Oh Hai.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Allrightythen. Here I am!

So, I'm here to add my thoughts on reading tarot and to offer up readings to anyone who might want one.

I started reading cards as far back as the sixth grade, finding myself drawn to Wicca and other forms of pagan beliefs. Over the years I've put them away and taken them out again many times, but about four years ago I dedicated myself to a path of spiritual awakening and since then I've been reading tarot as part of that journey.

My spiritual bent is influenced both by earth-based religions and Buddhist thought. I'm not any one thing, I've meshed many philosophies together into a working framework for myself. When I read cards, the same thing applies. For example, most read swords as sitting in the east and wands as sitting in the south but I reverse them. Swords to me are active, masculine, can be destructive. To me, that's fire (which is the southern "element" in many traditions including Wicca). Wands represent idea generation, creativity, development, much more suited to the "element" of air for me. When I do ritual, my journal, my wand and my incense all go to the east.

I love to read because it connects me to the earth and to my spiritual center. It gives me an excuse to turn off the external and turn inward. I hope to grow and learn in this practice as we go along, as well.

I read using two decks, the Osho Zen Tarot and the Mystic Dreamer Tarot. Mystic Dreamer is a traditional deck. Osho is a Buddhist deck, based on the teachings of a kooky cult leader. This does not deter from the awesomeness, however, and I really enjoy reading from this deck. The Osho deck will not tell you your future or what dark handsome stranger is coming your way. It will tell you what is going on for you emotionally and spiritually, and what path you might take to deepen your practice and your self-growth.

So, that's me, and my practice. And now maybe Susan will get off my back about posting ;)

8 comments:

Amary said...

Yay you're HERE! That makes me happy.

For what it's worth, I read Swords in the North, representing air and Autumn, and Wands in the South representing Fire and Fall. Pents -Earth - East -winter and Cups - water- West - Spring

wakingspirit said...

Weird.

For me it is
North/Earth/Pentacles/Winter
East/Air/Wands/Fall
South/Fire/Swords/Summer
West/Water/Cups/Spring

*shrug*

Amary said...

My brain had a hard time even reading that. The whole time it was screaming, "No, No, No!" hehe.

AJ said...

Hi. My positions are with wakingspirit. N-earth, E-air, S-fire, W-water. =D

Amary said...

But... that doesn't make any sense! North is air, because air is up. And East is Earth, because they start with the same letter.

I learned my associations from the Connolly Tarot :D This is how I memorized them:
Swords cut through air, which is up; then things Fall down. Swords, North, Air, Fall.

Cups hold water, which starts with a "w", like West, and is necessary for life : spring.

Wands are wooden, so they can feed fire. Fire is hot, like summer. Summer starts with an S, like South.

Pentacles are material possessions, like Earth, which starts with an E- East, where it actually snows in the Winter.

And that, my friends, is how I memorized that. :D

wakingspirit said...

Can't we all just get along, snifffffff

AJ said...

Oh I learned that from a wiccan book that I bought. It's about calling the quarters.

I also found a link here which is similar to what the book says:
http://www.herbalmusings.com/how-to-cast-a-circle.htm

:-)

wakingspirit said...

I like the animal associations on that site--the whole "sylphs and salamanders" thing always feels hokey to me.

Thanks!!

 
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