You probably guessed after last week that I might go looking for a version of a Celtic-themed tarot deck, and of course I did.
The deck is beautifully packaged in a self-closing box that includes both a guidebook and the cards.
The art in Kristoffer Hughes’s deck, as created by Chris Down, is quite striking, sometimes bold, and each card offers an abundance of symbology to contemplate. I find it interesting, considering my post last week, that Hughes discusses several bodies of thought that he then unifies in the Celtic idea of the “world tree” (indeed, the title of the book includes the word “branches”).
I imagine I’ll need to spend some time just exploring the cards to know if I feel connected to this deck. There are differences in the names of some of the major arcana cards as well as the minor arcana cards. I haven’t had a good opportunity to sort all that out yet.
In a recent video from Kevin at Body Mind & Soul, he suggested two cards as connected to the last full moon, the Ten of Cups and the Ten of Pentacles. In this deck, those would be the Ten of Cauldrons and the Ten of Shields. Happy online researching if you’d like to know more about these cards. You can also find Kevin’s video at this link.
Disclaimer: I am no expert on tarot cards. Because I don’t study or practice with any particular deck, I don’t do readings. I use the cards as a means of introspection. I also enjoy the art, beauty, and symbolism of many tarot decks and how they reflect the personalities and journeys of their creators. Tarot is like other things that inspire me and engage my interest, such as books, music, and art.
Back on October 14, I shared this book by Adam J. Kurtz and a page from it for circling some favorite things. Here’s another recent page, and clearly I don’t listen to any music from this century, but whatever (and also, this page made me listen to The Antlers’s “I Don’t Want Love” and it’s from 2011).
When I look at that list now, I’d add Gladys Knight singing, “Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be the First to Say Goodbye)” because it keeps running through my head while I’m writing. I wonder if other writers’ hearts break when their characters’ love stories don’t work out.
I digress.
I also mentioned in that post that Kurtz had a new book coming out, and I recently received my copy thanks to a very generous offer from him and his publisher, and I keep flipping through it and finding new things to make me smile or think or steel my determination to just be me and stop worrying about whatever it is that plays on a loop in my brain when I can’t sleep.
I appreciate that Kurtz has followed his creative vision his way. One thing I like about both books (and there are more things in his shop that I’ll be buying) is that I feel like a friend is talking to me, saying the things a friend needs to say, that I need to hear, and most of all, being vulnerable and so making me feel a little less vulnerable, if that makes sense. On the inside front cover is written: Even small changes help us transform as life unfolds, whether you’re chasing your dreams or trying to get out of bed. You are here but you’re not alone.
Also, my book came with some extras. Who doesn’t like free stuff?
You can find out more about Adam J. Kurtz at his website, and he’s also on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube.
Wednesday was the full Snow Moon, so I took the following guidance from Kevin at Body Mind and Soul (that link is to their blog post; I watched Kevin’s post on their Instagram account). Full moons, in addition to being a time of completion, can have tension because the sun and moon are in opposition. Kevin suggested that someone might be going back and forth about something, caught in indecision.
I chose to meditate about my writing, lighting incense to help me center myself and focus, and choosing tangible items as suggested by Kevin that included stones and tarot cards.
One astrological aspect of this full moon is represented by the seven of swords, the card of opposition in the Enchanted Tarot. This deck advises you to recognize that your challenges are often self-created and stem from fear and a lack of trust in yourself. If you can identify and acknowledge the negative patterns that feed these qualities, you can find a path forward. Fluorite brings order to a fearful or chaotic mind, so it’s a good companion for this part of the meditation.
The other astrological aspect is represented by the seven of wands, the card of courage in the Enchanted Tarot. This card advises you to trust your judgment and intuition and not give in to fear. Kevin quoted from his source, “Carnelian stimulates courage and action, restores motivation, and helps turn dreams into realities.”
His advice is to come up with “one good reason to try something different.” So my particular task is to identify what I fear that holds me back as a writer, and to try a different action to help me move forward. I’ll be working on it!
The Enchanted Tarot deck, which I’ve shared in previous posts, is now in this wooden box.
Disclaimer: I am no expert on tarot cards. Because I don’t study or practice with any particular deck, I don’t do readings. I use the cards as a means of introspection. I also enjoy the art, beauty, and symbolism of many tarot decks (most recently, the Crow and Muse decks both piqued my interest) and how they reflect the personalities and journeys of their creators. In that way, they are like other things that can inspire me and engage my interest, such as books, music, and art.
Wayback to the 1800s or in this life, to 2010. I’ve been trying to find this photo for quite a while, but it wasn’t any of the Flickr albums I expected it to be in. Finally, I chose a really long way to look for it, and honestly, there was no point except that I remembered these as being some of my favorite dresses I made. They were easy to sew and they fit the dolls beautifully. So… a pointless post, but since I put so much effort into finding the photo, this was from my September 5, 2010 post for a Runway Monday challenge.
The dresses were not part of the challenge. I dressed my hosts in them. I want to sew more of this style.
In a conversation with a longtime friend who hasn’t worked with tarot cards in many years, she wondered if I was doing so on the regular as my blog seemed to indicate. Not at all. I’d gone years without doing readings for anyone, even longer since I did them for myself.
I think one reason I recently pulled out any decks at all is because in my next saga (if this one ever comes to a close and right now its title seems to be 1974 Lasted a Century), there’s a character who has always intrigued me because she’s a young woman of contradictions. I’d been thinking of her (the second series is connected to this first one) and trying to recall things about her. And I remembered that she’s artistic and had once created her own tarot deck and there was a little story activity around that.
Then: I’ve occasionally featured some of my boxes on here, and that’s where most of the decks live, in wooden boxes. Then in September, I did the Idol Challenge with Dennis Wilson as my subject, and a couple of times I’ve shown the Dennis box I made, and it holds tarot cards.
Then: For fun, I did readings for a fictional character or two (not the one I’m speaking of above) and realized random cards could actually offer fiction writing prompts for my characters if I feel stuck.
Then: I had some writing challenges last year, so since I’ve been looking at the decks, I decided to see if pulling a few cards would help me better organize my thoughts on writing and not let other people make me doubt myself.
Then: I am always thinking about muses and I love the corvids, so the Muse and Crow decks jumped out at me. I always figure there’s a reason (beyond just, I AM IN A DAMN PANDEMIC AND ISOLATING AT HOME I MISS MY FRIENDS LET ME SPEND A LITTLE MONEY ON MORE STUFF SO I CAN DIVERT MYSELF–apparently my inner voice is an uppercase one, maybe even cursive, who knows) so I go with it, figuring it’ll be clear at a later point.
In other words, several things converged, and when Mark asked me how many decks I have, I figured why not do a regular Thursday post with tarot cards as the subject, because they both start with “T,” and though this blog has many random subjects, which is how I like it, that randomness may be a foolish idea because without focusing on anything, I’m not reaching a readership that wants that one thing, whatever that one thing is. Then again, you know what else I’m not reaching? Trolls who wander through people’s social media accounts to say hateful things to them or their readers/commenters. So…all good.
The blog’s just a gander at whatever pings my brain at any given time, and designating certain days (Button Sundays, Mood Mondays, Tiny Tuesdays, Tarot Thursdays, Photo Fridays) keeps me from having to think too hard of a subject. That was most helpful when I was employed and working 16-hour days, and now it’s helpful when I try to manage my creative time better. Fiction writing comes first, and by imposing a little structure on my blog, I don’t have to use a lot of energy trying to figure out what to post about and can spend my blog time actually writing text and finding photos.
If that all makes sense.
If there’s anything at all that I ponder or reflect on or wonder about, especially whether my muse or my higher self or my subconscious is trying to get through to me, it’s the random music–from a vast repertoire of music I own or remember or love or connect to people, places, and times of my life–that pops into my head.
But I have to confess, I have NO DAMN IDEA why “My Wild Love” is in my brain right now. I haven’t been listening to The Doors or thinking of The Doors or thinking of Jim Morrison. It’s my ear worm for no apparent reason. Which is how I came to choose today’s buttons from my own personal collection, and I may or may not have used them here before.
So yeah, sure, hi Jim Morrison, hi Doors, hi the friend who’s part of my personal zeitgeist that includes The Doors. Happy to have you visit my brain.
You can, if you wish, go back and revisit this post from October in which I went off on a little rant about one of my favorite artists Bruce Springsteen (honestly, VERY high on my list, higher even than maybe a Beatle or two) and how I once taught his song “Thunder Road” to my college freshmen as a fine example of the carpe diem theme, wherein I told them “Mary’s dress waves,” then years later, I was faced with what I was told was hard evidence that “Mary’s dress sways.” I apologized to my students all these decades later if I had misled them.
Wait. Let me pause here for a photo that recently landed in my social media feed. Taken in 1970… this lovely Irish/Italian/Dutch boy, name of Bruce… What? He was twenty-one and legal!
I, however, was not. I’ll enter the Bruce plea: Not guilty of inappropriate thoughts because it IS hard to be a saint in the city.
Moving on from all that, a couple of weeks back, Tim told me about a new used bookstore in the Heights that’s pretty cool, KABOOM. Since our two closest Half Price Books shuttered during This Pandemic™, a new used bookstore was good news to me. On my weekly outing, I went browsing.
I took several photos inside and out, and bought several books, and sooner or later, you’ll probably see a lot of that one way or another on the blog. Here is one of the books I bought, and it’s not quite as elaborate or detailed as the Paul McCartney books I recently featured here.
Then again, it’s 24 years old. Bruce has released a lot more material since then. But it is authored by the Boss himself. So….
Here it is, that song that remains forever lodged in either the first or second spot of my all-time favorite songs.
Wait, do I need to zoom in on “Thunder Road?” Her dress is WAVING? You don’t say.
I rest my case. (ETA: But y’all should read my answer to Marika in the comments.)
A few shots featuring Bruce and more of my favorite things.
I wore the album The River out when I got it. It still blows me away. Saw him on tour for that one.
Lovely, hand-scribbled lyrics for “Glory Days.”
Song “Born in the U.S.A.” misunderstood and misappropriated by political candidates. Because their teams don’t read the lyrics. Or ask Bruce.
Bruuuuuce! One of my two favorite Jersey-born boys.
Last night, I did a new moon intentions ritual using information from Kevin at Body Mind and Soul. He does videos each month during new and full moons on the store’s Instagram account that are always fun and informative. My intentions were mostly about writing, but also making inner peace with a few things.
Pictured are the Star card from the Muse Tarot, the last candle burning from the shelf everything had been on, and stones and crystals including kyanite, moonstone, malachite, turquoise, amethyst, amazonite, tourmaline, and clear quartz.
I like starting February with creative energy and serenity.
