Carnival of the Tarot
I would like to start something new here on A Fool for Tarot.
You may have heard of blogging carnivals. These are weekly roundups of blog posts that share a similar topic or subject matter. Blog posts are submitted by a certain deadline to be included in the carnival for that week. It’s a good way to promote your blog, your writing and share your Tarot knowledge, skills and opinions with others in the Tarot blogging community.
The rules are simple. Once a week you may submit a post from your blog that is Tarot, Oracle or any other form of divination related to Cartomancy. The post must be on your blog, and must be related in some way to Tarot. It can be a new post, or something from your archives. It can be a reading, a meditation on a card, a deck or book review, sharing your collection, showing off your own deck work-in-progress, fiction, poetry, or really anything at all as long as it relates in some way to the Tarot. It can include pictures or videos, in can be short or long, simple or complex, serious or amusing.
I will host the carnival here for now, but ultimately the carnival would be passed around to other blogs on a volunteer basis.
It’s usually a weekly thing, but for this first one I’m going to set a deadline for Saturday August 11th by 6:00pm eastern time for submissions. The idea is to have the carnival published by 6:00pm the following Sunday evening. Please send your submissions to me. I will need your name, the url of your post and the url of your blog.
Please feel free to write me if you have any questions that are not answered in the F.A.Q.. Please use the Contact Form you will find under Contact Us in the sidebar. Also let me know if you need any help submitting your entry. I’ll be more than happy to help.
Please help me spread the word. The more folks who know about this the better chances we have of making this Carnival a success.
Genius Loci
Atmosphere is always important. But it’s often an essential tool of the Tarot reader. What sort of small gods do you invite into you reading space? They can have an interesting influence on your readings.
This post in the Cabinet of Wonders offers some thoughtful insights into the general spirit of a place, how it can affect those in it, and how it can be encouraged to change for the better.
In any case, I think the current craze for small fountains and hidden benches in tiny urban gardens is an attempt, albeit unconscious, by the residents to invite, gently and hesitantly, some sprite or minor god to come and settle, to sit and stay awhile. … In the end, if you’re lucky, you’ll make the place comfortable enough and beautiful enough that one of those vanquished spirits might, with a little coaxing, consent to stay. They need us as much as we need them.
What sort of space do you routinely read in? Do you create an atmosphere? Sometimes it isn’t possible to control the ambiance of an impromptu reading. How do you manage that? What works for you?
Does Tarot Create Reality?
Could we be using the Tarot to create our reality as well as to understand it?
A user on my paranormal forum has written a couple of posts about quantum mechanics and paranormal activity. What caught my attention though, was this:
Consciousness is the bringing about of the ongoing state vector of possibilities that runs through the brain. It is all of these breaching and interlaced collections of quantum potentialities weaving together the possibilities. And beyond consciousness, something more. By creating the possibilities that we experience as consciousness and by selecting – by willing – which synapse will fire, mind brings into reality each moment’s thoughts, experience, and actions”
The implications are, that we create our own reality by consciously choosing one possibility out of an infinite number of possibilities – regardless of our awareness of the process.
Two phrases jumped out at me. The first was the ongoing state vector of possibilities that runs through the brain, the second was we experience consciousness and by selecting – by willing – which synapse will fire.
I know he wasn’t referring to Tarot in this discussion, but of course I relate just about any idea to the Tarot. I immediately thought of the Major Arcana, the twenty-two Majors that are sometimes referred to as Archetypes. As Jung defined them, they are the first original model of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned, or emulated. These are symbols imprinted in the psyche of the universal collective unconscious. That is how many people understand the Majors, myself included.
I wondered if the Archetypes represented in the Major Arcana could relate to different synaptic connections in our brains. One school of thought in Tarot is that the human consciousness or soul must move through all the archetypal energies represented by the Major Arcana to become complete and achieve enlightenment. If you follow that idea, each one of them must represent some part of the psyche that is to be developed or understood.
Now when we lay the cards out, we are seeking answers, guidance or direction. But could we also be unconsciously choosing our reality by, not only how we relate to the cards, but also to which card is chosen? Some people believe that when we shuffle and lay out a spread, we are unconsciously choosing which cards appear in order to receive messages that would otherwise be unavailable to our conscious mind. Is it too far a reach to also believe that we are choosing which cards we need to see to create the reality we expect to experience?
What do you think about this idea? I would love to know.
Books
I have become quite distracted by a book called Pure Magic
The other major distraction in my life is the new Harry Potter book
Not that that’s a bad way to spend the weekend. 
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Harry Potter Update: I finished Deathly Hallows Sunday night around 8:30. In case you’re wondering, I did not ’speed-read’ any of it. I simply did little else but read it, seriously neglecting husband, cat and household duties. I’ll be spending today catching up on tasks that I normally accomplish on the weekends. But it was worth it!
It was a good finish to a great story. Parts of it were awesome. While I wouldn’t call J.K. Rowling a great author, I can certainly can say she is a great storyteller. She is very adept at plot twists and creating strong, complex characters.
The main themes of love, loyalty, sacrifice and courage that have run through the series are prominent here, along with forgiveness. I do think the book could have benefited with a bit of editing in the some of the slower sections. But overall it was a pleasure to read and I’m very happy with it.
Strength
Strength Spread with Vanessa Tarot.
- Your greatest strength
- How you can enhance this strength
- How you can apply it to a relationship, project or event
- What this strength brings you
My greatest strength? Seven of Wands. I’m Xena! Woo hoo! I guess I’m pretty determined and good in a fight. Not a physical fight though. These are Wands. I’m determined spiritually, and I’m very good in a fight if it involves something I believe in or doing something my way.
Eight of Pentacles. I can enhance this strength by perfecting my current skills. I need to determine what I do well, and practice it so I can do it even better.
Six of Wands. I can show what I do to others and receive their praise and encouragement to continue.
The Chariot. This will bring me self-confidence to pursue my goals and find success.
Sometimes a reading doesn’t hold any secrets and contains no surprises. It can be very straight-forward and to the point.
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Strength Spread from Power Tarot: More Than 100 Spreads That Give Specific Answers to Your Most Important Question
Perseverance
I just finished reading a really interesting story on The Tarot Connection about the Golden Tarot Deck
It’s a story of perseverance, patience and faith in oneself. It was an encouraging read for me, as I’m trying to define what I’m going to do at this point to make a living in the world. I’m not creating a Tarot deck, but her story of ‘success against all odds’ has been very inspiring. I’ve downloaded the accompanying podcast, and will listen to it later.
The Tarot Connection has a been a great source of information and inspiration for me these days. If you are interested in podcasts about Tarot and other related esoteric subjects, you should visit them. You can download the podcasts on the site or get them through iTunes. It’s well worth a look.
Compassion
Since I quit my job, I’ve been fighting depression. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do for a living. I haven’t a car, or even a driver’s license and there is no public transportation from where I live. I’m sorta stuck in this small town, and attempting generate income from my websites, from reading Tarot online and freelance projects that I can do from home.
Things could be worse, although I would like them to be better. But I’m not homeless and I’m not starving. I think this depression is actually frustration. I do not feel as though I’m pulling my weight around here. Though logically I’m doing all I can. But I’m not always the most logical person in the world, especially when it comes to judging myself.
Today, for my daily card, I drew the King of Cups. I used the Gummy Bear Tarot
When I pull a daily card, I read it as primary energy or something I need to keep in mind for the day. So when I pull a court card, I rarely interpret it as a person. This is the case with today’s card.
I’m always amazed at how the Tarot ‘perceives’ my feelings, my needs and exactly what state of mind I’m in. This card, in this case, represents full and complete compassionate energy, understanding and emotional support. Considering my present circumstances, I’m doing all I can.
I need to stop being hard on myself, and to cultivate an understanding of my situation. I really am doing all I can do right now.
