Tag: tarot

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 22

Last week I featured the 15 Tarot decks I have. Here are the rest of the decks or similar items I’ve located throughout Houndstooth Hall.

I’ve featured four Oracle decks. If you Google the difference between Oracle and Tarot cards, you’ll find a wealth of information (some of it contradictory–good luck!). My decks are:


Celtic Astrology Oracle Cards


The Illustrated Crystallary Oracle Cards


The Urban Crow Oracle


Messages From Your Animal Spirit Guides Oracle Deck

In addition to my Tarot and Oracle decks, here are other items I have on my shelves. Like these, that I should use MORE OFTEN.


Mindfulness On the Go (2014) is a small book by Jan Chozen Bays with twenty-five mindfulness practices that can be done anywhere. These are meant to get a person into the habit of cultivating “the gratitude and insight that come from paying attention with body, heart, and mind to life’s many small moments” (from the back cover of the book).

The Relax Deck (2000), designed by Henry Quiroga, with illustrations by Katarzyna Klein and Hannah Firmin, includes fifty cards with images on one side, text on the other side, all meant to help the user relax. Here is a sample card:

I think this is one of my favorite decks I’ve ever bought for just making me BE STILL AND BE for a while. It’s very refreshing. Not only does it provide inspirational exercises, but it even shows you how you can use the cards in a game with others. I haven’t done that. Yet.


I also have this box of Mindfulness Cards: Simple Practices for Everyday Life (2018), from Rohan Gunatillake. Again, this is a deck I should use more often. Here are the categories:

And some samples from “Curiosity and Joy”:

Here are some of the other resources I’ve shared on here before.


John Nagiecki’s Animal Spirit Knowledge Cards (2007), beautifully illustrated by Susan Seddon Boulet.

Karma Cards (1991), created by Monte Farber.


Rachelle Charman’s Chakra Reading Cards (2016).


My collection of Rune Stones, that includes The Book of Runes (1984) by Ralph H. Blum.

WHEW! I think that’s everything. As I was compiling this post, I found a few more things that might be of interest to you. They reminded me of the importance of mindfulness, gratitude, and the kindness of friends.


This came from a woman I worked with in 1997. Someone very special in her life was LGBTQ, and I’m not sure if she’d shared that at work with more than a few friends. One day, she overheard my quick, sharp response to someone who made a homophobic remark. You never know who’s listening and how your support might uplift someone who needs it. In return, this little book she gave me has many reminders that I recorded of kind things done for me. They’re a pleasure to read and remember all these years later. I need to start writing in this book again.

I want to reiterate this because of other people’s stories I’ve read or heard lately. BE A FUCKING ALLY FOR MARGINALIZED PEOPLE AND USE YOUR VOICE. You don’t have to yell like I just did. Just please don’t miss an opportunity to speak for those who might not be in a position to speak for themselves.


I was confused when I saw this tiny book tucked away on a shelf, because if you’ve read here for any length of time, you know I’m always quick to say that I don’t put a lot of stock in fortune telling. When I looked inside, I remembered how lively LiveJournal once was for many of us. I knew Todd from there, but once people stopped using LJ, and I stopped using Facebook, I lost touch with many of those folks. Thank goodness he inscribed this book when he sent it, since I’d forgotten how it came to me at Christmas 2008. I hope Todd is doing well.


Likewise, you may have read or heard me say I’m not into spell casting. I’ve seen this go wrong for people who don’t know what they’re doing and are trying to control other people’s behavior instead of working on themselves (did I say that in Church Lady’s voice?). However, the title clearly specifies that it’s a GOOD spell book, and once I read the inscription from our friend Steve V, I realize the fun he had in giving it to me (“Jimmy” is his pet name for our mutual friend James). Steve V is an activist and advocate in Houston’s HIV/AIDS community, and he and James are two of the best people who’ve ever come into my life. Grateful for them always.

Did you make it all the way to the end? I’m thinking that this post marks the end of Thursday’s Tarot Etc. posts. However, I want to transition it to Thursday Thoughts, leaving it wide open for anything you might want to discuss, ask about, or if you want me to look into any of these decks for a specific date or animal or card or crystal or mindfulness/meditation exercise or whatever. You know I read all my comments on every post, so if something strikes you, drop a comment anywhere and let me know anything you might want me to talk about on a Thursday. If you want your interest or question to be anonymous, email becky@beckycochrane.com. If you hit “tarot” in that tags list on the right, you can find past posts of specific decks or similar items. Thursdays, YOU get to choose the content.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 21


First things first: Happy May 26 birthday to Timothy J. Lambert (and birthday nods to Stevie Nicks and Lenny Kravitz, who share the day with him). I stole that photo right off his Instagram; nobody tell him. =) This is one of the good dogs he pet-sits for a friend. I’m grateful every single day for the events and times that brought this amazing man into my life, as friend-to-family, writing partner, neighbor, and creative inspiration. No birthday party here tonight; we’re celebrating dinner and cake with him at the Hall next week; tonight he’s seeing other good friends.

I’m trying to regain my equilibrium after the past couple of weeks. May has been quite a month in my own life, the lives of people I know, and in the world beyond me.

I’ve talked about Tarot cards off and on through my 18 years of keeping an online journal/blog, and I created Tarot Thursdays after Mark asked me how many decks I have. I didn’t know.

A recap:

 
Akashic Tarot and Art Nouveau Tarot


Celtic Tarot and Color Your Tarot


Crow Tarot and Egipcios Kier Tarot


Enchanted Tarot and Lovers Tarot


Medieval Scapini Tarot and Muse Tarot


Rider Waite Tarot and Tarot of the Spirit


Voyager Tarot


The only remaining Tarot deck I haven’t shared is The Good Tarot, although its creator, Colette Baron-Reid refers to it as an Oracle deck in the booklet that accompanies it. The deck does have the seventy-eight cards of most Tarot decks, twenty-two major arcana, called Trumps here, and 56 minor arcana, with the elemental suits of Earth (Pentacles in other decks), Air (Swords in other decks), Fire (Wands in other decks, and Water (Cups in other decks). The court cards are the page, messenger, queen, and king.

The illustrations by Jena DellaGrottaglia are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, and I picked eight to share here.

If you’re comfortable with the layouts of other decks, you could use the spreads you like to work with, but Baron-Reid advises that the cards are best used to put you in the moment. She recommends pulling one card if you’re feeling confused or lost and wondering what you might not be seeing. If you still lack clarity, a second card can be pulled for more insight about the message.

She suggests a three-card reading to discern the energies of a situation that’s evolving. The first card represents where you are now. The second card represents what will be influencing the situation. The third card shows where you’re headed if you continue on the same path. Once again, she says if you need clarity, drawing a fourth card can give you more information.

For me personally, this is a deck where I pull a single card without any questions/situations in mind at all, just the willingness to let my imagination run free for a while. Then I consult the book to see what Baron-Reid says about the card.

Next week, I’ll recap the other systems that I’ve shared here, plus include two or three things I haven’t posted yet. As I’ve said before, I’m no expert aboout any of these things and rarely use them in the traditional ways others do. For me, they’re tools for introspection, meditation, and as part of rituals with scents and stones, often in connection with celestial events like eclipses, full and new moons, and where our planet is in relation to other planets. They’re also helpful to me as tools in my writing, including structure, plot, character development, and the ways characters relate with each other.

Tarot cards can be calming in a stressful world. They offer perspectives I might not have considered. And I am often awed by the art and creativity of the decks and their creators and illustrators.

So Mark, the short answer is: fourteen Tarot decks!

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 20

Tuesday, I finished a chapter that’s taken me quite a while. I’m on the verge of finishing another. Now I have to decide once and for all: Should the next chapter be about The Crow or The Magpie?

For a possible direction, I decided to get the Urban Crow Oracle and choose a card at random from the deck.

The card I pulled is “Distance.”

From the guidebook with the deck:

Art and text © MJ Cullinane

It may not mean anything to you, but when I think about the current circumstances of The Crow and The Magpie, I understand the next chapter belongs to The Crow.

Thanks for the assistance, my corvid friends.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 19


I don’t remember where I got this beautiful box, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s where my rune stones live, kept on a shelf next to the book that came in the set with them.

I keep the stones in the bag they came in.


It’s been many years since I did any readings with rune stones. When I decided to feature them today, I reread all the information in The Book of Runes by Ralph H. Blum, and it was like it was all new to me.


My late friend John strongly identified with the rune Uruz, which according to Blum represents strength, manhood, womanhood, and the wild ox. John wore a pendant similar to the one on the right as his talisman. I think James kept it and wore it for a while after John died. That one is mine, which stays in a box with special small items given to me by friends or kept in honor or memory of friends.

Some of the reasons runes interested me, perhaps still interest me, is that they are meant to provide us insights into ourselves. While they’ve come to us from many ancient practices, rituals, and philosophies, anyone of any belief system can use the stones as a means to, as Blum quotes the Oracle at Delphi: Know thyself. Rune stones are not meant to explain the past or predict the future, but to keep us in the present. As Blum suggests, whether we see the runes as a bridge between ourselves and our Self, or a link from Self to the Divine, they show us how to be and act in the moment by tapping into our inner wisdom (e.g., subconscious, intuition).

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 18

From the treasure chest box, I pulled a deck that I don’t think I’ve shared on here before. It’s called The Lovers’ Tarot, created by Jane Lyle with cards illustrated by Oliver Burston. My edition was published in 1992. Back in the day when I’d read cards for friends, they were all younger and pondering love and relationships, so they liked this deck.


The deck uses only the 12 Major Arcana cards, and the cards are a strong thickness and also large–5×9 inches! Lyle offers two reading spreads: the Lover’s Tree, using five cards in the You, Past, Present, Future, and Underlying Influences positions, and the Lover’s Pyramid, using four cards in the You, Partner, Relationship, Direction positions.

When I opened the box, I found a couple of notes on a reading I did for a couple at their request circa 1993. I’m not even going to look at what I pulled, because boy, did that relationship NOT WORK OUT. Truthfully, no reading was needed to discern that outcome, and they knew it, too, even if they fought knowing. I will forever wonder why we don’t listen to ourselves, but we are human, and I’ve been as guilty as anyone of ignoring my better judgment. There’s a note on a reading for another person, too, about that same time, and that relationship also ended, but the person is now in a marriage that’s going strong after two decades, so patience can be a very good thing.

Each card is listed on a chart showing the number and name, the sun sign or planet, the element, and the essence of the card. Since we’re currently in the sign of Taurus, I pulled that card, The Hierophant.


The card’s description comes with what gift and challenge the card tells about the reader and the reader’s partner. I won’t share all that, but I will provide the information in the chart for Taurus, since it’s generally available and not specific to this deck.

Card V (the number of a card has meanings also easily researched), Hierophant, is Taurus, Earth element, and symbolizes order, certainty, and “conventional” lovers. (For comparison, other cards’ essences include “transformative,” “dream,” and “communicative,” as examples.)

When we wrote the TJB novels, we randomly gave astrological signs to our main characters. We never knew if those would be good matches by the time the novels were written (after all, their creators were a Pisces, Aries, Gemini, and Virgo!), and I should have gone back and done readings for the romantic matches from this deck to entertain us.

Hmmmm. I am writing couples now…

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. 17


Another Celtic find. There are 26 cards in the deck of Celtic Astrology Oracle Cards, numbered 1 to 13. As the box explains, Celtic astrology is based not on the stars but on the earth’s plants, animals, and cycles of nature. If you want to comment with the month and date of your birth (NO year necessary), and choose plant or animal, I’ll show you the matching card in comments. (Naturally, if you were using these cards, you’d draw at random and read the description[s] from the book that accompanies the deck.) I won’t be able to say much about the card because COPYRIGHT, but at least it’ll get you a look at the art.

Since our birthdays are no secret, I chose Card 4: Plant:

And for Tom, I chose Card 1: Animal:

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 16


Back to The Illustrated Crystallary Oracle Cards because this is one of my favorite things lately. No surprise since I love stones, crystals, and minerals.

One of the first gifts of a crystal I was ever given was by Princess Patti: a rose quartz heart. In honor of friendship and connection, I’m sharing this card with you today. I think the message is one any of us may need to hear from time to time.

I see this as: Don’t deny yourself all the love that comes your way all the time because you are waiting for only one kind of love in one kind of way from one kind of source.


I need all these books, especially the ones with pictures, because my brain’s encyclopedia region is full of other people’s song lyrics. And trivia about musicians.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 15

Recently I found something in the top of a closet that was one of those out-of-sight/out-of-mind things. I blogged about it on October 9, 2017. We were just beginning our second moving of debris to the curb after all the insurance adjusters had come post-Harvey flood. I had a lot going on. I must have been a little crazy to have bought this.

Four and a half years later, I’ve colored the BACK of one card. I probably colored it four and half years ago. That’s 77 backs and 78 fronts left to color. At this rate, I’m going to need to hire a coloring crew. Payment would be the standard currency: gratitude.

Face With Tears of Joy' Is the Most-Used Emoji of 2021

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 14

My thoughts were spinning off in at least a dozen directions this morning, but they all seemed to have animals at their hub. This is a day when I want to get a lot of writing done, so I knew I needed to pull myself together and focus. I handled several tasks unrelated to writing to get them out of the way. Then, since I couldn’t get animals out of my head, I decided I might as well go with this Oracle deck:


The Messages From Your Animal Spirit Guides Oracle Cards deck, created by Steven D. Farmer, was released in 2008 and designed by Amy Rose Grigorius with illustrations by Bee Sturgis. Each card features a unique animal spirit guide with an explanation of what message the animal might have for you. The user asks a question, pulls a card at random, and applies the card’s message to contemplate the answer to the question. As Farmer points out, there is not a lot of detail about the animal or the meaning on the card; he encourages the user to research why this animal might have appeared at this moment. His enclosed guidebook does provide more suggestions about card meanings and significance.

Though, as we all know, there are particular animals I’m drawn to, I decided to be fair, ask a (known-only-to-me) question, and pull a card at random after shuffling the deck. These are very high-quality, thick cards, by the way, and I’m glad Jim gave me the deck (that event was described in this post).

Well, well, well. I, admirer of pigs, collector of many in various forms and shapes for most of my adult life, drew this card.

I’m delighted. Both Farmer’s insights about the card, and the words on the card, are exactly what I needed to hear. I am heeding this wisdom and have already begun taking action. Thanks, Boar!

I’m sure this is a deck I’ll enjoy sharing more of with you later.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 13


This beautiful box is one of a set of three that I think were gifts from Tom’s parents. If anyone reading here knows otherwise, feel free to correct me. =)


Instead of a tarot deck, this box is the home of an oracle deck, The Illustrated Crystallary Oracle Cards, created by Maia Toll and illustrated by Kate O’Hara.


Because of my deep appreciation and connection to stones, crystals, gems, and minerals, it’s not surprising that I find this a beautiful set of cards. You can be sure you’ll be seeing more of them in the future.


I didn’t clear the cards or do any kind of meditative work prior to shooting these photographs. When I pulled three random cards for a three-card spread, I was lucky enough to have the stones that are described on each card. (I may need to do a little crystal and stone shopping in the future; always a pleasure.)


Let yourself focus on a certain situation. The first card reflects its surface level. In this case, “The Only Thing” card, a clear quartz crystal, indicates the “intention to become.” I won’t quote the entire description here, but the stone asks what you need to grow intention, direct your will, and amplify its effects, and what can you put down as unneeded? I think this is a good card to help assess the beginning of a situation.


The second card provides a deeper look at the situation, showing you cause and effect and helping you see how the situation is impacting you emotionally. Howlite, the “You Are The Foundation” card, urges you to “come back to center; sit in stillness.” When you allow yourself to find the still point within you, you will better handle the flow of all the outer forces relating to your situation. I imagine a person sitting in a garden or in nature with this card, breathing in and feeling calmer before analyzing the external effects on the situation.


The third card, in this case the “You, Only More So” ruby, goes to the core of the situation. It reveals truths, some of which you might not be aware of, that help the situation move forward or come to a conclusion. Ruby is an amplifier that can lead you to courage and self-confidence, if you have been nurturing those qualities, though the stone can also boost self-doubt and loathing. I’d advise that, rather than seeing any energy as negative, see it as your opportunity to work to eliminate less constructive qualities before you try to resolve the situation you’re asking about. As the book asks, “Are you ready?” This is the time to clear yourself so that you are. Tap into any practice that connects you to your intuition and inner wisdom: meditation, yoga, chanting, prayer, runes, pilates, music, dance–however you nourish and focus your energy.

I look forward to getting to know and use this deck.