Nods from the Green

AS part of my coming out of the resting period my spiritual path took, I've been rebuilding my practice of pulling a card from my beloved Heart of Faerie oracle deck each morning. And so far this week, I have pulled the same card every day, regardless of how short or long I spend shuffling...

If you've been here for a while, then you know that the Green Woman is very special to me; she is the Divine Feminine for me. Powerful, wild and strong, yet gentle, nurturing and beautiful. She is the Goddess figure with whom I am most comfortable, the one whom I speak and turn to most often.

Nods from the Great Momma, making me feel like I'm finding all the right footings for all of my various paths. And letting me know when I stumble, she's got my back.

Shine on, Harvest Moon

The garden is dying back. Tomato plants, spent yet trying to turn out one last crop of wee tomatoes, hang limp and yellowing on their supports. Their leaves curling and crunching, slumping beneath the weight of tired stems while below them, the first tendrils of Winter peas are emerging from the soft dirt. We will get one final harvest of Summer's bounty before the Winter crops take over.

The urge to open wide all the windows and invite in the comfortable Autumn breezes yesterday was overwhelming. I had a headache thumping away in my skull and after my visit to my garden, I took a long, soothing nap in my bed. Warmed by the golden rays of the afternoon sun, kept cool by the breezes rustling the tulle on the bed frame. The scents of warm roses and rosemary mingling with that of the decaying leaves littering the Earth. A much needed respite from aches and pains and technology.

There were big plans for yesterday afternoon; being a full moon under a strong sign on a lucky day, it seemed the best possible day to work on cleansing and re-warding. To invite in the good and really shoo away the bad. But, even the best laid plans can be waylaid by feeling unwell and in my workings, intention is so very key that results can be achieved without a lot of pomp and circumstance. Simple tasks done with intention replaced the all out scrubbing I had originally planned.

When night fell, offerings of spiced rum, sweet cider and tokens of the harvest were set on the altar. Candles were lit to the Gods and to honor the Moon herself. Incense smoke drifted lazily over the space. I lit a candle to send my full moon wishes up to the starry sky and began to shuffle the cards for guidance in this moon cycle. As I shuffled, there were jumpers - cards that leap from the deck to get your attention - and I laid them on the altar in the order in which they fell.

The thief alerts one to stolen time, to missed opportunity - he takes things to teach us to value and appreciate, to help us move on from a sticking point. The Blessing teaches us to begin each journey, each new day, each new step forward with a blessing. As she is shrouded in darkness, but holding a blessing aloft she instructs us to uncover the value and blessings hidden in struggle. The juggler is a card I've been pulling quite a bit lately and one I feel identifies myself right now, in my current state. The juggler has a bad habit of taking on too many things at once and it's only a matter of time until he misses one of those glass balls and it falls, shattering, to the ground. The juggler's attention is scattered and all over the place and this fae is a call to wake up, re-evaluate your priorities and to reassess things. The Lady of Faith tells us to shield our bodies, to shield our heads, but to never, ever shield our hearts. She looks deep within herself to find answers, she has a deep trust in love and compassion and her faith in herself, in her heart are unwavering.

The four here, work together to weave a tale of time (and humor) being stolen (a blessing in disguise) to alert one to their role as juggler and their need to re-prioritize before the things they are juggling come crashing down around them. The Lady of Faith reminds us that in our quest to lay things down gently, to reassess and regain what was stolen, that we must have faith in ourselves, in our hearts and in the love that surrounds us. We must not shield ourselves entirely if we are to succeed in our quest.

Given the thoughts in my head, the feelings in my heart and the small steps I've started to take lately to regain some of my own time and happiness, to regroup and reconnect with the person inside of me who doesn't take on everyone else's problems, doesn't waste tons of time online, is healthy, active and most importantly isn't so damn serious but is joyful and carefree... I'd say the Fae's message is one of hope and encouragement. I'm on the right path, I just need to keep going.

I can't pinpoint exactly when in the past few months I got lost, when my sense of humor slipped out the back door, but I'm tired of letting stress and the ho-hums and negativity and misery of others and the world at large drag me down and suck the life out of me. And in this time of in-betweens, in the season of Death and Rebirth, I will cut those things from my life with the sharpest of scythes and lay them to burn on the woodpile. And while I'm feeling the urge to Hermit myself away to deal with all of this, I will take caution not to shut up my heart, for therein, I'm sure, lies the key.

Release on the Corn Moon

Cloudy and breezy, the moon was hidden from sight, though her light shone bright enough to continue to illuminate the darkness. Wispy clouds shining silver across the deep blue sky, occasional stars twinkling.

Inside, the scent of incense floated on gently winds, blowing in through the open windows. Roses wafted about on the breeze, candles on several altars burning down. So much work to do on this full moon, though many feel the moon isn't a good time for work and simply time to thank and observe.

I disagree. As a follower of the sun and moon, I feel that working in tune with their ebb and flow, their energies, is as essential to magic as the simple belief that it does, indeed, exist. To deny the power of the moon's swollen form, of her insistence on inspiring restlessness and excess energy in me, is to insult rather than thank her. But, to each their own... I don't walk another's path and can only speak for myself.

Cleansing the altar space, tools, stones and amulets; using the moon's light, fire, smoke and water collected at the edge of my favorite spot on the sea. Casting wishes and prayers for others up to the heavens on sparks. So many people that I care for needing so much right now, but only so much energy that I can expend at one time; even with the help of the powerful moon. Offerings to the Great Mother and the Fae; wine and milk and honey.

I deviate from my usual three card pull this moon time, pulling just one from the Heart of Faerie to inform and guide me for the next month. Not at all surprised to see this cheeky Trickster's face, I know I've once again been spreading myself too thin. Too many projects, too many things on an over-bearing, self imposed to-do list; I find myself frequently worrying about 'doing this', 'seeing to that', 'worrying about so-and-so', 'helping them out'... not doing or being enough. Juggling too many things... and the balls are about to drop. My energies are being depleted on things that I shouldn't give so much care too, they're sucking up my joy.

His timing is impeccable. As I think back on last Autumn and the apathy that pervaded my personality then. Caused by burnout and stress.

A Trickster this fae may be, but clearer sight was his gift to me.

Acknowledged to Momma Moon and her ability to help release things, with a tinkling bell, a candle and some ale... I'm tossing out that smothering to-do list.

A Wee Nod

Joe put this odd little tarot deck in my stocking this year for me to use in my mixed media work (the minors look like playing cards and I typically don't like a severe lack of symbolism for reading). After posting earlier I decided to journal about my word of the year and figured, what the heck, let's pick a card to go with it. This is who showed up.

Nods from the Universe, little signs that I'm on the right path.

How Divination Brought Me Here

Ages old and used in many forms by many cultures, divination is still extremely popular today. Perhaps you've dabbled here and there with Victorian versions, such as peeling an apple into a single slice and tossing it over your shoulder to look for the first initial of your true love? Maybe you've used a fortune teller machine at the boardwalk or had your palm read at a fair? You may also read cards, use a pendulum, or divine signs from clouds, smoke or fire.

For me, divination was the door that opened and helped me begin to walk the path that had been unfolding in my heart since youth. As a young child I felt inclined to spend my afternoons in the woods, tracking animals, burying the dead when I found them, talking to trees, collecting rocks and making mud potions. As an older child (a tween, I suppose) I began to worship the Greek pantheon, in my own way, after devouring at least two dozens books on differing ancient mythologies. I built shrines, painted and continued my outdoor adventures and rituals, never knowing what exactly to call myself. When I entered my teens and religion became something folks discussed on occasion, I would say - I believe in something, but can't put my finger on what to call it exactly.

Then, when I was fourteen, something new was introduced to my path. A friend (who I later lost from my circle due to teenage stupidities) gifted me with a deck of Universal Waite Tarot cards. And they were magnificent. The images on them were gorgeous, softly colored and expertly drawn. The pattern of stars on the back delighted and captivated me; I was enamored of them. I immediately began to methodically memorize the 'little white book' (as many first timers do, I'm sure) and following my friends advice, stuck only to the major arcana. After a while, I deviated from the book with my readings, I would spread the cards out on my bed, draw one or two and make note of them in my huge notebook or ask the cards yes or no questions, shuffle and then turn them over, putting them into piles of right side up and reversed; more reversed meant 'no', more right side up meant 'yes' and an equal number meant they couldn't say.

This went on for a year or so and then I began to want to know more. I began working with the full set yet I hungered to learn new spreads and found that a lot of the cards didn't resonate well with me; their meanings in the book and the feelings they gave me didn't sync up. I hit the libraries (we had *just* gotten dial-up internet, so that was the slooow method of learning) and began to devour books on reading tarot. And the more I read, the more this one word kept popping out at me; 'Wicca'. Being curious, I began to read books on that subject and while it didn't exactly fit with my own feelings, it was closer than I had ever been to giving a name to my beliefs. From there I went on to learn more about other forms of paganism and witchcraft and it led me to here; 15 years later. All because of a set of tarot cards.

Divination still factors into my path today, though I have no strong knack for reading the tarot these days. I fell out of practice right around the end of high school and they sat unattended for many years. Now, when I pick them up I no longer feel intuitively connected to them; it's as if we've had a falling out. I'm making attempts to repair our connection but it has most definitely been a slow moving process. I've tried other sets of tarot cards while working this out, but to the same end. The cards, while beautiful, don't sing for me the way that they used to.

That being said however, I've had tremendous success in reading the heart of faerie oracle deck I picked up on a whim a while back. Each day I pull a card and read with them at each new moon; asking what I need to keep in mind during the coming cycle. Sometimes I do a larger reading because something tugs at me to do so.

For quick yes or no questions these days, I use my pendulum. As it is made of red variegated agate, I will sometimes carry it in my pocket if I'm having a day when I'm not feeling so hot or when my eye condition is flaring up.

On occasion, I also read tea leaves, which I find to be both tasty and fun. I drink my tea down to nearly the last drop (which involves a fair amount of slurping!) then give the cup a good swirl, three times round, before turning it upside down onto a plate. I flip the cup back over and look at the shapes the tea leaves have formed and how they relate to each other. Typically, I don't focus on anything in particular when I do this - I just let them say whatever they feel the need to say. Thus far I have never seen a Grim. ;)

So loves, now you know a bit more about my relationship with divination and how it plays into my path. How about you? How did you come into it? What forms do you prefer?

As a bonus, have any of you a falling out with a form, where it no longer seemed to work for you? Were you able to repair it or did you need to let it go?

Full Moon Tea

On Blood Moon night,
by the pale moonlight,
I sat down for tea with visitors three.





We reveled in the moonlight,
as our tea we did pour,
The chit chat by candlelight,
never began to bore.





As we sipped down our tea,
the leaves we did did swirl,
in cup bottoms we began to see,
shapes and futures unfurl.



A Heart?



A creature most fierce?



An Umbrella Carrier?



Perhaps you can tell me what shapes you do see,
in the soggy leaves left in cup bottoms by tea.

Thank you for stopping by! You can visit the other tea partiers by visiting our lovely host, Frosted Petunias Blog.

Divination on the Sixteenth Day of Halloween...

After throwing a fancy Halloween party on Friday and hosting a plethora of lovely people from A Fanciful Twist's Party Saturday, I decided to kick back with a bottle of red wine and my Heart of Faery Oracle Deck and do some divination.

I poured a glass, sipped a bit and shuffled the deck. I didn't focus on any question in particular I just asked to be shown a focal point in the form of a three card spread. What turned up was interesting...

I had intended on it being a past, present and future spread but looking at it originally, it didn't seem to fit that pattern. The fact that two queens showed up in the reading seemed of significant importance. I left the cards on the table and went off to get some dark chocolate to enjoy with my wine while I pondered. However, when I came back something jumped out at me. There was no past, present, future theme. The cards in the first and third position were showing me the two sides of myself who have been feeling a bit neglected and out of balance with each other as of late while the central card was showing me the outcome of realigning and acknowledging them.

The Faery of Naughtiness represents my spontaneous, mischievous inner child. She likes to play and have fun and doesn't take anything including work, life or light hearted pranks, too seriously. She is my light, a source of joy and never becomes fixated on one thing for terribly too long. The Queen of Night however, is the darker more adult aspect of myself. She is a passionate, sensual woman who yearns for success and desires to fulfill her dreams, occasionally to an obsessive degree. She is often inspired but can be quite serious, even melancholy at times and can lead down a path to ruin if you let these aspects of her take over.

Between the two, the Queen of Day sits calmly. She declares that should I learn to acknowledge, accept and balance these two I can be more at peace than I have been in some time. She warns that excess of either aspect can lead to disappointment; an inspired painting that I work on in frenzy once finished may be an abject failure, too much play can lead to the forgetting of important daily matters. To have these women within me is a blessing for while one should not be serious all of the time, one cannot lose themselves in constant play either.

---
I've only recently begun to work with cards of any sort again after nearly ten years of neglecting my first deck, the Universal Waite. I was given this deck at 14 and memorized the little white book as I thought this was the way to go about doing it. After a few years of getting garbled readings that meant nothing to me, I put the cards away in frustration.

Almost a decade later I found myself yearning to read them, but again, the Universal Waite refused to speak to me. My goal in picking the cards back up is to get away from the memorization of the little white books and learn to read intuitively. As I've had a very hard time connecting with much of the imagery of the Universal Waite I went off to find a deck that spoke to me. Over the past year, I've come into possession of the Housewives Tarot and the Paulina Tarot. I've had greater success connecting with the Paulina Tarot than the other two decks. The imagery is absolutely stunning and her figures are very emotional. I'm still learning the basic symbolic meanings of some of the images found in various tarot decks, so some cards are more difficult for me to read than others, but I know that once I've gotten the symbols down, the Paulina Deck and I will be very close.

While tarot still tricks and eludes me to a degree, I've had great successes with intuitive readings through the Heart of Faery Oracle deck, which I came across quite by accident while I was perusing the book store nearly two months ago. I was wandering in search of the mythology section, sipping a comforting pumpkin spice latte after a particularly awful morning, and passed by an end cap. Something caught me out of the corner of my eye and caused me to turn around to check out the display. Amongst the books of love spells and other things I never usually glance twice at sat a huge box with a regal woman on it. I recognized the art as Brian Froud's immediately and picked it up, not intending to purchase it. I never made it to the mythology section that day and instead headed home with my new deck of cards. The fae are funny like that, causing you to do things you never intended to do.

I find that I have a difficult time practicing with my decks because I rarely have anything specific I feel the need to ask them. This causes me to lack focus and my typical tarot readings to come out extremely scattered. With the Faery Oracle however, I've found that I need not focus on anything in particular, I just shuffle and ask them to tell me something. The readings I've done with them have occasionally come out as riddles that need to be solved, or less than a soft blow, but have always been honest. I really enjoy working with them and they have re opened the door to belief in the wee folk that I had left behind when I 'grew up' so to speak.

Now that I've rambled quite long enough, here are some questions I'd like to put to all of you lovelies. Do you read cards? If so, how did you go about learning? Do you read intuitively or by the book? Which decks do you use and what sort of successes have you had with them?

Feel free to post in the comments or on your own blog. If you post in your own space, be sure to let me know so I can stop by for a visit!

***
Here are links to the folks who expanded on and shared the discussion in their own blogs:
My history with tarot at the Deepest Well
Tuesday Talk at Kally's Cauldron
A little about me and divintion at Witchy Gumbo

Creating, Creating and still more creating

This week I have been a busy lady, creating things for the shop and for fun.

I started the week working with the relatively new-to-me medium of watercolor. I did a few small successful paintings of various deities including Lugh, the Green Man and Ganesha:

I also did a small painting of Iris, but upon completion realized I had made her head disproportionately large and her body a bit too squat. I plan to give her another try soon enough.

I've also been working on some pendulums. I've made them in the past and I always have a great time picking stones and putting them together. I've done everything from double ended quartz pendulums on leather cord to sea glass on hemp, but this time I decided I wanted to use a vintage necklace and stones:

I'm really happy with all of them, but I have to say the petrified wood pendulum above is my favorite of the bunch.

I'm ending my week by beginning a project that I'm really excited about. It all started with small wooden boxes and my love for all things gypsy. If I could live in a brightly coloured wagon and roam the country telling fortunes for the rest of my life, I would. But I digress. The sparks of inspiration led me to create a trio of soul sisters whose stories will be told when the project is complete. For now, I'll leave you with a peek at the gypsy sisters:

Have a beautiful weekend, loves.

Green Tea and Card Reading

Happy Saturday lovelies! I woke up shortly after the sun this morning and have spent the morning wrapped in my favorite afghan (a wedding gift from one of my oldest friend's mother) sketching ideas for some new art dolls and sipping green tea with honey. Lots of green tea with honey.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for the words you left on my previous entry. Knowing that so many people here in my circle of friends and followers have had similar experiences or know someone who has been where I am, has made me feel a lot less alone and gloomy. It's nice to know that there are wonderful souls to talk to.

As I said in my entry, this weekend will be spent relaxing and the weather gods must have leaned in a sympathetic ear when I was vocalising that because today is an uncharacteristically mild mid January day in North Jersey. It's not even noon and I've already spent some time on the steps with my tea cup in my pajamas watching some birds fly by. In the brief time I was outside I spotted two of my favorite birds: a large old crow and a peregrine falcon. I also decided to do a few quick readings this morning, mostly simple yes or no questions but I also decided to do a 7 card spread inquiring as to what I can do to nurture my small Etsy shop and help it to succeed since I'm planning on working on some new pieces later today and tomorrow.

As I've been feeling a bit gloomy, I decided to use my newer Housewives Tarot deck rather than my tried and true Rider-Waite deck. The illustrations and bright colours of the Housewives deck always perk me up and put me in a great mood.

Here is what the spread looked like:

And here are the specific locations and cards as designated by the 7 card layout I chose to use:

Distant Past Influences: Page of Wands (Reversed)
Immediate Past Influences: 10 of Wands (Reversed)
Present Influence: Queen of Pentacles
Present Obstacles: Ace of Wands
Present Outlook: King of Pentacles (Reversed)
Future Influences: Queen of Cups
Future Outlook: Page of Pentacles (Reversed)

I interpreted the spread myself as each card came out and as a whole, but I'd like to see if anyone else wants to take a stab at interpreting the spread. I find that sometimes people who aren't directly vested in the outcome tend to see things that the querent will miss. Please leave your interpretation in comments or email it to me at artful.danni(at)gmail.com if you feel inclined to do so. :)

As for the rest of the day, I plan to finish this last cup of tea, wake the snoozing husband, do a bit of light shopping (it figures that we would run out of toilet paper the day I decide to relax!) and then spend as much time as possible outside enjoying the Indian summer kind of day that January is giving me.