Tag Archive | Tarot

The Artist’s Way Reflections – Week Five: Recovering a Sense of Possibility

whitepumpkin This was another volatile week for me. I think it’s just a volatile time. I had a hard time sticking to things like Morning Pages, after thinking I’d turned a corner on that.

The damn pages just aren’t letting me ignore feelings that I’d much rather ignore and it’s annoying.

In this chapter, she talks about wanting to be left alone, and I’m definitely feel that to some degree, and also in these quarantine times, the need for human connection feels paramount, especially as someone who’s living the quarantine life alone.

It feels somehow that this is out of balance for me, like I’d like to work in more connections in some ways and less in others and I’d like to think and write on that to re-center as it applies to in-person, virtual, phone time and social media.

Week Five: Recovering a Sense of Possibility

Limits

One thing that really spoke to me in this section was the bit about how we’re miserly with ourselves because we’re afraid of overspending any spiritual abundance. For me, it manifests as a fear of jinxing things, a fear of getting my hopes up, a fear of what horrible thing will happen if too many good things happen.

Does anyone else feel this way?

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Tarot, Podcasts, Dreams and a Little Music

Sep1

thestar In last week’s Artist’s Way Reflections post, in the Shadow Artists section, I wrote about how looking at what I obsess and fangirl over is like looking at a compass showing me what secret yearnings lurk in my artist heart. In doing that looking, I wrote mostly about music and TV/film.

After writing the post, I thought, hmm maybe I need to add podcasting to that list because that’s probably the thing, pop culture wise, that I consume the most, although there are times when I trade out for audiobooks instead. I constantly listen to podcasts. While getting ready for the day or ready for bed, while doing any type of chore around the house whether it’s just washing one dish I need to use or doing a full-on cleaning, while working out, while in the shower or bath, while practicing guitar or keyboard, while cooking, while eating meals, while commuting when that was a thing, while falling asleep back in the day when I fell asleep with my phone. Podcasts in the morning, podcasts in the afternoon, podcasts in the evening. Podcasts all day long. I’m obsessed with so many of them, so shouldn’t that be a Shadow Artist art form too?

I dismissed the thought–the post was already long enough–and went about my day, and I’m sure, listened to more podcasts, which as you can see in my end-of-month Pop Culture Digest post, mostly meant listening to old Bachelor-related podcasts.

Then that night, I dreamt about starting a podcast. I don’t remember much. I hardly ever remember dreams anymore, and this snippet is maybe the only one I’ve remembered at all in the last month. I was going through a drawer of random electronics and cords and shit, and an unidentified friend or mentor (didn’t seem to be anyone I knew in real life), a dude, was telling me not to use a certain mic, and pointing out that I already had a better one, and to use that instead.

It’s not the first time I’ve dreamt of podcasting.

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The Artist’s Way Reflections – Re-Starting the Journey

Aug20

complete aw In previous posts in this Artist’s Way Reflections column, I’ve written about having a two-decade relationship with this landmark book on creativity and its basic tools (Morning Pages and the Artist Date) and its essays and exercises and tasks, all aimed and at opening, or re-opening a connection to creativity. Discovering and recovering your artistic self.

And now that the Basic Tools have been covered, next week I’ll move on to the main text of the book.

I’m hoping that some of you will join me on this Artist’s Way journey. Later in the post, I’m going to give a sketch of my plans for doing the book and this column, and different ways to join in. To find that, you can skip ahead to the section titled The Plan.

First though, I wanted to give a little history on my latest re-launch of the journey.

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Playing with a Thoth Deck

Aug18

thoth A week or so ago, I was on the phone with my friend Scott, talking about life updates–my big life updates, his last year of internal medicine residency, how covid is in our regions, his recent engagement and plans to have a wedding at an EDM festival next summer if such gatherings can happen then, he and his fiance watching Breaking Bad (him for the first time), my plans to start recapping Better Call Saul for this site–and somewhere in there, he mentioned that he’d recently gotten into tarot.

Ooooh, I thought. I love tarot, and I love talking tarot with people, and it’s always a jolt when someone in the science or medical world is also into tarot, because I don’t think there are many of us. I got a similar jolt when a classmate posted that they were doing an astrology workshop for an enrichment week activity, and some of the ensuing comments, and not just mine, were about tarot.

It’s a weird tension for me to contain inside myself, the hardcore science and rational side and the metaphysical side. That’s a topic I could write a lot about but for the sake of not going off on too many tangents, I’m going to shelve that idea for another day. Suffice to say, it’s a tension that’s at the core of who I am and I’m a little obsessed with science, with wanting to protect people from bad science or pseudoscience scams, and also with tarot and other such mystical systems, and maybe most of all with the concept of belief itself. But let’s set all that aside for now.

With all that aside, whenever someone first mentions tarot to me, the first thing I want to talk about is decks. There are so, so, so many. Different artwork, different books of interpretations, different aesthetics to both.

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The Artist’s Way Reflections – The Basic Tools: Morning Pages

Aug6

MPs In The Artist’s Way, aka AW, a book I’m blogging about weekly, one of the first thing that the author, Julia Cameron, introduces is the practice of Morning Pages. As far as I know, this is also true for subsequent spin-offs and sequels. Morning Pages are the cornerstone of all her work on discovering, recovering, and reconnecting with creativity.

So, that raises (not begs) the question of what are they and why are they so important. Morning Pages are simple at face value. When you wake up, you’re supposed to write three pages of long-hand writing, about anything you damn well please. The keys are that they’re supposed to be in the morning, they’re supposed to be long-hand and they’re supposed to be private–even you yourself aren’t supposed to look at them for awhile.

The morning part of it is to clear your head, dump out all your little thoughts and worries and random tidbits floating in your head that otherwise could nag at you for the rest of the day. And morning because maybe when we’re still groggy, there’s less self-censorship. That’s part of the privacy aspect, that they’re never to be shown to anyone because once they are, the other person’s judgements come in, and so do your own.

To that point, though this is probably a story for another day, I did once have a boyfriend who told me, drunk off his ass when we were in a fight, that he’d read mine and then made fun of me for things I’d written. Fun freakin’ times.

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The Artist’s Way Reflections – My Origin Story

Jul30

AW1 This past March, I picked up The Artist’s Way again after many years away from this famous creativity book. It’s been an interesting ride since then–expansive, challenging, difficult, combative at times (I definitely don’t resonate with everything in there), illuminating. So, it’s one of the things I wanted to post about when jumping back into blogging and thinking a lot about creativity.

I went back to The Artist’s Way, or AW as it’s known in my journals and to-do lists and calendars, after some tough decisions that set off a real transition time for me that I reeeeeally want to write about but can’t right now. It had been awhile since I’d cracked the book, and it makes sense to talk about my origin story with this book.

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Tarot Cards for the Remaining Characters on Breaking Bad

Sep22

So this was a little fun idea that was inspired by a few people over at the AMC BrBa board–Kathy, Schmeisenberg and Lydia’s Shoes–why not try reading tarot cards for the characters who are left and see if that’s indication of their fate in the next episode? Of course they aren’t real, but their stories are more finite than most things one might attempt to pick up using esoteric tools. I used to read cards all the time, so why the fuck not?

And just in case it’s not abundantly clear, this is totally in fun, not serious. Just playing around. So let’s do it.

Character Tarot Readings for “Granite State”

MARIE – Victory (Six of Wands)

That was a bit surprising. I don’t expect anyone to be feeling victorious in tonight’s episode, especially Marie, considering her husband has just died. This could pertain to an “I was right!” type feeling. Maybe in her grief, she is enjoying one-upping Skyler somehow? There is definitely a sense of pride going on here. There could also be some righteous anger. Can’t let go of the poisoning idea even though I can’t see how it would come into play. But whether it does or not, perhaps Marie will “win” somehow tonight? Or it’s all just hogwash.

SKYLER – Knight of Discs

This card actually fits Skyler very well. The knight of discs is pragmatic, steady, solid, concerned with the little details that add up to building a future. The knight of discs is savvy and careful about matters of money, again always focused towards building a future. This indicates acting out of logic and practicality and not so much out of emotion. We might see some calculated moves on Sky’s part, that shrewd intellect of hers leading the way. Skysenberg may be at it again. To me this card doesn’t necessarily indicate an outcome so much as a mindset. I think she’ll be using that big brain of hers to deal with things the best way she can for the long-term benefit. Maybe that will mean playing into what Walt set up in that call, or maybe it will mean fessing up everything she knows if that’s what’ll be best for the kids, or maybe it could mean floating Walt’s false confession (doesn’t seem likely though). The point is, if there’s anything to this, Sky will be acting out of logic and reasoned thought rather than emotion. And she has that potential in her, big-time.

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Cards, Signs and Numbers

Aug8

Along with being a writer and a music freak, I am also a tarot card reader, astrologer and numerologist, so I thought I’d take a little time and write about these things.

It’s funny, I believe in these metaphysicals and my own intuition when using them. I feel I have a pretty keen psychic sensibility (really, I think everyone does, to varying degrees), and have used these vehicles to harness that potential. There are times I know things beyond the basics of what a card or birth chart might indicate. In fact, especially with tarot, which I feel is my strongest of the three modes, I’d say that pretty much always happens. I get a sense of something beyond just the card, or because of the cards, I feel something in my own emotional field that is more than just the picture on the six of wands, for example. Also with tarot, the cards can be interpreted differently in different situations, so I feel there is something else at work there, some gut instinct, along with knowing the cards really well.

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Tarot

Aug8

A card reading can focus on a specific question (like, what’s the forecast for my relationship with my dreamy lover? Or, what’s the best way to approach the situation with my evil boss? Or, I can’t decide whether to move or stay where I’m at, what might come up with either possibility?), or they can give a general outlook.

The great thing about tarot is there are soooo many different spreads, so I can tailor mine to each individual seeker’s needs. If they want a light reading, a three-card quickie spread can usually do it, and there are vast and varied readings for those looking for more in-depth insight. There are spreads that specifically look at health and disease, financial situations, should I or shouldn’t I options, relationships, luck.

There’s a “flying bird” spread that’s great for anyone taking a leap, whether it’s starting a new business or artistic project, or contemplating any bold move. There’s a High Priestess reading (with a hidden card) that indicates what path a person is on. There are couples’ readings at all levels (from a few cards to a lot of cards, depending on the level of information a person wants). There’s a short diamond spread and a longer Celtic Cross (and a few others) that give a general overview of what’s going on, why, and where it’s going. There’s a Golden Dawn reading that looks at more than one possible path, and in depth at what a person is contributing themselves, and what’s coming from the outside world. There are all kinds of readings to look at a person’s overall strengths and weaknesses, or their overall nature and core issues.

I often think of tarot as a way to organize and look at possibilities and trends in a person’s life. Usually the outcome isn’t that surprising to the person asking the question, but (at least I hope) it’s a lot more clear and focused.

~Emilia J

Currently Listening:
“All Night Thing” – Temple of the Dog

Numerology

Aug8

In numerology, I look at a person’s birthday, their birth name, and any changed names they might have. The numbers in these indicate again, tendencies in a person, what’s emphasized in their lives, what they’re working on and what would help with their personal growth. Sometimes a person can look at how different possible changed names would draw out some elements and downplay others.

I have a client who felt so overburdenened and overworked, and not surprisingly, all her numbers were about work and responsibility. She was considering whether to go by her full name, her first and last, or her middle and last, for her art career. After studying the numbers in each, I found that one of the possibilities had a lot more emphasis on creativity, art and fun. There is also a personal year, indicating what the theme of that person’s year will be. They go in a cycle of nine different personal years. Then there’s a pinnacle, which says what the overall focus of that nine-year cycle is.

One cool thing I like to do with numerology readings (which, I have to say, I really just love, because I love numbers), is that with the birthday numbers, there are corresponding tarot cards that indicate a person’s soul purpose, life purpose, and shadow/teacher element. I especially love that last one, and have found it to be tremendously insightful. I love combining the cards with the numbers, because it gives a visual, and a depth to the numerology reading.

~Emilia J