Grateful For…

I love the smell of my daughters’ hair.

I’m pretty thankful for my kids right now. God has blessed me with some really beautiful and smart children.  Thank you!

I love the way sky looks at night.  Each star seems so bright, little crystal points of light way up in the sky.  Just beautiful.

I’m lucky to have some very good friends in my life right now.  You know who you are, near and far, and I love you!

I am grateful for our new President.  I’m watching to see how he does, knowing that he is up against some serious challenges.

Can You Believe She Asked Me That?

Okay, well when you come out, when you really, really come out of the proverbial closet and begin telling people that you are a Tarot Reader you must be prepared for a variety of different responses.  Many people will just be amazed.  They will want to know how you learned to read the Tarot and they will just be interested.  This really will be the majority of people.  Most people love having readings, and they are intrigued to see if you can really tell them anything interesting or will know things about them.

Some people will be ambivalent.  They just don’t believe in that kind of thing, and they don’t seem to be interested in it.  But I do see that this group splits into two factions.

One half will be willing to have a reading after they have discussed the cards with you at length.    They are open-minded and interested.  They will want to see you strut your stuff.  And then they oftentimes turn into your best supporters and toot your horn.  The other half just isn’t interested.  They don’t put much credence in the intuitive arts.

A few people will be horrified when they learn you read Tarot.  They will think that perhaps you are a witch.  Or as happened for me recently, they will even think you are a devil worshiper.  Which is sort of funny, sort of delightful, sort of freaky and sort of ridiculous all at the same time.

Now this was my first time where someone pretty much openly asked me this question during a recent phone call.  It was open-ended.  Rather than saying straight out, are you a devil worshiper, the woman (who is very sweet and a lovely person) admitted that she had heard that many readers are devil worshipers.  And of course she had a bad experience with some pretty hardcore religious fanatics that she then relayed to me.

But let’s just get back to how you respond to the question, I hear Tarot readers are devil worshipers.

Which brings me to response #1:
“Really?  Do you know any?  I’d love to meet them!”

To my knowledge I don’t know any readers who are devil worshipers.  I know a couple of readers who are devilishly funny, but none that actually worship Lucifer.  But hey, who knows, they might be fun people, and I love fun people.

I did have a great response to the silence that followed the statement asking me if I was one of the readers who did indeed worship the devil.  But I didn’t answer her question.  Instead I launched into a list of things that I believe in and teach my children.  These were acts of kindness or life lessons that I teach my kids.  It was my hope that by listing these things I would show that indeed I was not a devil worshiper.  But I admit that I don’t exactly know what worshiping the devil involves.  (Apparently, it involves a Tarot deck…or some people think it involves a Tarot deck.)

Which brings me to response #2:
“Oh my gosh I had no idea Tarot readers worship the devil, please, tell me all about it!”

I figure if the people who ask this question have some kind of knowledge about the practices of these mythical beings, the devil worshiping Tarot readers, then I should find out as much as I can about them.  Who knows I might be heading down that road….

Response # 3:
“What day is today?  Wednesday?  No, I don’t worship the devil on Wednesday.  But please, don’t ask me this question tomorrow.”

Now I admit another reader, a friend of mine, gave this last response to me.  And yes, it is very tongue in cheek, and maybe not one I would really use.  But I figure if people are going to wonder about the whole devil worshiper thing, and utter their wonderment out loud, then maybe they can bear a little bit of ridiculousness coming right back at them.  Of course I don’t ever say these things to people.  I’m sort of having some fun here, because I would love to drop one of these bombs sometime.  But, sigh, I never will.

Really what people need when they ask these questions is information.  These are red flag questions, and the flag is flying saying, I want to like you and trust you but I need you to tell me more about why I should.

As a reader it is part of the job that we will be educating the masses about what we do and maybe even sometimes how we do it, but do we have stand in the face of ignorance and misunderstanding, prejudice and close mindedness?  Um, yes, we do.  I think that we do need to try to raise the bar of our chosen profession and allow people to voice these concerns, and gently and lovingly educate them so that they don’t continue to propagate the same.

So it means talking to people about the myths that surround our profession, and trying to show them the truth of what it is that we do, rather than send them away filled with even more confusion and little information.  I find it actually helps people to know what a Wiccan is, what a ritual is and what the difference is between a witch of today and the witch of their imaginations.

But the devil, jeesh.  How did he get into the whole Tarot conversation anyway?  Just one more thing to lay at Mr. Crowley’s feet.  But that is a topic for another day.

Cooking with a Cookbook Tonight!

If you are like me you have at least a dozen cookbooks on your shelves that you never even look through.  Today I gave my mother-in-law about 8 cookbooks I know I’ll never use, with a promise to myself that I will use a new recipe from one of my cookbooks each week for the rest of the year.

Today I grabbed Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home and will be putting something from that book on the table tonight!  I admit that I do use recipes every so often, but I usually grab something off of the internet or modify something off of the internet. (Alright,  it is hard for me to follow exactly what the recipe calls for, but I have great luck even when I do tinker with the ingredients.)

I will check back in to let you all know what I chose, and how it comes out.  Fingers crossed that the family loves whatever it is!

I’m Back!

The recipes I chose were the Spicy Corn Quesadilla and a homemade brownie for dessert.  The snafu was that I was out of brown sugar which was needed in the brownie, so I used white sugar and used too little.  But the resulting confection was still yummy, and with ice cream and a topping the thing is so rich it is decadent.

The quesadilla is something I recently discovered that the family likes, but without chicken (yes, this is a vegetarian cookbook) my kids were looking at me with the “Where’s the meat?” face.  High time to start a weekly vegetarian night.

The corn quesadilla was really nice.  I can’t wait to try this when corn is fresh and in season around here.  I think that the added juiciness of fresh corn will make this quesadilla sing.  I toned down the spices because the kids don’t eat hot, but still the milder version was tasty and a nice change of pace.

I found several great recipes that I can’t wait to try, including a Pad Thai and a Fried Rice seasoned with curry.  The book has several great looking stews, and our family is very enamored of soup and stew.  Overall, the meal was a success!

When Tarot Chooses You

When I found myself being asked three times in the course of as many years, “Do you want to learn Tarot?” I was sure that the answer was NO.  I was happy with the runes my Mom had given me for Christmas in 1980, and Tarot cards with their 156 upright and reversed meanings seemed way too complicated for me.

Today I’m a Tarot professional and owner of about 100 assorted Tarots and oracles.  I did not set out to collect decks nor did I want to study Tarot.  But here I am doing both, and I can only surmise, Tarot called me, and I was unable to ignore the call.

All of us have our stories of how we found our way to the cards, and I don’t think anyone comes to Tarot by the same route.  What I know is that those early days playing with our cards or our Runes can be compared to pre-school.  You become familiar with the toys, ideas and concepts that are the building blocks of future learning.

My early rune readings were funny.  I would read straight out of the book ala Ralph Blum until the day that I was told I should memorize the meanings.  I was hearing this from a Tarot reader who knew her tool.  She read with the Motherpeace Tarot, and she was fantastic.

I should have known this advice was coming.  I would read the rune meanings aloud and still people would say to me, “Well, what does that mean.”  I would then have to tell them how their runes related to their lives.  Which was sort of amazing to me.  Why couldn’t people listen to the information and make sense of it?  Eventually I realized people liked my interpretations better than the book definitions.  I found this puzzling, yet I refused to give readings without the book.  Many times I would hold the book and speak, or put my finger in the place that talked about the Rune.  I needed my security blanket.

Several years later I attended a health fair in Boston.   I walked into a workshop on the Voyager Tarot.  I sat down and was in love with the deck immediately.  I adored the recognizably modern images blended with ancient statuary, cultural icons, flowers, crystals and animals.  It was just such a cool looking deck and I found that I could read it.

The seminar leader basically asked us to tell a story about what we saw.  This was right up my alley.  I could tell stories.  I could tell great stories.  We partnered up and took a card from a basket.  We then had to tell the story in the card to our partner.  When my partner looked at me in amazement after I finished her story and said that I had just accurately described a situation in her life, a Tarot reader was born.

Now, that was only the beginning of a lifelong study, and like any toddler with a pretty toy, at first I just threw it up in the air, watched it shimmer and sparkle, showed it to people, and talked to it daily.  Oh yeah.  And I studied the book the deck creator James Wanless published separately for the Voyager.

I also gave free readings to anybody who wanted one. Like my Rune days I read the book in front of the people but this time to myself.  Then I would look at folks and paraphrase to them what I felt was important.  Later still, I had them choose one image from the cards and that would be the primary symbol for the reading.  Imagine how gratifying it was when I realized I was learning the images, and was going to the book less and less often.

This continued through the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s until 1999.  My first baby was born that year..  After that I studied Tarot with the Universal-Waite, joined the Aeclectic Tarot Forum (www.tarotforum.net) and began in earnest to try and understand the structure of Tarot.  I signed up for a course on Tarot through Barnes and Noble University with Joan Bunning.  Between that course and my posts on AT as elf I began learning about the different types of Tarot decks and Tarot meanings and structure.

I still have that first set of Runes my mother gave to me in the ’80’s.  It is really one of the treasures that I have kept as a sort of special memory of her, but more than that the Runes mark the beginning of my spiritual journey.  That set of Runes was a point in time when I began my esoteric studies.  I feel like that gift really was a gateway for me, and when I passed through the gate I was changed forever.

When I look back now I see that Tarot was sort of following me around, with various readers asking me if I wanted to study Tarot with them.  And every time I said No!  But that was because I hadn’t found the deck that would trigger the reader in me.  I don’t know what it is that triggers the inner reader in other people, but when it happens, your life is never the same.

Ever Have One of Those Days?

YouTube – How it feels to have a stroke

YouTube – How it feels to have a stroke.

Amazing video.  A must see for all of us.

Death Marches On?

I just noticed that this card uses an image from the Moon card.  I have looked at this image so many times, and today for the first time realized the towers in the background are from the Moon!  Also noticed the details on the horse, the skulls and crossbone decorations on the horse’s collar.

This is truly one of the most important reasons for looking at the cards under magnification every so often, especially your primary reading deck.  Understanding the finer details and seeing the images magnified can bring the cards to life in new ways.

I also love the way the woman on her knees appears to be swooning.  Her head and posture are really amazing, and I see that she has dropped some fruit, maybe cherries on the ground.  This death, the death of her King has caught her by surprise.

Death marches on by, uncaring of the trail of sadness and despair all around his horse.  But in the background the sun still rises, on the beach people wander and the boat shows commerce or pleasure will still find their way.

One of the things that is sort of popping for me as I look at this larger image is that life is getting snuffed out, even as the sun rises.  The sun rises between the two towers from the Moon, and we know that the Moon waxes and wanes and sometimes, goes completely dark.  There seems to be a sense of movement here from so many elements.  The life force has supposedly drained out of the body, but all around we see signs of life, we see that life doesn’t just snuff out, it changes and morphs, it moves and flows just like the water in the background.

One wonders if perhaps the message is that life cannot really be completely lost.  Life waxes and wanes, life shines brightly and blindingly and even though Death would like us to think he dominates our lives, ultimately he has nothing to show for his work, because he is busy with the reins and the flag.  In fact, why the armor?  What could possibly touch Death in the land of the living?  The power of our emotions?  The power of our grief, our love, our breath upon his  bones?

When I see Death outfitted in this armor I laugh.  I think, “What a coward!”  He sits upon his high horse looking so regal and proud, but he looks out at us, and what might he be thinking?

Suddenly Death looks a bit afraid to me.  Afraid of us, out here, the living.  Yes his posture is relaxed, but that armor just makes me wonder if there isn’t something we have that Death can never claim.  It’s as if he arrives on cue and takes up his mark, just like a good boy.  He has done his job…he did a drive-by, nothing more.

We have done the work, we have lifted our soul up out of the body, we have transmuted from flesh to spirit and we are the ones racing toward the light, raising up and fleeing the mortal coil.

Really, the thing that is sort of scary in the picture is that priest.  How did he arrive so quickly?  What are they doing out in the open air with the body, and why is the priest so focused on the rite he is performing…As if something else depends upon the pronouncement of the death, something that would behoove the priest.

Could it be there are things in the world to fear more than Death?  Could it be that when we surrender our selves to fear we lose our focus and our ability to see clearly what it is happening around us?  And in that moment of terror the very thing we use for comfort is perhaps the thing to beware?

Remembering The Frogs of Last Summer…..

Who doesn’t love a good ol’ fashioned  country fair?  Ferris Wheel rides, cotton candy, candied apples, fresh lemonade and apple crisp…who doesn’t love all that?  And those fries, those fries with the skin on and salt and catsup…is your mouth watering yet?  The not so great part?  The frog jumping contest.

You are wondering why I don’t love that part of the fair.  Let me explain.  At our fair it is hours in the hot sun at an asphalt pad, actually a heli-pad.  And we, the parents, sit in the bleachers while first 11 little boys in the toddler class jump their frogs.  Then the 6  little toddler girls do theirs.  Then we move up in age and sex until finally the big kids get to go and by then the frogs are half dead because they are re-used.  Not everyone has a frog, so the guy who does the contest brings extras and anyone at the fair who wants to have a go can sign-up and jump a frog.  This takes hours.

They have taken all of the fun out of it by doing each kid individually, giving each child three jumps.  They measure the jumps and take the best one.  Can you believe this?  It is all very fair.

Now realize that the asphalt pad begins to bake…so they wet it down for the frogs….and of course there is a guy with a microphone narrating it all.  Yes this is my kid’s favorite event.  Never mind the tallest sunflower that they sometimes win.  Never mind the flower arrangements that they also enter.  No, they love that frog jumping contest, and why?  Because if you win a first or second place spot you get a trophy even if you didn’t bring your own frog.  Which is great.  And the grand prize trophy is a very cool frog trophy.

But you can only sit in the sun and clap for about 40 kids before you start, or shall I say, I start imagining ways to steal the trophies or set the frogs free or do something so disgusting that all the parents stare at me in horror while quickly racing away with their little brats and leave my kids alone to win the best trophies and dance the happy frog jumping dance that only the winner can do.

It isn’t even that fun for the kids.  All the kids sit in the stands too…some holding little terrariums with their unsuspecting froggy friends sloshing around in murky, weedy water, while the big box of frogs sits under the gigantic score board with all the names of the competitors.

So even though today the ice is piling up outside on the car, and the frogs in their mudholes have burrowed down deep into the earth, I think of them as they sleep.  And I wonder if they are dreaming of me and all those horrible sticky fingered children waiting to press them into service when the town fair rolls around again this summer.

Poetry in Motion

Two little tree faeries.

Tiny Dancers

My lovely little ladies.