30 Days of Tarot — Day 5: When and where did you give your first reading?
Short Answer: November 2007, on an outdoor bench at a local taqueria, and it was bullshit. Continue reading 30 Days of Tarot: Day Five
Category Archives: Tarot
What Does The Deck Say? May 19 2014
The Fey Tarot is the work of Mara Aghem and Riccardo Minetti. While the card names mostly track conventional tarot naming, the scenes differ from Pamela Coleman Smith’s renditions. Not all minors display the full pip count of their number. Rather, the scenes are meant to evoke the intuition of the reader rather than depend on long lists of regurgitated meanings.
Today’s cards: Knave of Wands, The Moon, & The Emperor. Continue reading What Does The Deck Say? May 19 2014
7 of Pentacles
A man assumed to be the farmer of the field he stands in is holding his hoe with the spade against the ground. Standing wide-footed, he lays both hands on the upright end and looks over them at a tall bush to the viewer’s left. Six large pentacles are placed on the vined and broadleaved bush, as if they are the fruit produced by this plant. A seventh pentacle lays on the ground between his feet, as if an errant fruit from a running vine. No clouds mar the sky behind him, and the peaks of hills or low mountains can be seen far in the distance at his feet.
Continue reading 7 of Pentacles
30 Days of Tarot: Day Four
30 Days of Tarot — Day 4: How long have you been reading the Tarot?
Not as long as most people assume. I’ve noticed that folks on the Internet assume that to speak with the confidence I have, I must be, like, totally ancient and a matriarch of some powerful secret coven, or some fad-chasing teenager that has yet to escape high school and just downloaded a Fluff’s Guide To The Tarot list of meanings.
Don’t disrespect those two age groups like that. ~shakes head~ Continue reading 30 Days of Tarot: Day Four
What Does The Deck Say? May 18 2014
The Universal Waite is Mary Hanson-Roberts’ recolored rendition of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. Nearly identical lining is softened by gentle coloring. Some faces have been reworked to be more pleasing to the eye.
Today’s cards: The Lovers, 10 of Wands, & The Hermit.
Continue reading What Does The Deck Say? May 18 2014
Page of Swords
A young man stands on small rise of land. He appears to have been turning sharply to look behind him, which is the viewer’s left. He holds a two-handed sword before his torso which is still facing the viewer’s right. Bound hair reveals a sharp face. His right foot is tipped to follow the turning motion. Behind him, puffy clouds dominate the sky and give the impression of a passing distant storm. Birds fly high above him. Far in the distance, trees appear dominated by wind. Continue reading Page of Swords
30 Days of Tarot: Day Three
30 Days of Tarot — Day 3: Do you have more than one deck that you use, and, if so, do you have a favorite? If not, why do you like the deck you have chosen?
I currently have six unique tarot decks and my favorite depends on what the question is at the time. But to answer everyone’s favorite “stuck on a desert island” question, it would be the Universal Waite. Continue reading 30 Days of Tarot: Day Three
What Does The Deck Say? May 17 2014
Atanassov’s The Bosch Tarot supplies the cards for today’s “What Does The Deck Say”. The images are collages from various works of the painter Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch’s works are visually stunning for his approach to displaying the embodiment of moral and religious principles. The Bosch Tarot keeps the visual tour-de-force that is sometimes “not safe for work”. The LWB for the Bosch deck contains meanings that differ from Waite and Crowley, leading to some amusement when comparing interpretations.
Today’s cards: 10 of Pentacles, 3 of Swords, & 3 of Pentacles.
Continue reading What Does The Deck Say? May 17 2014
4 of Swords
The interior of a solemn room. Three swords hang in decoration on the wall, point down. The fourth appears engraved lengthwise on the side of what could be a casket. Lying supine on the casket is an armored figure. His hands are held above his chest with the palms pressed together. The scene is somber as the stained glass window shows a saint receiving a kneeling penitent.
Continue reading 4 of Swords
30 Days of Tarot: Day Two
30 Days of Tarot — Day 2: What was your first deck and why/how did you get it?
My first tarot deck is the US Games’ Universal Waite. It uses the line work of the Rider-Waite-Smith but the coloring is by Mary Hanson-Roberts, the designer of the Hanson-Roberts tarot. It is a deck I still have and has become the primary deck in my small stable.
Continue reading 30 Days of Tarot: Day Two