Author: Jones Davy

Categories
Reflection On

Reflection On: WDA Divination Pride 2023

I am still unpacking the Lenormand event that was the subject of my last post (Reflection On: WDA Lenormand Summit 2023). But I couldn’t miss the WDA’s Charity DivinationPRIDE event this past weekend.

It was packed with 21 online sessions covering a multitude of methods and systems, including:

  • How Actor Warm-ups Can Improve Your Readings
  • La Loteria: A Brief History and Guide for Divination
  • LGBTQ+ In the Cards
  • Master Your Journey with Runes
  • Your Living Sigil
  • Get Comfortable with the Gypsy Card
  • Introduction to the Oracle Belline
  • Reversals: Looking at the Flip Side

The sessions are recorded, and if you pay a little extra, you have lifetime access (as long as FB/Teachable hosts them – some events are stored only on FB in a private group).

I mention they are recorded as I need to either watch a couple I skipped at the time due to the need for food/sleep or rewatch to add to my notes. And it’s good to know that if you join the weekend, you’ll have a chance to catch up and rewatch them if needed.

The event started with Toni Savory using The Siren’s Song: Diving the Depths  (the deck set she co-created with Carrie Paris &  Tina Hardt). It’s a combined Lenormand & Kipper Cards set.

Toni showed us how to create a relationship box spread by combining the Lenormand and Kipper cards. I’m keen to see how mixing the decks will work. I have The Siren’s Song on the way, but you could mix Ciro Marchetti’s Gilded Reverie Lenormand and his Fe De Siècele Kipper as they are the same size and contain a similar art style.

And mixing systems, either mashing them together or knowing more than one, became a tool for growth throughout the weekend.

We had run-throughs of how individuals work with runes, Oracle Belline and Gyspy* Cards. I ordered a copy of the Oracle Belline after María Alviz Hernando‘s session and booked myself onto her WDA’s Master the Oracle Belline with confidence and accuracy. The use of planets in that system fascinates me. She’s also selling her edition of the Oracle Belline (her lnkr.ee has the links to MPC and PrinterStudio). I admit I went for the classic Grimaud edition, which was quicker to obtain.

Being seen is a big part of Divination Pride, and Malkiel Dietrich shared how he makes it easy to add LGBTQ+ recognition to several card systems. I’d never thought about sitters with multiple love interests, but he had those covered for each system, with the Gypsy* Cards giving the most options for male partners.

Speaking of covered, Albert R Juarez’s, aka alstarot.com, presentation was called Your Living Sigil, and he provided a tool for personal empowerment.

It was joyous to see another presentation on Lenormand by Anthony Carter; you can find him on TikTok as @carterscartomancy

Tarot didn’t get forgotten with Stella Boheme, Joe Montele, Lisa Papez, Mitchell Osborn, Ben Tomlin and others refreshing the tarot tool kit.

One of the presentations I need to watch is The Art of Divination by Rana George. It was a 2-hour interactive session, but I’m sure it will be as influential on replay.

I have taken so much joy from this weekend; I have more to come as I catch up.

The card I pulled for the weekend was bang on.

My card pull represents my Divination Pride experience

I am grateful to all the speakers for sharing their knowledge, the WDA crew for making it look seamless, and my fellow attendees who made it such a fun experience.

When is the next one???

This year’s event charity was OutRight Action International with speakers donating their fees to them.

Outright International works with partners around the globe to strengthen the capacity of the LGBTIQ movement. We document and amplify human rights violations and advocate for inclusion and equality.

*I am using the title Gypsy cards as their known name; if I could substitute it quickly, I would.

Categories
Reflection On

Reflection On: WDA Lenormand Summit 2023

The WDA’s Lenormand Summit 2023 was sold as:

Level – up your Lenormand reads and devote a weekend to celebrating the very best of the system! Each speaker and session is designed to highlight the techniques and reading methods professionals use. Both traditional and modern readers unite to bring you every combination of technique available to you – learn tips and tricks from our international speakers to employ in your divination tool belt and most importantly … discover which reading styles work best for you! The World Divination Association has gathered the very best of the Lenormand community together for one weekend to slash all your Lenormand woes and to celebrate all things Lenormand!

I adore the World Divination Association‘s work and am incredibly grateful for their online summits. They certainly do highlight techniques and reading methods used by professionals, and I did explore more of what reading style best works for me.

I have attended four previously: WDA Lenormand Summit 2020,  WDA Virtual Event 2020, WDA Virtual Event 2021 & WDA Big Bang Conference 2020. 

The Virtual Events 2020/2021 and Big Bang Conference bought together a large cast of speakers sharing their insights into various subjects. The sessions discussed card reading in all its forms. But they also covered Spirituality in Real Terms, Intuition Versus Psychic Ability, Calling in Ancestors to Guide your Year! Quantum Affirmations, and so many other topics. 

The previous Lenormand Summit in 2020 brought together a host of Lenormand experts to share techniques to read the cards. The 2023 gathering was no different. Everyone shared something insightful. 

As part of the opening ceremony, Toni Savory asked us to pull three spreads which set me up to enjoy the weekend.

The questions, my cards and my thoughts on the three spreads are below:

What will I learn? (Lustrous Lenormand)

This is a very postive spread – I will be learning connections that will make me happy. I’m going to see some growth and positive changes. I’m going to talk about tricks and techniques. Those are going to make me happy. And I’m going to access a positivity that will lift my spirits.

And it did – my spirits are lifted and my confidence is built up.

Which male speaker will I enjoy the most? (Maybe Lenormand)

I didn’t have enough knowledge of the speakers to decide at the time, but I described them as:

  • They are to the point
  • They have gifts they’ll hide today
  • They don’t get flustered 
  • They have depths that they draw from

I enjoyed all the speakers, but I think this fits AJ Grugen. 

Which female speaker will I enjoy the most? (Rana George Lenormand)

Again, I didn’t have enough knowledge of the speakers to decide at the time, but I described them as:

  • They are invested in and protective of Lenormand
  • They hide their charming/seductive side
  • They are committed to teaching
  • They have a vast knowledge

I enjoyed all the speakers, but I think this fits Toni Savory best. 

I’m not going to review every speaker’s talk as you really needed to be there to gain the benefit of their wisdom, but I will list some of the takeaways.

Some reminders:

  • My Lenormand is my lenormand. It’s not Rana George’s, Caitlín Matthew’s or Toni Savory’s Lenormand. It’s mine. My cards: my way. 
  • Even if you’re reading for yourself, read out loud, but always look three times first to get your story straight before you speak. 
  • Placement is important. Is the card above, below infront or behind?
  • Cards can breathe. You can pause and move on between cards. You don’t need to merge everything. 
  • The cards that are absent in smaller cards are as important as what’s cards are present
  • Sit with the original instructions and think about what they mean to me as a reader

Techniques to try:

  • I was sold on the cross spread as a complete reading
  • I want to use the Game of Hope Technique and Houses within my GTs.
  • The Master Method is not the same as Houses but seems to work very well. Experimentation is needed.
  • The Houses are part of a House Party, differernt rooms with different vibes – the cards act accordingly.

It looks like a short list, but I gained more than I’ve shared; a lot of the benefits were gained seeing other readers explain their techniques and experiencing how unique they all were. 

Once of the great things about these events is that everyone is so supportive. The speakers get to present from their own space, with volunteers supporting them with any IT issues, and it’s open to anyone to speak. The vibe is postive and relaxed. It’s great to see speakers you wouldn’t normally see share their experience.

And As I’ve mentioned, everyone shared something insightful – I have pages of notes to go back over.

I enjoyed myself so much I’ve signed up for Divination Pride at the end of this month (29+30 July 2023).

I can’t wait.

There is still time for you to get your virtual ticket and join me.  

Categories
Reading

Reading: Will My Parcel Arrive?

Before I share the reading, a little bit of background.

Yesterday, I was waiting for the post person to deliver a parcel. It was being tracked, so I knew it was out for delivery. My usual delivery time came and went but no parcel.

Then about 30 minutes later, I checked the tracking, which showed it had been delivered.

The photo evidence, however, was unclear. It showed neither the parcel nor a clear view of where it had been delivered.

I looked around and thought it might have been delivered to one of my neighbours, so I wasn’t too worried. But I pulled out my Lenormand deck in case it could give me some insight.

For my first reading, I asked:

Will my parcel get delivered today?

As per my post Experimental: Yes/No Questions Using Lenormand, I pulled two cards:

Lilies + Ring

My first thoughts were satisfaction + commitment, and these are both positive cards. At face value, this seems like a yes. But I wanted to check if my ‘satisfaction’ was going to come from the postal service, as they’d already delivered, or a neighbour, so I asked:

Will it be delivered by the postal service?

And pulled two more cards:

Stars and House from Blue Bird Lenormand
Stars + House

This time I saw connection + home and thought, ‘No, it’s going to be closer to home’, and I’d get the parcel from a local network. This led me to post on my local Facebook group and ask if anyone had my package.

No response. No parcel.

Reflecting on the cards, I considered that Lilies + Ring was positive, but maybe they meant more of a delayed satisfaction, which might explain why I didn’t have my parcel.

I was still hopeful of it’s arrival as both readings had positive cards, but I wasn’t sure if the Yes/No binary was working.

Late last night, wanting a clearer answer, I asked a non-Yes/No question:

What will happen with my parcel?

Flowers (Bouquet) + Child + Trouble

As you can see from the Post-it note, I interpreted this as gift + small + trouble. I was still optimistic that it would arrive after some trouble.

This morning I saw our regular post person, who I thought might have the parcel because Facebook had failed. Still no parcel, but they said they’d look into it.

Three hours later, they were back with my parcel in hand.

It had been delivered to the wrong house, as it had a label saying, ‘wrong address, please try again’.

I didn’t have a chance to ask how they’d recovered it, but it seems my ‘local network (Stars + House)’ was the source of my ‘delayed commitment (Lilies + Ring) and they delivered my ‘gift‘ after both they and the parcel went through a little ‘bit of trouble‘.

Categories
Spreads

Spread: Tom Benjamin’s General Reading Spread (Adapted)

Tom Benjamin’s YouTube Video: An Experimental General Spread

I am a Tom Benjamin stan, and I followed along as he looked for a general spread.

The video above contains his thoughts on how a general spread could work.

In Tom’s experimental method, he explores the four areas of the querent’s life that correspond to the elements and dives in from there.

That felt a bit too much for me, so I’ve devised a simplified method that concentrates on just one row/column combination.

Tom Benjamin’s General Reading Spread (Adapted)

My Method

  1. Lay out 16 cards in rows. Start with FIRE/FIRE and end with Earth/Earth
  2. Find the double element that feels most out of balance
  3. Read that card’s row as the ‘Problem.’
  4. Read that card’s column as the ‘Solution.’

I read it more like a Lenormand box spread, so I read the cards in combination rather than individually.

The card that lands on the double element is the focus or heart of the matter. You may want to discuss the other dual element cards to acknowledge those areas in the querent’s life.

But like everything cartomancy, it’s best to try various methods and see what works for you.

I hope you try it out and see how you find it.

Categories
Experimental

Experimental: Yes/No Questions Using Lenormand

From the onset, I’d like to say that I haven’t found a definitive way of answering Yes/No questions.

But what I have found is a method that is helping me to see the positive/negative direction of a situation by leaving me to decide if the cards I have pulled mean that it’s a yes or no for me.

Before I get to that, lets have a look at Yes/No questions more generally.

I agree totally agree with with Lisa Young-Sutton‘s assessment:

While it’s true that the Petit Lenormand is well-suited to answering yes/no questions, interpreting them isn’t always easy. Because this is a system that excels at description, asking questions that allow you to see a picture form or a story unfold are optimal.

REPHRASING YES/NO QUESTIONS AND QUESTION IDEAS FOR LENORMAND

The recommended solution to a Yes/No question is to rephrase is it so the cards can provide you with an outcome, a description, or advice rather than a yes or a no.

The problem is that some inquiries just demand a yes/no answer regardless of the general advice to avoid that sort of question. This is because, as Lisa says, it is hard for the reader to get a black or white answer.

I’m going to looking at Yes/No readings as a self-reading proces, though thinking about it I should try these out on others. But for now, I’ve been trying them on personal questions so that I get a feeling about what does, and doesn’t, feel right for me.

If you want to try a few, here some recommended ideas:

  • Use the cards solely as their Positive, Negative, Neutral, Positive/Neutral, and Negative/Neutral aspects without interpreting the individual cards – if trying this it’s probably best to use a 5-card line.
  • Use the playing cards inserts to and look to blacks and reds or define a suit to be Positive, Negative, Positive/Neutral, and Negative/Neutral. Again, it’s probably best to use a 5-card line.
  • Read the Cards as you would normally and apply that to the question. This is probably best with a 3 or 5 card line.

MY FAVOURITE method is by Camelia Elias and she uses just two cards. All the details are in her YES/NO: LENORMAND 2-CARD post, but in essence you use two cards to get to a yes, no or a maybe. What you do is to combine the ‘primary vibes’ of the two cards to deduce if they the overall feeling is positive or negative or meh. The important bit if when applying what the description of the cards says to the question. The feel of positive or negative can only been fond in the context of the question not just the cards themselves.

Toni from The Card Geek explains the difficulties with Yes/No answer and questions. When it comes to what makes the cards say yes or no you need to compare the answer with the likely hood of the out coming being positive or negative.

For example, the question ‘Will I get post today?’ has a high likelihood of having a positive answer (unless you’re asking on a Sunday). So if you get negative cards it might be that you will still get post but it may not be the post you’ve be waiting for.

Another example of the answer in the context of the question is, ‘Will I will the lottery this week?’ If you get positive cards it might just mean you will only end up winning a small amount as it’s highly improvable statistically that you’ll be one of the big winners.

Please do watch Toni’s YouTube video for more exploration of this topic.

Going back briefly to the pairs of cards, if you think about what they say as a pair as a comment on your question then consider if you see the answer is positive, negative or meh as a reaction to your question.

Further Information:

Lisa of Lisa Loves Lenormand has a whole video on the subject to check out.

And her blog post REPHRASING YES/NO QUESTIONS AND QUESTION IDEAS FOR LENORMAND

Categories
Spreads

Spreads: The French Cross (Tirage En Croix)

Serge Pirotte demonstrates the French Cross

Watching the recent video (above) on the French Cross, by the excellent cartomancer Serge Pirotte, has rekindled my interest in this type of spread.

In large part, that’s due to the way that Serge has presented his interpretation, especially how he uses the synthesis position.

The French Cross as presented by Serge Pirotte

In the video, Serge describes that synthesis as the ‘state of mind’ of the querent towards the question and the example he uses illustrates that perfectly. It’s also the first card he turns over even though it’s the last card placed. This, for me, adds context and allows for a more nuanced interpretation

I very much appreciated this approach as I don’t usually see spreads where the state of mind of the person getting the reading (self-readings included) is being considered.

Recapping the positions as I’ve recorded them:

  1. Pro – What’s in your favour
  2. Con – What’s working against you
  3. Judge – Advice on how to resolve positions 1 + 2
  4. Result – Answer to the question
  5. Synthesis – the perspective the querent has of the question

As this is already an adaption, I don’t think I will calculate the synthesis card, or use just the majors, but use it in the way Serge has suggested.

As a decision making spread this is one I am certainly to be adding into my active repertoire.

I have looked into the history of the spread a little as I always thought it originated with Oswald Wirth but it seems he got it from Josephin Péladan, though I don’t have the original sources of either to compare.

But in the links below from Tony Louis and Mary Greer’s respective blogs you’ll be able to compare Péladan’s reported crucifixion of Christ model with Wirth’s more legal model of interpretation.

Is this a spread you use? Please let me know in the comments.

Oh, and if anyone has any more sources please drop them in the comments too.

Further Information

Categories
Show and Tell

Show and Tell: OceanDry Tarot

Note: I am illustrating this post with a series of Daily Card Spells I’ve done with this absolutely magickal deck.

The OceanDryTarot is now on Sale

I have been fan of The OceanDry Tarot since Colin shared images on his Instagram (@oceandry).

I have been very privileged to own a prototype and I was in awe of the creativity and depth behind the imagery from the beginning when Colin first started sharing images on Instagram.

I am so very pleased say that it’s NOW ON SALE and available to the world via the print on demand service thegamecrafter.

Reasons to get this deck as given by its creator include:

  •  Major Arcana tells a new “Fool’s Journey”
  •  Created using an interlocking system of 10 colors
  •  Free of human figures for abstraction and inclusion

I agree 100% with the above.

Colin has also done an excellent series of YouTube videos exploring this new ‘Fool’s Journey’ that sits behind the numbering of the Majors in the OceanDry.

The journey is a new story based on the Majors.

The story in OceanDry is much different. It begins with the Sun and ends with the Moon. It’s the story of a hero wandering an endless desert only to have their entire reality shattered through knowledge. 

The OceanDry Tarot Guidebook

Colin’s video below tells the story of the hero as he wanders the desert, and if this doesn’t convince you to buy it, I’m not sure what will.

Set aside 30 minutes, give it a listen/watch, and relax as Colin tell you the tale behind the OceanDry.

It’s not just a visually stunning deck. It’s a Tarot whose whole visual design has been fundamentally tied into the meanings of each card. And colour plays just as an important a role as the story.

For example: the entire deck is created from 10 colours:

  • Grey
  • Emerald
  • Lime
  • Cyan
  • Sapphire
  • Purple
  • Pink
  • Red
  • Orange
  • Yellow 

Each suit is created using 5 colours. Each colour symbolizing something specific. The colours can be added together like a maths problem to help inform your reading of the cards. Colin goes into a deeper and expansive explanation in the guidebook for the deck

Each card’s description in the LWB has examples of this “colour maths” and this is the first half of cardspell above.

2 of Disks – change | discretion | alternating Two disks form opposite poles in fields of color. Their positions oscillating back and forth in rapid attempts to interpret the plans of the Ace. Lime expedites and encourages plans to form, while red halts and offers careful consideration. Pink bursts form each disk, showing that each approach is just as valid. The pink disks symbolize the fruitfulness of balanced action. 

Guidebook for the OceanDry Tarot

To find out more about the colour system, watch Colin’s explanation video:

OceanDry’s Colour System Broken Down.

The Majors get a slightly different treatment as get the cards place in the story, a reflection on the image and a ‘divinatory’ meaning.

The OceanDry Tarot Guidebook

11 Judgement – vision | revelation | overwhelming

on Story – A fever dream sets in as the poison of the plants courses through your veins. Suddenly you are on the sea. The sun blazing gloriously over the horizon. In the distance, a boat floats on
the water’s surface. The vision is intense and overwhelming. The heat of the sun blasting your face alongside the wind whipping over the surface of the water. The distant boat constantly
draws your attention as you do everything in your power to approach it.

on Image – The sun blazes in the sky, rays of geometry overwhelming the senses and overriding
the night from Hermit. Complex geometry draws the hero towards what will be a boat on the
horizon of the ocean. The symbol of fire encases the geometry symbolizing the fever dream and the intensity of the vision.

on Learning – A breakthrough or flash of genius. Writing a complex formula without knowing how to solve it.

The OceanDry Tarot Guidebook

I can’t recommend this deck highly enough. If you just want a pip-ish deck with amazing art. The OceanDry gives you that. If you want an alternative to the Fool’s Journey. Oh boy, do you get it. Do you want to feel depth and meaning in your readings from the colours and placement of the items in the image? Just lay the cards and be enchanted,

If you answer to any of the above is yes, then why haven’t you ordered a copy of already.

What do you think, is this a deck for you?

Categories
Thoughts

Reflection On:Tarot Deck Collecting and Consumerism: My Thoughts

Deck collecting and deck reviews are not part of my “spiritual practice.” They’re my hobbies. The handful of consecrated and well-loved, worn-in workhorse decks I go to when life’s a mess– yes, that’s part of my spiritual practice.

Tarot Deck Collecting and Consumerism: My Thoughts

I’d highly recommend reading Benebell’s post before reading on.

Read it? Good. Let’s get into it.

Maybe Lenormand

Firstly, I have to say that the picture of Bell’s collection gave me tinges of envy. That’s not right. I had tinges of regret.

You see, I have bought a lot of decks over the 25 years that I’ve been into tarot. I have hunted down and obtained almost all of my unicorn decks (the masonic is my deck that’s got away). But then, I’ve had many of them sitting on my shelf collecting dust, unused and unloved.

I have rehomed decks only to obtain them again as the regret of rehoming, and it was missing from my collection became an itch I needed to scratch.

But I think that was more that we (the deck & I) had/have unfinished business.

Some decks that I reacquired and have kept (for now) include:

  • The Wild Unknown Tarot (First and Second editions)
  • Naked Heart Tarot
  • Prisma Vision & Light Visions Tarot
  • Next World Tarot
  • Spacious Tarot
  • Way of the Panda Tarot
  • The Shimmering Veil 2nd Edition (is on its way thanks to Tom Benjamin’s video mentioned in my last post)
The Shimmering Veil

I have reacquired decks only to rehome them again. The Dante Tarot probably wins the award for being reacquired and rehomed. I must have done it five or so times.

I have rehomed different editions of the same deck. I once sold a copy of the first edition of the Alchemical Tarot by Robert Place to fund the 3rd edition.

And mostly, I have no regrets about cards leaving my collection. If a Dante came along again for a bargain on eBay, I might add it back into the collection. But it would go against my ‘why’ of having a ‘collection’ of tarot decks.

Benebell’s ‘why’ is pretty straightforward. I am still wrestling with mine.

A hallmark of a compatible personal workhorse deck is that it’s going to be versatile. A querent can come at you with any sort of question and your personal workhorse deck is at the ready. But again, that’s different from the decks in a deck collection. The personal workhorse deck, at least for me, is now a tool. Not every deck in my collection is a tool.

Tarot Deck Collecting and Consumerism: My Thoughts

I am the opposite, in that every deck needs to have a purpose beyond being a pile of Tarot cards on my shelf.

I used to collect decks for art; Dante is a prime example. I had collected a complete set of Robert Place’s work before realising that the Buddha, Vampire & Angel Tarots would rarely come out of their boxes. I did have a broader range of historical reproductions than I do now.

I have had decks I wanted to study, like the Pythagorean and Babylonian Tarot, but I know that they’d never get the time they needed, and they’ve left the collection with no regrets from me.

Crystal Unicorn Tarot

I will not stop buying decks, as each has the potential to teach me something. That’s why the Way of the Panda is back in my collection and being used. And why the Shimmering Veil is on the way back again? More recent acquisitions have also become firm favourites – Benebell’s Spirit Keeper’s Tarot is one example.

I will also back Kickstarter projects, even if I rehome them at a later date. I want to hear for myself what the cards say.

Since I decided to study tarot seriously in 1996/7, I have always had a range of ‘voices’ to choose from. They included the Universal Waite, Halloween, Medieval Scapini, Sacred Rose, Ancestral Path, and Thoth – all boxsets, and I wanted to read what the creator (or their collaborator’s views on the cards). That’s one thing that hasn’t changed; if there is a book for the deck, I’ll get it.

I have reviewed decks in the distant past, which was fun, and those decks have also found new homes.

But coming back to my ‘why’. For most of my decks, I have to feel that they will be a practical tool. I have a small section of sentimental decks & a sub-collection of historical reproduction, and a few decks that probably need releasing, but I’m not ready.

The minimalist voice in my head says 22 decks total is ‘enough’, but I definitely need some variety, and if I strip out the sentimental and historical decks, I can’t quite reach that number. And that’s OK.

Playing Card Arcana

Jaymi Elford replied to Benebell’s public Facebook post saying she was ‘right-sizing’ her collection. And I agree. That’s what I want mine to be.

I also ‘right-size’ my other cartomancy decks. Over the last few days, I have had a bit of regret around the Whitman’s Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards being rehomed. But The Life Line Lenoracle, the Hermes Playing Card Oracle, and the Maybe Lenormand incorporate some of the cards and their concepts. These are ‘enough’ for me to get what I need.

I guess I already have a deck for ‘that’ might be in the back of my head, but it’s not really a strong voice. But it does get me to check my ‘why’.

I will keep adding and subtracting decks to feel I’ve got the ‘right-size’, but I won’t let it balloon. That might change if I have much more space, but as I’ve explained above, I’d rather my decks had a purpose for me above being just ‘decks on the shelf.’

Everyone’s why varies, and not having a why is also totally fine, but I hope I’ve explained mine.

What’s yours???

Categories
Thoughts

Reflection on: Reading Non-Representational Tarots: A Guide

Tom Benjamin is one of my favourite Tarot educators. With this YouTube tutorial, Tom must have known that I’d just bought the 20th anniversary edition of the Margarete Petersen Tarot despite knowing that abstract images on tarot cards scares me.

I bought it as I know Tom and Colin creator of the OceanDry Tarot (and YouTuber) both enjoy it. And I really wanted to experiment and experience a reading style outside my comfort zone. But I wasn’t sure what to start.

The Muse must have whispered in Tom’s ear, as this is exactly what I needed to hear.

In this video, Tom gives advice on how to use the tools that are already exist in your Tarot toolbox and gives permission (he gave it to me at least) to bring those into play during your reading.

He neatly demonstrates how (before you have the context of the question) you can build a series of connections that can be confirmed/or refuted when you know the context of what the querent wants to know.

Tom encourages us to embrace each tarot reading as an experiment. To see what talks to you from the cards on the table, and then add what you know about their meanings and connection so you build up the layers of meaning and understanding.

Thanks to this video, I now have a framework, based on the Pages, to experiment with the abstract image Tarot decks in my collection (which at the moment is only the Petersen). How long can I hold out before getting the Shimmering Veil’s 2nd edition?

I’d highly recommend this tutorial for those with abstract decks or for those who want to shake-up their reading style.

Categories
conversational

I Am Not an Expert

It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’ve really just talking to themselves in the past.

Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist

It’s worth pointing out in the early life of this blog, that I don’t consider myself an expert in divination or fortune telling. I see myself as a student sharing what I’ve found out about the various systems and cards that I’ve been studying.

I have only just set sail on this voyage

I feel most confident in Tarot, as I’ve been studying it for over twenty years, I also feel quite comfortable with Lenormand with seven years (how has it been 7 years) of use. Kipper is a system that I find fascinating and slightly uncomfortable (it weights towards to the dramatic and negative when I read for myself).

Tarot pulls me in at least three methodological directions ; the Golden Dawn/Occult Tradition (especially the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot, which can still order); Marseille which I find more systematic (see the guidance book to Playing Marseille by Ryan Edwards as an example ); and the modern psychological (The Naked Heart Tarot by Jillian C. Wilde fits this mould)

And then we have newer card systems, oracle cards included, who are unique to their creators. I am getting to know Mildred Payne’s Secret Pocket Oracle and pulling cards from Wild Unknowns Animal Spirit, as well as trying out other oracles.

Playing Cards for me fall between the old and the new depending on what meanings you use or what customised deck you choose to end up reading.

I am currently exploring three variations. All more modern takes: Cartomancy Poker Cards, Open Portals Playing Card and Ana Cortez’s Playing Card Oracles.

In the future, I hope to start studying geomancy, oghams and runes in more depth. They all use casting in some way, and it’s not a technique I use.

Some guides I’ll be using:

  • Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom by Erynn Rowan Laurie
  • Nordic Runes: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient Viking Oracle by Paul Rhys Mountfort
  • The Art of Geomancy Art And Practice Of Geomancy: Divination, Magic, and Earth Wisdom of the Renaissance by John Michael Greer
  • Geomagnetic Visions by James R. Eads [this is a coin set but comes with a guidebook.

The first threes have all been recommended by Kelly from The Truth in Story.

And thanks to The Living Wheel Astrology Cards I’ve finally taken then plunge into taking a serious look at Astrology – having a set of a cards to visualise the sky is breathing life into the chart for me right now.

But my current focus is a personal study of the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot: Revelation but also delving in again to the various correspondences using the Tabula Mundi Tarot and the Fortune Wheel House Podcast (via a systematic re-listen)

This is my aim

And I have only just set sail on this voyage, I am using this tweet by Sam Block to light my way. I am not sure what this blog might bring so this is an magickal mystery adventure.

As I’m on a this journey I hope I can help on your travels. I also hope that you will be able to help me along the the way too.

What are you currently studying?