Friday Fun Tarot Draw, Daily Tarot Card Draw: 19 March 2010. No. 24/King of Hearts, Gypsy Witch

Friday Fun Tarot Draw, Daily Tarot Card Draw: 19 March 2010. No. 24/King of Hearts, Gypsy Witch
Originally uploaded by j.goreham

Sorry I fell off the Tarot wagon girls and boys! I've had a trying couple of weeks- I haven't updated the blog since the 2nd? Ugh!

Anyhow, I recently picked up a deck of Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Cards from eBay. This was inspired by my mother in law, who, when I first got interested in Tarot, told me that her family in Cape Breton used to read playing cards (because where would Cape Bretoners when she was young even *get* Tarot cards? Which is a fair question I suppose!). It's a standard deck of playing cards with secondary images and a description with the card's divinatory meanings. I I have a book out from the library about reading playing cards, but I haven't read it yet, favouring Mary Greer's 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card and Back in Time Tarot (author un-remembered right at the minute).

Anyhow, this morning I did my daily draw from the Gypsy Witch deck for a change of pace. I pulled No. 24, which is on the King of Hearts. It shows a picture of a man and woman holding or shaking hands. The descriptor reads "Hand in hand indicates confiding disposition; when in close proximity to 38, 39, 42 or 47, friendship will warm into love. When near 45, favour will be found with superiors, near 48, financial success." (In the interest of seeking out what this card is near, the next card in my deck is 44, and the card under that is *42*! I guess I will have an amorous friend?)

Daily Tarot Card Draw, 2 March 2010: Temperance (reversed)

AM: In Temperance, we see an angelic figure with a halo in a robe pouring water from one chalice to another. The figure is at the edge of a body of water, and there are wetland flowers and greenery nearby. In the viewer's left is a path leading to some mountains, and the sun is rising or setting (I say rising).

PM: My day today, hmm. Productive but not productive. Frustrating but rewarding. I am having difficulty arranging interviews for a AV project being done for us by a local college student. I am feeling harassed by a museum "user" or "patron". After work, I went for a run and it was amazing, but now I'm a little tender.

Interpretation: The Only Tarot Book agrees with me, the sun is rising :) Temperance is all about balance and patience. In the reverse position, as I drew it today, Temperence suggests that things are stalled and will be sorted with patience. I don't mind being patient for the AV project because that's going to be awesome when it all sorts out- but I don't want to have patience with the museum user I feel in conflict with. The Only Tarot Book suggests that I need to "temper inner extremes that throw you out of balance." That's pretty good advice no matter what's going on. Maybe I should do some sun salutations to keep me mellow.

Daily Tarot Card Draw, March 1: The World

Monday morning, I drew The World- what a way to start the month and the working week!

AM: The World depicts a nude, female figure, partially covered with a flowing shawl, encircled by a garland. She holds a baton in each hand (they are vertical). The garland is bound at the top and the bottom with red bindings that resemble the symbol of infinity. In the corners of the card are the heads of a man, eagle, oxen, and lion. I suspect they are meant to elude to the 4 elements.

PM: Monday was actually a pretty cool day at work- we caught of glimpse of the Canadian Forces new helicopter, the Cyclone, as base personnel towed it 'down the hill' to the lower base for ship trials. I found the rest of a donation that I had been searching for for a couple of days now. I went home at the end of the day and spent some quality time with my husband.

Interpretation: The World, Card number 21, is the last card in the Major Arcana. According to The Only Tarot Book You'll Ever Need, The World represents balance and a feeling of complete-ness (my paraphrasing) spiritually, and the ending of The Fool's journey (I only pulled the fool on February 26, so it's hard to think I've gone the whole way through the Major Arcana since then, ha!). More practically, I think I knew deep down inside that I would find the rest of that donation. I was also looking forward to just chilling out and relaxing and giggling with my husband that evening.

Eowyn's Full Moon Spread

The 28th of February, as you may know, was a full moon. I handle my cards every day doing daily single-card readings, but I don't do a lot of spreads, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do something a little different. Over at the Aeclectic Tarot Forum, Eowyn posted her Full Moon spread. You can check out the thread at the forum here. I decided to use my Tell-Me Tarot deck- I had used RWS all week for my daily and weekly single card readings.

From the Thread:

This one, the Full Moon Spread, should be done whether commencing the First Quarter, during Waxing Gibbous or on Full Moon Night of course. ***3*** ***2*** ***1*** ***0*** 1.- What can be seen with clarity, so bright that can even blind you. 2.- What gets completed. What closes a cycle. 3.- What begins to fade away, to darken, to abandon you... or what needs to be. 0.- Yourself. Shadow card, from the base of the deck.

Here's what I drew*:

1.- Five of Cups
2.- Two of Pentacles
3.- Knight of Swords
0.- The Empress

1.- Five of Cups. From the bottom of the Tell-Me Tarot Card: "You feel depressed as you focus on the negative. Recognize the positive aspects and you will feel better." I thought this card made a lot of sense- I am very preoccupied with money this month. I have a few less days than I usually get. But really there is no reason to get that bent out of shape over this. There's enough cash to pay the bills. I don't need any more than that- my husband loves me, my friends are great, and it's getting warmer. And I got my bike back out of storage! I will be so busy this month I won't have time to notice that "I'm poor".

2.- Two of Pentacles. From the Tell-Me Tarot Card: "You are indecisive and have difficulty making commitments. Decide and commit in order to find fulfillment." This card to me is less immediately apparent. There's obviously something I need to make a solid decision about but right now, I don't know what this is.

3.- Knight of Swords. From the Tell-Me Tarot Card: "You are confident and courageous but move too fast. Slow down. Enjoy getting there as much as being there." At the time I did this reading, I interpreted this as a general need to stop rushing, or perhaps I will be rushed by somebody else. As of this evening, I'm wondering if this is to do with my running- I've been following a training programme but due to some really adverse weather (not just a bit of rain or wind or snow- the roof came off my drum group's practice space!) I've fallen off the turnip truck a bit. Today I got back on track and ran for 25 minutes with no walk break. I felt very accomplished but now, about 2 hours later, I'm tender. I think that "what needs to be" is that I need to slow down. I'm pretty poor at pacing and I think my Tell-Me Tarot Deck knows it!

0.- The Empress. From the Tell-Me Tarot Card: "Abundane, prosperity and success in response to your inquiry. Fertility and possibility for a pregnancy." I'm hoping that this card in this position means that this part of the lunar cycle is going to be OK for me and I'll have some general success. I also wonder if it might be that I will learn some more info about my sister's pregnancy, which she recently revealed to me.

So! What needs to be seen with clarity is that any percieved woes are pretty minor. What gets completed is that I will make some sort of decision or commitment. What needs to be is I need to slow down (literally). My shadow card is the Empress, which overall indicates either some successes or that I'll learn something further about my sister's pregnancy.

All in all, I really liked this spread. I look forward to trying out Eowyn's New Moon spread when that rolls around too!


*I decided not to read reversals for this reading. I was more interested in generally trying to make connections between what I saw in the cards, and thought it would just be an extra layer of complicated and full moons are crazy enough without reversals ;)

Weekly Tarot Card Draw: Feb 28, 2010 - 4 of Cups (reversed)

Weekly Tarot Card Draw: Feb 28, 2010 - 4 of Cups (reversed)
Originally uploaded by j.goreham

It's getting late, but there's still enough time for one last card tonight. I've done a lot of tarot reading today, actually. I visited with friends today- childhood friends- and we read tarot cards and drank tea. We had a great time. I read for AD and LD, and AD read for me (I asked her if I was bonding well with my RWS deck and she read yes, but be careful, but have fun, but still be careful).

So this week, I should keep in mind the 4 of Cups (reversed). In this card, there is a man sitting under a tree, possibly meditating- he makes me think of Buddha under the Bodhi tree- and there are 3 cups on the ground in front of him. A hand floating in the air by a cloud is either bringing him another cup, or taking it away, I can't tell for sure. The sky is clear and blue.

All right! In a week, I'm going to check in with this card again, before I draw my next weekly card, to see how this card relates to the week I'm about to have.

Daily Tarot Card Draw, 28 February 2010: King of Swords (rev)

Daily Tarot Card Draw, 28 February 2010: King of Swords (rev)
Originally uploaded by j.goreham

AM: In the King of Swords, I see a man- a king- seated in a throne, holding a sword upright. He is wearing a tunic and a cloak, and his crown is veilled. There is a clear blue sky in the background with only a few clouds, there are a few birds in the sky, and the landscape is sparse.

PM: Today, I got up and watched Coronation Street. I had a hard time getting the hubby out of bed to go run errands with mother-in-law. We did a big grocery run, then we went for coffee with MIL and SIL and nephew. We came home, and the hockey game was on. I went to visit with friends (and we gossiped and drank tea and read tarot cards). Before I knew it, it was nearly 11:00!

Interpretation: I'm stumped. I can't pull anything out of the imagery of the card, so I'm going to refer to some material. Let's see what Wilma Carroll's 2-Hour Tarot Tutor has to say (I only have it a few more days before it really has to go back to the library). Wilma gives me a list of people in professions that the card could indicate, doctor, lawyer, etc. Also an insensitive man. I'm not digging it. I don't really like interpreting court cards, still. Perhaps I need to consult at Aeclectic Tarot forum or something for more ideas.

Daily Tarot Card Draw, February 27, 2010: 8 of Cups (reversed)

Daily Tarot Card Draw, February 27, 2010: 8 of Cups (reversed)
Originally uploaded by j.goreham

AM: This morning afer my run, I pulled the 8 of Cups, reversed. My visual description of the card is that I see a figure (can't tell if it's a man or a woman) crossing a difficult, coastal terrain (kind of like by the wharf in my hometown where we used to play when we were kids). It's night time. It looks like the figure could be sneaking away (I say this because the figure has their back to us, and to the cups in the foreground).

PM: Today I got up and went for a run. I had a pretty healthy lunch, then went to the library to pick up some books. I took the ferry to downtown Halifax, and went to drum group practice. When I got there, I found out that our practice space was damaged in the storm. We decided to practice anyway, until we got kicked out by the lady in charge of the facility. I met my husband, we did some shopping, went for supper, then came home.

Interpretation: The Only Tarot Book You'll Ever Need tells me that my reversed 8 of Cups means I'm trying to escape from my problems without facing them. It warns that I really ought to give it all a second chance, and if I split without doing that, I could regret it. I'm not really sure what this means to me right now. When I was writing up my day, one thing that struck me as kind of funny was that there's a lot of water depicted in the card, and somebody travelling over it, and I took the ferry today. I don't think that I've experienced what this card is meant for today- so I'm going to keep an open mind over the next couple of days to see what it could mean.

In other news, I've finished up with 2 Hour Tarot Tutor, so today, I went to the library and picked up a few new tarot books to flick through- so soon, I'll post my impressions of 2 Hour Tarot Tutor, and as I get one with these books, I'll post about them, too. I picked up "Fortune Telling with Playing Cards" by Jonathan Dee, "The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present" by Janet Boyer, "21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card" by Mary K. Greer, and a novel called "Little, Big" by John Crowley, as recommended by a thread in the Aeclectic Tarot Forum.