Tarot Of The Day June 30 2018 - Day 12: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - Practicum 2

Tarot Of The Day June 30 2018 - Day 12: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - Practicum 2

I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the twelfth session follows.

Today, we are going over a spread of my own design, The Feather and Stone Spread. I came up with it during a time in my life when I was struggling with a decision and wanted to weigh the risks, benefits, and consequences. 

{For those of you who read this blog, you'll recognize this spread from a post last year, where I introduced it with a horrible sketch I drew with my finger on a cellphone. Since those in my Facebook group aren't familiar with it, I thought I'd share it with them, but I made a layout graphic to share it to them, so here's The Feather and Stone Spread, revisited.}

So I drew 5 cards to use to walk through the layout with:
1: 4 of Coins - inheritance, greed, solidity, miserliness, power, vitality, forcefulness, empowerment, and possessiveness.
2: Ace of Coins, Reversed - corruption, excess, surplus.
3: Temperance - adaptation, integration, synergy, balance of paradoxes, union, experience, resolution of conflicts, symmetry, combinations, alchemy, tempering, dream, vision, actualization, adaptation, coordination, self control.
4: The Empress - fertility, wisdom, earth-mother, prophecy, love of nature, spiritual essence, healing, nurturing, emotion, creation, cycles, balance, fruitfulness, contentment.
5:The Star - inspiration, confidence, self esteem, talent, guidance, expression, innovation, creativity, radiance, manifestation, charisma, magnetism, instinct, accomplishment, internal balance, spontaneity, vitality, nature, hope, insight, meaning.

So, the feather and stone are the two sides of the issue - here, the 4 of Coins and the Ace of Coins. Considering the suit of Coins is the Suit representative of the element Earth, is associated primarily with material things and specifically finances, I think it is safe to say that whatever decision I need to make deals with money. On one hand, I have the greed; the side where I am clinging to money and may expect to receive money I may not have actually earned, per se, but that I feel strongly about, possessive over. On the other hand, I have corruption and excess; a situation where I may need to choose between being stingy or allowing corruption to rule me because it might benefit me financially. 

For the Risk,  I drew Temperance, which is a card all about finding and creating balance. So maybe I will risk the loss of the balance I have created so far in my life, that I work so hard to maintain. For the Benefit, I drew The Empress, who signifies benefit, nurturing and healing. Perhaps I will benefit from this loss of balance by gaining closure or healing in some way.

Finally, in the Consequence position I drew The Star, who indicates that this decision, although it seems to risk the balance I already have and that I may gin some healing from, may cost me a piece of myself. I identify with the Star card because she about inspiration, creativity - If there were a card in the Tarot to represent the archetypal Muse, I think the Star would be it.

I did the draws for this layout without any specific decisions in mind, SO I need to do some objective thinking to see how these cards align with me, specifically he Feather and  Stone cards, but it’s fairly clear I have a decision to make that has to do with money, and what I choose may impact my life by creating some chaos, but with the benefit of closure and healing. 

You’ll not that this layout has no ‘this is the answer/outcome/solution’ card in it, and that is because I wanted go create a layout that forces those who use it (or the person being read for, that is) to actually use objectivity and introspection, and not let the cads make a decision for them.

Give this layout a try! Let me know what you think in the comments. I LOVE feedback!

Tomorrow - Wheel Of Fortune


***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***

Tarot Of The Day June 29 2018 - Day 11: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Hermit

Tarot Of The Day June 29 2018 - Day 11: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Hermit

I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the eleventh session follows.

The Rider-Waite deck shows the Hermit as the classic archetype: A grey old man bearing a walking stick and lantern, standing alone on what could be a mountain peak. We often joke  around in mt Saturday morning group and call him Gandalf the Grey, for obvious reasons.

The Hermit is about guidance. The light he holds is the light of knowledge - he is a beacon and counselor, either doling out information or  sending you on a quest to find and understand it.

The Rider-Waite booklet lists the following keywords for The Hermit: prudence, treason, dissimulation, corruption, roguery (upright,) concealment, disguise, policy, fear, and unreasoned
Caution (reversed.)

Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven’s Prophecy deck depicts the Hermit as a lit lantern inside the hollow of a tree. It appears to be the same lantern as seen in the Hierophant, only seen at  a distance housed inside the trunk of a hollowed out tree.

Maggie writes, “I have a soft spot for the Hermit; I think every introvert does. The Hermit is someone who longs to retreat in order to better know their mind. Sometimes it is a straightforward pursuit of spiritual knowledge - a monk is the most straightforward interpretation of the Hermit. But often the Hermit is someone who doesn't even know what they need to know; they just know they can’t discover it all with all of the noise of humankind around them. Emotions often cloud the Hermit’s judgement, and the only way to eliminate the messier ones is to retreat into solitude.”

Maggie’s keywords for the Hermit are retreat, wisdom, and spirituality.

Tomorrow - Practicum 2

***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***

Tarot Of The Day June 28 2018 - Day 10: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - Strength

Tarot Of The Day June 28 2018 - Day 10: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - Strength

I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the tenth session follows.


In the Rider-Waite deck, Strength is portrayed by a woman, a maiden in white, with her hands on a lion’s muzzle. She is wearing flower garlands in her hair and around her waist, and is crowned by an infinity symbol.

The Rider -Waite keywords for the Strength card are as follows: power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity (upright,) abuse of power, despotism, weakness, and discord (reversed.)
To me, the strength card is about the strength that comes with a calm demeanor. The strength we possess when we are prepared, understanding, and informed. The reverse is like the power that comes with anger and heated passions, uncontrollable and dangerous.

The Raven’s Prophecy deck brings back the hand of the mage for the Strength card, but now the hand is a fist, the symbols of the tools of the mage clenched under the fingers. It reminds me of propaganda style artwork, like the fist of the Black Power movement, or ironically the Aryan fist of the white power movements. It is also used in the Resist movement today. Long before all of those meanings, though, the raised fist was imply a symbol of triumph and solidarity.

Maggie Stiefvater writes about the Strength card:

“I have heard Strength interpreted in many different ways, many of them unsatisfyingly thin. I think the reason why it’s a difficult card to interpret is because it can seem a little redundant. So much of the tarot deck is about internal strength that it feels like this card is meaningless when it appears. Be strong? Of course! What else would you want to be?

But I think this card begins to make more sense if you read it as fortitude in the long haul and if you replace the word strength with patience.When this card shows up, you have been being strong, but this card says that you're not done yet. Whatever burden you've been throwing yourself against is not going away any time soon, and you're going to have to dredge up all of your patience and self-belief to get past it. This card asks you to be resilient, a far more difficult task than mere strength.”

Maggie’s keywords for Strength are patience, control, and self-belief.


Tomorrow - The Hermit

All of the lessons will be cross posted to my blog at http://ouroborostarot.blogspot.com, and at my Ouroboros Tarot Page here on Facebook.

***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***

Tarot Of The Day June 27 2018 - Day 9: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Chariot

Tarot Of The Day June 27 2018 - Day 9: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Chariot

I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the ninth session follows.

In the Rider-Waite deck, the Chariot is quite literally a chariot, drawn by two sphinx, one black, one white, carrying man in armor, a warrior, bearing a scepter and crown. They appear to be moving away from a city, and behind then is the thread of water that we have been following through the deck. (If I didn’t mention the water in the Lovers card, look between Adam and Eve on the ground - many tiny black tributaries coalesce in a stream there, far in the distance.)

To me, the Chariot is about moving forward, focused on your goals, changing if needed, making progress without stopping. It’s about getting an opportunity and running with it. It is also about Physical movement, travel. Always about movement, ever forward, and sometimes without concern for those who might fall off your chariot along the way.

In the Rider-Waite booklet, the keywords for the Chariot are as follows: succor, providence, also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble (upright,) riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, and defeat (reversed.)

Maggie Stiefvater’s Chariot is a not-quite double ouroboros od two dragons, one red and one white.  She writes:

“The duality that the Lovers card mutters about becomes a proper problem by the time the Chariot shows up in a reading. There are two sides to you, seemingly opposite, and you keep being thrown from one to the other. In many decks, this card depicts two beasts of different colors pulling a chariot; when they agree on a direction, the chariot moves forward swiftly. When they disagree, the chariot grinds to a halt.”

Maggie’s keywords for the Chariot are balance, self control, duality, and Id.

Tomorrow - Strength

***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***

Tarot Of The Day June 26 2018 - Day 8: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Lovers

Tarot Of The Day June 26 2018 - Day 8: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Lovers

I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the eighth session follows.

Ah, the lovers. It is probably the most desired card in a reading - not by the reader, mind you , but the readee! We have all seen or heard the trope of the mystic lady telling  someone over a crystal ball or tarot cards, “I see dark, handsome man in your future…” And that Lovers card symbolizes the desires of the average person asking for their cards to be read. Does he love me? Will she say yes? Will I ever not be lonely? Questions of romance and issues of the heart top the list when you give readings to others.

However,like a couple of the other cards in the deck, The Lovers doesn’t always indicate romance or a relationship...unless it does.

In the Rider-Waite deck, the Lovers card is clearly a depiction of Adam and Eve, with a burning bush and the Tree of Knowledge behind them, respectively - the tree of Knowledge complete with the snake of temptation, just in case you don’t get the symbolism of the fruited tree on its own. They, Adam and Eve, stand nude, arms spread, as a red winged angel with flaming hair appears above them, with the sun shining stridently over the entire scene. It is yet another nod to the non-mystical origins of the tarot. They are the original lovers, and so stand as archetype for the card.

In the Rider-Waite booklet, the keywords for the Lovers are as follows: attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome (upright,) failure, and foolish designs (reversed.)

In Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven’s Prophecy deck, she depicts the Lovers as two stags, one white, one black, with their horns locked and their heads together, not unlike a yin yang symbol. She writes,

“Nine times out of ten when this card appears in a reading, the person I’m reading for blushes and blusters. “I have no love life!” insists the embarrassed recipient. And often, they’re right. This card can represent actual lovers, and when uit does, the love pictured is epic - the pairing of two souls so complementary that it seems obvious that some greater power has designed them for each other. But it can also represent a duality inside you, and the complementary pairing it refers to is your inner self and your outer self. Just like in a great love affair, everything is perfect when both sides of you are working in harmony. And just like in a great love affair, the world crumbles when you war with yourself. ...The card speaks to the power of wholeness and knowing yourself. It also represents a pair of lovers who are greater together than they are individually.”

They keywords she gave for the Lovers card are love, pairing, duality, and values.


Tomorrow - The Chariot


***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***

Tarot Of The Day June 25 2018 - Day 7: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Hierophant

Tarot Of The Day June 25 2018 - Day 7: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Hierophant

I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the seventh session follows.

The Hierophant  in the Rider-Waite deck is another enthroned man, and visually looks very much like the previous card, the Emperor. He sits in a stone throne, flanked by two pillars, but this time is inside a building - probably a Church - and not out in nature. Before him, as he holds his scepter, and raises two fingers above his head, two followers with bald pates appear to kneel. One of them wears a robe embellishes with roses, the other with lilies., and between them are two crossed keys.  If this looks familiar, know that the Hierophant card was once known as The Pope card!

The Rider Waite booklet listes the following keywords for the Hierophant: marriage alliance, captivity, servitude, mercy and goodness, inspiration, the man to whom the querent has recourse (upright,) society, good understanding, concord, over-kindness, and weakness (reversed.)

Maggie Stiefvater depicts the Hierophant as a lit lantern with 7 lights surrounding it in the darkness. Before I look at her description, I feel that perhaps the reason she chose a lantern to depict  the Hierophant is because the Hierophant, once the Pope, is the guiding light, morally and spiritually.

Let’s see what she said:

“It seems strange that religion - structure, rules, tradition - is the external manifestation of something as nebulous as spirituality, but perhaps that’s the only way we humans can cope with the possibility of something too big and too other to contain inside ourselves. The Hierophant is the external form of the High Priestess, and so, as expected, often represents religion or a person positioned as a religious authority. He is all about upholding the conventional establishment. Not just upholding, but growing it. The art on the card shows the spiritual glow of the soul safely contained in a lantern, safely contained in a way that makes it easier to pass from hand to hand. “

Maggie’s keywords for the Hierophant are teacher, religion, and conformity.

Tomorrow - The Lovers

***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***

Tarot Of The Day June 24 2018 - Day 6: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Emperor

Tarot Of The Day June 24 2018 - Day 6: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - The Emperor

I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the sixth session follows.

The Emperor card as seen in the Rider-Waite deck shows a bearded man with white hair, seated at the center of the card on a large stone throne, wearing armor, with red robes covering most of the armor, holding a scepter in his right hand, and an orb in his left, wearing a crown.  Behind the throne, mountains can be seen, and at the foot of the mountains a river runs. This is the same water as seen in the previous cards starting with the High Priestess. The throne is decorated with ram’s heads, as does the red robe around his shoulders.

The Rider-Waite booklet offers the following keywords for the Emperor: stability, power, aid, protection, a great person, conviction, reason (upright,) benevolence, compassion, credit, confusion to enemies, obstruction, and immaturity (reversed.)

In the Raven’s Prophecy deck, the Emperor card is depicted as a sword in a stone, with a crown transfigured by the sword. It immediately evokes the story of the king who got his throne by being the one worthy enough to draw the sword from the stone.

Maggie Stiefvater writes about the Emperor: “This is a very kingly card. All of the starry-eyed stereotypes that we apply to say, King Arthur, are present in the Emperor. He’s fair, just , stern, structured. He lives by the book...because he wrote the book. Just as the Empress has used her fruitful nature to create a world of living things, the Emperor has created a world for himself, too, and it’s a world of rules and regulations, a world where everything goes right because there are dire consequences for when things go wrong….The Emperor’s kingdom is a safe and efficient one if you’re willing to play by his rules, and most people are, because the rules are always there for a reason. Although the Emperor is not afraid to punish wrongdoers, he doesn’t believe in being arbitrarily punitive. “

Maggie’s keywords for the Emperor are kingship, structure, authority, and traditional.

I like to describe the Emperor card for my classes as a character not unlike, ‘Judge Dredd’ from the comics and movies. “I AM the law.” he states, leaning heavily on being right because the law says he is, whereas the Hierophant, our next card, is right because his moral code says he is.The Emperor is not without flaws, but he is strong and considers the law before making a decision - even if the law doesn't agree with his personal moral set.

Tomorrow - The Hierophant

***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***