I didn't fall, I jumped

I was going to say I fell off the 28 Days of Thoth wagon, but that's not true. I clung on desperately, but I wasn't enjoying the ride.













Nothing to do with the Thoth. I like it. Admittedly, it's a challenge to work with for one so used to RWS imagery, but it's refreshing.


No, the problem was the restriction. A lot of the time I just didn't want to work with Thoth, I didn't want to struggle through a 15-Card Spread, or try to comprehend the subtleties of elemental dignities.

But I'd told myself, and you dear Reader, that I wasn't going to use another tarot for the duration. I'd made a commitment. So I distracted myself with other things and simply avoided the deck. Because I intended to use the 28 questions from moonlit.tarot's June Instagram challenge as my "finishing line", I told myself it would just mean that I'd be working with the deck until I got through all the questions, however long it took.

So, I barely read with Thoth, I wasn't "allowed" to work with other tarots, and even my use of oracles was somehow tainted by the feeling that I "ought" to be using the Thoth instead.

I pretty much ended up not reading at all.

I wanted to quit, and I agonised over this. I really did. I actually journaled about my lack of motivation. Should I give in to it? Shouldn't I? What potential gains would I be throwing away? Was I being self-indulgent? Was I just plain lazy and undisciplined?











But then I thought about how I'd worked with the Tarot Balbi, not for the two weeks I'd originally, and with some trepidation, committed to, but in the end for well over a month. Not just to the exclusion of other tarots, but all my other cards. And I thoroughly enjoyed it and really bonded with the deck.

Maybe now was just not the time for me to bond with Thoth. If it was keeping me from reading, I wasn't benefitting from the attempt.

So, I jumped.

I felt immediate relief. I pulled out a few favourite decks and mucked about with them just because I could.   I've started posting daily draws on Instagram to put my "release" to good use. And I'm excitedly using a new and unusual deck I bought recently (I'll probably post about it soon).

I am still working my way through the questions, but the pressure is off. Will I ever master the 15-Card Spread and elemental dignities? I don't know. But for now, I can just enjoy reading again.

A Fortnight with Balbi

I have decided I need to focus on one deck, and one deck only, for a time, and I'm telling you for accountability. ☺

I've settled on two weeks. I know that doesn't sound like much but I will find that a challenge. And the deck will be my beautiful Tarot Balbi. I've reduced (not eliminated, that would be impossible) temptation by clearing my desk of all the other decks I normally keep "to hand".

Here's my inaugural reading -

The meanings applied to this deck, based on those of Eudes Picard in his book "Manuel Synthétique et Pratique du Tarot" (1909), are quite different from the RWS standard. I believe the Gran Tarot Esotérico and the Universal Wirth are in the same vein.

The Priestess
La Sacerdotisa – Este arcano, que corresponde a la letra hebrea Beth, es el dos sin el cual nada existiría. Es una carta dominada por la luna, simbolo de la imaginación y del análisis, lleva consigo los germenes de la ciencia y el error, de lo positivo y negativo. Es, en una palabra: La Ciencia.
This card, which corresponds to the Hebrew letter Beth, is the two without which nothing would exist. It is a card dominated by the moon, symbol of imagination and analysis, carries the seeds of science and error, positive and negative. It is, in a word: Science.

5 of Wands
Ambición, irritabilidad. Trabajo penoso. Mal examen.
Ambition, irritability. Drudgery. Bad (evil) test.

Ace of Swords
Simboliza la Justicia. Fuerza, poder, éxito. Fertilida
Symbolizes justice. Strength, power, success. Fertility.

So...
This experiment will be difficult and at times tedious but potentially successful and worthwhile.

Wish me luck!

oneword

I have discovered a wonderful new unintentional practice resource.

I was looking for online journaling sites that might encourage me to journal/write more and I came across oneword.com. Here's the basic concept:

A gong will sound when your time is up and you're then invited to share your opus, but you don't have to. You can just exit the page.

Now here's my brilliant idea. Why not treat the word you're given as a card's keyword or title? And you've got 60 seconds in which to "interpret" that card. No time to gather your thoughts or summon up meaty aphorisms. You just have to let it flow.

Here's my first go:

Click image to make bigger

"Drop" triggered "drop it" which immediately became "let it go". Where the subsequent battle imagery came from I have no idea. It just flowed.☺

You only get one new word a day, so you can't binge on this, but I'm going to have a go at it every(ish) day for a while and see how it works for me. Let me know if you try it and what you think.

Edit 26 Jan 16: Ok, this is certifiably freaky. You know what today's word is? "Armor" (spelt the US way, of course). Did I have a premonition? Can I have the lottery numbers next time please?

Thirty down, one to go

My responses to the final few questions in Ethony's 31 Days of Tarot Video Challenge...

...with the exception of the very last question, which involves reading a few cards for myself. Live. On camera. For (potentially) other people to see. Gulp!!

It's one thing for me to throw some cards in private, study them at my leisure and then carefully construct a reading out of them to post here. Quite another to pull three cards out of a hat, so to speak, and interpret them on the fly in front of a virtual audience.

Reading live for someone is different, because that person is invested in the reading, it's for and about them, so they're busy concentrating on what you're telling them (one hopes). Unaffected strangers just watching a reading, especially those with a background in Tarot, tend to be more critical. Yep, nervous.

Downbar info you won't see unless you go to YouTube to watch the video:
Dusty White - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXSwhQIfLHm3vd6Ihj2q1vQ
John Ballantrae - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2fId7s7OdtTrnPeZe1JcBw

Hexe Claire: "Who answers the cards?"

This explanation works for me. :)

Reading for yourself

So, true to my word, at least this once - an "info-post". :)

Is it advisable to read Lenormand for yourself when "feeling very emotional or worried about something"? The asker had been told not to read Tarot under these circumstances, as the cards would just reflect their chaos and make things worse. Better to have someone else read for you.

My reply, which applies to Tarot, Lenormand, et al. -

If we can't read for ourselves when we're feeling emotional or worried about something, i.e. when we really NEED a reading :) what good is the ability? Yes, a reading by someone else would be great, but it's not always an option. In order to read effectively for others we have to be able to set our ego aside, focus on the process and read what the cards say without attachment. If, with much practice, we can achieve that for others, we can achieve it for ourselves. No way is it easy, but you have to find a way to let go.

That's it. No blinding insight, but it might be helpful to someone.

Lateral Thinking

Note: All my Kipper sources are listed in this post.

I've been doing a lot of looking things up on the internet lately. As I've found useful information I've bookmarked it, saved it as a PDF, perhaps printed it out. Bits of info all over the place.

It occurred to me that this blog would be a good place to "store" this kind of thing. Give it a sensible label and I should be able to find it again reasonably easily - plus - my visitors will have instant access to the interesting stuff I've found while ferreting around the 'net.

So -

I've discovered an excellent list of  Kipperkarten meanings at xxxxxxxxxx (sorry, the owner and I have had a falling out). Not just the obvious ones - like #24 Diebstahl/Theft = theft, loss - but more nuanced ideas as well: to remove something or leave something, to be missing someone or something, being irresponsible, deficiency or shortcoming.

This list came in very handy with a 3x3 reading I was doing. The bottom row was Short Illness - Court Person - Theft, and the right-hand column was A Journey - Prison - Theft.

At face value it was a bit baffling. But if a "court (legal) person" can be any kind of advisor, such as a doctor, "prison" can be anywhere one is confined, like a hospital and "theft" can mean removal...











... I see someone who has an illness taking a trip to the hospital to have a surgeon remove something.

In a similar vein, Mama Whodun at Kipper Karten Garden suggests "Backtracking". Card pairs or combinations can have a number of meanings depending on the context of the reading. For practice, reverse the process - think of an every day situation and then pick out two cards that would describe that situation. Good training, and it seems to me it would be great fun, too!