Some singing and some tarot

Joining an extra choir because I was covetous of their Christmas concerts and repertoire resulted in...

well, I think the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas says it best.

Twelve more rehearsals,
        Eleven scores to learn,
                  Ten long to-do lists,
                            Nine nights of driving,
                                      Eight BIG mistakes,
                                                Seven hours learning,
                                                          Six different venues,
 

                                                                      🎵FIVE BRAND NEW FRIENDS!🎵

                                                                                  Four more nights rehearsing,
                                                                                          Three lengthy concerts,
                                                                                                  Two dress rehearsals,
                                                                                                           And a great big Christmas-y glow!

                                                   

Here are some tarot chuckles and wisdom for dealing with all the festive extras that present themselves at this wonderfully busy time of year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

🎄🎄🎄 🎄🎄🎄 🎄🎄🎄 🎄🎄🎄

Last shuffle story for November, five decks

The next best thing to actually participating in NaNoWriMo (for me) is these short stories freely imagined from five cards. And there's no onerous daily quota of 1,667 words!
This week's decks are: my newest acquisition, plus four packs from the WXYZ section of the tarot shelves.

Once upon a time there lived a great and powerful Queen who held a sad secret memory. She put forth, for the ninth and final time, this challenge to all those in her queendom:
"The first person to complete this task will receive two gifts: one offspring of my royal dog, Rosebud, and a sheaf of magical flowers plucked from the royal garden." 

Witches Tarot (Dugan)

All manner of bold, fiercely competitive, strong, supremely arrogant, egotistical, confident knights, financial wizards, learned professors, doctors, metalsmiths, and lawmen flocked to the Queen's great hall. Each was confident that he was the ideal person to successfully complete the quest and earn the Queen's gratitude.

Wheel of the Year Tarot

The brave competitors struggled up snowy mountains and trekked down into great valleys, crossing vast continents and dark fathomless oceans, throughout all the seasons. But not one of them succeeded in bringing the Queen what she sought. 

Wheel of Change Tarot

And soon, all became despondent, and wallowed in the misery of their failures. They despaired and lay about, idle and indolent. A few returned to tell the Queen of their futile travels, but most were never seen or heard from again.

Zillich Tarot

Many months later, when the Queen's royal dog, Rosebud, gambolled in the gardens with her brood of fine fat frisky puppies, a tiny child was ushered into the Queen's receiving chamber. The child, Lilith, with her shy sweet ways and small unassuming manner, had done what no others could; she won from the Great Troll in the West the Queen's precious ruby hairpin, the last gift from her beloved parents when she was but a child herself, and lost these many years.

John Bauer Tarot

So Lilith and her puppy brought the bouquet of magical palace flowers to her old grandmother, and they all lived happily ever after. 

THE END

A November shuffling story

November feels like a story-telling kind of month - colder and greyer outside, cozier and snugglier inside.
Here's one more post about the excitement of doing NaNoWriMo.

Today's little tarot-inspired tale comes from five different November-y decks, one card from each.

Once upon a time, in a friendly village far far away, there lived a courting couple. All the townsfolk loved this young woman and her young man, for they were kind and friendly and seemed well-suited.

One day, the young man, Martin, arrived bearing a beautifully wrapped gift. He could hardly wait for his intended to open it!

Tarot of the 78 Doors

"The box is warm," Gemma exclaimed. "Is it a puppy?"
Warm? How puzzling. "No, it's not a puppy." Martin smiled as she carefully set the extravagant bow on a table and tipped the box's lid.
"Oh, it's wondrous! However did you manage it?" For the lantern inside the box was already lit. Lifting it by its wire handle, Gemma peered into the flame, then stiffened. "It frightens me, Martin," she said. "It's pulling me in and I don't want to go."
Something otherworldly is at work here, thought Martin, for of course he had not struck a match to the wick before carefully placing the lantern into the box. Fear slithered across his shoulders.

The Raven's Prophecy Tarot

He reached for Gemma but too late; she had slipped into a trance staring into the flame. The hoarse voice as she spoke was not that of his beloved. It seemed to come from a great distance; he didn't understand.
"Come with us, Earth Girl, onto the path of the Sun. We ourselves cannot help her, but we will walk with you until you find her. Fear not; no harm will befall you if you do as we ask. Come; there is little time."

Ghosts and Spirits Tarot

Gemma's voice changed again. "My son, my beloved first-born, my darling boy. Daily I weep tears of stone." She was a woman now, older, and so sad. "Will we ever be released from this curse? I alone am to blame; the spirits of the forest would never have taken you had I listened to them."  The voice left off, Martin heard a broken inhale, then it continued. "Oh my son, please forgive me. I was too proud, too hard, too unloving."

Sacred Sites Tarot

The flame flared, and the image of a beautiful young stag appeared. It burst from the lantern and bounded away in a wash of light.

The Wild Unknown Tarot

And thus ends another November mini-tale. I wish for you contented cocooning, beautiful books, and of course, mugs of steaming tea.



In neighbourhood news...

We recently were treated to seven days of movie-going when WIFF once again came to town. There were 143 films to choose from during this year's Windsor International Film Fest. Oh, the stories!

🎬🎭🎬🎬🎭🎬🎭🎬🎬🎭🎬🎭🎬🎬🎭🎬

Some days all I want to do is shuffle...

The slip-slide, the brush and swish, the flap-snap, the ruffle of shuffling cards - I love those sounds! Although when I shuffle, everything is much slower and less captivating than the work of experts who riffle shuffle swiftly in their hands. 

So shuffle is what I did today, with no particular goal is mind. Here's the little story that appeared when the cards were laid side by side.

Victorian Romantic 3rd edition 2018

The King has flung himself into the sea in despair.

Kingship is too great a responsibility, too daunting a task. He cannot continue; it's just too heavy a burden for him to carry.

The watery spirit of his beloved sister comes to him as he lies in the seafoam. 

"My dearest brother, you ARE the spirit of what it means to be a king; you embody it. I beg you not to give up. Your world still needs you."

Golden Botticelli

He heeds the pleas of his dead sister's spirit
and hauls himself back to life,
to the responsibilities of his office.

Although pale and subdued, he appears determined
to uphold the mantle of kingship (at least for now).

Bohemian Gothic 3rd edition 2013

The King's Page, a rather new addition to the Court, checks back at her employer to see how he's managing after his recent collapse. 

Although she is young and lacks Court experience, the Page is calm in a crisis, resourceful, and savvy. She is just the person to handle this public relations nightmare.

All Hallows Tarot

Having satisfied herself that her Monarch is alright, the Page can now focus on her task at hand,

which is to...

Fantastic Menagerie

...squash all the ugly rumours crawling about concerning

the recent unexplained and much talked-about absence

of the King from the throne.

I heard that he's dying of some terrible disease.

Has he gone crazy? Off his rocker? He's bonkers.

Someone saw him drooling and laughing like a maniac.

My brother-in-law's boss, whose neighbour works in the kitchens at the palace, heard it from one of the gardeners that the King killed someone and they're trying to cover it up.

There's insanity in his family, don't you know; his great-great-great-great grandmother was a witch.

The Page has her work cut out for her. 

Three years ago, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and LOVED IT! But taking a whole month to do almost nothing else but write 50,000 words (that's 1,667 words every day, for a total of 200 pages) isn't always possible. I guess this is my 2018 substitute!

Who says that shuffling decks is a waste of time? 

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Halloween Tarot: an irreverent 9-patch

What a brilliant idea, I thought. A nine-patch grid using the friendly little Halloween Tarot. 

Well, it turns out that...I had exactly the same brilliant idea three years ago!
Perhaps this is the start of a triennial forgetfulness tradition?

Anyway, original or not, here's some fun with the Halloween Tarot...
(Don't ask me what happened to the Six of Imps. Some techie glitch. Or Imps at work?)

The Spread

             The situation or feeling              

Here's what's messing with your head                                                        Here's what's happening

First row

You know that feeling you have when - even though you're working steadily on a project - 

the chance of success feels like a stab in the dark, or tossing some dice, or the roll of a roulette wheel?

Well, take hope! Triumph is just around the corner! A party of naked Imps is on the way!

Middle row

You're running around like your head's screwed on backwards;

meanwhile the prissy-pants Knight of Ghosts is mincing his smarmy way to the Queen,

who receives the message, thanks him warmly, and sends him home with pumpkin pie.

(I hate it when that happens.)

Bottom row

You've decided to leave the group because...

people are being too damn judgemental.

But they all beg you to stay, declare that they love you just as you are, and throw a party in your honour.

(Don't you love happy endings?)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Knights running off in the wrong direction

Several years ago Caitlyn Matthews spoke at the Readers Studio in New York. She got our attention by singing into the microphone 🎵 which shut up our babbling in a hurry.

Part of her presentation was about reading directionally - the way people are facing in the images as they are laid out side by side for a reading.

• Are they looking at each other or do they have their backs to each other?
• Are they moving forward or going back from whence they came?

Of course there was much more to it than that, but it's enough for this post.

Last week these nine cards from the Everyday Witch Tarot were on my table. I was playing around with making a 9-patch pattern (3x3). As I was here a few years ago. And most everyone was heading to the right or standing still, except for the...

...Knight of Wands. Where on earth is he going?

What kind of impetuous sprint is this? What's caught his attention, or distracted him?
(Admittedly a dragon is a pretty big distraction...)
Will he lose sight of his primary objective and/or be rewarded by a serendipitous finding?

Knights aren't like Queens and Kings. The Knights' grasp of their suits is not yet fully formed and developed. They haven't always figured out how to wield their element calmly and rationally. But they have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for their quests! Especially the Knights of Wands. All that fiery get-up-and-go. 

I decided to investigate more Wands Knights. Are they all off on a potential wild goose chase?

The answer is...a whole lot of them are!

Going through my shelves alphabetically there were 16 backwards-going or thinking-about-it Knights just in the first 5 letters A-E! Imagine how many hundreds more are out there, racing off to the ⟽ ⟽ ⟽   

Here they are, in alphabetical order. First - those who are already on the move, riding to the left.

The Alice Tarot

All Hallows Tarot

Bruegel Tarot 

The Ceccoli Tarot

Circle of Life Tarot
This one is debatable, because of the direction her unicorn is facing;
but look which way her hair is blowing.

The Druidcraft Tarot

The Ellis Deck

and the Knight who started this whole post...from the Everyday Witch Tarot

 And now - those who've not yet decided but are seriously thinking about heading back.

Animal Totem Tarot

Don't you love his grumpy face?

Animal Wisdom Tarot

AnnaK Tarot

Aquarian Tarot

Cat's Eye Tarot

Chrysalis Tarot

Dreaming Way Tarot

Efflorescent Tarot

There you have it! Sixteen Knights-Possibly-Errant.

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In neighbourhood news...

Stratford, ON, where Shakespeare and other playwrights reign supreme for 6 months each year, swans glide by on the Avon River (along with the ever-present Canada geese), and trumpet fanfares announce the imminent start of each production not once, but four times. A very Knight-ly start to the proceedings.

This year's theme is The Will To Be Free.

I saw three plays this year and loved them all for different reasons.

The Tempest, written about 1610-11, when Knights were still in service to the Monarchs.
The Music Man, set in 1912. No Knights, but certainly trumpets and uniforms galore. And a horse.
To Kill a Mockingbird from 1960, set in Alabama in 1936. Atticus Finch is the Knight in Shining Armour.

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A box for a trimmed and edged Llewellyn Tarot

My Llewellyn deck has been cropped (including the card titles) and edged with gold Sharpie. It was my first edging project, and probably could have another coat to make it more evenly coloured. Although I like the antique-y weathered look; it suits the era of ancient Wales where this deck is based.

Before cropping...

After cropping... (I numbered the Majors in the bottom left corner - some were a bit ambiguous)

I love how the images can speak to each other now without the impediment of the wide borders; the cards are a bit squarer than standard decks and fit beautifully in my hand at 2.56" x 3.5".

The video instructions I followed: DIY Tarot Boxes
(It's the same link as in my previous post about making boxes.)

The box:
Some tiny dishes from IKEA came in it. Thinner than book board but heavier than a cereal box. It's quite a small deck so thinner card is fine; it doesn't wobble or squish in when being handled.

The cover papers:
Both from Michael's, scrapbooking aisle

The title:
I photocopied it from the companion book and glued it on.

The round seal:
Photocopied the back of a card, cut out the seal and glued it into the lid.

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Next time, pictures throughout the process. Which deck needs a new home? Hm...

🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡

Interview with THE 90 QUESTION DECK

This was not the post I intended. Andrew McGregor's deck of 90 questions just took over. That's a pretty good indication that the deck is compelling, wouldn't you say?

"Interview" may not be the right word for what's going on here. I've got some questions, and the deck will answer back with its own questions. A Q&Q format, if you will.
Just as with a standard reading or deck review, I've shuffled and pulled cards at random.
Note: Andrew has included 5 extra cards with suggestions for putting his deck to use. I've not referred to them before creating the following questions.

1. There are other decks of cards that help people formulate questions. Are you different?

2. Ninety questions seems like more than enough.

Do you hope to fill everyone's need for a pertinent question?

3. You are square. Like coasters. Any particular reason?

4. Sometimes your questions are unexpected, and may lead to unintended lines of inquiry.

Is that your plan?

5. The artwork and lettering makes the questions seem casual, almost off-the-cuff.

Do you think that encourages people to dig into areas where they might not otherwise go?

6. For your last card, will you please leave me with a question to ponder?

Many thanks, Deck of 90 Questions!

????? ????? ????? ????? ????? ?????

In neighbourhood news

I'm just back (reluctantly) from the peaceful shores of Pelee Island, Canada's southernmost community.

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