Details and all: 4 of Swords

I see myself as kind of anal sometimes… *chuckles* It’s how I see the Knight of Pentacles, probably because I associate it with Virgo - Virgos do not get vexed! - and note that it doesn’t need to be a bad thing: it’s nice sometimes to be able to be slightly picky with the details and into the small things that make something whole…

I’ve noticed that I love analyzing all the details of things. It’s something I find fun, so when I picked the details to highlight the former post, I had a ball noticing the details I’d previously missed in the 4 of Swords of the Universal Waite.

I’d never noticed the details of the window before. I called it a “pretty window” and left it at that. But this time I noticed the kneeling figure which gives me a feeling of repentance. Add to that the way the arms of the figure laying on the coffin/altar/table-thingy (obviously I get into some details… not all! ahem), it brings a feeling of repentance and “asking for forgiveness” to this card that I didn’t have before.

Before, this card was a very “need to rest”, mental quiet, planning (it might be my planning nature but I see quite a few cards as having a hint of planning), retreat, recovery (associated with where the figure lies)… Never repentance.

Funny eh? (feel free to smile)

Dreams: A Tarot Reading (The Buttler did it)

I had a strange dream two or three nights ago. It is strange because most of my dreams seem to be the results of watching too much television (like one dream where I am pursued by a pink gooey blog - I’m sure Freud would have had a field day with that one! - and escape through the sink with two blood brothers I do not have in real life, my mother, “father” and I - bizarre). They, as a matter of fact, seem to play out like a story, and that’s all.

Maybe this one is too, but I thought it was funny, and since it relates to Tarot, thought I would share.

The changing tides (a post sponsored by the 4 of Swords)

I know. It’s been a long time… I’m a horrible horrible person (self-castigation: on). I seriously have a sort of attention disorder, which when angry at me my mother always blamed on my selfish (spoilt child) nature… And you know, objectively speaking, she is likely to be at the very least partially right… I suck! (self-castigation: off).

Thing is, I’m someone who needs irregular mental breaks, isolation periods - in this house, this in general means that I stay in my room a lot… Then again, even when I lived in my apartment in town, I regularly needed those moments (days sometimes) when I would stay inside all day, speak little or not at all, etc. It’s the moments where I need to plan, to re-evaluate the day(s), to analyze what I see as progress and if need be readjust what I am doing to better reflect who I am.

Yes yes, it’s been a while

I have been pulling my daily cards pretty regularly (although since two or three days only, I’ve also been reading “aloud” for myself - as if speaking to someone else - something I read on the Aeclectic forum), and have been decidedly undecided about what deck to focus on.

The irritating thing is when you reach a stalemate and have about 5 decks on hand that you equally appreciate but for very different reasons:

• I love the fact that the images on the Fantastic Menagerie Tarot differ from how I typically see many cards. I also enjoy the somewhat muted colors.
• I really get a kick out of the twist of the Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot… It sticks fairly closely to the Rider Waite Smith imagery, but sometimes twists it slightly. Plus, honestly, for certain readings with several cards, I enjoy that it has the number and suit in the corners. It’s a silly detail for some, but I really get a kick (and use) out of that.
• I love the size of the Universal Waite Smith Tarot (pocket size) - and fantasize about all my decks being that size.

Those are the three I keep switching between. And as if my ordeal isn’t frustrating enough: I fantasize over the International Icon Tarot, the Fournier Tarot de Marseille, and I know that somewhere in Paris (!) there is a Tarot of Prague waiting to be somehow transmitted to me… (a friend ordered it for me).

Ah. It is an addiction for me.

Goodies Gallore as rewards for tiresome work

So I’ve actually been really overworked. I’ve just finished the contract I’d been complaining about for the past months… I’m now really tired, but relieved that it’s over!

And in the meantime, I’ve also received several Tarot goodies:

• Fantastic Menagerie Tarot Book and Deck
• Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot Book and Deck
• Pocket Universal Waite (Smith) Tarot Deck
• Pocket Thoth Tarot Deck
• 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card (by M. K. Greer)
• Tarot Tells the Tale (by James Ricklef - sp - I shouldn’t type half asleep)

Needless to say, I’m really enjoying them, which is good since I’ve been feeling somewhat … mhhh… Not at my best lately.

Will update soon!

Strength as what I hate in others

I haven’t stoped my Tarot studies. I just have been working a lot - and just have gotten too lazy to type here. On the other hand, I’ve kept up at the other blog….

And speaking of the other blog - I wrote an entry on Anger. As I’ve said before, I’m doing the work in the Shadow Work book by Christine Jette. It so happens that Strength shows up in the Anger (4th pos.), which, according to Jette represents:

[...]What qualities in a person do I most dislike or have the most difficulty dealing with?[...] Anger is fear in disguise and you may feel yourself most uncomfortable with position four[...]

Dream analysis reading - July 11th, 2007

So inspired by a study workshop I’ve joined, I am now studying my dream “issues”. I posted a reading I did on one dream already. The first part is the first part, the one relating to the last crush/lust/whatever. (why am I pretending: I did pull 2 cards to decipher that one too). Understand that for a whole period (several years), I also kept having dreams of dogs (!!!!!) suffering greatly. Some of those where gory in their violence, kind of like a horror movie. I ADORE DOGS. This said, I always felt helpless in my trying to help them. In one, the dog-mother and dog-pup that were suffering couldn’t be touched (it was painful). Yet, strangely they always came back for affection… (eh… I can recognize myself and my behavior in that… oh my. This said: I do see myself as actively working on that. Grmpf.)

The World: The bounties of the earth

I see the World as several things, and the best image for it is the one from the Victorian Romantic for me.

This card features a woman fling up in the air, although when I look at her I can’t decide if the blue fabric floating behind her is a set of wings, or … blue fabric. She holds a basket full of flowers (which reminds me of the flat surface people sort out their rice in here in Madagascar). The flowers fly left, right, and up, and bellow her are two figures (women), who seem about to throw flowers themselves. One does, the other is rather just looking up (while holding her own basket).

Pictures and images

I’m wondering how to illustrate this blog while respecting the Magic Realist copyright rules (and protecting them from ill intended people). Of course, the Victorian Romantic is my current main deck. Whatever I do, I go back to it. I’ve changed to only put thumbnails so far, and no zooming options… but is that enough?

8 of Pentacles - The diligent worker

I did an “Enter the Card” exercise with this one. But obviously I also haven’t worked on my card yesterday. I do have some thoughts, actually. So I’m planning to add them later (on Death - transition… and letting go) as well as on the 8 of Pentacles. Now, I do have work that has come in, and since diligence and hard precise work (the Victorian Romantic innevitably makes me think of a “work of love” since the subjects of the work are vases… You do the best work when you do it with love I say… And love is a constant long-term work to me as well… Maybe that ties it to the Lovers?).