Interview with the Spiral Tarot

I’ve been on a bit of a lucky streak when it comes to the generosity of others, it seems. I’ve won a couple of small crystal giveaways in the last couple of months, I’ve been gifted the Deviant Moon, I’ve been sent a couple of crystal tumbles from an IG friend, a postcard from another… It feels like it won’t end, but I’m not complaining! I’m really enjoying feeling the love from the tarot community. All of you are such lovely people. Not to mention, they’ve all felt like early birthday gifts, haha, since that’s in a week. (Cue general sigh of discontent at the thought of aging though.)

This week I received the Spiral Tarot from @temperance_tarot on Instagram, along with a gifted Botswana agate that I’ve decided to pair with the deck. She held a generous deck giveaway in our Facebook group– Not only to clear out some decks that I’m guessing she no longer used, but to help those decks find loving homes. When I saw Spiral in a deck title, I jumped on it, thinking it was the Tarot of the Mystic Spiral to be quite honest. Once I saw that it wasn’t, I decided to still go ahead with this one. Intuition and chance still brought me to pick it, and who am I to deny that?

The first thing I noticed and liked was the backing of the cards. Simple, but there’s no mistaking it: this is the Spiral Tarot.

I had to wait a few days to be able to work with it due to life, but I flipped through the cards when I opened the package. The deck isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as I’m sure many would like, and I may take off the purple borders later. I’ll have to see how I like the deck after a while before I make the decision to modify it. The artwork, however, is better in person than it is when viewing on a screen. It’s pretty RWS based, but I like the way they went with it. You’ll see in the photo of the spread. It wasn’t something I thought I’d be able to work with at first, until I looked at more cards online. I’m a lover of different art styles, and I think it makes me able to appreciate art that normally I’d look past.

One more thing I feel the need to note: This deck does have symbols from Kabbalah in it. Kabbalah is something I am not knowledgeable of at this time. After doing this reading, I do think that basic Kabbalah may be something I would like to learn, at least to feel more comfortable working with this deck.

This deck seems a little shy right now, and it’s not quite like any deck I’ve worked with. It has a different energy to it altogether. Let’s dig into the interview.

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Spiral Tarot Deck Interview – Done on 6/29/2016

1 – What is your general personality? – Ten of Pentacles
This deck is something that has been passed down from one person (at least) to me, because the previous owner had an abundance and wanted to provide for others. With the generations of family here, I also see that this deck feels that it has an abundance of wealth to share with me, possibly in the form of knowledge. Maybe this deck is just focused on helping me gain abundance wherever possible. Perhaps with time, it will feel as if we are family? Or even that the family may represent my ‘family’ in the tarot community, and every time I pick this deck up it will kindly remind me of them, and help me to not feel alone sometimes in this world.

You can tell that this card confused me a little bit in this spot of the spread, haha. I feel as if it goes a few different ways.

2 – Why were you gifted to me at this time? – Five of Cups
The LWB put this card as needing to let go of an old emotional issue in order to gain something greater. Maybe this points to the inner child work that I’ve been doing, and maybe this points to something to come up soon in my life that I don’t know of yet that the deck will help to shed light on. I personally think it’s pointing to something that I don’t feel comfortable sharing here, but we’ll see with time. The woman in the card almost looks pained to have lost her precious cups, but of course she’s still got two behind her. She just has to turn around and see them.

3 – What are you here to teach me? – Seven of Pentacles
This deck is here to teach me that if I want something, I have to plant the seeds to get it. Nothing comes easy in life, there’s always that first few daunting steps to take before you reach a result. No farmer wants to go till the fields to plant the seeds. They want the crop to spring right up, but they know from experience that it doesn’t work that way. I’m one of those people that like to give up halfway into something if it doesn’t work out in the time frame that I want it to… But knows that I won’t get what I desire if I do it. I’ve got to stop being so impatient. Any plan that I have will bear fruit, but only if I’ve done the preparation and have a little patience. Nothing happens immediately.

4 – What are your strengths as a deck? – The Magician
I don’t know if I have a favourite Magician, but if I don’t, this one probably just won the spot. I love how the tools of the Minor Arcana are portrayed on his cape, not on a table or shelf. They’re also portrayed in the background in the form of weather. You have to look for them a bit before you see them (at least I did), whereas most other Magician cards I see, the tools are the focal point.

Not this card. My full focus went to that pose. This Magician knows what he’s got to do. He knows he’s got the tools and knowledge. He has to now take those tools and manifest. This deck’s strengths are exactly that- It will provide me with the divine knowledge necessary to help me manifest my goals.

5 – What are your limits as a deck? – Three of Pentacles
Just as the Magician is the strength of the deck, it makes complete sense that the limit would be that the deck can’t actually manifest those goals or desires that I reach for. This ballerina was taught by someone, but they are the one actually on the stage performing, not the teacher. They were guided by someone else in order to reach their desire of performing. I must ultimately be the one to do the work. The deck just helps to guide me.

6 – How can I best learn from & work with you? – The World
I see ultimate completion in this card, not only in the general sense of the World card, but in a personal sense. I see this person as myself, floating and dancing in the tendrils of the divine spiral. This deck and I will travel together- Not in the physical sense. I’ve always seen my path as a spiral and that’s why I was drawn to this deck. We’ll swing together on this spiral.

The symbol of Saturn appears in the background, reminding me that this card is ruled by the scholar planet. It indicates that this deck will help me to learn and be an expert in a subject. I did want to use this deck to help me gain a basic understanding of Kabbalah, but I think this hints at something more. We’ll see with time.

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I do feel that I’ll have to work with this deck more in order to form a good bond with it. Right now, I feel that it wants to help me on my path, but the connection that’s necessary for that to happen won’t come immediately. It will take time.

The Spiral Tarot was created by Kay Steventon and is copyrighted by the publisher,  US Games Systems Inc. 

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Getting To Know My Inner Child

Recently, I’ve been feeling the push to work with my inner child in order to heal some deep wounds I’ve had since birth. It is a rather long and personal story that I won’t share the details of here, but I will say this- I do not have a relationship with my mother at all, and when I did have one with her as a small child, it was one of emotional abuse. I cut her completely out of my life 5 years ago. It hurts me every single day that I never had that connection with my mother that I see so many other people have, but I deal with it. I bury it and have been burying it for as long as I can remember.

I am coming to realize that this pain affects every aspect of my life in negative ways. It seeps through cracks in my aura and poisons anything that it touches. I can no longer keep letting this happen. So I reached out to some of my friends in the tarot community yesterday to see about ways to work with your inner child. I haven’t done this before, so I really had no idea where to start.

A friend in a Facebook group that I am in suggested a spread in a Youtube video by Kelly-Ann Maddox, which I have here starting at the spread. You may wish to watch it a few times to listen to her explanation of the spread itself (plus the whole video has some great spread ideas). I decided to save it and do the spread today as a starting point to my inner child work.

I used the Chrysalis Tarot created by Toney Brooks and illustrated by Holly Sierra (copyright US Games Systems 2014) here because it is my go to deck for healing of any sort. It is always keen to help me, and today’s spread was no exception.

This spread goes as follows, reworded slightly from Kelly-Ann’s video:

1: How do I respond to the idea of my inner child? Am I resisting it or accepting it?
2: What memories may I have fostered or may be reliving at this time, and how can I get through them?
3: Conditioning or lessons that I learned in childhood that contributed to my shadow self.
4: Present blocks in regards to working with my inner child and harmonizing with it.
5: How can I begin healing my inner child?
6: How can I begin to forgive those that caused harm to my inner child?

1. How I respond to the idea of my inner child? Am I resisting it or accepting it? Elpi – The Star
Well, to me, if I were resisting my inner child I wouldn’t be doing this spread and beginning to attempt healing her, haha. Elpi shows that I’m responding to my inner child with hope. In the Chrysalis Tarot, she sets the night sky on fire to symbolize the good things that got away. I feel as if my childhood has gotten away from me, and my inner child too. Elpi reminds me to have hope as I reach out to hold my inner child. Will I bathe her in my fiery warmth?

2. What memories may I have fostered or may be reliving at this time, and how can I get through them? Six of Mirrors
I’m interpreting the Six of Mirrors here to mean memories of my childhood in general. I did have good pieces of my childhood, but they’re buried along with the bad because there are so few of them that I can recall nowadays as an adult. This sidhe is a fun-loving nature spirit who is fond of flowers, music, and water- Just like I was as a kid. Each pool behind him reflects memories from different parts of my life. Good or bad, if I don’t maintain the balance and harmony in my life, these memories come crashing down on me like a tsunami of repressed emotion.

3. Conditioning or lessons I learned in childhood that contributed to my shadow self. The Companion – King of Spirals
I love the Companion’s face here, he’s kind of like, “Well, why the hell not?” I’m hardheaded. I like to completely take charge of a situation and if it doesn’t go my way, I’m impatient, overbearing, and sometimes downright rude. I hate that I do it, but it’s what my mother did too. I saw it so much that it must have made a lasting impression. I had to learn to be my own mother in ways because she wasn’t in most of my life, and she was the only example I had of a mother figure to base my actions around. Though this is a King, I believe it came up as a King to show just how strong that determination is. I feel like I don’t need a mother at this point because I’ve got it handled as an adult, but at the same time, the pain is definitely there, burning a hole inside.

4. Present blocks in regards to working with my inner child and harmonizing with it. Six of Scrolls
This card is about removing obstacles, represented by the elephant who is there to remind us of Ganesha. It relates to coming to peace with the obstacle and the resulting harmony that follows. Right now, I feel as if that pain is holding on to my future, to my happiness, to my enlightenment. This goes quite well with a reading that I did earlier today that told me to be patient, open, and adaptable. This is a large obstacle to overcome, this pain, and I’m sure it won’t go exactly as planned. I have to take it day by day and not get frustrated with it.

5. How can I begin healing my inner child? Five of Stones
I’ve gotten this card a few times since I’ve owned this deck, and I think I’ll continue to see it the same way as I have so far. She’s sad, she’s lonely, she’s afraid and feels alone. She reminds me of myself in the middle of a panic attack, honestly. She’s here to represent my inner child in this spread, I have no doubts about that. But if you look closely, she’s surrounded by standing rocks, giving her a bit of company although she’s unable to see them. She has support if she chooses to accept it. She is never alone.  I must tell her that I am here for her. Nurture her and care for her in the ways that my mother never could. I’ve been stuck in fight or flight mode since I was born, and forgotten how to love myself.

6. How can I begin to forgive those that caused harm to my inner child? Ariadne – Death
I resonate with this Death card so much, I’ve not drawn her before. The first thing that I was drawn to was the spiral above Ariadne’s head, symbolizing change and transformational energies. Her labyrinth is also spiral shaped, which to me holds large significance. In Ariadne’s tale, the minotaur was at the middle of the labyrinth, which Toney & Holly are using in the Chrysalis to represent one’s shadow side. You walk this spiral path to the center to face your shadow, and successfully slay it to free yourself when you take full ownership of your shadow and grant unconditional forgiveness to those who have harmed you in your past. This is exactly why I walk the path that I do- To come to terms with the darkness and pain inside me and face them head on. Ariadne also suggests that I, knowingly or not, help another during this time in finding their own way out of a dark spot. Maybe my inner child healing will inspire others?

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After this reading, I have no doubt that this is indeed the right time to work with my inner child. I have some planning to do!

 

 

The Deviant Moon: Story & Deck Interview

Today I’m back to the blog to talk about yet another deck that was graciously gifted to me, by a different member of the Facebook group that I am a member of. You may remember that a member from the group sent me my first gifted-from-the-community deck last April, the Chrysalis Tarot. So this deck makes #2 from the community! And my seventh tarot deck in my collection- My lucky number.

As the title states, I’ve been gifted a copy of the Deviant Moon, specifically the bordered one. My friend also sent along the lovely handmade deck bag she’d made for it, and the small carnelian stone to help cleanse the deck on its journey to me. Carnelian is my favourite stone so that little addition made this gift so much more sentimental for me. The large carnelian under the deck is one from my altar that the deck has already claimed. Not all of my decks have stones paired to them, but this one decided it had to have two.

The deck came to me in a pretty standard way. My friend didn’t want to keep it anymore, she’d had mixed feelings about it. She saw me posting here and there about how I’d wanted to get the Deviant Moon for myself- My plan was to purchase it for my birthday in less than a month. Something decided that it would be gifted instead- Literally. A few messages later, and I was internally screaming. The deck at the top of my wishlist? What? A gift? What?

When it arrived yesterday evening, it was a day early and I tore into that package like a kid in a candy store. The second I saw it in my hands I knew something had brought this deck to me at this specific time. Not those times that I had it in my hands and put it down for another deck, but this moment now. I could go into a review of the deck but there are plenty of those around the internet now. I opened the box of cards and went into my first little look through of the cards. The Queen of Wands, Ace of Pentacles, and Two of Pentacles are my favourites so far.

When I sat with the deck this morning to cleanse it, I felt that it didn’t truly need cleansed. Maybe of some scattered or stale energies, but that was it. So I decided to ask it a question on a whim. “Does my friend have a message for me before I begin working with this deck?”

Before I could even finish shuffling, Strength landed face up and perfectly straight onto my desk.

I had my own thoughts about this draw and what it meant for me at this time, but I asked my friend about this and she said that she’d secretly wished for me before she sent the deck; that she also sent the carnelian along to help me with strength and courage. So the Deviant Moon and I were already to a good start there, it seemed.

But then, I did the deck interview. This deck has completely swept me away, it speaks to me in a way that even my Dragon Tarot cannot. I absolutely love it so far. Words can’t fully describe how intuitive this deck is for me. I think the best way to explain is to just share the deck interview!

*All images contain cards from the Deviant Moon Tarot. This deck was created by Patrick Valenza under current publisher copyright of U.S. Games Systems, Inc.*

The Chrysalis Tarot: A Story & Deck Interview

Back in the middle of March, a member of a Facebook group that I’m a part of offered to gift her Chrysalis Tarot to the first person interested in it because she wasn’t able to connect with it. I had commented, stating that I’d been interested in the deck for quite some time (it has a suit called Spirals instead of Wands, I had to have it at some point okay?!), but didn’t mention anything about wanting it.

She offered to gift it to me anyway, since I was the first commenter interested.

No payment, no trade, and I didn’t even have to pay for shipping. Honestly, I thought it was a bit too good to be true because this is the first time someone in the divination community had been this kind to me (at least with gifts). It took it almost a month to arrive along with some doubts that I’d ever see it, but sure enough, the deck arrived in the mailbox on April 14th safe and sound.

I wasn’t told too much about the deck aside that the tuck box was worn around the edges but the cards were in a gently used condition. When I opened the tuck box for the first time, I was greeted with the signature of the deck’s artist, Holly Sierra, and a butterfly doodle that she had done in metallic gel pens. I had to confirm it with the person who gifted it to me because I couldn’t quite believe that she’d gift me something like that- But she did! I spent a good chunk of the afternoon crying at just how awesome this is.

The deck arrived late in the afternoon, so I cleansed it and did my deck interview on the 15th. Overall I believe that the interview went positively and I can’t wait to work with this deck more to get to really know it! It seems different than any deck I’ve used before.

As this deck came to me differently than any of my others, I created my own little interview spread for it which you are free to use if you’d like. The interview can be read below.

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1: What is your general personality? – Wheel (The Wheel of Fortune)
This deck likes to remind the reader that life is just a game of chance, and that the Wheel often lands on life cycles of action, learning, and consequence- Not just pleasant, joyful times. Something in the LWB reminded me of one of my favorite quotes: “The path isn’t a straight line; it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths.” The Wheel isn’t a straight line either, after all, and this deck will help me through many changing cycles to come.

2: Why were you gifted to me at this time? – Green Man (The Emperor)
As said previously, this deck was gifted to me by a member of a Facebook group, right in the middle of a large change for me that began at the beginning of Spring. The artwork on this card definitely depicts Spring to me. Here we see the Green Man/Emperor smiling upon a sparrow’s nest of eggs. Not only is he nurturing them, but he is smiling at the structure and balance of the coming season- Everything is falling into place here just as it should. This deck came to me at this specific time to help me bring everything in my life together at this time, just as it should be, and nurture me along every step of the way.

3: What are you here to teach me? – Ten of Scrolls (Swords)
This Ten of Scrolls/Swords is different than your typical Ten of Swords, instead showing a tiger imprisoned by the ten scrolls, suggesting that I am being held captive by a negative, undesirable, or repeating pattern in my life. The lesson of this pattern or cycle needs to be learned before it will finally end, but until then, it simply keeps repeating. This deck is here to teach me about this negative cycle I’m stuck in (which I’m sure I know what it is speaking of) and help me to overcome it.

4: What are your strengths as a deck? – The Dreamer aka Knight of Mirrors (Cups)
The first thing I noticed in this card was the leaping tiger in the background. After the imprisonment of the tiger in the previous card, I’m personally taking this leaping tiger to mean that one of this deck’s strengths is to help me with the lessons I am to learn from this deck itself. As the title of the card states, the Knight of Mirrors/Cups is a passionate and romantic dreamer, inspiring one to “sail the seas” of their imagination. This deck’s main strength is to help me manifest dreams into reality, filling me with hope and confidence along the way.

5: What are your limits as a deck? – The Minstrel aka King of Stones (Pentacles)
As the deck’s strength is to help with dreams, it makes total sense that the limits of this deck would show up as the King of Stones/Pentacles. The King of Stones helps tether one to reality. As a limit, I believe it is showing me that I can dream all I wish to, but in the end, the deck itself can’t bring those dreams into reality. I have to do that myself. The dog by the minstrel’s side shows me that the deck will remain loyal and reassuring to me while I manifest my dreams on my own.

6: How can I best learn from & work with you? – Nine of Stones (Pentacles)
This card shows a woman turning away from her previous hard work of ordering the group of stones, which represents earthly and material connections. She has confidently turned her back to them and is setting her sights on a new adventure, taking control of her own life. I’m taking this to mean that if I work hard enough, this deck will help me be able to confidently turn my back to old cycles that were keeping me from achieving my dreams.

I’m Back

I haven’t used this blog in a few months, other than to read other’s posts, but I am hoping to change that. I will no longer post daily draws here, as that took up a lot of time and they’re already on my Instagram, so posts here will most likely be sporadic now. I’ll still post 3 card plus spreads here, spreads I’ve created, and deck interviews. I’ll also be posting other topics here when I have the time, such as crystal information.

More or less, I’m just going to wing it and see where I end up!

January Daily Draw Day 6: Peace

How can I learn to be at peace with my past?
When I made the list for this month, I figured I’d use this prompt in the same positive light that most others have seen it in so far today. But as I’m working through my recent past and trying to fully heal from what has happened to me those past few years, this question came forth when it was time to sit down with my cards.

I need to realize that I take it all to heart a little deeper than I should at this point. To be honest, I should be saying that I need to finally accept that I do, because I already know that I let my past get the best of me. To me, it often feels like it all happened yesterday and so the emotions still feel raw, even after some time. I often wallow in the past and what I’ve been through rather than focus on the present or work for my future. It is time to stop taking the past so seriously and let my playful, childlike self out again. This is a time to move forward and experience new emotions, not live in the past. The Gryphon shows that I’ll do well in this endeavor if I set myself to high standards.

And both cards are facing to the right, which I’m taking as yet another confirmation that I need to focus on my future, not the past.

Cards: Page of Cups & The Gryphon
Decks: Dragon Tarot & Madame Endora’s Fortune Cards

January Daily Draw Day 5: Motivation

I’ve recently had little to no motivation in almost every area of my life, so I created this quick spread to see if I could figure out why. Feel free to use it if you’d like.

1: What is currently blocking me from being motivated? – Expansion
This card is about seeking good advice when chancing something new, usually in the form of spiritual support, but can also point to family, friends, and acquaintances as well. In this sense, I get the feeling that I’ve been looking for advice or support from a lot of the wrong people, and some people I wish would help or support me, haven’t been. These are mostly people I know in person or am related to. I find my support mostly from my boyfriend, his mother, and some good online friends. So it’s no surprise that this card can point to the need to make some new, supportive friends if I can’t find support in the ones I already have. And even if I can? Trying to meet new supportive people is never a bad idea.

2: How can I work through this blockage? – Complacency
I am currently too tied up in the sadness that comes from recognition of lost dreams, and with snow being on the card, I’m also thinking seasonal depression has some influence here as well because I really dislike the winter, but it could also metaphorically show cold, icy feelings. This card suggests finding ways to redefine my dreams and to stop procrastinating, because giving up altogether isn’t something that really resonates with me.

3: How can I begin to find motivation again? – Wisdom
Whereas Expansion said to make new supportive friends, Wisdom says that I can find my motivation by actually listening to them and/or the supportive people I already have in my life. I’m terribly stubborn and have been trying to do many projects all alone, but sometimes that isn’t the best way to go about getting something done. I should be more open to asking others for help, support, or even some company to help keep me motivated. I also need to stay focused on the present- Thinking too far ahead and getting worried is most likely what caused this blockage in the first place.