Three of Pentacles

I am really getting to like this deck, how glad I am that I hung on to it. I have learned one thing from it already, never be too quick to judge when it comes to Tarot! I am not sure if the deck likes me though, it is very determined and takes no nonsense that's for sure!

Today I shuffled a few times, thinking about the day and where I was at, and asking what I needed to know today, which I don't always do in such length. Three times while shuffling the Three of Pentacles slid out of the deck, but each time I returned it because I am trying to stick to a method of doing my daily draw. I shuffle as long as I need to and I then cut the deck into seven piles, one for each day of the week. I count to whatever day I am on, in today's case it was the third pile, and I take the top card. This is what I did today, and lo and behold, the top card of the third pile was ......... the Three of Pentacles!! Tarot never fails to amaze me.

I do really like this card, even when I wasn't at all keen on the deck I liked this card. I am drawn in by the the colours and the window.. I love old stained glass windows set in thick stone walls.  The art in this car has a really glass like quality to me. The study atmosphere, room full of books and learning, and the magical items on the desk...all are attractive to this bibliophile and eternal student.

The Lord of Works as it is sometimes known, is an apprentice card, a student and learner, who is doing well and whose work has started to be recognised and appreciated. I then thought of how I had just been asked to moderate a circle on Aeclectic Tarot, where after 1000 plus posts, I actually still feel like a new kid on the block. I was browsing this site for years before I discovered the joys of membership. It is sooooo worth the 20 bucks or whatever it costs. Wonderful community.

 The Three of Pentacles has a very creative side, and ..... applicably ... I have been thinking of possibly getting my art and craft business going again, I lost impetus after getting way too stressed out with the rest of my life, earlier this year. Anyway this card tells that all is as it should be and I have the skills to succeed if I try. It suggests to me that after the struggle trying to balance things (as in the Two of Pentacles), things may be that bit easier now.

Relationship wise, the card is a total blessing.... which may also apply to my life at this time.. certainly matters of the heart and other relationships have been lurking in my dreams.

I am very happy with my card today ... thanks Witches ... Am I forgiven yet ...?

Three of Pentacles - Witches Tarot

Wheel of the Year

This deck really is out to get me, in the most amusing way. Tarot decks really love to play tricks!

This morning I drew the Wheel of the Year card from the Witches deck, which is my current deck of the week, in case I didn't mention that in my previous blog post. This was one of the cards that I liked least from the deck, box excepted! It just seemed too unsubtly collaged, the flowers and symbols just too "plonked on". I am over that now ... holly is used to represent the winter quarter, and I can never resist the holly. The spring has cherry blossom and the summer an oak branch, but the autumn for some reason has maple leaves and acorns.... which feels a little odd, I think I would have had the oak for autumn, but the green man is traditionally clothed in oak and his leaves are green, rather than the golds and russet reds of fall. The golden wheel of the year with the eight Sabbat markers represents the sun and in its centre is silver lunar pentagram to symbolise the moon. All the seasons of nature are here, the whole wheel of life.

Wheel of the Year - Witches Tarot

So all is balanced and all is well and as it should be.... change is on the way, and this card just points out that change is inevitable and the world keeps on turning. No matter how stuck we may feel all that is surrounding us, keeps evolving, revolving.... just like that old much loved Creedence song. This song always comes into my head as soon as I see the Wheel of Fortune card.

I like this card a lot, it feels safe, it shows that change is inevitable and the Wheel can mean big change. A wheel needs a stable centre to roll smoothly and I do feel pretty balanced right now. What I also like about the Fortune card is that no matter how bad things may get, you know they will change. Some things are outside our control, and we have to learn to harness our own power and adapt accordingly. There is a lot of Karma in this card and Karma works two ways .... bad times cannot last forever, if we remain positive we can expect miracles. Similarly if we put out the bad stuff we are going to be rewarded with more, threefold.

Today I will think and visualise changes I want in my life. We are just past Beltane, the time of sowing new seeds, and fertility rites so this is a great time to plant a few miracles!

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....

Silence

I had a little *BIG* moment this morning when I found an empty birds nest in the garden.... I wrote about it in my "bit of everything" blog here.... as well as posting a wonderful video clip.

No surprise when picking a card for the day that I drew Silence from the gorgeous Waking the Wild Spirit Deck..... this card features a young man sitting by a lake, there is a blue heron on the lake and a bird of prey in the air above. The card is so reminiscent of our garden here.... we have a small lake which is home to a blue heron and hawks can often be seen hovering overhead. The page is holding a large key in his hand.... I have just such a key to a door in our home which could easily lead to a castle turret!

This card is about waiting... not knowing what to do so doing nothing... without guilt. Things are held in balance... no desperate need to rush into anything, there is time to let the universe unfold it's map and reveal the next steps on the journey. Recently, I have been beating myself up for all the things I am not... well today I am comfortable in my skin.... I don't apologise for being me. I may not fit into any of society's  standard sized boxes, but I am just as valid as those who do. I am sitting back and watching, listening, looking.... today I am a human being... not a human doing....

Silence from Waking the Wild Spirit Deck

The Cosmic Tarot

Another deck I recently acquired in a trade, is The Cosmic Tarot. This is the original edition printed by  FX Schmid in 1988 according to the LWB and I love it. It is almost 70's style, has an *Age of Aquarius* feel to me and the people in it remind me of the men and women of my youth, their look and style.

The Cosmic Tarot

The colours are subtle, and subdued, they speak to me of summers long gone, they are early summer morning pink, sunset gold and lazy afternoon blue... they have a watery feeling, that life is flowing gently along, and all you have to do is lie on a raft and float with it down the river. They are not quite real and bring an air of escape, of being lost in a cinema...while the world gos on around you. The film stars featured in the cards make me think of the old movies they used to show one after the other at Christmas time. I don't recognise many of the stars, having never seen much TV, but there are definitely some familiar faces. One I thought I recognised was the Eight of Cups, I thought it was Andy Garcia but apparently it is Martin Sheen... oh well..! The High Priestess is my daughter... absolutely, she has her eyes, her look to a T! One of the things I love about the deck is that the font is actually not a font, it's all hand drawn or written..... and gorgeously done too....

Court Cards from The Cosmic Tarot

 
The deck seems to be more Thoth than Rider Waite based, which does seem to suit it's overall mood somehow. Justice is at 8 and Strength at 11, rather than the other way round as with the Rider Waite. The minors look to be fairly close to Rider Waite but I haven't studied it enough yet to really be sure.

I will look at some of the cards in more detail in future posts as I use the deck more, but I have my favourites already, and then there are some cards I am not so keen on, I really don't get all the gymnasts and sword fighters in the Minor Arcana although I guess they come from the silver screen era. The Devil has a disturbing odd cheesy kind of smirk, but one card which is just *YUK*, is the Ten of Swords... it is supposed to give this feeling though, so I guess it does a good job..... even so I would prefer something less blatantly ugly.

Cards I am particularly taken by are the Five of Pentacles and The Hierophant. The Five of Pentacles shows people leaving a scene of ruin, war and destruction.... so much of this was flashed across news screens in the past 20 years, to me it speaks of the indomitable spirit of humankind. I always tend to see this card in this light, although many see it as a bad card, to me it spells hope. The Hierophant I love because of the light shining from his eyes, like he is seeing incredible visions somewhere out in the heavens. I like to think of him as Galileo, or Dr John Dee.

The Hierophant from The Cosmic Tarot

Of course I had to make a wee bag to suit it, and I had this scrap of lemon velvet and some purple satin lying around, so...... the deck has a home and its box can be saved for another day....

Velvet Cosmic Bag for the Cosmic Tarot

Barbara Walker Tarot Bag

I couldn't resist making this special bag for a tribe member, when she mentioned that she wanted  a bag for her new Barbara Walker Tarot.

I don't have this deck, so I looked it up and was stunned by the design of the backs. They seem so powerful and the colours are so strong. Crying out to be translated to fabric and thread.

I found some heavy black felt in my stash and some hand dyed orange cotton and set to making this wee treasure. I just love the combination of orange, black and white. The deep orange lining looks great and the symbols which I embroidered freehand, stand out so well.

Barbara Walker Tarot Bag

 
The only thing I wasn't so cool about was using Velcro as a fastening... but I wanted it to stay plain, unfrilly and simple.

Barbara Walker Tarot Bag Front

I actually wish these backs were on a different deck as this is not a deck I can imagine ever desiring to have in my collection. I find the images too ugly... maybe ugly is the wrong word.... they just don't connect with me. But the backs did.....!

Triple Moon Tarot Bag & Cloth

I had a great time today making a special order Tarot bag for a trade.

I made the Triple Moon Goddess cloth, and one of the tribe fell for it, and asked for a bag to match...!

The cloth is made of four different cottons and appliqued with the moon symbols which I originally cut from card templates using a small tea plate! The back is lined with a soft deep indigo cotton which I dyed by hand, it has an almost velvet like feel. It measures approximately 24 inches square, so is great for a full moon layout, or astrology spreads. Unlike my Deviant Moon cloth I didn't have a particular deck in mind when I made this cloth, so I guess it was meant to fly off to its current owner.

Triple Moon Goddess Tarot Cloth

Luckily I had enough fabric left to make the bag to match the cloth perfectly! The bag is large enough to hold a standard Tarot deck with the cloth wrapped around it, as was requested. I cant wait until it reaches its new home!!

Triple Moon Tarot Bag & Cloth

And here is the back of the bag.... you cant see the lining in these pics, but it is actually lined with the same hand dyed cotton as the back of the reading cloth.

Back of Tarot Bag