Tarot Tuesday

I've decided to start over again, slowly, with my old Friend, the Tarot of the Cat People. So I'm working through my "Tarot for Your Self" book, from the beginning, with this deck.

(You can see my first entry about this book here, and about this deck here.)

After recording my Tarot profile as seen in my first entry about this book, I moved on to a simple three-card spread. I know how to do the cross spread, but for now, we'll stay simple with the three-card. I've always read it as past-present-future, but this book suggests not only that, but also body-mind-spirit. An interesting twist.

Today my three cards are Nine of Pentacles-Ace of Pentacles-Two of Wands (inverted).

If I look at them as Body-Mind-Spirit, I see that I am incredibly wealthy in body (well, yes, I'd like to be a little less so!). My mind is at a peak of power right now, and my spirit is...torn. Torn between two things, distracted, dealing with a loss of faith. At a time when it really should be cementing its dominance.

Perhaps this is telling me I really need to work on letting go of the last bits of indoctrination left over from my conservative Christian upbringing. I still have a little trouble with rituals and overt spellwork; I feel silly calling out aloud to my gods or tracing figures in the air/on the ground. And this is something I need to get over.

I learned the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram from a friend over the weekend. There are parts of it I really like (And around me flames the pentagram, and within me the six-rayed star - I love that. It feels like a shield that doesn't feed solely off my own energy.) and parts that I feel really funny about. (Tracing the pentagram in the air, intoning certain words that have no real meaning to me.) I've already changed some of it; the gods I call upon being the most significant. (Rhiannon before me, behind me Mannanan, to my right Brigid, to my left Cernunnos.) I will probably continue changing it until it feels right to me.

Did any of you have issues with your magic? Did you ever feel silly performing a ritual? Any ideas for how to get over it?

Tarot for YourSelf, Part 1

Tarot for Your Self : A Workbook for Personal Transformation Second Edition, by Mary K. Greer, is a tarot workbook. (As the title says.) And I'm going to work through it here on the blog, I think.

First up are Personality and Soul Cards. (This is the "getting to know the cards" chapter.)
Month I was born+Year I was born+day I was born = 1999 = 28 = 10. (number has to be less than 22.)

So my Personality Number is 10: The Wheel of Fortune.
My Soul Number would then be 1: The Magician.
This makes my "Hidden Factor Card" 19, The Sun.

The Hidden Factor card acts as a Shadow Card, mostly during the younger years, and as a Teacher Card in later years.

What I find interesting about this is that The Sun is Enlightenment, Clarity, Understanding, Comprehension, Wisdom. It's wholeness, completeness. Commitment to a loving relationship with good communication and sharing.

These are all the things I wanted when I was younger, and found some of them in Sascha near the time I hit 22. Which is a little young; Greer bases these things on the Saturn return, which takes about 28-30 years. (I just looked it up; my first Saturn return will be this October, which is actually really good to know.) There's a Saturn Return Calculator here. Just type in your birthdate and you're good to go! I'm still searching for enlightenment, clarity, and wisdom though. This is an interesting Shadow/Teacher Card for me.

What I also find interesting is these three cards. The Sun sits on my altar, and has for a very long time. For quite some time I also had The Wheel of Fortune underneath my token on the altar; living a military life means being ready for whatever life throws at you! The Magician is a card I've long associated with Sascha. I don't currently have any cards on the altar besides The Sun; normally I have 2-3 cards under my token and 2-3 under Sascha's token on the altar. I shall have to go set out some spells! What is also curious to me is Sascha's numbers. Sascha's Personality Number is ALSO 10, making his Soul Card, Hidden Card, and Personality Cards the same as mine. What are the chances?

So next up is the Year Card. Birth month+Birth Date+current year. Which makes mine 13: Death, and Sascha's 6: The Lovers. These are cards to influence the year. My Zodiac Card is The Hierophant, and Sascha's is The Chariot.

My Numerological Lessons and Opportunities Cards are the Aces and Tens of Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. Same for Sascha.

My Destiny Card is the Seven of Pentacles, while Sascha's is the Two of Cups. My Zodiac Lessons and Opportunities Cards are the Five-Six-Seven of Pentacles, while Sascha's are the Two-Three-Four of Cups. (I'm going to go through and dissect the meanings of all these cards later, for now I'm just figuring out what they all are.)

My Persona Cards are as follows:
My Sun Sign is Taurus, so my Personal Potential Card is the King of Pentacles. My Moon is in Capricorn, so my Inner Teacher Card is the Queen of Pentacles. My Rising Sign is Pisces, so my Mode of Expression in the World can be described by the Knight of Cups.

Sascha: His Sun Sign is Cancer, so his Personal Potential Card is the Queen of Cups. His Moon is in Aquarius, so his Inner Teacher Card is the King of Swords. His Rising Sign is Gemini, so his Mode of Expression in the World can be described by the Knight of Swords. (Huh, those sound about right for him, actually.)

So. I'm going to go over these cards in more detail later, but this is long enough for today already!