the change by throwing all kinds of obstacles in our way and undermining our willpower. However, if a person can persist and do enough to unsettle the status quo by introducing different sorts of changes and carrying out large and small acts of will, the bodymind’s efforts at maintaining homeostasis can be disrupted to the point where it is possible to establish new patterns. This allows the bodymind to eventually settle in to a newer, healthier condition of homeostasis. Also, because the bodymind is a unit, any things you can do to work on the body will also help the mind, and things you do to affect the mind will benefit the body.

Consequently, when you want to cultivate will power, think of different things you can do to exercise your will. These acts of will don’t even have to specifically apply to the sort of changes you want to bring about. As an example, the Greens cite Robert Assagioli’s suggestion of standing on a chair for ten minutes a day, just to be doing something different enough to be laying down a new discipline. (This is also an example of how unusual actions can make a special impression on the bodymind--which is why shamans often incorporate outlandish acts and gestures into their practices.)

Some simple things that a person can do as daily practice might include taking the time to brew and drink a cup of healthful herbal tea (especially if, like me, you’re the kind of person who would climb over a mountain of herbal tea to get at a cup of coffee), or greeting the rising sun (possibly with the yogic “sun salutation” exercise), or giving up a regular TV program in order to do something more productive, or doing various other things that are good for you but which you normally wouldn’t take the time or have the inclination to do. You could also make a practice of daily spiritual devotions, little magical spells, or other types of simple rituals. Reframing attitudes can also be part of daily practice. So, if you get into negative feedback loops by dwelling on regrets, push those thoughts out of your mind and replace them with positive.

This business of asserting your will in things both small and large is also an area where the tarot can help. You can approach the cards with a question like, “What can I do as an act of Will?” Then shuffle and cut, and pull the top card, interpreting it as a card of advice rather than a card of prediction. Think about how the card’s traditional meanings and its graphic imagery suggest actions that you can carry out. (This technique of interpreting the cards in terms of what suggestions they have to offer is the subject of my book, “Tarot, Your Everyday Guide.”) Alternatively—or in addition—you could go through your shuffled deck to find the Magician, which has a lot to do with asserting the will as a way of attaining mastery in the world. The Magician’s tools are the elemental powers of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, so look to the cards flanking the Magician to see which elemental forces are highlighted, then consider how these, along with the flanking cards’ meanings and imagery might suggest ideas for entraining your will. You can turn your reading into a tarot spell by envisioning yourself as the Magician, carrying out the actions you want to incorporate into your routine.

Turning Pages in the Book of Life

2009-09-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today I want to say a few words about one of the Tarot techniques we tried at the Triple Goddess, last Sunday, September 6^th. In keeping with the beginning of the semester, we asked the cards, “Please show me how I can get the most out of this semester’s learning experience.” (If you’re enrolled in classes, you can apply this literally to your course work, but we’re all students in the School of Life.) Then, we shuffled and cut our decks, then went through them until we came to the first Page card in the pile, because whether the Page was Cups, Wands, Swords, or Pentacles denoted the recommended mode of learning. Also, whichever cards were flanking the Page provided advice on how to, or what sort of matters to, apply that learning style. We then did Tarot spells by selecting cards to gift our Pages with “school supplies” (i.e. the resources we desire), and then to form an image of what we ultimately hope to get out of this season’s learning experience, whether that be at MSU, LCC, or what have you—or the School of Life.

Probably most of us have faced learning challenges which, though initially difficult, were mastered when we were able to achieve a state of “flow,” where we really “got into it” and achieved an “aha” state of comprehension, where things started clicking. The Page that comes up in your reading denotes a mental mode to get into to confront certain learning challenges; if you can emulate that Page’s mode of learning and style of thinking and acting, things will come together for you.

One way to get into character is to think of learning challenges you have faced in the past, where things started falling into place once you either immersed yourself in the Page of Swords’ cutting, intellectual mode of investigating your subject; the Page of Pentacles’ hands-on approach to practical, first-hand experience; the Page of Wands’ eagerly inquisitive, communicative, multi-tasking approach to the subject; or the Page of Cups’ ability to open to the subject emotionally and find spiritual meaning in it. Drawing on these past experiences by evoking those memories as vividly as you can will help you re-capture the confidence and enthusiasm which accompanied your mastery of those situations. Also, when you try to step into the mode of one of the Page cards, (or any court card or other personality card), to accomplish a certain goal, try to adjust your thinking (for the time being) to alter your self image, so you can easily envision yourself thinking and acting like the characters you have chosen to emulate.

Reenacting a particular Page’s mode of learning is a form of regression because it bends time and takes you back to a facet of yourself in your youth—one of your younger self’s ways of engaging the world. I have a theory that when we are able to effect positive forms of regression, this reactivation of an earlier self puts us in a state where we can recapture some of the benefits of the younger mind and body, which include not only rapid learning, but things like high energy and a faster, enhanced healing capacity. I have encountered the term “regression in service of the ego” used in reference to shamanic practitioners, and skillful regression is something of a shamanic, shape-shifting performance. In addition to the use of Tarot imagery, a person could use other hypno-suggestive cues, such as bringing out some toys from your childhood or engaging in activities or going to places that are associated with the positive experiences of your past. Even if you don’t have specific goals, you might want to indulge in this from time to time, just as a way to refresh your energy body.

This Sunday: Spirit Mentors and The School of Life

2009-09-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have previously brought up the idea that when we gather in a place like The Triple Goddess, where the good vibrations are elevated, it is easier to receive messages from the spirit mentors who are always available to us in an extra-dimensional sort of way—and that our respective spirit helpers are able to hobnob with each other and share information. In regard to Tarot readings, I may also have mentioned that the mere act of getting out a pack of Tarot cards is a way of “signaling to the spirits” because of the motions involved, the attention directed toward the language of symbolism, and the fact that you are doing something that is going outside of your everyday boundaries. At some of my magical chats, I have also talked about how when we are able to act on some of the advice that the spirits are able to give us, that enables them to make some good Karma, because it is actually very difficult for the residents of the Ghost World to earn Karma. (In other words, when we are able to let them help us, we help them.) Because I want to do more to engage these possibilities, for the next three sessions, starting this Sunday, September 6th, I’ll see if we can begin with the form of “collaborative Tarot” we tried last November, where we get advice from multiple spirit mentors. [Note: the basic idea of collaborative Tarot comes from Valerie Sim’s book, “Tarot Outside the Box,” and we’ve been elaborating on that, in a way.]

Then, because September is the month we associate with going back to school, I will demonstrate a special Tarot technique for seeing what this new semester is going to bring. This is literal for those of us who are taking classes, but even if you’re not enrolled in school, we’re all students in the school of life. Along with this, we can bring in Tarot spells for getting the “school supplies” we need, and getting the most out of the semester’s learning experiences. I shall also pass out a bind-rune for mental potency.

If time permits, I will also demonstrate “The Dollhouse Oracle” which works on the principle that the features of a house engage many metaphors for different states of being. If time does not permit, I’ll make the Dollhouse Oracle the main feature of October’s meeting, which is Sunday, October 4th.

Faery World/ Ancestor World Connections

2009-08-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

Because seemingly all cultures have recognized and maintained ritual relationships with different types of faeries for the better part of human history, a large number of our ancestors have interacted with faeries as individual personalities and as collective entities. With this knowledge, we can reactivate beneficial relationships with the faeries that our ancestors knew, and come to a psychological understanding of challenging relationships that may in some way act as family curses, (i.e. to acknowledge and then make peace with them).

For August 2nd's magical chat session, each person posed the request, "Please show me a Faery World influence that has been associated with my family ancestors," and then selected one image from the "Fairy Circle" Oracle by Mason and Franklin, and one from the Froud "Faeries Oracle." I use these decks because they depict actual faery entities--some from traditional culture, and some "revealed." (There are Tarot decks and others that use faeries in their illustrations, but I'm not aware of any others that present faeries as personalities you can engage with.) So, what are some ways that ancestors might have experienced some of these faery energies, and how can these past associations be of interest to us, today? I don't have time to elaborate on all of them, but here are a few of the categories that came up:

One way that people encounter faeries is as Nature spirits, some of which can be expressions, manifestations, and voices of the Intelligence of Nature herself. So, considering some of the cards that came out of the Fairy Circle deck, the appearance of "The Sea Mither" may indicate ancestors who made their living by the sea, or other coastal peoples who relied on the sea's abundance, while the "Woodwose," the sort of wild man phased into green man may indicate a connection with the deep woods or wilderness areas, and suggests a hermit-like escape to such places. Knowing that some ancestor relished such Nature World connections isn't necessary for cultivating a sense of kinship with Nature, but when enjoying a day in the woods or by the seaside, it enables you to spiritually reach across time to a kindred spirit mentor who can help open your intuition to special insights and messages from Nature. Two of the Froud images were "The Bright Mother" and "The Lady of the Harvest." These illustrate how the Faery World's intimate association with the Natural World's fertility and abundance is linked to Mother Goddess figures. I have recently been trying to learn more about how Goddesses are associated with the cult of the nymphs which exists still today among the Greeks and South Slavs, (Blum and Blum's book, "The Dangerous Hour," is a good contemporary source), but the relationship between goddesses and faeries is pan-European, and is one of the most ancient and deeply rooted forms of Nature religion. Knowing that your ancestors participated, (as all of our ancestors have done), helps us feel more welcomed into the Faery/Nature Mother's celebration of a world that is intensely alive.

Another way that humans have accessed faeries and fairy realms is through the portals of the mind, including through dreams and artistic inspiration. If certain faeries communicated with certain of your ancestors through dreams, creative work, or reveries, there's the potential for you to pick up their threads of inspiration and enchantment through your own dreams, creativity, or other imaginative exercises. I believe that two of our participants got "Laiste, Moon's Daughter," who is a guide to the imaginative realms. As Jessica Macbeth says in the Froud manual, "Laiste reaches into our deepest minds, opening long shut doors ...," and "she speaks to us in the language of symbols," so one is advised to pay attention to the symbols that pop up in dreams, as well as in the things of daily life. In relation to our topic, Laiste might put symbolic images in your path that connect you with the musings of past family visionaries. Another one chose "Penelope Dreamweaver" who "weaves tapestries in the mind with threads of light, color, and sound." It may be that Penelope will help you connect with the creative gifts of some ancestor that she also inspired.

When we look at traditional faery types, we often find them associated with arts and crafts, partly because faeries delight in the creation of beauty, but also, I think, because the often rhythmic motions involved in craftwork can put us into a meditative trance where we then become more receptive to faery inspiration. A "Fairy Ring" card that came up was Wayland Smith, the shaman-craftsman, which may well denote Faery World-Ancestor World connections that can be achieved through immersion in craftwork or other absorbing work.

One category that didn't come up was domestic faeries, (such as brownies), but this is an important category, because there is a long tradition of domestic faeries that attach themselves to generations of households and families, and connecting with them can help you find greater pleasure in what we call entropic work, (i.e. housework, yardwork, etc. that is never done), making such work a meditative exercise.

That leaves the category of more challenging faeries, some of which included the Kelpie and the Garconer (Glanconner), who are beings that can lead people into danger, and the Boggart, who may indicate disruptive forces in your home life. With those kinds of entities, one might want to think about different types of problems that get passed down through families, and whether it seems like some mischievious forces are trying to suck you in, whether it's following dangerous illusions or resurrecting old fears or arguments. However, when you can put a face on a problem, (even a face on a faery card), that can help you objectify it in a way that makes it more manageable. You can also do the Buddhist thing of taming chaotic energies by reciting the Lovingkindness blessing: "May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering, ... May all beings find happiness!"

MESSAGES FROM THE ANCESTOR WORLD

2009-08-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

... picking up on the subject of tracing ancestral influences in Tarot cards and Oracle cards: On August 2nd, members of the crowd at the Triple Goddess used a variety of Tarot and other decks to pose the request, "Please show me a decisive moment from my ancestors' lives." We were not specifying any particular ancestors, (though those who were using Joules Taylor's "Celtic Messages" Oracle and a "Druids' Tarot" [I don't know which one] were assuming general Celtic ancestors), but rather letting the cards decide which meaningful glimpses of ancestral energies and activities to show us at this time, on this day. Naturally, our numerous lines of ancestors experienced numerous decisive events in their long and varied histories, but here we were leaving it to the cards to show us one special experience that went into the making of who we are, and that would give us something inspiring for whatever challenges we're meeting today. Two of our participants were sisters, so although they drew different cards, each could also take meaning from the other's reading.

When scrutinizing a card spread for clues about ancestors, there are a number of things to consider. For example, readings that show group scenes may portray a clan or tribe, while strong personality cards may portray particularly influential individuals. For example, two different persons drew the Boudica card (depicting the warrior queen of the Iceni portrayed in "Celtic Messages"). In the context of these readings, it probably pointed to some very strong matriarch, who may well have been Boudica herself. In the way that the cards speak to multiple concerns, this may also be a call for these women to take on leadership roles. The cards can also reveal things about ancestral occupations, (with an implication that we can reactivate the related ancestral skills), so the person whose central card was the Magician likely was looking at a magician ancestor, while the person who got "Taliesin" likely had a bardic ancestor whose poetic inspirations she can tap into.

Some other things to look for are potential heraldic or totemic images. Our ancestors took these symbols very seriously, and we can find inspiration in them today. One person, who used Ciro Marchetti's "Legacy of the Divine" Tarot got the Knight of Wands as one of her cards. Now that I've had time to scrutinize that card, I see it has mirrored images of red dragons. As the red dragon is best known as the emblem of Wales, this may point to Welsh ancestry, (though others could have this as their totem, the red dragon also being a symbol of the Rhineland, and probably of other localities and families, as the dragon is a common heraldic symbol). By the way, we all have ancestors from more countries than we are aware of, as modern DNA testing services have been revealing. My memory has faded, but I think that one of the sisters pulled "the owl" and the other pulled "the dove," (again, from "Celtic Messages"), so both of them would have those totems in their family background, but for one, there may be currently more of a need for the owl's qualities of discretion, while for the other, the dove's love-bringing gifts may be more immanent.

Generally, any of the symbols that we pull out of these readings can be incorporated into our lives as a means of empowerment. Also, if a reading has a negative cast, you can send healing energy to your ancestors, as well as present family members, by turning it into a Tarot spell. Alter your family's collective dream of reality by adding some positive cards to the layout, then visualize these new energies transforming your family's belief system. For example, one individual, using the "Legacy" Tarot, got the "8 of Wands," the "9 of Swords," and the "Hermit," (if my notes from memory serve me correctly). This could indicate that an ancestor, beset by worries, became a wanderer in search of solutions, and this may have become something of a family trait. If she wants to reshape some of these energies, she could turn this into a Tarot spell by placing the "9 of Wands" on top of the "9 of Swords." By transforming Swords to Wands, we turn problems into projects. With the Legacy deck, this creates a very interesting graphic juxtaposition, because the man in the "9 of Wands" is holding a glowing crystal-tipped wand up to the right border of the picture space, while the Hermit holds a glowing crystal-tipped want to the left border. The two wands almost touch, suggesting the passing of a torch. Also, the progression from the "8 of Wands" to the "9 of Wands" shows a build-up of energies, and as the Hermit's number is "9," the mystical potentials within the number 9 are all the more highlighted.

For those of you who have been able to attend these sessions, if you can reproduce your readings at home, you can pull a lot more imagery out of them. It's helpful if you have the same deck you tried out at the shop, but it's also very edifying to reproduce your readings using different decks, to see what additional images pop out.

By the way, I apologize for taking so long to comment on the past session. I am only able to write on alternate weekends, because my other weekends are entirely given over to caring for my father.

Faery Challenges

2009-08-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we pondered ways the Tarot can tell us about ancestral issues that can affect us today, and we also drew cards from the Froud "Faeries Oracle" and Mason and Franklin's "Fairy Ring," to consider our ancestral relations with the Faery World. Because cultures the world over have interacted with the Faery Folk, it is unavoidable that a number of your ancestors will have had special relationships with them. In drawing the cards, some people pulled cards with glamorous faeries, and others got scary or trickster faeries. It is to be expected that some of the faeries your ancestors dealt with were trouble makers, and they may have represented challenges that your family deals with still today. Throughout the year, I demonstrate various other techniques using the faery cards, so inevitably a certain number of our visitors get the unglamourous ones. When I can find more time to write, I want to post some thoughts on interactions with the different faeries we have encountered through these card decks.

For now however, in considering how we should approach the scary faeries, I'd like to share some words from Rainer Maria Rilke. The following is from his essay, "The Dragon Princess," published in "Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties," edited by John J.L. Mood.

"We have no reason to mistrust our world, for it is not against us. Has it terrors, they are our terrors; has it abysses, those abysses belong to us; are dangers at hand, we must try to love them. And if only we arrange our life according to that principle which counsels us that we must always hold to the difficult, then that which now still seems to us the most alien will become what we most trust and find most faithful. How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us."

Time to Spy on the Ancestors

2009-07-25T17:53:00.001-07:00

I'm looking forward to next Sunday, August 2nd, (from 1-3), when I will be at the Triple Goddess demonstrating the "Animal Cracker Oracle," (my adaptation of an old Prussian custom), plusTarot tips and techniques for looking in on some of the doings of various lines of one's ancestors. The weekend coincides with Lammas/Lughnasadh, the festival of the grain. In keeping with the symbolism of the grain as the seed of life that is passed through generations, I like to look at its Ancestor World symbolism, and so I view Lammas as a good time to ponder the chain of connections that link us to past and future generations--as well as the interconnectedness of all people.

In keeping with this theme, we'll looking into some of the ethnic-tribal oriented Tarot decks, as there are some that depict scenes of life among the various European groups such as the Celts and Teutons, as well as Native Americans, various Asiatic cultures, and Africans. If you will be joining us on Sunday, the Triple Goddes has many sample decks availble, and lets us use them for these demonstrations. If you don't have a preferred deck of your own, you will likely be able to find something that you can work with, that will speak to some aspect of your ethnic heritage.

Defining Archetypes

2009-07-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

On Sunday’s blog radio interview and in the previous post, I talked about Michael Jackson and the archetype of the boy that never grows up. This week I was riveted by the archetypal drama and pageantry of Michael Jackson’s funeral, (as I was with Princess Diana’s). Funerals bring up all kinds of archetypal associations because they are rites of passage. Also, just as last year I wrote about the “feng shui of Halloween,” that is the energizing movement of masked people through a community, there is another type of feng shui motion associated with the funeral procession, whether that be people in a motorcade or walking behind a coffin, as, for a short while, they accompany the body of the loved one who is beginning his or her Journey to the World Beyond.

To better clarify what I mean when I use the term “archetype,” here is the definition I provided in the glossary of my book, “Tarot For a New Generation.”

“Archetypes are regarded as patterns within the mind that correspond to important human instincts and experiences; the Tarot is a collection of archetypal images: for example, the Hermit is an image designed to portray the archetype of the search for wisdom, the Empress is an archetype of loving nurturance, and so on. Archetypes such as Love, Wisdom, Justice, and the like tend to be almost universal, appearing in different cultures in recognizable--though culturally relevant--forms. Archetypes are especially significant to us when they operate through our personalities. For example, the High Priestess card relates to the facet of your personality that yearns to explore the mysteries of the universe, while the Emperor corresponds to the part of you that wants to build stable foundations and create order around you. In other words, you have a ‘priestess within’ and a ‘king within,’ as well as a wise elder, a fool, a magician, and many other characters inside of you that correspond to the main Tarot cards. Of course, some of these archetypes may be more active than others, or at different phases of your life.”

2 Gigs For Sunday

2009-07-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hi All! Just reminding you that I will be at the Triple Goddess from 1-3 tomorrow, Sunday, July 5th. The theme is Treasures-of-the-Sea, and I will be demonstrating the Seashell Oracle and Tarot readings as described in my earlier post, below. Then, at 7 p.m. Eastern time, I will be doing an interview on BlogTalk Radio, talking about how to consult the Tarot for advice, and doing over-the-air readings. The link to the general radio show is http://www.blogtalkradio.com//beyondworlds. That is affiliated with the site, http://www.DivineWhispers.net. I believe the link to my specific show will be http://tinyurl.com/janina-renee. So, looking forward to a busy day tomorrow, and hope our friends in Spirit will helping out, as getting out a pack of Tarot cards is one way of signaling to the Spirit World.

Michael Jackson and the Power of Archetypes

2009-06-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

Archetypal symbolism provides insights into the life and death of Michael Jackson, because he appears to have been “captured by an archetype.” “Captured by an archetype” is a term that the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung used to describe situations where individuals are thoroughly identified with symbolic figures that have so captured their imaginations that they engage in eccentric and stereotypic behaviors, and they’re not fully in control of their lives. Jackson was very much identified with Peter Pan, the un-aging boy who can fly, and surrounded himself with Peter Pan images. (In light of the previous discussions of symbolic twin selves, Peter Pan, as Jackson’s alter ego, was something of a twin self for him.) While a lot of people think that Jackson had his cosmetic treatments and surgeries in an attempt to become white, it may be he was really trying to become ethereal. The desire for ethereality is closely related to the dream of flying, and the desire to be a spirit being. I suspect that many anorexics are aiming at an ideal of ethereality, so it’s interesting that Jackson seems to have also had an anorexic condition.

The dream of flying as it involved one of Jung’s cases led to a tragic end, and I had long been concerned that Michael Jackson was on a similar trajectory. In the former case, Jung had been worried that a patient who had dreams of flying was headed for a trouble. (Note that this does not mean that everyone who has dreams of flying is in trouble.) It happened that the man had been involved in a tawdry business scandal, and Jung saw that in his dreams as well as in his hobby of mountain climbing, this man was symbolically “trying to get above himself.” One day while on a mountain climbing expedition, members of this fellow’s party looked on aghast as he simply stepped off the side of the mountain and plunged to his doom. (Unfortunately, he also took out the guy who was coming up behind him.) Because I saw similarities between Michael Jackson and Jung’s patient, I always feared that he would do something erratic, like step off a roof or balcony. The autopsy results aren’t in yet, but though it seems that his quest for ethereality might have done him in by ruining his health, at least Jackson didn’t go out in a more ghastly manner.

Searching for Treasure—and a little more

2009-06-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

As next weekend brings the first Sunday in July, I’ll be back at the Triple Goddess. As part of my seashore theme for July, I’ll be demonstrating fortune telling with a basket of shells, (where each shell has a different meaning ascribed). On past occasions, I have demonstrated some of the interesting things you can do by mixing different Tarot decks, so we’ll also pose the question, “Where can I find my treasure?” by combining the “Tarot of the Pirates” and the “Tarot of the Mermaids” to identify areas of our lives where special treasures are to be found.

Now for just a few more words on the previous topic of Sacred Twinship, (though I am far from having exhausted this subject). In the context of a Tarot reading on twinning, we also have to consider the possibility that the Tarot can point to a “Spirit Twin.” The idea that each person has a kindred spirit who is like a personal counterpart in “Spirit Land,” is found in areas of Afro-Caribbean culture and elsewhere. This may especially be the case if “The Star” comes up in association with images of twinning. It’s also something to consider when using decks that bring in spirit or spiritualistic imagery.

Another thing to look for in these Tarot experiments is what they can tell us about healing, so the topic of the Double engages the interesting possibility of “Illness as Other.” The Other is the Shadow Twin. I ran across a brief allusion to the idea of “Illness as Other” when I was doing some research on a different topic, and unfortunately failed to note the source, and no other information was provided. However, as I ponder what this may mean, it may include the possibility that when you have certain physical or mental conditions, you have to make all kinds of accommodations for that condition, the same as when you have an important person in your life, you have to modify many of your own aims to accommodate that person. Furthermore, illnesses and other physical conditions are like sub-personalities, controlling many aspects of your life and shaping your fate. This would be especially true for bipolar persons—where there are two contending personalities--but it can apply to a lot of other conditions. For me as an Asperger’s person, I often think of Asperger’s as a form of spirit possession where you are the ghost that is trying to take control of your own body—and doing a clumsy job of it.

Now, in light of current events, I want to start a new post about the dilemma of “being captured by an archetype,” which is another condition which could be viewed as a form of spirit possession, or a form of twinship.

Companion Death as a Twin Self

2009-06-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

At our previous magical chat, one of the other topics that came up was what if “Death” is one of the cards flanking your “Sacred Twins” card? I have recently been re-reading some of Carlos Castaneda’s works, and there are some interesting passages on Death as companion in “Journey to Ixtlan.” Castaneda’s mentor, Don Juan Matus, told him, “Death is our eternal companion … It is always to our left, at an arm’s length” [54]. Don Juan suggests, “The thing to do when you’re impatient … is to turn to your left and ask advice from your death. An immense amount of pettiness is dropped if your death makes a gesture to you, or if you catch a glimpse of it, or if you just have the feeling that your companion is watching you.” He adds, “Death is the only wise adviser we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you’re about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you’re wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, ‘I haven’t touched you yet’” [55]. With this in mind, it would be especially interesting to note if, in your Tarot reading, Death is to the left of the figures in the central card.

As an alternative explanation, when Death is a flanking card, it could indicate that one’s alter ego is undergoing an extreme transformation, which could include getting down to the bare bones or dying away to make room for the birth of a new facet of the Self. I am also reminded of Rainer Maria Rilke’s writings on how our Death is always a presence inside us, and Heinrich Boll’s assertion that, “The artist carries Death within him, like a good priest his breviary.”

One more literary reference: in cases where the Death card comes up next to the Lovers, I’m reminded of Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ tale of “Skeleton Woman” in “Women Who Run with the Wolves.” Estes describes love as “a union of two beings whose strength enables one or both to enter into communication with the soul-world and to participate in fate as a dance with life and death” [131], and explains, “Because love always causes a descent into the Death nature, we can see why it takes abundant self-power and soulfulness to make that commitment” [140]. She advises us to ask ourselves, “What must I give more death to today, in order to generate more life? … What must die in me in order for me to love?” [150].

Communications from The Lovers

2009-06-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

Continuing my discussion of the Lovers card as showing one’s anima and animus (in the context of a reading where you’re asking for information about archetypes of the Twins), another participant got the Lovers, (using the standard Rider-Waite-Smith deck, where the female is on the left, and the male on the right of the picture space), flanked by the Page of Wands and the 8 of Wands. Unfortunately, if I don’t write this stuff down right away, my memory fades, so I don’t recall which sides the Wands cards were on, or whether any were reversed. This is another example of where one of the flanking cards was a court card (emphasizing that expression of the personality), and the other portrayed a grouping of objects, which can pertain to resources the other half of the personality brings in.

Because the Page of Wands has strong communicative qualities, it may indicate that she has a good line of communication from whichever side or her personality the Page was adjacent to, so she may currently be experiencing that anima or animus as a strong conversant in her head, when she engages in self talk. Here, we can pause to consider how one’s inner male might have a different voice and mode of conversation than one’s inner female. Think about it—if you are a person who carries on internal conversations, can you distinguish between male and female voices? (Because I carry on running conversations in my head, I assume that everyone else does, but am I wrong about this?) In the case in point, depending on whether the Page was closer to the male or female of the Lovers pair, that side might be dominating the inner conversation (like a little kid that interrupts a lot).

In some other fine points of interpretation, if the Page of Wands were upright and to the right of the Lovers, it might indicate that the individual’s animus is good at communicating a plan for her future that involves new experiences. If the Page were reversed and to the left, it might indicate the person’s anima is communicating something from the past. However, a reversed Page could also bring some confusion or misinformation into one’s self talk. The 8 of Wands may indicate that the inner male or female is good at organizing her energies to get things done, or, if reversed, that side of the personality might be a factor for disorganization, or involved in some kind of a retro movement.

Anima and Animus in the Lovers Card

2009-06-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

I want to say more about Tarot readings done around the theme of twinning on June 7th, and regret that I’m not able to get my posts out faster. In another example from our session, one participant got the Lovers as her twins-theme card, using a deck I’m not familiar with, but in sort of an Asian-Middle Eastern theme. As I recall it, in this version of the Lovers, a man and woman are seated on the grass in a pose that makes me think of something one might see in illustrations for the “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.”

The woman is on the left side of the card, and holds a vessel, which could be a wine jar, but resembles illustrations of the vase of precious dew that is iconographic of Kwan Yin, goddess of mercy. The left flanking card is the Queen of Wands. When a flanking card in a twins reading is a court card, it may denote a distinct personality through which one of your inner Twins archetypes expresses itself. So if the Lovers says something about a person’s inner male and female, the anima and the animus, this person’s inner woman is identified with the active, creative energy of the Queen of Wands. The Queen of Wands is noted for the visionary power of her ideas, and her ability to kindle a creative fire in others. Wands are primarily associated with fire (though in some systems, air), so it may be that the vessel held by the woman in the Lovers provides nourishing moisture to prevent the Wands’ expression of heat from being too harsh.

The man in the Lovers card is to the right, and flanking him was the 9 of Cups. When a flanking card doesn’t represent a personality or Major Arcana archetype, but a Minor Arcana portrayal of some objects, it likely represents a resource that one of the twin selves provides. Because the 9 of Cups can represent fulfilled wishes, it may show that this person’s animus plays a supportive role, nurturing her dreams. To appreciate how these two Selves may be in harmony, consider how this reading might have been different if the Lovers had been flanked by court cards with characters who were looking off in different directions, showing they don't see eye-to-eye, or cards portraying other images that would be at odds with each other.

If you would like to do a Tarot reading to get information specifically about the relationship between your anima and animus, you can do this by posing the request, “Please tell me something about the relationship between my inner male and female,” while shuffling your cards. Then, thumb through the deck until you come to the Lovers, and take note of how the flanking cards may inform your inner masculine and feminine selves. (Actually, I believe, like Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of “Women Who Run with the Wolves,” that we have a whole tribe of inner males and females, but the Lovers card can tell you which ones are particularly present for you at the present time.) Note: in some cases, if you have a deck that portrays the Two of Cups as a man and woman coming together, and you get to that card first, it can also tell you about your anima and animus; being a Minor Arcana card, the flanking cards would show you how their energies are being applied to more mundane concerns.

Twinning in the “Mythic Tarot”:

2009-06-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

For last Sunday’s session, we didn’t get into too much of a discussion of the inner archetypes of the Twins, because there was a steady stream of visitors who were interested in the Spinning Basket divination. However, we did have a small group who stayed after, put the question, “How does the energy of the Sacred Twins function in my life?” and then did the card search technique of going through their respective Tarot decks until they came to the first Major card with images of twinning or doubling.

I’ve had after-thoughts about one reading, where a male participant used “The Mythic Tarot” by Juliet Sharman-Burke. His central card was the Knight of Swords, which although not a Major Arcana card, features a picture of the Dioscuri, the young male twins that the Greeks and Romans associated with the sign of Gemini. The figures in this card ride together on a single horse, and they are moving to the right. This would suggest that the querent has got two masculine-identified twin selves harmonized and working in tandem as he goes into the future. I don’t recall what the right flanking card was, but the left flanking card was the Page of Wands, which features an illustration of Phrixus, the boy who rode a magical golden ram, (it could fly), to Colchis. In this card, the figures are moving toward the left. Interestingly, there are subtle references to doubling in this card. When a person rides an animal such as a horse, ram, or whatever in the Dream World of Tarot, that animal can be seen as a twin-self, a side of that person which is more in touch with the Animal Powers. In the original story, Phrixus had a sister, Helle [light], from whom he was parted when she fell off the ram as it was flying over the ocean. He subsequently also parted with the ram, which was sacrificed and became the golden fleece, (which became the subject of a quest).

In this case, there seem to be inner re-alignments involving the pairing and unpairing of different facets of the Self, with a progression toward somewhat more mature masculine energies, because Phrixus and Helle were children, while the Dioscuri were young men—and the energy of Gemini, generally, has an inquisitive, experimental “teenage” quality. Separating from the younger and feminine aspects may well have involved a certain sense of loss, and the sacrifice of the golden fleece may pertain to a diminishment of that youthful sense of inflation, that high flying exuberance of golden youth. Nevertheless, the energies being experienced are still fairly youthful, (though in the Mythic Tarot, these are expressed through the Knight of Swords warrior mode). In a middle-aged person, this could mean re-experiencing the intellectual life of youth, (which for some of us was in the Hippie era). The third card, which I can’t recall, may have indicated where these re-aligned energies are being directed.

Note that there is also a lot of Zodiac symbolism, as the ram applies to Aries, the Dioscuri to Gemini, and the horse they are riding on could apply to Sagittarius. (Last Sunday, the full moon was in Sagittarius, in opposition to the Gemini sun). This could mean that areas in this person’s life that are governed by Aries are currently becoming less of a focus, while he has got matters in the opposing signs of Gemini and Sagittarius working in tandem. There might also be a timeline involved, moving from Spring (Aries) to Summer (Gemini).

The Energies of Twinning

2009-06-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

Picking up on the theme of the Sacred Twins in preparation for Sunday’s event, this is in keeping with the seasonal theme of Sun in Gemini.

If you have multiple Tarot decks, you might want to look through them to see which have good images of twinning or doubling. The Rider-Waite-Smith deck utilizes such images in the Hierophant, Lovers, Chariot, Strength, Devil, Moon, and Sun, (as well as Minor Arcana cards, like the Two of Cups). However, not all decks—even RWS spin-offs—bring in the same images. On the other hand, some decks may use images of doubling or twinning in novel ways, as in the case of Hanson-Roberts’ nursery rhyme-themed “Whimsical Tarot,” which features Jack and Jill in the Temperance card. In fact, in preparing for Sunday, I got out a number of decks and asked them to edify me on the theme of twinning; when I shuffled and went through the Whimsical Tarot, the first major “twins” card that came up was Temperance (Jack and Jill), flanked by the Two of Cups (the Owl and the Pussycat) and Two of Pentacles (Jack Sprat and his wife). If you come across any interesting new images in other card decks, I would like to hear about them, because I’m not able to keep up with all of the Tarot decks that are out there.

We’ll also get into the theme of “double fortune,” which the Chinese tie in with the symbolism of the twins, and also with the number “8,” which they describe as “the luckiest number,” (and have different ways of doubling it numerically). You might want to look at the 8s in your Tarot decks, to see how they are portrayed by the artists. Knowing the Chinese associations, we can talk about how some of the more negative traditional Tarot associations can be transmuted, and how 8s cards with positive images can be used in Tarot spells.

Back to the sign of Gemini, you don’t need to know anything about astrology to appreciate the twins symbolism. However, if you happen to be familiar with your personal horoscope, this can add another level to your Tarot reading. If you have had your horoscope done, take note of which of your astrological houses are ruled or over-lapped by Gemini, and which (if any) of your planets or points are in Gemini, because in the way that the Tarot holographically casts light on many different areas of life, the twins cards also offer insights into what’s going on in the areas of your life that Gemini presides over. Furthermore, in line with the double fortune theme, take note as to whether Jupiter or Venus make friendly aspects t your planet Mercury (ruler of Gemini), the cusp of your Gemini-ruled house(s), or any planets you have in Gemini.

Food for thought: the Gemini twins were known as the Dioscuri, and were very important deities in ancient times. (Why would people pray to twins? It’s understandable that people would pray to Venus for luck in love, and to Mars for luck in war, but what sort of human needs would they address the Dioscuri for?) When a number of the old gods were converted into catholic saints, the Dioscuri became the twin doctor saints Cosmas and Damian, patrons of healers. (How can we engage the Sacred Twins in healing issues?) In Santeria, Cosmas and Damian are identified with the twin Orishas known as the Ibeji. They are patrons of children, and people also believe they can double their luck and their money by honoring the Ibeji.

Plans for June 7th Session

2009-05-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, everybody! I’m looking forward to seeing some of you on June 7th, 1 p.m., at the Triple Goddess.

I’m thinking about starting with the Spinning Basket divination, which I can do for individuals as they arrive. Because I do these demonstrations for purposes of teaching, and because we also want to draw on the collective wisdom of our spirit mentors, others are invited to kibitz. Also, in the shamanic belief that we can alter our own dream of reality, and that other people have a role in constructing our reality, we typically conclude individual sessions with the basket by inviting our friends to add extra symbols of luck to the arrangement.

Then, by way of demonstrating a simple magico-hypnotic induction for better health, I’ll pass around some grape juice. Last Sunday the TV news show “60 Minutes” did a feature on resveratrol, a substance in grape juice and wine, which switches on an anti-aging gene. Some folks may remember my “dark chocolate induction” for influencing brain modules involved in the stress response, so this will utilize similar principles, with the grape juice.

After that, I will demonstrate a Tarot technique for learning how the archetype of the Sacred Twins is active in your life.

Finding Meaning in Little Details

2009-05-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

Things pertaining to the Ancestor World and the Faery World often engage a type of “elder wisdom” which makes connections between seemingly unconnected events. To pick up on some of the things that came up on the May 3rd session, when we were drawing “Faeries Oracle” cards to pick out “Faery Friends,” one individual pulled the card, “Myk the Myomancer.” Myomancy is the art of divining by the tracks and movements of mice, so this card is about finding meaning in small things. Some of the Faeries Oracle keywords are “small clues” and “details.”

This reminds me of an interesting real life case of making connections, and it involved mice. Some years back, but not too long ago, there was an outbreak of hanta virus in the West, with many of the incidences on Indian reservations. The disease control authorities were initially unable to identify it and figure out what was going on. However, a number of elders recalled a similar outbreak in the past, and they noted that it had occurred in a year when there had been a lot of rain, a lot of pinyon nuts, and a lot of mice. As it happens, hanta virus is borne by mice, which proliferate when abundant rains produce a larger crop of pinyon nuts. We often make fun of old peoples’ rambling reminisces of things that seem trivial, but here’s a case where the memory of a bunch of little environmental details pointed to something significant.

This also reminds me of something my brother, a retired police detective said: it is usually the little, throw-away type details that crack the cases. The “Myk the Myomancer” card would obviously be a good talisman for someone who is in the business of noticing little things and making connections, such as a detective or researcher.

This card is also self-referential, being relevant to the Tarot and other types of Oracles, for here, too, we are looking for patterns that can provide explanations and help us make predictions. Whenever we find images in the cards that relate to other little things that are going on in our lives, this is a delightful affirmation of the holographic nature of reality. Among people who believe in fairies, it is commonly claimed that Fairy World energies are involved in helping to generate little coincidences, and in prodding us to notice them.

Ancestor World

2009-05-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, I’ve been wanting to discuss some of the Fairy World insights that came up in the May 3rd session at Triple Goddess, but end-of-semester stuff has kept me from my blog. So, in the upcoming days I’ll turn my attention to various things related to the Froud Faery Oracle and such, but for starters, I want to provide that reference on ancestors. We were talking about how Fairy World energies can be experienced in different parts of our lives, as in relation to Nature, healing, the Dream World, domestic routines, craftsmanship, and more, including through relationship to the Ancestor World. Traditionally there has been a great deal of overlap between the elfin folk and the dead, because in many different ethnic traditions, the dead can become nature spirits or fairy folk; also, there are many stories about fairies who attached themselves to particular families and their descendants. That led to a discussion of our ancestral interrelatedness, and I cited some facts, but couldn’t remember the author.

So, the book I was citing is “Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins” by Steve Olson, [pp.46-47]. Olson himself was citing the work of Yale statistician Joseph Chang, whose computations revealed that just about anyone who lived before a certain date and was successful in having a line of descendants is likely an ancestor to everybody else in the world. The quote I had referred to was this: “If a historical figure who lived more than 1,600 years ago [i.e. before 400 A.D.] had children who themselves had children, that person is almost certainly among our ancestors. Everyone in the world today is likely descended from Nefertiti … from Confucius … and from Julius Caesar …” This crosses racial boundaries, because there was so much travel and interchange among widely different peoples in the ancient world, due to the Silk Road, the expansion of the Roman and other empires, etc. Olson states, “… if 800 years ago our ancestors included even a single European, African, or Asian, then 1,600 years ago our ancestors included most of the adult population of all three continents.”

Of course, if we admit past lives, then we are also ancestors to ourselves.

For the greater part of human history, our ancestors have believed in fairies and other types of Nature spirits, house spirits, etc., and have tried to cultivate good relationships with them. Among them, a number of those ancestors will have had a special rapport with different fairies, including individual fairies and tribes of fairies. Consequently, when certain fairies come up when divining with the Froud Oracle, the Fairy Ring, or any other decks that represent fairy types, we might consider, as an additional level to the interpretation, whether we are reactivating an ancient relationship—whether through ancestral or past life connections—and how that might also pertain to ancestral and past life issues that might be making themselves felt in the present.

Fairy Activities

2009-04-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hi All! There have been a great many things I have wanted to communicate since the last post, but this exceptionally demanding semester has kept me from my blogging. However, I am looking forward to next Sunday, when we will explore some ways that fairy energies are active in your life. I will be handing out "fairy friends" from the Froud deck, and then I will demonstrate a number of things that the fairy cards can tell us, including some ways that they can interact with other card decks.--See you then!

Generating Magical Surprises

2009-04-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Today’s chat session at the Triple Goddess was about surprises from the Universe, and we used Page of Cups imagery in the exercises, because many Tarot decks portray the Page gazing in surprise at a fish that leaps out of his cup. (In Jungian psychology, a fish emerging from the water represents new psychic life emerging from the ocean of the Unconscious; the fish also symbolizes fertility and abundance.) We practiced a little Bibliomancy by taking various books off the shelves, reading random passages aloud to the rest of the group, commenting on what meaning these passages might bear for different people, and then inserting fish stickers (with their backing still on, so they don’t mar the books) into those parts of the books, so that the people who eventually buy those books will have the Page of Cups experience of having a fish jump out at them. It’s the little surprise that brings new life up to the conscious level. Then, we did card-search Tarot readings focused on the Page of Cups, to find out where we can manifest magical surprises, followed by Tarot spells, (with a different one for each individual, but assisted by a whole-group visualization to enable each individual to evoke some delightful surprises).

However, I forgot to mention that you can help the process of manifesting lucky surprises in your life by arranging little delights for other people. This is a way of priming the pump for magic, because you are affirming the fact that you can take charge of reality by generating surprises. Find clever ways, even if small, to create surprisingly pleasant experiences for the people in your life. For those who participated in today’s session, you might think of ways that you can activate imagery or information from your Tarot reading or spell, or from other things that came up in today’s session. (For example, you could entertain your family with a little drumming.) The Tarot can also help you with suggestions. You could ask the cards, “What can I do to arrange some special surprise?” and then do a card search to see what the Page of Cups is gesturing toward, or just do a regular reading for suggestions, [such as I describe in my book, “Tarot Your Everyday Guide”], taking your cues from the cards.

PLEASE INTERRUPT!

2009-03-31T17:22:00.001-07:00

Picking up on the idea that when people come together in a group, there’s the potential for greater input from our friends in Spirit: if you happen to be at an event where Tarot techniques are being demonstrated or other magical media are being explored, (such as at my magical chat sessions at the Triple Goddess), and you have a sudden inspiration or insight into somebody else’s reading (or your own), or into whatever is being discussed, please feel free to speak up! Don’t feel that you are interrupting, because you may be picking up on messages from the spirit mentors. Even if something pops into your mind that seems out of context, it may make sense to someone else, and be just what he or she needs to hear.

ENERGIZING OUR SPIRIT MENTORS

2009-03-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

As I prepare for this year’s round of Tarot demonstrations at the Triple Goddess, I’m thinking about what we might be able to do to increase our awareness and appreciation of the spirit helpers who may always be present, but whose inter-connections are amplified in such higher energy situations. First, however, I want to clarify what I mean about our spirit connections.

In my October 25, 2008 entry, “Spirit Helpers Converge,” I discussed how psychic mediums have observed that we are accompanied by spirit guides, and if that is true, when different people come together, that also enables their different spirit guides to come together and exchange information. When I talk about us being accompanied by our spirit guides, I understand that as an extra-dimensional connection. I don’t actually think that we drag our spirit helpers along behind us. In other words, it’s not like when you see a mother of three children who has her kids in tow as she goes in and out of the shops in a mall. So, we’re not actually dragging the spirits along wherever we go, in that sort of manner. However, because of their concern for us, they maintain a psychic connection which allows them to be more present for us when there is a need, or when special conditions amplify that connection.

When we go to a place such as a bookstore where other people are going to think, read, and talk about spiritual and metaphysical things, and where the shopkeepers have done a lot to create the right kind of ambience with incense, music, crystals, and other beautiful things and sensory delights, our psychic connections are indeed very much heightened. On top of that, we are interacting with other people whose connections to their spirit mentors have similarly been energized. Not only do all of these otherworldly openings make it easier for our spirit friends to communicate with us individuals, they also make it easier for them to communicate with each other. So even if the spirits are, in a sense, communicating through connections across Time and Space, they are at the same time very much present—with you there in the same room, and hobnobbing with each other.

When, on previous occasions, I have put people through that little spirit greeting ritual where you turn to the persons on either side of you and say, “Hi, I’m So-and-So; I greet you, and I greet your friends in spirit,” that sends energy around the circle, and it’s also a genuine way of recognizing the Spirit World, to further enhance communication. A good reason for energizing this spirit-to-spirit connection is that spirits aren’t all knowing, but different spirits do have access to different pools of knowledge. So, let us say that two individuals, Joe and Mary, don’t know each other, but happen to be present at a spiritually elevated gathering. It may be that one of Joe’s spirit guides knows something that will be useful to Mary’s spirit guides, in helping them assist Mary. The more that spirits are able to help humans, the greater a blessing it is for them, as well, because it is actually more difficult to earn good Karma in Spirit Land than it is in the human realm, (which is why, from the Buddhist viewpoint, human incarnations are the most advantageous).

Spring's New Life

2009-03-20T13:52:00.001-07:00

Today is Spring Equinox, but for this part of Michigan, Spring really got underway around March 5th, when the blackbirds came back. One day you still don’t see any blackbirds, then the next day you see a few, and the day after that it’s an explosion, with blackbirds criss-crossing the skies, and their okarees are ringing from every direction. Also, on March 16th, I heard a few frogs; the next evening, the bell tones of the spring peeper chorus were ringing out, in full swing. People in different parts of France and Belgium listen for the first frogs, as that signals the beginning of Spring for them.

I’m very encouraged that the President has sent the Iranians Noruz greetings, (for their New Year on Spring Equinox), with an offer to turn a new leaf in diplomatic relations. [A good link for things that Iranians do to make the year ahead auspicious is http://www.farsinet.com/noruz/haftsinn4.html]. It is likewise encouraging that the Secretary of State is talking about hitting the “reset” button on U.S.-Soviet relations. As I believe I mentioned in a previous post, it would be nice if we could just redo the 21st Century, to make it more auspicious.

As the Sephardic saying goes, “Let us say auspicious things, so that we will hear auspicious things.”

If you would like to hear and see some auspicious things, come on out to see me at the Triple Goddess on April 5th, (from 1 to 3 p.m.), when I will resume my first-Sunday-of-the-month sessions in Tarot magic and discovery, as well as other seasonal enchantments.