Positivity, please

I’ve been tossing up a bit on whether to continue with the Old English deck. I’m just a bit bored with it, even though I still do find its little mini pictures on the pips rather charming. That in itself is funny, considering the whole reason why you would do a ‘One Deck Wonder’ is to get beyond the surface impression of a deck and gain a deeper understanding of it. I’ve been eyeing up my copy of the Dark Grimoire Tarot, which I have been meaning to get cracking with, and also the Sacred Sites. (Coincidentally the artists for these decks are brothers; Michele Penco illustrated the Dark Grimoire, while Federico Penco did the Sacred Sites. They both have a wonderful style: whimsical but never veering off into the too-cartoony feel that so many of the Lo Scarabeo decks seem to have.)

Anyway, I digress. I was looking at these decks as part of a little exercise where I was thinking about so-called frightening or disturbing cards. I think I’m going to write a post about it shortly, so I won’t go into it here. Needless to say, most decks usually have at least one card that feels a bit off (or even off-putting). But I think that adds to the vitality of a deck, to the emotion of your response and the things it makes you face up to.

Actually, that leads quite nicely into the cards I drew today:

Would you like a reading? (Or another thing?)

Psst!

Just a heads-up that in celebration of my personal blog hitting 10 years, I’m offering a couple of things to anyone who wants, until the end of September. One of those things is a free tarot reading 🙂

The details are here. Enjoy!

How can I get back on track?

I don’t always have a question when I sit down to look at the cards. But today, as I’m slowly starting to  get better from yet another cold, I wanted to ask the cards: “how can I get back on track?”

Work, writing, exercise – it’s hard to pick it all up again after having such low energy levels.

This is what I drew:

Learning a new deck

It’s always a bit funny when you put down a well-used deck and pick one up that you don’t know – especially one that’s not a conventional RWS or Thoth or Versailles, with completely familiar symbolism. You put down your first couple of draws, and the first thing you think is: I want my old deck back, this feels weeeeeird!

It does feel weird picking up the Old English, even though I love the backs, love the feel of the deck (though it’s a bit too new-feeling at the moment. I think I need to punish it a bit, hehe), love the artwork, and love the challenge of those weird pip cards.

It does seem a bit “light”, though I have my suspicions that this is just due to the soft shadings of the artwork, and that in the end, this will be a deck that will be sharp and funny and dead-on. (Though let’s save the verdict for later.)

Oh – one other thing. I’m not sure how obvious it comes across in this blog, but when I do my actual readings, I don’t write my thoughts down immediately in the blog. I have a notebook that I write in, in pencil, and I scribble all sorts of thoughts – many not at all fully-formed. Especially during this whole new-deck phase, when I’m looking at the meanings of the cards, and interpreting how they relate to me personally, I sometimes usually wind up thinking, it could mean this….or this. Or what about this? Half the time I never come to one single conclusion, but let things be a bit more fluid.

Is that strange?

In any case, seeing as I have a really sore wrist (the babe is getting heavier and heavier, and I think I’ve strained my thumb lifting her up; but it then has somehow morphed into an achy wrist, which Steve has duly wrapped for me), I’m just going to copy in today’s three-card-draw, straight from the notebook. Apologies for the weirdness of my thought process…

:::

14 August

Hanged Man – 10 Coins – Knave of Coins

New One-deck-wonder: Old English Tarot

I loved my time with the International Icon Tarot. Simply loved it. It’s an incredible, incredible deck, and I really recommend it to anyone interested in taking up some in-depth study of tarot symbolism and colour.

That said, I’m in the mood for something different now! And having had a bit of a break from tarot for the past few months, it seems an opportune time to pick up a new deck. I was poking around in my tarot drawer (where the decks that don’t have pretty bags yet live), trying to decide which deck to choose. And this little deck caught my eye:

The Hermit and the Happy Squirrel

This sort of sums it up really… if you were to ask me what I’ve been up to over the past couple of months, this couldn’t describe my situation any more clearly! That’s me, loads of stuff to do, and I’m just hanging out, watching that squirrel collect nuts! (Hehe.)

Or does it mean I’m quietly going nuts??? (Haha.)

But seriously, things are really good! But I’m thinking I might spend a little time with another deck. Just have it sitting on my desk while I try to work and write during baby nap-time. Stay tuned!

International Icon Tarot
By Glow in the Dark Pictures
Copyright ©2003 GlowInTheDark
ISBN: 978-0972878815
(Bought from Glow In the Dark Pictures)