31 Days of Tarot – Days 1, 2 and 3

Hello all,

I haven’t written in here for so long, but some problems kept me away from the blog. I haven’t being away from tarot, though, and I wanted to come back with the new year, with new reading but also with the #31daysoftarot challenge!

You can find all the prompts on Ethony’s blog, if you want to join. Most people do it on Youtube, but I prefer the written form ^^.
Also, since I start late, I’ve incorporated three prompts into one post. This will be a bit long, but the next ones will be short, I promise! Let’s start!

Day 1 – 2018 Reading – Energy & Major Lesson

I’ve made a longer reading for the new year, but I extrapolated two cards to answer this prompt.
I used the Stella’s Tarot, and as the energy for 2018 I got the Prince of Cups, while for the Major Lesson I got the Knight of Swords Rx.

The Stella’s Tarot follows the Thoth system, so the Prince is the equivalent of the Knight in the RWS, and the Knight is the equivalent of the King.
And they are court cards. I hate court cards.

But, the Prince was easy to get. He is my “lover” card, and also my “idealist” card. I think this year I will strive to be more true to myself and to the things I believe in. I have started to see that in these days, actually, so I am kinda sure that this is what the Prince of Cups is about: to follow what you believe in.

The Knight of Swords Rx, instead, could be a lesson in rationality. I know what you are thinking: “be less rational, go with your gut and so on and so on”. But, I don’t believe that rationality is ever a bad thing, and following my “heart” is actually a very rational thing to do. What I am afraid of, in following the Prince of Cups energy, is that I will fail because the other people around me will not be rational about whatever I am proposing. So, maybe this year will see my faith in people’s logic fail a bit. I hope this is not the case!

Day 2 – Top 5 Tarot decks of 2017

So, Day 2 is about the “most used/loved or purchased” decks in 2017. I am terrible when it comes to make ordered list, so this is in no order whatever!

1) A deck I finally, finally bought was the Anna K. Tarot. I wanted this deck for *so long* and I finally managed to buy it! I had seen it in thousands videos and in hundreds of blog posts, so I knew I liked it, for the reasons everyone likes it: the expressive characters, the vivid colours, etc..

It is often praised the fact that the author simplified the cards, and stripped them of a lot of symbols. I don’t necessarily dislike this choice, because the strong expressiveness of the characters conveys the meanings very well, but some cards are actually too simplified and the booklet, too, is very simplistic. The card I liked less was The Lovers‘ card: it speaks about love and it *says* it is speaking about choice but… nuh-uh, not really. I didn’t find that conflict you have growing up, when you face the external world and you try to do it in your own terms, and you have to compromise with someone else. That pull between wanting and having to, isn’t there.
Aside from a couple of cards like this, though, I have being enjoying this deck a lot.

2) Another deck I purchased was the Ostara Tarot. This deck was drawn by 4 different artists, and it shows, but their styles really complement each other and are all gorgeous! I liked the suit of Swords especially, but, really, all the cards are beautifully drawn.
I loved the fact that there is no border! Why are people putting borders on their cards? The Ostara Tarot’s images take the entire space of the card, and thus they are stronger.

I liked the booklet too, and the way many of the cards are depicted: they follow the RWS, but they are also unusual. I generally don’t like tarot with the animals (unless they are cats), but in this case I must say that even I appreciated the choice.

I love a lot of cards from this deck, one of my favourite is Strength:

Look not only at the beast (a dragon) under her hand, but also at the cities on her shoulders and on the eyepatch! The cards all have a magical feeling and they have so many hidden symbols in them, they are amazing!

3) A deck I received was the Llewellyn Tarot. I haven’t used it very much yet, but I read the booklet (well… the BIG companion book…) and I did a couple of readings, especially for a friend, who loved this deck even more than me.

The artworks are great. Some people don’t like the fact that the Minors are drawn “less well”, but I didn’t mind, it was actually easier to see them. I do think the motivation for this is a bit stupid (sorry, but…): they are not drawn with the same care because they are “less important” than the Majors. Uhm… no!

Anyway, aside from this, I like this deck, and the great knowledge that is behind it, about the Welsh mythology, is evident from the cards. I still don’t have a favourite card from this deck, though.

4) A deck I used a lot this year is the Acquarian Tarot. This was a surprise deck, that I actually bought in 2016. I wasn’t sure I liked it, but after I bought it I just fell in love with it.

The cards are amazing, the artwork so cool and so emotional at the same time. The colours are bright, and I think I like them even more than the artwork. I also like the cardstock, actually. The cards are sturdy but not too bulky, and they bend, too. Both the Ostara Tarot and the Llewellyn Tarot, for example, are too thick and thus difficult to shuffle. When I want to fan them on the table, it’s often impossible (the Ostara, especially, were almost glued to each other).

The Acquarian tarot are one of my favourite decks now, and there are so many cards I like from it! I will show just the Ace of Swords (I am a swords’ girl, I think it’s shows XD):

Look at the pink in the Sword! And the roses! The feeling of this cards makes me think about the anime Utena (go watch it, it’s amazing and very deep!)

5) I do not have much to say about this fifth deck, but I will add it here. It’s the Cat’s Eye Tarot.

As I said, I do not like decks with animals in it, but I love cats. And what I love about this deck is the fact that the cats are… cats. They are not “cats as humans”, they are cats, and are portrayed while they behave like cats. And the images and soooooo spot on!

I don’t need to say it, but I use this deck to read for my cats, of course. I’ll share a nice/creepy thing about this in another prompt…

Day 3 – Top 5 Oracle decks of 2017

Sadly, I do not use many oracle decks. I received one last year, the Vintage Wisdom Oracle Deck. It has great artworks and brilliant, nostalgic colours, but I haven’t worked much with it yet. I didn’t like the booklet much, it was too “lovey-hippy” for me, but the cards are superb. My favourite so far is Change:

Aaaaand, that’s all for today! As I said, future posts will be shorter: here I had to condense 3 promts in one place, so… Thank you for reading through all this and enjoy! Leave me a comment with your promts if you are doing the challenge!