My cards are possessed

You cannot tell me there is not something “conscious” at work with cards.

A week or so ago I was shuffling the Balbi while contemplating out loud what deck I intended to take away with me in May. No sooner had the words “I think I’ll take the RWS” left my lips when the 4 of Swords literally flew out *at* me. In this system it represents ‘a declared evil’. Balbi was clearly not impressed that I had just declared my evil intention to leave him at home! 

So when, for #WithinWithoutAdvice, I asked if I should continue to work with only the Balbi for a while I wasn’t surprised to see the 4S again, occupying the Without position. My betrayal has not been forgotten. 

Within: I’d made a written commitment (letter, decree) to work with only the Tarot Balbi. I did say for just two weeks but the concept of time seems to be lost on Balbi, at least on this occasion. 

Advice: ‘Shared love’. Looks like I’m expected to be faithful a while longer.☺

What a team

Tarot Balbi, using Eudes Picard's* meanings: A collaboration will give birth to a woman who earns her money in an unusual way.

Backstory:

1) Taliesin McKnight recently posted a video about Sigil Magick and encouraged viewers to give it a try. I thought "Why not?", so I scratched around for something to manifest and decided on "It is my will to make money reading cards." New decks don’t pay for themselves. 

2) During a guided meditation one of my spirit guides, Daisy, reappeared after a long absence.

3) I'm taking part in the #WithinWithoutAdvice Tarot challenge on Instagram and decided to pull three cards asking Daisy if she had anything she wanted to tell me.

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*Using only this deck for a few weeks has been very useful, as it’s drawn to my attention that Balbi (or whoever actually wrote the LWB) redefined a fair number of the cards while staying somewhat true to Picard’s images, which has led to some weird visual mismatches.

So having translated almost all the Spanish, I find I now have to translate all the French. But when I'm done I intend to share my findings here. So if you're at all interested in the Tarot Balbi, watch this space.

Side note: Yes, I do have a candle labelled "Spirit Team" - what of it? LOL! I burn it for a short time every morning to "check in". And the crystal is the one I've charged to aid me in connecting with them.

...She loves me

Ethony Dawn of Ethony.com offers Tarot training through her online Tarot Readers Academy. There is a free module entitled "Spirit Guides and Tarot Training".

Apart from my grandmother, I'm vaguely aware of a few more guides. If I meditated, or at least focused more often, I'd probably be more than "vaguely" aware of them. So I thought I'd take advantage of the free lesson.

The module includes a guided meditation to connect you with one of your guides. At one point during the meditation you sit in your "garden" and wait for the guide to come to you. I wanted to keep my mind clear of expectations, so I focused on the grass and ran my hand over it. Immediately I spotted a tiny daisy flower...

gettyimages

I hadn't thought of my guide Daisy literally in months. You could say I'd completely forgotten about her [my bad]. But there she was, no hard feelings. I was honestly shocked. Part of me knows there are spirit guides, I've seen so much evidence of it. But part of me can still be caught by surprise when it happens so matter-of-factly.

I know I can't force it but I'm going to try and check in with Daisy more often, and I hope she'll work with me for a while.

If you'd like to have a go at meeting one, or more, of your guides, I can obviously recommend Ethony's meditation. Or check out the many available on YouTube. They'd love to say "Hi".

Chatting with my grandmother

This is why I love working with cards. Gentle reader – allow me to introduce my grandmother.

I was listening to WitchUpTheRoad talking about how important it was to her to remember her family history and honour her ancestors, and I was moved to ask my ancestors to give me a message for today's #WithinWithoutAdvice.

I use my grandmother's, Oma’s, playing card method and she sometimes “drops in” as the Queen of Spades. So imagine how delighted I was when she appeared in this spread in such a familiar and unambiguous way. And notice the zodiac sign on her chest? No prizes for guessing what sign Oma was.

My ancestors are always Within.

The Balbi '8 of Coins' speaks of legacies, and the fair distribution of property or inheritance, as well as perseverance. Value my inheritance and continue to share it Without.

The Hanged Man confronts the various possibilities between the past and the future. It is the balance of power between necessity and freedom, between that which is an essential part of us from our past and that which we make for ourselves in the future. I’m Advised to acknowledge that balance.

Thanks for stopping by, Oma. x

LenorMarch

Kelly, of The Truth in Story, has instigated a month of Lenormand study, based on YouTube but including an invitation to her private Facebook group for those interested in further study and discussion.

I like Kelly's take on Lenormand - her understanding of how the cards "work". She explains it very clearly in her Day 1 video.



If you're new to Lenormand, or even if you're not, I think you'll get a lot of benefit from Kelly's videos. I really wish I'd had her as a mentor when I was starting out.

My LenorMarch contributions will be here.