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You know what, why not? It's been a while since I've done one of these, they're generally fun, and I can always use the practice.
The Basics
I'll do free one-card draws today and tomorrow, until midnight PST on Sunday. [ETA: Now closed! Thanks for all the interest!] Ask a specific question, or just see what messages arise from the ether.
I'll also draw additional cards to address specific questions at $1 a card, up to seven cards. (Use the PayPal button below if you're interested in that option! Then, you can either comment with the email which sent the payment, or put your journal name in the Paypal notes.)
You can see an example of the sort of depth and analysis I do in a previous Tarot post.
The Decks:
I use a somewhat non-traditional approach to reading, with two different decks:
1) The Endangered Ark art card deck, which is not traditionally used in divination, but which I've found to have a very good signal strength. In my experience, this deck is good for illustrating a particular issue and digging up surrounding issues – bringing things into the light, as it were. My interpretation of Endangered Ark cards has a lot to do with the art and the symbolic as well as biological/ethological qualities of the animals depicted, but it also incorporates my interpretations of the numbers and suits.
2)The Crow's Magick Tarot. I like to call this my "brutal truths" deck; every time I've used it to read for myself, it's given me firm answers that dig up things I don't actually want to look at or face, but which end up being spot-on. I've never used this deck to read for other people, but I respect it a heck of a lot. The Crow's Magick has keywords on the cards as well as its own book of interpretations; because I believe in taking decks as they present themselves, I use these less-traditional readings as well as the more-traditional Tarot readings in interpreting them.
If you don't specify a deck, I'll use the Endangered Ark, as I think it's a bit better to get a general read.
Privacy:
All comments to this entry are screened, and I'll only unscreen them if you tell me it's okay. Tell me how you want your results: I can email them to an email you provide, I can post them in a public reply to your comment, or I can PM them to your Dreamwidth account.
Purchase Additional Cards:
The Obligatory Disclaimer:
If you have medical, legal, or similarly serious problems, I strongly advise that you consult an expert and not a deck of cards. I make no guarantees on accuracy or precision of results. I'm somewhat agnostic on Tarot and tend to regard these as useful means of self-diagnosis, with my own analysis of the cards giving me as much insight into them as the selection of the cards themselves, but whether you regard readings as pure fun, Jungian diagnostic tools, or applied magic, you're welcome here.
The Basics
I'll do free one-card draws today and tomorrow, until midnight PST on Sunday. [ETA: Now closed! Thanks for all the interest!] Ask a specific question, or just see what messages arise from the ether.
I'll also draw additional cards to address specific questions at $1 a card, up to seven cards. (Use the PayPal button below if you're interested in that option! Then, you can either comment with the email which sent the payment, or put your journal name in the Paypal notes.)
You can see an example of the sort of depth and analysis I do in a previous Tarot post.
The Decks:
I use a somewhat non-traditional approach to reading, with two different decks:
1) The Endangered Ark art card deck, which is not traditionally used in divination, but which I've found to have a very good signal strength. In my experience, this deck is good for illustrating a particular issue and digging up surrounding issues – bringing things into the light, as it were. My interpretation of Endangered Ark cards has a lot to do with the art and the symbolic as well as biological/ethological qualities of the animals depicted, but it also incorporates my interpretations of the numbers and suits.
2)The Crow's Magick Tarot. I like to call this my "brutal truths" deck; every time I've used it to read for myself, it's given me firm answers that dig up things I don't actually want to look at or face, but which end up being spot-on. I've never used this deck to read for other people, but I respect it a heck of a lot. The Crow's Magick has keywords on the cards as well as its own book of interpretations; because I believe in taking decks as they present themselves, I use these less-traditional readings as well as the more-traditional Tarot readings in interpreting them.
If you don't specify a deck, I'll use the Endangered Ark, as I think it's a bit better to get a general read.
Privacy:
All comments to this entry are screened, and I'll only unscreen them if you tell me it's okay. Tell me how you want your results: I can email them to an email you provide, I can post them in a public reply to your comment, or I can PM them to your Dreamwidth account.
Purchase Additional Cards:
The Obligatory Disclaimer:
If you have medical, legal, or similarly serious problems, I strongly advise that you consult an expert and not a deck of cards. I make no guarantees on accuracy or precision of results. I'm somewhat agnostic on Tarot and tend to regard these as useful means of self-diagnosis, with my own analysis of the cards giving me as much insight into them as the selection of the cards themselves, but whether you regard readings as pure fun, Jungian diagnostic tools, or applied magic, you're welcome here.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-20 10:56 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 04:03 am (UTC)From:You're ending up getting two cards at the no-charge for one, because as I was shuffling, a card leapt out at me. (I'm never sure whether I should treat those as Really! Eager! Responses! or just accidents due to my still-a-beginner level of talent at real-person shuffling. I'm still getting over just kinda bashing the edges of the deck together.) We'll look at that one first, and you can see if it speaks to you.
Bonus card: The card that jumped out was the Ace of Clubs, the Ethiopian Wolf. Now, quick disclaimer, because people who Know Tarot may yell at me: with the Endangered Arc cards, I tend to go more by my own unverified personal gnosis, which doesn't always respect the heritage of the suits and numbers as they descended from Tarot. In my UPG, clubs match up to the Tarot suit of pentacles, which (very generally) represent stability, earthy things, wealth, and practicality.
Aces are interesting. They're ones, really, but they're elevated to get a title instead of a number; they're the lowest and the highest cards of their suits. In that way, they're something like keystones or clasps; they link a linear sequence into a circle, and kinda hold things together. Aces are also exemplars, and often actors. Things with agency. Here, I wonder if it means that you have a lot of direct control over matters of stability, whether it's financial stability or some other kind?
Visually, this is a tricky card. The wolf's expression is ambiguous; the eyes seem amused and attentive, but the mouth turns the expression wary. The ears are erect, and pointed in different directions. And whatever the wolf is looking at is not in frame. Taken all together, it seems to suggest that things are in the air that require readiness and attention, and whether that's good or bad, the card doesn't say. It might be an opportunity to pounce on; it might be a threat. The background is similarly ambiguous; the skies are calm, the sea seems calm, but also seems to swell, as with an approaching wave. There's a lot of tension, of what-will-happen, in this card.
Ethiopian wolves are extremely specialized to their environment and their prey, which suggests that being forced out of familiar environments or away from the things that nourish you (literally or metaphorically) might not be the best just now. (In a lot of cases, new things bring adaptation and growth, but you have to be in a spot where you can handle that productively.) There are a lot of stories concerning the wolf, and one of its indigenous names is more or less "ed jackal trickster", and tricksters are always fun – cleverness, intelligence, and storytelling are all tools at your disposal. These wolves are also highly social, which suggests that social bonds are or should be a source of strength.
Okay. That's probably enough on the card which may or may not have any significance. ;) Now, onto the one I actually drew: the six of clubs, King Cobra.
King cobras are big, visually impressive snakes – they can rear up and stare a fairly tall man in the eyes, and are fully capable of killing a person in a single bite. But they're reclusive, preferring to avoid confrontation. To me, this suggests that if there's something you're not sure you can take head-on, you should be reassured that you can probably handle it.
King cobras are said to have extremely good memories, even to the point of being able to identify specific human individuals, and identify their captors if taken from the wild. (The quote that pops to mind here is, "forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.")
The art on this one doesn't offer up a lot of detail, but what it does offer is stark. The snake has a definite "Bring it!" expression, and is rising up into light in the background. The background is foggy or smoky, obscuring what's going on, but the snake doesn't seem bothered by this. So, what this is saying to me is: even if things seem unreadable or unpredictable, in in the spots where your natural instincts might say run away or withdraw, stand your ground, and face it head on. That'll break you through into better things.
As for the number and the suit: well, here are clubs/pentacles again, in all their earthy stability. Six is probably the number which I have the least UPG for, in the zero-through-ten set; it's two threes (and I like threes; they're archetypal, they're dynamic, they're present in a lot of magical systems), even (and I feel that even numbers are less dynamic than odd), large enough to feel sturdy, but not as flashy as most of the rest of its companions. (Four also has a lot of resonance in various magical systems – four suits, four elements, four cardinal directions. Eight is a lemniscate, which makes it thematically a kind of infinity. Two gets to be a duality, ten gets to be the foundation of much of our math, as well as visually a 1 and a 0, being and not being, which implies unity. Six is just kinda... six.) Though if we shuffle around in my even weirder larder of synaesthetic stuff, six always seemed like the older sibling or the responsible one in the household, who gets things done without a lot of fuss, and leads when it needs to. (Let's not even get started on three's tricksiness or 8's arrogance or 7's sharpness.)
So. Fact things, get them done; it doesn't need to be dramatic, but if it is, you can handle it. Stay the course, and things will work out well. That seems to be the general message.
Welcome to divinitory card-reading! Hope it was useful, or failing that, fun.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 04:38 am (UTC)From:Feel free to unscreen my comment and reply in public.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 04:56 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 05:42 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 06:05 am (UTC)From:I find that, when I do readings for myself, the real value is usually in the interpretation more than the cards itself. The cards bring up correspondences and suggestions that might not spring into the mind when it's just you, mulling over something; they cast things in a different light, and sometimes that's enough to bring an answer or a potential answer to light. And a lot of times, especially with the Crow's Magick deck, the stuff that comes up suggests things that I already know, but because it seems like an external force bringing them up, it feels more like someone calling me on my bullshit and less like something that can just be casually brushed aside. Sure, it might be psychological, but so are placebo effects, and placebo effects, however maligned, are still clinically effective and real.
...and then there are times when it seems like everything lines up way too well for coincidence, and I get all weird about discounting those. Hey, it's always possible that real, external forces and intelligences are communicating to me! Even if I'm not going to treat it as scientific evidence. But my subjective experience of magic and spiritual matters doesn't need to be objective in order to present value, if that makes sense.
So. Yes. :) Treat it as pretendy fun times, treat it as a jumping-off point for things to mull over, treat it as truth from the spirit realms, they're all perfectly fine and valid experiences of divinatory readings, in my book.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 06:30 am (UTC)From:The card I drew for you was the King of Coins, reversed.
I'm not sure if there's anywhere online that I can link you to, in order to see the cards, so I'll describe it: all the cards have a stark white background; this one has a golden tiger, with an attentive, inquisitive look, in repose on two slabs of something yellow and fading to black. Behind him, above his head, there's a vivid red sky fading out into darkness; a red planet or moon hangs just abode the horizon, and the black silhouette of a crow wings through the red as though it's a cloud. High on the card, in the center, where you might expect to see a sun, is a golden coin, slightly oblong, and engraved with a crown and two rows of symbols. (It looks like Venetic, but if it is, it doesn't spell anything that means anything to me. Which is a shame.)
All right. Now, the three interpretations:
The keywords on the card: "Dedicated, Adamant"
The booklet says: "Facade of success. Will say anything to impress anyone." (The upright meaning given is "High-level success. Wealth. Conveys methods for success to all that will listen.)
And there's the more traditional meaning: Kings are powerful cards, leaders and motivators. Coins or pentacles are an earthy, solid, stable suit, also representing wealth and practical concerns. The King of Coins or Pentacles is a careful, grounded influence who leads into matters of wealth or stability, such as the founding of a new business.
I tend to interpret reversals as something like an inverse or subversion of meaning: the seeds of the upright meaning are there, but something is backwards or not coming across as it should be. In this case, it seems like something – either in you or your environment – which should be stable is being threatened by something which is not genuine. Perhaps someone is refusing to call the emperor out on his new clothes. Perhaps someone who has promised to see something through, or someone who can usually be trusted to bulldog their way through complications, is half-assing it. Dedication is slipping, defects are being hidden, the ground is not as solid as it should be but people are being made (or allowed) to walk on it anyway. I'd say keep an eye out for deceit, even if it's not malicious; maybe someone hopes that by pretending something is all right it'll become all right, or just hasn't looked closely enough to see the cracks.
(Sorry the Crow's Magick set tends toward the blunt and unreassuring. <_<)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 06:47 am (UTC)From:*Er, speaking as a liberal arts major who reads a lot, which bears about as much resemblance to an actual physicist as a lightning bug has to actual lightning.
I know what you mean about being a sort of spiritual rationalist, though. I don't think I believe in this sort of thing on the deep-down level where belief lives, but ... I sort of do, in a way? Or at least I try to be respectful of it, not just respectful to human beings' beliefs (though that, too, as much as possible) but to the spiritual/divine as well, if that makes any sense. I'm an atheist who is too practical to go around disrespecting unfamiliar gods, I guess is a good way to put it.
And that's also a very interesting point about readings creating new connections and new ways of looking at things! I wouldn't have thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense.
Anyway, I appreciated the reading; thank you very much! It was a new experience at the very least, and gave me things to think about.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 06:49 am (UTC)From:Diamonds, in my UPG (though not in traditional interpretation), correspond to wands, which places them as the suit of fire, action, dynamism, passion. The art on the card undercuts that a bit, though the otter's face does seem to be lit as though from within; the art is very earthy-and-watery, somewhat flattened into something iconic. The otter looks out at the viewer with an open, somewhat avuncular look.
Sea otters are among the smallest marine mammals, but the largest species in their family. Unlike other marine mammals, their warmth – their protection from the elements – doesn't come from internal blubber, but external fur. They use whiskers and paws to find things by touch underwater when they cannot see, and is unique among sea mammals in that it can turn over rocks and such on the sea floor. (It's worth noting that water is the element of emotion, mystery, creativity, magic.)
This all seems to communicate that something new exists, perhaps in a place where you exceed your peers but feel as though you still have a long way to go. Even if you can't see what that looks like, feel your way through; remain open view yourself and your surroundings as though they are an art to be completed, and approach the unknown with a sense of interest and play. You have an armor which protects you, be it of mannerisms or habits or works; this allows you to move into new creative spaces. Let your passion, even if it is a passion for something untried and untested, move you into new waters; you may find yourself well-suited to being there.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 03:17 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 04:03 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-07-22 03:07 am (UTC)From:The Star, upright.
Card keywords: "Trapped, Confined"
Booklet gloss: "Divert personal sabotage", "clearly defining your personality"
Traditional: Eights in Tarot are about strength and limitations – specifically, interacting with limitations, either to transcend them or work with/around them. Swords are the suit of air, of intellectual pursuits and the mind, and of conflict and obstacles. Traditionally, the Eight of Swords is about the traps your mind sets you, fears and apprehensions which keep you confined.
The image on this card is a golden eagle behind a window made of swords, with two of the swords forming bars. There are stripes of light in the background, as though distant slitted windows, and the eagle is in flight, but clearly constrained.
I tend to read reversals as inversions or subversions of the meaning of the card. Here, it seems to be saying: perhaps you have these self-imposed controls on your behavior, but perhaps they're good ones. Things that support you in becoming who you want to be. (Or perhaps these are things which would be good to develop.) Or, perhaps your fears should be interrogated, to see what it is that they're protecting you from. Are the walls your mind builds confining, or are they structural? Or do they need to be built to get you to where you want to be?
In reversed position, the eagle is flying upside-down, and seems to be angled toward the ground. If it is a case that a crash is imminent, perhaps the bars which the mind erects can be protective.
In the image, there are gaps in the bars – the swords which cross the window don't make it all the way across. There is room to slip through, although it would be difficult and dangerous. In looking at the walls, don't try to make them shut everything out. But the unimportant things and the dangerous things need not come through.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-22 09:39 pm (UTC)From:In my readings of this deck, clubs correspond to pentacles, the suit of earth, stability, practicalities, and wealth or monetary concerns. Jacks, being face cards, can be taken to represent a person or a force with agency. The art here is clear, for an underwater scene; near to the surface, with a reef and reef life. The turtle seems to have a serious, penetrating expression, but swims closely with a school of fish who do not seem to be reacting to threat.
It seems that the message of this an issue which may be submerged, but is still known – you or someone in your life may be growing into a more balanced role with the people around, whereas once it might have been more damaging. Growth and maturity, while perhaps slow-growing, bring a greater harmony with the environment, and the things taken as nourishment (literal, metaphorical or spiritual) from the environment color one's own inner life and identity.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-23 06:08 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-07-24 07:17 pm (UTC)From: