PCO: Focusing on details, missing the whole picture

Oh yes. I have been doing it again. *sighs*

Yesterday I sat down, lighted a candle and focused. I was going to read for a friend who was absent at that moment, but who had requested the reading. I knew the question was important to her, and as I am very close to the situation, I tried to clear my own mind from any expectations. Just read the cards!, I told myself. And after shuffling my deck, I drew four cards and spread them in the Present Spread, as taught by Ana Cortez.

The question was "Will A. [my friend] and T. meet again before one year passes?".
(Note: A. and T. are living in different countries right now.)

As soon as I saw the cards, mind entered panic mode. Oh no, that Leo guy on the top again! I knew I had interpreted him wrongly in a past reading, in this very same position. To calm and quiet my mind, I did the Geomancy, and I got the following: Laetitia + Cauda Draconis = Conjunctio.

That does not point to anything bad, but Cauda Draconis as the 2nd witness, tells me that there will be some significant obstacles to be overcome, and difficult choices to be made, before the meeting can happen. Conjunctio, as the judge, is a very good figure for a meeting. But that did not help me to get any calmer.

I started pulling details together - no Spades, hum, that means lack of practical plans, and 10♣ in the "Foot" position could indicate instability at work. And that Leo. Leo... K♦... maybe he's part of the obstacle? Maybe he's A's boss? Maybe she'll be offered a job opportunity that will get in the way? And that 6♦ in "Torso", it shows a lonely and isolated heart, ugh, I think the answer is not because of money, I mean, you have 10♥, the only Heart card, surrounded by Diamonds... suffocated by money issues...

Argh, shut up brain!

Thank goodness I went out to have dinner with my friends, and forgot about the reading for a good while. When I can back home, after enjoying a long conversation with a good friend, I was tired by happier, and my mind felt more at peace. And suddenly... suddenly it came to me that I was not answering A's question!

No, I was getting caught up in the details, focusing on the small relationship between the cards, and missing the whole picture completely!

Of intention and card reading

What is the power behind the cards? What power makes certain cards be chosen in an specific moment, fall into an specific position and deliver a message? I do not presume to know the answer to these question for sure, and I think that every card reader has his own personal answers to them.

I do believe that there's some special kind of energy behind every reading. It does not necessarily come from a higher power of any sort though - it comes from the reader and the sitter. I call it "intention".

For me, intention is the desire to know something, to receive an answer. It is an ardent question, and the strongest and clearest it is, the more powerful the reading will be. It is what separates empty questions and real questions - and what separate dull readings from intense ones.

Intention is actually present in all aspects of life, not just divination. It can be translated in "what you really want". In times like ours, in which there is so much to want, and our focus changes constantly, it may be hard to feel that deep and intense wish for something. But we still have many moments like this. Like when we are in love, or like when we wish to accomplish one thing above all else. This guides us, guides our steps and our choices.

Deck Review: Bird Cards - The Healing Power of the Bird Kingdom

Today it is exactly one month since I came back from Canada. And boy, what a trip it was! Not only I had a great time there, but I also found three decks that unexpectedly became favourites. One of them is the Bird Cards: The Healing Power of the Bird Kingdom, by Jane Toerien and Joyce van Dobben.

I'm a huge bird lover, but that wouldn't make me love a deck about birds. I love cats too, and no deck featuring cat has ever got my attention. To be honest I never really cared for animal-only decks, as I enjoy a lot of "human factor" in my cards.

Well... it's good to have your beliefs challenged sometimes.

I found the Bird Cards in a very big second-hand bookstore in Victoria BC. Of course, my first stop was at the tarot shelf... which sadly didn't have anything interesting to offer that week. But they had this deck, and after a whole day thinking, I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did.

The deck has 55 cards measuring 14 x 9cm (5,5 x 3,5 inches). A bit large, but still comfortable to shuffle. The cardstock is not bad, it feels like thick card paper without much (or any) plastic lamination. The feel of the cards is good, they slide between your hands easily, they are not sticky and they don't smell like chemicals. However, because they are a bit unprotected, bumps in the corners become noticeable after the first shuffles (specially in the back, because it is blue). And while the cards are not flimsy, I think that depending on how you shuffle them, they can bend or get marked.

The printing quality is very good. Joyce van Dobben used colour pencils to illustrate the cards, and the result is at the same time soft and vivid. It's clear that she studied very well the anatomy of the birds - no children's scribbles here! I did not find any card that I disliked or that I'd have done differently. The artist admits to be a huge fan of rainbows, and indeed the cards are filled with them.

What I loved about the art is the way Joyce van Dobben managed to mix landscapes, birds and mystical symbols. All cards look like a door between the nature we can see and a mystical world. As a stone lover, she also included in the cards many different stones, that interact with the birds and add to their symbolism. She explains the stones in the end of the book.

The artist comes from The Netherlands, but the book is written by an author living in South Africa (that is Jane Toerien). So this deck is the child of both southern and northern hemisphere, which is something I really liked. As a person living in the southern hemisphere, many times I have missed decks and books that are in touch with our reality "down here". A deck that has a bit of both hemispheres feels really balanced to me.