An Old Friend
This is the Mystical Lenormand Oracle Deck. The images were painted by Urban Trosch using the egg tempera technique. The interpretations in the Little White Book are by Regula Elizabeth Fiechter. I googled both their names, and came up empty as far as biographies. Maybe someone reading this can supply some information about them.
The interesting thing about this deck is that it is said to be the deck used by the Sybil of Paris, Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand. She was a fortune teller who was very famous during the 19th century and read cards for many of Europe’s most influential people, most notably Napoleon and Josephine. Allegedly there was a scandal when Josephine (or maybe it was Napoleon) didn’t like one of her predictions and had her imprisoned for a while. There was also something about an affair. She apparently had quite a few adventures in her lifetime.
I bought this little deck over a year ago, and after becoming acquainted with it, I put it away and haven’t done much with it since. I bought a cute little bag for it from jozefaCreations a while ago. I’ve had a reading for myself done with it by the excellent Madame Seaqueen, which taught me a lot about understanding and interpreting the cards in this deck. But only now have I felt compelled to begin a study of it to read for others besides myself.
I love all my Tarot and Oracle decks. I feel an odd reluctance to put them all away for the time I plan on spending studying the Mystical Lenormand. (Some of us card readers can be very odd about our relationships with our decks. It’s almost as if they are family – like children, and we don’t want any of them to feel ‘left out’ or get jealous. It’s silly, I know, but there you are). But the structure of this deck is unlike the standard structure of most Tarot decks, and I feel I need to devote some time exclusively to the Lenormand to understand it completely without distractions.
However, I am unwilling to give up using my other decks completely. So I’ll continue to pull a daily card in the morning with decks other than the Lenormand, and continue writing in my journal, and here on this site, about them. But I’m thinking of starting a second journal for the Lenormand study and share bits of that here on as well.
I guess I ‘want it all’. Well, who doesn’t?
Gummy Bear Tarot
I’ve been using this deck a lot lately. There are times when you need simplicity and clarity. I’m moving through one of those times right now.
Many Tarot decks are rich with symbolism featuring cards that are simply packed with images, lights and shadows, zillions of colors and shadows… and it can all become too much for my senses after a while. That’s when I need a very simple deck. That’s when I reach for the Gummy Bears.
The Gummy Bear Tarot features line drawings, primary colors and straightforward imagery. The symbolism is clear and simple, the voice of the deck comes through clearly to me with less static on the lines. Reading ‘between the lines’, or perhaps ‘in the spaces between the cards’ as I’ve thought of it, is much easier to do with this deck.
Another good deck for simplicity that I’ve seen recommended is the International Icon Tarot. Although the faceless figures on this deck leave me a bit cold. The little faces on the gummy bears supply a hint of personality that I seek in all my decks. For myself, personality is as important in a deck of Tarot cards as it is in a group of friends.
For single-card readings, such as a Daily Draw, I still use other decks when the spirit moves me. But for anything more than one card, I’m using the Gummy Bears these days.
The Carnival of the Tarot – Third Edition
Welcome to the third edition of the Carnival of the Tarot.
If you are interested in participating in future carnivals, but don’t have a blog, it is really very easy to start one of your own. Both WordPress and Blogger are blogging services that are free, very popular and easy to use. If you like to write, blogging is a great way to share your ideas and experience. Blogging Carnivals are a great way to showcase your writing. If you’ve started a new blog, let me knowl. I’d love to include your posts in future carnivals.
Now, on to this week’s Carnival.
From Fugdale’s Funhouse we get a glimpse of a deck-in-progress called The Fractal Tarot, with bold colors and fractal imagery.
Lynda at Archertarot’s Weblog offers A Friend in Need Spread for those times when someone we care about is having a difficult time and needs advice.
From The Art of Cartomancy, Kapherus shares with us a favorite deck. It is The Oracle of the Triad, a deck “based on the ternary principle of creation”.
In Rainring describes Rainring, a contemporary divination deck consisting of 81 beautifully illustrated cards is asked to give a description of itself. The Rainring deck is a tool for tapping into the unconscious. Please visit the website to learn more.
From here at A Fool for Tarot, we have the Ten of Swords, the latest in the Dreaded Cards series of articles.
Thank you for joining us this week.
Trimming Tarot Cards
There is a bit of debate in the forums I read about whether or not to trim Tarot decks. Some people are adamant that you should never alter your cards in any way. Then there are some who feel they can get better readings from the deck without the distractions of the borders and titles. Some who try trimming regret it, and some who try it seem to become addicted and end up trimming all their decks. Some, like me, will only do it when absolutely necessary.
Actually, I never thought I’d trim a deck. It’s not that I feel it’s wrong to trim the cards, but I like the borders and I usually ignore the titles anyway. But recently I was given the Druidcraft deck, I fell in love with it, and really wanted to use it for readings. The trouble was that it was simply too big for me to shuffle properly. So I overcame my reluctance, took a deep breath and found a good sharp pair of scissors.
I did not have a corner-cutter, as is recommended in the forums, but I devised my own way of trimming the corners. After trimming off one end of the card, I took that piece and lined up the old corner to the new one, and used that as a ‘template’ to trim the new corners. It’s not perfect and the corners are a bit uneven on some of the cards. But it doesn’t bother me at all, and I’m very happy with the deck now.
What I discovered, after three days and many sessions of very careful trimming, is that the deck is not only easier to shuffle, but the illustrations seem clearer and brighter with the borders trimmed away. They reach out to me and speak to me in a much clearer voice. In this case, I think the deck has been markedly improved by trimming. However I have no desire to trim any of my other decks.
Have you ever trimmed a deck? How do you feel about the idea?
Ten of Swords
Few cards are more dreaded than the Ten of Swords. The one shown here is from the Waite Smith deck.
It graphically illustrates a man on the ground, in a spreading pool of blood, with ten swords sticking out of his back from haunch to neck. Unarguably the most gruesome of the Seventy-Eight. At least, in this deck. Even understanding the nuances of the image, I still tend to cringe when you see it, especially as an ‘outcome’ card.
But what does it mean; endings, finality, complete annihilation? Yes, it does. But it can also mean ‘relief’. It can mean ‘overkill’. Imagine you are in an intolerable situation and you are at wits end regarding how to end it. When you see this card as the ‘outcome’ or ‘answer’ in a spread, you might think that you are simply going to die from the stress. But what if the card is telling you that the situation is coming to an end? Relief. This situation has run it’s course, and will be ending soon. Or what if this is a case of you brewing a tempest in a teapot, and the card is telling you to stop worrying yourself sick about something over which you have no control? Overkill. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy, making matters far worse than they need to be.
We tend to identify with the figure being pinned to the ground by many blades. But what if the figure represents something that is causing pain, suffering, trouble or anxiety? If that is the case, then this card is a welcome sight.
I know that many of us, myself included, tend to think the worst when reading for ourselves. It’s overcompensation in and effort not to sugar-coat a reading by seeing only what you want to see in the cards. So it is important to remember what you would tell a client when this card appears. And yes, sometimes this card is indicating negative things. But you would try and explore ways in which this card could be a positive message for your client before assuming otherwise, so why not do so for yourself? And even if the message is one of failure or disappointment, there is almost always a silver lining. After death comes rebirth or resurrection. There are no truly final endings, not as long as Time continues to flow.
As with the other ‘dreaded cards’ there are always positive ideas to be found in their seemingly negative meanings. It’s just a matter of being open to them.
The Carnival of the Tarot – Second Edition
Welcome to the Second Edition of the Carnival of the Tarot. Blogging Carnivals offer a great opportunity for writers to share ideas, thoughts and opinions. If you have a blog about Tarot or any other form of Cartomancy, it’s a good way to share your writing with others, to find other bloggers like yourself and to bring attention to your work.
Let’s get started.
Fugdale presents a very interesting way of reading an old familiar spread in Imagining the Celtic Cross Spread in 5 Dimensions, posted at Fugdale’s Funhouse.
Kapherus offers advice on selecting the Best Cartomancy Method on The Art of Cartomancy.
And from A Fool for Tarot, here is A Tarot Relic, for those interested in Tarot history.
Thanks for joining us this week.
A Tarot Relic
This is the Queen of Wands from a deck identified as Bembo Bonifacio’s Visconti Tarot. (Click on the image to get a closer look). It is in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. The date they have for it is c. 1445. That would make this card 562 years old.
Think about that. A Tarot card that was created and used more than half a millennium ago. It is speculated that this deck was created to celebrate a wedding joining the Visconti and Sforza families of Milan. I’m assuming that’s gold leaf on the card, at least it certainly looks like it. I did a bit of half-hearted googling and was unable to find a description. Perhaps someone with better google-fu than me can find that information.
I saw this link to the online images of these cards on a relatively new forum called Tarot America. It’s a small but growing group of nice folk, where you will find discussions on Cartomancy of all kinds, Runes, the I-Ching and Phenomenology.
You can view the rest of the collection here. You’ll just need to type Tarot in the search field.
Making a Wand
I’ve been getting acquainted with the The Druidcraft Tarot
I don’t know a lot about Druidism or the Pagan faith, but I do know that I’m beginning to really love this deck. I’m undecided about whether or not to buy the accompanying book. The cards speak to me just fine without my understanding the Druid symbolism and lore that is incorporated in the artwork. It’s been a lovely blind date, and we’re getting along fine.
Using this deck has made me desire a wand. Years ago a good friend of mine made me a wand, and I loved it. She was neither Druid nor Pagan, her magical background was eclectic – mostly Voudon and Romani, but she made beautiful wands. It did not, however survive the move across country. So I’m going to try to make one.
I searched for ‘wand making’ using Google and came up with dozens of instructions for making a wand. The first few were all Harry Potter related, which is no surprise, and there is apparently a thriving industry of wizarding wands for muggles out there.
But this page proved to be the most straightforward and simple. The instructions are much like the ones I have for making a walking stick.
So, whenever I can get the materials together I’ll give it a try.
The Carnival of the Tarot – First Edition
Welcome to the very First Carnival of the Tarot. It’s a small carnival, but as we all know, good things come in small packages. One of the benefits of blog carnivals is the opportunity to discover new writers and thinkers about a particular subject. I was very pleased to discover two new very fine weblogs that I would not have found otherwise, and have added them to the blogroll.
But enough chatter. Let’s begin.
Lynda Cowles presents an interesting comparison of Houdini and the Magician card in The Magician’s Mind posted at Archertarot’s Weblog.
Kapherus from The Art of Cartomancy shares a Shustah Three-Card Reading. Many people are not familiar with The Pages of Shustah, myself included. Here is a very interesting introduction to them.
Here at A Fool for Tarot I am revisiting a post about finding positive ideas in the Three of Swords. Usually regarded as a negative card.
And so ends this first Carnival of the Tarot. Thanks for joining us.
