The Fairy Lights Tarot is a new (to me) deck by Lucia Mattioli, who created one of my all-time favourite decks, the Tarot of the Secret Forest. My tastes don’t usually run to the overly sweet (as so many new tarot decks are), and usually anything with “fairy” in the title is an indication that the deck doesn’t really have anything for me.
But – it’s Lucia Mattioli. There was never going to be any question about whether I’d get this one or not.
Just a quick note to say isn’t it funny how your hopes colour your readings? I was so hopeful that the Ace of Swords was hinting at our glory… Instead, it foretold our DOOM!
Hehe, but it was quite funny that I was so intent on a win that it just sort of slipped my mind a little that the ace can stand for defeat as well as victory…
Today’s not looking promising either. Come on, New Zealand!!
The race isn’t for another twenty minutes or so but the cards say we’ve got it in the bag!
Edit to say: drats! The race was postponed again. My question at the time was “will Team New Zealand win race one?” … technically we haven’t raced it yet, so I’m still optimistic the card will stand!
And apologies for the blurry photo. I took it in the lounge, excited, and jittery from too much coffee 🙂
Smith-Waite Tarot Centennial Edition Deck By Pamela Coleman Smith Copyright © 2009 by US Games ISBN: 978-1572816398
Bit of a depressing day race-wise. But just for fun I grabbed my trusty Pamela Coleman Smith Centenary edition deck, and asked, “are we going to win race one?”
The answer? The eight of cups.
At first I pondered the card a bit. Did the red figure represent Team New Zealand, with its bright red sail? Why was it turning its back on all the shinies? (Did it mean we’d turn our back on the trophy?)
Sure enough, despite a fantastic start and a lead of over a kilometer(!) the race was called off right before we crossed the finish line… Apparently if you don’t finish the race within 40 minutes the whole thing is called off. (Is it just me or is this a weird rule? I know nothing about sailing, but still…) We felt just a tad disgusted that after such a great start, and a great race(!), it had boiled down to some weird techinicality. Perhaps that was us turning our back on this whole racing thing.
Ok, so we had some coffee and licked our wounds. And then sat down to watch race two.
Did I dare draw another card? I couldn’t resist.
The Five of Cups.
Definitely no victory here. Sob!
Sure enough. A disastrous race. And after the greatness that could have been with the first race… talk about crying over spilled milk!
Guess we’ll be tuning in tomorrow for yet another day of racing…
Smith-Waite Tarot Centennial Edition Deck By Pamela Coleman Smith Copyright © 2009 by US Games ISBN: 978-1572816398
For quite a while now, I’ve wanted to start reading for more people. Not just friends and myself, but strangers, people whose backgrounds and stories are unknown to me. I was thinking about this the other day (why do I actually want to read for others?), and the answer I came back with was a surprise but deep down, it’s not really. I want to do it because I enjoy helping people. Because I enjoy breaking out of my circle of friends and acquaintances and have good conversations with strangers. I want to talk about life. Make connections. Put myself out into the world, with my love and abilities and experience, and see what happens. Get out of my comfort zone!
So as part of this, a few days ago I took a deep breath, and offered some free readings to a Facebook group I belong to, a new mothers support group that lately has seen quite a few members putting up “Pay it Forward” posts, offering everything from frozen homemade baby food to homemade body scrubs, etc. It seemed a good time, and in keeping with what else was going on. So I put up my post, held my breath… at first there were just a couple of people who said they’d be interested, but then HEAPS more came, in a mini-landslide, with some even expressing an interest in a face-to-face reading! (I’m feeling a bit nervous about that, but excited too.)
So over the past couple of days I’ve been getting everything ready: hooking up my scanner so I can include some good-quality images of the cards I draw, setting up a OneNote notebook to include my readings, a Dropbox folder to sync all my files, and even a spreadsheet where I’m keeping track of who has requested a reading, their questions, year cycle info, email addresses, and a link to the pdf that I wind up creating from the OneNote page.
Here’s the setup:
I’ve done two readings so far, and have another ten to go, with one of those taking place at someone’s house (she lives nearby). I’m excited and nervous at the same time. It’s all happening in a rush, and it’s wonderful.
One day down the line I’ll have to think about whether I offer readings for koha or bartering (I’d much prefer to barter with other people than to take money) or, gulp, actually charge. I’m not approaching tarot as a business I want to develop, so the money aspect isn’t anything to do with that. Rather: everything I have heard from people who are much wiser and experienced than I am, says that when someone has to pay for something they often place a greater value on it. They pay more attention, take things on board. And you are less likely to get people trying to abuse what you’re offering (you know: people who ask the same question to five different readers; people who think they need to withhold information or trick you somehow to see if you are “the real deal”).
I hope I don’t come across situations like this, because from the start I’ve always tried to be clear that I’m not the one with the answers. The cards don’t have the answers either. The answers come from that magic space between the tabletop and your brain. The same “magic” that happens when you read a book or look at a Matisse landscape. It’s all inside you.
It’s been a huge day today! Steve’s stag’s night is on tonight, and it’s taking place up the coast somewhere at an “adventure lodge”. We left the house at 9, to go pick up Hamish, one of his friends, at the airport, and then we all drove up the coast to Steve’s parents’ place, where everyone then transferred to his Dad’s car, and the three of them headed off into the wilderness, hehe.
Moo and I stayed for lunch with Steve’s Mum, and then we headed back to town. Along the way, we – whoops! – went in to Pinnacle Books, and got these:
It seems odd to me that a deck as cute and sweet as the Old English just isn’t doing it for me right now. Maybe it’s because I have enough “cute and sweet” going on and something a bit more gothic is what I need to provide some balance.
That said, despite my interest in things gothic (I love gothic literature), I don’t own many “dark” decks. I do enjoy the Bohemian Gothic deck by the Magic Realist Press, as well as the Lasenic, and the wonderful, whimsical yet very, very, creepy Tarot of the Secret Forest. The Secret Forest tarot, incidentally, is often-maligned because of its odd backs, that show an altered black and white version of the card, rather than a traditional back. (It’s easy not to be put off by this. When you shuffle and deal the cards, just don’t look!).
Enter the Dark Grimoire tarot.
Herself's Tarot Notebook 