We keep telling each other, “We have got to go back to working on the book.” It’ll happen. Tegwedd sees it happenin as soon as the kitchen gets put back together, and we’re nearly done. She just tapped into the motherlode as far as dishes, cups, and so forth are concerned. She found the latex mats that cover the shelves and line the drawers.
Back to the Tarot: Do you have a favorite spread or layout? We note here that both words have sexual connotations, but for a change we are ignoring them. Go ahead an giggle about them to yourselves, however. Which is your favorite spread or layout? Stephen’s favorite spred is the Druidic Cross, which we’ve discussed before, and will discuss again. But Tegwedd’s current favorite, which she is still learning, is the Horseshoe spread. She got it from one of the Tarot groups to which she belongs. For practice, one of the groups she belongs to called GetaTarotReading@yahoogroups.com (http://groups.yahoo.com/GetaTarotReading) exchanges Tarot readings. You do one for someone, they that person does one for you. She’s been using it almost exclusively, to get to the point where she knows it as well as she knows the Celtic Cross, so that she no longer has to refer to the cheat sheet The group isn’t very active just now, which is why she told you about it, in the hopes that some of you would join it and get some activity going in the group. The horseshoe spread first came from a paperback book from the 60s featuring the Oswald Wirth black & white deck.
Stephen first devised the Druidic Cross 33 years ago in 1978. He had an artistic friend, David Voigt, make yp a primitive board out of poster board, using felt tip markers. Later our artistic friend Dave Nelson, would make one up out of mason board, painting and varnishing it. But he was dyslexic so Water and Air got switched around. Because of that, Stephen feels that the board has a unique personality all its own. At the time he came up with the spread, he was high on mescaline, and “indisposed” in the bathroom. He got the idea in an intuitive flash, in full color with four part harmony. Just a couple weeks earlier, he had completed the Celtic Revision spread, a version of the Celtic Cross, where cards 7-10 are laid on top of the other cards, the 11th card going into the center. The Druidic Cross would eventually be published in the Pentalpha Journal by Isaac Bonewits and Stephen. The Druidic Cross layout was loosely but heavily based upon the Celtic Revision with some stark differences. For one thing, each position has an element assigned to it. It also has a majorTrump and a deity assigned to each position, as well as astrological signs and myths. It’s a very complex system. He uses it exclusively when he gets calls on Keen and Zodiac, so Tegwedd gets an earful of the significance and meaning of each card. She even used it once herself when she tried out for Keen 2 and a half years ago. A few more years later, Walt and Julie put the layout on slides, which got put on Stephen’s computer, and on a CD.
Tegwedd is convinced that if men and women communicated more with each other, being honest with each other, not playing games, Stephen, and readers like him, would be pretty much out of a job. Most of the questions he gets are about prospective lovers of his clients. But he also gets other questions like: “Will I be pregnant withing a year and a day?” “Will my finances improve within a year and a day?” or that familiar old chestnut: “Will I meet that special someone within a year and a day?” Tegwedd wrote this paragraph while listening to Stephen doing a reading online with one of his clients.
While hunting for her “Truth Fairy[sic]” pendulum, to help locate Stephen’s wallet, Tegwedd found a deck she’d feared lost in the move three years ago. “The Gilded Tarot” is a drop-dead gorgeous deck from Llewellyn. She got it about 7 or 8 years ago before they put the kabosh on her getting any more books or decks to review. It’s a standard deck, based upon the Rider-Waite template. The artwork is stunning. She thinks it was based upon photographs because the people are so lifelike. The symbolism is easy for her to interpret, but it might not be for Stephen, who is more rigid on the symbolism than Tegwedd is. What she’d really like to do is do a reading with the deck to get the feel for the deck again. If she can get on at CelebrityPsychic.com, she’ll do email readings and get money for them. Otherwise, she’ll she can do a reading for someone at http://groups.yahoo.com/GetATarotReading. Stephen is thinking seriously of borrowing the deck for the next reading he does for his services. We’re both attempting to get gigs doing email readings at CelebrityPsychic.com. Stephen already works for them. There are many differences between Keen and Zodiac. On Keen, you can refer clients to other readers, if, for example, someone thinks she needs a clairvoyant. It’s difficult to get through most people’s thick skulls that not all psychics are clairvoyant. On Zodiac/CelebrityPsychic, everyone is anonymous, and do their own thing. Stephen can even mention Tegwedd on Keen, but not on Zodiac. On paper, it may sound like Keen may pay better, but it also has several ways of taking earnings away from its readers. Two of the biggest ripoffs are bidding and free five minutes. You have to bid money to get a certain place on the list. When Tegwedd worked for Keen, she lost money on the deal. You’re supposed to give 5 minute sample readings to your clients. Stephen wastes hours on this fraudulent practice. He hasn’t learned yet how to leave his clients wanting more so that they actually have to pay money for the readings, and they all know how to manipulate him into giving them a full reading without having to pay for it. It’s patently unfair. When Tegwedd quit in disgust, Stephen was mad at her for weeks. He didn’t understand that it was unprofitable for her. She resented being tied being chained to her phone for little or no return. So if you are thinking of doing phone readings, don’t go with Keen. You will regret it, Tegwedd promises you.
We feel that the situation in New York and other places is so important that we’re cutting this discussion short, and including the discussion about Occupy Your City in the 5 paragraphs. There was one in Sacramento, which is still going on as of this writing, but we’ve been busy getting the kitchen set up after the exterminator was here. It also rained, and he had to take care of his respiratory condition, which you all know about. The Occupy movement is a truly grassroots movement that has spread all over the country, and is even spreading abroad. It’s most likely driven by the Internet. It could develop into a revolution. High time, if you ask us. The big banks and corporations and their bought politicians have run this country into the ground for the past 18 years, at least, and what does the government do? Bail them out! We in the other 99% want to know where’s our bailout? The bailout they were given was supposed to create jobs but they just spent it either on perks for their executives or are sitting on the money. At first the police showed restraint, and only arrested people under protest. In fact, many of the police wanted to join the protests, but they couldn’t afford to be photographed. The situation has escalated since the brass came down on them, and told them to be the lapdogs of the 1% just like the brass is. They have arrested protesters, kenneled them, pepper sprayed them, and used batons on them. These mounted cops are the lapdogs of the rich. It reminded Stephen of the pogroms of the 19th century and early 20th century, when the Cossacks on horseback used sabers on the Jews. There is information on Occupy Sacramento on Facebook. Even Jerry Brown likes it. A person or group known as Anonymous on the Internet organized the movement. You can find out about Anonymous on YouTube. However this group has no official agenda or program/platform but it does have a manifesto, which Keith Olberman (who Tegwedd calls “the hot one) read in its entirety on his show. This whole thing reminds Tegwedd of a citizens’ rebellion in the near future. Well, this is the near future that William Gibson wrote about in his cyberpunk novels. Stephen hasn’t read any cyberpunk novels . Tegwedd got interested in them because of her 2nd exhubby and her daughter. Stephen would like to check out the subgenre. He knows about it through the game Cyberpunk, but he’s never been exposed to it. Tegwedd owns a copy of the game, which she has never played, and would like to play if we can get some folks and snacks over here. The house has been totally revamped and spruced up. We’re sure that there is a Cyberpunk computer game. We’d also like to find folks who would like to play the game online at Windows Live Msgr, or Yahoo Instant Msgr. Back to Occupy Wallstreet: Try to get involved in a demonstration in your city, and use the chant “We’re the 99%!” The other chant from Stephen’s Yippie days is “The Whole World Is Watching!”, which was also a Chicago song.
Our friend Caitlin ni Manannan has people bringing her wood from when they prune their trees in their yards. And we are shortly going to be making Rune and Ogham sets. So if you’re local, bring us your branches. They should be at least the thickness of your thumb.
All you hard-workin’ Pagans should stand solidly with labor and against the Tea Party. As James Hoffa Jr. said, “Recall those sons of bitches! Go to your ballot boxes and vote them out.” The 75,000 Verizon workers are on strike, and we stand with them. Solidarnosc! as the Poles would say. Verizon management, all Republicans, have made 100 unreasonable demands, and refuse to negotiate, but are paying scabs to cross the picket lines, and work for them. All the workers want, is to keep what they have, a small cost of living increase in wages, their health care, and their pensions. Management wants them to pay $100 per month for health care, while they get it free. If you were thinking of getting a Verizon phone and account, don’t, and do tell them why you aren’t, that you are boycotting them. If you have a Verizon account, close it, and go to another carrier, and tell Verizon why. If you want to piss off Stephen, abuse or oppress the workers. Tell Verizon that you refuse to do business with an employer who oppresses its workers.
Soon we may be selling pendants of the lady and the tiger worked in silver. If you reading this are a silversmith please call our toll free number 1-888-611-7982, and we’ll do business. Coming soon--prints of the Lady and the Tiger by Lizet. Rune and Ogham sets worked by Stephen. Tegwedd has started to crochet cellphone holsters of her own design. They are of acrylic yarn, in assorted colors. She is obsessed right now with making holsters for the Pagan Pride Harvest Festival, but she will make you one to order for a reasonable price. She has some right now in assorted colors for just $9.95+S&H. She is working with yarn she has on hand, so a custom one will cost more because she has to obtain the yarn to make yours. It will cost $14.95 + S&H The smallest container for US priority mail is $4.95.
We are offering a new service. For just $19.95, you can have spell-coaching. We will take you through the construction and performance of a spell. It’s very simple. If you want to perform a spell but you don’t think you know what you’re doing, hire us to coach you through it. The fee is payable to our PayPal accounts, to either abbotts_inn@yahoo.com or tezra.reitan@gmail.com .
We will coach you using strong ethics. Tegwedd has a couplet she will teach you which you can add to your spell that will ensure that it is ethical. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick is over 40 years old, having been founded in 1970 in Berkeley, CA. It went cybernetic almost 9 years ago. Lizet has been helping us put the school on a more commercial footing, and with her inspiration, Tegwedd has started packaging the classes into manageable packets. Ms. Freeman did a 3rd website for us almost a month ago at http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com. From there, by clicking on two of the graphics, you can go to either of the other two sites: http://abbottsinninternational.com/ and http://abbottsinn.com/ . You can also get to our network http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ . With her help, we also salvaged some things from his old website, including the mission statement: The Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick aims to provide a gentle nurturing environment that promotes education in both the atmosphere and the specific tools of magick. Our research arm is called the Magickal Research Institute or MRI, not to be confused with the medical MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Image, which Tegwedd had on her right ankle about 10 months ago. Stephen and Lizet came up with the name almost 9 years ago. The three of us have become a very effective working team. Stephen has his cell phone, and we are both enjoying learning how to use our cell phones. His cell phone number is 916-467-6393. He’ll have access to the Internet on that phone. He says “I’m not very good at texting because of my glaucoma, so please be gentle with me.” Don’t forget to call 888-611-7982 for all your divination, learning class, and research needs.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
More Decks Reviewed & Happy New Year
Hope you are having a safe, sane New Year’s. Tonight I’ll be available all night so that you may get your 2010 forecast. As you know, usually I shut down at 10 (all times Pacific) so that I can get some shuteye. I don’t turn in until 11, but I don’t like getting calls too close to my bedtime. On December 31st, the Scots celebrate Hogmanay. It is an ancient tradition dating back centuries, maybe even back to the time when the Scots were known as the Picts or “painted ones”, due to their penchant for painting or even tattooing themselves with woad, an herbal blue dye. They have a boar’s head, and gobs of other food. I went to a Hogmanay about 33 years ago, and did I have myself a time! If only I had the space, I’d love to have a Hogmanay for my Renaissance guild. We are, after all, Renaissance Scots.
The decks I’m discussing tonight are not all Tarot decks. The first one is what’s known as an oracle deck. It is the Enchanted Oracle, a deck of 36 cards with unabashedly Pagan pictures. Don’t worry, they’re all clothed, after a fashion. Basically, they’re faeries, members of the Elder Race. According to Stephen6580’s Irish grandmother, Beatrice. McCaully, they are the former Tuatha de Danaan, the Celtic Gods and Goddesses. Every culture and ethnic group on this planet has its own race of Little People or faeries. For some, they were always small of stature, such as among the Native Americans, or they were once our size, but the dearth of belief in them with the advance of the new religion (Christianity) caused them to be diminished in size. Included with the deck is a small 217 page paperback book with interpretations, charms, and spreads. I will be featuring it, along with the other two decks in this blog tomorrow night during my all night stint. The art by Jessica Galbreth is subtle, evocative, yet provocative in its own way.
The next deck I want to share with you today is the Mayan Tarot by Silvana Alasia. There is another Mayan Tarot deck called the Xultun Tarot. This is very different from that deck, but I’m certain that it comes from the same sources, because we only have a very limited amount of artistic source material about that mysterious people in Meso-America which carved a civilization out of the jungle, thrived for about 8 centuries before they left it, and it subsided back into jungle, where it has remained until relatively recently. At least we can’t blame it on the narrow minded fanatically Catholic Spanish. Nothing against the Spanish. My own Anglo-American ancestors did as badly towards the northern Native Americans, so you Hispanics out there, don’t think I’m singling you out. The main difference is that my ancestors were primarily Protestant, but they were just as narrow minded and provincial. There are subtle differences in the art between the Xultun deck and this one. The Xultun (pronounced shool-TOON) is more stylized, more like the original art in the Codex. This deck is more like the folk art of the modern Mayas. The Xultun deck has brighter colors, while these are more muted. But the art is still gorgeous, and I can hardly wait to read with them. Will YOU be the lucky guinea pig who gets the first reading?
Our third deck is another Tarot deck. The court cards are totem animals. The colors are the colors of nature, somewhat muted. The booklet that comes with it gives extremely terse interpretations for the cards. It is best to interpret the cards for yourself, using the short interpretations given in the cheat sheet only as mnemonic devices. You might want to page back to one of my prior blogs to review “Madame Tezra’s Minimalist Method of Reading Tarot.” for tips in reading the cards. The deck is one of those that use the Crowleyan custom of having Trump VIII be Justice and XI is Strength. Be on the watch for this if you should acquire this deck. Neither one of these decks is appropriate as a first Tarot deck, if you are just beginning learning the Tarot. As a second deck, perhaps or a third, etc. Get the boring Rider-Waite-Coleman-Smith Tarot, the more exciting Morgan-Greer, or the blatantly Pagan Robin Wood Tarot to learn on.
Remember, if you want a true clairvoyant, call Astro Wing 3323, and if you want a date when a given event will take place, tap Stephen 6580. Well, that’s all for now. Have a safe, sane, and happy New Year.
. .
The decks I’m discussing tonight are not all Tarot decks. The first one is what’s known as an oracle deck. It is the Enchanted Oracle, a deck of 36 cards with unabashedly Pagan pictures. Don’t worry, they’re all clothed, after a fashion. Basically, they’re faeries, members of the Elder Race. According to Stephen6580’s Irish grandmother, Beatrice. McCaully, they are the former Tuatha de Danaan, the Celtic Gods and Goddesses. Every culture and ethnic group on this planet has its own race of Little People or faeries. For some, they were always small of stature, such as among the Native Americans, or they were once our size, but the dearth of belief in them with the advance of the new religion (Christianity) caused them to be diminished in size. Included with the deck is a small 217 page paperback book with interpretations, charms, and spreads. I will be featuring it, along with the other two decks in this blog tomorrow night during my all night stint. The art by Jessica Galbreth is subtle, evocative, yet provocative in its own way.
The next deck I want to share with you today is the Mayan Tarot by Silvana Alasia. There is another Mayan Tarot deck called the Xultun Tarot. This is very different from that deck, but I’m certain that it comes from the same sources, because we only have a very limited amount of artistic source material about that mysterious people in Meso-America which carved a civilization out of the jungle, thrived for about 8 centuries before they left it, and it subsided back into jungle, where it has remained until relatively recently. At least we can’t blame it on the narrow minded fanatically Catholic Spanish. Nothing against the Spanish. My own Anglo-American ancestors did as badly towards the northern Native Americans, so you Hispanics out there, don’t think I’m singling you out. The main difference is that my ancestors were primarily Protestant, but they were just as narrow minded and provincial. There are subtle differences in the art between the Xultun deck and this one. The Xultun (pronounced shool-TOON) is more stylized, more like the original art in the Codex. This deck is more like the folk art of the modern Mayas. The Xultun deck has brighter colors, while these are more muted. But the art is still gorgeous, and I can hardly wait to read with them. Will YOU be the lucky guinea pig who gets the first reading?
Our third deck is another Tarot deck. The court cards are totem animals. The colors are the colors of nature, somewhat muted. The booklet that comes with it gives extremely terse interpretations for the cards. It is best to interpret the cards for yourself, using the short interpretations given in the cheat sheet only as mnemonic devices. You might want to page back to one of my prior blogs to review “Madame Tezra’s Minimalist Method of Reading Tarot.” for tips in reading the cards. The deck is one of those that use the Crowleyan custom of having Trump VIII be Justice and XI is Strength. Be on the watch for this if you should acquire this deck. Neither one of these decks is appropriate as a first Tarot deck, if you are just beginning learning the Tarot. As a second deck, perhaps or a third, etc. Get the boring Rider-Waite-Coleman-Smith Tarot, the more exciting Morgan-Greer, or the blatantly Pagan Robin Wood Tarot to learn on.
Remember, if you want a true clairvoyant, call Astro Wing 3323, and if you want a date when a given event will take place, tap Stephen 6580. Well, that’s all for now. Have a safe, sane, and happy New Year.
. .
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Three More Tarot Deck Reviews
Hello there!
Hope you are having a fine holiday season. You know, scientists and historians figure that Jesus was born sometime in the spring time. I figure in early March,
around the time of the Ides, just before the Roman year began on the 21st. After all, they were headed to Bethlehem to take part in the census so that Joseph could be taxed. Joseph knew which side his bread was buttered on, not that he’d use butter if he were having meat with his bread, good Jew that he was. Shepherds would not have their sheep out in the pastures in winter. It gets pretty cold out there in the Palestinian desert in winter. It doesn’t snow, but it gets pretty cold. The shepherds didn’t want their sheep out there any more than they wanted to be out there themselves.
Christmas got shifted by the Church to December 25th because the people were already celebrating Winter Solstice, the birthday of Sol Invictus (Constantine’s patron god before he got converted to Christianity) Saturnalia, which was the celebration of Saturn, an ancient farmer’s god. Everyone celebrated him, because that’s where their food came from, and the birthday of Dionysus, in Rome called Bacchus, who was born in a cave on December 25th. Mithra, son of Ahura Mazda was also born on December 25th. Many of the soldiers were Mithraists. The church fathers would rather the people were at mass than out in the streets being rowdy, drunk, and having sex, so they arbitrarily shifted the official date for the birth of Jesus to December 25th. Now the people were still rowdy, drunk, and having sex, but at least they also spent some time in church, quietly worshipping the Christ-child, and recovering from their hangovers.
Stephen6580 refuses to celebrate the holiday because the Christians have so corrupted it, but I say, let’s reclaim it. It was ours first, after all. Doc went along with me, of course. We mostly celebrated on the 24th, which is when the Norwegians celebrate it, called Mother’s Night. I can say it in German Mutternacht, but I don’t know what it is in Norwegian. My daughter came over, we’d have a feast, and open gifts. She would do something to my computer for her own amusement. That’s how she relaxes. What can I say? She’s a dyed-in-the-wool computer nerd, just like her father. She’s been on the computer for over 24 of her 27 years. Anyway, At ten her father would come over and pick her up, and the 25th Doc and I would watch movies. This year I plan to watch the entire Hellraiser series, all four movies.
.Now to the main part of this blog. The 3 decks I will review today are: The Druidcraft Tarot, the Art Nouveau Taro, and the Comparative Tarot. First, the Druidcraft Tarot by Philip and Stephanie Carr Gomm, and by Will Worthington. I don’t know about you, but I like my Tarot decks with drop dead gorgeous artwork, and Mr. Worthington has certainly done so in this deck. I wish that I could supply some images to show you exactly just how gorgeous the cards are. They aptly illustrate the culture of the ancient Celts. At least they do for me. Except for some barrows and some cunningly wrought metal pieces, the Celts didn’t leave much behind them. Much of what they did leave was destroyed by the Germanic tribes that followed them, and by modern grave robbers. I like my cards to be rich with color, and these cards certainly are richly colored. The cards may be a little unwieldy to handle if you have small hands, as many women do. I’m sure the reason for this was to better show off the artwork. The idea behind the deck was to combine Druidry with the Craft of the Wise, that is, Wicca/Witchcraft, which has been enjoying a resurgence the past 50 years, especially the past 30 years. The Carr-Gomms thought that the two paths were naturals to join, and so in this deck they did it. The tradition that this would call for would be the Celtic tradition. Stephen6580 and I were so inspired by this that we formed an online coven called “DruidWicca_Coven”, which can be found on several networks, all with different numbers. .I think you can still get a copy of the deck from Amazon.com. Google “DruidCraft Tarot” and see what you come up with. The Carr-Gomms may still have it up on their website.
The Art Nouveau Tarot is published by Llewellyn, and the cards are by Antonella Castelli. The main artist of the movement she emulated was my favorite Alphonse Mucha, who was from what is now the Czech republic. They both favored a stylized view of natural forms and of the human body. If you are a parent with very young children, and protective about which parts of the human body you allow them to see, you will want to keep this deck out of their reach and sight. You don’t want very young children handling them anyway, because they will mess them up. I’m enjoying looking through these cards again. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen them. Watch out then you call me for a reading, because I just might give you a reading with them. They are gorgeous cards. Pages are male knaves, but she does follow the Thelemic custom of having Justice be Trump number VIII, while Strength is Trump number XI. I don’t know whether they’re still available from Llewellyn or not, but you might be able to obtain the deck from Amazon, or even from Ebay. I am, however rather hesitant to recommend Ebay because it being an auction site, instead of a straight retail site, you tend to have to almost have unlimited funds. Still, Doc did very well with the things he bought from Ebay, and you might too. I know a seamstress who gets her fabrics exclusively from one of the shops on Ebay, so it’s the old case of YMMV (your Mileage May Vary).
The third deck I will discuss today is the Comparative Tarot, which is more a teaching or learning deck than anything else. Valerie Sim selected four decks which she thought were representative: the Universal Tarot, the Marseilles Tarot, the Tarot of the Sphinx, and the Origins Tarot. Universal is very much like the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, except that it made certain changes that I don not approve of. Marseilles is one of the oldest existing Tarot decks. It has late medieval images. But it is hard to read, because on the pip cards, minor arcane 2 through 10 of the four suits, have just the symbols of the suits rather than scenes illustrating the meanings of the cards. This calls for a lot of memorization, which is intimidating for many people. My method of reading Tarot is incompatible with decks like that. I own a few decks like it, but not many. I try to keep ownership of that type of deck to a minimum. When I read in person, I’m sure it’s not as interesting for my querent, although it’s more mysterious that way. It’s a way to really pull the wool over the eyes of the marks. It’s thus suitable for the old type of unethical fortuneteller. I’m not saying that a reader who uses that type of deck is unethical, but I would certainly be curious why s/he uses that deck when there are thousands of decks available where the meanings are more transparent. The excuse that s/he learned on that deck doesn’t make it, not when what s/he learned on that deck is so easily transferable to other decks.
The next example she shows is the Tarot of the Sphinx, which looks to be a deck with an Egyptian theme. Considering that the word gypsies came from is “Egyptians” and that many people still associate the Tarot with Gypsies, it seems oddly fitting. The Tarot of the Sphinx is by Silvana Alasia. The work of many occultists is based upon the Khemetic model, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which chose Khemetic motifs blended with the Qabalah. Unlike the Marseilles Tarot, The Tarot of the Sphinx features individual scenes for the pip cards, although I have some doubts about how the scenes relate to the meaning of the cards. The final deck exemplar featured in the Comparative Tarot is the Tarot of the Origins by Piero Alligo, Manfredi Toraldo, and Sergio Toppi. It seems to be rather dark. I can tell you right now that I would not have chosen that deck, because I don’t regard it as representative of the “innovative” decks that are out there. If I had to choose from the Llewellyn or Lo Scarabeo decks, I would have chosen the Robin Wood Tarot. It is much more representative of the kind of deck that is currently published, and is true to the Rider-Colman-Smith-Waite model of Tarot decks. I don’t know whether The Comparative Tarot is still published or not. Llewellyn often gets rid of decks that don’t do as well as they think it should. You might be able to get hold of a deck on Amazon.com, but it might be a used one.
The treatment for a used deck is similar to the attunement for a new one. You can clear it with a crystal, or in the window on a full moon night. Then sleep with it under your pillow. Use your intuition as how long, but a full week might be appropriate, or a full cycle of the moon, whichever you feel is appropriate. There are few hard and fast rules where this is concerned. You have to do it by feel, and pay attention to your instincts. If you can, get hold of some silk and wrap it in that after you’ve slept with it under your pillow. And as always, record the dreams you have after sleeping with your new (to you) Tarot deck. If the dreams are overly disturbing, that means the deck is not as yet cleared enough, and you need to go through the clearing process again, and re-attune it to yourself. You might also attempt a one card reading for yourself. I don’t recommend a multi-card reading because it really isn’t good to read Tarot for yourself. You’re too close to the situation. If you have a willing guinea pig handy, read for her/him. Take careful notes, noting whether the reading is on target. If it doesn’t seem to be, if it’s off for any reason, re-clear, and re-attune the deck. It is worth all the care you can put into it to get a top-notch divinatory tool for yourself, whether you read cards professionally as I and my fellow Keen readers do, or whether you do it as a talented amateur, who does it either as a hobby or for spiritual edification.
In these end-of-the-year times, you may want to call for a reading about what 2010 looks like. I am available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (all times Pacific). Do call. I am waiting eagerly for your call.
Hope you are having a fine holiday season. You know, scientists and historians figure that Jesus was born sometime in the spring time. I figure in early March,
around the time of the Ides, just before the Roman year began on the 21st. After all, they were headed to Bethlehem to take part in the census so that Joseph could be taxed. Joseph knew which side his bread was buttered on, not that he’d use butter if he were having meat with his bread, good Jew that he was. Shepherds would not have their sheep out in the pastures in winter. It gets pretty cold out there in the Palestinian desert in winter. It doesn’t snow, but it gets pretty cold. The shepherds didn’t want their sheep out there any more than they wanted to be out there themselves.
Christmas got shifted by the Church to December 25th because the people were already celebrating Winter Solstice, the birthday of Sol Invictus (Constantine’s patron god before he got converted to Christianity) Saturnalia, which was the celebration of Saturn, an ancient farmer’s god. Everyone celebrated him, because that’s where their food came from, and the birthday of Dionysus, in Rome called Bacchus, who was born in a cave on December 25th. Mithra, son of Ahura Mazda was also born on December 25th. Many of the soldiers were Mithraists. The church fathers would rather the people were at mass than out in the streets being rowdy, drunk, and having sex, so they arbitrarily shifted the official date for the birth of Jesus to December 25th. Now the people were still rowdy, drunk, and having sex, but at least they also spent some time in church, quietly worshipping the Christ-child, and recovering from their hangovers.
Stephen6580 refuses to celebrate the holiday because the Christians have so corrupted it, but I say, let’s reclaim it. It was ours first, after all. Doc went along with me, of course. We mostly celebrated on the 24th, which is when the Norwegians celebrate it, called Mother’s Night. I can say it in German Mutternacht, but I don’t know what it is in Norwegian. My daughter came over, we’d have a feast, and open gifts. She would do something to my computer for her own amusement. That’s how she relaxes. What can I say? She’s a dyed-in-the-wool computer nerd, just like her father. She’s been on the computer for over 24 of her 27 years. Anyway, At ten her father would come over and pick her up, and the 25th Doc and I would watch movies. This year I plan to watch the entire Hellraiser series, all four movies.
.Now to the main part of this blog. The 3 decks I will review today are: The Druidcraft Tarot, the Art Nouveau Taro, and the Comparative Tarot. First, the Druidcraft Tarot by Philip and Stephanie Carr Gomm, and by Will Worthington. I don’t know about you, but I like my Tarot decks with drop dead gorgeous artwork, and Mr. Worthington has certainly done so in this deck. I wish that I could supply some images to show you exactly just how gorgeous the cards are. They aptly illustrate the culture of the ancient Celts. At least they do for me. Except for some barrows and some cunningly wrought metal pieces, the Celts didn’t leave much behind them. Much of what they did leave was destroyed by the Germanic tribes that followed them, and by modern grave robbers. I like my cards to be rich with color, and these cards certainly are richly colored. The cards may be a little unwieldy to handle if you have small hands, as many women do. I’m sure the reason for this was to better show off the artwork. The idea behind the deck was to combine Druidry with the Craft of the Wise, that is, Wicca/Witchcraft, which has been enjoying a resurgence the past 50 years, especially the past 30 years. The Carr-Gomms thought that the two paths were naturals to join, and so in this deck they did it. The tradition that this would call for would be the Celtic tradition. Stephen6580 and I were so inspired by this that we formed an online coven called “DruidWicca_Coven”, which can be found on several networks, all with different numbers. .I think you can still get a copy of the deck from Amazon.com. Google “DruidCraft Tarot” and see what you come up with. The Carr-Gomms may still have it up on their website.
The Art Nouveau Tarot is published by Llewellyn, and the cards are by Antonella Castelli. The main artist of the movement she emulated was my favorite Alphonse Mucha, who was from what is now the Czech republic. They both favored a stylized view of natural forms and of the human body. If you are a parent with very young children, and protective about which parts of the human body you allow them to see, you will want to keep this deck out of their reach and sight. You don’t want very young children handling them anyway, because they will mess them up. I’m enjoying looking through these cards again. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen them. Watch out then you call me for a reading, because I just might give you a reading with them. They are gorgeous cards. Pages are male knaves, but she does follow the Thelemic custom of having Justice be Trump number VIII, while Strength is Trump number XI. I don’t know whether they’re still available from Llewellyn or not, but you might be able to obtain the deck from Amazon, or even from Ebay. I am, however rather hesitant to recommend Ebay because it being an auction site, instead of a straight retail site, you tend to have to almost have unlimited funds. Still, Doc did very well with the things he bought from Ebay, and you might too. I know a seamstress who gets her fabrics exclusively from one of the shops on Ebay, so it’s the old case of YMMV (your Mileage May Vary).
The third deck I will discuss today is the Comparative Tarot, which is more a teaching or learning deck than anything else. Valerie Sim selected four decks which she thought were representative: the Universal Tarot, the Marseilles Tarot, the Tarot of the Sphinx, and the Origins Tarot. Universal is very much like the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, except that it made certain changes that I don not approve of. Marseilles is one of the oldest existing Tarot decks. It has late medieval images. But it is hard to read, because on the pip cards, minor arcane 2 through 10 of the four suits, have just the symbols of the suits rather than scenes illustrating the meanings of the cards. This calls for a lot of memorization, which is intimidating for many people. My method of reading Tarot is incompatible with decks like that. I own a few decks like it, but not many. I try to keep ownership of that type of deck to a minimum. When I read in person, I’m sure it’s not as interesting for my querent, although it’s more mysterious that way. It’s a way to really pull the wool over the eyes of the marks. It’s thus suitable for the old type of unethical fortuneteller. I’m not saying that a reader who uses that type of deck is unethical, but I would certainly be curious why s/he uses that deck when there are thousands of decks available where the meanings are more transparent. The excuse that s/he learned on that deck doesn’t make it, not when what s/he learned on that deck is so easily transferable to other decks.
The next example she shows is the Tarot of the Sphinx, which looks to be a deck with an Egyptian theme. Considering that the word gypsies came from is “Egyptians” and that many people still associate the Tarot with Gypsies, it seems oddly fitting. The Tarot of the Sphinx is by Silvana Alasia. The work of many occultists is based upon the Khemetic model, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which chose Khemetic motifs blended with the Qabalah. Unlike the Marseilles Tarot, The Tarot of the Sphinx features individual scenes for the pip cards, although I have some doubts about how the scenes relate to the meaning of the cards. The final deck exemplar featured in the Comparative Tarot is the Tarot of the Origins by Piero Alligo, Manfredi Toraldo, and Sergio Toppi. It seems to be rather dark. I can tell you right now that I would not have chosen that deck, because I don’t regard it as representative of the “innovative” decks that are out there. If I had to choose from the Llewellyn or Lo Scarabeo decks, I would have chosen the Robin Wood Tarot. It is much more representative of the kind of deck that is currently published, and is true to the Rider-Colman-Smith-Waite model of Tarot decks. I don’t know whether The Comparative Tarot is still published or not. Llewellyn often gets rid of decks that don’t do as well as they think it should. You might be able to get hold of a deck on Amazon.com, but it might be a used one.
The treatment for a used deck is similar to the attunement for a new one. You can clear it with a crystal, or in the window on a full moon night. Then sleep with it under your pillow. Use your intuition as how long, but a full week might be appropriate, or a full cycle of the moon, whichever you feel is appropriate. There are few hard and fast rules where this is concerned. You have to do it by feel, and pay attention to your instincts. If you can, get hold of some silk and wrap it in that after you’ve slept with it under your pillow. And as always, record the dreams you have after sleeping with your new (to you) Tarot deck. If the dreams are overly disturbing, that means the deck is not as yet cleared enough, and you need to go through the clearing process again, and re-attune it to yourself. You might also attempt a one card reading for yourself. I don’t recommend a multi-card reading because it really isn’t good to read Tarot for yourself. You’re too close to the situation. If you have a willing guinea pig handy, read for her/him. Take careful notes, noting whether the reading is on target. If it doesn’t seem to be, if it’s off for any reason, re-clear, and re-attune the deck. It is worth all the care you can put into it to get a top-notch divinatory tool for yourself, whether you read cards professionally as I and my fellow Keen readers do, or whether you do it as a talented amateur, who does it either as a hobby or for spiritual edification.
In these end-of-the-year times, you may want to call for a reading about what 2010 looks like. I am available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (all times Pacific). Do call. I am waiting eagerly for your call.
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