Tarot Blog Hop: Beltane 2017

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 Well, our host Arwen has a lovely, straightforward topic for us this time: 


Since Beltaine is a holiday of coming together, I thought it would be fun to answer this question: '' Do you combine Tarot with any other divination system ? Why or why not ?

That's it. Short and sweet. Simple. You can answer it however you like.


I hope to answer short, sweet and simple.

Old English Tarot

No, I don't use any other divination system.

Fenestra Tarot

 Back when I started learning to read tarot, over 25 years ago, one of the challenges was to filter the useful information from the many, many books I read, and apply that in practice and in readings. As a beginner, one tends to overdo things, I think - one hates to feel like one is missing out on anything, or failing to include every last possible morsel.

Tarot Illuminati

 Part of this package is to examine other forms of divination that may link, overlap or otherwise add to one's readings, along with using large, complicated spreads. Other systems such as astrology, numerology and kabbalah are the most popular - however, making them fit to Tarot seems forced ... 

Cosmic Tarot

Rather than following Cinderella's ugly sisters, cutting toes off to fit into the glass slipper, over time and with experience, I came to consider that Tarot pure and simple is enough: it contains everything that is needed, and can stand on its own without the need for other disciplines.

The Creative Muse Tarot Card Challenge by water rabbit (deviantscrap)

    
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For my Valentine

Tarot Art Nouveau

So Valentine's Day rolled around again - I was a little surprised by how many men I saw dashing last minute for bunches of flowers, as if it had caught them by surprise. Perhaps they feared sharing St.Valentine's fate ...

For my Valentine Titch, I share an aria from my favorite composer of operas:

                                               Caro nome che il mio cor
                                               festi primo palpitar,
                                               le delizie dell'amor
                                               mi dêi sempre rammentar!
                                               Col pensiero il mio desir
                                               a te sempre volerà,
                                               e fin l' ultimo mio sospir,
                                               caro nome, tuo sarà.

                                       Sweet name, you who made my heart
                                       throb for the first time,
                                       you must always remind me
                                       of the pleasures of love!
                                       My desire will fly to you
                                       on the wings of thought
                                       and my last breath
                                       will be yours, my beloved.

                                          Translation by Guia K. Monti

Sun's Out

The Sun by ZackLoup

I am constantly surprised by the sheer quality of Art that there is available on the Interwebz; my own total lack of skill just makes my awe greater.

I was searching for just the right depiction of XIX The Sun because of this post, to reflect the actual sun being out today, the topic of my post, the words on the Finished Object, and my satisfaction - and there it was, this beautiful fox created by ZackLoup. If you scroll through their other cards, one of my favorite creatures, the Wolf, features (as it does in their name) ... this is definitely a deck I'd back if it came up on Kickstarter. Thank you, ZackLoup.

I was looking for the perfect card to celebrate the completion of an overdue project - it was supposed to be a Christmas present for Titch, a popcorn 'word' blanket from designer Jody Pyott.

Yes, last Christmas, not the one before. Or the one before that. I only have one longterm UFO, and this wasn't it - I was derailed by a seasonal retail job which I loved, but the hours were tiring and left little time or energy for crochet.

Anyway. This project had Issues. Firstly, color choice - wanting several yellows that all needed to complement each other meant testing the customer service at the Wool Warehouse: the lovely lady who answered my call physically ran up to the actual warehouse to check that the colors I'd select would actually go together: and she was right. 

Secondly, my first time working with Scheepjes Colorcrafter DK yarn - I'd wanted to try it for a while since it's arrival on my radar as it has a great color palette. It is soft, but I found it splitty to crochet with even with a larger hook than recommended. It does wash well so far.

Thirdly, I had gauge issues. Major ones. In a blanket like this one needs the blocks to be very uniform, and using a few different sizes of hook was necessary for me to achieve that. It also highlighted that I cannot handle row gauge: width was fine, height .... not so much. I'd chosen to make it in DK rather than Worsted or Aran, as I wanted a smaller FO than stated in the pattern - but because of the aforementioned row gauge it came out smaller than I wanted, which meant I needed more words, that I had to create the charts for myself ... uncharted territory, ha-ha. And it was also not the right size for Titch's new truck, a MAN rather than a Mercedes.

BTW, that's a whole other discussion. Suffice it to say, the MAN is more Melania than Michelle, rhinestone than diamond, cod roe than caviar. Her one redeeming feature is that she bears the name of a beautiful angel baby.

But I was too close to the finishing line to quit. Having plenty of yarn left meant I could add a generous border ... I completed it yesterday while watching Dwayne Johnson as Hercules: quite apt, don't we think ?

 And here is the result of my Labors:

 

Inauguration Day

Deviant Moon Tarot

So the title of the post kind of reminds me of some movie titles - ''Independence Day'', for instance, where Earth is targeted and millions die in an alien attack. ''The Day the Earth Caught Fire''.''Day of Wrath''. ''Day of the Dead'' ... and many others in the same vein. All pretty much dealing with the end of the world in some form.

But we will focus on ''The Day After Tomorrow''.

Anna K. Tarot

A speck of light in the darkness; it leads us on, gives us a goal, encourages us along the journey and helps to illuminate the path. Do you wonder where the light comes from ?

IX The Hermit, from The Portland Tarot

 He is you. 

And me. 

He is us. 

And we are not alone - others will see our light and be drawn to it.

New Year, New ...

Tarot of Vampyres

 Nope, it is the old me, but lazier- can you imagine that ? Yes, a challenge, I know.

Today's accompaniment is the following mellifluous version of a country classic:




I have been absent owing to my own ennui,Weltschmerz and angst, as neither did I want to bore you, my Dear Reader, with it nor send you running for the bunker loaded with ammunition and canned goods ...

challenge: name this classic movie

Instead because we are foolhardy brave, we will commit to writing a couple of goals for the coming year:

*   to blog at least weekly, without empathy or compassion for my readers as regards the topics - I will share the ennui/Weltschmerz/angst, with occasional dollops of other stuff

*  to overhaul my website

*  to go 'Cold Sheep' - no buying of yarn this year, knit/crochet only from stash. This has 2 provisos: (1) if any baby knitting becomes necessary, I can buy yarn for those specific projects (2) I have a threshold/big birthday, and if anyone gives me yarn vouchers I can spend them. Except please not vouchers for McADirect - long story for another post.

*  to streamline/downsize/declutter and simplify. Except for yarn and tarot decks, naturellement.

Have you committed publicly to any goals this year ?