metaphysical-tarot – Page 2 – beckycochrane.com

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 12

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.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 10

Rather than a Tarot deck, today I want to share the Animal Spirits Knowledge Cards, shown on the upper right in that photo. The art on these cards using paintings by the late Susan Seddon Boulet is absolutely stunning. In all, there are 48 cards:

Animal Deities, Bear, Birds, Bull, Butterfly, Caribou, Cat, Cow, Coyote, Crocodile, Crow, Deer, Dog, Dolphin, Dove, Eagle, Elephant, Fish, Fox, Frog, Goat, Gull, Hawk, Heron, Horse, Insect, Jaguar, Kingfisher, Leopard, Lion, Monkey, Owl, Panther, Parrot, Peacock, Polar Bear, Puma, Rabbit, Ram, Raven, Sea Horse, Scarab, Snake, Spider, Swan, Tiger, Totem, Wolf

In 2001, I was part of a class with a teacher who talked about the spiritual significance of animals. She took us through a meditation session to help us find our spirit guide or spirit animal. Among the things she shared with us is that while our guide might turn out to be an animal we’ve always liked or felt a connection to, the guide is more often one that provides a quality a person lacks. So, for example, a beaver, who is thought of as hardworking and industrious, might be there to help you better develop those qualities in yourself.

In essence, you don’t choose your spirit guide/animal/helper; it chooses you.

In recent years, the concept of the spirit animal became trivialized by popular culture–and I can easily believe I’ve been guilty of saying something dumb like “Starbucks is my spirit animal.” In the realm of “be better, do better,” I’m now aware of how demeaning that can be to worldwide cultures who have long identified animals as significant to their ancestral and spiritual connections and practices: for example, an animal who traditionally is believed to guide a beloved family member from this life into the afterlife.

There’s nothing wrong with having a reverence for animals and feeling connected to or inspired by them, or identifying with one in particular. The point is not to cherry-pick what’s sacred to another culture and devalue or minimize it, and to remember that language matters. With that in mind, what I really like about these cards is that, as one reviewer said, they are “designed for meditations and learning rather than divination.” The back of each card provides the symbology of the animal or concept depicted, with a brief summary of how it has been viewed in different cultures historically.

I picked two cards to show you animals who mean something to me: Ram and Crow (neither one is the animal who came to me in the meditation on spirit guides in 2001; people usually keep their spirit guides or animals private, much the way meditation practitioners don’t share their mantras).

Without giving the full description, Ram symbology includes sacrifice, growth, and divine life. Crow symbology includes renewal, transformation, magic, and abundance. When I pull a card, I study the art for a long time, looking for symbols and meaning personal to me. The description on the back may include the characteristics of the animal as well as how it’s been historically significant to specific cultures, tribes, or myths. After absorbing the art and the description, I place the card with other things that help me meditate/contemplate, such as candles, incense, and stones, and spend time letting my thoughts wander as they will.

In my years of doing energy work, I often see the area around me filling with animals (an experience I hope to include in one of the novels I intend to write one day). I always thank them for joining me and helping me, so in this case, as I finish my meditation session, I’d thank Ram or Crow for being there and for the lessons and wisdom offered.

Envisioning animal guides is always a deeply meaningful experience for me, and while I usually keep such things private, in these times, if animal energy can help you find serenity or insight, I’m happy to explain/suggest it. Even without this deck, you could place a picture or object depicting a specific animal you’re drawn to, do a little of your own research, and use all that for a healing or helping meditation.

ETA: The deck is from Pomegranate (May 1, 2007) and remains available for sale online or probably could be ordered locally from your favorite bookseller or metaphysical shop.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 9

Wednesday was the new moon in Pisces, a good time to set intentions and let go of things not serving you–so you can make room for the new!

According to my go-to source, Kevin at Body Mind & Soul, this new moon is a good time for past life readings and astral travel. If you’ve had experience with either and want to share an experience in comments, feel free! This is also a good time to be aware of recurring symbols showing up in your life and reflecting on what they might mean to you.

I pulled a card at random from the Crow Tarot. Maybe the King of Cups has some wisdom to offer you. The stone pictured next to the card in the photo below is a moonstone.

Keywords for Cups: Psychic, Creative, Love, Dreams, Feeling
Element: Water (timely for Pisces)
Card Meaning: The King of Cups is a Zen master who has complete control over his emotions. This regal bird can handle the most tumultuous of situations with grace and compassion. When you receive a royal visit from the King of Cups, it may be a signal to take some quiet time to reflect on the emotions around [a] situation. What emotional triggers seem to pop up regularly to hold back progress?

MJ Cullinane, author

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 8

First things first. Whether you celebrate George Harrison’s birth on February 24 (because his birth certificate states he was born just before midnight), or February 25, which is when he celebrated it most of his life, today I’m just celebrating that he ever existed and gave us music and ideas.

From the Dark Horse tour in 1974, I WANT TO MAKE THIS LOOK at 1:6 scale. Photographer unknown.

To continue…

This wasn’t the post I intended to do today, but something made me look inside the “treasure chest” for this deck, so I’m going for it.

The Voyager Tarot was first published in 1985, which was long before I’d have gotten it sometime in the 1990s, and the book, James Wanless’s Voyager Tarot: Way of the Great Oracle was published in 1989. I don’t know which store these came from or why I was drawn to this particular deck. If we had it at the store where I worked, there might have been an open deck (not for sale, but for display so a shopper could look at it before buying a deck) that I perused. Whatever my motive or interest, I’m sure it had something to do with the heavy use of crystals and stones in the deck’s artwork. Whatever else comes and goes among my interests, my appreciation for stones/rocks/crystals never wanes.

From the time I was a wee girl and we’d go to my grandfather’s house, I’d watch my older cousins stroll with Papa up and down his driveway that was composed of loose rocks (possibly river rocks). All of them had watchful eyes as they hoped to find stones with interesting colors or shapes to pick up, maybe to keep.

When I was a little older, I remember a particular bike I had, with slightly wider tires than normal, and how much I loved riding the bike over some friends’ graveled driveway. The crunch of those rocks under my tires was pleasing, and I’d ride across the driveway again and again for who knows how long. I’m sure their parents thought I was an odd child.

When I met my future mother-in-law, she had a large collection of rocks and stones that she’d collected through the years, as well as many she’d acquired from her late uncle. She and I would sit at the kitchen table and look through the rocks. I’d roll them through my fingers, admiring their textures, and also marvel at the variety of colors, whether natural or dyed.

I knew about birthstones, of course, and the meanings associated with them, but the idea of crystals and stones having particular healing properties or meanings was mostly new to me in the 1990s. An interest in stones, crystals, and rocks seemed to have few boundaries among people’s belief systems or spiritual pursuits and was more akin to the universal appeal of birds, for example, or forests and the ocean. As more people shared their enthusiasm and knowledge with me, I began to collect my own stones, and loved getting them as gifts.

Uniqueness: In the Voyager Tarot, crystals replace swords to represent the mind; the cups, as with other tarot decks, represent our emotions; the worlds cards, representing the actions we take in the world, replace the disks or pentacles in traditional tarot decks; and the wands represent our spirit, or “the magic of life we hold in our hands.” The “people” cards are the Sage, Man, Woman, and Child.

The Major Arcana of the Voyager Tarot generally correspond to other decks: The Fool is here the Fool-Child; the Eight card, either Justice or Strength in other decks, is Balance; the Eleven card, either Strength of Justice in other decks, is here Strength; the card usually known as Temperance is Art in this deck, the Devil card is called Devil’s Play here; the Judgment card from other decks is here called Time-Space; and the standard World card is here called Universe.

Despite the small book that comes with the deck, and the more detailed book I bought for more information, if I ever used the deck to do readings, I don’t recall them. What I do recall is how often I’ve pulled a card just to study its rich, sometimes odd, images. I wanted to find things that resonated with me.

Because I love crystals, I picked the specific cards below to share with you, along with Art, as unique to this deck. If you want to know more about a card, ask in comments, and I’ll check the description in the book for you.

Art from the Major Arcana

Knower, Sage of Crystals

Guardian, Woman of Crystals

Inventor, Man of Crystals

Learner, Child of Crystals

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 7

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.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 6

Today’s featured Tarot deck is now kept inside this sweet, slightly beat-up old box. I don’t currently remember the source of the box, nor do I remember when I got this deck.

The Tarot of the Spirit is dated 1992. It’s possible I bought it at one of the many metaphysical shops I used to visit. I think all but two of those are gone now, and I mostly shop at only one of them because I so love the vibe there. There are more shops scattered around Houston, but again, This Pandemic™ keeps me home or mostly frequenting places closer to me where the merchandise and layout is familiar enough for me to get in and out quickly. (This reminds me: My favorite antique mall is moving further away. [sad face])

The reason I think I bought The Tarot of the Spirit at a shopkeeper’s recommendation is because the little book that came with the deck isn’t very detailed, so I was likely upsold this 400-plus-page book written by the deck’s creator, Pamela Eakins.

Eakins offers several different layouts for readings. If I ever did readings for myself or anyone else, I don’t remember anything about them. The deck has the usual 22 major arcana cards, here called the Tarot Keys. I pulled four of them to give you a sense of the art.

The Wheel of Fortune, The Lovers, The Star, and The Moon

The 56 minor arcana cards are in suits called Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. The book provides a divinatory meaning, meditation, and interpretation for each card. I pulled these four to show you that after the 1 to 10 cards, the higher cards are Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother. I chose from the four different suits.

If this deck interests or intrigues you, and you want a deck that can be further enhanced by a detailed book to help you understand or use it, you can see all the cards on this site.

There’s one other card in the deck, called “the Mystery Card.” There is also a divinatory and meditation explanation for it.

Disclaimer: I am no expert on this subject. Because I no longer study and practice with any decks, and because “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” as my mother used to say (likely derived from Alexander Pope’s “a little learning is a dangerous thing”), I no longer do readings for anyone. If I do a rare reading for myself, it’s mostly to prompt introspection and perspective about something that has me puzzled. I particularly like pulling cards for characters, when I’m a little stuck while writing, to help me think more about who they are and how to show that. I 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.

Button Sunday

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.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 5

This beautiful new box I picked up sometime after Christmas at a Tuesday Morning store now holds five different decks. The deck I’m choosing to feature today is The Akashic Tarot, a 2017 set created by Sharon Anne Klingler and Sandra Anne Taylor.

The box it came in reads: The Akashic Tarot is an astoundingly accurate tool for predicting the future, unveiling hidden insights, and unleashing new powers. That description would likely not have made me buy this deck last year, because the only part that grabs me is the “hidden insights.” Your mileage may vary if you work with Tarot cards in a different way from me.

Many, many years ago I had a fascinating dream which I won’t share because it involves someone I knew personally and loved (still love) very much. She died in 1978, and I had this dream in the 1990s, and in the dream, I said to myself, “I’m in the Hall of Akashic Records, and it is nothing like I was led to believe.” Had I heard the term before? Possibly from Princess Patti. But my mind on the subject was a blank slate, and the sentence was so sure and so specific that I never forgot it. From that day, I’ve questioned people who have a lot of experience with and interest in metaphysics about the concept.

As simply as I can state it, theory has it that the Hall of Records is actually three physical places located on the planet where stored records explain the history of the origin of humans and how we arrived on Earth. Accessing the contents of these records helps predict where humans are going.

The Hall of Akashic Records, on the other hand, is an ever-changing and shifting energy dimension that contains all the experiences of every living being across time and throughout the Universe. Someone who accesses these records can see the past, present, and future, and every individual can see her/his own records for past, present, and future if s/he accesses the subconscious.

Do I believe all that? As with all things, I have a healthy sense of skepticism. The way my mind works, there is no way to know, and no one way of thinking disproves or proves another. There are people who do believe in one or both concepts, or who hold entirely different spiritual beliefs, and in that regard, all I’d say about any individual’s or group’s actions is that they are best done with the highest intentions for the good of all concerned, without will to manipulate an outcome or another human, and with a commitment to do no harm. The things I value most highly are compassion, honesty, freedom, justice, and loyalty. What runs afoul of those, I want no part of.

The dream that remains with me is why I bought the deck, and it’s quite beautiful. I shared the “Destiny” card on here back in October because it made me think of past lives, and that had come up in the novel(s) I’m working on. The deck has differences from other Tarot decks in not only the Major Arcana, but in the numbered cards and the people. The authors say their choices are rooted in “Numerology, theories of karma, the Druidic mysteries, Quantum Physics, Natural Law, religious symbolism, Buddhist traditions, and mythologies and beliefs from around the world.” That’s a lot!

The deck’s creators also provide different spreads for how to lay out and read the cards. I haven’t ever done a reading with this deck for myself, another person, or characters. If the time becomes right, I know I will. However, I was very intrigued to find that this is yet another deck with a Muse card. Since the deck’s creators suggest that a reader allow each card to create a mental movie, I offer the Muse if you’d like to see what movie you visualize. (It’s not necessary to share your movie in the comments unless you’d like to.)

Right now, I have a strong desire to pop some corn and watch this movie. I’m almost positive characters will be involved.

Tiny Tuesday!

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.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 3

I’ve acquired a few new boxes and have been shifting cards around between them all. This is another box designed as a book.

I liked it because it looks like a painting, and the kind of painting I’m drawn to.

It’s now the home of what must be one of my earliest decks, if not the first one I bought. At that time, my friend Princess Patti introduced me to Tarot cards when she did a few readings for me. I liked the way the readings made me think about things, and still see Tarot more as a means for discerning what we want and need, where we are and where we want to be, and how past events have shaped us, much more than as a tool for predicting the future or delving into the intentions of other people, which is how some people use it.

Because of Patti, I also learned that a good card reader helps you avoid the trap of seeing only what you want to see in a reading. Sometimes the hardest cards are the best ones. I’m also a believer that when you want an answer to be YES, but you get a NO, and you immediately reject it, that’s another kind of answer. You intend to do what you want to do, and only time will tell if your instinct served you well.

Ego, will, and desire are strong adversaries to the advice we get from people. Why would advice from cards be any different?

I can’t be sure, but I think the deck Patti used was the Rider Waite Tarot. It’s been around since the early 1900s and is one of the most popular. It is very likely why I bought this one. It’s a reliable deck and one I still enjoy using. It was also the deck used in the book shown below, which helped me learn a lot more about doing readings.

Since I wouldn’t share readings I do for myself, I thought it would be interesting to do one for a character. She’s at a pivotal point in her life in which she is resistant to new relationships. There are three men who might like to change her mind: her estranged husband, a potential creative partner, and a new friend.

I decided to pull three cards, and let each card represent one of the men in the order above. I’ll put more behind the cut, if you’re interested. I’m relying heavily on the little book that came with the cards for descriptions of the cards themselves.

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