The Tarot Tarts

Warning: nudity portrayed in the cards

I recently purchased the Materia Prima from Uusi, an oracle deck based on the periodic table that I’ve been looking at since 2020. I do not know why I waited so long. Though I don’t usually like decks where I find the guidebook necessary, I have been loving this deck and book so much that I knew I needed to use it this month, and I wanted to base my monthly decks off of it. For the theme I chose “Elemental.” To me, this key word evokes thoughts of adhering to basic principles of Tarot (and Oracle) as well as alchemical exploration in the Tarot systems.

The Terra Volatile with its entire fifth suit of Vessels dedicated to “Quintessence,” and its general alchemical vibe seemed a no-brainer companion to Materia Prima. Though I’m far from able to say I know Terra well, I do feel comfortable using it now after extensively studying it last year. I also wanted to bring The Naked Truth Tarot, is a deck I had since its Kickstarter twoish years ago, but never formally included in a monthly decks. This is a cheeky deck of mostly nude paintings is pretty “Elemental” in it’s unabashed portrayal of people. While it is RWS, it also has very clever takes on the traditional card meanings and it’s just a very beautiful deck. The Secret Garden, an absolute lux deck with plenty of accompanying Kickstarter rewards is really fitting my mood as I wrap up the historical fiction novel The Column of Burning Spices, a book about Hildegard von Bingen. This deck centers around very stoic historic figures with dramatic dark backgrounds and brilliant flower motifs. It’s serious, beautiful, and has a historic apothecary garden feel that matches the rather dark mood in the rest of the decks. And finally, The Wild Unknown Archetypes oracle is no stranger in my collection and has been around for a while on this blog. But, it does feel very primal and elemental in its imagery and Jungian themes.

So, full disclosure, I had a totally different draw organization intended for this month, but the Secret Garden Tarot had other plans and very clearly spat out one card that landed face up on the left and two cards face down on the right. It seemed quite purposeful so I decided to let it be and draw my other cards around these three.

Ah, The Womb. This is a card that has a tendency to pop up for me. I personally think of it as “The Source”, its that thing that ties all living things and non-living things together, a place where we came from, where our mothers came from, and their mothers, and mother earth. Its about holding a sacred space, and understanding that when we deviate from our spiritual/moral source, things are out of balance.

Paired with The Womb is Bromine, one of the reactive Halogens. Let me take a paraphrased quote out of the Materia Prima: Reflections on Matter as I cannot do justice to this card with my own words:

His was a simple, productive, monastic life until a bright light shown suddenly on Bromine. Extraordinary attention and false praise inflated him and led him to abandon his natural, established order…The thrill of a cheering crowd!…Bromine began to feel superior and embarked on a steep and forbidden road that brought about a troublesome existence…ashamed of his foul toxicity, he reveled in poisons…And then, all of a sudden his moment of greatness was gone… (page 163)

The rest of Bromine’s story here speaks of falling into shunned oblivion and longing for connection, until Being “politely reopens the door. “

Bromine’s story reminds me of Mean Girls, and any story really about a bully who rises to popularity. The bully may not even mean to be a bully, but whenever a person feels superior to others, they tend to excuse their actions to greater and greater extent until they can no longer deny that they are toxic, at which point they are so invested in their image they also cannot suffer the shock to their ego to admit how wrong they have been. Any one who has ever known a person with a narcissistic personality knows that this sort of person will literally prefer to die than admit their wrongs. When we stray so far from the universal threads of kindness, truth, and justice, we face the same perverted pride that Bromine is dealing with. It will only end in isolation. I feel as if there are many things in the current world reflected in this story old as time.

Together, the womb recognizes Bromine moving away from living in harmony with what connects us all, and we can see not only the destruction Bromine has done to the rest of the universe, but also (and perhaps most profoundly) to themselves.

I’m going to do this reading in a bit of a reverse order as I felt it was important with the position we see in Bromine.

To Bromine’s back, or perhaps we can say “past,” we have some very interesting imagery. First, from the Terra Volatile, which seemed to have gotten the memo about this being an “elemental” month gave us the King of Vessels in reverse. Vessels are a fifth (non-traditional ) suit that represent æther, a spiritual/alchemical element of the soul. He is supposed to represent the alchemical “Great Work” or the ability to create the mythical Philosphers Stone which purifies everything into its most essential form (like turning base material into gold). Or in more practical terms, a rebirth into a new whole self. His purpose is to merge with the Queen of Vessles and harmonize. But turned in reverse, he denies this sacred union. He selfishly keeps his power to himself, but in doing so is unable to accomplish the first step of spirituality. From the Terra Volatile book “…some can call him a cult leader.”

Then Secret Garden Tarot gave both Judgement in reverse and the Eight of Cups reversed. Judgement calls us to account for our actions, to see reality for all its truth and understand how we fit in reality and understand how the ripple of our actions have affected the world. When seen reversed, this isn’t happening, or is somehow blocked. The Eight of Cups in the RWS traditionally means moving away from a relationship, either leaving it, looking deeper, or cutting one’s losses. This image in particular is interesting because upright it seems to invite us to the window to gaze out at the moon, but reversed it is not clear to me which direction we are asked to move. To me these cards together speak of walking away from accountability or being unable to tell that you are being called to account.

With the King of Vessles Reversed and the Judgement Reversed and Eight of Cups Reversed, this feels as if someone, or rather “Bromine” was falsely duped by a manipulative “cult leader” into believing he was better than others but the reality says differently and he is unable to square himself with that past.

Bromine gazes on the Page of Pentacles as they put their faith in a plan and is about to take the first step to plant a new idea. Above them from The Naked Truth Tarot sweeps one of the extra cards labeled XXIII The Enchantress. Clearly a witch, she brings a burning torch down from the dark skies, much like Prometheus brings mankind fire. A special card of the deck, she represents a feminine and heightened counterpart to The Magician. She is a master of her own power and has the chops to harness her outer-world to do her bidding. She relies on no cheap tricks, but rather trusting her personal intuition and embracing the mystical aspects in her life and her own skills. She is leading the charge it would seem.

The Page is ready to take the first steps into a process in which they are unsure of the results, but there is a lot of hope hinging on this Page’s limited resources. Even so, in the meanwhile there is plenty of other fruits and plants to help support them as their vision takes root, things that have been seeded long ago that are blooming now. I wonder if Bromine and the Page are the same person, and Bromine is looking upon a possibility of themselves. Or is this Page another who is moving on to a better world without Bromine? Is this Page purposefully turning his back on Bromine? Does the Page know they have The Enchantress guiding over them? Preparing to give them her fire and knowledge?

With strong feminine guidance rooted in honest mastery of oneself and connection with the greater world, we see the start of a Page’s hopeful endeavor. This Page has moved on from the struggle we see Bromine is suffering, and uniting back with that Womb–Source. I see the relation of the Womb gifting the Page the Enchantress’s self realized powers while the Page in turn gives back to the Womb.

Anyone who has felt wronged by another I think can relate to this drawing. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we can see current real life parallels. To me this is a draw about acknowledging where others have gone wrong and tried to exert their superiority, and how they end up on such a corrupted path that is removed from reality, truth, and a balanced living. The world must go on without them, new harvest must be planted, new ideas for shaping the future need to take shape in our minds and heart and we can use old guiding principles of justice and equality and simple intuition of treating others how you wish to be treated. Perhaps one day they will see and walk the road Judgement asks us all to take, but only they can choose to become the change for the better.

From 10 o’clock, clockwise, Shining Stars Tarot, The Citadel Oracle (combined with The Deck of Emblems), The Endless Tarot, Medieval Europe Tarot, the Aisling tarot

This month my bestie and I needed some much needed escapism in our free time, so we decided to do another monthly decks based on a D&D party. For those of you who haven’t been here for a while, this is a hilarious game we play where we roll a dice to determine what kind of characters are in our “party” and then we pick tarot decks that exemplify that character. This month we rolled a Rogue, Barbarian, Wizard, Sorcerer, and a Fighter. We have a huge draw that is a “quest” for the party that usually takes several hours to complete, but I’ll save that draw for another day. Here’s my monthly draw and I’ll explain my choices as we go:

I kept getting double jumpers from the Endless Tarot and the Shining Stars no matter how many times I reshuffled, so I kept the two for each and it turned this into quite the full feeling monthly reading!

I wanted to use the Citadel Oracle mixed with the accompanying Deck of Emblems for my rogue character. It seems very rogue-like that the deck knows the “city” inside and out, and knows each character’s role and doesn’t try to justify morally the roles each plays. From this deck I drew The Merchant–you have things to offer, you need to weigh the cost this is to you to make a fair trade. You may also unexpectedly have something that others want or need that you’re not even aware of. Make sure you value your self and your time. Make sure that when you are giving, you are getting something of equal value in return. Be careful of time wasters who don’t value your worth.

I was torn about which deck to use as a fighter. In comparison to the barbarian I imagine a fighter being well trained, disciplined, professional and able to take a birds-eye view of a situation, and a little lonely. The Endless Tarot really fit this bill! For the first half of the month I was (surprisingly as I adore all of Maille’s decks) having a tough time with this deck and the large swaths of black edges, but I’ve finally warmed up to it! The Endless gave me the 10 of Pentacles and a special extra card, The Story. Together this reads to me as sharing my ancestral stories, my communities’ stories. With the merchant, it makes me think of rewriting the narrative to properly reflect real people’s experiences, or maybe crafting a story as part of a trade.

I’m so glad that the Shining Stars Tarot turned out as cool as the Kickstarter made it look! I don’t have a picture here, but it has sparkly purple edging and the soft touch card stock is just to die for! This deck bases all of it’s images off of mythical figures or figures of legends, real or made up. This became my wizard in my party as it requires some prior knowledge of these legends or otherwise requires legwork on my end! We have Hermes in the Eight of Wands with rapid motion and movement. Then we also were given the Seven of Swords with Robin Hood, having taken seven swords from the wealthy manor also moving rapidly! Lots of action it seems. Perhaps I’ll be attending to righting some systemic wrong. Hmm.

The Aisling tarot has been completely enchanting to me this month. As the sister deck of She Is Wilderness tarot, I finally bit the bullet and purchased Aisling, which I’d looked at several times since it was published last year. It is definitely a very quirky deck indeed from it’s odd shape to very interesting takes on the Marseilles system. It has a witchy, lolita-esque vibe that is very different from anything in my collection. This is the deck I chose for the Sorcerer because of its witchy-oddness that is very charming. I drew from the deck its classic take on the Fool. Our fool is very confident! She goes forth head held high on her new adventure, and we wonder if she sees the edge! There is much to look forward to, but also know there is present danger.

Then from my rough and tumble and much beloved Medieval Europe Tarot—which, due to its graphic imagery, is playing the role of the barbarian this month—out came a surprisingly passive Knight of Wands. This knight, while fully dressed and ready for battle, is instead passively waiting, courage at the ready, peaceful scepter held high, and head in the clouds, imagining outcomes. This, from a deck that is all about impulse and barbaric action, really is out of key with what I’d expect from a Knight of Wands (typically the most impulsive card in a RWS deck!). With the accompaniment of the fool, I read these two together as “go forth courageously, but stay action, be prepared and measured instead.” I also think it’s interesting we see the scepter in both Hermes 8 of Wands and this Knight. Robin Hood’s swords are also held downward and not in a way that will be used to harm another.

So, taken together, I have a role to play in shaping the story of my family and community, giving what I have of value to others and receiving in return. I will need to be prepared to take swift action to right a wrong that require courage and an open heart, but also peaceful passiveness. Very interesting! Tell me, how was your November in the cards?

Ah! September is the beginning of Spooky Season for me! I was having a bit of late summer lull and was drawing a blank on a theme for this month when my Tarot partner had a brilliant idea: Lightness and Darkness or Joyful and Somber. Balanced decks that exemplify a positive view and are more happy-go-lucky, and serious contemplative decks that are dense and “deep” readers. Interesting! This is the perfect back to school theme. I have done black and white deck themes before, light and shadow of the self as well, but this is more specific to the way the deck tends to read. I love this juxtaposition because it is asking for overall well-rounded decks.

I’ve used all of these decks rather extensively with the exception of the new Verdance Tarot, the second Tarot child from Stephanie Pui-Mun Law who made my beloved Shadowscapes Tarot. Verdance is just a gorgeous deck with great cardstock, and while there are similarities with the Shadowscapes, it definitely has a much lighter feeling to it. I’m looking forward to really getting to know it this month! While it is an “animal” deck, it also has plenty of humans and fae AND it is rather watery with it’s colors so it feels plenty summery as we enter the first balmy days of September.

My True Black Tarot seemingly needs no introduction on this blog. If I had to choose a somber and serious deck out of all my decks this one would always take the prize. It is certainly not a mean deck (unlike The Lubanko or The Corrupted Tarot which definitely have some…sharpness to them), but it takes itself seriously.

Tarot of the Golden Wheel is like that friend who can always see the silver lining, no matter what the situation! And, despite using it for many years it still gives me pleasant surprises. While it isn’t a “fluffy” deck, it always remains bright and intriguing.

The Terra Volatile has been my deck love this year. After just adoring the large collectors edition I broke down and purchased the regular edition when they ran their most recent printing run. I also sprung for the VERY large companion book. This deck is really deep. While the cards are classic RWS/Thoth/Marseilles, the images bring more questions than answers at times. This is a complex deck for sure that makes you stop in your tracks. And think.

One of my biggest struggles with Oracle decks in general is I dislike lack of balance in the content. The Seed and Sickle is an incredibly neutral feeling deck, where the cards can have positive, negative, and neutral readings. I take issue with the two separate books, but because I love the idea and the art I get over it (mostly) and use both in a reading.

Lets get on with the reading!

A very interesting blend of backs.

We open with thoughts of Spring! My monthly oracle card is lucky number 7, with the Cherry (and cuckoo). The cherry tree is one of the earliest blooming trees and often is romantically associated with spring, but it’s blossom period is very short lived. This can speak to a new period of activity, a short window of opportunity, a fleeting happiness or renewal of happiness, and springing forth on a new endeavor. There apparently is a myth that the cuckoo will continue to sing until it has thrice eaten its fill of cherry blossoms. This myth makes me think of self care, enjoying the moment (carpe diem), being an early actor, and using the situation to your benefit. Okay! Nice way to start the draw.

From the Verdance I drew the 7 of Cups, which in the guide book is titled “The Illusionist.” It acknowledges the imaginative power of inspiration but asks us to “discern wishful thinking from reality.” Opening with the very dream-like cherry, I see this as abstract ideas taking root. Grounding ideas that have only prior been in the mind. There is some work that has to be done to decide which ideas are most viable. Everything looks very pretty and nice in theory but in actual practice can fall short. I also notice the dragonfly, which to me is a powerful symbol of transcendence. I must not only look at which “lotuses” have strong roots but I must also view the bigger picture from above, removed from my self. Interesting.

This is paired with the Terra Volatile’s traditional Empress. She looks very regal but incredibly exhausted! She has the trappings of a classic Tarot Empress, the throne, the wheat, lush vegetation and with that the unbridled, almost primal creativity and ability to birth something new into the world. Paired with the Seven of Cups I see her as having the courage to choose a path of action amidst many choices and having the faith to mother that concept because you believe in it. But, as seen with the flaming pierced heart on her shield, there is heartache in creation, and the pain of letting other ideas go. There is definitely something that I’ve been thinking about I’m going to take action on!

The Golden Wheel’s Six of Swords may be by favorite portrayal of this card out of all my Tarot decks. I’d actually have never drawn this card from this deck until this monthly reading. I love this image of a child being lead through the windy forest by an elder towards a beautiful glorious body of water. This card speaks to me personally with some past experiences, but it’s also just beautiful as well. With this cards, I see a new wind is blowing. I have the opportunity to use it to my advantage. There is something that looks beautiful and great ahead. It is both somewhere I want to go and someplace that is a safe haven. A brave person will help me to this place, but in the end only I have the ability to bring myself there if I so choose. I will have concerns and reservations about going, I worry not about what is ahead, but what remains behind me. It feels very much like the cusp of an adventure, but there’s always that hesitation of going forth into the unknown.

The partner card is the beautiful Justice from the True Black Tarot. It is an ongoing joke between my Tarot pal and myself that Justice really does haunt me in my personal readings. It’s not often though that it appears in my monthly readings. I typically read justice as facts and truth, discerning the “right” choice, answering for wrongs, trying to right a wrong, and accountability. Paired with the rest of this draw, I see this Justice advising that the choice(s) ahead is not easy. Each path has unique sets of challenges that I’ll have to answer for. But its important to strike a balance between my personal goals and ideas and what is necessary to be done. Sometimes things in the past have no good solution and are left unresolved. I may see that as I move forwards, others behind might refuse to come to terms with where I am going. There is an aspect of having to see the truth clearly, how denial will not shelter one from repercussions. It also assures me that things will be righted in the end.

Now that I’m looking at this from the “birds eye view” as suggested in the seven of cups, I’m going to go ahead and briefly look at the other pairings.

7 of Cups paired with the Six of Swords: I have many choices; will I stay where I am or will I move forward with this new wave? There is an overall positive, invigorating feeling. I am naturally creative and driven so it makes sense I will go forward, just make sure I’m leaving behind the right things. I also feel the ability to see both above and below the water—lilies that bear flowers need to have roots that connect them to the earth—there is more beneath just a good idea. Be realistic and set realistic goals–with this attitude you can sail beyond the horizon! Be willing to litmus test by going into deeper waters, taking calculated chances.

And then looking at the III Empress and Justice pairing: I envision the age-old struggle of the heart vs the mind. Having hard truths, yet being able to love despite the reality. I see these two as holding space for both things, you can be just and still profoundly love and care. You can be creative and bring newness into the world and still be truthful and honest. Letting that which does not help you, go. Keeping true to yourself. Holding space for the inner truths and emotions as well as the hard cold outer truths and realities. The heart burning in silence, and the truth winning out. Certainly a powerful and strange juxtaposition.

I see this month as being a precipice on which I will make a decision of what to do next, an action that will happen either with or without me and it will happen quickly and the window of action is small. It is both exciting but also sad because there are aspects that I need to let go of and dreams and ideas that will die and be left behind. I’ll have internal struggles as well, having the need to balance both my needs and desires as well as facing the reality of situations and needing to act fairly. Geez, lot of stuff! How about you? How is September looking for you?

Hello and greetings! After an absolute wild and hilarious month of a “D&D” party of decks (maybe one day I’ll share the crazy draw my Tarot friend and I came up with), it’s time to slow down and savor the final (hopefully) month of the hot summer—with decks that encompass the idea of movement! That may sound like an odd theme, but while using my last months decks I found it interesting how the juxtaposition between “action” and “inaction” portrayed in art had on how I felt about an image. So of course I need to look at it more closely in the Tarot world! And I wanted to start with movement, to experiment and explore what this does to a tarot reading.

I didn’t have a difficult time at all choosing decks for this month’s theme as I tend to be drawn to decks that are, well, not exactly stagnant in their art! I tried to pick some decks that have had very little time on this blog in general, except I had to bring out an old favorite!

Right to left: The Tarot of the Silicon Dawn, The Whisper of the Stars and Garden Tarot (“Self” edition), Spiritual Cycle Oracle, The Riderless Tarot, the Shadowscapes Tarot (Czech Edition).

Naturally, all of these decks this month encompass excellent examples of art that portrays movement, but I especially am excited to start learning The Tarot of the Silicon Dawn as it is a deck I have wanted for years and years and only recently was able to snag an affordable used copy! I also have the recently acquired through Kickstarter The Whisper of the Stars and Garden Tarot, which is just drop dead gorgeous and turning out to be an excellent, moderately traditional RWS. The Spiritual Cycle Oracle and The Riderless Tarot I’ve both had and used frequently for quite a while now, but have somehow not ended up the monthly subjects of study (which considering how much I adore The Riderless, is a crime). And of course, the Shadowscapes is the deck that really pulled me into the fascinating world of Tarot and is a deck I still refer to and love for all the motion that is constant in the images.

So I’ll admit, I had a totally different layout for the cards planned this month, but I first drew this intriguing 2 of Cups from the Silicon Dawn (though, every card from SD is intriguing to me!), followed by these double jumpers from Stars and Garden, and I decided to completely restructure my draw to match this 2 of Cups.

When I “read” Tarot for myself, I tend to take a fairly Jungian point of view, or point of meditation, and this image of the dark and light figures, the darker one sinking and the lighter one rising, combined with the cups’ contents flowing down and up, not only do I get strong Temperance vibes, but I also see this as a recognition of our “shadow” self often described in Jungian psychology. We need both the “light” and the “dark” self to function and be healthy individuals, but we often struggle to identify the shadow self and thus struggle to integrate it into our understanding of self. From a card that I typically see as making a new, or refreshing a connection with another, to seeing the “true” inner-self is indeed interesting! I also like this notion of how things must go up and down to achieve a balance. It asks perhaps how is my shadow self nourishing or affecting my conscious self, and how shall I nourish my shadow self?

This concept is further explored with both The Sun (upright) and The Devil (reversed) from the Stars and Garden. Very simplistically (and perhaps a petitio principii fallacy), I might read this as “at your best, you are your best, at your worst, you are your worst”! I certainly think that if the Devil has an “opposite” card, I’d likely pick the Sun, and visa versa. If I think immediately of our Jungian 2 of Cups, I see this as when you are at your best, you can see what you are at your worst, or, of course, the opposite. Speaking personally, I know my best and worse selves certainly coesixt together and some of the things I regret doing or saying tend to happen when I’m feeling “at my best” and I’m most willing to take risks. I can also read this as though I’m enjoying life and living authentically in the sun card, there’s always the undercurrent of my own shortcomings that can change my state of being. Though this is a little bleak, and I like to believe we have agency over how we act towards the outer world. I like how the horse and the child move together across the field of flowers, where as the two people in the devil are stuck, and motionless.

This card came out sideways, and while I up-righted it, twice the wind from the window flipped it sideways again, so I decided to just leave it that way! This card seems pretty black and white (haha!), you either win or you lose. But, it reminds me of one of my favorite cards in the Tarot, the Five of Swords, which is often a “make or break” card for me when I invest in a new deck. I, typically, read the V of Swords as “the cost of winning.” Sometimes that cost is losing a lot before you gain the skills to win. Sometimes is means losing something precious because of winning, or in the attempt to win. It’s important to decide if the risk of wining and the sustained losses that go with it are worth the win. Or, in another way, do the ends justify the means? It also makes me think what in my life am I pursuing to “win”? What are the risks associated with that? What happens if I lose? I see the “win” side is next to my previously drawn cards—I think being honest with one’s self is always a win!

Hmm, and interesting set of three cards! On the far right is the Shadowscapes Knight of Pentacles, the card of “slow and steady wins the race,” unwavering diligence, and methodical work–certainly the most contemplative of the otherwise rash knights! This may be the year of the Knight of Pentacles seeing as I keep getting him. In the sense of movement, it seems like the wyrm he rides is looping back on itself though he looks forwards at his end goal—in what ways are the motions I’m taking not helping me progress? It also makes me think of X The Wheel of Fortune major card seeing as it speaks of a wheel of cycles the human experiences in their life.

Its interesting the Knight of Pentacles is paired with the VII of Pentacles (see how the golden apples look like they’ve rolled right down the hill into the center of the knights woodland wyrm?) a card of steady work and application of skill, juxtaposed with the short fused but sharp minded Page of Swords, whose ready for action. If we think back to the 2 of Cups and ask in what ways does these two things exist even if at first look they seem opposite, we can say that the attentive practice of skill is juxtaposed with the new sharp ideas that are different from what you’ve already been doing. It can look threatening when there’s something new, and especially (given its a Page) when that concept is untested. But there is no motive to practice and get good at a skill if there wasn’t that initial spark.

The three together with the “Lose” side of the oracle, I see as a desire to make motion forward but that motion needing room for a new spark to ignite new ways of thinking and ideas! If those new things are repressed there’s no wining that endless grid!

All together, I see this as a reading of the ability to take two paths; one that seems at first glace rather hedonistic, but is really the path of staying true to yourself (your whole self), while the other has an inner argument of the best way to go about things where there’s already established “way things should be” process. Unfortunately this is a path that doesn’t seem to want to progress! Perhaps I should ask myself what ways am I being dishonest with myself that is preventing me from progressing?

Hmm, a very interesting introspective month! What do the cards say for you these days?