The Grail Tarot says... today is the day to make it different!

I decided to do another 3-card reading today, while I still have time. Who knows? I may get lucky and find a job, and then I'll probably have time to one card readings only. Might as well use my free time to learn something.

But I digress. My blessing for today is the Six of Stones... in the image, we see the Novice on his knees, praying for the Virgin so that he may find what he has lost, and also learn to see the real value of what he has. I think the meaning here is pretty mundane - it relates to the fact that today I'll go to the mall to buy my family some easter gifts. And the fact that yesterday I received the money I needed to do so - just in time. I have what I need, and now I can share this with others.

My challenge is the Six of Swords. In this card, the Knight (who was the Novice in the suits of Stones, but after completing that part of the journey he is knighted) finds an opportunity to escape from the man who has kept him captive. His luck is about to change. I believe that my challenge today is to see the opportunities I have to make things different. I've been doing it all the same everyday. I received an invitation to take an Art History class with a friend of my mother, and now I wonder... could this be my opportunity make it different?

My mission is the Restoration (Judgement), and in this card we see the Wounded King being healed, and his kingdom, restored. He may now die in piece, knowing that his land will no longer be a barren place. Again, this card speaks of change. But I think that the mission today, what I should try to accomplish, is to find ways to make my life less barren. This card sounds like a definite "yes" to my previous question. My mission is to search for more enriching experiences.

The Grail Tarot © REDFeather, John Matthews & Giovanni Caselli

The Grail Tarot says... get yer arse in gear lass!

I used the Daily Mission Spread today.

The first card is the Four of Stones... it is my blessing today, but for some reason, I didn't like much this blessing. Call it denial. Yeah. The man is red in the card is the Brother of Stones (page), and the man who is giving him the horse is the Preceptor of Stones (knight). The Preceptor is literally telling the novice to get on that horse and go do something for real. The novice has spent all this time learning and getting known for his great knowledge, but he hasn't experienced life itself.

I guess it is a blessing in disguise for me. I mean, there's something inside me nagging me because I seem to have all time in the world and yet don't manage to use it well. I've become comfortable here. So maybe it's time I pay attention to what my inner Preceptor is telling me.

The second card is the Prester John (The Hermit). It's in the challenge position. Prester John is challenging me today to use this isolation... this limbo I've been living into to reconsider what are my goals. How do I plan to achieve them. "Are you sure you are doing something or are you just waiting and being lazy?". Thanks a lot, Mr. Prester John.

The third card is my mission for today, and it's the Five of Lances. The castle is falling apart, but the the knight doesn't seem to notice. He's focusing on the things that bring him comfort - the food and the chair. And he doesn't even pay much attention to the woman by him - Sophia, the feminine aspect of God. My mission today is to start noticing the things that I'm missing... what I'm not seeing, what I'm not doing, the questions that I'm not asking. There is something wrong, but to fix it we must first recognise the problem.

The cards today are not telling me to fix everything today, but to start noticing what isn't right. It's time to overcome denial and it's paralysing effects.

The Grail Tarot © REDFeather, John Matthews & Giovanni Caselli

Spread: The Daily Mission

I was never a big fan of daily readings, but I've been needing to experiment lately. So I created a spread to help me in my path, not only mundane, but also spiritual. This spread can be used with tarot and oracle decks.

I'm sharing this spread here, maybe other people will like it too!

Daily Mission Spread

1. What is my blessing for today?
2. What is my challenge for today?
3. What is my mission for today?

The blessing is about the good things that you'll have this day. It may be an inner ability to deal with the challenges, or a help from outside.

The challenge, as the name suggests, is the no-so-good things that you may have to face. Again, it can be   an inner problem or a challenge that comes from the outside.

The mission is what you should try to accomplish today - how you may best use your potential. It's a suggestion, not a must-do.


Just one thing: I don't mind if you post this spread in your website, or share it in a tarot forum, just please link back to my blog. Thanks!

How to prepare for a reading

This was posted in a thread at AT, in which someone asked why did they feel so dizzy after reading for many people. This advice was posted by Umbrae, but it's so brilliant I decided to post it here as well, so I won't forget it.

"If you’re dizzy or tired after a reading or two, that’s because you’re being an energy terminal. You’re using your own energy.

Cut it out.

What you want to do is tap into the boundless universal energy.

Reading is actually not unlike Reiki.

You are to be a conduit. Nothing more.

Sit down, drink some water, and be a conduit.

Dizziness and being tired are symptoms of ego-speaking, you’re ‘trying’ to do. You don’t want to try to do, you want to be. And be nothing more than that conduit.

When folks tell you to ‘ground’, what they are telling you is to shut down ‘ego’, or self, get out of your own way, and be nothing (but a reader). It is difficult, and takes practice.

And it all begins with Water.

Your brain is 97% of the stuff…"

PCO: A career reading

This was a career reading done for one of the AT exchanges. It's posted here, along with the feedback, with permission from the sitter. The querent is a hairstylist and runs her own business - a fact I only learnt after the reading.

~*~

A few things before we go.

First of all, there are three 7s here. The 7s are all swords, because they indicate a great amount of personal power. I wonder if you are the boss where you work, or someone of great influence. It also made me think that maybe you are some sort of freelancer, and that your working place depends a lot on you to keep going. Maybe you don't have a fixed team, and work in a more lonely fashion, with the occasional help of other people.

Secondly, This reading is pretty much balanced. We have the four suits, but there are more red cards than black. It makes me think that you work in a creative area... a place that doesn't have many rules, so you depend a lot on your personal discipline to keep things in order. This job help you to be disciplined, and you help the place you work to maintain it as well.

Half of the cards belong to the Heart suit. Whatever is your job, you have an emotional attachment to it.

Now, onto the cards!

PCO reading using the "Little Medicine Wheel"

This reading was done for a fellow AT, during one of the oracle reading exchanges. We used a spead called "The Little Medicine Wheel". I believe it was created for the AGMüller deck Vision Quest Tarot. It was slightly adapted for this exchange.

I'm posting here the reading plus the feedback. The feedback was posted with the permission of the querent. There was no specific question because of the nature of the spread, that allows a more general reading.



1. Messages from your mind ~ 8 of Hearts (The Garden)

This is a lovely card... beautiful flowers of all kind grow in a garden that is nourished with love. The Heart is the suit of water, and in the mind position, it indicated a tendency to act by emotional impulse, because your emotional side is so close to your rational side right now. But it also shows that, lately, your mind have been filled with things that bring you pleasure. Your family, your personal projects... whatever it is, the thoughts and ideas it brings are pleasing.
But, even in a garden as beautiful as this, there's a snake. She reminds us of our temptations... here, i think it related to fact your mind is a good place to be right now. Filled with good thoughts and great ideas... and dreams... be careful not to become trapped in them.

Feedback: I love it when a reading speaks to me. This truly does. I am truly an emotional person. I allow myself to be ruled by my emotions -for the most part. And yes, I have a tendency to daydream and get stuck in my head.
This weekend I have happily wiled away the hours - in between loads of laundry  - by sewing tarot bags. Its new for me, and I am no seamstress, but its loads of fun.

Deck Review: Magic Cards of the Russian Sybil

Keeping with the tradition of reviewing obscure, underrated and unloved decks, it's my pleasure to bring you this weird little deck by Lo Scarabeo: the Magic Cards of the Russian Sybil.

What is in a name? A lot, in this case. The name of this deck draws attention because it sounds exotic. And it tells the truth about itself - the deck is different. Very different. Fasten your seat belts.

The deck has 72 cards and a book with instructions, written by Elena Anapova. Although the book is really a book, and not the usual leaflets by Lo Scarabeo, it's not very detailed. The explanations are in four languages, English, Italian, Spanish and German. In the end, the apparent 126 pages of the books turns out to be just 33 pages - the rest is repetition in different languages.

We know who the writer is, but not the identity of the "Russian Sybil". She could be anyone, Jeane Dixon or Baba-Yaga, the book doesn't say who invented the cards. As a matter of fact, the author, Elena Anapova, doesn't say anything about herself or where she learnt the cards. Or if she created them. It does say "by Avvallon", but I did some research and found that "Avvallon" isn't a person, but probably a publisher of the Lo Scarabeo decks in Russia.

Mysterious and mysteriouser.

This deck is a two-in-one - one deck for fortune-telling and the other for magic. Both have 36 cards, but different imagery. The reading deck has outline drawings on a white background. The only colourful thing in the cards is the symbol of the suits - Cups, Spades, Swords and Coins. Don't get too excited - the elemental correspondences are very different from what we usually see.

The outline drawing is determined by the number of the card. All 2s have the name image, for instance. What changes is the suit symbol and it's colour. The cards are numbered from 2 to 10 - there's no Ace or card #1.

The suits are the following:

Cups (lamps) - Red - Fire
Spade - Black - Air
Sword - Blue - Water
Coin - Earth - Green