Bleuivy's journal entry! Finally!
Hi, everyone! Here are my journal entries at last. I've been trying to post this forever. I wrote these entries so long ago that reading them feels like reading something by someone else. Interesting.
Enjoy!
Saturday October 15 2005
I just received the AT travelling deck. I feel so privileged to be one of the first to hold and use this deck as it embarks on its travels around the world. Rachelcat packed the deck in a lovely red tarot bag and included a very cute Halloween card. I hope that everyone has the opportunity to open such a lovely package when they receive this deck.
The deck itself still feels new, though I know it has already passed through a few pairs of hands before it reached mine. I wonder how loved and tattered it will feel when it has reached the end of journeys.
I haven't had the opportunity to use the World Spirit deck before, so this is an entirely new experience for me. After leafing through the deck a few times, I already know I love it. Usually in a deck, there are a few cards I just don't like. This deck has so many gems it really has me captivated. I already have a few favourite cards. I love colours of the Moon, Temperance, the 4 of Wands and the 8 of Cups. The Tower card is one of my favourite Tower cards yet. The two's are also gorgeous - I especially like the 2 of Swords, and I really like the Hanged Man and Death. The quirky people on the 9 of Wands and the 2 of Pentacles are so cute!
I shuffled a bit and did a reading to see what I could learn from the deck while it was visiting me. I drew the 5 of Wands, the Moon, and the 7 of Wands. I wasn't too happy to see the 5 of Wands and the 7 of Wands, but the Moon in between those two cards really made me think. Perhaps this deck is to be my refuge from the more turbulent parts of my life right now.
Sunday October 16 2005
Daily Reading:
The Empress, Sibyl of Cups, The Emperor
Base card: Sibyl of Swords
So, the Empress, the Emperor, and 2 Sybils. It feels to me that there is a challenge in the Empress' level stare. In this deck, she talks very vividly about creation, productivity, but also contentment. I feel very strongly that my challenge today will be creating something and watching it grow. The Emperor seems to be pointing the way to what I must do for today: the Empress and the Sybil of Cups, both strong female images (who are almost in the same pose). I feel that a strong female person will be a very strong influence in my life today. Perhaps my mother? I can think of no other strong woman that might come into my life today; unless I am to be a strong female influence in someone else's life. The base card is the Sibyl of Swords. This to me backs up the other cards. Ugh. Sometimes I wish the cards would be a little more specific!
Journal Entry:
Well, today the deck and I didn't do anything terribly exciting. I have a habit of shuffling a deck while I'm watching TV. I shuffle through, and pull a card every once in a while just to see what comes up, and the feeling it gives me. Today, I did this while my father and I watched the Angels vs. the White Sox play for the American League Championship. We watched in companionable silence; neither of us were particularly rooting for either team, though it would be fun if the White Sox won, just because they haven’t in so very long. Most, we just chatted, which is something I haven't done with my father very much in months. I tried to explain Cricket to him, seeing as I had watched a bit of it while I was in England. I failed miserably, though because I doubt I'll ever really understand Cricket.
As the baseball game dragged on into its later innings, I shuffled the deck and pulled a card when the mood struck me. Over the course of the later innings, I pulled: the Fool, the Tower, the Hierophant (twice), and the Moon. Four majors. Huh.
My father asked me to explain tarot, and I tried, but I don’t think I managed it very well. He is a sceptic of the highest order, but he’s interested in what I am interested in. I offered to do a reading for him when the baseball game was done, but he politely turned my offer down. "I’m wary of that sort of thing," he explained. We’ve come to terms with each other’s oddities. He’s fine with me being "strange" and I’m fine with him being sceptical.
I put the deck away just as the game was ending.
The White Sox won. Cool.
Monday October 17 2005
Daily Reading:
The Wheel of Fortune, Temperance, The Hierophant
Base Card: 3 of Cups
I don't pull the Wheel of Fortune very often, and I don't quite know how to read it. Perhaps I will need to deal with things that I have no control over, accept things as they come. Temperance and the Hierophant suggest that I will have to temper my reactions today, and perhaps be more contentious than usual. The combination of Temperance and the Hierophant suggests to me that the day will have a lot to do with logistics and time management, and marshalling my resources where they need to be. The 3 of Cups as a base card may indicate that I may need to mediate between people today, or in some way deal with a group of people.
Journal Entry:
I've been a bit of a homebody lately because I've been working on finishing my MSc dissertation, so today I decided to go for a walk to get out of the house a bit. My neighbourhood is quite lovely. It has tree-lined streets, with red brick houses. I grew up in this neighbourhood, but haven't really seen it in over a year because I've been living in England. So today I decided to take the World Spirit out for a walk. I slipped the deck into my purse and headed out.
The weather wasn't the most beautiful, but the trees looked so green that it made up for the weather.
I walked past many houses where childhood friends used to live. Very few people who used to live in these houses still do. There used to be a group of twenty of us that would meet in any weather at any time of year with our bicycles and ride to a nearby park. It struck me as I walked by all their houses that are now occupied by other people that an entire generation of people from this neighbourhood has headed out into the world. I wonder where all of them are.
I didn't expect my walk to be so long, but after passing so many houses, I ended up at the small park my friends and I used to ride to. It's sandwiched between two residential roads, but it was big enough for us to play soccer in, or ride our bikes in crazy figure-8s. I don't even think it was supposed to be a park, so much as it is an area that isn't big enough to build houses on, so it's been left alone.
I'm sort of surprised I didn't glorify it in my memory and change it into some idealized place. But no, the park looks exactly the same as I remember it. There are the same trees and rocks grown over with moss. There is even the old stream bed that only has water after heavy rainfalls. I didn't remember that stream bed was there, but now that I see it, I remember.
I explore the park for a while, and remember the ridiculous things I did with my friends. We called the place our Bike Rodeo, because we used to ride our bikes here. We were all city kids, so I don't think we quite understood what a rodeo was, but the name stuck. I'm pleased to see some bicycle tire tracks in the mud near the curb. I wonder if another group of children have discovered this old place, or if these were just left by a commuter driving past.
It started getting dark, so I began walking home. The walk back seems to go more quickly. To be honest, I'd forgotten the tarot deck was in my bag. Once I got home, I took it out. I've been doing lots of two-card readings lately. I went to my house's screened-in porch and pulled two cards as I contemplated the walk I'd had, and rediscovering the Bike Rodeo. I pulled Temperance and the Moon. These cards are just so beautiful in this deck, and they really echo the sense of peace that followed me during my walk. I get a sense of things ending and becoming memories as I look at the moon card, and Temperance gives me a feeling that this is what must happen. Lovely.
Tuesday October 18th 2005
Daily Reading:
Sibyl of Cups, The Star, The Devil
The first two cards are so filled with water - The Sibyl of Cups looks like such an emotional card. She is at home in the water, her emotions. The Star is also a watery, emotional card. Both of these cards look calm and serene, even though there is so much going on in them. The Devil, meanwhile, feels like a such tense card. All that red on the devil card looks like a headache waiting to happen!
Journal Entry:
I have been teaching my 12-year-old brother, Matthew, how to read tarot cards. I gave him the Celtic Dragon tarot as a graduation present from Elementary School, and so far he hasn't been interested in any other deck because he's so enamoured with the Celtic Dragon. I knew he'd love the World Spirit, though. At summer camp, he spent an entire week learning how to make linoleum prints.
Our lessons have been pretty laid back, and I wonder if you can even call them lessons. He'll appear in my room with his deck whenever he wants to go over the cards with me, and I'll pull out a deck. We don't pull cards randomly. Matt decides what cards he wants to discuss, we'll pull them out of our decks, lay them out, and trade stories.
As I suspected, Matt loved the World Spirit. He was adamant that he wanted to do at least one tarot lesson with it before I sent the deck off into the world. Today, he decided he wanted to discuss the Magician and the Tower. It's quite interesting the stories Matt sees in the cards. He looked the cards from his deck, and then from the World Spirit for quite a while. To him, the Tower is an outgrowth of the Magician. The Magician, he said, wanted to do something exceptional, and the destruction of the Tower is the result. The destruction of the Tower wasn't what the Magician set out to do, but it happened anyway. After Matt explained how the Magician started working his magic, my brother pointed to the World Spirit's Tower card and said, quite simply: "The world changed."
It struck me as a pretty profound thing for a kid to say.
Thursday October 20 2005
Daily Reading:
Six of Swords, Three of Pentacles, The Emperor
Looking at these three cards, I see two choices I can make for today. I can be the woman in the six of swords asking for help on a project, or I can be the woman in the three of pentacles, showing her work off to others. I do not know which is the right course to take for today. The 6 of Swords looks to be the darker and more difficult choice, but the 3 of Pentacles may be the easy out. The Emperor is facing both cards as I've laid them out and is reaching towards them. Perhaps he is saying I can do both: ask for assistance and in so doing I'll learn that I already know more than I think I do.
Friday October 21 2005
Daily Reading:
6 of Wands, The Tower, The High Priestess
Both the 6 of Wands and the High Priestess have paths or roads with the central figure at the end of the long path. Though, while the 6 of Wands looks as though it is carried out in daylight, the High Priestess is at night, with that long, ominous shadow curling away from her. These two cards really make me think of a path, or road I am travelling. From the 6 of Wands, it looks as thought I am coming to the end of a long, difficult journey. The figure in the 6 of wands is running along a well-lit and clear path, and there are people cheering her on. The Tower separates this card from the High Priestess, who appears to have finished her journey, but appears to be very alone. The shadow stretching out over the journey travelled in the High Priestess makes me think that my perception of my journey will change when I reach the end.
Journal Entry:
Well, my time with this deck has come to an end. I've loved every minute I've had with it. I'll pack it up and send it on its way. As I look back over these journal entries, it's struck me that I pulled a ton of Major cards. I wonder if this reflects the intensity I felt with this deck.
The World Spirit is going on the list of decks I’d like to get to know in more detail. I definitely see it as a deep and versatile reading deck. I wish I had more time to work with it, but I have been a Hermit lately, working on finishing my dissertation.
I decided to sign the Moon. It spoke to me so clearly after my walk with the deck to the Bike Rodeo, and that is no small thing. The Moon and I have had a rocky relationship since I began learning tarot. The Moon in this deck helped me understand that card in a way I never have before.
Incidentally, my brother’s final verdict on this deck was: "Nice. Bright but dark. I can
feel the cards." He didn't mean in a tactile way.
I'll look forward to reading more about the deck's travels. I feel privileged to have been a link in the chain.
