mephestopheles (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mephestopheles) wrote2018-12-30 11:23 pm
mephestopheles) wrote2018-12-30 11:23 pm
Entry tags:
Forays in Paganism
I was sixteen when I discovered the new age section in the library. I had scoured through most ofthe religious texts looking for something that explained things better or more comprehensively than catholicism seemed willing. I found tarot cards, and herbalism, and witchy spells and I was enchanted by all of it but at the time I was having such an angry reaction the news and information coming from the Vatican. Baby queer that I was at the time, I was angry about so much, and I couldn't find any source of comfort in spirituality of any kind when the one I'd been raised in seemed bent on excluding me for things beyond my control.
It's only been since I began my transition that I've started looking back to a spirituality of a kind. I'm not necessarily interested in the idea of gods or goddesses, I would much rather dig in the dirt and discover herbs, or use tarot cards than anything else. The Craft came out when I was in highschool and while I enjoyed the movie, I spend most of it angry that magic isn't like that, and stop being shitty.
That being said I was totally down with the glamour magic and I STILL want that for obvs reasons.
On and off I've had a set of tarot cards, a favourite of highschool was the Quester Life Path Cards which now feel and read as disturblingly culturally appropriative. You live you learn. I've had a couple of decks since then, a deck of Rider Waite that spent six months playing hide and seek in my parents house. I purchased them in Halifax for the purpose of help with writing, returned home and spent the next six months trying to find them.
I picked up another deck for writing, which I used a lot for doing spreads for people and it kind of went funny after a while. I ended up letting it just fallow and while I've done some things for writing I won't do any sort of spreads for myself or friends with it.
Flash forward to coming out, deciding to and following through with medical transition and finding my footing again not only internally but externally, I'm finally ready to begin that introspection again. One of my roommates, J, is pagan, and there are small touches around the house that are at once subtle but a counterpoint to the things I remember growing up in a very catholic house.
Instead of a crucifix over the door, there's a broom now. An altar sits in our front entry way that is both sacred and profane. Scared in that we have a centre of the house, the heart closest to our kitchen and open to the world via our foyer. Profane in that we use it as a catch all for mail and things we need at hand. It's a part of our life in a way that growing up catholic never seemed to offer.
I finally decided that I want to get back into doing tarot readings. And this time make a Book of Shadows. I suppose I could do a digital book but I love the idea of creating something written out with sketches of plants and spreads I know work. I've yet to start my book, that is a new years project and the notebook is on its way.
This beauty is an Archer and Olive and I've decided since the pages are supposed to take watercolour well I'm going to use it specifically for my book of shadows. I'll be using my bullet journal to collect tarots spreads to test and record some observations with the cards, but the spreads that work will go into the Olive. I also want to get back into herblore and create a witches garden in the backyard.
Actual pictures of how pretty this book is will be forthcoming as soon as it's in my grabby hands. :D
In the meantime, I started using my brand new tarot deck. Linestrider Tarot by Siolo Thompson is absolutely stunning. It's very minimal watercolour aesthetic.
The cards are nice and thick and feel solid. They're bigger than a standard deck of playing cards, but not as big as some tarot decks I've seen or have owned previously. The images are striking with simple colour choices, blending ink and watercolour to suggest as much as it offers.
I'm thinking of getting her other two tarot decks as well, the Hedgewitch Tarot, and the Otherkin Tarot both carry a similar aesthetic and might have better answers for depending on the spread and intention.
Close up!
This was a cup heavy spread even after shuffling for several minutes and letting the deck settle in the house for over 24 hours.
Past: Nine of Cups: Represented with a black cat sitting next to an empty bird cage with a feather poking from its mouth. The nine of cups indicates a victory of some kind, a winning or immenient victory depending on its location.
Present: Eight of Cups: Represented by a figure dressed in a large coat with a backpack, you can't see a face and they're heading away from the reader. The Eight of Cups is a call to adventure, a time of change, or herald of change. It represents new horizons and the tides changing.
Future: Seven of Cups: Represented by a naked woman with shards of glass falling about her. The Seven of Cups indicates illusion, fantasy, it celebrates the dreamer and depending on the location it requires the reader to be aware of the lies we tell ourselves to comfort us, to sleep at night.
The Potential: Six of Cups: Represented by two lemurs amid white and yellow flowers. The Six of Cups is a return to familiar surroundings. Nostalgia, happiness, and a sense of belowing. A reconnection with your younger self
The Question: Five of Cups Represented by an Owl perched over their nest, saddened by the loss of three broken eggs, lost in their grief they ignore the two healthy eggs behind the three broken ones. The five of cups deals with regrets of the past, trouble letting go of disappointments and past issues. It suggests a fixation on the losses.
Overall Interpretation: You've won something, won the prize you've sought for, but now is not the time celebrate the win, it's time to prepare for change and see through the illusions and potential false dreams on the horizon. Your question is from a place focusing on old fears, forgetting all the progress made so far, yes saddness and regret are valid emotions but they will prevent you enjoying the potential and the return to familiar but better surroundings.
I shit you not this reading was done while I trying to figure out why I was so nervous all of a sudden. Turns out it was because mom and dad agreed to pay for my name change and I booked the appt to get my prints done to send off to vital stats.
Okay this is already 1300 words and I still have another spread and a load of photos from the spreads I've written down to try. I'll add them to a part two of this and post it later.
It's only been since I began my transition that I've started looking back to a spirituality of a kind. I'm not necessarily interested in the idea of gods or goddesses, I would much rather dig in the dirt and discover herbs, or use tarot cards than anything else. The Craft came out when I was in highschool and while I enjoyed the movie, I spend most of it angry that magic isn't like that, and stop being shitty.
That being said I was totally down with the glamour magic and I STILL want that for obvs reasons.
On and off I've had a set of tarot cards, a favourite of highschool was the Quester Life Path Cards which now feel and read as disturblingly culturally appropriative. You live you learn. I've had a couple of decks since then, a deck of Rider Waite that spent six months playing hide and seek in my parents house. I purchased them in Halifax for the purpose of help with writing, returned home and spent the next six months trying to find them.
I picked up another deck for writing, which I used a lot for doing spreads for people and it kind of went funny after a while. I ended up letting it just fallow and while I've done some things for writing I won't do any sort of spreads for myself or friends with it.
Flash forward to coming out, deciding to and following through with medical transition and finding my footing again not only internally but externally, I'm finally ready to begin that introspection again. One of my roommates, J, is pagan, and there are small touches around the house that are at once subtle but a counterpoint to the things I remember growing up in a very catholic house.
Instead of a crucifix over the door, there's a broom now. An altar sits in our front entry way that is both sacred and profane. Scared in that we have a centre of the house, the heart closest to our kitchen and open to the world via our foyer. Profane in that we use it as a catch all for mail and things we need at hand. It's a part of our life in a way that growing up catholic never seemed to offer.
I finally decided that I want to get back into doing tarot readings. And this time make a Book of Shadows. I suppose I could do a digital book but I love the idea of creating something written out with sketches of plants and spreads I know work. I've yet to start my book, that is a new years project and the notebook is on its way.
This beauty is an Archer and Olive and I've decided since the pages are supposed to take watercolour well I'm going to use it specifically for my book of shadows. I'll be using my bullet journal to collect tarots spreads to test and record some observations with the cards, but the spreads that work will go into the Olive. I also want to get back into herblore and create a witches garden in the backyard.
Actual pictures of how pretty this book is will be forthcoming as soon as it's in my grabby hands. :D
In the meantime, I started using my brand new tarot deck. Linestrider Tarot by Siolo Thompson is absolutely stunning. It's very minimal watercolour aesthetic.
The cards are nice and thick and feel solid. They're bigger than a standard deck of playing cards, but not as big as some tarot decks I've seen or have owned previously. The images are striking with simple colour choices, blending ink and watercolour to suggest as much as it offers.
I'm thinking of getting her other two tarot decks as well, the Hedgewitch Tarot, and the Otherkin Tarot both carry a similar aesthetic and might have better answers for depending on the spread and intention.
Close up!
This was a cup heavy spread even after shuffling for several minutes and letting the deck settle in the house for over 24 hours.
Past: Nine of Cups: Represented with a black cat sitting next to an empty bird cage with a feather poking from its mouth. The nine of cups indicates a victory of some kind, a winning or immenient victory depending on its location.
Present: Eight of Cups: Represented by a figure dressed in a large coat with a backpack, you can't see a face and they're heading away from the reader. The Eight of Cups is a call to adventure, a time of change, or herald of change. It represents new horizons and the tides changing.
Future: Seven of Cups: Represented by a naked woman with shards of glass falling about her. The Seven of Cups indicates illusion, fantasy, it celebrates the dreamer and depending on the location it requires the reader to be aware of the lies we tell ourselves to comfort us, to sleep at night.
The Potential: Six of Cups: Represented by two lemurs amid white and yellow flowers. The Six of Cups is a return to familiar surroundings. Nostalgia, happiness, and a sense of belowing. A reconnection with your younger self
The Question: Five of Cups Represented by an Owl perched over their nest, saddened by the loss of three broken eggs, lost in their grief they ignore the two healthy eggs behind the three broken ones. The five of cups deals with regrets of the past, trouble letting go of disappointments and past issues. It suggests a fixation on the losses.
Overall Interpretation: You've won something, won the prize you've sought for, but now is not the time celebrate the win, it's time to prepare for change and see through the illusions and potential false dreams on the horizon. Your question is from a place focusing on old fears, forgetting all the progress made so far, yes saddness and regret are valid emotions but they will prevent you enjoying the potential and the return to familiar but better surroundings.
I shit you not this reading was done while I trying to figure out why I was so nervous all of a sudden. Turns out it was because mom and dad agreed to pay for my name change and I booked the appt to get my prints done to send off to vital stats.
Okay this is already 1300 words and I still have another spread and a load of photos from the spreads I've written down to try. I'll add them to a part two of this and post it later.