Weekly Reading: Take a deep breath...

...and don't get carried away by the emotional tides!

Heart and Clubs together speak of time of acute sensibility, in which it might be hard to focus on practical things. The East Wind (4♣) is a card of slow developments and deliberate action... It tells me the rhythm of this week will feel slower than usual. Practical tasks will probably require more time and patience to get done. 

The 3♥ tends to be a more charged card, but being a low number and paired with the 4♣, I see it more inclined to mean that I can expect some small emotional drama and conflict, and that I will have to be patient when navigating through them. People and situations can rile us up, easily turning small ripples into a Tsunami... So, it's important to take a deep breath and not react immediately to every provocation. 

The Playing Card Oracles © Ana Cortez & C.J. Freeman

PCO: A thief in the night (and in daylight)

If you ask me about health readings, I will be the first one to dissuade any inexperienced reader (and even experienced ones with no medical background) to do them. It's not that I believe the cards cannot read about health matters - oracles are not that selective -, but rather because it is a sensitive topic in which badly-interpreted information can have dire, even fatal, consequences. Also, any misstep can cause the unheeding reader to teeter on the edge of unlicensed medical practice, which is bad.

That said, nothing precludes us from doing personal health reading (as long as we don't go around advising people based on that) or from trying to gain more clarity about a health situation using the cards. That's what I did a couple of months ago when my mother came back from a routine exam with a suspected breast cancer.

As always, looking at the cards in hindsight is hardly fair. Nevertheless, I would like to share here the reading and the original interpretation I did back then (before the diagnosis was confirmed). My question was: what do I need to know about my mother's health condition right now?

The first cards to get my my attention were the 11♥ in the Foot position and the 9♠ in the Throat one. They are not side by side, which lessens a bit their effect as a pair; nevertheless, together they did give me the impression of unexpected thief that was stealing from the body (11♥, LaHire), sucking away one's health (9♠, Dracula). I confess that, even back then, I felt this was a confirmation for the cancer suspicion.

But let's look at the other cards. The 3♣ in the Head position speaks of a need for greater clarity, and for me in indicated that more exams would be needed, and that no conclusions should be taken before seeing the right doctors. Usually, the 3♣ also means that whatever is being formulated in the mind can become true. Of course, here I would not say my mother had secretly wished she would have a cancer or anything; rather, it seems to confirm that what is in the mind (the cancer suspicion) was real.

Lastly, the 9♣, Galahad. This card proved to be a bit more difficult and even today, looking back, I'm not sure I get its role there - specially in the Torso position, which is an important place in a reading about a possible breast cancer (it's where the breasts are, after all). Galahad is a card of ideals, that challenges us to remain grounded while pursuing lofty goals. He's upside down here... definitely not grounded! Looking now, there is a sense of lack of control about him... mind filled with ideals and visions, feet up in the air... Galahad looks like he could easily be carried away by the two much slyer characters flanking him.

So, I got the general picture of a body that has gone out of control, and whose living force is being sucked away by a thief. Aligns pretty much with the idea of a cancerous tumour. And the Geomancy also points to it: Via + Cauda Draconis = Tristitia. A difficult path that will bring sadness...

One last note about my mother: the diagnosis was confirmed a few days after the reading and she has, indeed, breast cancer. But we found out that it is not an aggressive tumour, and that it has a very low probability of spreading. She will probably not need chemotherapy, "just" surgery and radiation therapy. As of now, we are waiting for the situation of the pandemics in the hospitals to stabilise a bit before she undergoes the operation to remove the tumour.

The Playing Card Oracles Alchemy Edition © Ana Cortez & C.J. Freeman

Deck Review: The Triple Goddess Tarot by Isha Lerner and Mara Friedman

Oh, The Triple Goddess Tarot... this deck and I have a long story. It was one of my first oracles ever, purchased back when I was getting my BA in Journalism, circa 2005. I bought the brazilian edition of this oracle from a local shop that doesn’t even exist anymore, and I remember being awestruck by the sheer gorgeousness of the cards.

Back then, goddess-themed oracles were not as abundant as they are today, and much less so here in Brazil. The most popular one was (and I think still is) the famous The Goddess Oracle by Amy Sophia Marashinsky and Hrana Janto. Also, paganism and the sacred feminine were incipient at best.

Although my first contact with this deck was through the brazilian edition, I eventually got the original one published by Bear & Co, and this is the edition I am going to review here as I it is the one most widely available. 

The Triple Goddess Tarot was created by Isha Lerner and illustrated by Mara Friedman. The deck consists of 25 Alchemy Cards and 7 Chakra Cards, sized 9,5 cm x 13,5 cm. The cardstock is flexible but not flimsy, and the finish is matte. The colours are very vivid. Despite its size, the deck is easy to shuffle even for small hands (such as mine), because it’s not too thick. The Alchemy and Chakra cards have differently coloured backs. The book has 232 pages and dives extensively into the traditions and myths of the Triple Goddess.

Now, I cannot say I consider The Triple Goddess Tarot to be an actual tarot deck. Let me explain why. Although the first 22 cards do follow some of the Major Arcana logic, the symbolism has been vastly altered to make it a female-centred deck. The names of nearly all cards have been changed (check the list at the end of this post). Also, this deck has four extra cards in its Majors/Alchemy Cards, plus the seven Chakra cards… all these changes, for me, deprive it from truly having a “tarot” status. I consider it more a tarot-inspired oracle.

Full Moon Project!

Full Moon in Aries and time for a rather impromptu project... yes, I have made my own Witch's Runes. Yay!

If you look back through my posts here, you will see that this is an oracle I have liked and used for years. But I had never made my own set of runes before. I always used ones made by artists who I deemed more "handicrafty" than me.

Because I absolutely have no idea how to cut wood myself - and I really don't feel comfortable to cutting a tree's healthy branch just to experiment -, I bought myself a pack of 3cm wooden circles for craft. They have the advantage of being flat and porous, which makes it easy to draw on them... Not to mention they are resistant and light to carry around, two important qualities in a rune set in my opinion.

So today, with a mighty sharpie, I drew the symbols. They did not come out perfect, but I suppose the rough look adds to the magic. Annnd… there is the fact they are undisputedly mine. I have even added an extra rune – the crossed spears – because I have always missed a symbol to speak of open conflicts and energies that don't go well together. I am not sure if I will use it in readings, but it's there and I now can try it and see if it makes a worthy addition to the 13 Witch's Runes. I might make a post in the future to explain better my idea behind this rune, but I feel I need to use it first before drawing any conclusions!

So, tonight we have a Full Moon in Aries. A full moon in fire speaks of creative projects that reach their finest points or that get completed. In Aries, specifically, we get that warrior-like vibe that, after a cycle of fighting to get things done, you can now lean back and rest a bit, while contemplating your accomplishment.

I still have tons of things to do, both related to my job and to my studies, but for tonight… yeah, I guess I will do just that. Sit, take a deep breath and enjoy the fact I have finally made my very own runes, under the blessing of the full moon.