Rare Peace

Tarot Card of the Day

2009-04-18T10:26:00.002-05:00

The Tarot Channel: 2009 Tarot World Annual

2008-08-13T13:19:00.001-05:00

The Tarot Channel: 2009 Tarot World Annual:

Focusing on the theme Water Cards, this 8x10, glossy paperback will weigh in at about 250 pages and include the following goodies:

Original card art by artists like Lisa Hunt, Chris Butler, Ron Boyer and Willa Cline

And I'm told my Ace of Cups is going to be on the cover!

Queen of Pentacles

2007-11-26T17:58:00.001-06:00

My birthday was Saturday, and I got an email from a friend:

"I asked what kind of year you'll have and drew a Tarot card for you from the Revelations deck. It was the Queen of Pentacles. From the book:"

She is a warm-hearted woman surrounded by luxury and wealth. She gives from her wholesome heart for the pleasures of the body.

The Queen of Pentacles represents goodheartedness, a love for luxury, a great cook, a patron of fine clothes, and a frequenter of elegant places. She is also a friend who can be practical in times of need and supportive when the chips are down. As a lover, she is deeply sensual and is comfortable with her body. She is methodical in her business sense and pragmatic in her dealings. She budgets out of practicality and perseveres through chores for the good of herself and of others.

In situations, this card heralds a period of luxurious material wealth and the acquisition of beautiful things. Here, wealth that has been earned is spent as a reward or as a treat.

I had gotten an email from Tarot.com offering a free Celtic Cross reading, so I did that yesterday, and the Queen of Pentacles came up again, which I thought was very interesting. It came up as the "Near Future" card:

Be prudent. Concentrate on what is most realistic and practical when it comes to your immediate prospects.

The card in the Near Future position indicates which way the wind is blowing with regard to your situation. If you follow the Advice card, however, you can improve on or neutralize tendencies.

With the Queen of Coins in this position, you will soon have a chance to test your dream against reality. The effort and time you have invested in some enterprise or relationship is about to bear magnificent fruit.

We shall see how sensibly you behave when there are no external limits on where you spend your energy, talents and money. To maximize what is good about the Queen of Coins, you should focus on what is practical and sensible. Invest your energy and resources wisely. Otherwise her more exuberant side could take over and your gains will degenerate into one long, expensive party.

I've always thought of myself as the Queen of Cups, but maybe this is going to be Queen of Pentacles year. I could use one.

Tarot Talismans

2007-05-09T20:14:00.000-05:00

Interesting article at Llewellyn: Terrific Tarot Talismans:

Not only an excellent and accurate tool for divination, Tarot cards are also a successful means to magically attract positive energies into your life. By using specific cards as luck-bringing talismans, you can increase your well being, develop a greater affinity with the Tarot, and also give yourself another reason to buy some of the wonderful new decks that are out on the market.

Dream-Joy-Magic Spread

2007-04-13T12:50:00.000-05:00

I just did the Dream-Joy-Magic spread. I'm on my lunchhour at work; I prefer to read the cards at home, in the morning, but I was stressed this morning (spent a half hour on the phone with my cell phone company about a missing payment), so I stuck the cards in my bag and brought them with me.

I was doing a little research on the meanings of various stones that I use in my jewelry, and I had just read about Chrysoprase at Rings & Things, who have a wonderful gemstone index, and it said that, among other things, Chrysoprase enables the wearer to understand the language of lizards (shades of Harry Potter!), and if you hold a piece of Chrosoprase in your mouth, you will become invisible.

Knowing this made me very happy, and I felt in a good place to lay out the cards.

My reading was:

Interesting that they were all Cups -- I've used the deck exclusively for several months, and it's well-shuffled -- but maybe not so strange seeing as how happy I felt at the time.

The Page of Cups generally portents a message of love. The Pages are all messengers, but this one symbolizes love, emotion, intimacy, or the possibility of them, anyway. Joan Bunning says, "Sometimes the Page of Cups implies that your entire situation is suffused with the spirit of love and emotion." The "Dream" card represents our desires, and right now my desire is to create and grow a business creating and selling my jewelry; I think this card is saying that I desire to make this happen in a way that feeds my soul, and so far, it definitely does.

The "Joy" card represents "that for which we have reason to be happy." I've always thought that the King of Cups in my life is my friend David, who has been encouraging me and coaching me through as I'm working toward my goals. He's the one who is always encouraging me to "dream bigger." I have a lot of love and support in my life (my husband is the King of Swords, and my boss at work is the King of Wands, both of whom are supportive in different aspects of my life), but in this particular situation, I'm especially thankful for my King of Cups.

The "Magic" card stumped me for a moment -- the Nine of Cups is traditionally what I've seen called the "party hearty" card -- wish fulfillment, having everything you want or need, a feeling of accomplishment accompanied by a certain smugness. But the card in this position is supposed to represent the work I need to do to overcome my personal limitations. The Nine of Cups would indicate that my wish will come true, but I believe it also means that I have to do the necessary work -- it isn't going to come to me on a silver platter, there will be a lot of work that I need to do, but if I do that, I can be proud of my accomplishments (and my golden cups), like the man on the card.

Also -- thinking about the smugness factor -- maybe it's a warning that I need to remain humble, although that generally isn't a problem of mine. Certainly something to keep in mind, though.

Dream-Joy-Magic

2007-04-12T12:28:00.000-05:00

I don't have the Fey Tarot (though it's on my wish list), but I love the spread recounted in: Blogickal: A Tarot Lesson: What Does Your Tower Look Like?

The spread is Dream-Joy-Magic, with Dream represeneting our desires, Joy representing "that for which we have reason to be happy," and Magic meaning "the work one needs to do to overcome personal limitations."

I meant to do a spread this morning, but I was rushed and forgot, and I don't have my cards with me. I'll do one tonight.

Card of the Day - The Sun

2007-03-26T07:42:00.000-05:00

Again. :) What a lovely card, so hopeful and happy. A child wearing a garland of flowers astride a white horse, inside (?) a walled garden, with a field of sunflowers behind him.

A perfect card to get on a Monday morning, forecasting nothing but sunlight for the day (and the week?).

Card of the Day - Nine of Pentacles

2007-03-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

I don't recall ever having drawn this card before. The card shows a well-dressed woman, obviously well off, and elegant, refined woman, walking through a beautiful garden at her leisure. You can imagine her putting out a hand to stroke a particularly beautiful flower, raising the blossom to her face to breathe in its fragrance.

There are also pentacles (coins) in the scene, but Joan Bunning points out that they are low to the ground, symbolizing that while the woman is wealthy, and wealth is important, the "finer things" are also important, meaning not the trappings of wealth, but perhaps the leisure to enjoy art or music. This elegant woman is holding a falcon on her left hand, which seems incongruous. It may be indicating the presence of a darker side that is being (or needs to be) controlled.

An interesting card.

Card of the Day: Six of Wands

2007-03-21T10:56:00.000-05:00

I've been using the Universal Waite Pocket Edition deck lately, which comes in a wonderful sturdy box with a lift-off lid. I picked up the box this morning and took off the lid, and there was one card sticking up a little further than the rest. I remember reading somewhere that when you're shuffling, if you drop a card, the cards might be trying to tell you something, i.e., if there's a card that separates itself from the rest in some fashion, you should pay attention to it.

So I carefully pulled it out of the deck, and it was the Queen of Cups, which I always use as my significator. It, more than any other card, seems to represent me.

That made me smile, and then I put it back in the deck and shuffled and cut the cards, and selected the card of the day off the top -- The Six of Wands. The Six of Wands is the victory card. It shows a man riding a horse, with a wreath fastened to the top of his wand/staff -- I imagine that he is riding back to his city, victorious, or it could be a victory parade.

In Learn Tarot, Joan Bunning says of the Six of Wands:

In readings, the Six of Wands appears when you have been working hard toward a goal, and success is finally within reach. The recognition you have sought so long is yours. Now you can receive the acclaim, honor and reward that you deserve. If you do not feel close to victory now, know that it is on its way provided you are doing all you can to make it happen.

I've been working toward finding something that I can produce with my hands to sell. I enjoy working with my hands very much, and it would be wonderful to be able to turn that work into a monetary profit. Most of the things that I do, i.e., knitting, are so labor- and time-intensive that I could never recoup the time and materials that I put into them. So I do those things only for myself and, occasionally, my family and friends.

But lately I've been making jewelry-like stitch markers for knitting, which I love making, and I've also been learning about making jewelry. I put some of my things up at my online Etsy shop, and have sold several things, but the thing that makes me even more excited is that yesterday I was contacted by someone about a wholesale order. It was a fairly small one, but it makes me very optimistic that this might indeed be something that I can enjoy doing, and also make money doing.

So the Six of Wands is very welcome, and particularly apropos for today!

Card of the Day - The Sun

2007-03-15T07:49:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful card! And a perfect card for the time of year, winter moving slowly into spring. Drawing The Sun can mean that it's a good time to begin a project, or herald a period of light after a long time in the darkness. New birth, new beginnings, joy and happiness. And sun!

My Sun card, and the Universal Waite Sun card:

Card of the Day - Seven of Cups

2007-03-01T21:51:00.000-06:00

Getting the Seven of Cups tonight made me laugh. I'd been writing a journal entry, and thinking about my New Year's Resolutions--I've made a little progress, although not as much as I'd hoped. I was thinking about writing that I'd been lax, or lazy, but that isn't the case at all. I certainly could have done more, but I've been working a lot, been very busy, so the "optional" things have fallen by the wayside.

The Seven of Cups is the "pie in the sky" card, the card of daydreams, castles in the air, temptation, a multitude of choices to make. It says that perhaps you're spending too much time daydreaming about possibilities when you should be spending your time on more concrete pursuits. Joan Bunning says that it may also mean:

When the Seven of Cups appears in a reading, it is important to look carefully at how disordered your situation is. Is everything too controlled and regular? Perhaps you need to let things fall apart a little. When a rigid system breaks up, there can be a tremendous release of creativity. The man on the Seven of Cups is amazed by all the options he has.

In my case, I take it to mean that maybe I need to spend more time on the things that I may be thinking of as trivial. There's the old "all work and no play" adage to consider -- maybe I need to spend a little more time on creative pursuits, maybe I need to spend a little more, rather than less, time dreaming.

The Seven of Cups that I created for the Rarepeace Tarot is all about choices.

The Sun

2007-02-21T21:15:00.000-06:00

At long last, a new card -- The Sun.

Light, warmth, energy, vitality, health. The earth revolves around the Sun, and when you draw this card in a reading, you may feel as if the earth revolves around you. This card indicates that you can do no wrong. New life, joy, happiness -- a feeling of primal energy.

The traditional Rider Waite card shows a naked child astride a white horse, wearing sunflowers in his hair and throwing his hands wide as if to embrace the whole world. The Sun card means that you will succeed at whatever you attempt.

Wow!

2007-01-30T07:43:00.000-06:00

Can you tell I'm thrilled?

The Tarot Channel: Rare Peace Tarot

The Tarot Channel

2007-01-24T20:15:00.000-06:00

Have you seen this? The Tarot Channel is a really cool new collaborative blog by some of the most interesting tarot readers (and writers) around.

Lots of cool, relevant information about decks, spreads, and all kinds of things. Well worth spending some time there.

Card of the Day: Eight of Pentacles (again)

2007-01-18T12:36:00.000-06:00

Here's the Eight of Pentacles again! Still relevant.

Card of the Day: The High Priestess

2007-01-17T07:58:00.000-06:00

The High Priestess represents female energy, secret knowledge, mystery, particularly the mysteries that women hold in their hearts. Of the High Priestess, Aeclectic Tarot says:

If there is a card that symbolizes the tarot reader is it the High Priestess. A woman (or man!) of psychic powers, intuition and secret knowledge. Where the Magician is about revealing, the High Priestess is about keeping things hidden behind the curtain. Things you know, but don't tell.

If the reader feels the High Priestess stands for the Querent, then this is a time of solitary investagation and the passing on of secret knowledge. The Querent might find themselves spending time in old libraries, reading through dusty documents and letters, or studying old religious texts. Things kept secret will be revealed to them. Likewise, these secrets might come to them psychically by way of visions or powerful instincts. Insights may be found in crystal balls, tea leaves, dreams or conversations with spirits.

LearnTarot.com says that the High Priestess is a card of waiting, of stillness, and:

In readings, the High Priestess poses a challenge to you to go deeper - to look beyond the obvious, surface situation to what is hidden and obscure. She also asks you to recall the vastness of your potential and to remember the unlimited possibilities you hold within yourself. The High Priestess can represent a time of waiting and allowing. It is not always necessary to act to achieve your goals. Sometimes they can be realized through a stillness that gives desire a chance to flower within the fullness of time.

Card of the Day: Eight of Pentacles

2007-01-16T14:09:00.000-06:00

Diligence, attention to detail, hard work, learning a trade -- this is what the Eight of Pentacles symbolizes. A young man sits on his work bench, all his attention on his work. Traditionally, the Eights symbolize re-evaluation, making changes, and the Eight of Pentacles symbolizes the hard work necessary to make those changes. In descriptions, it is often called the apprenticeship card.

Joan Bunning says:

Sometimes blessings fall into our laps to be enjoyed. Other times we must put out great effort to obtain them. The Eight of Pentacles represents moments when you must give 110%. Just buckle down and do it. Fortunately, this kind of work is invigorating and leads to superb results. The labor of the Eight of Pentacles is deeply satisfying and productive.

Aeclectic Tarot says:

An apprentice works on eight pentacles. This is the apprentice card. It is a card of starting over, doing something new or perhaps just expanding. Apprenticeship can be scary or demoralizing, like in all those cliched movies where the Kung Fu youngster has to carry water and sweep floors before he can do the real stuff. Similarly, this card predicts, if not a tough time, a time of learning and mistakes, doubts and just hard work.

I don't know if I agree with that description, necessarily--the hard work, certainly, but maybe not the mistakes and doubts. This card tells me that a time of hard work is coming, and that it is necessary to buckle down and just do the work, which is perfectly apropos to this particular moment in time for me.

I'm reaching the end of a huge project at work. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up, a lot of details to be handled, and the only way to do them is just to keep my head down, develop tunnel vision and stick to it until it's done. And then I can go on vacation. :)

Card of the Day: Eight of Wands

2007-01-12T08:14:00.000-06:00

The Eight of Wands, showing the eight wands dropping from (or rather, being hurled from) the sky, is a card that symbolizes something about to happen -- good news, perhaps, specifically good news that makes it possible for you to move ahead with your plans. Rather than symbolizing the end result itself, it means that the time is right to do something, to take initiative and bring your plans to fruition.

Of the Eight of Wands, Paranormality says:

Understanding and harmony. The time and conditions are right to facilitate success. A process of speeding-up and an end to delays. A time for 'grasping the nettle', taking the initiative or taking charge. This card also indicates: important journeys, correspondence, and favourable news. A card of hope.

According to LearnTarot.com, the Eight of Wands is:

…a symbol of the onset of action and its effects. Before acting, we think, imagine, speculate, talk and dream. This is the realm of air - the sky. Then, finally, we decide to make our move. We bring our ideas down to earth and put them into action.

In the Trinity Doughnuts Tarot, the description of the Eight of Wands says:

Some call the Eight of Wands the “orgasm card”, and I suppose I see the point. It is the idea of a force other than ourselves, delivering something of excitement, that I believe marks the Eight of Wands.

Eric Ganther, in the “Cosmic Tribe Tarot” text, speaks of “peak experiences” in relation to the Eight of Wands. There are numerous references in other decks to movement and travel in connection with this card, as well as getting news or information that enables one to move ahead on their own with a project or relationship. The Waite-Smith illustration of the eight wands sailing through the air serves to heighten that impression. I’ve always thought of the Eight of Wands as a card that might herald something good coming along in the mail.

Although many do not use tarot for divination or predicting the future, this is one of the cards in the deck that clearly tells of something coming from somewhere else.

Card of the Day: Ace of Pentacles (again!)

2007-01-11T07:53:00.000-06:00

Just two days ago I drew the Ace of Pentacles, and here it is again. Something is trying very definitely to tell me that things are changing, things are moving, and moving in a very positive direction. I'm full of hope that this new year will be a positive one, particularly in its financial aspects, and the Ace of Pentacles would seem to indicate that, very emphatically.

Card of the Day: Ace of Wands

2007-01-10T07:56:00.000-06:00

Another Ace! Of the Ace of Wands, Joan Bunning says:

In readings, it shows that a seed of bold enthusiasm has been planted in your life although you may not yet recognize it. When the seed sprouts, it could take almost any form. It might be a creative idea, surge of optimism or need to act boldly. On the outside, it could be an offer, gift, opportunity, encounter or synchronistic event.

I can't remember now where I read it, but I read somewhere that the Ace of Wands is (rather obviously, I guess) a phallic symbol, and symbolizes, among other things, confidence and sexual power. Also, creativity, enthusiasm, daring; all in all, a very positive and exciting card.

Card of the day: Ace of Pentacles

2007-01-09T07:56:00.000-06:00

How I love the Ace of Pentacles! A hand appearing out of the clouds holding a golden coin, like Manna from Heaven. Of course, it doesn't represent wealth just handed to you; with the background of a lovely garden, it indicates that if you plant and tend a "seed," you will be amply rewarded. The suit of Pentacles does represent tangible things, i.e., money, property, things that can be held in the hand, solid things.

Joan Bunning says:

The Ace of Pentacles can be a sign that you will be able to make your dreams real. Your ideas are ready to be turned into something tangible. Figure out what will work and make it a reality. You can now attract all the wealth you need to get your projects going. Tap into the material force of the Ace of Pentacles, and all your enterprises will flourish.

It's early in the year, but all of the cards I've drawn so far this year have been positive, and all point to the fact that there are many rewards to be had as long as I concentrate on business, set goals, and work hard. Sounds like a good plan.

Card of the Day: Two of Wands (again!)

2007-01-08T07:58:00.000-06:00

I drew the Two of Wands just the other day. There's no need to repeat what I said then (at least not so soon!), but what a nice card to get again, as if the universe is making its point very definitely. With hard work, determination, and skill, we can accomplish anything that we set our minds to do.

Card of the Day: The Star

2007-01-06T23:30:00.000-06:00

The Star speaks of hope, of generosity, of faith in the future. The card shows a naked woman pouring water from two jugs--one into a pool, and the other onto land. Where does the water come from that she is pouring? The indication is that the water in the jugs will never run out, that they are constantly replenished. It foretells hope for tomorrow--not necessarily something that is going to happen immediately, but sometime in the future.

Card of the Day - Seven of Pentacles

2007-01-05T08:02:00.000-06:00

The Seven of Pentacles symbolizes the reward that comes at the end of hard work. In Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, Pollack says:

Meaningful work gives more than material benefit; the person too grows. The Seven shows the moment of being able to look back with satisfction on something accomplished. The "something" may be as broad as a career or as simple as an immediate project. The card implies that whatever has been built up (including relationships between people) has reached a point where it can grow by itself, and the person can step back from it without it collapsing.

The card shows a man admiring the garden that he has worked long and hard to create. It represents a time of reflection, of contemplation, of looking back on our accomplishments and being proud of the work that we have done. But the man on the card is simply pausing in his work, the fact that he is leaning on his hoe as he stands in the garden indicates that he has only paused in his labors for a moment, perhaps to catch his breath, or to enjoy the morning sunshine; the garden is a work in progress. In Learntarot.com, Joan Bunning says:

The Seven of Pentacles is not a card of endings or final decisions. The game is not over, but only on hold for a moment. Once you've gotten your breath back and checked your strategy, be ready to jump back in and work even harder than before.

Card of the Day - Two of Wands

2007-01-04T13:14:00.000-06:00

The Two of Wands shows a well-dressed, powerful, successful, obviously prosperous, man, standing on the roof of his castle, gazing out over his domain. He holds the world (represented by a globe) in his hands. He is powerful, but rather than the inherent power of The Magician, for instance, this card represents power gained by determination and skill.

Of the Two of Wands, James Rioux says:

Personal power is another theme of this card. The Two of Wands is a reminder that we are always in control of our lives, and though we may be surprised by events from time to time, the reins remain in our hands waiting for us to use them. This is why it's important to plan ahead, and know where you are headed before you set off on your journey. There is no place for uncertainty and hesitation, but fortunately, this card gives you the energy to rid yourself of those. You deserve to be the creator and the ruler of your life. Allow your inner power to show itself - you'll be surprised by what you accomplish.

Most interpretations refer to the power of the Two of Wands as "applied power" or power "brought down to earth," i.e., not nebulous, but concrete, brought about by setting goals, working hard, and reaping the results.