Weekend Question Spread

Because of confusion and up and down emotions this week, I don't know quite where I am. So I asked the crads of the Ludy Lescot Tarot deck the following three questions about my life at this time and over the next day or two.

1.What is real?
2.What is hidden?
3.What is false?

The cards that came up were Judgement, The Sun (yes the deck was very well shuffled and used many times since being originally ordered) and the Queen of Wands.

Judgement, The Sun and Queen of Swords - Ludy Lescot

1. What is real? - Judgement

The people have been called to come out to awaken, to be naked so that nothing is hidden, all secrets will be revealed in the great shining light of the new dawn. Only one person looks up and faces the front of the crowd, the others all have their heads bowed. Is she hearing her personal calling? What are the red dots on the back of the heads of those three figures at the rear? Although this scene is very apocalyptic I dont think these dots are the marks of the beast. They are in the wrong places if we are to believe what is quoted in the bible. Also there is one on the sun. Maybe these three are enlightened but only the one with her head raised realises it....

This  could be underlining my recent thoughts that my life is about to change, have a new beginning... I have felt like I am being called to look at my life, weed out the bad from the good. face the reality of it all. I read something La Force wrote about this card on Aeclectic Tarot

"Do you have a problem that won't shut up?"

 Indeed I do.... it involves undisclosed secrets, and according to the position of this card it is very real.


2. What is hidden? - The Sun

This picture shows a woman by a huge cathedral window of stained glass. The sun is bursting through the window and it is shattered by either the white birds, the shadowy figure or the Sun itself.
Who or what is the shadow? I saw something like him in the Judgement card. Is he the one to beware of.... and when light finally exposes him is he running away? As vampires do from the dawn to hide in the vaults? It seems to me that what is hidden is the truth and the light. The woman is turning away from it..... maybe she doesn't really want to know the truth?

Maybe the shadow dude and the doves are crashing through the window to bring in the light and faith and peace to the woman hidden inside? Hard to tell if he is a good or baddy....  He looks like the same guy I got last week at the top of the stairs in the Wheel of Fortune card from this deck. He is coming to get me no matter what!!!!


3. What is false? - Queen of Wands

The Queen of Wands holds up a sunflower which she stares at intently, as if trying to work out how it came to be, or how it is made. Beside her is a stone statue of a lioness... related to the night energy of the  moon and strength, and dignity. The lioness sits between the Queen and the throne. The throne is topped with a carved tudor style rose as we have seen before in this deck. The rose is a symbol of love and passion and hidden things... this rose is open, possibly the secret is out. The Queen of Wands however does not sit on her throne.... her lioness is made of stone. and maybe that sunflower is not quite alive, it looks dark. This is a Fire card but it seems much of the fire is hidden or subdued.

So what is false? The empty throne, the strength of the lion, the joy of the sunflower? All of them or none? If the lion represents strength and it is nocturnal maybe I need to have power over the darker side of my conscious.  Maybe I am in denial. Thoughts anyone?

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.

Two Bags for Two Decks!

I was so excited about my  bags I received for my Bohemian Gothic Deck and Victorian Romantic deck that I decided I would share pictures of those instead of the card that I actually forgot to draw today. I did a long reading which kind of took my energy Tarot wise. Also today, I took my son and his mate to see The Hobbit, as it was released in New Zealand today. Hopefully my Hobbit deck will arrive before Christmas! I didn't watch the movie... not sure I could sit in a cinema that long, but Boo loved it. He thought it was much better than Lord of the Rings, and he knows those movies and the books extremely well. According to him they left way too much out of Lord of the Rings... including Tom Bombadil... unforgivable.

Anyway... I now have two *sister* decks with bags to match! I have loved the Bohemian Gothic since I first got a copy, and I tried to make a crazy patchwork bag in scraps of velvet and silks that I had, in a kind of Victorian style.... but then I decided I wanted to make the scraps I had sewn together into a cloth maybe. They looked so jewel like, and the deck does look really good spread on the piece I have made so far ...... so ...... when I saw this original Baba Studio bag up for trade I had to have it!

Bohemian Gothic Tarot and Bag

The Victorian Romantic second edition was only released recently, and I had no idea I would love it as much as I do. The bag for this is the Nine of Swords card design.... with a velvet back. Loving the velvet, wish the BoGo bag was velvet too! It's great to have these bags even though I am not really a matching kind of person. They are special. I do love to create my own tarot bags especially for my decks but its also nice to have some from special places... Prague in this case :)

Victorian Romantic Tarot and Bag

The Nine of Swords is one of my favourite cards in this deck, how she is out there on the edge, sleepwalking.... vulnerable and yet she is almost at the window. Will she wake before then? Will she make it? If you live life on the edge you never know when you may fall off, and yet it is this uncertainty that excites us. Even looking at this image gets my adrenalin going......  I don't think I will sleep with this bag under my pillow though... I am scared of heights ;-/

I am going to try using these two decks together and see how it works....... which will be the shadow? One would be inclined to think the BoGo would be darker,  but the VR has it's dark side too. Anyway, thats another post for another day.

Tuesday Energy

I love the word Tuesday, I wanted to call one of my children Tuesday, but the closest to a Tuesday was my son who was born at 10.33 on a Monday evening. Today I wouldn't need them to be born on that day to name them Tuesday, because now I don't need a reason to do things.... I like signs though... some kind of guidance is good, no matter how subtle.

So today I asked the cards what energy I needed..... for healing... I felt low....low spirits and low energy and I didn't know why.

These are the cards I drew:

Queen of Wands - Victorian Romantic and Two of Chalices from Ludy Lescot

The Queen of Wands is shown here looking very confident and self assured. She wears her regal purple dress with frills and bustle, but I cant help but noticing that it also has big pom pom buttons which remind me of clown suits! Another playful side is show by the mask she carries. This could show a darker side to her nature, maybe to wear when her passion rises, or is it something she has now stopped wearing as she has grown more into her true nature and no longer needs to hide it?

Her Wand is a large parasol in fiery orange and she wears a ribbon on her hat to match. So while passion may go to her head it also connects her to the ground. She looks at her people, knowing she is adored by them and in return they can trust her to be a true and just monarch. The blue of the hydrangea on her parasol is a symbol of heartfelt devotion.... its literal meaning, from the Greek hydro and angeion, means water vessel. It can be a symbol of thankfulness and gratitude... possibly given to her by one of her people. The sunflowers in the background are representative of adoration and joy.... there is a Greek myth about a yellow flower which is very fitting. From Squidoo:

Clytie, the water nymph, was in love with Apollo, the Sun God, who later became known as Helios. She would stare up at Apollo, hoping he would glance her way. But Apollo was in love with someone else and never did favor Clytie with his gaze. When Clytie realised that Apollo was never going to return her love, she sank into a depression and would not eat or drink for nine days but just stare with sorrow at her unrequited love. The other Gods felt sorry for Clytie and they transformed her into a beautiful sunflower which always followed the path of the sun.

 When in bud the sunflower does follow the sun, seeking the warmth and light...but when in full bloom they always face east, which is appropriate as the sun rises in the east, and so she would look this way for Apollo's chariot to appear on the horizon each new day. What a great symcol of hope and devotion! Also of course the Sunflower has longevity and is a form of nourishment, providing hundreds of seeds for food or oil.Wonderful flower to signify the qualities of a good ruler.

I need to seek out my truth and my light and stand tall in those things... obviously!

The Two of Chalices seems to support the message of the Queen of Wands. There is the connection with the water vessel and also a need to get in touch with who you really are. This card shows two people back to back kneeling on a bed. There is a trunk against the wall and a fishing net on the bed. The windows are clouded glass, so noone can see in, they have privacy to enjoy their intimacy.  It looks like it could be a cabin in a cruise ship, with the trunk and the net. The two figures have their eyes closed, they cannot see each other and are relying on feel, even as they share the wine between their chalices, trusting it not to spill. They touch blindly, giving themselves up to the senses. If this is a ship then that itself is a vessel and the net could symbolise that they are caught up in emotions I love this card.... I love this deck!

The Two of Chalices seems to relate to my nature far more than the Queen of Wands, but maybe they are both giving me the same message. Trust my intuition, be who I am, and be proud of that.

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.

December Magic Spread!

I designed this spread a couple of weeks a go for a reading exchange circle I host on Aeclectic Tarot, and I thought I should probably share it here on my blog too.

December is a special month for most of us, whether we celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule or The Winter or Summer Solstice or any other holiday. It is also the last month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. Because we are a huge tribe of many cultures and locations I wanted a spread to cover December for everyone. I couldn't find anything suitable so I created my brand new, shiny gift wrapped December Magic Spread.

December Magic Spread

***4***
*2***3*
***1***

1.What is the most important meaning that December holds for you this year

2.What will be your greatest gift to others this December

3.What is the greatest gift you will receive this December

4.What magic will the fairy on your tree bless you with this December

Shuffle your deck and take the bottom card and place it in position 1. This is the base card, the root of the tree. Deal the next first three cards using your usual method and place as shown.

Here I tried the spread with my Ludy Lescot Deck:

December Magic Spread with Ludy Lescot Tarot

1. Knight of Swords
2. Two of Wands
3. Two of Pentacle
4. Seven of Chalices 

The Knight of Swords as depicted in this deck is all about going out there and doing battle, with no fear of what may come at you out of the wild unknown forest. His horse is rearing in a stream, which could signify that emotional matters are being bypassed here, or simply ridden over. Can be a good thing sometimes. The wolf, well, he may represent an unseen danger which the rider is either clearly not seeing, or ignoring. On the other hand the wolf could be wanting to help the knight, and his howling may be an answering battle cry.... like yep I'm here, I know the ground well, lets do it!! I think I prefer the latter version, especially since watching the gorgeous Living with Wolves movie!!
Hmmmm so December means battles... makes sense...maybe they are inner battles, or perhaps it is finally time to face something I have been trying to avoid. That's works!

The Two of Wands are two tree's in the background with a cherub, cupid statue whose shadow can also be seen on the floor. The tree's and the column the woman is leaning against reminds me of the High Priestess... another 2, also the book is a traditional High Priestess symbol, although in this deck she has neither of these items in her card. The woman looks like she is holding on to her book like a dream, and looking towards the other book trying to decide which dream to choose. The cherub statue is reaching out to her but she can't see him... I wonder if this is my children...? I have a lot of indecisive thoughts over the past few months.... but also my solace has been in learning and in the written word. The letter is communication... my gift to the world is that... letting my loved ones know I care about them and miss them deeply.... and hoping my words can do the trick until I am able to be there in person. I look at old photo's and think back of those days when we all had Christmas together... but children grow and move, and families become far apart... there is some sadness here, yearning for what once was... and I guess that's what Christmas is about for many of us.

Seven of Chalices represents the greatest gift I will receive this December. This is a gorgeous card... A rather sad looking female sits by a mirror, she looks like she has just slid down into her current position. By her feet is a discarded letter with an open envelope so presumably a letter she has received.... bad news??? The mirror reflects her as a skeleton and walking towards the skeleton is a young man. I am not sure the mirror is showing a true reflection as the floor is different in the mirror, like a black and white checkerboard, also the room she sits in looks rather cell like with bars at the windows, whereas the scene in the mirror looks like a gorgeous Italian balcony.  The seven cups are all around the frame of the mirror. So the mirror could represent dreams or illusions or delusions... or it could be a prediction of the future or a warning against rotting away in your prison. As the mirror is behind her it could be her past.... perhaps the skeleton is dead love, and the guy is coming too late to make things better. Hmmmmmm.... that could be what the letter is about.
It seems to be a card dripping with emotion.... maybe I will receive love that I once wanted but no longer crave? Delusions? A prince to the rescue!!!

The Two of Pentacles shows a lone woman standing with her back to a stone balustrade high up on a balcony. It is winter as the tree's are bare and the vine twirling around the pillar to her right looks rather dead... loss of faith or love? There are two, five petaled roses carved into the stone balustrade which represent the pentacles. Roses are symbolic of many things, love, secrets, in alchemy the marriage of opposites....Two of course is a number of choice and balance and it also represents duality. Well opposites often balance each other out.
The lady doesn't look as if she knows what she wants... I empathise. I feel she is looking, searchingly, either within her own feelings, or has seen someone approaching from far below and she is not sure how to react or be with them. Although it is winter she seems oblivious to the cold and she is dressed up as if expecting someone. Ok I will settle for a special visitor to call up to my balcony and surprise me!! As it is wintery in the card, I may have to go to England to find my Christmas magic!!!

Swords....

I wanted a kind of overview on a relationship situation for a friend, so today I decided to do this as a spread instead of a Daily Draw for me. I chose to work with the Ludy Lescot again and I asked the cards to tell me whats going on with her as far as the relationship goes, and where she is at now.

I drew the following cards:

Four of Swords, Nine of Swords and Seven of Pentacles.

Four of Swords, Nine of Swords and Seven of Pentacles - Ludy Lescot

Today I am just going to read these cards intuitively with the given question and see what I get.

The first card, the Four of Swords shows a woman clinging to a cold dead knight.... she has laid down her arms after using one not to hurt him but to cut her own wrists. Her bloods drips down but he is unmoved. He grips the fourth sword... he still hasn't given up his need to defend, and he is afraid of being caught unawares... even in death.

The next card, another Sword, the Nine shows a female lying on the ground surrounded by swords, yet none are actually piercing her flesh.She clutches a cross, the last vestige of faith... this is her truth and her light, her very inner self, and that  part of her is still innocent and pure and unharmed. By retreating into her safe place she can begin to build up her life again from the inside out. Nothing can harm her anymore.

The third card in the reading is the Seven of Pentacles... I see a woman sitting by the window and looking at her reflection in the glass. It is like half of her has already moved to the wildness outside and the other half is looking back into the room, wondering if she should just stay put. There are seven purple roses lying on the stool by her side, but they don't seem important, more forgotten. Her dress is coming off her shoulders and this to me signifies the inner wildness of her wanting to get out.
I think the roses are a ploy to try and keep her there, perfectly arranged a gift of love, yet a tool for control. The reflect nothing of her true desire. She has seen the way to freedom from the bondage she has been caught up in for so long.... the seed is sown.... maybe this is just a last look back on what she once thought was what she truly wanted more than anything.

This was a very spot on reading imho. I like this deck a lot.