The Badgers Forest Tarot

Long time no post, I have been so busy with college, family, making bags etc, I have had little time to blog here. I intend to change that over the next few days as life settles down a little!

Meanwhile I wanted to share this new project by Nakisha Vanderhoeven who created the wonderful TaRat, The Rabbit Tarot and the Blue Dog Rose tarot. The new deck looks gorgoeus, particularly for those of you who love nature. I think it will work well with my Wildwood and also my NZ Naturally Tarot. The Druid Animal oracle would also play well with this deck! Plans for it already.

Here is a photo of the stunning Moon card that Nakisha shared on her Facebook page

This new deck is going to be larger than Nakisha's previous decks and although I love their small size it will be nice to see her beautiful artwork in more detail!

Go and check out Nakisha's videos and her Kickstarter project!

New Year Books.....

I received a couple of books and calendars in the post recently, which I got with Christmas money from my awesome amazing sister :) I do miss her, especially as last year we were together for Christmas. It is very hard for me not to be constantly checking for cheap flights at this time of year, when the heat of summer gets me down. I am a true Winterchild, not just by name.

Anyway..... I got a wonderful calendar by Major Tom Schick his calendar is called The Tarot Lovers Calendar and is full of wonderful spreads and photo's of cards from the more unusual and arty decks.

In this photo I wanted to share the page for September, which features the Itongo Tarot for Transformation by Robyn - Anne Pollard. I immediately loved this Moon card, and going to the authors website the deck looks very intriguing, I shall have to read more about it.

Tarot Lovers Calendar 2013

Other decks I loved that were featured in the calendar are Beth Seilonen's Tarot of the Red Jester , which I have wanted for ages, and I was quite interested to see that Pamela Steele of The Steele Wizard Tarot is currently working on a Wizards Pets Tarot which looks absolutely enchanting! I don't have a Steel Wizard.... another one on the wishlist, maybe this year! The Wizard's Pets deck is aimed at children but I can see a few older kids (!!),  adding it to their stash.....

Books.... my darling daughter Pollyanna bought me Good Faeries Bad Faeries by Brian Froud, which I have wanted for ages... I love his work, still remember how fascinated I was back in the 80's when I got his first Faeries book. This past year I fell in love with his Faerie Oracle too and it reads like a dream.. this book delves more into the featured faeries, and seeing the artwork on the cards much larger is fantastic! Thanks Polly xoxoxoxox

Christmas Books

I also got Llewellyn's Witches Date Book for 2013 and their Moon Sign Book for 2013. I usually buy a specially written diary and calendar for the Southern Hemisphere, but this year my brain did a flip and I totally forgot that these books would be upside down and back to front! Anyway with time conversions and turning the year inside out I should be able to make sense of it. At least the Moon phases are the same the world over, as long as you convert the times correctly. Its nice to be able to reply on something being constant. If I see the usual diary I buy I will get one, but meantime... I will work with what I have. Anyway.... as I have been thinking so much about moving back North, there may be some reasoning in this lunar madness......

A Gothic Moon

It was quite appropriate to get this card today, as we have just had the full moon, she being blown around in a stormy sky. First thought on studying this card was that the moon lady with her crescent headdress makes me think of  Cerridwen, Celtic goddess of the moon, who had a wolf as a companion, just like this lady in the card.

The Moon - Bohemian Gothic

The Wolf rules winter from Samhain to Imbolc and the Celtic word for February (when Imbolc is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere), is Faoilleach, which translates as Wolf Month. Imbolc is also known as St Brides Day which is another name for Brighid the Celtic triple Goddess of healing, poetry and blacksmiths. Brighid, like Cerridwen also had a wolf friend. In St Johns church in Glastonbury there is a beautiful stained glass window which features St Bride and her wolf companion, they are shown minding sheep, which are pictured in the next adjacent pain of glass. Sheep and wolves!

The Moon is a a card with a nature as slippery as her watery element, she can enchant and confuse. The woman's face here looks confused to me and a little worried, unsettled I felt a little like this today, but that is what the full moon does to me, she being my ruling planet. Of course her mood could be in tune with the melancholy sound of the howling wolf, or the pipes of the Pan God who sits on a rock by the water. She has turned away from the town in the distance and looks into the dark, as a mirror, seeing what is on the inside, or maybe the past and the future, trying to work  them out.  Moon's ability to create illusion makes one wonder just what is real and what isn't, and even if it really matters.

The wolf howls freely in the night, by day he is shy and hides away, at nighttime enchanted by the Pan Pipes we can follow a path very different to the one we tread by day. Night changes our mood and behaviour, like the werewolves I believe our characters change in the dark hours. We are wilder, free to be more of who we are, to explore our deeper darker nature.

I have always been a creature of the dark.... and the cold months... I can really relate to the image on this card, what a fabulous Moon she is!

20 12 2012

I had to do a special 2012 spread for today.... what with the double 2012 date.. and all adding up to one which is pretty neat for the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. Then we have the Solstice coming up, when we in the South send the Sun back up to the North heading back the way it came 6 months ago.... it is all very exciting.

I don't believe the world will end tomorrow, but I do feel something will happen that has been building up for the past 9 years at least.... I have felt changes, getting stronger and stronger, but they are hard to put into words. It is almost a "knowing among" those in the world who are ready. A connection, some very strong energy connecting us... as I said, it is hard to put into words!

So here is my deliberately drawn 20 12 2012 spread:

The Wildwood Tarot 2012 Spread

Of course it is very different to the spreads where the cards are drawn at randon, but the cards here fit the date and the current changes going in perfectly.

The Great Bear is often called Judgement in the Tarot, but I prefer this version. This card is at the Winter Solstice on the Wheel of the Year which of course is exactly where those in the Northern hemisphere are about now. The bear sits guarding an ancient passage grave, ready for the winter sun to shine in and awaken the soul inside. Throughout the dark sleeping months they have had the chance to learn much wisdom, to help them with the next cycle of life. Behind the bear the constellation of the Great Bear is shown in the sky and what looks like the Northern Lights shine out around him. With the ancient yews the bear guards the grave. The only judgement is that of ourselves, and how we choose to live our lives. Nothing can be hidden or forgotten. This is the time of stillness, where we lie quiet, like the sun on the solstice, before moving back around the wheel.

The Mirror, card number 12,  reflects the inner secrets of the soul lying in the tomb, looking into the Mirror he can see his deepest fears and most hidden thoughts, nothing is hidden here, the Siren holds up the Moon to light the mirror and dispel illusions... maybe she scries with the Moon. A crane with a medicine back around its neck sits by the serpent woman, he looks old and wise and he guards the secrets in his golden bag. The body in the boat lies still, at peace and the boat heads for the Otherworld to rest between journeys. The transition cannot be hurried, the water in the lake represents our subconscious where healing takes place during sleep. Everything in this card seems to reflect what is going on in The Great Bear card.

 The past couple of days a Great Cormorant an NZ native, who looks very crane like has been hanging around my pond..which also has an island with three tree's. It has a boat too but the boat is out of the water at the moment...!

The 2 card, The Seer has many elements of the other cards, the medicine bag, the water which she appears to be drawing energy from or seeing visions in. She wears a Shamans cloak, evidence of meeting with the Shaman on the inner journey to the subconscious. She has gained wisdom and her will is set as signified by the carved staff which she holds in her left hand. She gazes into the water calling up the creative dreams and inspirations and guides them to take root in the earth with her right hand. The water represents emotions, all the feelings and emotional healing can now be put to good use in the earthly world if you know how to channel them.

The Wanderer, is another card which shows a time of stillness between the solid ground and the emptiness between the Wanderer and the forest. There is a rainbow bridging the gap hope for the future, and a means to cross the divide to the next cycle. The Wanderer has his arms open, welcoming that which is to come, the newness and unknown future.  He knows he has everything to learn and in knowing this he is the wisest of all. Although there is some slight hesitation there is no stopping now, one foot is ready to take the first step, leaving the old and entering the new. A time of new beginnings, new hope and another cycle.

Once again the The Mirror or 12 card, reflects the meanings of these two cards and the whole cycle is reflected back and forth. Each time we gain knowledge, wisdom, truth and courage.... if we take that leap of faith and allow it to happen naturally.

I have to do things now and want to get this posted while the date still holds, but I am sure I could get much much more out of this spread.

The Hare of the Wildwood

Since I did my reading yesterday, I have been getting more and more into this deck. I abandoned the Mystic Medicine oracle I had chosen this week as it still grates on me somehow!!! It needs more intense cleansing obviously.... next full moon it will be out there, and also for the Solstice, which according to what I have found on the web actually occurs here at 12.15am on Saturday 22nd... Phoebes birthday.....

So I laid out the Wildwood cards in the Wheel of the Year and it helped to see them like this and associate the different suits and Majors with their place in the seasonal cycle. The card I drew for my daily draw today was The Hare.... whose time in the wheel we have just passed through..... the days coming up to Midsummer. 

 Wildwood Tarot 

This gorgeous artwork by Will Worthington shows a magnificent hare standing in mountain terrain with the full moon behind him. He looks in command of his countryside, strong and alert to danger. He has a  Green man mask by his feet... symbolic of the continuity and fertility of nature and its cycles. What a beautiful and majestic creature this hare is! Wonderful art!

The Hare means a lot to me, I have been fascinated with hares all my life, I have hare art all over my home, I have done a Welsh pilgrimage to the Patron Saint of Hares and spent many years watching them back in East Anglia. A couple of years ago we had a pet New Zealand hare for a while who came to live with our beloved Snoopy. He was a wild creature, unlike our gorgeous wee mini lop bunny, and we called him Jerusalem. He got on really well with Snoopy who loved having him as a friend, but eventually as he got older, he left us. I cannot keep animals in cages. He didn't go far though and he would come back and visit sometimes, or we would spot him hanging out at the gate to our drive.

The Wildwood book has some beautiful words for the Queen of Bows:

"A companion through life, sympathetic and understanding, leading you to a deeper awareness of what is needed to bring success to your every enterprise. Wise and witty, gentle and kindly the Queen supports you and strengthens your resolve."

This a a fantastic companion for me at this time, I should know the Hare is always there for me and this is a great reminder of that energy. Hares are messengers, they cross through age and culture, bringing you to where you need to be. Their tracks in the fields are complex, but designed to be for them only to be able to follow. They have no underground homes like their rabbit cousins, and so they keep safe by their wits, their amazing senses and their speed. Those huge ears and big eyes are not just for show.

Hares are often related to the Moon and lunacy in mythology, and they are also shapeshifters. The Hare was said to have offered to lay down his life for Buddha in order to feed him with his own flesh. Buddha saved him however and painted his image on the Moon, to be seen forever by all who looked up, as an honour of his selflesness.

The hare will return here often.... as he has in my life...

I received an email this morning from Creative Numerology which is a fabulous resource, highly recommended. I decided to calculate my year number for 2012... bit late I know but...!! As instructed on the blog, I added my month and day of birth and then added 5 (because 2012 adds up to 5), and came up with the  number 9. This is what the site says for my weekly forecast:

It will be difficult to prevent emotional movement now. Your feelings need to express themselves in order for you to evolve from an old situation. Everyone involved needs to be who they are – who they have become. This cycle of love, beauty, and relationship can be easily damaged by indifference, defensiveness or judgment, so try to create a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere. Let yourself enjoy the love and affection all around you.

Really this couldn't be more apt for this week. Emotional movement is unavoidable right now, no matter how I set boundaries and as a result  I feel quite vulnerable. I need to let this sink it and accept that I need to take extra care of me. This has been a difficult year where I have felt very disconnected from life and the world in many ways.  Spiritually I think this has been a good thing.

Jonothan Cainer wrote for my weekly forecast that I feel torn between the desire to please someone who wants me to ignore something .... and my own urge to face the facts. He advises being moderate and patient, for more information may yet alter a lot! I'll say.... sometimes I think that guy is a fly on the wall, but how can it be right for everyone born under that sign?

To add a little more info for the week I decided to take the Nine of Cups card from my Victorian Romantic deck (chosen for the number of the week we are currently in and the emotional focus).
The Nine of Cups is in the second Decan of Pisces and associated with Moon energy....

Nine of Cups - Victorian Romantic

 This guy looks happy with his lot. He is very richly dressed as if enjoying his best finery for the hell of it... as the Nine of Cups is about simple pleasures.  A warm air of hospitality is shown by his jovial appearance.... any beer left? Even if there isn't he doesn't seem to worried. After the drunken dreams of the Seven of Cups which I got earlier this week, maybe he has had enough anyway and is deciding to be moderate.
There is a little bit of a warning as Nine is also the number of the Hermit, who is alone, like this man.... why is he alone? Perhaps he is just happy in his own company or waiting for a friend. There is alos a temptaion for deception, being taken in, as it is influenced with that Moon energy

On the whole I think the week ahead looks good, as the Nine of Cups is often called The Wish card, I shall wish for the best.... being careful what I wish for of course in case I get it.....

Seven of Cups

Another delightful card from the Victorian Romantic... I am loving this deck more and more. Funy if I saw half these images in a book or gallery, I am not so sure many of them would catch my eye, but the artists who created this deck have done wonders with them. Bringing them to life as a Tarot Deck full of symbols and possibilites and magical pictures... well its totally transformational. Real alchemy!

Seven of Cups - Victorian Romantic

This guy reminds me of The Fool...... just by his appearance really. I wonder what he is doing. Is he using his treaures as bait to catch the fairy folk below the surface? He could have been taken in by the underwater creatures, for they could be like the Sirens who led men to their deaths crashed up rocks.
He could end up with nothing left, like the gambler who throws it all in against the big prize. Of courser with gamblers there never is a big prize, it is always just out of reach... that being the nature of the beast. Is he being taken in by the Sirens or is he fooling them? Are his treausures merely illusions which will disappear when they try to touch them? Someone seems to be playing a game in this card. If the fisherman falls in he could be caught in those tentacle things and trapped... drowned even.

I read somewhere that this card is sometimes know as Faery Favours... because like Faery gifts they could just be illusions which fade after time. There is much illusion as this card is associated with the Moon, and emotion of course... shown in the water. I just thought of being drowned in emotion.... deluded... tempted to believe that which is not true but only imagined. Very much a Seven of Cups energy.

Faery favours makes me wonder if I should turn to my Faerie Oracle for help.... or will I only become more deluded?! I do like this particular Seven of Cups though..... I like dreams... even if they can be only castles in the air.

Searching for the Grail

.... Ah... but first we need to know what the Grail is....

For me the Grail is something that is missing, something I need for total inner peace and happiness... but it is missing and I feel the emptiness it leaves. It is like I am always waiting,.... but I don't know what for! I am fairly happy, I have had to be strong in my life to get to this point, but I am here. I have great kids whom I am very proud of. I love my goats and my home. I have my art and Tarot and all my other interests. I am never bored. There is no material thing that I need.. I have a few close and wonderful friends, I have a wonderful family including the world's best ever sister. I live a quiet, fairly hermit like existence by choice, because apart from traveling, I have found no other lifestyle that I connect with. I want to travel but now is not the time, I still have little people depending on me. One may be bigger than me but he still needs me!! So with all this why do I feel something is missing? Why do I wake and wonder what my life is about? What is this missing link between me and completeness....?

This morning I was inspired to read with my Victorian Romantic Deck for the first time, using some questions I found on Rowan Tarot.

The questions were inspired by Chretien de Troyes' Perceval: Story of the Grail

1. What is the lance that bleeds
2. What is the Grail
3. What can be the candelabra to light my quest

Queen of Swords, Strength and the Moon from Baba Studio's Victorian Romantic Tarot

Queen of Swords seems very appropriate for the lance that bleeds. especially this Queen of Swords with her sword jeweled with blood red stones. She looks wise, wisdom that belies her years. This queen looks like she can take on the world... in fact she reminds me of the Iceni queen, Boadicea who started an uprising against the Roman Invaders. Boadicea's country was what is now known as Norfolk on the East Coast of England. The very part of England where I spent the 15 years prior to coming to New Zealand. Mind you there are no mountains in Norfolk so this queen is obviously in another land... she does have the determination though, like she has to do it single handed.

This independence, having to cope, having to be strong has made me fairly tough, but maybe also too independent. I don't really know how to be with people or let them help, as I am so used to doing it all on my own. I find it extremely difficult to be feminine. She cuts through lies and bullshit.... with that sharp blade with no problem, it is not always easy to be this perceptive.  She looks tough and unfeeling, but I sense a lot of sadness behind those eyes. Like the song by The Who. This lady is the lance that bleeds indeed.

Strength... After the Queen of Swords it seems strength may be a little superfluous!  There is a woman in a den of lions... leastwise it looks like den, there is a grey stone wall which looks pretty  indestructible and the floor doesn't look as if it is outside at all. The lady is dressed in red, a colour of fire and of passion, echoed in the sun symbol at the bottom of her gown. She wears a bracelet like a slave bangle around her upper arm. Her dress and hairstyle are far too grand for a slave of course and the bracelet could also be a symbol of her husbands wealth. But slavery can take many forms, and is not always immediately evident. No doubting the strength in this card, calm against the storm, a strength born of gentleness and courage from within. This lady knows she is capable of controlling the lions by her own inner will and quiet. The lions look as if they are adoring her, accepting her as one of their own. Reminds me some of Living with Wolves again..!

Seems the Grail is courage, to face things I find frightening, to find inner strength and to believe in myself and trust myself totally. With courage comes freedom, and this reminds me of a line from another song, this one by the Eagles Already Gone.. and one line on particular:

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key

 To feel the freedom I want to feel, to travel, will take courage and inner strength. I will be trusting only in myself. I have done this before, when I came here to strange land with young children, and no one to rely on except me. But it is always easier to be strong for others than it is to be strong for oneself.

The Moon.... I laughed when I turned this card over! What card could possibly be more fitting to represent a candelabra than The Moon!! Except the moon on this card is hidden behind the clouds.
The female figure here is dressed in blue and combs her long hair, she is almost like a mermaid with the sea-like colours and flowing hair; the background is watery looking too. Her eyes gaze into the distance as if not quite of this world, but one beyond. On her head she wears the Crescent Moon of Diana or Artemis.. goddess of the hunt and the moon. She is a sorceress  and a huntress, she is enchanting like the Sirens and she has magic in her comb. The tower high on the hill in the background may have been where she once lived the hermit life of Rapunzel. This Moon card is so beautiful, mysterious... I love it! I have no fear of lunacy, fantasy or illusions that the Moon can bring to mind. I welcome this card. the Moon is my friend, the Moon is my nature.

Be myself, look inside for my wisdom, and be the huntress of my grail, my joy. There is no need to be afraid of the dark or the unknown.

The Moon and Haagenti

Another Moon! Also I remembered just now that the first Fallen Angel card I drew on Sunday was related to the Moon. Okay well obviously there is a message. I was looking at this Moon card again from the Ludy Lescot deck, and another thing that came to mind was being careful where you tread until you can see things clearly; kind of don't leave home without a map.

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door......"

Lots of messages in this Moon card. I will look at my oracle card and see if this sheds any light on how I should be reading the Moon today.

From the Angels Oracle I drew card 67, Haagenti, who was according to the Goetia, the 48th spirit demon evoked by Solomon.  The planet associated with this demon is Mercury ... quicksilver..illusive and changeable. Haagenti is represented by a large bull, but could also change into a man and a gryphon. When in human form he would teach men to be wise.  The bull who is shown on the card carved on a tombstone, was a symbol of St Luke, the evangelist, and a physician. Also shown on the card, are a skull and a pestle and mortar, tools of the alchemist. Haagenti is patron of alchemy and the healing arts. Alchemy, simply, is the art of changing something into its purest possible form. For us humans, this form is spirit.

The Moon from Ludy Lescot Tarot and Haagenti from Fallen Angels Oracle

The message of Haagenti is rest, renewal, healing and transformation, even a holiday.

Looking at both the cards and trying to see how they relate to each other, maybe I need to move on; walk out of the mist and through those gates of healing and renewal, where the way is clearly lit.  Could be that my castle is too safe, too much of a prison, certainly the walls look as if they are looming over the landscape and the ghostly figure.

I thought today about holidays, about hiring a bus or just going someplace different for a week with the kids. If I was away from here, maybe I would see the way ahead clearer; find the path of transformation. Become less of a ghost in my own life......... !

Ludy Lescot

This week's deck of the week is the Ludy Lescot Tarot....  it is published by Lo Scarebo and the artwork is by Patrizio Evangelisti. I really like this deck, I love the colouring and the artwork, so I am looking forward to getting to know it better this week.

Instead of just choosing one card for a Daily Draw I decided to draw three, for some clarification of whats going on with me. I asked:

1. What I should be careful about
2. What I should worry less about
3. Best thing to do for me in the next few days.

These are the cards I drew:

Moon, 7 of Wands and Knave of Pentacles - Ludy Lescot Tarot

1. The Moon

I have certainly had my fair share of Moon or Moon related cards in the past few weeks! Mind you with the recent Moon cycle beginning with a total eclipse of the Sun it's not surprising! I love this card, it shows the castle walls and the great portal.... gates to the otherworld. There is a ghostly figure who looks as if she may be floating through the mist but this could be just the ethereal quality that ist creates. There is a distinct Man in the Moon looking down on the scene and below him is a bright Star. Half the face of the Moon is in shadow.

The Moon is about illusions, and emotions, who is experiencing what? The Moon watches over the world of our dreams, when we could the ghost and the dream figures real. This scene feels very peaceful, but will peace last beyond the night. I think this figure is asking the Moon for help.... the Moon is my ruling planet, I often ask for guidance, and the Moon has sent a guiding star. There is a way out beyond those great pillars, but I need to know which direction I am heading in or I coud become lost in the mists.

The LWB suggests you give a face to the ghosts or illusion, face it and let it go, and then you too will be freed.


2. Seven of Wands

The LWB says:

"Love peace, but if you must fight, fight furiously and never retreat even one step."

The guy in the card could be attacking, or he could be defending himself with the wand he carries. I can only see 5 shadowy wands coming at him. I wonder if the fire is caused by the seventh wand burning? They are after all the fire element in the Tarot. He seems to have walked through the fire, maybe he set light to the wand to ward off danger? Whatever he doesn't seem to be about to give up and back down.
I can see very clearly, a skull engraved into the tree directly at the point of the mans right elbow. This may just be my vision today, and it could well disappear tomorrow never to be seen again, but right now I would give it some weight. I see it as the strength and wisdom of the older wiser ones that have gone before, supporting this guy while he is holding his own.


3. Knave of Pentacles

A young man dressed in baggy white poets shirt sits at a desk writing. A candle beside him lights his globe and behind him are shelves of books. On his desk are a skull, a dagger, a coin with the eye in the triangle symbol engraved upon it, more books, a compass and possibly a map. The chair behind him is engraved with a Tudor rose. This dude is the total student, of the history and geography, metaphysics and alchemy... and whatever else is concealed within the pages of his books.

Perhaps he is the eternal student, who goes back to his books again and again, that would be me. The skull represents cycles of things and the ancestorsm our history and heritage. The eye in the triangle is the Eye of Providence, or the 'All seeing Eye' .... to remind us we are watched at all times, by our conscience if nothing else. The compass is a symbol of the Freemasons, traditionally seen with a  carpenters square, it may have many meanings, but the one I recall is the union of body and soul, of the two halves of man. How this symbol came about I don't know... one to look up!  The rose to me is representative of England, and fairy tales..., but there are lots of legends surrounding the rose which I like. Apparently apprentice Masons were given a long stemmed rose at the beginning of their training. It was supposed to represent them with their core hidden in all the petals. But as the rose ages, and becomes more open, the petals unfold to reveal what is within. Nice analogy, for discovering hidden truths about us and the universe. With all this symbolism and all the signs of the scholar, this guy seems to me to be the ultimate page or knave.


Well......

The  message here seems quite clear.... beware of illusions and the hidden side of things.. the other side of the face. Face your ghosts and let them go. I don't meed to be as defensive as I feel I must, I can stand my ground if I have to, but it is something I don't need to worry too much about right now.
The best thing for me to do this next few days, is to continue to learn, inner and outer lessons. To bring my inner learning out into my life and into the world. Maybe my art. I did get an order for a bag yesterday!

Very interesting deck... I do like it. Some of the cards seem to be far from the traditional RWS system initially, but they are not really too far out. As far as the LWB goes.... well... whi needs these things anyway!!!

The Moon - Take 2 !!

It seems the Moon has a message for me and is determined that I *get* it.

My deck for this week is The Silicon Dawn Tarot,  by Egypt Urnash,  published by Lo Scarebo. This Tarot deck is very different, very refreshing and I just love everything about it. This deck actually is more than a Tarot as it has 99 cards in all, but I am only using 82 of them at the moment. The deck seems to be a bit of Thoth, a bit of RWS a bit of Golden Dawn and a whole lot of the creators own magic. The cards are a great size, smaller than your usual Lo Scarebo decks, but I love them. Usually I don't like smaller cards, but in this deck they work very well. There are black on black cards, glossy ink highlighting some cards and great holographic effects. The colours are wonderful and I do like the book and what Egypt has to say. The deck feels like a reflection of the artist in 99 mirrors... or rather 99 reflections.  Egypt sounds like a fascinating and colourful person.... and she has amazing wings! Definitely someone I would love to have round for supper...

Moon is a visually stunning card, I love the jackal in the water and the fact that half of the lady in the moon is in light and the other half in shadow. I wondered about the jackal being her darker self,  as her shadowed hand reaches down towards it. Or.... he is maybe just an illusion cast by the moon magic... then she could as easily be an illusion.

Moon - Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

 The Moon lady has a large tail, I like tails... once upon a time humans had tails.. now lost to evolution. The human embryo still has a tail, but this is absorbed into the embryo as it continues to develop. The tail is like a phantom, a missing part...that we know should be there, like the thought that you cannot quite catch but that continues to worry at you...  giving only fleeting glimpses of its existence. This particular tail also reminds me of a serpent, maybe the snake that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Of course the devil is also depicted with a tail, they certainly have a kind of lustful sinful air about them. The figure seems to be bowing her head towards the tail, as if in deference of it's power over her.

Tails are also things left behind...  gone but still there.... in memory. My Dad died today.... he and my mother split when I was very young, but I wanted to connect with him somehow. He did wake me as he passed. Made me think back to the Ten of Cups I drew on Friday.. how memory can sometimes be more real than the now.

So two Moons in a row.... at the dark of the Moon and right before the Solar Eclipse.

The Moon

I have a very different opinion of this deck than I had a week ago, I have to say. The Witches have proved themselves beyond their duty, and I take back all bad words said. Botox, murk up and all, they are here to stay! Also if I look slightly cross eyed at the offending cards I can almost see the bad plastic surgery job as brush marks of a pre digital era ;)

Today I drew The Moon... and I realised that I had dream't of this card last night. Totally out of the blue I had a dream about being offered all these drug cocktails, especially LSD, and everyone around me was taking them... but tho half of me thought about it, something deep down inside screamed NO..! You don't need those... you re way better without them. So I walked away from them, knowing the voice was right. I just bought Thirteen's ebook on Aeclectic Tarot and this is a little of what she has to say about the Moon:

With Pisces as its ruling sign, the Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. At its darkest this can be a very scary card warning the querent of hidden enemies, mental illness, alcoholic blackouts or a bad drug trip. At its very best, however, the Moon is a card of genius, of mental breakthroughs, astonishing creativity, powerful magic, and intuition.

The querent who gets this card should be warned that they may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial, a time when they’ll do things that seem to make sense to them, yet when they come out of it they’ll wonder, “Why did I do that? It makes no sense!” Their mind will be playing tricks on them, and so this is not a good time for making decisions that require rational thought and a clear head.
This card can, likewise, signal a crazy time for relationships. Whirlwind romances, powerful and dreamlike, but not trustworthy. For families and friends this is a time of emotional ups and downs.
If the querent has any past mental problems, they must be vigilant in taking their medication and seeing their therapist. They should avoid recreational drugs or alcohol, they will have a bad reaction if they take either. At the same time, the Moon signals great creativity, enhanced psychic powers, visions. The querent’s judgment may not be trustworthy, but they will have intuitive flashes that are remarkably accurate.

Note the mention of the drugs ....  The dream was also very illusory, and kind of like going through the looking glass. So many things were the total opposite of what they are in the waking life, and I chose to reject that. Even though it was a dream I feel pretty cool about it!

I am a Cancerian, we are ruled by the Moon and it fits me perfectly. We are headed fast for the New Moon and the total solar eclipse, so it is even more fitting. It is a pretty big thing for us lunartics when the Moon eclipses the Sun, I am sure there will be a certain amount of madness in the air! I am looking forward to seeing what I can of it, although it wont be the totality some lucky folk will witness over Cairns. For those of you in New Zealand we should see maybe a 75% eclipse of the Sun round about 10.30 on the morning of Tuesday 14th November. The current weather forecast for Tuesday is cloud and rain, so in that case we probably wont notice much.

But I will *FEEL* the power!!!

The Moon - Witches Tarot

Nine of Swords

I almost laughed when this card came up.... although most see it as a bad card, I don't mind it...
The 9 can mean being close to the end of a cycle... in this case of tough times. It is also a card of worry, usually needless and I really did smile when I read this quote on James Ricklef's blog:

"Worrying is like praying for what you don't want..."

How perfect is that!!

It can be a drama queen card, and although I am much of a drama queen I have been involved with the drama's of a young drama princess recently !!! I do crave some excitement in my life too, if not quite drama.  I have years of just wanting to be close to hearth and home and then I just want out. Recently I decided I wanted *OUT*.....of my current lifestyle, and that has never really gone away. All my attempts so far have failed, but to me this simply means I haven't yet hit on the right one.

I want to hit the road, be a gypsy, go back to Europe, take cheap journey's on planes and trains, just because I can. Drink coffee on platforms and do some people watching.... sit in the guards cabin between the coaches and feel like I have my own private carriage. Oh yes.....I crave those things. How I love airports and railways stations.... well, mostly, not when you have to say goodbye to those whom you love and you don't want to leave.. that's not so good.

So the 9 of Swords... what is it about for me today? This particular card is from the Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan... the woman has a bite on her neck and looks as though she has given up, although the swords are close to hand they also block most of the view out of the window, like bars on a cage. Beyond the window you can see the moon. Could the moon be speaking of deception here, telling us that things are not as bad as they appear. Presumably the room has a another way out, so the prison could be illusory.

Nine of Swords Witches Tarot

Another side of this card is that of being under attack, a victim of cruel behaviour or maybe a psychic vampire. This has happened to me in the past. Is there a Lord of Cruelty hidden in the wardrobe? Hmmmmm..... that kind of has a 50 Shades of Grey feel about it.... hmmmmmm.

My step dad is dying.....  I am unsettled and have that helpless feeling, because he is at the other end of the world, and I feel bad because I can't be there with him. I don't want him to suffer... I want him to have peace and to know he is loved. This all has a touch of 9 of Swords.... it is a dark card I guess.

The darkest hour, is just before dawn....