tarot blog hop: the 13th card

Click the photo above to check out the rest of the blog hop!

This month, I'm doing the very first tarot blog hop hosted by Tarot Rebels Facebook Group. We're focusing on the 13th card of tarot: DEATH.

In my Tarot Everywhere deck, I used an image of an expired parking meter to represent the energies of this card. In case you've never used a parking meter, it's a device used to collect money in exchange for parking for a limited amount of time. Typically, the time limit is 2 hours. If you do something called feeding the meter, that's a no-no. It's when you try to go beyond your time limit which of course isn't fair to others. If you're caught feeding the meter, you could receive a citation or fine. When your time limit is up, the TIME EXPIRED sign appears and it means it's time to move on.

The energy of the Death card is like a parking meter because it simply means that you're putting your energy (coins) into a cycle of experience for a particular time period (time limit), and when that time is over, you move on to the next cycle of experience.

SPREAD
I developed the Parking Meter Spread to demonstrate this pattern.

Time Limit: The purpose and focus of the current cycle of experience.

Insert Coin: What you bring to this cycle of experience in terms of your energy, outlook and actions. Compare this card to the Time Limit card. They should be in sync, showing that your energy matches the focus of the cycle.

Feeding the Meter: Challenges you can expect if you're not in sync with the current cycle.

Time Expired: How to prepare for the next cycle.


SAMPLE READING
Here's my own reading using this spread.

Tarot Everywhere and Oracle Everywhere decks

Time Limit: King of Pentacles. The purpose and focus of this cycle is hard work. This King is a worker, not a delegator. He's out in the fields working all day long and he's happy to do it to provide for his family and community. This card tells me that I need to be working hard to shore up my financial future.

Insert Coin: 6 of Swords. This card depicts sailing across a lake. It has a very different energy than the King of Pentacles. This shows I'm taking things too easy right now, just floating along and not putting in the effort necessary to match this current cycle. I also interpret this card as going through a difficult transition often with help from others. Indeed, this is what I'm experiencing and it's a challenge to focus on work and material concerns. This card's placement next to the King of Pentacles reveals a directional cue of running away from or trying to escape from hard work.

Feeding the Meter: Ace of Pentacles. This shows that being out of sync with this cycle will impede future growth and manifestation. The King of Pentacles is the final card in the pentacles set. The Ace represents starting over in a new phase of growth. If I don't put in the hard work now, I won't be able to reap the benefits of this new phase.

Time Expired: Face Your Fears. To prepare for the next cycle, I must face my fears. This seems to resonate most with the escape aspect of the 6 of Swords. Perhaps there's something I'm running away from or am afraid to deal with directly. It looks like I'm going to have to face it head on in order to make a smooth transition into the next cycle.

Purchase Tarot Everywhere & Oracle Everywhere

HERE

Spread: coming together and falling apart

Many, many months ago, I ran across this quote on a blog post:

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. ”  
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heartfelt Advice for Hard Times

I thought it had the ring of a good spread. Here's the Coming Together and Falling Apart spread:

Card 1: The problem: Choose this card face-up from your deck. This means to go through the deck and find a card that depicts your problem, worry or concern.

Card 2: What the problem looks like when it's falling apart.

Card 3: What the problem looks like when it's coming together.

Card 4: How to make room for grief.

Card 5: How to make room for relief.

Card 6: How to make room for misery.

Card 7: How to make room for joy.

My reading:

I chose the 2 of Wands as the problem card because it shows my sense of always being unsettled and on the move. I haven't stayed in the same place for more than 4 years for all of my adulthood and I'm just realizing how much I want to be in a more stable environment and somewhere I can call home.

Lay the first three cards in this order: Card 2 - Card 1 - Card 3.

Now that the cards are side by side, I can easily see a pattern: When things become too structured, rigid and buttoned up (Emperor), I pack my bags (2 of Wands) and prepare for a new adventure...a fresh start (Ace of Pentacles). I guess when I look at it this way it doesn't seem so bad. I've been  believing I want a more structured environment but this reading tells me that's it's the structure that creates my impulse to break free.

I used my Oracle Everywhere deck to provide guidance for the journey. Love Your Reflection is how I can make room for grief. I intended this card to be about self-love, but I think there's a more visual cue here too -- photography. When I'm grieving the loss of people and places I'm leaving behind, I should take photos!! I take photos of lots of things but rarely as a sentimental gesture.

To make room for relief I can Follow A New Path. This card here suggests that there is a sense of relief in following a new path and embarking on a new journey, despite my claim to desire a more stable existence.

To make room for misery I can Rise Above, perhaps seeing my transition from a higher perspective. Maybe my desire to leave and start over is really serving an important purpose in my evolution.

Finally, Move Your Body came up for making room for joy. This card is about dancing and free expression. It shows the joy you get from feeling uninhibited and just going with the flow of life.

Purchase the Tarot Everywhere and Oracle Everywhere deck

HERE

#storiesandoracles Day 12: Robin Hood

Here's another spread from the #storiesandoracles challenge on Instagram. This time, the spread is based on the story of Robin Hood.

Card 1: Robin Hood ~ How can I be the hero in my own story? SHARE WHAT YOU CAN SPARE
This card has been popping up a lot lately. It's a warning not to stretch yourself too thin. Being generous is a virtue but not at the cost of your health or sanity. It's funny that this card shows up in the Robin Hood position since his good deeds centered around generosity to others. But this message tells me I need to share only what I can spare of my time, energy and assistance so I won't feel so burned out and overextended. 

Card 2: Maid Marion ~ How can I be my own lover? STOP COMPARING
This card tells me to stop comparing  my skills and talents and progress with others. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Card 3: The Sherif ~ How am I the villain in my own story? SET YOUR SIGHTS HIGHER. In this case, I interpreted this card as what I'm NOT doing. I'm not setting my sights higher and striving to get what I truly deserve out of life. I'm playing small instead of thinking big!

Oracle Everywhere Deck

Card 4: Little John ~ How can I be my greatest support? LOVE YOUR REFLECTION. How perfect is this? I can support myself by simply loving who I am.

Card 5: King Richard ~ How can I rescue myself? EXPLORE
I think in light of the other cards this one is about exploring new possibilities, getting out of my comfort zone, and thinking of life as a grand adventure.

Purchase the Oracle Everywhere deck

HERE

New Moon in Aries Spread

This week, I've been chatting with Kathy Crabbe about making oracle cards, and I noticed she had a wonderful blog post on the Aries new moon. So, I decided to make a simple spread based on her post: How To Get Inspired and Fight To Win This Aries New Moon.

Card 1: What do you want more than anything?

Card 2: How to get it (by tapping into your Aries Fire).

Card 3: Affirmation to support your goal.

Here's my reading.

Card 1: Knight of Wands. This card represents a departure which I'll be making very soon to live in a different part of the country. It also signifies the freedom and adventure I'm hoping this move will help me regain. I'm eager to start over and live life to the fullest.

Card 2: Have Fun. I get this card a lot as an admonishment because I'm always so busy working, creating, and trying to stay afloat. But this card shows that adding more fun to my days will help me live life to the fullest.

Card 3: I am joyous. Love this card! And it ties in nicely with the positive energy of the other two cards. 

The decks used in this reading were the Tarot Everywhere deck, Oracle Everywhere deck and I AM Cards. They are all available for sale through my Printerstudio shopspace

HERE

archangel wingmen and the Magic Mantras Oracle

I was checking out all the great spreads by Vix over at New Age Hipster and found one called Wingmen Spread. It's a spread that offers messages from Archangel Michael and Archangel Raphael. I know these two well because I work with them in my reflexology and other healing practices.

What I love about this spread is that each Archangel is giving you a message about their specific area of expertise. With Michael, it's usually about protection, courage, life path, and things that need to be cleared or released. Raphael's messages are usually about healing some aspect of your life. 

I adapted the spread a bit...

I'm using my Magic Mantras Oracle cards to understand the issues each archangel is helping me with. And I'm using my Oracle Everywhere deck to reflect the angels' specific advice with regard to these issues.

At the time I did the reading I was still fuming about a frustrating online interaction. So, when I saw OIL and Rise Above I knew just what Michael was trying to get across. OIL is the switchword for decreasing friction. It typically appears when people are having trouble getting along. Rise Above tells me to just get over it, to rise above any pettiness. So Michael is helping me to clear or release my frustration about this issue.

Let's see what Archangel Raphael's message is. LIGHT translates to being inspired and lightening up in your mood and mindset. It seems to be a message in response to Michael's advice. Michael is helping me clear away the frustration and Raphael is showing me how to heal it. Raphael is helping me to lighten up and advising me to be patient with others.

Purchase These Cards

HERE

Great Gift Ideas

Now that we're officially in the holiday season I thought I'd share three great gift ideas.

Tarot Everywhere + Oracle Everywhere + Tarot Everywhere Journal

Tarot Everywhere and Oracle Everywhere have been a big hit since I released them in September. This contemporary tarot deck and accompanying oracle deck deliver down-to-earth reflections of our daily lives. Find out the concept behind these decks in the blog post, Tarot Everywhere + Oracle Everywhere.

Chakra Cards + Chakra Cards Pouch + Chakra Magnets

Chakra Cards are a deck of 35 square cards that can help you assess the state of your chakras. I've also created magnets for each chakra to use as a focusing or intention tool. Whatever chakra I'm working on for the week, I put the corresponding magnet on my fridge as a reminder of that chakra's energy. Check out my Mind-Body-Spirit Reading with Chakra Cards.

I AM Cards + I AM Cards Pouch + I AM Cards Journal

The most adorable deck I've developed to date, I AM Cards is an affirmation deck that affirms all of the positive, vibrant parts of you. A wonderful gift for children or your inner child.

These products may be purchased through my Printerstudio Shopspace. Remember, if you purchase more than $30 worth of products on Printerstudio, you can get FREE shipping using code SHIP30.

my Activating Your Strange Jewels reading

Carrie of Happy Fish Tarot invented this wonderful spread, Activating Your Strange Jewels, based on a book by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm using my Tarot Everywhere and Oracle Everywhere decks for the reading.

Card 1- Accessible Gifts: 3 of Wands. A young man stands on a fence to see far off into the distance. This card represents the gift of vision. This is a gift I'm very acquainted with and use daily. I am amazing at creating a concept and developing it step-by-step based on my vision of it. It's how I create my tarot and oracle decks.

Card 2 - Unconscious Gifts: 7 of Wands. This is a very competitive card about holding your position at the top and having rivals trying to gain an advantage and topple you. Since I'm not competitive at all, this makes sense as being an unconscious gift. But I think it can also be interpreted as having a gift for being an example for others to aspire to.

Card 3 - Challenges of Your Gifts: Strength. This interpretation of Strength relates to struggle and perseverance which I believe relates to seeing my vision through to completion. But there's also a visual repetition through these first three cards - they are all from the perspective of someone at a different than normal height. One challenge is seeing things from a different perspective than others. It makes it difficult to relate to others.

Card 4 - Your Contribution: 5 of Pentacles. This card is intended to represent why your gifts are important and how they contribute to the world. This card depicts a hitchhiker and I wasn't really sure how to interpret it at first. But in light of my strange jewels mentioned in the first and second cards, perhaps my vision and leadership can help others find direction.

Card 5 - Real-World Application: Queen of Pentacles. I think of the court cards as roles so this is the role of the mother to me. She is nurturing and practical. She has the ability to turn her vision into something tangible and nurture its growth.

Card 6 - Advice: Nourish Yourself: The final card gives advice on taking the next step. The first two cards describing my strange jewels are Wands, which are about action, initiative, and effort. And it's true, I sometimes exhaust myself expressing these gifts. Nourish Yourself tells me to make sure I'm also getting my own needs met in the process.

Purchase Tarot Everywhere & Oracle Everywhere Decks

HERE

Divination 3x3x3 Tag with my own deck creations

I just heard about the Divination 3x3x3 tag through Benebell Wen's blog post but it was started by Chloe McCracken of Inner Whispers in this video.

I decided to do this tag with the decks I've developed. My favorite deck is usually the last one I create. But some decks have definitely gotten more play than others.

TAROT

Tarot For Lost Souls is hands down my most favorite tarot deck. Unfortunately, it's not one I'm able to sell but I would gladly share it with others. To make it, I created 78 faces in the UFace app, one for each tarot card. At first, I thought it would be difficult to read because every card features a face but the app is pretty versatile and allows for a great range of facial expressions and actions. This deck is whimsical and really funny but also gives it to you straight.

Tarot For Lost Souls

Tarot Everywhere originally began as a photo project and I hadn't really thought to make it a deck at first because I'm not usually partial to photographic decks. But I realized why during the process of making this one. I'm not fond of posed people in decks and I tried to limit that as much as possible with Tarot Everywhere. The result is a deck I really enjoy using. I think it gives the right balance between serious and playful readings too! This deck is available HERE. 

Tarot Everywhere

The Animal Tarot is my latest tarot deck creation so of course it goes here as one of my favorites. I'm still trying to figure out how to work with its energy but I like the stark realism of the cards. This deck will be available soon (by late November/early December)!

The Animal Tarot

ORACLE

Over The Moon oracle is simply the most versatile deck I've created. With playing cards on one side and a descriptive visual image on the other, it's hard to beat this deck for answering any type of question. I use the playing card side for analytical information; to answer yes/no questions; and to provide detailed physical descriptions. The visual side is used for the story method of interpretation, when I need to understand the situation by seeing it as a story unfolding. This deck is available HERE. It's available with captions and without captions.

Over The Moon oracle cards

Oracle Everywhere offers powerful and direct advice. I've been wanting an advice oracle, not just a deck with nice words. I want one that will give me a kick in the pants when necessary. This one delivers! The photo below shows a reading for myself where I asked my spirit guides what message they had for me. I need to SLOW DOWN and SHOW COMPASSION to myself. They also instructed me to MOVE YOUR BODY and MEDITATE. These last two are areas of my daily routine I've neglected mostly because life has gotten too hectic and I can't slow down long enough to devote time to it. Message received! This deck is available HERE.

Oracle Everywhere

My third favorite oracle deck is another new one, still in prototype stage. It's called Magic Mantras and it's based on switchwords. Switchwords are powerful words used to connect directly to the subconscious mind, giving it direction to attract the essence of the switchword to you. This is not a deck I thought I would enjoy as much as I do. I made a version of it years ago with just words and recently updated it with photos. The resulting deck really sings now and I feel it gives very direct but positive and insightful readings. To use it, think of a goal or desire. Then select three cards to create a switchword phrase or mantra. This mantra is then repeated, recited, or written to help you attract the desired goal. This deck will be available soon (by end of November).

Magic Mantras

OTHER DIVINATION

Playing cards should be obvious! This is the method I feel most accomplished in and have even developed my own system and comprehensive course on reading playing cards: Your Future Is In The Cards.

If you've been following my blog, you know that charmcasting is certainly a new favorite divination method. It's just so much fun to see where all those little charms land. It's incredible how synchronous the cast is with your circumstances. Check out my adventures in charmcasting series here on the blog. Just search the blog for "charmcasting."

You probably don't know this but I'm a real fan of dice divination. I don't think I've shared anything about dice in any of my past blogs, here or in other places, but when I need really quick guidance (I mean like super quick), dice are the way to go. I've even developed my own dice divination system which I hope to share at some future date. It uses three dice. You can ask a question but one isn't really needed. The cast will give you insights into your day, week, or whatever time period you ask about. For instance, the cast below (155) means: Expect a monkey wrench in your plans!

Purchase my decks in my Printerstudio shopspace:

http://www.printerstudio.com/sell/otmoraclecards

 

Tarot Everywhere + Oracle Everywhere

I've just launched two new decks that have been getting a lot of attention on Instagram already: Tarot Everywhere and a companion deck, Oracle Everywhere.


TAROT EVERYWHERE
This deck began as a photo project. I began noticing tarot cards in photos on Unsplash.com and soon those photos became this tarot deck. This is designed as a traditional tarot deck based on the Rider-Waite symbolism for the most part. Some of the cards are visual interpretations of that deck while other cards present my interpretation of the symbolism of the card.





ORACLE EVERYWHERE
This is an advice oracle deck containing 52 cards. Each card has a brief action-oriented statement offering advice accompanied with a photo from Unsplash.com. The advice offered is simple and direct. Some of it is nurturing, like "Nourish yourself" or "Take a break" while other cards admonish you to alter behaviors: "Stop comparing" or "Let down your guard." It can be used as a stand alone deck for a variety of different readings, especially readings where you're seeking guidance.


How can you use these two decks together?

Energy + Advice Reading
One way is to do a daily reading with a card from each deck. Choose a card from the tarot deck for today's energy and a card from the oracle deck for advice on handling that energy.

Exercise: Card Pairs
Another way to use these two decks together is a card pair exercise. Choose a tarot card and try to find an oracle card that has a similar focus or meaning. Pairing the cards in this way will help you get to know the decks faster and will also help you understand the cards when they appear in your readings.

PURCHASE THESE DECKS

HERE