This month we look through portals of possibilities to maneuver our way through obstacles that block our path. Satiety and potential, dominate as we peek through the window of what could be, what can be, and what needs to be cut. Ingenuity guides our vision, but beware not to be led astray into the land of illusions. How we fare will depend largely on the wisdom we bring to the table, what we know and how we play with chance with what we know. We are looking through the glass, seeking to cut the weeds that stagnate our movement. This month is about reaching that point of “enough” and cutting what does not assist us so as to heal and move forward, onward, with the goals we have in mind. How do we move through and beyond? How do we wield our perspicacity and insight in moving forward without being led astray by a chimera.
Pointner Tarot, Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne Wein, 1974.
Do work through wounds, cutting the weeds with precision so as not to harm what could possibly be helpful, do not be hasty in plowing through the misused, or unused fields. Work through the the rejuvenation of your soil with prudence, instead of being led in haste, with “enough” blurring your perception.
All or most of life is learning how to move, how to cull, cultivate and nourish our landscape, both interior and exterior, it is all a process of refining and enriching our landscape, knowing the when, the how and the why.
*On another note, I closed my etsy shop for the time being, given time constraints in social media advertising, in other words lacking the time to continually edit and promote my shop. I find it challenging to continually tweak and promote a shop given that I do not create individual spreads with positional significations. I read by context, depending on the question asked I add more or less cards to the spread, additionally I edit the shape of the spread accordingly. Therefore it is challenging for me to shoehorn listings given the free-form structure of my tarot readings. I opened a contact form and will be giving readings freely, with an option to donate through my PayPal(lamagatarot@gmail.com). You can head on over to my La Maga Tarot readings page and read more on how to submit a question. I open this option up freely, with no expectations, desiring only to keep shuffling and reading the cards for others, something I really enjoy and love doing.
After a couple months of settling in, getting into the rhythm of life in my new home, I find myself in a place of constant rediscovery. Seeing what I once disliked in a new light, and with new eyes. As I go about my daily life of re-learning and attending to what is present with me and my family, the days and weeks drift by. Now, slowly crawling out of the earth, like a bud peeking out to greet the sun, I embrace divination and the cards anew.
April
This month hangs on a limb, with questions and indecision barring our path. The focus hinges on work and creative projects, how to fulfill our vision, versus how to please those above or beyond our ideas. Moreover, how do we re-invigorate our approach? How do we define and pursue our goals? Oftentimes, this striving ends up weighing over us, a burden that impedes our path. In the face of these frustrations, we should set our sights on releasing the dammed waters, all the entangled desires, hopes and visions. Instead of hanging on a limb, vexation tying our hands and feet, we need to let go. A new perspective, inspiration, and direction will serve us better. Instead of beating what is not moving nor working into an amenable shape, let it go. This month is not about exertion, strength and power. It is about the subtle influences of creativity, insight, and the heart. It is about swimming in the waters of love and being in the moment of artful awareness. How do we get out of the bonds that keep us hanging upside down? By not looking at, and moving away from, the tangled web of comprised intentions and ideas, substituting this deadened habit with a more refined, inspired and creative approach. The questions to keep present are:
What are you doing, and what are you doing it for?
Tarocchi Visconti-Sforza published by Il Meneghello, Milano, Italy 1996.
For these upcoming months I plan on finishing my overview of the Tarot de Marseille pips with the final suit, the batons. Also along the way, the courts will make an appearance. Meanwhile, I hope this month finds you well, that it is full of honesty, good work, and joy.
I began the week by sitting down on Monday to shuffle the cards and see the week ahead. After doing that and looking down at what came up, I decided that I didn’t want to divine for the week ahead, week by week, instead I want to try it month to month. Hence, I didn’t forget about this week’s divination, I simply decided to space it out more and try it monthly. This means that the next one will be for the month of March, on the last week of February.
With this said, after listening to Runesoup’s latest interview with Robert M Place today, found here, I started thinking about tarot, its history, meaning, and tradition. Something that has been on my mind some months now. When I first started reading tarot, I began through the usual lines, with the Smith-Waite and the Thoth system, without realizing their differences. My first deck was the Hermetic Tarot, I got the Smith-Waite pocket version about a year later. As I began learning, I soon realized that I was swimming in deep waters, Golden Dawn symbolic territory, along with Kabbalah, astrology and the decans, etc. After a certain point, I got lost in the maze of significations, and layered meanings. I began to loose my love of tarot because I found that all these meaning were useless in the arena of divination, the art of answering the question.
I Tarocchi del Visconti, Il Meneghello Edizione, Milano, Italy, 2002.
Then one day, I discovered Camelia Elias and her site Taroflexions, her take on tarot, divination and the Tarot de Marseille deck made me a believer in divination once more. I purchased her book on the Marseille Tarot, and took her classes. Her approach of context and function opened the doors wide open, without any of the added baggage. The Tarot de Marseille became my favorite tarot tradition. My readings flowed, and were clear and insightful. After a couple years of only reading the Tarot de Marseille, I picked up the Centennial Smith-Waite. I had begun taking Quareia courses and in one of the lessons, the deck suggested for use was the classic Smith-Waite deck. I purchased a used Centennial edition for $5 and began playing around with it. It was like falling in love all over again. I had previously strongly disliked the deck, when I began diving into tarot, but this time it was like drinking from the well of an old, wise lady, proper and serious. From this moment onward, I fell in love with reading illustrated decks, in-line with the Smith-Waite and the Thoth. I still applied the same approach I learned through Camelia Elias, function and context over symbolic meanings, and the cards spoke to me like they never did before.
The Centennial Waite-Smith Tarot, US Games, 2009. (The Lady that presides over the Smith-Waite Tarot in my opinion)
Now I have collected a decent (by decent I mean less than 15) collection of illustrated and Tarot de Marseille decks. I ruined my beautiful Thoth deck by attempting to trim the borders, so I currently don’t own the Crowley-Harris Thoth deck.
I notice that after stripping the tarot of its symbolic meanings, outside of traditions, I have come full circle. My approach to tarot reading and divination in general is rooted in function and context but what grows out of that, for me, is an appreciation of the tarot as a pack of symbols, as well as a practical pack useful for divination.
In my approach to tarot, it’s symbolic, magical weight is important when the context is exactly that. In other words, if I am reading on questions about spirituality, spirits, and magic, I incorporate the symbolic that speaks of these themes within the tarot. First, that which comes out of seeing, and awareness. When I have simple practical questions, the function of the cards as they interact dominates. Of course, there is no clear division or line here, as with all reading, it entails seeing and awareness coupled with the context of the question.
Tabula Mundi Colores Arcus Tarot, M.M. Meleen, Atu Hourse, 2016.
Now, I can appreciate a coherent system within a deck, as for example The Tabula Mundi Tarot by M.M. Meleen. It is a Thoth tarot recreation, painting a cohesive story within the deck. The cards speak within a system of inner-connected-ness, the Majors with the Minors, and vice versa.
Thinking about tarot’s colorful history, what even is tarot?
It is both a game and an act of power. It is both practical and magic. It is both symbol and function. Useful for the spiritual as well as for the mundane. That the Tarot’s history is colorful and winding, gives credence to the Tarot, as animated thing, moving through history and accumulating significations and meanings, power and agency. The Tarot itself building up its repertoire and self-hood through time and hands. A pack of paper that became something more than the sum of its parts.
Hamed Oweis, The Fortune Teller.
I highly recommend Robert Place’s interview on Runesoup. It is a fun journey into the art and the artist.
I realize in retrospect that many of these auguries have served to reflect my own week before it transpires. Looking back, I see how the readings serve as a note on the week ahead, oftentimes to my own surprise, as I am not looking to divine for my own week solely. Instead, I am seeking to divine the general energies permeating the week, applicable to others in addition to my own life.
As I keep at it writing these auguries, I hope they equally serve to shed a sliver of clarity in the week ahead for other readers. Not because actions and reactions are necessarily set in stone, but because knowing a little bit can help you and I more effectively navigate the hands of Fortune.
Eros Tarot: The Garden of Love, Uusi Design Studio, printed by The Expert Playing Card Company, New York, 2017.
Thinking about love and myself this week, which began on quite an uncomfortable tone as Monday greeted me with stomach pains. Nonetheless, I think about loving my self, my body, loving the other, the love of partner, mother, father, sister, brother, friends, companions, etc. The ultimate triumph of love is uniting, it is against the atom-ization of self and the individual. Love unites, the Self with the self, the I with the Other. Love is crossing boundaries of difference, whether, the love of human to human, human to animal, human to earth. Love is about uniting and coexisting with the landscape, and the persons and non-persons within it. It contains understanding, patience, perseverance, and communication. Eros is a portion of Love, between human and human, but it (Love) is also beyond that. Considering this week, I think about love. How to love one another in a polarized society? How to love the self outside of expectations and norms? How to love our landscape, the cruel and the good, the suffocating and the harmonious?
With Love on my mind, what does this week hold for you and I?
Eros Tarot: The Garden of Love, Uusi Design Studio, printed by The Expert Playing Card Company, New York, 2017.
This week, love and heart bind your attention to your surroundings, and a glimmer of opportunity is offered. You take the chance, of letting curiosity and pleasure guide you. Be open to the surprises, and to the suggestions, letting your heart guide and satiate you this week. The Queen finds her curiosity satisfied and good company is offered, while the King has a date with Temperance that fills both their cups. The out-pour of distractions, attractions and emotions can leave you overwhelmed, and unchecked, verging on gluttony. Keep a good measure of prudence on hand, as this week will tend to go overboard. Ending on a hopeful note, this week entices, and promises a couple of surprises, along with good company.
Eros Tarot: The Garden of Love, Uusi Design Studio, printed by The Expert Playing Card Company, New York, 2017.
Esta semana promete amor, sorpresas y emociones, bordeando el exceso. Mientras el ojo rondea los alrededores, oportunidades y la buena compañia se hacen posible.
Natalia Lee 