Review: Wizard's Tarot

I bought my first tarot deck about 10 years ago and hated it. The colors. The images. I hated everything about it. It was so not.. beautiful enough and I'm sort of .. how should I say.. artsy shallow? If its not gorgeous, I don't like it.

Of course, it was a Rider-Waite.

So.. fast forward 10 years and I finally took the time to learn the cards, meditate over them, the whole she-bang. I enjoyed it a lot even though I wasn't too keen on the imagery. Cue.. search for a prettier card set. Yes, I said prettier.

I'm not really sure how I came about Wizard's Tarot by Corrine Kenner, but when I saw the painted images I loved it. I LOVE digital/oil painting and that's exactly what it looks like. So since I'm a non-nonsense kinda gal.. I'm going to get to the point.

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Paper Quality: Decent. Just like I like my men, not too flimsy, not too stiff. Ooh. No. Bad analogy.

Deck Size: Perfect, just like I like my m- . ... okay.. No seriously. They're JUST slightly smaller than the traditional Rider-Waite which makes a HUGE difference to me. I have small hands and shuffling was a honed skill for me.

Art Quality: Great. If you love paintings, fantasy worlds... then this deck is a lot of fun to look through. The Majors are beautiful. Some despise the Pentacles for looking like a bunch of male wrestlers (even the females), and it does have a negative connotation to it when I'm reading them but for the most part they don't bother me.

Back Design: Beautiful but one sided. You'll be able to tell if the card is reversed or not. To some that's a plus, to me... not so much.

Book: Cheesy. It has some good spreads, but the story line behind the deck was not interesting to me and nor do I care about it being a school of magic. Don't get it for the book unless you like that sort of thing.

Over all:

I give it 4 out of 5 sexy witchy ladies!

Why?: When I pulled out the cards and began looking through them and learning them, I 'heard' them. I could hear the scenes they were in, I could 'visualize' what each one sounded like and that was incredibly awesome. They are the deck I primarily use because of this feature. If I sit and meditate in a reading, I can hear the emotion in the cards. That's the biggest plus.

The biggest negative for me is the fact I can tell the card is reversed before placing it down and I have a feeling it most likely dictates, 'subconciously' how often I feel I need to shuffle.. before even seeing the result.

Happy reading!

New Year's Resolutions are for chumps.

I say that as I'm eating my delicious grapefruit.
Truth is.. they're not for chumps if you make general statements for the improvement of YOU -- be it physical, mental, or spiritual.

2011 Resolution: Discover what makes me happy.
Notes-It was a fantastic, daunting journey. It took all year, and I read A LOT, but I'm always the good student and apply everything I read to my life to see what I can learn from it. I fine tuned who I was and what makes me happy and while I change and grow everyday, I still have a better sense of who I am in my core.

2012 Resolution: 100% all in.
Reason-I tend to be a chicken shit. The last few years I've been pursuing my second career with toes just dipped in the icy water of reality and it scared me frozen. My husband and I had wanted to go from vegetarian to vegan for health. Those are just a few examples. Well, my goal this year was to STOP being a chicken shit. Jump all in. Feet first. Without looking back. If I know in my heart its the right thing to do -- then give it my 100%. So, I'm currently working again on my second career and not letting fear run me. We've also made a commitment to be 100% raw vegan for 6 months.

Life is short. I have one family member who passed away in a matter of weeks with stage 4 ovarian cancer. I have another family member who has been battling cancer for years in various organs and never knows if she'll live to see the next year.

If last year, was your year... take another stab at it and make this one even better.
If not, this year is your year. Grab life by the testicles and take it for a ride. No fear. No insecurity. Be you. Be love. Be happiness. Be awesome.

I'm baaaacccckkkk...

Once.. my year and a day blog. Now turned to witchy woman incognito!

So what happened between that last post and now....
A whole hell of a lot.

1. I finally got the promotion I had been working on at work and I'm much happier.
2. Despite previously stated promotion -- I'm working on my second career.
3. I was accepted into grad school and have completed a semester. *sigh* three and a half to go. *remember kids, you're never too old for school*
4. That's pretty much it!

My husband (L2) and I took a random, short vacation to the pacific northwest last summer and loved it so much.. we are setting ourselves up to move there in 2013. In fact, its our entire goal. Everything we do today is for that goal.

My little one (Fawn) is getting bigger and more beautiful every day.

And what is this witch doing daily? I'm up to lots of shit. Stay tuned.

Day 73 // Merry Summer Solstice!

Man, it's been a long time since I've been here.

/slacker

Seriously, I've been enjoying summer a little too much. :P
Let's see, for the holiday I've spent the last few days working in the yard, honoring hard work and sweating in the heat :P

I made some wonderful smelling Summer Solstice oil I've been dressing myself with for the last few days and this morning I paid particular close attention to weeding, tending and sprucing up my herb garden. Pictures to come! My basil is about a foot and a half high, with my catnip not too far behind it :P

Of course the rest of the holiday is going to be spent at the BEACH! Saying farewell to the sun ;) I'm gonna have to collect shells and what nots for my altar.

Day 60 // Long time no see..

Well, I apologize for the long delay in posting. I have been enjoying my summer vacation a little too much. Now for the work to begin.

Tonight I tried a Taking Refuge meditation borrowed from the Hermetics and found it very effective. If you're not aware of it, here's a link to the description: Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn

I had a nice cleansing ritual in the shower and a nice chat with Cerridwen to follow. Okay, so it was more of a scolding but it was very comforting either way. I got the feeling that to heal myself I needed to confront my past self, so I went and visited myself when I was 10 and had a blast of a conversation. I learned a lot about myself that I had forgotten and found it extremely healing. Tonight was filled with magick. It was truly rewarding. I faced some flaws and focused on the best qualities I have but had forgotten.

If you haven't looked into your past, I urge you to meditate, take refuge, ground and center and go back to a time that sticks out to you. Whether it was the happiest time of your life and you need to remember why you were happy and why you should be just as happy now.. or whether it was the hardest time of your life and you need to confront it now that you're out of the situation. The latter I will have strength to do another time. But for tonight, I took refuge, became grounded and centered, I even called on the elements (because I always do), and walked through the darkness of my mind to find little me. Best meditation in a long time! And guess what, Cerridwen was right there with me. Good luck!

Day 46 // Natural vs Man Made

Some may dispute over which to use in your witchcraft endeavors and a lot of times, someone can look less credible to me if they make a material suggestion in regards to being "natural". Want the easy answer to solve it?.. Good, I'll give you mine.

If you are wanting to connect with nature during spells or rituals, it would make sense that you would use things found in nature, ie stone, sand, wood, twigs, etc. But those items only hold the meanings they do because we BELIEVE they do and quite admittedly, it is easy to see a wooden bowl and connect trees and earth with it.

But alas, what are they made of? Compounds, molecules.. which are made of ... atoms!!!
Yup! I said it! I went there!
Those stones and branches are made of atoms. Ya know, little combinations of protons (positive), neutrons (neutral) and electrons (negative).. In fact! The whole universe is made of atoms. Biotic (living or once-living) and Abiotic (without life) factors of the universe are made of atoms we have perfectly aligned in a periodic table. We, our Carbon-driven selves, are just a bunch of atoms bonded together to form molecules and compounds that function together as life. Remarkable! Even the precious Moonstone is made out of potassium, aluminum (ohnoes not a metal!) and silicon!!!!!! KAlSi₃O₈

But what then makes up plastics? ziploc baggies? water bottles? gallon jugs? metal flatware? screwdrivers? Sewing machines? *GASP* No.. don't say it..

.. really?..

YES, IT'S ATOMS!!!! In fact, the very same atoms that exist NATURALLY in the universe. So I ask you.. how is anything, man-made? Even those pesky unstable atoms at the bottom of the periodic table are not TRULY man-made. Man did not create the protons and electrons, combining them with man-made neutrons to form these elements.

So why do some say not to use certain metals with herbs? or to store things in glass instead of plastic?

Plastic should not be banned from your witchy cabinet just because it was molded by man. To make a clay pot, one must gather different materials, mix them and mold them. Plastic should be considered for it's qualities -- the fact that it's NOT very biodegradable, if disposed wastes landfill space and is quite porous, allowing qualities of the plastic to break down or seep into your precious oils or herbs, makes it undesirable SOME of the times. But there can definitely be a time and place for them when it makes it easier on your modern witch life.

Metals are not man-made. They account for more than 2/3rds of the periodic table, occurring naturally in the universe. However, they can react when in contact with other elements and harm the result. It grates my nerves to see witches turn away from metal simply because it's metal.

Personally, I can't understand anyone using a wooden mortar/pestle set. All of my bags for tarot, ogham, etc were made out of 100% cotton on an electric sewing machine. My grimoire was made with double-sided sticky tape for scrapbooking and none of my crafts are any less sacred.

So, the next time someone says you can't store your herbs in a plastic bag or you can't stir your cauldron with a plastic spoon, think again. Would it be wise to use something else, not because it is man-made but because of the nature of the project? Would the material harm the product? Or simply, does it not hold the same meaning to you as something else would?

The answer is: use what makes sense to you.
The secret to magick is what you put into it and if you think your spells are just as powerful no matter the nature of the materials used.. then so be it and stop feeling guilty about it.

Day 37 // Sacred Sundays

My Sundays are truly sacred because I can spend them finishing crafts and fixing things :)
So here's photos for proof!

Altar -- these are taken pre-hung curtains, so ignore the ugly brown cloth hung behind the night shot. I was trying to deflect the glow of the curtains from nosey neighbors

Grimoire -- finally finished! I've begun writing it and have purchased a watercolor pen to accent the pages

Herb Garden & Backyard Wildflowers-- their revival and then the 10$ greenhouse on the 10$ raised bed and with all the recent rain, the wildflowers exploded in the back yard so I've picked some and took pics ;P

Jewelry -- My lame attempt at making jewelry ;P