Saturday, July 25, 2015

Shuffling, cutting and letting others touch your cards

I usually don’t shuffle my cards when I first get them.  I go through them one by one looking at the images.  I’ll pick out cards that resonate strongly with me and look at them more intently.  Shuffling usually doesn’t occur until I have cleansed the cards.

My first deck was a larger deck and it was impossible to shuffle them in the regular way.  So I took to spreading them out on the floor or table top and mixing them around as a way to shuffle them (washing).  I would put a cloth down first, but this was the only way to get them shuffled correctly. 

When I initially started I would do a very simple shuffle on my regular sized decks, I didn’t know how to do anything fancy or riffle, and to be honest I was a little hesitant about bending the cards by trying anything else.  But I have since taught myself the standard shuffling technique (riffle) and I’m less afraid of bending corners etc, these cards are meant to be used not just sit and look pretty.
I’ve been very fortunate in that none of the decks I’ve purchased yet have had flimsy card stock.  I’m sure I’d end up treating them more gingerly if I did.  For the most part the cards feel good and solid in my hands.

I’ve never actually cut my deck – or maybe I have a few times and I just don’t recall.  To be honest, most of the time I just take that whatever card lands on top after the shuffling is the card to start with.


I don’t have any issues with other people touching my cards.  I think that if you’re doing a reading for them having their energy on your cards may not be a bad things.  Sure there is the theory that they can affect the reading, but really how different is that from you affecting your own readings by touching the cards.

Friday, July 24, 2015

What is tarot to you?

I first came across tarot when…

          I first came across tarot when I began looking into Wicca as a spiritual path.  I was vaguely aware of it but I didn’t really have a pull towards it.  I first explored Oracle cards and then I gradually became interested in tarot.  It appeared daunting, all those meanings and symbols and how was I to learn it all.

The reason I want to learn tarot is…

          I want to learn tarot because I believe it is a valuable technique for tapping into the unconscious mind and the universal consciousness as a way to assist in understanding our world.

Here’s how I feel about learning tarot in three words:

Overwhelmed, excited, determined

Tarot’s main purpose (for me) is…

          To help guide me in my spiritual journey and to assist me with better understanding myself and my situations in life.

Here are some things I don’t believe about tarot:

          I don’t believe that tarot is evil.  I also don’t believe that it predicts the future, rather it is a tool for understanding and guidance to options.

I think the most important qualities for a tarot reader are:

          Honesty, passion, and continual learning.

In learning tarot, I hope to…

          Better understand myself and develop a tool for knowledge and learning that will assist me with my spiritual and mundane journey.

I think my main challenges will be…

          Trusting myself and my interpretations and getting over the idea that there is a ‘right way’ to read the tarot and a ‘right answer’.  Moving beyond my very analytical approach to study and embracing the flow of tarot and letting the wisdom just come to me.

But I will try to overcome them by…


          Releasing my fears, embracing my flaws and forging forward on this journey that has been calling to me for several years now.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

*dusting this off*

My poor abandoned divination blog, I've been terribly slack with keeping up with this.  Somehow, once again, life took over.  Admittedly in that time I've moved half way across the country.  But I'm trying to get back on track with my Tarot, my Runes and my Pendulum work, so hopefully I'll be a bit better about updating on here :)

Tarot:

I recently invested money in a couple of tarot apps.  I'd wondered how to go about doing daily readings etc when I work a job that would not approve of the presence of tarot cards, even in my private space.  So I found that Fool's Dog has a bunch of apps for decks I have and a few decks I don't but have coveted so I downloaded the Revelations Tarot, which I have been eyeing off for a while.  It's actually a good way to get a feel for the decks, at this juncture I'm not entirely convinced that Revelations is for me, as much as I love the artwork.

The second deck I downloaded was The Wild Unknown tarot.  I've been coveting this one since it was published but haven't managed to fork out the $40 for it as of yet.  So I decided I'd pay the $6.99 for the app and see how I went with the cards.  Well I adore the cards, the deck was instantly readable to me and I am now trying to talk myself out of splurging on the physical deck until next pay day :)

I do like the apps.  The revelations has the bonus feature of being able to do a customizable spread as well as the generic ones, which I like.  But both apps offer the ability to store and do readings as well as daily card pulls.  I actually like that you can set the Wild Unknown app to notify you of your daily pull each day so you wont forget.  The journal feature is very helpful, as is being able to just flip through the cards.  I'm certainly not giving up my physical decks anytime soon, and I wouldn't use them to do readings for other people, but I do like the freedom to mess with my tarot now wherever and whenever I like without anyone being aware of it.

Runes:

I finally managed to get my hands on a set of blue sunstone runes.  I've wanted a set for years and every time I attempted to purchase them the stores were out of stock.  I finally found these at a Ren Faire of all places.  They are nice and small (about the same size as my original Tiger's Eye ones that sadly had a rune break) so I will probably use these more than my opalite ones.

I found Leon D Wild's 'The Runes Workbook' second hand and I'm going to work through that as part of my journey with the runes.  I don't recall if I gave them away or lost them in the move but I went to dig out the books I originally had on Runes and they were nowhere to be found.

I still have vague plans about making my own set from a variety of different crystals but that is on the back burner at the moment as I'm trying not to set myself up with too much to do and then failing because I feel overwhelmed.

Pendulum:

You know I have three of these that I've purchased over the years because they've called to me and yet I haven't really played with any of them.  I tried working with my clear quartz one but it just picked up on too many different energies.  I've got two others I want to try play with.  I'm not sure if pendulums are for me so I'm going to start the journey and see how things go.  I'll try to keep this updated with the progress.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Daily Draw


That song - that perfectly personal song that resonates only within your soul - it is calling to you, it is beseeching you to make a journey that might be scary but that in the long run will rebirth you in ways wonderful and pure.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Daily Draw


There is chemistry at work here - two elements coming together to make something greater in is whole.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Daily Draw


Let the simple, elegant beauty of the inner you, the divine spark shine through.  You do not need to dress yourself up in order to be seen, you need simply to let your inner self out.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Daily Draw


Despite the challenges thrown at you, you are moving forward with determined will towards a triumphant success.  You have the determination and strength to reign in the chaotic forces and drive them towards your goal.