Can we talk Oracles for a moment?

Saturday, January 16, 2010

I was very excited today to learn that Morgan's Tarot (which is an 88 card oracle, and not a tarot at all) is going to be reprinted by US Games and should be in stock in a couple of weeks. I've wanted this deck for months (which is forever, as far as my interest in tarot is concerned!) but never managed to bid quite enough on ebay. I'm feeling rather fortunate in that, now, although I am a bit concerned that the deck is going to come on US Games' heavily laminated stock, which I generally like but which doesn't fit into the vibe of this deck at all.

In general, I am not a fan of oracles. They tend to be too one dimensional for me; more bluntly, I cannot read with them at all. There has so far been one exception to the rule:


The Oracle Of The Grail Code. This oracle was (obviously) inspired by Dan Brown's popular book, "The Da Vinci Code", and so I am terribly embarrassed to be so enamored of it. There is a very snobby part of myself that snickers and whispers, "Why don't you just put those New Kid On The Block posters back on your wall, while you're at it" every time I pull this deck out. In the long run, though, it doesn't matter, because this deck is beautiful, and very, very chatty.

The artist, Amy Sophia Marashinsky, took strong and evocative female images from some of the most famous paintings in the world, and applied keywords to them. The cards are oversized and are far too large for me to riffle shuffle; I tend to dump them out on the floor and mix them around. There are 33 cards; they come in a cigar-style box with a book.

The only problem that I have with the manufacture of this set is that the back of each card shouts out the name of the deck, followed by the words, "The Book and Card Collection." Thank you for that, Barnes and Noble. The book is hardbound, and includes spreads, description of the cards, and meditations for each card, as well as artistic credits.

I have used this deck for single card draws and three card draws; I have also used it for a celtic cross. Every single time I use this deck, it is very clear and concise, telling me in simple terms exactly what I need to know. The keywords are not so specific that they limit the meaning of the card, which is a problem with some oracles.

Love, love this deck- I only hope that, when the Morgan's Tarot finally gets here, it performs as well.

Whew.

Monday, December 28, 2009

So, the holidays are almost over, and with the passing of the holidays comes the opportunity to return to normal. Or what passes for normal around here, anyway.

I have kind of let my tarot studies lapse over the past couple months, (I know- shocking and unexpected, right? You never would have guessed) but as the new year approaches, I've been considering how best to approach diving back in. You see, I miss tarot in my life when it's not an everyday part of my life. I think it's not just the Tarot, but an overall sense of spirituality that is missing. I get really caught up in "Now, and now, and next" and forget to breathe- to really, really breathe, to slow down and see and experience everything that is happening.

So, my goals for the new year are as follows:

To continue meeting with our tarot group as often as possible, hopefully an average of once a week;

To offer no less than 5 online readings at Aeclectic.net per week;

and,

To study and learn a new spread an average of once every two weeks.

I've also decided to start carrying a deck with me wherever I go. I had a very tough time choosing which deck that would be. I recently cut about 17 decks out of my collection; I still have quite a few, but most of them weren't appropriate for purse-living for a variety of reasons. I waffled and wavered and finally remember that my Legacy of the Divine, which has been on a little adventure of it's own, had returned home to me. In to the purse it went, and I am quite satisified with it there. Honestly, given the choice I would always, always pick the Bohemian Gothic to read with, but until it's reprinted (which looks quite likely at this point, yay!) I'm not carrying everywhere I go.
In other news, we've welcomed a couple new contributors to our ranks, and hopefully they'll be along to post as things settle down a bit more.

Lastly, don't forget to add strengthandthestar@hotmail.com to your messenger account; if you see me online, I'm available to do readings.

I hope the new year brings peace and prosperity to everyone.

I'm a bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger.

Friday, November 27, 2009

If it makes you feel any better, I've been feeling guilty for my terrible neglect. Really. My computer has been giving me reproachful glares for... awhile.

I have been thinking a lot lately about what my husband calls "positive thinking" and what others I know call, "sending it into the universe".

You see, I tend to get what I want. Pretty much always, and very much due to the kindness and generosity of the people around me. A lot of the decks I have that are hard to find were sold to me for much less than they were worth simply because people were generous, and it was worth more to them to see these decks in the hands of someone who would love them than in the hands of someone who merely values them for their rarity. One of them I even "won"- although technically, my partner in the drawing won the deck, and sent it on to me. I have a friend who refers to me as a shopping genius- because somehow, I find what I am looking for, and for less than I expect to pay.

In all aspects of my life, this trend is consistent enough to make me really stand up and take notice- it has gotten to the point where I even rely on it. If I am meant to have something, or to do something, I will have or do that thing. I don't doubt this. (This doesn't mean that I don't worry; not all of the experiences that we are meant to have are pleasant!)

It also kind of creeps me out. WHY does this work? I've read, recently, that atoms will change their behavior according to the expectations of the people who are viewing them. This is huge, when applied to the idea that we can create our own realities based on our expectations. How much do we limit ourselves based on what we believe we can do or have? How much of our own negative experience do we create by fearing it?

I haven't read "The Secret", although from what I hear it's really the same idea- as Buddha said, "With our thoughts, we make the world."

Here's what I am working on. I want the world to be a better place. I want people to be kind and generous and loving with each other, and with the earth we live on. Normally, I pretty much believe people are bastards; I'm going to work on changing this belief. Maybe with my thoughts, I can change the world.

The Bohemian Gothic Tarot

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Let me start out by saying that I am not the type of girl that likes "dark" stuff. I can't watch horror movies or read scary books; in fact, even after watching those "Haunting" shows on television I end up sleeping with the light on. "Ghost Rider", with Nicholas Cage, kept me up one night. Seriously. This is how much of a coward I am. My imagination is too visual and too active to feed it those types of things. After watching Stephen King's "Rose Red" I slept with the lights on for a MONTH. Ask my husband. He'll roll his eyes. :D

So, we've established I'm a wussy. More than that, I tend to find those types of things distasteful. It's not just that they scare me, they also tend to disgust me. I appreciate greatly when the dead are shown a measure of respect, and I am very disturbed when they are not, even in fiction.

Taking those things into consideration, it is an absolute wonder that I ever even purchased The Bohemian Gothic Tarot. It's a horror movie lover's fantasy deck, after all. Very dark, and very chilling. Everyone I know who sees the deck gets the creeps from it. (And the waitress at Ihop gave us MUCH better service after I pulled it out. :D ) What is even more astonishing is how much I adore it.

Let's take a step back. Magic Realist Press is responsible for several amazing decks, including the Victorian Romantic Tarot, Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot, and Fairytale Tarot. Their decks are extraordinarily beautiful, and an absolute pleasure to touch and use. They use high quality products to create their decks and put an amazing amount of thought and care into them, even after the product is complete and on the shelves-and the product that ends up on the shelves is in an entirely different class than any other deck that I've ever seen.

Don't get me wrong. There are publishers out there that create amazing, gorgeous, high quality decks. However, there is only one publisher that I would buy a deck from, sight unseen- and that's Magic Realist Press. If they produce it, I want it. (They also create a wide range of other products, including laptop bags, tarot bags, and purses- and they are also amazingly well made. You can check out their products at http://baba-store.com .)

Initially, my desire to have the Bohemian Gothic was fuelled simply by the fact that it was a Magic Realist Press deck, and therefore worth having. Then, I got a look at the three of pentacles:



And had a good giggle over it. Remember, the three of pents is about teamwork and mastering your craft. What a wonderful choice to depict those two qualities! It made me consider the card in an entirely new way. I started to wonder if perhaps this deck could provide me with a new outlook, teach me to see the cards in ways I hadn't before. It became more attractive to me on it's own merits and not simply because of it's creators.

Unfortunately, this deck is not easy to find, and if you do find it, it's not cheap. I started hunting. I kept my eyes open, nearly bought one from a kind member of AT, and waited... and one night, on a whim, checked Amazon: Voila! A Bohemian Gothic that was downright affordable, from a marketplace seller. I didn't even stop to think about it. I just clicked "buy"... waited four days.... received it....

And was horrendously disappointed.

Yup. I did NOT like the deck. It was too dark, too creepy, the cards were too stiff (when compared to my darling Victorian Romantic, which is well broken in and delightful!), I was never going to be able to read with it... It was crushing, really. Still, I had the deck, and if I sold it, I was never going to be able to replace it, so I used it.

And I used it some more. And the more I used it, the more I realized how very wonderful this deck actually is. It is an extremely readable deck, as a matter of fact; it lends itself well to intuitive reading, and the cards flow together to create stories better than any other deck I've seen. It's a dark deck, yes, but it's not morbid; it has a delicious sense of humor, and is also very good at conveying the full range of human emotion. This deck remembers that there is very rarely such a thing as pure joy. Always, there is a balance in our lives of joy and pain, of light and dark.


The book is a delight, too. The Justice card doesn't fit the Rider Waite Smith imagery at all; but after reading the description in the book, I was nearly in tears.

Each entry contains the original image that was altered to create the deck, which is not only interesting, but can also be enlightening. The original three of swords actually showed a man and a woman in an embrace, not seeing the woman in the foreground. Even though that's not what the cards show, I remember it when I draw that card, and it does make the card deeper and more meaningful for me.

My favorite card in the deck is the Queen of Pentacles:



The look on her face just breaks me into giggles every time I see it. That's a "WTF?!" face if I've ever seen one.

That is not to say that the deck isn't creepy. On a lot of the cards, there is just something off about the people in the card; when I described it to Wakingspirit, she called it "the uncanny valley". Heads are turned just that much too far, skin is just this much the wrong color, the cards are extremely well executed to be chill inducing. After working with it for awhile, though, that stops being a distraction, and becomes more of an asset- another small thing to draw from.



The cards are still too stiff, (I like thin, floppy cardstock) but I suspect that will resolve with time. The backs are stunning, showing a spiderweb-like arrangement of bones and skulls in white ink, shadowed by shiny silver ink.

The cards are borderless. I am not a huge fan of the bar of color at the bottom of the card, where the card is labelled; I would have much preferred the text directly on the image without that. However, that is my only complaint about this deck- all in all, it's glorious- and I am not selling it.

You can check out the entire deck at http://www.bohemiangothic.com.

Images used with permission, Copyright Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov, Magic-Realist Press 2007. All rights reserved.

Charlatans, Con-men and Scammers, Oh My!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

In my short time as a member of Aeclectic.net, I've seen scam artists mentioned occasionally, and always with distaste. The members of Aeclectic are, from what I've seen, incredibly honest, kind and generous people- but there are scammers in every lot, and "fortune tellers" are no exception.

I grew up in a family that had abilities. When my grandmother was alive, there were always odd things happening in her house; lights turning on and off, voices when no one was there, shadows, knocks and doorbell-rings when no one was at the door, occasionally even a full entity taking a stroll through the house. I know, because I lived with her, and I saw it all happen. I've had dreams where people who are no longer alive (including my grandmother, which was actually quite wonderful) come to speak to me; my mother has prophetic dreams, poor thing- she calls me occasionally to tell me what she dreamed about, so that later she can say, "Remember?!"

Even with all that, I still suspected for a long time that divination was a con. I always thought- before my strange and unexpected conversion- that the readers were conning themselves as well as their seekers. Actually, it may well be true; I certainly don't have all the "hows" and "whys", but I don't believe it nearly as much as I once did. What never crossed my mind was that people would use these things to take advantage of others.

Apparently, I think better of the human race than they warrant, which is terrifying, because I don't really think that highly of us as a collective to begin with.

After a conversation at Aeclectic, however, and reading the stories at this website, I felt like I needed to come here and talk about how some people use tarot and spirituality in general to take advantage of people who are in pain, afraid, and desperately need some hope.

I am not an expert in this area, but here's what I think: Anyone who reads for you and tells you that you have no control over your life and that you need someone to fix it is conning you. Even if they don't ask for money, you need to go see someone else, because we always have choices.

There is no shortage of ethical, caring people in the world who also happen to read tarot cards. A lot of them DO charge for genuine readings, and they should- it's work, and it's sometimes very draining. The fact that someone charges isn't an indication that they're scamming you.

If someone spouts stories about curses or dark entities, and tell you they need $xxx to fix it for you, run, don't walk, to someone with some ethics. I've seen speculation that those people don't even know how to read the cards. I suspect it's largely true. Learning the cards is hard work- these people aren't interested in hard work. They're interested in making a fast buck off of someone else's desperation; they create abusive relationships based on fear.

I cannot say for sure that when I read the cards, I'm not unintentionally cold reading. I can tell you that I honestly speak for what the cards say, regardless of whether it seems to be "hitting" with the querent or not. Sometimes it doesn't seem to, which is awkward- but that doesn't mean I change the message. I also usually remind the seeker, when getting to the outcome cards- "THIS isn't set in stone- it's up to you."

Anyone who tries to take away your power over your own life, and then wants you to pay them for it, is not only scamming you- they're also trying to injure you.

Real Life Woo Woo

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Well. I've had an interesting weekend.

I've been feeling pretty awful lately; bloated, slow, with an unhappy tummy. I just have not felt like eating. Finally, I decided that if my body didn't want to eat, I wasn't going to make it, and I started what I thought was going to be an 8 day juice fast.

You can start laughing now.

I lasted all of 30 hours on my juice fast before I cracked and ate part of a donut. And a scrambled egg. And the rest of the donut.

And two pieces of pizza.

And a kit-kat bar.

(This dietary recitation may give you an indication of why I've not been feeling well in the first place. I usually keep this kind of stuff out of the house, but lately things have been kind of odd.)

Now, 4 hours since breaking my fast, I am thinking perhaps I should have stayed on it. I wasn't hungry, I WAS feeling better; I was a little weak and tired, but I suspect that my body still needs a break.

What I found interesting was how, when I mentioned to my dad that I was doing a juice fast, I made a point of mentioning that it had nothing to do with anything spiritual. Yes, fasting has been said to have spiritual benefits; more clarity of thought, more awareness; I was hoping for these things, but they were not my driving focus.

That got me thinking how, really, a lot of supposedly "woo woo" things have real benefits. Meditation, for example- I avoided this for years simply because I wasn't into "that stuff". Oh, no, I wasn't crazy, I had my feet firmly on the ground (and my head firmly up my ass, really). Now, I do it on a regular basis. Not because of any magical purpose, but simply because it helps me find my center, be more grounded and more calm. I have a tendency to get wrapped up in my own head, and run and run like a mouse on a treadmill until I am emotionally and mentally exhausted. Meditation gives me an opportunity to clear out the clutter, get in touch with what is real and let everything else go.

Tarot, I think, serves a bit of the same purpose; it gives you the opportunity to look at things from another point of view. Not everyone accepts that; I have seen someone take an obvious "No!" in a spread and twist it in their head until it said what they wanted it to say. It was astounding, really. But taken with an open heart and an open mind, a tarot spread can help you step back and look at your life, and really take responsibility where you have been avoiding it- or release the responsibility for things beyond your control. Tarot can show you that there's hope when you'd thought there was none, and sometimes, sadly can say, "Hey- this is going to be really, really awful for awhile". Never good to hear- but at least you're prepared.

To be perfectly honest, I still have a lot of suspicion about tarot. How does it work? Why does it work? Is it really just people taking generic meanings and applying them to their lives however they fit? However, I've seen enough creepily accurate spreads to realize that there is most likely something deeper, something really special that happens when you lay out a tarot spread. Even if there's not, people are taking from the readings things that they need to hear.


(That juicer up there is a Waring. It's the one I have. If you must buy a juicer, do yourself a favor and skip this one. It wastes a TON of juice.)

Deck Review: Wisdom Cards by Louise L. Hay

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I found the neatest little deck the other day at the bookstore. It's not my normal style, being more brightly colored and abstract than I normally go for, but for some reason it caught my eye and I snatched it up.

I'm glad I did. This little deck is adorable. It's not a divination deck, although I think it could be used that way with one or *maybe* two card draws and some imaginative association; instead, it's a deck of affirmations. The brightly colored cards are two sided, with a message on one side and an elaboration of that message on the other.

For instance, an orange card with flowers and birds on it say, "I dwell on positive thoughts."

And when flipped over, the card is darker orange, with a green flower at the bottom, and says,

"If good comes into my life and I deny it by saying, "I don't believe it," I literally push my good away."

Another card, this one with a black background and rainbow coloring, with a person in the middle, says "I can heal myself on all levels."

The back has a yellow background, with a rainbow border and rainbow text, and says, "Healing means to make whole and to accept all parts of myself- not just the parts I like, but ALL of me."

I really love this deck. In fact, I think this would be a fun deck to use to surprise strangers with- to leave cards in random places for others to find.

This is part of a set called "Beautiful Card Decks" by the same author, which includes titles like "Power Thought Cards", "Healthy Body Cards", and "I Can Do It Cards". I know at least the "Healthy Body Cards" are definitely going into my Amazon cart (from which no item ever returned, mwahahahahaha).

Check out the deck here.