Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 62

As we study the cards, we realize that each card has many meanings. A common question is “how do you know which meaning to use in a reading?”

Mary K. Greer’s book, 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card is fantastic for lots of reasons. It is interactive, it helps you get involved in your cards, it leads through a journey of self-discovery as well understanding tarot. It is also packed with gems that can help anyone hone their reading skills.

In fact, in it, she answers that question “how do I know which meaning?” She writes:

The Giveaways to Meaning

How can you know what, out of the many meanings, will be relevant in a particular case? You must combine the rational with the intuitive. Here are some of the body-mind or intuitive giveaways:

Your interest perks up, your attention sharpens, you become more focused
Your body reacts (breath quickens or is held, fingers move, eyes blink, brows raise, shoulder shrugs, toe taps, etc.)
You feel some subtle sensation (warmth, heaviness, brightening, ringing, buzzing, magnetism)
A memory snapshot from your life appears in your mind’s eyes (or your eyes move up and to the left).
A word or phrase “leaps out”
You reread a word several times
You find yourself saying “Yes” or nodding your head
You find yourself emphatically saying “No” (this may also indicate blocking something you’d rather not consider)

The text refers directly to the issue or something that you’ve said

 

With a little practice you’ll know which of these works for you. (As a tarot reader, watch for such signs in both yourself and the querent as you survey the meanings.)

The publishing industry has been changing for a long time now. Publishing can be a very slow behemoth, very conservative. So it was really refreshing and exciting to me to learn that our partner, Lo Scarabeo, is trying something very new. You may have heard that they are running a Kickstarter campaign. You can learn all about it HERE.

Crowdfunding this project makes sense on a few levels. First, the material is not written by one person. Many people contributed to make this work possible. So you will have a wide range of methods and opinions. It has been carefully edited and material added as needed to fill in the gaps and smooth out the various voices. Instead of a collection of pieces by different people, it will read more like a harmony or chorus of voices, still unique but working together to create a harmonious whole. Second, it is really challenging for a publisher to publish a very specialized work and even more difficult to do it as a lovely package, with color, illustrations, complex layout that supports the material. The audience for such a work is so small that it would be hard to sell enough to make it cost effective. By taking this leap of faith, by sharing with the greater tarot community their vision, Lo Scarabeo has established a level of trust and connection, so that their customers are also their co-creators.

The good news is that the project has met its basic funding and it is also only 2500 Euros from its top tier stretch goal.

The first stretch goal includes an extra 32 pages written by myself and an author who pretty everyone loves, Richard Webster. Here is the fun part, and part of what will keep this project in line with tarot in general: Richard and I haven’t written the pages yet, which means the material will be our freshest, newest material to date. And part of what Lo Scarabeo says in their campaign: “Tarot stays a living thing, forever evolving and growing, always new, but never forgetting the old.”

The second stretch goal, also already funded, means that everyone who has contributed at one of the levels that includes a copy of the book gets a specially designed bag (for a tarot deck or whatever else you’d like to keep in it).

The third stretch goal is already funded, too. This adds another 32 pages of material written by Marcus Katz & Tali Goodwin and by Lunaea Weatherstone.

There is still time to support this project and help create tarot publishing history. Contribute now and when the pledges reach 15,000 Euros, the volume will be printed in hardcover.

I am very excited about this project and would love to have it hardcover. I hope you consider supporting Tarot Fundatmentals. That link, again, is HERE.

This weekend, at the North Star Tarot conference, Melani Weber presented a workshop. That workshop was the most fun I’d had in a very long time. And you can re-create the experience at home for yourself alone or for yourself and some friends. The workshop was inspired by Robyn Tisch-Hollister’s Minute Tarot (in which the artist drew each card in one minute).

Melani provided magazine and old books, stamps and ink, stickers and crayons, glue and scissors. She also provided a blank “deck” of 25 card stock “cards.” The cards we are 5 – 7 and we were given 25 in case we made an in surmountable mistake as we created our 22 card Majors Only deck. She also gave us labels, in a variety of fonts, for the card titles. Or in case we wanted to make an additional card, like the ever-popular Happy Squirrel. She even provided alternative numbering, so if we wanted Justice to be 8 and Strength as 11, we could.

We had two hours for the workshop. Twenty-two times five minutes is 1 hour and 50 minutes. So Melani had about ten minutes to explain the concept, which has simple. Make 22 cards, in order, in the time allotted, that is, five minutes per card.

Melani made a play list for each card to inspire us. She said “Fool!” and we started. She gave us warnings, like a 2 minute warning and a 30 second warning. When it was time to move to the next card, you HAD to. She walked around and made sure. In fact, she caught me finishing up the High Priestess when I should have been working on the Empress!

There was not much time to think. It was all pages through images, cutting, gluing, and moving on. After they were done, we set them all out and looked at them and they were all amazing. Some were more polished than others, but each revealed some wonderful facet of truth. They were at the same time intensely personal and incredibly universal. Just like tarot cards should be.

I encourage you to try this at home, alone or with friends. Be very strict on the timing and keep moving. Now there is one rule that I found helpful:

You must move on when time is called. You cannot work ahead. If you finish a card before time is called, you can go back and work on another…but you cannot work ahead.

For me, some cards came together more quickly, so I was able to go back and work on others (such as that darn High Priestess!).

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Frank Baba Eyiogbe, author of the new Babalawo, Santería’s High Priests.

Starting early in the morning on New Year’s Day, every online forum and blog having anything to do with Santería is abuzz with one question: “What is the Letter of the Year from Cuba?” The blog could be about the uses of fruit in Santería, but you’d still see the question in the comments. It is simply THE most awaited event in the Santería calendar. But just what IS this Letter of the Year?

Every year hundreds of babalawos, the high priests of Santería and specialists in divination, gather in Havana, Cuba to perform rituals and make offerings to dozens of “positions” or aspects of nature and to the Orichas for the benefit of the whole world, whether they are in the religion or not. The month of rituals and offerings culminate in the most awaited event of the santeros’ year: the pulling the Letter of the Year. This is the Ifá sign that will rule the year and whose prophesies and advice will be followed by many inside and outside of the religion, as well as which Orichas rule the year. In the last few years, the Letter of the Year has been published in the New York Times, the Associated Press, ABC News, Fox News, and London’s Daily Mail.

This year the “Letter” Baba Eyiogbe rules the year. And just like in a personal Ifá consultation, whether the sign will show its more positive or negative aspects is largely up to us and how well we act and follow advice. If you’re interested in learning more about how Ifá and its 256 signs work, my Llewellyn book Babalawo, Santería’s High Priests goes into much more detail than I could possibly go into here.

This year’s sign, Baba Eyiogbe, warns of earthquakes and rises in the level of the seas and their terrible effects. In 2004, Baba Eyiogbe was the Letter of the Year, and a tsunami hit Asia with the force of 23,000 Hiroshima-size atomic bombs. 2011 was another Baba Eyiogbe year, the year of the Japanese earthquake, the fourth largest in history, and the accompanying tsunami that devastated the Northern part of Japan. Did I mention that Baba Eyiogbe is considered to be a very powerful sign?

Last year the Letter of the Year warned of taking extreme precautions to prevent epidemics, and the Ebola outbreaks showed us why. Baba Eyiogbe predicts the exposure of corruption and hypocrisy as well, such as when WikiLeaks released a huge cache of diplomatic cables exposing massive corruption on a global scale.

But besides warnings of disaster, Baba Eyiogbe is also a sign of great opportunity and spiritual and material abundance, if you behave ethically and follow the advice this Ifá sign gives. The oddun calls upon the heads of the nations of the world to use intelligence instead of force to resolve their issues, and if they do those nations will find 2015 to be a very good year, especially economically. The steps taken by U.S. president Obama and Cuban president Castro to normalize relations are a good example of this, but they need to do even more.

People can also help their personal economies through baths made from ordinary basil, chinaberry (Melia azedarach) and siempre viva (Kalanchoe pinnatum), which can also be used to clean the floors and walls of the house as well. You can find the complete predictions of the Letter of the Year here.

Our thanks to Frank for his guest post! For more from Frank Baba Eyiogbe, read his article “Hacking Life, the Universe, and Everything through Afro-Cuban Ifá, Santería’s High Priesthood.”

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Della Temple, author of the new Tame Your Inner Critic.

Much has been written about visualizing what you want; attracting things and ways of being into your universe via the Law of Attraction. We know that if we can feel it, sense it, see it, then we can manifest it. This is the active part of manifesting your dream life.

But there’s another part, an equally important part, to living a life full of joy, peace, and inner contentedness. This is the receptive part of the equation: being content and satisfied with your life as it is today, with all its ups and downs, goods and bads, blissful moments and emotional valleys. This state of accepting what is and rejoicing in the way things are is what I call the state of havingness—having exactly where you are, right here, right now.

By looking outside for fulfillment, by not being okay with who we are in the present moment, we are coming from the state of lack. We are looking, seeking, craving after something we don’t have. And this state of non-havingness will magnetize to us more of the same: the energy of lack.

Instead, if we realize that we already are all those things we seek, if there is nothing lacking, then we are in the feeling state of abundance, and from there the whole world belongs to us.

This is a difficult concept to grasp because we’ve been taught to go after, to strive, to yearn for that which we don’t have. We’ve been taught that it’s about the doing, the actively seeking, that brings us happiness.

Instead, if our days are filled with thoughts of appreciation, gratitude, prosperity, and abundance, then we send out a strong signal to the Universe: send me events, circumstancesm and people that match my current state of gratitude, appreciation, and prosperity.

That doesn’t mean we can’t want more; that’s still possible. It’s changing the frequency with which we want that’s the key.

Our thoughts and feelings of contentedness, peace, and wholeness magnetize all the material things that represent these feeling states to us. Like attracts like—that’s the miracle. That’s the process of manifesting a life full of purpose and meaning.

So how do we get to the spot of living in feelings of appreciation, gratitude, wholeness, and purpose?

For me, it’s been a gradual process of peeling away the layers of self-doubt, unworthiness, and self-degradation. Learning not to judge myself or others. Allowing me to be me, whatever that is. Living life to the fullest and being the best and highest possible Della. That’s what has allowed me to be content and at peace with what I have right now.

I’ve asked myself many times, “Can I have my current state of being, with all its ups and downs, disappointments and discouragements? Can I have exactly where I am right now, for the rest of my life?”

Think about that for a long moment. Can you have exactly where you are, with all the discomfort you may feel about your financial situation, your job, your relationships, for the rest of your life? Can you stop the striving for that which is outside of you and be content with your current state of your existence?

If you feel deep within your soul that you are exactly where you should be at this moment in time, doing exactly what is best for you, then, right there, in that moment of acceptance—is grace.

That is the miracle. Grace. Grace removes the feelings of lack. Grace is that state of authenticity. It is a non-striving, totally aware, totally creative space of havingness.

This is the key to manifesting all the material things that we want. First we must be content with our life as is. Then as we reach for more, we do so from a place of abundance.

Consider whether it’s time to think about moving away from the striving, craving, and running after, a better life. Instead, consider being content with what is, right here, right now.

Can you make that shift?

Our thanks to Della for her guest post! For more from Della Temple, read her article “Choose Your Thoughts, Choose Your Life.”

As many of you are aware, we are the exclusive North American distributor of Tarot decks from Italian publisher Lo Scarabeo—we could not be more proud to carry their beautiful decks!

And now, we’ve received word that Lo Scarabeo has launched a Kickstarter campaign to support their new trio of Tarot Books, beginning with Tarot Fundamentals.

Tarot Fundamentals will be one of the most complete books ever published about Tarot. (The second and third books, Tarot Experience and Tarot Compendium, respectively, will be released in 2016 pending the success of the first volume.)

Edited and compiled by Sasha Graham, with content by Giordano Berti, Barbara Moore, Mark McElroy, Riccardo Minetti, Marcus Katz, and Tali Goodwin, Tarot Fundamentals contains over 550 pages with all the information needed to approach the magical world of Tarot in all its facets, together with interesting and exclusive material for intermediate and advanced readers. The book is going to be the outcome of what the Tarot community wants; the more money raised, the better the book will be!

Want to be a part of this fabulous Tarot project? Check out the main Kickstarter page of the project for more info, videos, a sample chapter, and pictures—as well as what YOU get for your contribution!

Many times we ask questions of the tarot that only touch the surface of the true issue. Marcus and Tali give a technique that can help dig deeper and provide a fuller, more empowering answer. I like how they are able to pinpoint the word that is really the crux of the matter.

This book, Tarot Face to Face, is filled with many unique and interesting techniques for developing your skills with your deck, with questions, with querents, and with reading for groups or parties as well using tarot to engage life, enhance relationships, and encourage self-discovery.

From Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin’s Tarot Face to Face

Turn a Word into A Spread

If you are performing e-mail readings, you can use a keyword in the querent’s question to design an elegant and relevant spread. Here is an example:

Hello, I am asking about my relationship. I have been married for one year and we are discussing having children. I would like to have a reading because my parents used to say I was too irresponsible to have children and I want to know how my future might be if I do.

Here we would take that highly emotional words, irresponsible, as the main concern in the question. We then look up the etymology of the word in a dictionary or online source. We learn that “irresponsible” comes from “not responsible,” and “responsible” comes from similar ideas like “obligation.” The word “obligation” comes from the Latin and means “to bind.” This of course leads to its later use as meaning “to make someone indebted by conferring a benefit or kindness.”

We take the concepts of indebtedness and kindness and turn them into questions for a straightforward linear spread as follows.

1. What debt does the querent owe her parents?

2. What kindness did the querent learn from her parents?

3. What binds the querent in her attitude toward children?

4. What benefit will the querent be able to give her children?

5. What responsibility will the querent take on?

6. What kindness will her child(ren) bring to her?

You can of course build upon those questions as the cards are placed and you engage in conversation with the spread itself. This can be a very powerful method because it takes much of the expectation for the reading out of your hands and places it, from the querent’s question, directly into dialogue with the cards themselves. Your job is simply to interpret the reading.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Jessica Shepherd, author of The Love Alchemist’s Notebook and the new Venus Signs.

Many of us are familiar with our Sun sign. Astrologically, our Sun represents our ego, and much like central command guiding the starship through the galaxy, our Sun generally thinks it knows exactly what we want. Unfortunately, our able leader sometimes fails to consult the other celestial crew members for their opinions, needs, and desires. When we ignore Venus—Goddess of Laughter and Pleasure, Queen of our Secret Desires and Erotic Pleasures—our world loses its sensual and aesthetic luster. Food loses its flavor, laughter rings hollow. We no longer get a lift from the music, beauty, people, and ideas surrounding us. And without a properly nurtured Venus, our solar ambitions (and New Year’s goals) taste like sawdust.

That’s why, at this time of resolve, we might pay alms to Venus, for it’s Venus who makes our lives meaningfully rich. So, this year, evaluate your list of resolutions for the feelings of: connection, joy, peace, contentment, pleasure, beauty, harmony, and relaxation they will bring you. Here are some resolutions just for your Venus sign.

Venus in Aries: The fire-starter of the zodiac enjoys new everything, including new starts, faces, and places. “I want to experience excitement and newness everyday.”
Venus in Taurus: Earthy and sensual, this Venus de Milo can never get enough time connecting with animal and plant friends. “I want to feel more connected to nature.”
Venus in Gemini: Sociable and curious, the Twins take their pleasure in the company of stimulating minds and novel ideas. “I want to learn something new.”
Venus in Cancer: The moody moon maven delights in home, heart and hearth, and the soul healing a safe sanctuary allows. “This year I create a beautiful home I love.”
Venus in Leo: Dramatic and bold, the Artist and Lover of the Zodiac lives to put her personal signature on everything she does. “This is the year I make an impression.”
Venus in Virgo: The high-energy Virgin enjoys being productive, perfecting herself through craft, art, or cause. “This year I devote my energy to what brings me joy.”
Venus in Libra: Beauty is as beauty does for the Peacemaker who revels in harmonious partnerships. “This is the year I nurture my favorite connections.”
Venus in Scorpio: Deep and true, the Transformer renews herself through periodic reinvention. “By letting go of the past I open to new pleasures, looks, and loves.”
Venus in Sagittarius: The expansive Archer needs new experiences to feel connected and inspired. “I want to take adventures of mind, body and spirit.”
Venus in Capricorn: This self-sufficient, hardworking Venus benefits from scheduled playtime. “I give myself the solitude to work on my creative projects.”
Venus in Aquarius: Fitting in with the in-crowd just won’t work for this outrageous, authentic beauty. “This year I embrace my wildness and weirdness.”
Venus in Pisces: Periodic retreats help this fantasy loving Venus sign plug into infinite Spirit and discover heaven on Earth. “This year I create a spiritual practice.”

Our thanks to Jessica for her guest post! For more from Jessica Shepherd, read her article “Use Venus to Make New Year’s Resolutions That Stick.”

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Debra Robinson, author of A Haunted Life and The Dead Are Watching.

I’ve had so many people over the years, both friends and clients, ask about psychic abilities. They want to know the particulars—how it happens for me, and most importantly, how to do it themselves.

I believe we are all born with abilities, but that they do run stronger in some families. Whether this is due to those families listening to and accepting them (leading to ever-increasing perceptions), or whether there is some genetic predisposition toward them, is really the question for the ages.

Just as some families lean toward producing artistic minds and some scientific minds, I believe awareness of our own abilities can cause them to expand and develop into a sense as important as all others.

What I tell those who ask me is that they need to listen to their “little voice.” This is the gut instinct that, as a child, you got when your friends wanted you to do something you just knew would turn out badly. Most people have stories where they wish they would’ve listened to that little voice!

In my own case, this has turned into a sort of knowing, where information pops into my head, almost as though something is whispered to me. It might be as simple as a yes or no answer, or as complex as being given a name or picture that will be important to someone. The worst thing about this is you must learn to accept what you get, and that you may not always understand what it means at the time you get it! Such are the limitations of true psychic abilities.

When I explain to others about closing my eyes to see what the light will form, most people get confused. But this truly is what happens for me. Just as you can still see an image of a sunlit window when you close your eyes after staring at it, you can ask to be shown information in the same way.

Close your eyes (preferably in a darkened room), relax, and ask to be shown whatever question you need an answer to. First, be aware it will not always be answered. But after practice, in my own experience, it has become about 90% effective.

Ask your question, then wait. Relax. At first, darkness is all you will see. Then your “eyes” will begin to notice lighter spots passing by; streaks of light or even pictures will eventually form. It might be a word, an object, or really anything within the realm of imagination. Write down the first things that come to you. Continue to practice this, and you will be astounded at your accurate results.

I find it works best for me when asking for others, but that is the nature of my own abilities. They follow my belief that we are given gifts to help our fellow man. Remember to be grateful always for your own gifts, and use them for the benefit of others whenever possible.

Our thanks to Debra for her guest post! For more from Debra Robinson, read her article “The Dead Are Watching.”

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Kerri Connor, author of Spells for Tough Times and the new Ostara, the first book in the new Llewellyn’s Sabbats Essentials series.

I recently learned my first husband just got engaged again. If this wedding happens, it will be his third. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. I’m currently in my third marriage as well, and this one has lasted fifteen years, while my marriage to husband #1 only lasted six months. But it did make me think about the possibilities of relationships (any type of relationship) through different incarnations.

The idea that we are able to reincarnate and continue on with our relationships in a different time and a different place, is appealing to me, for the most part.

There have been some relationships that I have felt ended way too soon, or didn’t get a chance to happen at all. My oldest brother died in a car accident before I was even born so I never got to know him, though I have heard about him my entire life. I’ve also heard I’m very much like him and that he watches over me. A few years ago, my best friend suddenly died of undiagnosed diabetes. She was only 35 years old when she passed, a life and a friendship cut way too short.

Other relationships ended on a not-so-great note. Some bitterly, some amicably, but either way, they ended and left an empty, hollow feeling. A feeling that said the relationship did not play out the way it should have. A part of me wishes there was some way to fix these relationships now, in this incarnation. Accepting that isn’t always a possibility has probably been one of the hardest aspects of life for me to deal with.

Saying goodbye isn’t easy. Even when a relationship ends badly, it just plain is not easy to say goodbye. We get anxious and feel shaky just thinking about it. In fact, relationships that end badly are often the hardest to let go of because we want to things to end on good terms, not bad ones. The fact that we can’t fix them and make things right only adds to the feeling of the relationship being incomplete.

I have had to accept that these relationships ended the way they did for a reason, and that perhaps someday in the future, my soul will have the opportunity to try again. I have to learn from these relationships, both what was right and what was wrong. Maybe in a different incarnation we can get things right; whether it’s a family relationship, friend, or lover, my heart desires for these relationships to be peaceful, loving, and happy.

Being able to explore these relationships again in a different life fills me with anticipation and excitement, and I know my soul will recognize these others that have meant so much to me.

Our thanks to Kerri for her guest post! For more from Kerri Connor, read her article “Brighten Your Ostara by Bringing Balance to Your Life.”