Of water dragons and new years ....

In honor of the Year of the Water Dragon

HAPPY

TEN OF WANDS in the Universal Fantasy Tarot & RWS Deck (slight revision of post)

Since early Fall 2011 I've been getting the Ten of Wands (10W) in my readings for myself. (It's actually been years since I've more than rarely read for others. And my almost daily readings for myself are meditative and much more like talking with a good friend than predictive in focus.) After the first several times the 10W showed up I blew up a color copy of it from the Universal Fantasy Tarot, as it was the deck I was using most then. I think you can see what I mean when I say this is an unusual and intriguing rendering of the 10W:


At that time I first noticed it turning up a great deal, I intended to use it as the underlying theme for my coming 2012 year. In January 2011 I had been "haunted" by Justice in this same deck. So copied it and wrote "Balance" and "Re-Balance" on the left and right edges of Justice, posting it to my bedroom wall. Balance and then re-attaining it (ad nauseum) has proven to be the connecting thread throughout 2011 for me.

So I sat with this large xerox of the 10W to see what it was saying to me repeatedly. (And I did not yet know that I had many weeks to go in which it would keep showing up. And it's still appearing regularly in my readings, sometimes along with the Eight of Wands.) Then it hit me, almost in the form of a haiku:

We expose, we burn
We create, we heal
We paint a new picture

I don't want to sound self-pitying, nor do I wish to sound like an egotistical "artiste." But I will lay claim to having a nature that not only thrives on pursuing creative urges, but needs to follow them in order to maintain her sanity. However, it's no easy road after that initial joy, i.e. once the work interfaces with the outer world. Or at least, it has not been an easy or very pleasant road for me. That's where a more usual version of the 10W such as in the Rider/ Waite/ Smith [RWS] deck comes in:


It's almost as if these two cards are about two different phases of the creative process. The RWS version (immediately above) being about the work once there's any attempt to take it out into the world. And the Universal Fantasy Tarot version at the top emphasizing my favorite phase: the actual creative process itself. (No surprise there, given the hermit/introvert I am. :-D) However, as with all phases of life these are not totally distinct from each other. Each informs, even entwines at times with, the other. Therefore, that little three line poem/ aphorism above.

By the way, I did post the Universal Fantasy Tarot version to my wall, but not as my 2012 theme. It just did not seem to want to be in that position in my life. This 10W with my little three line aphorism running around its edges, greets me every morning as I stumble out of bed, reminding me there's always a new picture to be painted. (A different card holds the 2012 theme for me, but that's for some other post.)

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‘til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Opening to the Light (for digital pix only).****

REVIEW of Barbara Ardinger's SECRET LIVES, by Roswila

by Barbara Ardinger, available from Amazon.com;
BarbaraArdinger.com, with link to a Reader’s Guide;
Barbara Ardinger's FaceBook page; and
A full length review of Secret Lives

I’m rushing up this extremely brief, but nevertheless rave review of Barbara Ardinger’s SECRET LIVES because it’s the Holiday Season and this book would make a marvelous gift!

SECRET LIVES is a totally wonder-filled, thought provoking, moving, fun ride, and I’ve only read it completely (so far) in its earlier incarnation. I.e., as chapter by chapter rolled off the author’s typewriter (yes, it was that long ago!) and was mailed to me. I’m now currently re-enjoying what’s familiar in the beginning chapters from back then and greatly looking forward to what’s new (considerable, given it’s now 600 pages or so) as I finish reading it.

The story plays out in an all too recognizably troubled Southern California urban setting, salted with humor along the way. (That’s one of the things I love about all of Ardinger’s books, there’s always room for humor.) This story of witches of all ages in modern times, that reaches back into ancient times to the roots of today’s creative pagan ways and wisdom, is massively engaging. Ardinger is a highly educated and intelligent writer, pulling from different sources and spiritual systems in such a way that they all "live" together harmoniously.

I would wait until I’ve finished this great ride before posting a review here, but as I noted above it's Holiday Season and this book would make a fabulous gift. You can get a more in-depth feel for it from the links beneath the cover graphic. And my review, if incomplete and skimpy is not inaccurate or uninformed. As I also said above, I’ve had the pleasure of reading the vast majority of it some time ago. The elder witches now feel like old -- pun intended -- and very dear friends.

Get this bookt! Give it! Read it! You’ll love it! You won't want to keep it a secret!

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‘til next time, keep reading great books, and enjoying The Tarot,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Opening to the Light (for digital pix only).****

A TRIO OF NEW FOUND TAROT CARDS

All three of the below Found Tarot cards -- digital photos of mine in which only after the fact do I see a card -- are really old photos. But I've had a fondness for them since first seeing them on my computer. Over the two-plus years since their taking and the "discovery" of a Tarot card in each, I've occasionally fussed with them trying to improve the cropping, color, focus, etc. I decided that I'd better post them now or I'd never post them. :-)

By the way, I have posted others pictures in which I see the same cards below. Many cards I post here have more than one possible version posted for them. Should I ever complete this deck and wish to produce a physical copy, I can pare down to one photo per card.

Here's a possible Eight of Disks (8P):


And here's a possible Tower (XVI):


Last is a possible Judgment (XX):


OK, I'd briefly wondered before I started choosing cards to post today if they would suggest a reading, which they frequently do. And seeing them up now in a draft view on blogger, yes, they definitely do. And also definitely not a light reading ... LOL! ... when are the readings for myself ever light? Not for this Saturnine Capricorn. Here goes:

This Found Tarot 8P suggests the vision I've had for a new life, a new path. And what stands between, if you will, me and that life is a lot of hard work. Which I have accepted and attempted to do, but somehow not accomplished, no matter how hard I struggle. In light of what I see below in the other two cards, there's a more traditional meaning to this card that can be applicable here. In the Rider/Waite/Smith version of the 8P the person is literally "making pentacles." (Sitting at a work bench with an awl and hammer working on a pentacle, with 7 others around him.) A Tarot teacher I had decades ago said this was another way of saying "doing spiritual work." Which is one way to understand the sort of life challenge and struggle I see here.

This Found Tarot XVI suggests a fall. But almost more a "raining upon" from elsewhere, of both shadows and light. That instead of focusing on not getting ahead, I need to be opening to what falls in grace. I'm not sure I can make this clear, but to recognize how little we ultimately control in our lives. And not to be so focused on what we fail at or don't get that it takes a two-by-four over our heads to open us to what rains down in grace at all times. I've even begun to wonder how much we can ever really take credit for having accomplished. How much might just be chance. Which may simply be another word for grace.

And this Found Tarot XX suggests that a new life does indeed call even as it opens. It's always beginning, unmissable, unmistakable, whenever I stay in the moment. This card also suggests accepting the impermanent nature of being in the moment (at least for me). It's not a steady state, but one I wander in and out of. A way of being that is illusive and ephemeral (again, at least for me) but one that always blooms again when I most need it. If sometimes only after a series of two-by-fours over the head, as in a more negative Tower (XVI) experience.

I don't offer these "interpretations" above as anything more than what I obviously needed to hear today. Though they are not totally unconnected to the more accepted and usual meanings attributed to these three cards.

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‘til next time, keep opening to the moment, and enjoying The Tarot,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); and Opening to the Light (for digital pix only).****

THE FOUR OF SWORDS and THE MOON for The Found Tarot

Above is a possible Four of Swords (4s) for The Found Tarot. I posted it recently on my dreams & poetry blog with a dream poem. It's also one of those occasional photo and dream pairings that I print out and stick up on the wall near my computer. It kept drawing my eye more than these pairs do after the first day or two. I thought probably because I love the colors. But then it hit me: the 4S, duh! Its mundane name is "Dreaming of Home" and the figure on the Rider/ Waite/ Smith (RWS) 4S might be dreaming, too. (I gave it that name before I'd consciously recognized the 4S in the pic.) For comparison, here's the RWS 4S:


And here below is another photo that catches my eye every time I open it's folder for some other photo. Its mundane name is "The Road Back." I had lots of trouble naming this photo two years ago when I took it because I kept wanting to use "star" or "crab" in the title, but neither word really worked. And I'd not yet tripped over the idea for a Found Tarot, so not even "crab" clued me in back then to The Moon (XVIII) card:


For compasion, here's The Moon in the RWS deck:


A final note: the ultimate feeling I get from working with these two cards is of a desire to escape, to go home, to find or wend one's way home or back. And as happens every time with cards/photos I post here (and even sometimes with non-Tarot related photos I pick for my other blogs) there's more than a little truth in that spontaneous surfacing of "meaning." Those who know I've only been living in California for about 3-1/2 years might be tempted to think I'm home sick for New York City where I'd lived my entire life. But not so. The home I'm sick for is an internal one. The home inside myself that all too often folds up its tent and moves on without me. Leaving me lost and exposed and in the dark, "Dreaming of Home."

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‘til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Opening to the Light (for digital pix only), and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems.****

FINDING ANOTHER ACE OF WANDS, HERMIT and FIVE OF WANDS

I've posted at least one photo here before that suggests the Ace of Wands to me. However, when I saw this brand new one on my computer screen last night it fairly yelled Ace of Wands, too.


It's, um, mundane title is "Sentinel." Well, isn't that little pouch thingey on the palm trunk a gun holster? :-)

And here's another photo of mine for the Five of Wands. It's one I slightly edited when getting ready for a photo exhibit I just had. Though it didn't make my cut for the exhibit, it did net me another 5W:


It's mundane title is "Caught Up in the Light."

Last for today's post is another Hermit photo, though this is really more a joke than a serious sighting of IX:


The mundane title for this photo is "X Marks the Spot."

I have many more in my folder of Found Tarot possibles, but they all need some editing and/or cropping. They wound up in my Found Tarot folder during that exhibit preparation I mentioned above. It's going to be fun going through them little by little to see which ultimately survives the process and which gets returned to a more mundane life. :-)

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‘til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Opening to the Light (for digital pix only), and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems.****

BRIEF ANNOUNCEMENT

For anyone who might be enjoying my Found Tarot card digital photos, here's the link to my new blog. It's dedicated solely to my digital pix of all kinds, not just those in which I see Tarot cards: OPENING TO THE LIGHT.

This photo accompanied the first post to this new blog:


The photos being posted there cover a wide range, from representational to "abstract," from to nature to architecture.

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‘til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems.****