Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 35

Congratulations to Daily Writing Resilience and Bryan Robinson, winner of the 2018 New York City Big Book Award (Writing and Publishing Category)!



The NYC Big Book Awards are for independent authors and publishers as well as big and small presses.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Robert Butera, PhD and Jennifer Kreatsoulas, PhD, authors of the new Body Mindful Yoga.

Hundreds of descriptive names exist for the eyes, nose, teeth, legs, feet, arms, ears, hips, stomach, and more. As kids, we are often given nicknames based on our physical features, usually the awkward or “imperfect” ones. Some of our childhood nicknames make us smile, and others sting. We could ask you to mentally name a few parts of your body that cause you embarrassment or a few of your “imperfect” features that have been nicknamed by others (or yourself). You can probably name them very quickly. We know we can name ours!

Sometimes the labels we receive stick with us, making us self-conscious about our nicknamed imperfections. Or we might have been given nicknames based on positive qualities that we are also self-conscious about. Either way, if we’ve internalized these nicknames in certain ways, we can feel bad about certain body parts or features.

One of the most profound ways we lose hold of our personal power is through our language, especially when we negate instead of affirm, belittle instead of empower, chastise instead of validate ourselves. Our language is everything: it shapes our reality, reinforces our body image, and reflects how we feel about ourselves. How we absorb or internalize others’ words and how we speak to ourselves directly impacts our body image and self-esteem.

One powerful way to release the hold of body part nicknames is to make your uniqueness your physical fashion statement. Every part of you is unique. Every part of every living thing is unique. If unique is in, then we all win, all the time, all day, all year, for the rest of our lives.

So, let’s go with this perspective: Unique is in. To help you internalize this new belief, consider the statements below. Each one focuses on the archetypal power of a variety of body parts to help you see all aspects of yourself as divinely unique and amazing.

My head is shaped perfectly to hold my brilliant brain.
My ears are amazing capturers of sound waves.
My eyes present the outside world in 3D color.
My neck permits my head to move to and fro.
My tongue facilitates digestion, swallowing, and speech.
My smile and facial expressions communicate joy to the world.
My shoulders anchor my arms and sturdy my back.
My core muscles keep my body erect.
My hips anchor my body.
My thighs give me power.
My knees provide adaptability.
My feet connect me to the earth.
My legs and glutes represent my power and strength.
My body is wise.

To free yourself from dis-empowering attitudes related to nicknames and other areas of your life that cause you to question your self-worth or struggle with body image, practice integrating these types of affirming statements into your internal dialogue and conversations with others. By purposefully using language that values your unique qualities and acknowledges the expanse of your body’s natural wisdom, you will learn to validate yourself and affirm your body. The nicknames of old (and present) will lose their power, freeing you to be the unique individual you are.

Our thanks to Jennifer and Bob for their guest post! For more from Bob Butera and Jennifer Kreatsoulas, read their article, “No Pain, No Gain? 3 Body-Mindful Practices to Get Yourself Off of the Hamster Wheel.”

Tarot Inspired Life by Jaymi Elford

Jaymi Elford doesn’t just love tarot, she lives it and, in this book,, she teaches you how to weave tarot through your life and your life through tarot. This has two huge benefits. First, it helps you learn the cards, or to learn them more deeply, and, second, it enriches your life through practical application and experiential techniques. From every aspect of reading to arts and crafts to magical activities to spiritual practices, Jaymi covers all the bases. Any tarot lover will find tons of inspiration.

 

One of my favorite activities she teaches is how to make a tarot pocket shrine. But the instructions are lengthy, so you’ll have to check out the book for that. Another daring activity she shares is personalizing your tarot deck:

Personalizing  a Tarot Deck

Tarot decks come in many sizes and shapes. There are miniaturized decks requiring a magnifying glass to view the images clearly and cards so large they require a wall to perform a reading. Personalizing your deck can be as simple as making your deck smaller, or enlarging it to fit your hands. In this section, we’ll explore the art of resizing your deck through cutting and trimming.

Tarot decks are as sacred as you want them to be. Taking scissors or a trimmer to a prized deck isn’t for everyone. There’s a large movement within the community who are willing to get crafty with their decks. Some remove the borders. In order to resize your deck, you’ll need the following items:

A deck to resize. Borders can be culled from any deck. Do use caution when you’re cutting rare or expensive decks. If you’re not precise in your slices, then the card backs can look awkward. Practice on used decks, or mock ups printed out at home. Don’t go ruining prized possessions.
A paper cutter. Buy one with a sharp edge. I prefer Fiskers brand paper cutters carried by many art supply stores.
A corner rounder. Unless you’re fine with sharp corners on your cards, you’ll want one of these handy punches. These vary by style and shape. Do some research before purchasing one. Make sure the rounder can cleanly cut through the deck’s card stock.
For accurate measures and drawing straight lines.

Practice using your tools before you make the first cut on a card. I’m a perfectionist so I use a ruler and measure the width and length of the cards. (Measure twice and cut once!) Use those spare cards which come with most decks to test your first trims. Mark the borders off with the ruler and then trim using your paper cutter. Does the backside please you? Then move onto cutting the other cards in the deck. You are free to pray or hold your breath as you try this out.

When all the cards are trimmed, use the corner rounder to round each card’s edge.

Once all the corners are rounded, take the resized deck for a test drive. Shuffle and do some test readings.

Did you trim the cards to remove the names and numbers off? You can add them back using Sharpie pens or other permanent markers. Further modify your deck by adding glitter, repainting areas with acrylic inks, or use permanent stamp ink on the card edges to give them a weathered look.

Maybe you want your cards bigger. I have a few options for you as well.

Paste a card onto cardboard cut to fit the size you want. You can decorate the new border to fit your style. Make sure you use glue designed to keep the card adhered to the cardboard. When finished, round off the corners, or get the deck laminated.

Buy plastic card holders from online trading card stores. I have never done this, but I do know they come in many different sizes. You can find ones with graphics printed on their backs.

 

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Vannoy Gentles Fite, author of the new Essential Oils for Emotional Wellbeing.

Essential oils have been used throughout history in conjunction with sacred rituals and ceremonies. I feel I can’t begin to fully embrace a ritual or practice until I have my diffuser going with a blend of spiritually enhancing aromas wafting throughout my room. When I get a hint of cedarwood in the air, my mind instantly turns to meditation.

Using essential oils is as easy as knowing which oils work best for which practice. For meditation, I like to use either cedarwood, chamomile, clary sage, frankincense, helichrysum, hyssop, lavender, or vetiver. Using the diffuser manufacturer’s directions, add the water and oil of your choice to the diffuser and begin your meditation. You will notice that the scent of the oil helps to relax your thoughts and you feel more grounded so that you can enter that sacred space.

I make a blend of essential oils in spray bottles that I use when I just want to feel connected to my Higher Spirit—during prayer, rituals, ceremonies, rites, or gratitude practice. I spray the room I am going to have my practice in, light my candles, and I am ready to open myself up to the universe. I make these spray blends consisting of about 2 ounces of water, 3 drops of vitamin E oil and either 15-20 drops of angelica, cedarwood, fennel, frankincense, myrrh, rose, or sandalwood. Sometimes I like to make a combination of two or three of the oils. I shake the bottle well before each usage, and it lasts about 3 months. Ensure that you label and date the bottle, because if you’re anything like me, you will soon have a whole collection of blends.

For an overall night of spiritual dreams and contentment I make a powder that I can sprinkle on my bed sheets and pillows. These oils induce calm, peaceful, and spiritual dreams. I take ¼ cup cornstarch, put it in a big bowl and whisk it with 5 drops each of angelica, frankincense, clary sage, and melissa. I pour it into a mason jar, with holes punched in the lid. I sprinkle this on the bed linens each time I change the sheets. It is a wonderful, lulling aroma. I put a bit of plastic wrap between the ring and the lid to prevent accidental spillage. This is enough powder to last several months.

Since ancient days these same oils have been used to connect people with their faith during rituals, and we can use the exact same methods today. Using essential oils has been a part of my self-improvement routine daily for many years. We each have a spiritual path that we walk, and we all have our own journeys to face. Using essential oils to bring about connectedness is a great way to stay on your course and increase your potential to make the most of your spiritual endeavors.

Our thanks to Vannoy for her guest post! For more from Vannoy Gentles Fite, read her article, “Five Ways to Use Essential Oils for Emotional Wellbeing.”

Tarot Correspondences by T. Susan Chang

This is a book we’ve been looking for for quite a while now. It is far more than a collection of tables of correspondences. It is also a guide to getting the most out of using them. Chang explains in the introduction:

Correspondences are friend to the imagination, not its enemy

I believe correspondences don’t just reveal why we see the images we do in each card—they are also a fertile place to plant the seed of our own interpretations. ey are a language which blossoms in the presence of a rich and exible imagination.

As tarot readers, we are the caretakers of a living language of pictures, one we use every day to help ourselves and others in our passage through life. It’s a language that evolves every day we use it, and its vocabulary is as deep and rich as we’re willing to make it. e better we speak tarot, the better readers we become … and the less o en we come up dry in a reading.

As readers, we’re always looking for more in each card, digging for treasure to share with those we read for, hunting for wisdom for ourselves. is is true whether you’ve been reading for two months or forty years: by expanding the language, the imagery, the metaphors we associate with each card, we join them up with our own lived experience.

Divination and Magic: the role of the correspondences in each

Divination and magic are kissing cousins. It’s as if we go to the same place to do different work. If it’s a library, the diviner is the kind of reader who goes there to browse and read and hunt for information—knowledge for its own sake. The magician is the patron who takes out books to use as a tool—knowledge as a weapon and utensil for creating change. If it’s a garden, the diviner tells you when and where to plant and what pests you must deter; the magician plants the seed and harvests the crop when it has grown to maturity.

If I had to choose a single metaphor to describe the place where both divination and magic occur, I’d call it the backstage of reality—its blueprint, map, or foundation. When you do a reading you look at the map, figure out where you’re going, decide on the best route between point A and point B, determine whether point B is really where you want to go in the first place, and consider what obstacles you’re likely to face getting there. When you do magic, you redraw the map so that point A is now a short hop from point B, rather than a three-day slog.

Each method can bene t from the other. What good does it do the magician to take a shortcut if the destination turns out to be a terrible place to be? What good does it do the diviner to have the perfect plan if action does not follow? Neither fate nor free will completely rules our lives.

So, if you think of yourself mainly as a reader, never forget that magic—essentially the power to change your path—is always available to you. And if you are a magician, never forget that divination—essentially, the power of navigation—is a vital part of every shortcut.

The correspondences are the keys to getting backstage, like the passcode that unlocks the GPS. Suppose you draw the Empress, complete with a retinue of correspondences that includes the goddess Venus, the color green, the day Friday, bees, doves, roses, and swans. As a reader, you’ll your mind with these associations. And whatever the question—Will my business grow? Can I become pregnant? What do I need more of in my life?—you can be sure that somewhere in that garden of details is the answer.

As a magician, you don’t stop at answers. You instead invite the Empress to take charge of your affairs (or one part of them). You call her on her day, at her hour, in her dignity and with her to- kens, and you ask her for her help, please, in bringing love or peace or wealth into your life. Then you thank her, leave the room, close the door behind you … and you don’t look back.

 

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by T. Susan Chang, author of the new Tarot Correspondences.

A lot of tarot readers draw a Card of the Day. It’s a great practice, whether you do it for prediction, advice, encouragement, warning, learning, or simply for fun. But what if you thought of your Card of the Day not just as divination (where you get information about the future), but as magic (where you act to change future outcomes)?

A few years ago, I started writing a spell based on my cards each morning. It was fun, like writing the tiniest poem ever. But as I grew into the practice I began to realize that the spell was more than entertaining—it was powerful.

Drawing a card is a lot like life. There are things you can’t control: for example, the card you draw is random, and if you’re a true tarot reader you accept it no matter what it is. But then there are things you can control: what the card means is up to you. The cards talk to you—but the spell lets you talk back. The cards say, “Here’s how things are.” The spell says, “I’d like to negotiate!” And there is always room for negotiation.

Even on days you draw the Tower, or the 10 of Swords, or both (which has happened to me), you get to choose what you make of them. A symbol gains its power from perception, and perception is driven by intent, and your intent belongs to you alone.

Write a spell in the morning, and it will act as a compass, a shield, and a map for you for the whole day. If things are starting to go sideways, you can recite the spell—you can even modify it—and see if things get better.

Now, how do you go about creating this powerful talisman?

Choose a format. You can do couplets, haiku, rhymed, unrhymed, proverbs, mottos—it doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s long enough to evoke a picture and short enough to kind of remember. I like to do two-line spells, personally.
Write it in the present. As with all magic, it’s best to phrase your intention in the present tense rather than the future, to make the outcome more real. (If I say “I will plant a garden,” that means the garden-planting is taking place in the future, not now…and at the end of the day that will still be true). There are even some who argue your magical writings should be phrased in the past, as already accomplished.
Keep it concrete. If you use abstract ideas (like manifestation, transformation, balance), you’ll get a pretty vague sort of spell. Our magical self works in metaphors. I find that very concrete spells that appeal to the senses work well. They’re open to interpretation and hard to forget.

Chances are there are symbols in the card you can use as building blocks. But you can use tarot correspondences—elements, astrology, numbers, Kabbalah, music, gemstones, whatever you like, to come up with the keywords.

 

For example, the Empress is associated with earth, Venus, roses, bees, sparrows, copper, green, pink, swans, clovers, the night, vanilla, strawberries, sandalwood, roses, the number 3, and doors.

So if I were to draw her card, I might write something like,

As bees seek out the scented rose

My way through copper doorways flows.

Or maybe:

The sparrow flies through doors of night.

Soft her wing and sure her flight.

You now carry this image in your mind—an image of ease and sweetness, ready to pour its grace into your work, your love life, and any other journeys of mind or body that you take today.

Even if you get a card that’s a lot tougher to work with than the Empress—say, the 10 of Swords—you still get to put a word in with fate about how you want it to show up in your life. Here’s one I wrote for the 10 of Swords earlier this year:

In the last days of the Twins,

One story ends, and one begins.

Where can I find out more about these amazing correspondences? My book, Tarot Correspondences, has dozens of charts detailing every correspondence I could come up for every card. There’s also a chapter on tarot magic where you can learn more about spells and other techniques that use the correspondences.

The point is, the Card of the Day is just a raw ingredient. Chop it, simmer it, bake it, season it—and at the end of the day, you’ll have a fate you can consume with gusto.

Our thanks to Susie for her guest post! For more from T. Susan Chang, read her article, “Backwards Tarot: Stop Memorizing and Just Read Your Plain Old Life.”

Complete Book of Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot by Sasha Graham

Recently we posted about Stuart Kaplan’s generous foreword to this remarkable work. Keeping with the theme of beginnings, let’s look at how Sasha’s investigations into the creators of this deck shaped her ideas about the Fool. This book isn’t just a triple biography (Waite, Smith, and Kaplan) but also a close examination of the creation and meaning of the deck itself and an in-depth study of the symbols in each card.

The Fool

“Stories can be sung, some painted, some written in poetry or prose. But all stories can be told, and told so that every human being can understand them.”

~ PCS The Evening statesman. (Walla Walla, Wash.), 27 Feb. 1907. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

Sacred

The Fool is infused with the energy of dawn and the possibility of a new day. He walks in pure optimism. The Fool brings life as he stands at the fore of unfolding consciousness. The Fool is so pure, fresh, he carries the number of ultimate potentiality, zero. He is the human soul manifest and aware of itself in the material world. He is so fresh that he does not think ahead of himself or place pre-conceived judgments on the world around him. The Fool is the state of the soul as it enters the world.

Waite says of the Fool, “He is the spirit in search of experience.” Waite could be describing each of us. Aren’t we all searching for experience? Existence is the lesson teaching us who we are. The Fool’s journey is the adventure shaping each and every one of us on the planet. Every day brings us possibilities and opportunities ranging the spectrum from pleasant to challenging. The Fool greets every experience head on. Doing so, the experience tempers who the Fool becomes as he travels through the tarot and down the road of life.

The Fool is a clearing house of the senses. He is perception, feeling and experience. He is the way in which he individual organizes the world inside the body. The Fool looks at the world in pure innocence and without pre-determined labels. He never tires of looking, seeing and observing because the world is continually new under his step.

The Fool contains every card of the tarot deck inside of him the same way you are the unique container for personal life experience. An individual’s life appears to occur outside because we view others from an external viewpoint. Life, however, occurs within each individual’s interior life. Individual consciousness processes events, happenings and relationships on the inside, not out. Buddha says, “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

The Fool is the first card of the RWS deck. The number zero connects the Fool to the World card, acting as like a jewelry clasp between cyclical ending and the beginning. The Fool’s placement in tarot has changed over the decades. Ancient decks carried an un-numbered Fool. 18th and 19th century decks placed the Fool between Judgment and the World. The Golden Dawn placed the Fool at the front of the Major Arcana. This action allowed the corresponding astrology to line up with the cards. The most usable Tarot deck of the 20th Century was born.

Waite speaks to the Fool’s expression when he says, “His countenance is full of intelligence and expectant dream.” His statement reminds us the Fool is not a simpleton. The Fool is an energetic creature who desires stimulation and adventure. Waite calls him, “A prince of the other world.” The other world is the invisible world. The Fool passed through the veil from supernatural to natural, from subconscious to the conscious. Waite says “The sun, which shines behind him, knows whence he came, whither he is going, and how he will return by another path after many days.” Waite’s statement posits the Sun as the source of all life and magic. Waite speaks of the kabalistic journey of emergence and return when he states the Fool will return by another path. The Tree of Life’s paths are each connected to specific Tarot cards. The journey of emergence begins at the top of the Tree and moves downward until the soul, idea or thing, is made manifest in the material world. The journey of return occurs as the Fool moves back up the Tree to convene with the divine energy pouring though the top of the tree. Like the child who grows up and leaves home only to return home as a fully formed adult, so will the Fool move forth into the unknown to discover who he is.

Fool’s tunic displays ten circles. The circles represent the ten emanations (sephiroth) on the Hebrew Tree of Life. These emanations or circles connect the major arcana’s kabalistic paths. A careful examination of the circles reveals an eight spoked wheel inside each circle. Just as the Pentacle’s star represents four elements and the human spirit, the eight spoked wheel represents the Golden Dawn’s symbol for spirit.

A red feather sprouts from the Fool’s cap. Historically, a feather marks the Fool. The Visconti Sforrza deck’s Fool carried a slew of red feathers in his hair. Ancient Italian and Christian art used the feather, particularly peacock feathers, as symbols of immortality. The RWS deck’s placement of a red feathers on the Fool, Death and Sun card strings together the narrative of occult expression. The three cards are intimately connected. The Fool’s feather marks the occultist moving through degrees of intitiation and experience. The Fool is emergence, Death signifies rebirth and the Sun card merges the occultist with divinity.

Waite describes the Fool’s reaction to the gaping cliff before him, stating,”The edge which opens on the depth has no terror; it is as if angels were waiting to uphold him.” Innocence protects the Fool. Many interpretations suggests the cliff continues to regenerate under the Fool’s light step. The Fool remains impervious to any danger the cliff represents and represents a person unconcerned with external threats.

The Fool is assigned the Hebrew letter Aleph and the element of Air because he is the “Breath of Life.” The Fool’s dog is drawn in the same shape of the Hebrew letter Aleph, which is considered to be the animating principle of life. Geraldine Beskin, proprietress of the Atlantic Bookshop in London discovered Pamela’s source materiel for the Fool’s dog. The Fool’s dog is none other than Ellen Terry’s favorite pet. Famed actress Ellen Terry took Pamela under her wing after Pamela’s father passed away. In addition to Ellen being the muse for many of Pamela’s cards, so was her favorite pooch.

The Fool carries a bag fastened to the end of a stick. The Fool’s bag reflects the experience he brings with him into his new life. We may be done with the past but is the past done with us? His bag reminds us as new cycles begin, we bring the past with us. Experience and past events may be hidden, even forgotten, yet their imprint remains. The Fool’s bag of experience includes past lives, genetic inheritance, any event an individual has experienced.

The Fool’ walks from right to left. His movement imitates the Hebrew alphabet also written and read from from right to left. The World dancer moves right to receive the Fool’s energy. Only the Death card moves directly into the Fool card reflecting the end of the physical journey and the beginning of the spiritual journey.

The Fool’s left hand holds a white flower, yet he looks in the opposite direction. Does he acknowledge what he holds? Perhaps does not see his gift. Alchemical white reflects purity while flowers represent manifestation. The white flower thus becomes a potent symbol of seeking what already lay within. The Fool (each of us) enters our journey and life cycle innocently. Experience forges us into who we become. Each person we meet, challenge we face, obstacle we overcome, teaches us more about who we are. The Fool’s white flower is the glistening potential inside each and every one of us. It is the pursuit of this flower and the people and places we touch along the way that truly matters. In the end, no matter how wild the journey, we come back to ourselves. Like Dorothy of Oz, we find there is no place like home. The home and flower we sought lay inside us all along.

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7 of Sea (Cups) from the Magical Dogs Tarot by Mickie and Dan Mueller

There are plenty of cat-themed tarot decks and while there have been a few dog-themed decks, we knew there was room for another, especially one based on the Rider Waite Smith tradition with fully scenic minors. Mickie is well-known for her art and her work in tarot. Her co-creator, Dan Mueller, works in veterinary health and knows lots about dogs.

One of my favorites is this Corgi from the 7 of Sea. Who doesn’t love a Corgi?

A pleasant walk through the garden has taken a surprising turn; a Welsh Corgi, a breed known as a faerie dog, has had his daydreams interrupted by a mysterious apparition. Perhaps he is more open to the supernatural realms than most dogs. A simple garden pool has sprouted seven lotus pads, each bearing a different mystical vision; frog, fae, dragonfly, lotus blossom, snake, bone, and crystal sphere, all glowing with a magical light.  Despite the allure, and the illusion of choice, all is not as it first seems, they are no more than a fantasy, but they may serve as inspiration for a true intention and real achievement.

Paws for Thought:

You’ve been dreaming of your golden opportunity, or several to be exact. Dreaming is fine, but it takes real work to forge those dreams into reality. Try to grasp a dream and it will fall to dust, be inspired by that same dream and do the work in the physical realm and you may just hold it in your hands someday. The choice is yours.

Sniffing out the Signs:Illusion, wishful thinking, daydreams, inspiration, pipe dreams, fantasy.

Reversal, When the Dog Rolls Over:

You’re breaking through the confusion now and you’re better able to discern reality from fantasy. Some goals are more achievable than others, and you may have been confused by too many choices. You have now made a decision and have something solid that you can focus on.

Sniffing out the Signs:Clarity returning, discernment, actuality, manifesting dreams.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Nick Redfern, author of Shapeshifters and the new Paranormal Parasites.

The world around us is not as it appears to be. In fact, far from it. As we go about our daily business, working, and living our lives, behind the scenes something dark and dangerous is taking place. And it has been going on since the dawn of civilization. Most people remain oblivious to the truth and don’t even realize it. Now and again, however, someone will stumble upon the startling reality that, potentially, affects and dictates the lives of just about all of us.

What am I talking about?

Nothing less than a monstrous collection of supernatural entities that terrify and torment us, and have done so for millennia. They do far more than that, however: they feed upon us. Like bloated, paranormal leeches, they suck us dry as they seek to fuel themselves with our psychic energy, high states of emotion, sexual energy, and the human life-force. They hate and despise us, but, paradoxically, they cannot live without us.

Extensive data exists that strongly suggests that the human soul, essence, or life-force is something that all of these entities—the vast majority of which exist in states of pure energy, but that can take on just about any form they choose—need to survive. Have you ever woken up, drained and utterly exhausted, from a terrifying nightmare that didn’t seem like just another, regular dream? If the answer is “Yes,” then you may have been “fed” upon by these infernal things. When we sleep, we are at our most vulnerable. And that’s exactly how they want us. A dream is not always a dream, as strange as that might sound. Sometimes it’s an indication that, as you sleep, and as your guard is down, these voraciously hungry monsters are, in essence, eating you.

Among these creatures are the Shadow People: hostile things that typically manifest between 1:00 A.M. and 4:00 A.M. and who have the ability paralyze us and drain our bodies of energy in much the same way that the vampires of folklore would drain people of blood. In fact, such distorted tales of vampirism almost certainly had their origins in the worlds, and actions, of these multi-dimensional things.

Equally dangerous but also part of the equation are what can accurately be termed supernatural seducers: dangerous entities that thrive on sexual energy (such as Orgone Energy, as theorized and documented by Wilhelm Reich). A highly-charged, sexual dream may be deliberately initiated by such things, which, over the centuries, have been referred to as Incubus, Succubus, Lilith, and the Old Hag. Also relevant to this angle is the reason why so many supernatural encounters occur at so-called “Lovers Lane” locations.

Do your utmost to avoid these dangerous creatures.

Our thanks to Nick for his guest post! For more from Nick Redfern, read his article, “When Supernatural Creatures Feed On Us.”

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Sasha Graham, author of Tarot Diva, 365 Tarot Spreads, 365 Tarot Spells, and the new Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot.

Tarot contains a gorgeous internal structure, just like the delicate bones of your human skeleton. Each of us are made up of the same essential body parts from blood to belly, yet who we are, the signature of our soul, the way we inhabit our body, are as unique as the snowflakes in a storm. Individuality graces our skeletons, muscles, and soft internal organs. No two people move in exactly the same way; even identical twins are different.

Tarot’s structure is so well organized and simple that a multitude of spiritual systems and themes can be placed on top of it and make perfect sense. Tarot and yoga can be seamlessly intertwined and become a powerful force of transformation and evolution. Tarot and yoga are both “practices” that aid your soul in its unfolding itself. Tarot is a visual practice, operating symbolically and inspiring the reader’s creative imagination and intuition, while yoga is a physical practice where the student moves the body through postures called asanas. Each push us forward in unexpected ways and unleash possibilities we can scarcely imagine.

Tarot and yoga both allow the practitioner to carve out sacred space amidst the daily noise and distraction of day-to-day life. The practices often, but not always, involve the use of sacred objects such as incense, candles and a dedicated space. A tarotist clears and quiets the mind as she draws cards. A yogi settles down and focuses on the breath to quiet the mind at the beginning her practice. Both tarot and yoga reflect life as a constant state of flow. In yoga we move from one asana or pose to the next while in tarot, the cards move in numerical sequence, the minors from ace thru ten and back around. The majors run from zero (Fool) to twenty-two (the World) and back again.

My newest Llewellyn offering, Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, examines the occult associations placed on tarot as understood and expressed by Arthur Waite and Pamela Colman Smith. These associations include the Kabalistic Tree of Life, Astrology, Numerology, Egyptian symbolism, Freemansonry, Alchemy, and Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn techniques and ideas.

Inside Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, I place a yoga asana alongside each of the major arcana cards. It was exciting, although not surprising, to discover so many associations and similarities between asanas and major arcana archetypes. The deeper you dive and the closer you look at anything, the more similar it becomes. Especially in matters of spirit, mystery and creativity. Yoga asanas imitate the archetype of animals (ex. Down Dog) and objects (ex. Boat Pose). One can hold an asana while breathing and meditating on the lessons of the pose just as we may contemplate a tarot card. Placing a yoga asana with each major arcana card offers the tarot reader an opportunity to experience and embody the archetype in a fresh, new way. Readers are who are used to entering the cards via guided meditation or role playing in a classroom or workshop situation will find a new way of embodying the cards through yoga postures. Combining asanas with the majors, and calling the major archetypes to mind while inside the postures is a powerful new way to embody the eternal lesson of archetype. It also merges the archetype with chakras, breath, and motion, thereby filling them and yourself with energy and the universal life force.

Our thanks to Sasha for her guest post! For more from Sasha Graham, read her article, “Using the Tarot to Understand Your Self and Your Divinity.”