Which Is Your Favorite Spread?

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.