Emotional renewal is the name of the game today. A new way of feeling about something and/or somebody is about to emerge. Perhaps you’re feeling it already – it’s like that first hint of spring or when a magnolia tree finally blossoms after a long cold winter.
Joy and hope are in the air and accessible to you. Throw away any gloom you’ve been dragging around and wake up to the inspiration of postive emotions. There’s a sense that anything can happen and it’s probably going to be good. Be receptive to the love that’s around you and give it back in kind.
Knighton is the creator of the Tarot of the Dead and has been illustrating The Healing Tarot, due to be released by Schiffer Publishing in 2013.
But it’s the Stolen Child Tarot she’s working on now. Named for and inspired by one of her favourite Yeats poems, The Stolen Child, this deck is somewhat non-traditional.
Instead of man-made objects, she’ll be using items found in nature as her symbols. Antlers have become crowns and animal skins are robes.
And replacing all adults in the deck will be changeling children, fairy-like creatures that have embraced different parts of the natural world.
Knighton is looking for help in publishing a limited majors only edition of the deck through Kickstarter. She’s hoping a full 78-card version will be next.
If you’re interested in helping her out, visit her page. You can get yourself a copy of the deck, and even have your own personal totem included in its imagery.
Today it might seem like you’ve got it all, and yet there’s still something missing. Emotionally, you’ve got plenty of support. People around you love you and you love them back. Despite it all though, there’s a nagging feeling that it’s just not enough.
Perhaps you’re fantasizing about a new love, a new friend, or at a new spark to make what you’ve already got even more special.
Examine these feelings carefully and determine what it is that leaves you slightly unsatisfied. Are you being reasonable – or a bit of a brat. Pay attention to what you’ve got and don’t forget to give thanks.
At the same time – if there is something missing, it’s missing and there’s no getting around it. Meditate on what it is that leaves you wanting more and figure out whether or not it’s something you should pursue.
Remember though, what you wish for might just appear out of thin air – make sure you really want it?
What’s especially interesting about this sword is the 19 kanji characters engraved on it showing the date January 6th, 570 based on the Genka calendar.
Researchers are excited because the sword is the oldest item indicating Japan’s use of a calendar in ancient times.
And it’s also the first concrete evidence that the Chronicles of Japan, an eighth-century history of Japan, may have been correct in describing how the calendar spread across that country.
As a Tarot reader, I was especially drawn to this story because it featured a sword, one of the traditional suits of the Tarot.
The Ace of Swords often represents focus, clarity of mind, and the seed of new ways of thinking.
I think it’s wonderfully appropriate for a sword to be evidence of a new way of thinking for the ancient Japanese. The introduction of a calendar must have really shifted perspective.
And I can’t help but notice that not only were there 19 characters on the sword, the date 1/6/570 adds up to 19, the number of the Sun.
It looks like this ‘epoch making item’ is shining some new light on the history of Japan.
The moon moves into Scorpio today and stays there until Saturday.
If you translate this transit into the Tarot, you could say that the High Priestess is dressed as Death. She’s in the midst of a great transformation.
The Moon in Scorpio, or High Priestess in Death’s clothing, suggests a time when feelings run deep. The ability to end relationships that don’t work, or release stagnant emotions is accentuated.
If there’s a situation in your life that’s nearing its completion, especially if it’s emotional or relationship-oriented, this might be a good time to let it go. At least explore it with emotional clarity.
This isn’t a time to be afraid, but rather a time to face your fears with equanimity and intelligence.
You’ve got what it takes. Don’t back down from the scary stuff.
Arthur Waite is probably best known for being the ‘Waite’ in the Rider Waite Smith Tarot, one of the most popular decks in the world. But did you know he designed another deck as well?
Between 1917 and 1923, ten years after working with Pamela Colman Smith, Waite commissioned a second set of Tarot illustrations with artist J.B. Trinick as part of The Great Symbols of the Paths.
And though they’re not going to be a deck just yet, these beautiful and rarely seen images are soon to be part of a new book by Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin.
The book will include high quality images of the 22 Major Arcana, an additional ‘path’ image, some extra variant designs, sketches and previously unpublished commentary by Waite himself.
It will also feature research into the lives of Trinick and others involved in the creation of this deck, as well as an explanation of how the images fit onto the Tree of Life in Waite’s ‘hidden’ set of correspondences.
Goodwin and Katz hope to get it published by the end of this year, and you can help them make that happen.
To help cover the costs of licensing, photography, and printing, they’ve set up an IndieGoGo page and are offering rewards to people who donate. Check them out.
And you can read the amazing story of how this project got started, and how it’s developing on Goodwin’s Tarot Speak Easy blog.
It’s going to be an exceptional book. I’m really looking forward to it, and to the deck that hopefully will follow.
The energy today is full of nurturance and love. Let yourself give and receive. Share your feelings, your dreams and what it is that makes you human. Let your imagination run away with you (while holding on to reality if you can).
The Queen of Cups loves romance and laughter and beauty in all its forms. Take a leap into your emotional depths. Don’t be afraid, you won’t stay under too long. This Queen understands emotional limits – how to push them and how to pull them back gently without hurting anyone’s feelings.
Today would be a great day to enjoy the company of loved ones. Or call or write them – one way or another, be sure they know you care.
There are a lot of Tarot readers out there, but very few tortilla readers. In fact, maybe only one.
Jorge Rojas is a Mexican-American artist and Tarot reader living in New York City.
He started reading tortillas as a joke with his wife at dinner parties, and eventually turned the party game into a performance piece.
It was only after he became the ‘Tortilla Oracle’ that he began learning about the history and mythology surrounding maize.
It turns out that he’s not the first to use a corn product for divination. Aztec and Mayan shamans did too, though they preferred kernels to tortillas.
Maize is a sacred food, steeped in ritual and mythology. And the Corn Mother, or Goddess, is often linked to fertility, protection, and rebirth.
Rojas has devised his own method of divining with tortillas. He sees the markings as a sort of synergy created by the combination of corn, water, fire, metal, air, and intent.
He reads the front and the back, and looks carefully at where the markings fall, whether they’re closer to the center or out near the circumference.
After the message is delivered, Rojas has the querent fully internalize it by eating the tortilla.
Yum. Could this be a new trend in psychic readings? Get me a margarita and I’m in.
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And take a look at Rojas talking about his project Gente de Maiz, or Corn People, that he did in Houston last June.
The Moon moved into Libra today, and will stay there until Thursday.
Looking at this transit through the lens of the Tarot, it would be like the High Priestess is wearing Justice’s clothing. She takes on the mantle of the Karmic Decider.
With the High Priestess as Justice, or the Moon in Libra, we might be required to face up to something and decide.
Our emotions will demand respect. If we’ve leaned too far back or forward, we’ll probably find ourselves moving just as dramatically the other way.
It can be a slightly challenging period, perhaps a little manic. But by the time it’s done, something is likely to have been decided upon.
Don’t be alarmed by conflicting emotions. They’re there because you can see both sides. It’s not good enough though to just acknowledge them and walk away.
During this transit you’re being asked to take a stand one way or another. And you’ve got the wisdom and power to do so.