Me and Tarot – How did it start?

The Soprafino is very special to me, as it represents a little family history:

My grandmother Elizza (1869 to 1956) had one and used to read with it. Remembering seeing this deck when I was a little girl and looking at the old worn out frayed cards together with my mother is ultimately, what later brought me to Tarot.

Today I have an ever growing circle of Tarot clients , that come for readings, I correspond with other Tarot enthusiasts on the Aeclectic Tarot forums and I deepen my personal knowledge about Tarot and reading images on an ongoing basis.

Every couple of months or so I pick out a new deck, expose myself to its imagery and see, where that leads.

I welcome you, to look over my shoulder 🙂

Right now,I am looking at the”Roots of Asia Tarot  as my “Deck for the summer Month:

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The Two Wolves Oracle

This weekend, when we visited my friend Anne and her husband, Anne surprised me with the most amazing gift: A little self created oracle deck;

The Two Wolves

Anne is a professional paper artist, a book maker, who has won quite a few awards and prizes for her sometimes whimsical, always spiritually inspiring work and we are counting us lucky, to own a few of her pieces.

So there I was at her home, Ravenstone, unwrapping a small wooden box, created by her husband Gault and hand painted by Anne.

Inside appeared a tiny booklet about the oracle, its Orizomegami cover created by yet another artist friend of mine, Bonnie Bishop.

 

 

The inspiration for the deck cam to Anne through the well known Native American Medicine story of the Two Wolves:

Anne created 26 square cards, one for each letter of the Alphabet. On one side they feature the pastel coloured silhouette of a Wolf and an inspirational parable, however, on the reverse side each card the colour scheme is black and grey and the 3 words starting with the same letter point out an aspect of the shadow side of the human condition.

I am enchanted with my new oracle and am using it for a 1 card morning meditations, reflecting on both sides of the card I draw.

Wolf is my Clan Guardian Animal from my fathers Siberian ancestry side – I am of the Börü Clan.

Personally, I do feel, I have to also feed the dark Wolf inside me, just a little, just sometimes…..

He is feisty, outspoken, tenacious and takes no shit…..

Without him being a part of me, I would not be alive today, I would not have made it through the years of beatings, torture and deprivation in the christian orphanage I was stuck into at age 9.

It was then, that he came, fed me and also fed the white Wolf, his twin.

So we all survived……

Today I am aware of his shadow and also what havoc he can wreck.

He is a predator.

But, so is the white Wolf…..

Iffff that one became a glutton – from getting all the food – that would turn his fur black…..!!

So, I guess, both my inner Wolves have grey shaggy fur and although they squabble quite often, they support each other – and me.

Discovering Linestrider:

Some people carefully research a Tarot deck before they purchase it. They look at all on line scans and card images, read all reviews and ask questions on about the deck on the Tarot forums.

I am not such a researcher. If I feel, a deck could be interesting and give me new perspectives, if it has a certain “something” that can not be captured in words, I take a chance and go for it, To use it as a further stepping stone on my Tarot journey.

Also, I like to be surprised.

I like to discover something new and unexpected.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had waited for a year, until the Linestrider finally ended up on my b-day table. I think, over this long time, just the name, Linestrider, someone, who walks between realms and realities conjured up quite a bit mystique within me.

So; how did the deck stack up to THAT kind of EXPECTATION?

Well, it certainly was fun and surprising.

With this deck, I did not first loook at all the cards and read the book, I just shuffled and started doing my daily draws. That alone provided a daily surprise.

Usually I do draw 3 cards each morning:

• theme of the day
• challenges
• a Guardian/ advice

For a particular problem/ challenge, that the day brings, I may also draw the good old 2 card stand-by Card of the day/ issue and the crossing card.

So that gives me between 3 and 5 brand new card images to explore, read about and mull over every day. A good half hour, sometimes more.

I can only do this kind of thing in the deep of winter, when we have less work, are less pressed for time , when things are quiet.

With Linestrider I enjoyed this journey.

There were quite a few surprises, being confronted with an unknown image in a reading.

Some of the images I looooved and rejoiced with, some of them left me baffled and a bit taken aback.

Some images showed up again and again – just to prove their point. (6 of Wands, I am looking at you!)

That one is not one of my favourite images. Somehow it always reminds me of the neoclassical art of the former Soviet Union 😦 The 4 Knights evoke similar mildly unsavoury emotions. There are a few other images that triggered that gut feeling in me.

Then there is “the thing with the hands”

Some of Siolo’s images look all fine to me, others, she just did not get the hands right! They look either too large, or crippled or at least severely arthritic and inflamed. (Poor Emperor and Empress! And a Chariot with Carpal tunnel syndrome!? )

I think this comes from me, when I see my shamanic clients and pain from inflammation “shimmers” red in their aura……

But no idea, when and how poor justice broke her fingers……

Well, on to happier observations:

Of course I looove all the animal images! 🙂

The 9 of Wands, the squabbling Dogs in the 5 of wands, the Goat accosted by peers turned rivals in the 7 of wands, The Hermit, the Hierophant, too many to name them all:)

There were also a few cards, where for me personally the image sort of cancelled out the meaning of the card: The 4 of Wands Shows 2 Hares arranged in a circle among foliage. Keywords Siolo gives are happiness, family, unity. All good for a 4 of wands. Just all I am reminded of when I see this image is 2 mad March hares fighting in a circle, like the old Celts also showed in their knot artwork. Ad to that with Justice and her broken finger and I had much to think about that reading.It helped me to be extra careful, when cleaning ice out of the spindle of our snow tractor. My fingers stayed intact…:)

The 3 of Wands shows 2 Harts in front of 3 staked wands. One Animal is standing, its antlers too mighty to fit between the wands, the other is laying down, resting.

In readings every time I interpreted that as WAIT! Do not move forward, you will encounter obstacles. And each time this was dead on right!

But it is just about the opposite of the moving forward, expansion, cooperation message of the 3 of Wands……

Over the last 6 weeks, the readings I did with Linestrider were accurate and to the point, even with card images, that made me cringe a bit.

So will Linestrider break into the ranks of my few lustrous all time favourite “go to” decks?

Sadly, NO.

It however is a good workable deck and I am a fan of Silo’s book which talks a lot about the different correspondences between cards.

Waiting for the Linestrider Tarot

It was exactly a year ago.

We were in Barrie- a larger town 100 km south of us, to deliver some post x-mas orders and to also do some shopping. Of course we visited the Chapters book store 🙂

There, among all the Doreen V. decks I spotted the Linestrider Tarot!

I had no clue about this deck, but the name and description on the box intrigued me.

Should I????

Well, I gave the deck to Peter, saying something like”Oh looook, here is something for me to wrap up sometime!” He is always looking for things I would like and has a little stash in his (not so secret) cupboard.

Somehow I had hoped, I would get the deck for Valentine’s day, about a month away.

But NO.

Valentine’s day came and went, Peter making preparations to leave the very next day for a 3 week trip the Europe, to see his ageing mother.

Shortly after he came back home we were preparing for our 3 month travel into the Southwestern US and coming home from that our tourist/ summer season was in full swing and we were scrambling to keep Bearpaw Jewellery up and well supplied with treasures as well as keep all my shamanic patients and Tarot clients happy…..

Then some more travelling – and some more of the above….

So the year went.

I sometimes thought about the deck waiting for me – or was I waiting for it?

The word Linestrider I found very evocative. I am a line strider of sorts. One foot in the mundane and oftentimes hectic world of 2017/18 (aren’t we all…) The other of my feet however is firmly planted in the world of shamanic and Ancestor Spirits, the ways and traditions of my Siberian tribal upbringing, lore and teachings, the teachings of my Native American mentors and Elders and my work as a shaman with indigenous as well Anglo, Hispanic and lately also Hindu and Buddhist clients.

Would this deck be filled with images, that speak and reflect my current experiences?

My Birthday was coming:)

I resisted even looking at scans, pictures or reviews of the deck – I wanted to be surprised.

Finally!:D

My B-day is on the Winter Solstice and that is always a very busy day when I have several engagements / Solstice teachings and Prayers as well as a Winter Solstice celebration to either host or attend to…….

No time for deck discoveries.

But it was there!

Right on our breakfast table with a few other pressies still nicely wrapped up:)

It took another few days, until things finally calmed down and while others were stuffing themselves with Turkey I finallllly had time to open my present and explore the Linestrider.

Is anyone else here working/ reading with this deck?

What are your thoughts?

I will share mine in subsequent posts.

Of heavy rains and missing Owls:

Reading exercise for August 22^nd

It is rather late in the day for my daily draw, but here we go:

While I shuffle I am thinking:

“For today, with the torrential rains and all our plans for outside work having fallen into a the proverbial water puddle, I should draw a Water card”

Sure enough, for my card of the day I pull the

8 of Swords –

Now, remember, in this deck Swords are Water. And here they are all sharp and pointy in a circle surrounded by the signs of the waxing and waning Moon, pointing into a water-world that has much the same colouration as the Kawpakwakog Creek outside my living room window.

Yes, I am hemmed in on all sides by the rain and the wet weather. The Moons feel like time – time running away fast. Sooooo much to do and being stuck inside due to the weather.

Well, that is my RWS feel of the card anyway.

The LWB card blip instructs me to read it as:

– Crisis, – yes, for all our farmers, who now definitely are loosing the hay and gran harvests as well as other crops bad news,

– Fatality, (hope not!!!!)

– Treason – well, I can not worrrrry about other people’s nasty behaviour, can I? I am not planning on any treasonous actions today….

Card 2 of my reading is my “challenge of the day”

Again, I feel I should draw a Water card

But NO, the Sun comes up!

At least in the reading 🙂

Yes, it is actually true. All is well here, ifffff not being able to cut and pile our winter wood today and not being able to spread a truck load of gravel over a new parking lot is our biggest, most pressing problems, we are doing fine. These are just inconveniences in a all around sunny life.

The LWB card blip reads

– completion of an enterprise – no for the above mentioned tasks, but YES for our over all life plan: we are snug and save and approaching our sunny retirement. Looooong hard work has paid of!

– full results, rewards– ditto – see above

– promotion – neeeeaa – rather not!! 🙂

– inheritance – well, hopefully not in the next ten years – Peter’s mom is 89 and still quite fit and happy

Card 3 is my Advice for the day and or outcome card.

I pull the 5 of Chalices.

The card has a happy feel 🙂

A large green pentagram and 5 happy cups surrounded by Birds and Butterflies.

This is pretty much exactly a Picard design of the 5 of Cups

The LWB card blip reads:

– Inheritance – again???

– Patrimony to protect – well, I am not taking this one all too literal…

However from the notes found on the internet about how Picard prescribes the pips to look like, I find out in dismay, that my card lacks 1 essential image: In the centre of the green Pentagram, there is supposed to be a small Owl!

Panic- button!!

AN OWL IS MISSING!

(for those of you, who know me, they KNOW, how much Owls mean to me….

Now I will drop EVERYTHING and draw a little Owl into the card:)

The Crystal Tarot by Elisabetta Trevisan

 

This sumptuous treasure is the generous gift from a member – via the “I don’t love you anymore” thread on the Cartomancy forum. It arrived today in my wilderness cabin, securely packed in a very sturdy grey box, that is sure to get re-used in our household.

The deck is also known as the Tarocchi de Vetro

It could not have come at a better time, after yet another thunder storm and deluge this morning I was recuperating from one of my nasty weather triggered migraines, but just sitting there and looking at the stunningly beautiful images made my woes evaporate and fill me with joy 🙂

The mayors and courts are stunning and I was glad, that I had the time to look closely at each and every one.

Favourites?

When I just saw the Fool, I KNEW, I would love this deck.

The HP the muted colours fitted exactly how I felt this morning. Having to sit still, among the dark greens and blooming sunflowers around me. Migraines make me see everything quite a bit pixelated and that too is reflected in the image.

Temperance with vessels reminding me of Mayan pottery:)

Knave of Wands with his oversized shepherd’s staff.

Is the Queen of pentacles pregnant?

So much to see and discover!

Of course I read the deck review written by our own Le Fanu.

Excellent, thank you!

https://mycuriouscabinet.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/elizabeth-trevisans-crystal-tarot/

 

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Since I am so taken by this new deck it had to have a nice pouch/ bag. I love going into my basket with bags, pull them all out and match one of them to the mood, I perceive the deck to have.

This one wanted to have a green embroidered brocade bag embellished with gold thread.

But then i remembered all the many unused gold and diamond pins and blouse needles I still have from my sister Mausi. They languish in a dark cabinet, because I only wear jewellery made by Peter and me. So I decided to see, what it would look like, to put a little something onto this bag and so give some usage to the antique jewellery Mausi used to collect.

There were 2 pieces, that volunteered for this job:

One a small pin featuring the ivory carving of a lady set in red gold with2 small diamonds, reminding me of a young female page. The other is a blouse needle, diamond encrusted stem, topped with a large grey cultured pearl also encrusted with tiny diamonds 🙂 I chose this one, because it looks a bit like the wand/ sceptre of a king.

 

Thus “blinged out” it was time to shuffle the deck and get ready to do my first reading with this deck.

Solstice Reading Card 12: Cheater or not?

12. Parvati, Earth Mother – June 25:

The card shows us how to ground ourselves and how to connect with the earth’s abundance.

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Page of Stones, the Wren

So there is an old hollowed out Tree stump, overgrown with lush green moss. It seems to be the ideal nesting cavity, because 2 Birds seem to be competing for it:

A tiny Goldcrest,

the truly smallest Bird in all of Britain and a Wren, a Bird often assumed to be the smallest one. Wrens are a bit of an imposture. In the olden times the Goldcrest – due to its crest was called the King of all Birds – until a myth arose, giving this title to the cheating Wren. The tale goes somewhat like this: There was a contest amongst the Birds, which one could fly the highest up into the sky. Well, the Eagle could and soared above all other Birds – until a tiny Wren crawled out among his feathers and fluttered right above the Eagle’s head.

Rascal that! It stole 2 Birds their title of honour.

Today I am settled with this cheater.

So how can he connect me with my reverence for the beautiful and merciful sacred Earth Mother that shows mercy and patience and still continues to provide for all her living creatures including us greedy destructive self centred human beings?

Oh I am soooo aware of the continually escalating havoc humans wreck in our environment and the plight we unleash upon all other living Beings, that, in reality, are kin to us, but are loosing their habitat, the clean water, Earth’s lifeblood and that so slowly dying out.

Humans are cheaters, like the Wren. Pretending to do something, giving lip-service.

I could go on here, but this is just a Tarot reading…..

You all KNOW, what is at stake!

No the Wren is no the ideal Being, to connect me to the abundance of Mother Earth and a deeper understanding of environmental issues.

Or is it?

The Wren does, what Wrens do, following their own nature.

It is just a Bird, a cute one at that. I saw Cactus Wrens and Canyon Wrens in the wild this spring 🙂

The legend it is, that speaks of the cheater.

Humans? Are we cheaters? Are we not ultimately cheating ourselves?

Is THAT our true nature?

Pages are students.

When will humans be ready to learn AND follow their hard lessons?

Solstice Reading day 11 Tough teachers

11. Guru Purnima – June 24:

Indian festival of expressing gratitude to teachers.

This card reminds us of a lesson we have learned, or an experience or person that has taught us something, that we should remember and have gratitude for as we move forward.

Death

Blue stands for truth

the card is blue. In its centre rests the partially de-fleshed skull of a Deer.

A Crow, the Guardian and teacher of the Sacred Law – cause and effect just ripped of another morsel of decaying flesh. Other Crows are circling.

Yes, death IS my most important teacher

In my life i had at least 5 full blown near death experiences.

The first one, when I was less than 3 years old. Diphtheria and the long journey into flirrrrring light, where a lovely lady, later identified as Umai E’ene lovingly hugged me – and send me back to battle for just one more breath – and one more after that…..

Then the one in the orphanage, after all my welts – from the beating had infected my heart valve…

The last NDE was in1999 when I was without vitals for 19 minutes and yet again sen back in a lifeless body with cracked ribs and burn marks on my chest from all the CPR performed at Scottsdale, AZ hospital……

Death and me, we dance a dance.

Around my patients, many of whom are sick with terminal cancer or the like……

Often I win a few months or even years from him for them.

But in the end we both know, Death will win.

Has to –

It is the Sacred Law.

A month ago on New Moon I did a shamanic “Kamlani” (a Siberian Spirit calling/ healing session the way my People do them) for one of my beloved human teachers. Pleading for a few more years, drumming away the blue shimmering cancer cells in his common bile duct…..

Cancer cells = Death cells do not like the combination of heat, vibrations of a certain kind and the drum is the oldest weapon we have to – just bust Death cells…..

OK, they also do not like certain chemicals – drugs – and certain herbal combinations – like Essiac….

Death taught me a lot.

Death at times can be a good friend to those he visites.

Some hope for him to finally come….

Some see him as a short-cut out of life – – ??

Him and me, we will dance together again – soon……