Wow, this is so neat. There is a new Transparent Tarot that is (as the name implies) on transparent cards. As a result, you can overlap cards either fully or partially to alter the meanings.

Here’s a three-position spread, with 3 cards overlapped in each position:

(thats Q Cups + 2 Cups + Lovers, and Hierophant + 3 Swords + 5 Swords, and Emperor + 3 Cups + Tower)

Isn’t that neat? Even without stacking cards, I love that in a traditional celtic cross, the first two card images meld together. Also, you can do partial overlaps, so that if you are doing (for instance) a 6-month spread, each month can blend into the next.

Anyway, when I heard about this deck, I wondered how well the overlapping images would work. Now that I have it in my hands, I’m extremely pleased with the execution. As you can see in the above example, the images generally overlap cleanly (the lightning bolt disrupts the third position, but it’s the freaking Tower card, after all). And, building up unique compositions of imagery really opens up the creative side of my mind. You can’t give some pat textbook reading for a card you’ve never seen before! That’s my favorite thing about this deck so far.

It comes with a white cloth to do readings on, which was a nice touch. I haven’t spent any time with the book yet, but it’s thick and has examples of interpreting card combinations, and example spreads that only this deck can do!

So, I’m reading The Law is for All, and I thought this paragraph was very interesting:

“Each individual must be left free to follow his own path! America is peculiarly insane on these points; her people are desperately anxious to make the Sinhalese wear furs, and the Tibetans vote, and the whole world chew gum, utterly dense to the fact that most other nations, especially the French and British, regard “American institutions” as the lowest savagery, and forgetful or ignorant of the circumstances that the original brand of American freedom—which really was Freedom—contained the precept to leave other people severely alone, and thus assured the possibility of expansion on his own lines to every man.”

Doesn’t look to me like we’ve come very far in the 60+ years since that was written.

(although everyone really should chew gum)

Well, after this post I thought I’d glance around at some Native American belief systems. I haven’t really gotten very far (I’m also working), but I did come across this video comparing mayan and egyptian creation myths…

Not very scholarly, I know… but you have to start somewhere!

I’ll be reading cards at an international festival this weekend, and one of the people at our booth made this cool sign. Wow!

I just read What is Occultism?, a series of essays by Dion Fortune originally published as Sane Occultism. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but am still chewing on this passage, towards the end of the book:

“American occultism will never come into its own until it ceases to import its systems from Europe and India, but goes back along the line of its own tradition, picking up the aboriginal contacts, and daring to bend them to its own evolutionary purposes … Egypt has no message for the United States.”

I’m not sure if I agree with that, or not. Maybe I should be reading about Mayan mysticism, but you know… I’ve always shied away from that because it seems so foreign. And, isn’t that counter to at least part of the point made here? Hmmm….

I rarely notice trends in my readings. Recently, I have been getting a ton of 8-Pentacles (or 8-Diamonds in my playing card readings). This is sun in virgo, or “Prudence” in Thoth-ese. As a result, I have been trying to concentrate on being careful about considering the ramifications of my actions. Slowing down a bit before speaking. Not taking steps that I can’t “un-take.” And, most importantly, I try to consider ways I can plant seeds now for future gain (which in Thoth-ese would be the 9-Pentacles).

Anyway, like most people, I’m taking the repeated appearance of this card as a special notice from the universe to me. Maybe that’s the case, and maybe not… at any rate, a little prudence never hurt anyone…

Hi everone. Still doing readings about my current condition. Today’s was done with my harmony angel cards, and seemed pretty straightforward. I just drew three cards:

These were: Isda, Uriel, and Rahab.

Briefly, it says I can get stronger through healthy meals and lots of fluids! I guess sometimes common sense wins out.

Isda is the angel of food and nurishment. The red, orange, and yellow colors in the cup represent the first three chakras. Those all have to do with the lower self/physical body.

Rahab is an angel of the sea. This card calls to mind the Crowley Atu XIII (“Death”) card… in that it’s about the sea being a source of regeneration and rebirth. One important aspect is that transformation happens at its own rate, and the natural rate may be slower than you want it to be.

And, between the others we have Uriel, a card of transformation and alchemy… burning away blockages. So, this is the most non-physical of the three cards. I see it as a kind of ‘as below’ kind of message here. As I take care of my physical needs, my spiritual needs will be met as well.

We’ll see.

I am sick. Not the best time to be sick, either… I work in the financial markets, and they are rocking and rolling at the moment. Anyway, I thought it was strep throat based on the initial symptoms, but it turns out to be mononucleosis (“mono”). Which means, according to my doctor, I will feel sub-par for about the next month or so. yay…

My reading today was about my sickness. I used the Osho Zen Deck for it:

That’s the Kinght of Swords, 4 of Swords, and 9 of Swords, and I put the cards in a simple three-card sentence.

Strange to get all swords (or “clouds” in osho zen deck parlance). Well, the Knight of Swords is me, the Gemini card. I see this spread as telling me not to struggle against the illness. After all, there is no cure for mono… you just have to wait it out. Rather than be sad about the stuff you must postpone, you might as well embrace the sorrow.

The osho book says that 9-Swords “sorrow” is about the fact that the things that hurt and hinder you serve to make you more aware. And, in fact, since I have been monitoring my condition, I can confirm that I am more aware of my body than I have been in the months previous. I was planning to take a Reiki class soon, and so maybe all this focus on what I’m feeling internally will better prepare me for that.

So, in true zen fashion, I should simply use my circumstances to become more aware and conscious. It’s a good message for me, so I appreciate this reading. But, I always have to stop to notice that all my osho deck readings seem to come back to simple buddhist concepts. I still say this deck is a little too zen…

If you’ve been noting my lack of updates lately, then you’ll understand why my reading tonight was for the question: “How do I fit everything I want to do into my hectic schedule?”

I did the counting and pairing technique with my Thoth Deck. Lately, I have been cutting the deck in half, and then using the half deck as a source of the cards. That way, instead of 12 to 20 cards in a spread, I get 5 to 10. Much faster!

Anyway, I consider this to be a fire-realm issue… that of motivations and drives. Conflicting desires, and the like. So, after cutting the half-deck four ways, I read the fire pile. It had the following 5 cards in it:

If you aren’t familiar with the deck, that’s: 3 Cups + 9 Cups + 7 Cups + 2 Wands + 6 Wands.

Overview

Well, we got five cards, which indirectly relates this reading to the Emperor (Atu IV). That seems appropriate, since I’m trying to get my life under better control. The top card is the 6 of Wands, “Victory.” What strikes me about this card is the stable structure, and the orderly, slow-burning flames. The central card is the 7 of Cups, “Debauch,” and I see it as my main problem right now. I keep essentially fooling myself into thinking I’ve made the right changes and I’m set up to get everything done. In fact, I end up focusing on fun and ephemeral pleasures. So, that’s the basic answer, but how to get there?

The only other thing that jumps out at me, at the overview level, is that it’s all Water and Fire here. No swords or disks are present. This tells me that we’re talking about a kind of spiritual/emotional shift, rather than a problem I need to solve, or an action I need to take in my physical environment. Fair enough!

Counting and Pairing

Pairing around the current situation, we get:

• 3 Cups + 6 Wands: Joy comes from stable effort, and expansions in creative output.
• 9 Cups + 2 Wands: I get a deep satisfaction from putting effort into my businesses. Once I force myself to sit down and work, I usually don’t mind it at all. The problem, of course, is…
• 7 Cups: Illusions of Success, fooling myself, getting caught up in fun distractions

Now for the counting. No court cards here, which is appropriate since the question was internal to me, anyway. So, I decided to count from the top card and the central card, in both directions.

Counting from the 6 of Wands in either direction takes you right to the 6 of Wands. This reinforces the stability and self-sustaining nature of the card.

Counting from the 7 of Cups clockwise, we get: 7 Cups + 9 Cups + 2 Wands + 7 Cups. So, my procrastination does in fact bring me some happiness, and causes me to have to rush and spend extreme effort to get my actual work done. Then, back to more procrastination. Not a great cycle to be in… but in fact, it’s the cycle I’m in now.

Counting from the 7 of Cups counter-clockwise, we get: 7 Cups + 2 Wands + 6 wands. Here is the other option… expend a lot of effort and will to overcome procrastination, and get into the zone of stable and expansive effort.

So I know of the two paths, and I know I want to be on the one I’m not on… but how do I get there?

Unaspected Card

My counting hit four of the five cards. The untouched card is the 3 of Cups, “Abundance.” When a card is not hit, it is called unaspected (ever wondered where the title of my blog came from?). Unaspected cards can represent energies that the participants in the reading are unaware of. They are forces that could be brought to bear on the situation. In some ways, you can think of them as “advice” cards.

When I see the 3 of Cups in that position, I think of Mercury in Cancer, and I think that I could be smarter about the way I do things at home. I think I have been making smart improvements, actually, but this card tells me I’m not done. Also, when I get so busy I start to feel constricted, like there won’t be time enough for everything I have planned. The 3 of Cups reminds to enjoy the tasks I do accomplish, and even celebrate them. It also alludes to the fact that life is not a race, even when it feels like one, and that there actually is time for everything important in due course. Maybe this is the mindset I need, in order to see clearly how to make my way over to the stable 6 of Wands.

Sorry the updates are still few and far between. I went to the Wyrd Astrology, Tarot and Divination meeting yesterday, which was great. An unfortunate side-effect of these meetups is that I always come away from them with a list of decks I want to purchase. This time, I bought Kaiser Playing Cards and Golden Deluxe Russian Playing Cards. I am still enthusiastic about becaming a master playing-card reader. It will happen… just takes time that I don’t have at the moment!