Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 21

Kitchen Table Tarot: Pull Up a Chair, Shuffle the Cards, and Let’s Talk Tarot

Melissa Cynova

At the time of this writing (late March 2020), I keep thinking about the Wheel. I wonder where we will be on the Wheel when this is posted. Where was the world in late-March compared to now in early June?

As you ponder, enjoy this excerpt from Kitchen Table Tarot:

The Wheel of Fortune

I am changing.

The Wheel of Fortune card is awkward when it comes up in readings. It’s the beginning and the end. Sometimes you’re riding the wheel, and sometimes you’re ground to dust under the wheel. It’s very subjective.

This card is about the law of returns. It can be about good things happening and luck turning around or a warning to bat- ten down the hatches and get ready to rumble. This is a great card to have in a reading, but if you’re a reader, it kind of sucks. It’s ambiguous, and it’s hard to get a clear direction. I just say, “Everything is going to be okay. I don’t know what okay looks like right now, but it’s going to be fine.” That’s not exactly why people get tarot readings, but some things just have to work themselves out. You have to go through the whole process to re- ally learn the lesson, and we can’t tell you, because it’s cheating. I love getting this as a final card because I get to look at the client and say, “Yeah, I don’t know. High five!”

It can also mean the exact opposite. Things are going to suck for a while, and I don’t know how badly, but everything will work out okay. Your high five will be less appropriate and appreciated at this time.

Join Us for the Inaugural LlewellynCon, a Full Week of Free Virtual Author Talks, Giveaways, and More!

June 12, 2020 – June 19, 2020

Llewellyn has a long history with conventions, most notably our Gnosticon festivals held in the 1970s. At the present time, with travel and in-person events not able to be held, we wanted to connect our authors, readers, store owners, and libraries—all across the globe! This year, even while apart, we can all be Together Under the Moon.

Join us for the inaugural LlewellynCon, an entire week’s worth of virtual talks, presentations, and Q&As with some of your favorite authors! Visit our LlewellynCon 2020 Event Page to view the full schedule of author presentations, sign up for our giveaways, and let us know where to send your LlewellynCon2020 decal sticker.

You can also visit our LlewellynCon 2020 Event on Crowdcast to save your (free!) spot for the event.

Join Us for the Inaugural Llewellyn’s LunaCon, a Full Week of Author Talks, Giveaways, and More!

June 12, 2020 – June 19, 2020

Llewellyn has a long history with conventions, most notably our Gnosticon festivals held in the 1970s. At the present time, with travel and in-person events not able to be held, we wanted to connect our authors, readers, store owners, and libraries—all across the globe! This year, even while apart, we can all be Together Under the Moon.

Join us for the inaugural Llewellyn’s LunaCon, an entire week’s worth of talks, presentations, and Q&As with some of your favorite authors! Visit our LunaCon 2020 Event Page to view the full schedule of author presentations, sign up for our giveaways, and let us know where to send your LunaCon2020 decal sticker.

You can also visit our LunaCon 2020 Event on Crowdcast to save your (free!) spot for the event.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Katrina Rasbold, author of Crossroads of Conjure and the new Sacred Art of Brujería.

When you explore the fascinating folk magic systems of Appalachian Granny Magic, HooDoo, and Brujería, you find a wide array of interesting curios used for their magical properties. Here are twenty-six of them as we go through the Conjure alphabet!

A: ALLIGATOR FEET – An amulet for money drawing and gambling.

B: BUCKEYES – An amulet for male energy. (Cowrie shells for female energy).

C: CASCARILLA – Ground eggshells used to create protective boundaries.

D: DEVIL’S CLAW – A root used for exorcism and protection from evil.

E: EGGS – For cleansing and purification. Rub an unbroken, raw egg over the body to remove spells, curses, hexes, and entities.

F: FEATHERS (CHICKEN) – Black especially, used to create boundaries.

G: GRAVEYARD DIRT – For protection and to create endings and peaceful resolution to situations.

H: HAG STONES – To see through the veil. Sacred to the Cailleach. Invokes Crone energy and wisdom.

I: INCENSES – Scents create change and empower sacred space.

J: JACK-BALLS: – Part poppet and part mojo bag, used to curse a victim.

K: KEYS (SKELETON) – Opens or locks doors in your life, create opportunity, release the past.

L: LADY BUG BEADS/HUAYRURO – Invokes good luck and prosperity.

M: MOJO BAGS – Called “bolsitas” in Brujería. Containing herbs, oils, tokens, stones, charms, and other items to lend power to the intent of the bag. Carry with you or in your pillowcase.

N: NAILS (IRON) – To anchor a protective boundary.

O: OILS – Use to “fix” candles, anoint people or things, and to feed mojos or jacks.

P: POPPETS – For remote magic, represents person as a target for remote spell work.

Q: QUARTZ CRYSTAL – Regulates energy pulses.

R: ROOSTER FEET (PRESERVED) – A protection amulet. Place on your altar or hang by your door.

S: SNAKE SHEDS – Facilitates transition, to “shed one’s skin.” Put into a transformative Witch’s Bottle, a mojo, or in candle fixings.

T: TONKA BEANS – Smell sweet & draw in romantic love.

U: UNCROSSING BATH, OTHER BATHS – Steep in oils, herbs, and salts to bring about your goals.

V: VELAS – Fixed candles or prayer candles, burned to support a specific goal.

W: WASHES, WATERS – Examples are 4 Thieves Vinegar, Chinese Wash, Holy Water, and Florida Water. Used to cleanse and empower you, your home, or your working tools.

X: CROSSROADS DIRT – Use Crossroads Dirt to move easily between the worlds and to make decisions.

Y: YOUR BODY LEAVINGS – These identify YOU and attach your signature to a magical work. If you want to target someone else, use their body leavings, such as hair, toenails, body fluids, etc.

Z: ZOOLOGICAL PARTS, BONES, ETC. – Instills the attributes and energy of the animal into a magical work.

Whew! This is not nearly all the amazing array of curios used in the various folk magic practices, but it is certainly some of the most useful ones! I hope you found some new ones to try in your own magical work.

Our thanks to Katrina for her guest post! For more from Katrina Rasbold, read her article, “Healing Energy Magic.”

 

We are proud to bring our readers our tenth annual tarot catalog! Discover the newest in tarot offerings from Llewellyn, Lo Scarabeo, and Blue Angel, plus get free shipping on US orders over $30 and 20% savings when you order online with the promo code TAROT20! Hurry, savings good through 8/1/20!

Fearless Tarot: How to Give a Positive Reading in Any Situation

Elliot Adam

As of this writing, which is late March 2020, things are very chaotic and we are living with a lot of unpredictability. In his forthcoming book, Fearless Tarot, Elliot Adam shows us different faces of challenging cards so that we can better understand and work with them. Doing this can also prepare us for life by teaching excellent lessons.

Enjoy this excerpt from the forthcoming Fearless Tarot:

10 The Wheel of Fortune

“Making peace with life’s unpredictability.”

The Wheel of Fortune symbolizes unpredictable events, both considered fortunate and unfortunate. These are the events that occur with seeming randomness. They leave you feeling as if you have no control over them. The figures on the turning wheel illustrate that life moves in cycles where it brings periods of feeling on top of the world (like the sphinx), and other times when you feel down and out (the descending snake and Anubis, the God of the Egyptian Underworld). Chaotic and unplanned things do occur in life. The rim of the wheel represents the external world with all its chaotic unpredictability. The center of the wheel represents your center, the seat of your best self. If you can find you way home to your center, then the random things that occur in the world outside of your control will not feel as disturbing.

Are you stuck at the rim of the wheel, rising or falling with each unexpected event in your life that happens? Can you take unexpected events in stride, or are you rigid and inflexible? Do you panic when something doesn’t go exactly according to plan?

The Wheel of Fortune floats amid the clouds, the domain of the element of Air. The sphinx, symbolizing all that is mysterious and unknowable, is seated on top of the wheel wielding a sword. The sword and the cloud imagery represent the element of Air and symbolize the powers of the mind to find the patterns in seemingly random occurrences. We do this every time we chaotically shuffle tarot cards and identify the patterns laid out in front of us. The mind organizes data through patterns. Amid the Hebrew letters around the wheel are four English letters: T-A-R-O. If read clockwise, starting and ending at the top of the wheel they spell “TAROT.” If you begin reading the letters at the bottom of the wheel clockwise, they spell “ROTA” (Latin for wheel). The Wheel of Fortune can reveal patterns in seemingly random occurrences.

In her book, “Following Your Path,” Alexandra Collins Dickerman perceived the rim of the Wheel of Fortune as a metaphor for the changeable external world. If you wrap up your whole identity and self-worth with what everybody “out there” thinks at the rim of the wheel, then you will be doomed to emotionally rise and fall with each acceptance or rejection you receive. However, if you can reconnect with your center (symbolized by the hub of the wheel), you can remain centered, without taking the chaotic ups and downs of life personally. When you operate from your center life no longer feels random, and you can control the direction of the wheel of your life.

When the Wheel of Fortune appears, it is time to get off the emotional roller coaster and detach from external dramas. Staying fixed at the edge of the wheel can get emotionally exhausting rather quickly. The truth is we don’t have complete control of every life event that occurs. Sometimes bad or unfair things just happen. Other people have free will and can also act unpredictably. Good things can happen to awful people, and terrible things can happen to good people. Some people win the lottery without having done anything to deserve it. Others get hurt, through no fault of their own. In life, events rarely go exactly according to plan. These occurrences are outside of our control. However, you do have the ability to control how you respond to life. You can either choose to let your best self handle the situation, or the part of you that harbors fear.

The Wheel of Fortune appears when it’s time to take unexpected things in stride. Good or bad. Fair or unfair. Don’t take random events in life personally. All you have control over is you and your chosen response. Choose to respond with excellence. Reclaim your connection with your wise center. Sit peacefully within the eye of the storm. View your current situation with the higher awareness that resides within you. If you are centered, you will operate from a place of great personal power. The Wheel of Fortune foretells good luck for those who find their way back to their center.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Tanya Carroll Richardson, author of Angel Insights, Angel Intuition, and the new Are You An Earth Angel?.

One of the most interesting aspects of traditional book publishing is the long lead time—a writer and editor might come up with the idea for a book and excitedly begin working on it years before the official pub date. That was the case with my new book, Are You An Earth Angel?, which will be published on June 8, 2020. Yet I began working on this book with the editors at Llewellyn in November of 2018! A writer expects nothing less than magic when collaborating with Llewellyn, and this book about sensitive, compassionate people who love to give and be of service to others seems to have been magically born into the world at a time when it’s needed most.

Earth angels are not only very sensitive to the energy and emotions of others, they feel happiest and most on purpose when they are helping to alleviate the suffering of others. If you’re an earth angel with a mission similar to that of divine angels—supporting humans, spreading hope, acting mercifully—you are getting plenty of chances right now to live your earth angel mission. It might be as a first responder in a hospital, as an essential worker in a grocery store, as a counselor or healer working with clients remotely, as a friend or family member supporting loved ones emotionally, as a parent keeping children busy and entertained, or simply as someone spreading a little kindness and generosity when interacting with a stranger in person or on social media. It’s also an ideal time to learn about the special self-care techniques and boundaries earth angels need so they don’t go into earth angel burnout.

If you’re curious about earth angels, know that you don’t have to change your job or move cities or even change your meditation style to align more with your inner earth angel. It’s simply a way you move through the world and a special intention you bring to anything you do. Nonjudgmental, naturally optimistic earth angels often delight in the smaller moments in life and find great meaning in them. I hope discovering this book, Are You An Earth Angel?, is one of those moments for you.

Our thanks to Tanya for her guest post! For more from Tanya Carroll Richardson, read her article, “10 Self-Care Practices for Earth Angels.”

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Tammy Mastroberte, author of the new Universe Is Talking to You.

The Universe, our angels, guides, and loved ones on the other side are always communicating with us. They are sending us signs to guide us, reassure us, and in some cases, re-route us when we make a wrong turn.

However, so many people are missing these gifts being sent, and I’ve found there are two big reasons why this might be happening—too much chaos and saying no to the signs that come. Here they are, along with my remedies for each one:

Too Much Chaos: Whether you have no children or six children, are single or have a partner, work from home or work outside the house, you likely have some type of chaos in your life. In fact, thanks to social media and the Internet, we can now tune into other people’s chaos on a national or global scale.When you are juggling your to-do list, responsibilities, and a million other things demanding your attention during the day, this distracts you from what is going on around you. It takes you out of the present moment—which is where the signs are happening!REMEDY: 60-Second Retreat Breaks

At least three times per day (set an alarm on your phone) and at any moment you start to feel overwhelmed and stressed, take a 60-Second Reset Break. Close your eyes and focus on your breath, as you repeat the word “Release” for 60-seconds. You can also repeat, “All is well. I am safe.” Then return back to whatever task you were working on. This brings you back into the present moment and diffusing any stress that has built up in your body and mind.
Saying “No” to Signs: Have you ever seen something that reminds you of a loved one who passed, and then questioned it? Have you ever come across an answer you were looking for out of the blue and called it a coincidence?Most of us are getting signs and not recognizing them as the Universe or a loved one, and this is putting a huge roadblock in the way of getting more. You have to start saying “yes” to the signs and synchronicities coming your way so that you can open the door for more. It sounds obvious, but most people question signs or coincidences instead of celebrate them, and it makes a big difference!REMEDY: The next time you see something that reminds you of a loved one, such as their name, birthday, or favorite flower, accept the sign and let them know you received it. And the next time something seems “coincidental” remember there are no coincidences or accidents in this world. Everything is leading you somewhere and the Universe is answering your requests with signs and synchronicity. And if you are really unsure if it’s a sign, simply ask for another one. When you ask, it will always be sent.

Our thanks to Tammy for her guest post! For more from Tammy Mastroberte, read her article “How to Recognize Signs from the Universe (And Your Loved Ones in Spirit).”

Who doesn’t love a mini deck? Okay, some might not…but if you do, we’ve released four of our wonderful decks in a mini format. Here’s a picture comparing the regular edition to the mini edition (Everyday Witch Tarot):

Here are the minis:

Steampunk Mini

Everyday Witch Mini

Llewellyn’s Classic Tarot

Linestrider Mini

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Kerri Connor, author of the new Wake, Bake & Meditate.

As I sit down to write this blog, I am on day 14 of sheltering in place. The same conditions that entitle me to a medical cannabis card in my state are the same conditions that put me into a high-risk category for the corona virus. At this point, 21 states have been closed down and President Trump is expected to attempt to re-open the United States by April 12th. By the time this blog appears online, there will have been many more changes, more infections, and more deaths as the past few weeks have already shown us.

I point this out, so it is clear, I am aware of where we are at in this world. It is a confusing, scary, uncertain time.

When crisis hits, many people turn to their faith and spirituality for comfort. I admit, I was slow to do that myself.

Instead, I watched the news. I still medicated. I still got high. But while still in shock at what has been happening around me, I forgot to take a moment to look at what was happening inside of me.

Meditation is not only a great way to calm and ground, it helps set us straight. With everything so frantic and serious, we need to give our bodies and minds the chance to rest and recover from boosted adrenaline and heightened emotions. Smoking a bowl calms my nerves. Meditating and asking the universe for guidance, calms my fears, and lets me know that while change is necessary and death is a part of change, we are ever evolving. Hitting a peak experience, my deities ensure me there is a future, a beautiful one at that, it will just take us a while to get there. This isn’t to say what is happening now isn’t awful, it truly is, but for many people, life will still go on afterwards and it will be up to the survivors to pick up the pieces.

I believe in the future we will look back at this as a turning point in our history. A turning point in which we finally realized the true importance of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that these should be afforded to all people.

This is our reset. It is our second chance. It is a defining point not only in our humanity, but in our spirituality. We are going to find better ways to do things, and overall—a better way to simply be.

Take some time out of your day, meditate on what changes you can make in your life now to help ensure a more peaceful, loving, and complete future.

When this crisis is over, we have two options. We can go back to the way things were just a few weeks ago. Or, we can make the choice to do more.

To be more.

Our thanks to Kerri for her guest post! For more from Kerri Connor, read her article “Creating Ritualized Meditation with Cannabis.”