Messages From the Lost Spread

On Thursday the 23rd of March, I was woken up by a Facebook messenger call from my Auntie Liz in England. She couldn't find my mother, her sister's phone number and needed to relay some very bad news. My older brother, who had been missing for several days in England, had been found dead on Saturday the 18th in his hostel room. Later, we learned it had been of natural causes.

Of course, I am devastated and hurt, and miss my big brother very much. Today I realized I'd been neglecting my blog, and my art, and when I sat down to rite, the only spread I could think of was the one pictured below. A friend I met online shared this photo with a group I am in  and asked for help interpreting it. She posted it saying, "Hey ladies, what is your take on this card draw? Question asked is, "What message do you have from my niece Aliana?" When I asked her if the placement of the cards had any meaning, she replied:

"Sounds weird, but I pull for the quarters, 4 on bottom. And spirit card up top by itself. But nothing really fancy."

So I did my best and it turned out the cards were a message alright - her niece Aliana, who had been murdered, was trying to warn her Aunt that her father, my friend's brother, was allowing his grief to steer him down the path of addiction. My friend was able to reach out to him and he agreed to go into rehab.

So, with this in mind, I thought I would also do this spread. But not right now. I need to grieve differently still.

The Feather and Stone Spread - Weighing Your Options

Sometimes, I can't sleep, no matter how hard I try. Last night was one of those nights. (Well, by the time this post goes live, it will have been several nights ago...) I finally grabbed my phone and opened a drawing app  (Autodesk SketchBook) and ended up designing three new layouts. Ill give them each a post, and we will see how they work out. They could be useless, they may need tweaking, but please understand it was 4am and my brain and body were desperate for sleep. My muse, however? Not so much.

Here's the third and final 4 am spread:

1: The Feather

2: The Stone

3: The Risk

4: The Benefit

5: The Consequence

So, this layout is for when you're trying to make a decision, and need to get your ducks in a row. On one side of the scale, you have The Feather - this is the thing that looks easy but maybe isn't as simple a decision as you think. On the other side of the scale you have The Stone. This is the heavy decision, the thing that perhaps you are stressing out about more than you need to. Between them are The Risk, The Benefit, and The Consequence. They speak for themselves, I think. Note: I did not include an outcome card, because I have never felt that one should make decisions based on what a card draw tells you. I'd rather use a spread that helps you see your options, and weigh them against one another before deciding on your own what your future holds.

I drew the cards for this layout, and this is what I got (no photo  because I did this while my cellphone was dead):

The Feather: 2 of Swords - precariousness, treachery, blindness, decision, peace, integrative mind
The Stone: 7 of Cups - temptation, selfishness, illusion, debauchery, addiction, over-everything, promiscuity
The Risk: 9 of Pentacles - gain, prudence, benefit, balance, order, organization, unification
The Benefit: King of Wands - authority, leadership, fatherhood, inspired direction, vision, intuition, evolution, spiritual growth, energy, arrogance
The Consequence: 5 of pentacles - impoverishment, destitution, loss, loneliness, worry, concern, preoccupation

Before I start, I have had the chance to play with this layout a bit more since I created it, as well as have a few people test it out, like The Nerdy Witch, and what I think I have discovered is that the Feather and Stone are relative. The Feather could be a big issue, that maybe you don't consider to be as big as you thought, and The Stone could be an issue much less important than you thought. The layout is really just about weighing your options, and I included no conclusion/solution/answer card here because I want the querent to come to their own decisions, rather than depending on the cards to decide for them. That is not to say that the cards drawn wont change the querent's mind or at least influence the decision in the end.

So this is where the explication goes, but I have had a crazy week full of really big changes and this draw is not fully relevant anymore. It is, but it isn't.

So for The Feather, I drew a somewhat two-faced card. The 2 of Swords not only indicates treachery and negative things, but also making decisions and the peace that comes with the integrative mind (integrative is an adjective that means 'serving or intending to unify separate things'.) It seems somewhat contradictory, but I think it also can express the feelings one has when they are of two minds about something, and make a decision. You may feel guilty or badly about the decision, but once it is made, a sort of peace arrives that allows you to reap the benefits of that decision.

The Stone card I drew talks about temptation - specifically the temptations of the flesh, and the illusions we cast on ourselves when we follow those temptations blindly, and the addictions that come along with getting in too deep too quickly.

So, before I talk about the other cards, lets talk about The Feather and The Stone together. Each of them represents one side of the scale. The Feather is the thing we thing may not be  big deal and that carries less weight, while The Stone is the thing we are perhaps putting too much weight upon. So here, this is saying that my Feather is my need to make a decision about something im feeling at odds with, and that my Stone is the guilt and fear itself I have regarding that decision.

Moving on to The Risk: This card seems to indicate to me that the decision I'm facing puts things I value at risk, like balance and order, prudence and unification. However, any change in life puts these things at risk.

The Benefit card speaks about authority, leadership, inspired direction, vision, intuition, evolution, spiritual growth, energy, and arrogance. Considering the decision I was facing at the time of the draw, this makes a lot of sense to me. The person it is clearly speaking of does mean many of these things to me, and the decision I needed to make would affect my relationship with that person.

The final card, the Consequence card, talks about some fairly negative things. At the time I did the reading, I was worried that it meant that making the decision was a bad idea, but now I think it may have been a warning to not allow my Feather and my Stone (the guilt, and fear) - to overwhelm me.

**Sorry for the delay in posts. I should be getting back on track over the next few days!**

Dangnabbit

Scheduled posts have not been posting when they should, and I have had a very busy few days with some major changes going on in my personal life, so posts haven't been showing up at 3pm CST every day as they should. I am working to resolve this.

More posts as soon as figure this out!

The See It All Spread

Sometimes, I can't sleep, no matter how hard I try. Last night was one of those nights. (Well, by the time this post goes live, it will have been several nights ago...) I finally grabbed my phone and opened a drawing app  (Autodesk SketchBook) and ended up designing three new layouts. Ill give them each a post, and we will see how they work out. They could be useless, they may need tweaking, but please understand it was 4am and my brain and body were desperate for sleep. My muse, however? Not so much.

This is the second:

It was 4 am. Don't judge.

1 - 3: The Seen ( this is stuff you know about )

4 - 6: The Unseen ( this is stuff you don't know about )

7 - 8: The Choice ( this is what you have left after seeing it all )

I deliberately chose not to put an outcome card in this layout. I think just seeing what is there, the stuff that was in the open and the stuff hidden from your view, and then seeing what you need to choose between now that you've seen it all is enough. This isn't about prediction, its about laying it all out on the table and seeing what you have to deal with.

So lets try laying some cards out and see what we get.

1 - 3: The Hermit, Reversed, The 3 of Pentacles, and The Page of Pentacles.
4 - 6: The 8 of Wands, The Ace of Cups, and the 6 of Wands.
7 - 8: 9 of Swords, Reversed, and 5 of Wands, Reversed.

So, the Seen begins with the Hermit card in reverse, and this indicates immaturity and foolishness. The 3 of Pentacles indicates effort, persistence, tenacity, priorities, commitments, focus, intention, and direction. The Page of Wands then indicates brilliance, learning, courage, beauty, self liberation, release of fear, spontaneous expression, freedom, new direction, and adventure.

To me, these three cards may be about the querent's point of view. What they can see because it is their perspective.

The Unseen begins with the 8 of Wands, indicating motion, journey, ideas, actions, swiftness, progress, communication, transformation, and problem solving. Then the Ace of Cups indicates a breakthrough, the open heart, the trusting heart, and expression. The Unseen ends with the 6 of Wands, which indicates victory, success, advancement, revitalization, energy, and expansion.

These Unseen cards could mean a lot of different things - I think it will have a lot to do with context for the querent - but it could be the perspective from another involved party's point of view, or the querent's subconscious mind's perspective, what they may be hiding from themselves.

Finally, for The Choice, we have the 9 of Swords, reversed, meaning suspicion, doubt, shame, imprisonment, desolation, misery and death, and the 5 of Wands, reversed, indicating the other option in The Choice is contradiction, complication, competition, restriction, restraint.

Honestly, for this querent, the Choice seems to be that making either choice is leading somewhere negative. But, as I always say, negative can simply mean a warning of the possible.

This layout may need some tweaks to be a properly functioning layout. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Next Blog: The Feather and Stone Spread - Weighing Your Options

The Follow Your Heart Spread

Sometimes, I can't sleep, no matter how hard I try. Last night was one of those nights. (Well, by the time this post goes live, it will have been several nights ago...) I finally grabbed my phone and opened a drawing app  (Autodesk SketchBook) and ended up designing three new layouts. Ill give them each a post, and we will see how they work out. They could be useless, they may need tweaking, but please understand it was 4am and my brain and body were desperate for sleep. My muse, however? Not so much.

Here's the first:

The Follow Your Heart Spread

It was 4 am. Don't judge.

A five card spread arranged in a sort of a heart shape, this is how is breaks down:

1: You, or the Querent, right now, in this moment. Your/Their state of mind
2: Choice A
3: Possible outcome of making choice A
4:Choice B
5: Possible outcome of making choice B

So for the test draw, I drew:

1: The Hierophant - morality, challenge, commitment, intention, society, orthodoxy
2: 2 of Cups - reflection, carnality, passion, love
3: 3 of Cups, Reversed - pleasure, liberality
4: The Lovers, Reversed - repulsion
5: 8 of Swords, Reversed - triviality, censure, freedom, relaxation

So, the breakdown:

1: The querent is represented by the Hierophant, who I personally have always considered a card that represents the religious and 'moral' right; those who believe they are right because their faith says they are, or their interpretation of their faith does. The Hierophant used to be known as the Pope card, so this just reinforces that. So lets say the card here is saying that the person feels that the choice they have to make is a moral one, that they feel morally obligated to make the 'right' choice, even if their heart may be leaning toward something less socially or morally acceptable.

2: One side of this choice is represented by the 2 of Cups, which is about reflection - and this card's definition of reflection I have always understood to be the reflection of introspection, of looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing yourself truly, honestly, and objectively. It is a Cups card, so also is about passion and love, and carnality - carnality being about the physical needs and wants of the body, the passion of the physical relationship. Perhaps this card is represents choosing something that has to do with physical attraction, being attracted to something or someone who induces the carnal desires - but not without love as well. Or maybe its the love of the lust here that is the choice the querent is faced with possibly making.

3: The possible outcome from choosing the carnality is pleasure and liberality - the freedom to be physical and lustful. This card has the appearance of being a positive outcome, but without the context of what situation and environment the querent is in while making this choice, we can't say for sure.

4: The other side of the choice is the Lovers in reverse; repulsion. Where the upright meaning of this card is about attraction and being in a 'perfect' relationship, the reverse is the opposite. It is about pushing someone away. So now with both sides of the choice unveiled, it looks like the querent needs to choose between accepting the carnal desires and passion and love from another, or pushing them away.

5: The possible outcome from pushing away is the 8 of Swords, reversed. This card speaks about trivial  freedom, relaxation, but not without censure. Seems like if the choice is made to push this away, then the querent still may end up walking on eggshells .


Next blog: The See It All Spread

Wheel of the Year/Twelve Months Spread

Now, it's a tiny bit late in the year already to be doing this, but luckily, we did this spread in the Tarot Practicum group I lead just after the new year, so I have my draws ready to share.

The Wheel of the Year , or Twelve Months Spread, is a twelve card draw that you do at the beginning of the year, as a sort of forecast for your year. Obviously, things change and the cards may not hold true throughout the year, but its a fun exercise to try. I wrote the cards I pulled in my planner, so I can refer back to them every month and compare their keywords to my reality.

There's no right or wrong way to do it - arrange the cards however you like. We did a grid of two rows of six cards, and read them left to right, January through June on top, July through December on the bottom.

I drew:

January: 4 of Wands, Reversed
February: 8 of Wands
March: 6 of Pentacles
April: Judgement
May: Queen of Pentacles, Reversed
June: 3 of Swords, Reversed
July: The Sun
August: The High Priestess, Reversed
September: 2 of Wands
October: Page of Wands
November: Ace of Wands, Reversed
December: Strength

So let's break that down:

January's draw indicated prosperity and harmony of the lesser things in life.

February's draw is all about motion: the journey, ideas, actions, swiftness, progress, communication, transformation, and problem-solving.

March's draw talks about philanthropy and charity, but also about attainment, accomplishment, productivity and tangibility. (It should be noted that this card's reference to charity is about giving in a wise way - being mindful of what you have so that when you give you aren't giving more than you can afford to give.)

April's draw is judgement, perception, insight, assessment, discernment - the analytical mind at work - and also reunion, awakening, and consciousness.

May's draw is about neglect, dependence, lack, and misuse.

June's draw is about compromise, confusion, delay and disorder.

July's draw is about cooperation, success, liberation, collaboration, teamwork, partnership, and unlimited energy.

August's draw is about false knowledge, shallowness, and conceit.

September's draw is about dominance, rulership, enterprise, power, and unification.

October's draw is about brilliance, learning, courage, beauty, self liberation, the release of fear, spontaneous expression, freedom, new directions, adventure, spring, and having nothing to fear.

November's draw indicates a false start, setbacks.

And, finally, December's draw is about strength, passion, creativity, risk-taking, charisma, radiance, regeneration, expression, gifts, taming, overcoming fears, lustiness, strong faith, trust in one's own abilities, confidence, unconditionality, intuition, domination, and harmony.

Now, although I have said it before, there is no reason to take any of the negative cards to heart. Our future is not set in stone, and the cards are merely warnings of what is most likely to come, given the current path you are on, at the time of the drawing. I choose to see the negative cards, May, June, August, and November, as opportunities to change things. I will enter those months with a positive outlook despite what they warn of, and will do what I can to not allow those negative things into my life. Now, this isn't to say that we don't need to have negatives in our lives - bad things are bound to happen, and they are how we learn from one moment to the next. If nothing ever happened in our lives that was bad, we'd never grow into better people. But if a negative thing is avoidable, then I should try to avoid it. I wouldn't stand in the way of an oncoming car if I could simply step out of its path.

Now, lets break this down a bit further. Keywords are wonderful, but its very easy to be overwhelmed by a bunch of vocabulary when it is out of context.

To be honest, January is a blur to me. The month passed far too quickly to remember whether it was prosperous and harmonious - but it wasn't bad, either, or I'd remember that. We do remember the bad times far more easily than the good.

February was absolutely spot on, for me. I had some really good ideas and have set some plans in motion that I hope to play out over the coming months. My creativity levels were high, and I feel that I was quite productive as an artist. I even earned money in February that I wasn't expecting.

March is underway, and the draw had a twofold prediction: philanthropy in the form of wise giving, and accomplishment and productivity.  So far, the first half of the month has been an accomplishment, as I have sold more in passive sales of my art than ever before, and I was able to go buy myself something I needed without dipping into household funds for once, which was very nice. Earlier today, I signed myself up for a giveaway round robin, which is wise giving, in that I can afford to not sell the item I'm giving away, and that because it is a round robin style giveaway, it will also garner me some advertising as the people signing up for the giveaway will visit my page as they work through the round robin. Wise. There's still half of March yet to go, so perhaps I will find myself able to say I've accomplished more - oh, I can! I started this blog, and I'm keeping it up! I have always had a hard time maintaining blogs like this, but this time I'm writing articles ahead of time, scheduling them for posting, and even making time to work on it a bit every day. So far, so good.

April ( my birthmonth! ) has keywords that have double meaning for me:  judgement, perception, insight, assessment, discernment - the analytical mind at work, which makes me think of two aspects of this group of terms. First, the need for personal growth through the judgement of self. I think its important to continue to analyze my actions and thought processes in order to enact self change and grow into a better, more emotionally mature person. Second, they refer (to me) to psychology, which is my personal field of study when I am at school. I'm not currently in school, but intend to get back to it. Perhaps in April I will find myself setting that in motion again for the Fall semester. With luck, as I'm turning 40 this year, I'll also have a really great birthday party to remember.

May's draw warns me of neglect, dependence, lack, and misuse. But the question here is: Whose neglect? Will I be neglected, or will I be the one neglecting others? Or will it be a duty I neglect doing? Will I experience dependence on something or someone and feel the loss of it, or will someone become dependent on me and then find themselves without me?  Will I be misused, or will I be the abuser? Until May comes, there's no telling, but I can be aware, notice the signs, and perhaps change my path enough to lessen any blows that come my way or that I might deal out.

June continues the negativity with compromise, confusion, delay and disorder. This honestly made me chuckle because June is the month before a big convention I usually attend, and my best friend and collaborator and I have plans to try to accomplish a massive cosplay project. As with most projects begun with high ambitions, I expect that June will find us scrambling to complete the five costumes we've planned, which require a fair amount of mechanical knowhow and skill to pull off.

July still has me thinking about the cosplay project, because it will require a massive amount of teamwork and cooperation to pull off. It's also usually a very busy month for me, as vending, festival, and convention season are in full swing by July, and this year I am also coordinating (with others) two festivals while trying to maintain my own vending schedule, one in August, one in September. I'll be very busy and it pleases me to think that I will have the teamwork and cooperation, partnership, energy, and success needed.

August warns of false knowledge, shallowness, and conceit. Again, these things can come in many forms, so will I be the one perpetrating these things on someone else, or will someone be lying to me? Only time will tell, but I can set out to make sure that I am an honest person in August (as I should every day) and that I keep my eye open for others being deceptive around me.

September is a month of dominion - the keyword speak to my being in control of something, or taking control of something. I do have a festival I'm a part of the planning committee for and that I will be a vendor at that month, so perhaps something is going to happen that will leave me in a position of control or having to take the reins. It also speak about enterprise and unification, which could also refer to the festival s well. Or it could all be about something completely different. We shall see!

October (one of my favorite months, despite the terrible cold) indicates lot of good, positive things are coming my way. It talks about releasing fear, brilliance and beauty, courage and learning, self expression and freedom (specifically self liberation, suggesting that I have something I will free myself from, most likely the fears I will release.) Maybe I will end up taking some big step toward something I have considered big and scary. Again, as we get closer in time, things will become more obvious.

November bring the negativity back with false starts and setbacks. November is the month I held a huge and successful dance show back in 2012, and I have performers from that show still hoping and waiting for me to put it on again. Maybe I'll try and end up failing. Maybe, with this reading in mind, I'll prepare better and not fail. Maybe its something else entirely.

December will be a month of strength for me. It's a nice idea, to close out the year, one that is mostly positive, but with its fair share of negativity, with such a good thing. The laundry list of keywords for the month basically just indicate a month of awesome. I look forward to it. It gives me hope that that some of the things I'm planning and starting now are going to end well, or be well underway and going well when the year ends.

Having gone through all of this with me, do you want to try your own Wheel of the Year/Twelve Months Spread? I'd love to hear about it if you do!

Don't forget to comment, and subscribe if you want to keep up with my posts, which for now come daily at 3pm CST.

Next Blog: The Follow Your Heart Spread

The Psychic Reader, The Intuitive Reader, and The By-The-Book Readers and Readings

As I often find myself compelled to say when teaching or simply discussing the tarot to or with others, there are no rules in the tarot. There is a structure, a history, there are many, many books defining the tarot, but when it comes down to the individual and their relationship to the cards, and the way that they personally read the cards, there really are no rules.

Having said that, I’m now going to do a simple breakdown of my personal ideas of the three types of tarot readers. I know that there are types of readers out there that I am not including, but the three I am addressing make up the majority of the tarot readers one might encounter today.

The Psychic Reader: this is a person who believes that they are gifted with a supernatural gift that allows them certain insight into the person they are doing a reading for. The cards merely guide them through the reading.

The Intuitive Reader: like the psychic reader, the intuitive reader depends on their own intuitive capabilities to perform a reading. They take cues from the imagery of the tarot deck to work through a reading, often ending up making connections that have very little to do with the intended meaning of the cards before them.

The By-The-Book Reader: The by  the book reader uses the definitions of the cards provided to them by the creators of the deck they are using to perform their readings. They supplement that with study of the Tarot and its many readings, and typically do not stray from the ‘gold standard’ as defined in the Rider-Waite structure that the majority of 78-card Tarot decks are based upon. They use common sense, and contextual clues to perform a reading and connect the dots between the cards before them to tell a story about their client.

Next blog: Wheel of the Year/Twelve Months Spread

Messages From the Cards, or, Why is this card FOLLOWING me?

The more readings you do, the more you will start to notice that certain cards seem to be following you. For instance, every reading I have done for myself in the last week or so has had the 6 of Wands in it in one way or another, but mostly reversed.

So what does this mean? Is it just a coincidence? Am I really bad at shuffling my cards? Or is it a message from the beyond?

Well, by now you guys know that I'm not one for all the hoopajoop, but if the same message keeps coming at me over and over, I think I should probably pay attention it.

So the card that is stalking me at the moment is the 10 of Wands, Reversed. It keeps coming up! Now, my trusty Mage: The Ascension deck says that it indicates duplicity, separation, and loss, but I think that maybe I need more information. So let's troll the interwebs for more data!

Psychic-Revelation.com says:
"When the 10 of Wands reversed appears, it's important that you are completely honest with yourself and everyone around you now. No one is served by being deceptive. If you feel that someone who is important to you is being dishonest, you may well be correct. However, be certain before confronting anyone; and sometimes a confrontation is not necessary at all. Take it slow. You may be "stressed out." "

Biddy Tarot says:
"Upright, the Ten of Wands reflects that you have taken on a heavy burden. Reversed, the Ten of Wands indicates that you are unnecessarily holding on to this burden when you do not need to."

and

"If you are going through a challenging time, then the Ten of Wands reversed indicates that this time will soon pass and you will feel less of a burden weighing on your shoulders.
You may be actively identifying those activities that do not bring you any value in your life and you are starting to release yourself from these unnecessary responsibilities. You may even be going through a purging process, clearing out old clothes and selling old furniture, in order to de-clutter and simplify your life. You will benefit from better organization and prioritization at this time.
Sometimes, the reversed Ten of Wands indicates that you are avoiding responsibility and making it even more difficult for others who must take on your share. Thus, the saying, “You have made your bed, now lie in it,” is very appropriate for this card."

crystal-reflections.com says:
"Take a look at your original goal and see if you are still on course. When you fulfill personal obligations and agreements, you develop the maturity essential to all social relationships. You develop faith in yourself and your ability to accomplish your goals.
Your burdens have increased in weight and number to the point where you may collapse from them - physically and emotionally. You are holding yourself back, limiting your vision by giving your power to others. It is vitally important that you release yourself - stop restricting your activities and remove yourself from the oppressive situations in your life where you feel you are holding yourself back and unable to fully express all of who you are. Throw down the burdens, attempt a new direction and use your energy for a better, more constructive purpose. Continue to grow - don't give up now...be willing to take the risk and reach for your goals.
There may be an overly long pause at this level, a hesitation to go on with the next task. Spiritual egotism. Presumption of a high order. Spiritual abuse, negligence. Spiritual vertigo. The symbol of Fascist Italy was a bundle of rods tightly tied together, suggesting that the Italian State had combined and coordinated the force of all its elements. Here is power without the commensurate level of responsibility."

auntyflo.com says:
"When you have received the Ten of Wands in the reversed position, this means that you are ending a phase in which you were overburdened, thankfully and are finding your way out. You learning what freedom is and you are beginning to delve into a life of self reflection and joy. The card is still showing up in your reading, because there are still elements from this phase that you are purging. This card is telling you to check in with yourself to make sure that goals you have set for yourself are being accomplished. If so, great, if not, fine-tune the process so that you do not add more then you can handle and will get in the way."

Now, I have a wider perspective on the meaning of the card. But let us not forget that each card's meaning depends entirely upon the context we encounter it in: what is the meaning of the position it is in? What cards came up in relation to it? Each of those questions alter the meaning of the card in one way or the other.

Next Blog: The Psychic Reader, The Intuitive Reader, and The By-The-Book Readers and Readings

The Bat Tarot Spread - Break Your Illusions

So today we have a fun spread featuring one of my most favorite critters. I have this...thing for rodents. Hares, rabbits, bats and buns are my most beloved creatures, and now we have this awesome spread that my friend and tarot student, The Nerdy Witch posted on her blog. Of course I'm absolutely unable to resist trying it out for myself. So here we go!

A spread to break you of illusion, and to show you the truth of the matter.
1: Who Am I Right Now?
2: What Do I Want to Be?
3: Where Am I Excelling?
4: Where Do I Need Work?
5: In What Ways Am I Fooling Myself?
6: In What Ways Are Others Fooling Me?
7:What Is Barring Me From Success?

I drew:

1: 10 of Wands, Reversed
2: Page of Wands, Reversed
3: Page of Cups
4: The Hanged Man
5: The Empress, Reversed
6: 5 of Wands, Reversed
7: 4 of Cups, Reversed

Who am I right now? Duplicity, separation, loss.
What do I want to be? Indecision, unpleasantness
Where am I excelling? Rebirth, emotional objectivity, and detachment, controlling, messages from dreams
Where do I need work? Perspective, surrender, breaking old patterns, resolution, freedom from self imposed limitations, unlimited life-force, different postures and perspectives, awakening, deep spiritual wisdom, creativity, intelligence, prophecy
In what ways am I fooling myself? Sterility, poverty, inaction, disruption, destruction
In what ways are others fooling me? Contradiction, complication, competition, restriction, restraint
What is barring me from success? Novelty, contemplation, wonder

I had a hard time with the above draw, so I drew again:

1: Temperance, Reversed
2: 10 of Wands, Reversed
3: 2 of Cups
4: The Empress
5: 8 of Pentacles, Reversed
6: Wheel of Fortune, Reversed
7: 5 of Wands

Who am I right now? competition, mutation
What do I want to be? duplicity, separation, loss
Where am I excelling? reflection, carnality, passion, love
Where do I need work? fertility, wisdom, earth-mother, prophecy, love of nature, spiritual essence, healing, nurturing, emotion, creation, cycles, balance, fruitfulness, contentment
In what ways am I fooling myself? ineptitude, inability, lethargy, chaos
In what ways are others fooling me? misfortune
What is barring me from success? strife, competition, obstacles, anxiety, frustration, freneticism, hyperactivity

The two draws seem quite different, but there is a theme still running though them. I pulled these cards when I honestly had maybe too much on my mind. I won't go in to the more worked up walkthrough that I might normally, because these are quite personal to me.

I have to say , I like this layout, but I don't think I'd use it often it doesn't allow for much in the way of storytelling or dot-connecting, but depends heavily on the meaning of each card standing on its own, rather than the card meanings in relation to one another in the context of the spread.

Next Blog: Messages From the Cards, or, Why is this card FOLLOWING me?

My Favorite Layout - The 'Perfect Spread'

So whenever I do a reading for a client, or for a friend, or for myself, this is the layout I use. It's dynamic, simple yet detailed, and works every time to help me talk to the person I'm working with about their situation. I call it the perfect spread because I of all the layouts I've tried, this one is my go-to spread. It just really works.

It may be a little hard to read, if so I apologise. The spread is actually two spreads combined: a simple 3 card past, present, future spread, over a simple 5 card question spread. The two layouts mesh very well together, and if you're the type of reader who likes to move the cards around during a reading, this layout allows for that as well.

I like to begin the reading by going over the 3 top cards - they are basically gimme cards, but often they can give clues to what the lower five will be about.

Once I've covered the top 3, I start on the lower five - and I don't take my time. I basically go over what each card means. The next part is the fun part.

Here's where you can shift the cards around. The top 3 cards each usually line up with certain cards in the lower 5, allowing you to go back and start telling the story while physically lining the cards up and you verbally connect the dots between them.

Here's how they look shifted:

As you can see (again, small picture is small, sorry) the cards line up into columns under past, present and future.

Under Past, the fist two cards of the lower five line up, because they are literally about the past. Card Four is the Question or Issue card, and it is very rare that the question or issue has nothing to do with the past. Even if the question is ABOUT the future, the reason for asking about it is likely firmly rooted in the past, and because they are so closely linked, they line up under the Past.

Under Present, I usually talk a little about how the Present card is the Present - General, and the 6th card is Present - Specific. Usually, Present - Specific to this issue. And below it, the 7th card, Environment/Support falls under Present because it is speaking about the people and environment the querent is currently experiencing and how those things affect the issue at hand.

And finally, under Future, the Answer/Solutions card lines up. Here is where I might talk about how the tarot are not for telling your future, more about showing you the most likely outcome based on the path you are currently walking, that the future is not fate or destiny, it is not set in stone, etc.

So, lets work through this spread with cards in play.

I drew:

1/Past: 2 of Swords, Reversed

2/Present: Ace of Swords, Reversed

3/Future: Judgement

4/Question/Issue: 8 of Swords

5/Reason Behind Question/Issue: 5 of Cups

6/Querent, In This Moment: 7 of Cups, Reversed

7/Environment/Support: Queen of Swords

8/Answer/Solution:10 of Wands, Reversed

See my lovely cramped kitchen table, uh, I mean, workspace?

So lets start at the top with the Past, Present, and Future cards.

For the Past, I drew the 2 of Swords, Reversed, which is a card about Balance. It implies that the querent - me - was at a stalemate, may feel impotent about the issue at stalemate, and may be preparing for a truce or release with this past issue. ( I have a feeling I know what this might be about. I reserve judgement.)

For the Present, I drew the Ace of Swords, Reversed, whose keywords are disaster, tyranny, and ignorance. So it indicates that I am in the middle of something that is falling apart, that I may be a tyrant or that I am under the thumb of a tyrant, and that I may be blind - ignorant - to the truth in that situation. (I can see a couple things that this relates to in my life, but nothing is jumping out at me. We will wait and see what the lower five have to say before I attach much meaning to this card.)

I drew the Judgement card for the Future position, which is usually about - you guessed it - judgement. It is also about reunion, awakening, perception, insight, assessment, integration, and manifestation.  (This card actually hit hoe the most so far because I actually spent some time in the last week thinking about, then writing about, then talking with others about a but of self assessment I did that concluded in my making a realization about my relationship that, I think, will bring my fiancée and I closer together and help us create a stronger relationship.)

The fourth card, the card that represents my Question or issue, is the 8 of Swords. It means crisis, indecision, restriction, censure, doubt, mistrust, over-analytical mind, confusion, and interference. (This card says a lot to me, and definitely ties back to the Past and Future cards I drew. We're getting somewhere!)

The 5 of Cups card is in the position of the reason for asking/thing that happened that caused the issue at hand. The 5 of Cups represents disillusionment, disappointment, sorrow, loss, fragility, and depression. (This also means quite a bit to me, and speaks to my state of mind about the topic at hand.)

The card that represents my immediate Present, or me, in this moment, is the 7 of Cups, Reversed. Typically, if it were upright, it would be inferring temptation, selfishness, and addiction, but reversed, it indicates determination and realization. (This lines up a lot with what I mentioned about the Future card. Connecting the dots!)

My Environment and Support in relation to this issue is represented by the Queen of Swords. She means perception, confidence, rationality, objectivity, and a consulting intelligence. She basically means that the environment I'm in and the people I am going to to talk about this issue are the right ones, that I'm getting objective advice and feedback, and from people rational enough to provide it thoughtfully. It says the environment I'm in is one that will help me build confidence abut the issue as well.

For the final card, The Answer/Solution card, I drew the 10 of Wands, Reversed. It represents duplicity, separation, and loss. (This card has come up for me over and over in last few weeks, so I want to do some research and see if there's some other meaning here that I'm not seeing. I swear, this card is following me! I'll be doing a blog post about this very soon.)

So, this reading ended up being quite personal to me, and nothing I'd like to delve into here, so I won't be going quite as deep as I usually do, but I am hoping tat the breakdown earlier gives a clear idea of how this works.

Please make sure to comment and let me know what you think of the layout, of my interpretations, ask questions!

Next Blog: The Bat Tarot Spread - Break Your Illusions

The Menage A' Trois Spread - Romance Readings in a Poly World

So, I'll just preface this with saying that I am not in a poly, or polyamorous, relationship. Now, having said that, I know tons of people who are. The topic comes up from time in my relationship, but for now we aren't ready to do something like that. I thought it would be a fun idea to create a spread to look at potential dates with, and after some fiddling with it, here's the spread. This isn't just aimed at a couple adding a third for them both to date, but also when just one person wants to start seeing someone new. I hope you all enjoy it!

I know the picture is silly - but its the best one I could find that wasn't overtly sexual.

The spread goes like this:

Position 1: You, the client, or the person in the triangle who wants to add a new person to their life.

Position 2: The person in position 1's current partner.

Position 3: The potential lover.

Position 4: Extra info about the potential person - things you should know.

Position 5: The relationship between 1 and 2.

Position 6: The relationship between 1 and 3.

Position 7:  The relationship between 2 nd 3.

Position 8: The outcome of introducing this person to the relationship.

I really hope that some of you, my dear readers, will try this and comment below to let me know if it worked for you, if you have any suggestions for tweaking the layout, or even (and especially) if you need help working through the cards you pulled for yourself.

I may pull some cards for this spread for fun and do a work through, just to show you all how to relate the cards to one another, and tell that story.

Next blog: My Favorite Layout - The 'Perfect Spread'

Interpretation and Connecting the Dots - Storytelling With the Tarot

Okay! I've had some sleep, so now we tackle the interpretation of the spread described in last night's/early this morning's blog post, Diving In with The Empress Spread.

I was hoping that some sleep might open my eyes a bit to this reading, but I must say that I am, as always, a bit unsure of how to connect the dots between these cards and their positions in the spread. But, we shall soldier on and see what we can see. It's hard to be objective about a reading done for yourself, especially if there's a specific outcome you ight be hoping for, or a decision that needs to be made that you're hoping the cards will help you with. Personal bias is a reading killer, and can cause us to try to twist the meaning of a card to fit what we want it to mean, instead of what it is trying to tell us.

*** A quick aside: I know I said a lot about woo-woo and hoopajoop yesterday, and today I'm using verbiage that indicates that I think the cards are speaking to me, sending messages, etc. I am merely personifying the cards - I don't think of them as actual entities. it's just easier to speak about them this way to get the point across. ***

So NOW, let's get down to brass tacks.

My first card was the 6 of Wands, Reversed, indicating that the thing that I love (remember the question was "WHAT do I love?", not 'WHO',) is delay, conquest, and defeat. I think that perhaps this is telling me that I may actually have come to depend on disappointment, rather than focusing on overcoming the hurdles I face day to day. It's certainly easier to complain about or lot in life than it is to actually go about affecting change upon our lives.

My second card was The Hermit, Reversed, indicating that I nurture others through immaturity and foolishness. Perhaps By being the damsel in distress, with my woe is me attitude from the first card, paired with my sometimes childlike behaviours, causes others to want to care for me - which is a form of nurturing on my part, my feeding their need to care for others or be the knight in shining armour.

Obviously, I am reaching here, to connect these cards to tell a story, but so far - it works. let's continue and see if we can keep the story going.

My third card was Strength, and answers the question "What emotion is flowing?" I do feel that I must be strong to endure the things and people in my life that I have had to endure. I also put a lot of focus on being a stable and strong parent to my children, and a good partner to my fiancée, and becoming successful at something. Anything. preferably art. I'm good at art. The Strength card may appear to counter the previous two cards, but remember, a strong person can still need help, can still ask for help, can still need to be rescued, and is totally allowed to whine about life from time to time.

My fourth card, The High Priestess, is the signifier card in this spread, tackling the question, "Who am I?" The High Priestess enforces the Strength card's description of my emotional state, as well as ( I think) accurately describing many facets of my personality and self. She is a strong, fertile, feminine archetype, whose keywords like intuition (I liken that to my love of psychology,) resourcefulness (in my art and cooking I am a firm believer in using what is at hand to achieve the desired results,) independence ( I do value my alone time and do not base my opinion of my self on my relationship status or my connection to others,) and growth (personal growth is something I am constantly nurturing in my self,) really do connect to my perception of who I am.

The fifth card asks "What power do I exert?" and I drew Gaia, Reversed. When upright, Gaia (or The World in traditional decks) is about fulfillment and completion, the rewards of hard work, and finally getting the doors of the world open and clear to you. Reversed, she's about incompletion and sloth, limitation and restriction. Now, lets go all way back up to the first card I drew, and see that perhaps this is part of the problem mentioned there - my love of  delay, conquest, and defeat. Looks like the cards are laying out a warning to me to get up off my butt and start REALLY working toward my goals instead of doing things halfway.

***More often that not, a negative card that comes up in a reading is one of two things - a thing that has happened/a reminder, or a warning of what your current path is leading you to if you do not enact change. Many people see negative cards in spreads in the positions of future, or the answer as etched in stone calamities, when in reality, they are just opportunities to change your 'fate'.***

The sixth card, The Fool, is the answer to the spread's question of "What stability do I maintain?" To be honest, I have issue with the question itself, which seems quite unclear. I showed this layout and my results to a good friend and fellow tarot reader, and he said, "So you maintain my stability, yup." He is going through a bit of a tumultuous period in his life, and as one of my best and closest friends, I have endeavoured to be present for him as much as possible. He sees himself as the Fool for a number of reasons, and though I do agree, I think the Fool card can represent both of us in our current stages in life. The Fool here stands for possibility, courage, ecstasy, creative expression, risk-taking, trust, adventure, and choice. For my friend, The Fool is his card because he's setting out on a new phase of his life and so has a bit of adventure and choice and ahead of him - he turns to me to talk through stuff and clear his head, so I offer stability to him in that regard. For me, the Fool's open door to possibility makes me think of my constant attempts to find the thing. You know, that thing, the thing that will earn me money, or artistic fame, or whatever else I am constantly seeking. The stability here is perhaps a lack of stability, as I constantly seek out new distractions and artistic diversions.

The seventh card asks, "What is being born?" and I drew the Four of Swords, in reverse. This card is a card I describe to clients as the 'sit back and wait' card. It counsels that one must be objective and cautious, and plan one's next move before acting. In reverse, the meaning is quite similar, representing repose, solitude, economy, precaution, circumspection, and exile. It advises that not only is objectivity required, but a removal of self from the situation. So What is being born here? Perhaps its advising me to go about enacting the required change in my life mentioned in earlier cards, but doing so with great caution and much thought, possibly going so far as to remove myself from activities/places/people in order to gain perspective.

The final card drawn is the Six of Cups. This position asks the question, "What fertile grounds await?" So what is ahead of me, if I follow the advice found in this reading? The Six of Cups is about initiation, pleasure, regeneration, revitalization, memory, and ecstasy - so short answer? Looks like I need to take a vacation and come back with a clear mind and heart, in order to face my problems with new perspective.

Vacation, you say? Where do you get that from? From the Four of Swords.

I'll take a vacation - lord, I NEED a vacation! I need a spiritual and physical escape from my current troubles.

Well, I hope that working through the spread this way has helped those of you reading this gain some insight into connecting the cards to one another in a spread to tell a story about the client or about yourself.

Please, comment below with your thoughts!

Next blog: The Menage A' Trois Spread - Romance Readings in a Poly World

Diving In with The Empress Spread

So. Let's just...dive in, shall we? I'm going to (sporadically) post here stuff about the tarot. As my little bio on the right there states, I've been doing the tarot for over 20 years, and currently teach the tarot here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I don't earn a living doing the tarot, but do on occasion get paid to read the cards for people.

I do this speech whenever someone new joins my tarot group or comes to me for readings, about what I call the 'whackadoo-woo-woo,' which is my loving term for the over the top witchy, hippy-dippy folk who sometimes come out of the woodwork. Here's the thing: I'm a pagan. I'm a solitary witch who mostly does kitchen witchery, and who is often heard to say, "Whoah, look at the moon!" I don't do rituals or cast spells (much) and I don't go in for the spirit guides and animal totems and karma and high vibing and reiki healing and all that hoopajoop. I'm not a psychic, nor am I a psychic tarot reader. What I am is a student of the mind, of psychology, and a good, objective listener. I find that the tarot is a wonderful tool to open doors to conversations one might not normally have otherwise. They are symbol and archetype laden clues that we place in spreads or layouts and then infer meaning from them.

So chance, coincidence, and good listening skills are, in my opinion, all you really need to be able to read the cards for others. For yourself - don't ask me, I'm usually crap at it. I'm too biased. That said, I will be doing self readings here often, as I try out new layouts or want to teach about the layouts I primarily use.

The tarot classes I teach here in Tulsa are ( I teach two different classes, on alternating Saturdays) Tarot and Breakfast, where we go over each of the cards in the deck over time, and discuss the symbolism and meaning within them, and a Tarot Practicum, where we practice actually performing readings. I try to help others learn to connect the dots between the cards in a layout to tell a story, rather than just rattling off what the individual cards mean and then not linking them in meaning to one another.

So for this, my inaugural post, lets talk about a layout a friend and student sent me this evening to try:

The Empress Spread, from Sasha Graham's 365 Tarot Spreads

Here's a pic of the spread, this is the picture my friend sent me to share it with me, so I can't tell you where she got it.

She followed the photo with the following instructions:

"Use this spread to answer any question. Pull The Empress from your deck and place her in the center, casting your cards around her.
1. What do I love?
2. How do I nurture others?
3. What emotion is flowing?
4. Who am I?
5. What power do I exert?
6. What stability do I maintain?
7. What is being born?
8. What fertile grounds await?"

So I drew my cards, dutifully placing the Empress in the middle, although beyond the title of the spread I haven't figured out why she needs to be there.

The Empress's keywords are: fertility, wisdom, earth-mother, prophecy, love of nature, spiritual essence, healing, nurturing, emotion, creation, cycles, balance, fruitfulness, contentment.

Looking at these keywords, I can see that perhaps this spread is called the Empress Spread because the keywords in her meaning inspired the questions for each position. Some of them certainly do line up well.

In drawing  the cards for this layout, I got:

1. The 6 of Wands, Reversed

2. The Hermit, Reversed

3. Strength

4. The High Priestess

5. Gaia, Reversed (aka, The World)

6. The Fool

7. The 4 of Swords, Reversed

8. The 6 of Cups

Note: My preferred deck is the Mage: the Ascension deck, which I have been using since about 1997. I call it the most honest deck I have ever used. It's my 'tell it like it is' deck. The suits are named differently, and a few cards have different names, like Gaia for The World, but otherwise the deck was created using the tarot gold standard of the Rider-Waite deck as a guide.

So let's work our way through this reading, shall we?

Position 1: What do I love?

I drew: The 6 of Wands, Reversed.

Keywords: delay, conquest, defeat

Position 2: How do I nurture others?
I drew: The Hermit, Reversed
Keywords: immaturity, foolishness

Position 3: What emotion is flowing?

I drew: Strength

Keywords: strength, passion, creativity, risk-taking, overcoming fears, lustiness, confidence, intuition, domination, harmony.

Position 4: Who am I?

I drew: The High Priestess

Keywords: enlightenment, intuition, resourcefulness, independence, meditation, growth, evaluation, consciousness, mystery.

Position 5: What power do I exert?

I drew: Gaia, Reversed

Keywords: sloth, incompletion, limitation, restriction, negation.

Position 6: What stability do I maintain?

I drew: The Fool

Keywords: possibility, courage, ecstasy, creative expression, risk-taking, trust, adventure, choice.

Position 7: What is being born?

I drew: The 4 of Swords, Reversed

Keywords: solitude, repose, economy, precaution, circumspection, exile.

Position 8: What fertile grounds await?

I drew: The 6 of Cups

Keywords: initiation, pleasure, regeneration, revitalization, memory, ecstasy.

The next step here is to connect the dots between these eight cards, and tell a story about me. However, it is almost 3am here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I have three kids to get to school in the morning.

Also, my brain probably stopped working properly a couple of hours ago.

Next blog: Interpretation and connecting the dots - storytelling with the Tarot.