What is CURRENTLY on your Reading Table?

Morwenna

My reading table is the bed. When I'm reading, the only thing often on the bed besides myself, the cards, and the bedding, is the cat.

Every other surface is usually too full of stuff. :) Or too close to the TV while hubby's watching it.
 

barefootlife

I read wherever I have space and time. Right now it's at work, so:

tarot of bones
laptop & docking station
2 monitors
keyboard and mouse
kitty postit dispenser
old paperclip container full of assorted things that clip
fidget cube
eyedrops
coffee mug w/dregs
Night Vale coffee mug w/writing utensils
personal cell
work cell
composition book
desk phone
sodastream water
stapler
tape
hole punch
misc papers

How very spiritual. :laugh:
 

Barleywine

My reading table is a bed (my tarot cave is also a spare bedroom). On it right now beside the bedding is the current copy of The Cartomancer magazine, some clean clothes that need putting away and some dirty socks that don't belong there (hey, this question caught me by surprise!)

My desk, on the other hand, has:

my computer monitor
a couple of computer speakers
a goose-neck desk lamp
a copy of The Book of Thoth
a copy of Eden Gray's The Tarot Revealed
a copy of Crowley's 1912 publication of Liber T
a copy of Sarah Bartlett's The Tarot Bible
my Lenormand reference binder
a copy of Paul Foster Case's The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages
a copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
my 1977 Doubleday Roget's Thesaurus in Dictionary Form
my digital camera
a pen-and-pencil holder
a cordless phone
two small clocks, one working
the Gilded Tarot in a blue Nordica wallet tin
a copy of Tom Rosenbauer's Prospecting for Trout
a copy of Eastern Fly Fishing magazine
a copy of Fly Fisherman
my set of computer recovery disks (I had a near-disaster caused by a corrupted iTunes update)
an empty plastic bottle that until a couple of weeks ago was full of Deluxe Roasted Mixed Nuts
some eyeglass-cleaning supplies
my Digitone call blocker
my "Shakespearean Insults" mug

(almost down to the last layer now)

a pile of miscellaneous papers, hopefully none of which need action
an iPod car charger cable
a random coaster and paperweight or three
a magnifying glass
a pair of sunglasses
small incidental items too numerous to mention
a nearly-empty cup of Stash Spicy Black Chai tea (which was still warm when I started typing this)
 

littlethings

My usual reading space is a secretary desk tha belonged to my grandparents. Right now it's set up for reading but sometimes it gets very cluttered with actual "desk" stuff like bills and lots of papers. I also have a large wooden tray if I want to read in another room.

Lg quartz cluster
Lg rose quartz
Preseli bluestone point
Amethyst cluster
Labradorite
Fluorite and picture jasper hearts
Lapis point
Bag with 21 tumbled stones (for meditation)
Medicine bag with assorted stones
Lapis angel pendulum
Spread cloth
Sidhe tarot
Mini Ceccoli tarot in Ouija board pouch
Faerie Enchantments oracle
Bottle that says "dragon's blood"
A faerie
Small Ganesh figurine
Sugar skull candle
A dragon journal
My trust little ninja
 

Carojulie

a pile of miscellaneous papers, hopefully none of which need action

Ah ! Seems to be similar to the pile of papers lying on the side of my kitchen gueridon. Most of the time I dont even notice they are there, and from time to time I break into a sweat at the though of one life or death administration paper that would have passed the deadline of action !
Sometimes a tarot deck finds its way in the pile, too.
 

celticnoodle

Um, :|

My reading happens where I am. Might be on my lap - in which case, nothing - or on my desk - keyboard, all sorts of junk - or the coffee table - several DVDs, a few books and the newspaper.

Tarot is part of my REGULAR life.

currently, me too! :laugh:

I am currently reading pretty much in front of the television while watching the news--and will have my cards on a tv table. If its a really large spread--I move out to the bar, which also tends to be a cluttered mess with whatever we dump on top of it. Generally the mail--and the date book/calendar for recording things in, spare change from when hubby empties his pockets, magazines, our sunglasses, car keys, and a basket where my hubby dumps his cell phone in and other "work" related junk--and its ALWAYS overflowing with crap and occasionally more stuff thrown there. Though, sometimes, I do clean that junk all off before I lay out my cards.
 

Morwenna

Interesting to mention desks...

This desk where our computer sits is the one my father built for me when I was in junior high. The ends are bookcases and one side was built to house my encyclopedias, and the top used to hold my portable typewriter and a lamp. It also was my solitaire-playing surface when I wanted to listen to the radio apart from my parents and the TV. It comes up now because if I have any issues about decks, I bring the deck(s) in question in here. Obviously if I'm working with one of the deck study threads on AT, this is where it happens.

I'm not about to displace the computer, but I do wonder how it would feel to do my readings on this desk that spent so much time under a deck of playing cards, even if it was just for games back then...

So what's on it now? The monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers; a lava lamp, a stack of old phone books, a pile of bills that I assume my husband paid so why are they still here?, a roll of transparent tape, an extra wire jack, a few pens and pencils, various slips of paper and note cards with various notes on them, an old dull knife which is now a letter opener, and my glasses which I take off to work at close quarters like this. No decks this week... The table beside it has the tower, modem, (empty) printer, more envelopes (ask hubby), and one pair of his reading glasses; and the shelf unit next to That has the phone and answering machine, among other things. It's like a little cockpit over here.

I wonder, if I moved the phone books and the papers, and slid the monitor and keyboard (temporarily) off to the side, could I do some readings right here? There's a great reading lamp clipped to the windowsill right behind the desk, and the lava lamp is rather atmospheric... or even if I just moved the keyboard, and did small spreads (or used small cards) right in front of the screen... hmm...
 

Amsonia

I do my readings in two places

1. the couch - well we have a sectional, and I like to sit cross legged on the chaise portion, and use the part where your legs go for the cards, it's like sitting on the floor, but much more comfortable!

2. I keep all my decks in a sort of mid century bar cabinet, but picture a kind of secretary desk, where the front folds down and forms the desk part. When I fold it down to use it for a reading, all my decks are stacked inside (where the bottles and glasses would go if it was a bar). They are all in tarot bags, mostly ones I crochet, stacked, or in a basket. I have my LEGO tarot reader there to greet me when I open the cabinet.

On top of this cabinet, at eye level when I'm sitting there, I have a handmade ceramic votive candle holder with various crystals around it, my porcelain night light from my childhood, which is in the shape of a little bo peep type girl holding a basket of flowers, an incense holder, a mini original framed painting by Kiri Ostergaard (Green Witch Tarot Artist) of an African Fairy, a bowl of clear crystals (all types) which hold upright within it a vintage carved Japanese lady passed down to me from a family friend (I think it might be Ivory, she was in Japan after the war, but what's done is done, I give thanks to the Elephant), A 7 day prayer candle with a earth goddess image, a Holly Sierra (Chrysalis Tarot Artist) triple goddess print in a frame (which she painted designs on), a boring lamp, and on the wall behind is a print of a painting of a Moon Mother.

the chair I use is an old beat up metal one with torn blue fabric, I really need a new chair! :joke:
 

Pargatho

Elsa's Ice Castle made out of LEGO from Disney's Frozen. It just looks pretty and has interesting colors. Some of the pieces are opaque too to look like ice and remind me of crystals since I don't have any of those at hand right now.
 

Carojulie

Hello all,

I had a blast reading through everybody's description of their reading space ! Thank you :)

I have already posted in this thread earlier, and realised that my reading table was somehow messy... so this thread inspired me to do some tidying, cleaning, clearing, cleansing, and tadaaam.... I am pround to announce that now, only the following objects are on my reading table, all prettily arranged :

On the center of the table, taking up most of the surface of my smallish table :

- a turquoise handmade reading cloth, with, spread on it :
- one glass encased beeswax candle
- an assortment of stones : citrine, carnelian, fluorite, amethyst
- a pretty orgone pyramid with clear quartz and black obsidian
- a sea shell containing dried herbs
- one glass encased candle scented with citrus and lime
- a small pack of Padmini incense with a dhoop burning
- my Japaridze tarot deck, trimmed and edged in teal ink, lying in a neat spread on the cloth

On the left side of the table, on the little space left free by the reading cloth :

- my big tarot box, right now housing six tarot decks, two lenormands and one oracle deck, plus a lot of little items I like to use with tarot, like a spare reading cloth (purple), tea candles, five boxes of Padmini incense (you never want to fall short of Padmini incense), small box of matches, pouches of dried flowers, a notebook and pen, a small spray-vial of homemade hand cleaner-cleanser...
- the handmade pouch for the Japaridze
- the Sacred Bridges tarot lying on top of its hand-painted-by-the-artist pouch
- the Alyzen lenormand in its plastic box protected by a handmade crochet pouch
- a big glass of iced ale

That's it !
The rest of my tarot paraphernalia (notebooks, crystals, matches for candles, writing material, readingcloth.... is neatly stocked in the table drawer.

Neat isn't it ?

Well.... my cat jumped on the table when I was writing and disturbed the spread that was on the reading cloth... and most of the junk that I took off the table before writing, is now in a stack on the sofa, waiting to be sorted out. Life is life....