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The High Priestess: An intuitive approach
As I look at the Pagan Otherworlds High Priestess my focus is drawn to the open book. But why? I’m not sure yet so I just simplify things. How? By asking basic questions. What sort of book could it be? Since she’s the High Priestess I’m imagining it’s a book of secrets so I’m going to say it’s a journal. But why is she holding it like that? It doesn’t look natural. She’s gripping it. Is it someone else’s journal and she has just discovered something she wishes she hadn’t? Then a thought starts to form. How often do we go searching for truths that we don’t want to find?…
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Using tarot to unlock the power of story
It is hard to partake of any story-based research without coming across the name Joseph Campbell — for good reason. The man knew stories. He dedicated his life to them. In his book, A Hero with a Thousand Faces, he claims that “deep-seated archetypes lurk in stories created by all kinds of cultures.” Anyone who’s picked up a tarot deck knows they exist there too. That is why tarot is such a powerful story-telling tool. But why is that important? Importance of story I’ll let Jessica Macbeth, author of the Faeries Oracle guidebook start the conversation. She wrote: First and foremost, for many of us, we learn, grow, and lead…
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Hidden stories spread
Recently I wrote a short article called Using Tarot to Unlock the Power of Stories, (you may have even come to this from there), and it inspired this Hidden Stories Spread. Uses Everything we do, think and feel revolves around a story, yet sometimes we are not aware of what those stories are. This spread can be used to help you uncover, explore and understand those stories. I would use this spread across many areas but the underlying intention remains the same — What am I not seeing? Below are some possible applications. Considerations Firstly I would suggest that you have a point of focus when asking your question as…
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How skulls helped me see the light
So, how did I come to be writing a post about skulls? Quite organically it seems. Two days ago, after I read my recent Blue post to my daughter, I was talking to her about writing and how tarot provides endless source material. To show her what I meant, and no doubt to prove it to myself yet again, I reached for the closest deck, which happened to be the Folkloric Forest Tarot, and started shuffling. While my intentions were purely demonstrative, it quickly became apparent that the cards and my subconscious had other ideas. Unbeknownst to me at the time, looking at the randomly selected card, The Hermit, sowed…
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Why blue is more than just a colour
The other day I was watching Richard Powers being interviewed on You Tube. In the interview, David Perell was asking him to expand on his previous comment, “When you’re sure of what you’re looking at look harder.” He responded, “Yeah because when you’re sure, you’re not moving, and reality is always moving.” It probably comes as no surprise that I linked this idea with tarot as I do with so many other things. Fast forward an hour and I’ve snuck into the shower for some peace and quiet and I realised something — I often fall into familiar ways of thinking. While I readily acknowledge that card meanings are influenced…
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My “If I could only keep 10 tarot decks” list
In most things I am quite minimalist, but that doesn’t apply when it comes to my tarot and oracle collection. I have many, many decks. Very few would I happily part with. But, when Stephen left a comment on The Unveiled Tarot post asking if I had a tarot top ten I thought I’d try to put together a list. I’ve tried several times but I always come up short. If you’ve read much of my stuff you’d know that I only buy decks that interest me in some way so even though I review decks, I don’t ever buy one purely to write about it. Plus, since my tastes…
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RWS stage cards: The power of two little lines
During a deep dive into the RWS tarot, I became drawn into the world of the stage cards and it seems they had no interest in letting me go until I paid them some attention. So, here is me paying them attention. What is a stage card? Stage cards are represented by two lines that suggest we are looking at a stage backdrop rather than an outdoor scene. Are we sure that’s what they are? Who can say? Like every interpretation in tarot, the ultimate answer to that question is up to us. There is even contention about which cards should be included. The cards I consider to be stage…
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Tips on how to ask good questions
Pick up just about any book on tarot and one of the first things it will tell you to do as part of a reading is to make sure you ask good questions. However, what I realised when I flicked back through many of the guidebooks in my extensive tarot collection is that few of the books then go on to explain what that means. My daughter told me that she finds trying formulate the question is one of the hardest things about doing a reading so I thought I’d put together a post to try and demystify the process. Is it as important as people make out? Short answer…
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Upcoming decks I’m excited for in 2024
When I spent some time on the Llewellyn website recently a few items due for release later this year caught my attention. I’m pretty confident that I’m not the only one they’ll appeal to. Even though I titled this “Upcoming decks I’m excited for” I have to admit that it’s actually five decks and one book. There is another deck and a couple of books that interest me, but I know for sure that each of the ones listed below will be finding their way onto my shelves as soon as they are available. I’ve already pre-ordered two of the decks. Listed according to their stated release date, these are…
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My deck review process
Recently I was talking to someone about why I write tarot deck reviews. I told them that initially it was because I truly believe there is a tarot deck out there for everyone. So I write reviews about a variety of decks to showcase what is available. This is still what drives me. However, I soon uncovered a secondary motivation, that has in turn led to the creation of this post. It is this. As a direct result of writing reviews I have learned so much about myself, my tarot decks, and tarot in general. Every deck has its own story to tell and along the way each one takes…
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