31 Days of Tarot – Day 15

Welcome to day 15 of Ethony’s 31 days of Tarot challenge! You can find all the prompts here – it’s never to late to join in :)!

The prompt for today is: “Do you have a deck for personal use only? Why?/Why not?”

I do not have a deck that I specifically don’t want to use for other people; but I do have decks that I consider “mine”, that is, that really resonates with me a lot. I also have decks that I considers “my friend’s”, because I strongly associate them with a friend of mine, and I usually use those to read for them. But I can use one of “my” decks to read for a friend and one of “my friend’s” decks to read for me.

One of the decks that I consider “mine” is Kat’s Black Golden Tarot. This is the first deck I bought for myself and I find the images just magical and mysterious. This one is still the main deck that I consider “mine”.

Another one I consider “mine” is the Impressionist Tarot. This deck, imho, invites reflection and intuitive reading, because many of the images are not precise depiction of the RWS counterpart. It’s easy, for me, to feel a personal connection to this deck.

31 Days of Tarot – Day 14

The prompt for today (you find them all here) is: “Share your favourite divination tool aside from Tarot.”

My favourite divination tool, aside from Tarot, is Lenormand. I got into Lenormand watching the videos on youtube from Donnaleigh. She is an amazing teacher, I just adore her videos, and she has a LOT of Lenormand, from basics to complex thing.

I think I saw all of them in one day, I was super-hooked, and then I decided to but a Lenormand deck. I chose one, and I ordered it, but… I wanted to start reading! So, I made my deck, like that, in one afternoon, using normal paper and coloured cardboard. I still have that deck :), it’s rough but I love it!

Lenormand works very differently than tarot, it’s almost like language. I found it very precise when asked about specific topic, and I think it’s a good complement to tarot.

What is your other favourite divination tool :)?

31 Days of Tarot – Day 13

The prompt for today is: “What was your best/worst/memorable tarot moment for 2017?”

The most memorable tarot moment of the last year happen in readings for my cats. I acquired the Cat’s Eye Tarot, and I liked the deck very much. So, I thought: what better way to use it, than to do a reading for my cats?

I have… many cats, and I decided to do a reading a day, until each of them had one. It was a generic reading, containing positions like “What you cat needs”, “What your cat is happy with” and so on.

Well, every one of the cats I read for (I didn’t do the reading for all of them in the end) got the exact same card for one of the position (“What does your cat need”).

Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

Also, the card illustrated the exact situation it referred to: the meaning was exactly what was pictured on the card.

Useless to say, I got the message.

See you tomorrow for another prompt! You find them all here!

31 Days of Tarot – Day 12

We are back with our 31 Days of Tarot challenge! You can find all the prompts here, as usual.

The prompt for today is: “What started you reading Tarot? Why did you continue to read?”

So, what started me reading tarot was finding a deck and a book in my grandmother’s house. They were my mother’s, and to my eyes they were amazing. I was a child, ad they seemed like the closest thing to “magic” that you could find.

The book was Introduction to the Study of the Tarot, by Oswald Wirth, and I learned tarot from there. It was a difficult text for me at the time, but its complicated language and its mystique made me more interested.

Little by little I started understanding more about the concepts behind the cards, and this hooked me for life. I started giving little readings to friends and relatives, and they found them useful; plus, it was just *fun*!

Why did you started reading tarot – or why didn’t you?

5 of Cups vs 3 of Swords: Are they the same?

We are going to skip Day 11 of the Ethony’s challenge because I don’t have any oracle deck I particularly want to use more this year.

Today, instead, we are going to talk a bit about two of the “worse” cards in our decks: the 3 of Swords and the 5 of Cups.

These two cards have similar meanings: loss, hurt, sadness, heartache, suffering. But are they the same thing? Of course not, otherwise we would not need both cards.

One can glimpse the difference just noticing that the cards belong to different suits. The 3 of Swords belongs to the Airy Swords, which represent the realm of the intellect, of thoughts. The 5 of Cups belongs to Water, to emotions and feelings. Here lies the biggest difference between the cards.

The 5 of Cups is about a loss, and the pain it causes us. Think about the death of a loved one, or the break of a meaningful relationship. One meaning associated with this card, in fact, is grieving.

The 3 of Swords is about a wound that may start in the emotions, but that stays with us in the mind. Think of betrayal, one of the classic meanings for this card.
When a boy or a friend betray us, we get the emotional wound from the passing of a relationship that meant a lot for us. But that sharp pain that says we are not worthy, that this was our fault, that we cannot trust any more, this is a 3 of Swords kind of pain.

The 5 of Cups shows the river, the flow of our emotions. It says that grief and pain have a rightful space in our minds, but that they will pass. One miss his grandmother even 20 years after her death, but the pain is not the same of the day she actually dies, because one has taken the two remaining cups and has gone back to their life.

There is no such thing in the 3. The swords are piercing the heart and there is no sign they will ever be removed. Of course, they can be removed – we, not merely time, must do this.

31 Days of Tarot – Day 10

Welcome back for Ethony’s 31 Days of Tarot Challenge! You can find all the prompts here.

The prompt for today is: “Tarot Decks that you want to work more with in 2018“.

This is not as easy question, because very often I “go with my gut” with the decks. Especially if I want to make a specific question (like, work-related, art-related, ecc) I know I have that or this deck which works best with the question.

One thing I sometimes to is use the comparative method, in which I lay out the cards for “the right” deck, and then I lay out other cards (not the same) with a deck I want to study, in order to compare the two readings. But I don’t always have the time for such a long method.

Also, there are decks I don’t use often because I do not need to. The Ghosts and Spirits Tarot, for example, is my “dream tarot”, and I don’t need to use it more often than that.

So, ideally, this year I want to work more with:

• The Sasuraibito Tarot. I just got this one, and I am in love! So much so that my mind is trying every excuse to read with this deck – and I don’t like forced readings, so… I didn’t know I would like this deck so much, but I do, so it will probably “steal me away” for the next few months.
• The Spiral Deck Tarot. This one is new for me, I still have to open it, so I don’t know much about it. I like the art style and I really dislike the border (why. are. cards. made. with. borders???)
• The Zombie Tarot: I have this, I used it, too, but I never achieved great familiarity with it. I love the homour and the images, so I really want to connect deeper with it :).
• Anna K. Tarot: Well, I bought it for a reason. I want to use it more this year and see in what occasions it works best :).

31 Days of Tarot – Day 9

The prompt for this day (you can find them all here) is “Tarot goals for 2018“.

I’ve thought a lot about where do I want to go with tarot this year. I want to go to the next level, but I am not sure which is the right step to take.
In the end, I think what I need is more direct experience. So, this year, I would like to read more for other people, on a different set of topics.

Despite what everyone seems to say, it is easier to read for yourself, if you are willing to be honest about yourself and your situation. That’s because you know more about yourself then you know about other people.
So, I would like to start reading for others, when I know little or nothing about their situation.

I also would like to gain a more holistic understanding of tarot. I have the Thoth Deck, and I have read a couple books about it, but I am not yet very sure with this deck. I want to change this.

… Is it too much for one year?

31 Days of Tarot – Day 8

And I’m already back with Day 8 of the 31 Days of Tarot challenge! As usual, you find all the prompts here.

The prompt for this day is: Top 5 Decks on your wish list right now.

I am very moody when it comes to decks in my wishlist, and they shift places often. The one that is on top of my wishlist right now, and it has been there for a few months now, is the Urban Tarot.

Created by Robin Scott, it’s a modern-feeling deck set in New York City. The artwork is not my taste, but the images are so strong that they captivated me immediately! Just a couple of example, here we have the 4 of cups:

Scott uses the Thoth Tarot as reference, which for me is a plus, because I just love Crowley’s deck and its system. The cards are understandable for RWS users too, because the booklet explains the differences very well.

Another card I just adore is the Tower:

Which I don’t think need any explanation.

There are a couple of cards I have problems with already, such as the Lovers… I often have problems with that card, though.

Another deck that is in my wishlist is the Prisma Vision Tarot. This is a deck I find gorgeous, but I am a little unsure about it’s readability: the images give me the impression that it is very good to be seen, and less useful for reading. I hope I am wrong.

One deck that is *kinda* in my wishlist is the Circo Tarot. Yes, I am starting to like indie decks, because finally I can buy them :)!

Anyway, the Circo Tarot looks gorgeous, too, but I am not sure it really fits my tastes. I like the quirky look and the colours, and I love the Court Cards from this deck that I have seen!

Finally, a deck that is on my wishlist is the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot, a deck with strong Renaissance vibes and a dark mood.

The one I am sure I will take as soon as it’s available is the Urban Tarot. Being indie decks, they are more expensive than usual, so buying them, for me, is not something I do on a whim.

31 Days of Tarot – Day 7

We’re back with the #31daysoftarot challenge! You can find the prompts here.

The prompt for Day 7 is: “Most worked Deck in 2017 and why“.

This year, I feel like I have not been “obsessed” with a deck. I tried many different ones, and I can say that the *least* used was my Golden Tarot, by Kat Black, which is my go-to deck for all occasion.

I believe the one I relied a lot upon was the Impressionist Tarot. This is a deck I bought last year, and it surprised me, because I found it very insightful and deep. I like how every suit is associated to one artist (and, of course, the Swords are for VanGogh).

The symbols are there, just very subtle, and sometimes it’s just the impression of the card that speaks to you, not something explicit. For example, look at the Death Card:

The only thing I would have changed, is the back of the cards. It resemble an easel, so if you use Rx, which I do, it’s easy to see which cards are upright and which are Rx. before choosing them.

Other than that, this has become one of my favourite decks <3!

31 Days of Tarot – Day 6

The prompt for Day 6 (you can find the list here) is: “The Deck you finally crossed off your wish list on 2017”.

This was a deck I already talked about in Day 1,2 and 3: The Anna K. Tarot Deck.

I already said a bit about it: how it is very expressive, but a bit too simplistic. I still like it a lot, and all the readings I did with it resonated immediately with me.

I think it’s an amazing deck to exercise intuition with, because the images are so strong. I am a very rational person, so I “train” my intuition from time to time. I just pull two of three cards from this deck and I think of a story that can connect all the cards. I tried this exercise with other decks, but with this one, it’s always a success.

So happy that I finally bought it :)!