In 2010 I brought some copies of my Melissa Lenormand to the Readers Studio. The reaction I got from nearly everyone who purchased one was, “What the hell is that? I want it anyway!” or “I’ve heard of Lenormand cards before… but aren’t they supposed to be boring?” I left a little discouraged, but mostly unphased (you know it takes a lot to phase me). I wrote up a proposal to teach a study group in 2011 at the conference, which was happily accepted. So last year at the conference I taught about two dozen people how to tell fortunes with Lenormand cards. At the urging of one of my study group attendees, I created lenormand.info — as a platform to get this workshop out to as many people as possible. It’s been slowly, steadily blowing up since then, thanks to the amazing modern Lenormands being published here in the States and elsewhere.

My audience here on this site doesn’t always overlap with the folks in-the-know about the Lenormand stuff — so consider this my “introduction to Lenormand” entry.

What is a Lenormand deck?

Facts:

• A Lenormand deck (the Lenormand deck — that is the Lenormand divinatory system replicated with the most frequency) has 36 cards.
• Each card contains a symbol — a picture like a dog.
• Each card also contains a number and a corresponding playing card.
• Some decks contain a small verse that gives a clue to the meaning of the card — this is more uncommon.
• Lenormand cards are typically sparse — modern exceptions being decks like my own.
• They are read in lines. The story that the cards tell is the metaphorical narrative of the querent’s life.
• They are easy to learn. The symbols are modern and we still speak this same language today (whereas the language of the tarot might be considered lost in antiquity).

How do you accomplish a Lenormand reading?

• Find a Lenormand deck. If you don’t have one, you can play with mine.
• Shuffle the deck and lay the cards out, face up, in four rows of nine cards each.
• If you identify as a man, locate the man card. If you identify as a woman, locate the woman card.
• Using however many cards you find to the immediate right of the man or woman you chose, form a sentence that will speak of your immediate future.

Lenormand readings work independently to the images of the cards. In this manner, a Grand Tableau that looks like this:

Will be read the same way as this one:

How can I learn more?

Everything you need to learn about lenormand cards you can find for free online. There are many fabulous blogs and websites dedicated to this form of cartomancy. I have quite a bit of information available with free access at http://lenormand.info as well. Dedicate yourself to your study. It’s easy to learn, I promise.

The video course I offer is more of a guided kick-in-the-pants. Designed to get you in and out the door, reading cards as quickly as humanly possible. If you’re having trouble synthesizing what you’re reading in other sources or you just can’t get your brain out of “tarot mode” (or you never really experienced any kind of “psychic mode” anyway) — you’ll probably have good luck with my class. Many folks have had their Lenormand aha! moments by watching my videos. I also host monthly webinars you can attend for a small ticket fee - think of those like taking a workshop on a certain topic though. If you have little to no experience with Lenormand, 101 is for you.

You might also stop by the Tarot Tribe’s Beyond Worlds radio show Saturday night — as I’ll be a guest! I’ll be chatting with host, Donnaleigh de LaRose, about getting into the Lenormand cards — the hows, whats, wheres, whens and whys.

And I promise, of course, to say all kinds of Sh*t Lenormand Readers Say…

Talk to Pollyanna

I was talking to a friend about how it had been a week since my last shower. And when I finally got my kiddos settled to the point where I thought I could safely jump in and lather up my hair, my daughter decided to sit outside the tub and scream like she was dying because she was out of juice. So look, I was frustrated, frazzled and overwhelmed and I started crying. In the shower. With soapy hair.

My friend listened to all of this, smiled and said, “Look on the brightside! Your kids love you and need you SO MUCH ALL THE TIME you’re SO LUCKY!” worse yet is when Pollyanna says something like “Well soon your kids will be all grown up and they won’t need you anymore! So think about that!”

(Next time I’m sobbing in the shower?)

Why it’s not helpful

When someone tells you to look on the bright side it’s usually because of two reasons:

1. It’s easy to respond this way AND
2. They’re uncomfortable with your pain

When you talk to someone about being frazzled, overwhelmed or stressed — needing to find some way of coping, what you’re really talking about is your pain.

I wasn’t just telling my friend about how I needed a shower — obviously the story ran much deeper. I was trying to communicate that I hurt because I have to do everything myself and it sucks.

And when Pollyanna suggests you look on the bright side, it usually indicates an unwillingness on their part to be present with that hurt. Talking to people about unpleasant things is awkward. It’s weird and uncomfortable to see other people’s pain. Perhaps your friend is worried about the possibility of experiencing empathy — of feeling any of that yucky stuff for themselves — and will say anything to escape it as quickly and efficiently as possible.

And yet –

Talking to someone about the ways and the hows of my hurt is SO helpful to me. But I’ve learned that it’s important to chose those people who will really listen and allow me feel my pain rather than trying to sweep it under the curtains.

And if you’re a Pollyanna who regularly dispenses this advice, stop it. It doesn’t help and it’s just so uncreative. You can do better. Start by giving your friend a hug and holding their hand while they wring out all those tears.

Make a gratitude list

I’m a grateful lady. I’m well fed, have a beautiful little (pink) house in the country. I have two children who are good looking, intelligent and healthy. I have so much to be grateful for, it’s sick really. It’s unfair to most of the world just how wonderful my life is.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck sometimes. So when I’m having a bad week — when I get behind with the housework, with sleep; when I am frustrated by a project, by a person, by my own shortcomings — and someone tells me to make a gratitude list, I seriously just want to fly into fits of rage and throw a lamp across the room at a wall, for example.

Why it’s not helpful

Gratitude is a practice that’s best instituted before you get to the actual coping bits of life. Gratitude is something that, if it’s already in your box of tricks, will help you deal with the blows before you’re in the pre-lamp-throwing trainwreckification phase. So in that sense, I do recommend that you keep it in mind — like when things are going good.

I’m also a fan of noticing. It’s like gratitude but without all the touchy-feely-woo that’s going around these days. I notice what things bring me great joy (and yes, I even make lists about it sometimes) — so that when I begin to feel a little edge-worn I can call upon those energies, those spirits, those chocolates and double Americanos, for example — and that is a good coping skill.

Noticing works in the opposite direction too — with equal effectiveness! If you notice what makes you psycho crazy and just keep it in mind, you can avoid it like a blistering communicable disease next time you notice it creeping up on your radar.

Gratitude lists don’t work for me for (again) two reasons:

1. I can’t fool myself into this way of thinking. The gratitude list works as a way to remind you of what you have going for you. I am either too jaded or this is just too obvious for my brain. I know my problems are first-world problems. If you’re reading this, chances are your problems are first world problems too. Be grateful you have the internet right? Is it really helpful to remember that you have clean water to drink and don’t live in a war-ravaged third-world nation? I mean, yes? But still…

2. Eventually, if things got really really bad, all your list would be good for is to remind you that all that all that shit hasn’t killed you… yet. And hey, maybe that makes you feel better. It doesn’t, me.

I tried to do gratitude lists once. It didn’t make me feel better. It made me feel petty in addition to the shitty I already felt. Maybe I wasn’t being grateful enough? Maybe I’m ungrateful. Maybe I’m a horrible person. Maybe if I could be more grateful I wouldn’t be so stressed out all the time! Why can’t I be MORE GRATEFUL WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME OMG.

What does work

Roller derby.

Kidding! Okay not really. Actually I found roller derby to be an incredibly stress-relieving, perspective-inducing, edge-smoothing coping mechanism. There’s just something about getting your ass smeared all over a gym floor to really put your problems into perspective (please note: I only condone violence when all parties are wearing mouthguards and wheels).

Honor your pain

A few things -

Looking on the bright side and being grateful for what you have are both good ideas. I support both plans wholeheartedly. But the positive thinking/manifesting your desires/believe-in-yourself and all your wildest dreams will come true movement seems to miss the mark on the fact that feeling shitty is just part of life. There’s a tendency to just gloss over that unpleasant detail — in self-help books, blogs, etc. Life can be disappointing. Life can suck. Everything that makes you very very very happy also has the power to make you really really really miserable. That’s the toss of the die, people.

When I say ‘honor your pain’ — I don’t mean wallow in it.

Having a good cry is different than not being able to get out of bed for a week. Punching a pillow is different than punching your obnoxious neighbor. If your pain is so deep that you’re unable to see the difference, please seek the help of a qualified professional who can meet you where you’re at and offer you the support you need. You’ll feel better.

How to honor your pain:

1. Allow yourself to feel it — Cry. I used to cry all the time. I find I have a harder time with this now. This is, of course, me avoiding those unpleasant feelings. I always feel better when I cry though. Always.
2. Release it into the wild — I like a bit of ritual in this step. Ever hear of a bitter bonfire? Maybe host one with you friends and family. Where I’m at right now — not so appropriate to have giant bonfires. Take a candle outside. Write that shittyness down on a little slip of paper and set it on fire. If you like a bit more woo with your ritual, try it while the moon is waning, in the late evening right before you indulge in a hot bath (handful of salt in the water).
3. Make it for something — one of the ways we can honor a spirit is to give it a purpose. Make your pain good for something — even if that something is just the promise to yourself to enlist that awkward teenager down the street to watch your babies while you bathe. If you’re frustrated by work, you don’t have to release your pain and then do something drastic, like quit your job, for example. But think of something small, something useful and good that the pain can be for. Maybe it’s for taking a walk while your coworkers smoke. Maybe it’s for finding a book about writing your own business plan. Make it for something. Our brains like it when energy, even the hurtful kind, has purpose.

And finally, a spell by Valerie Worth (from Crone’s Book of Magical Words)

To Dispel Sorrow

When world and fate
Conspire to mark
Your life with lines
And characters dark,
Mold a tablet
Of earth or clay,
Write on it all
You would cast away –
All you regret,
All that you bear,
All that afflicts you,
All that you fear –
Break it and bury it
In the ground,
Saying this charm
To heal the wound:

Sorrow be dust
And dust dissolve:
Let all my grief
Go into this grave.

***

To divine is to know. It is to surmise an indication of future events. 

The simplest way of knowing is called Cleromancy. Throwing lots. There are many forms. This is perhaps the easiest. I will teach you now.

To begin, you will need a lot of things.

You can get ornate. An abalone shell full of stone beads, for example.

Some lots are more delicious than others…

I prefer my jar of lentils. I like the way my fingers feel when I dip them in a dish of dry grains.

The simplest way of knowing requires the simplest kinds of questions. Yes or No. This way or That way. Red pill or Blue pill. 

My daughter fractured her leg last week. She is going in for exrays on Monday and there is the slightest possibility she may get her cast off (there was disagreement over whether or leg was actually fractured, but the standard is to over-treat, especially for children). My question is, “Will Freyja get her cast off on Monday?”

Knowing your question, understand that 1 = Yes, 2 = No. That is, all odd numbers = 1 = Yes, all even numbers = 2 = No.

Don’t think about the next step too much, just do it. Experience it.

Scoop up some of your lot with your hand and place it in another dish or on the table.

And then count.

64. No, Freyja will not get her cast off on Monday. I’ll report back and let you know how it goes.

Now it’s your turn. Test the method as often as you can over the next week. In the comments here, on a blog post you link, on twitter, facebook or g+, cast your own lot. What was the result? Now report back when you can. Was your prediction correct?

In which I sound like some kind of professional intuitive instead of the Sassy Sibyl you all know and love… This was written last year for Flock. I’m sharing here now, since I’m no longer there. I’ve updated the post with some photos of different Lovers cards from my collection. I purposely chose some lesser known and strange ones. What is the oddest Lovers card you’ve ever seen?

February is the month of Lovers. Well, it’s the month of Valentine’s Day, and for a tarot reader, that means being inundated with questions about couplings. Does he love me? Will she marry me? Will we end up together? What kind of love will I find? What kind of love do I need? How do I attract a lover? I don’t mind answering these kinds of questions; the desire to find and maintain fulfilling love-relationships is one of the human experiences that we all share in common. It’s so big in our lives, that the Major Arcana of the tarot has a card devoted specifically to it.

The Lovers card from the Victoria Regina Tarot

The Lovers card in a tarot deck is the sixth card in the Major Arcana. In the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, which is arguably the most common tarot in the Western world, the card is illustrated with the archangel Raphael bestowing a blessing of prosperity over a nude couple (presumably Adam and Eve). Behind the woman is the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the snake – which persuades the female to choose her own destiny. Behind the male is the Tree of Life, set aflame with twelve leaves, which represent the signs of the Zodiac – which he uses to make informed decisions. The woman looks to the angel for divine inspiration, while the man looks to the woman. They are partners, two halves of a whole, but they play very different roles in their relationship. The card is commonly illustrated with two or more figures, embracing or reaching out to each other. Some decks include the third figure (or snake) to introduce the aspect of choice in union – that is to say, the innovators of the tarot understood that the relationships that we enter into are by choice, and that our choices have the power to hurt others.

The Lovers from The Prairie Tarot and the Bohemian Gothic Tarot

When the Lovers card comes up in a reading, it can be interpreted as an external relationship – one that is either romantic or platonic, depending on the context of the card in the reading – or it can refer to dualities within the sitter (the person whose cards are being read). Often the card refers to two opposing forces at work operating within our lives and the card directly speaks to our interactions with other people.

The Lovers from the Deviant Moon Tarot and the Paulina Tarot

I have been long fascinated with the masculine/feminine duality/opposites aspects of The Lovers card. In the tarot, “masculine” cards tends to exert outward influence on their environments. They deal in the conscious, practical, the mundane, and the theoretical. While “feminine” cards in a tarot focus on the unconscious, internal, intuitive, emotional, whimsical or dream realm and the possible. Both of these forces are present on this one card.

The take away lesson of The Lovers card though, is that balance is needed in order to achieve harmony. For example, we fall in love based on feelings, but we enter into relationships consciously. Relationships can be messy, hurtful, or divinely blissful – but if they’re going to be successful, they come with the understanding that there’s compromises and choices to be made and maintain. We can embrace the differences between us and be lovers, or we can ignore or fight about it. And everyone knows that in order to love fully and in a way that will satisfy the emotional needs of any other person, we must first learn to love ourselves.

The Lovers card from the Fantastic Menagerie Tarot

Let’s spend some time examining the dualities we find within ourselves and in our interactions with others. Try these exercises:

1. Ask yourself: if I were a pack of tarot cards, which aspects of me would be “masculine” cards? Which aspects of me would be “feminine” cards? For example, I tend to dominate in personal relationships, but I have a very deep, strong, intuitive well that I draw from when I need to make important decisions.

2. What is your intuitive sense about what kind of energy you will need to invite into your life in order to bring balance to your life right now? Look through a tarot deck and find a card that you feel is representative of that energy and use it as a jumping off point for journaling or meditation.

3. Imagine yourself if your perfect relationship. What do you bring to the table? What does your ideal partner bring to the table? How do you two balance each other out? What compromises does the balance require? What choices do you need to consciously make in order for the relationship to work? Try this five-card spread when working with the tarot to discern the nature of personal relationships:

1. the signifier (choose this card intentionally to describe the nature of the relationship)
2. Person A – what is conscious | 3. Person B – what is conscious
4. Person A – what is unconscious | 5. Person B – what is unconscious

Love should be cultivated in all corners of our lives – romantically, platonically and within ourselves. While love may be based in what we cannot understand (the unconscious), true, lasting and satisfying relationships are formed when we carefully cultivate an understanding and acceptance of the true nature of ourselves and others. Using the tarot is one way to arrive at that kind of understanding.

If you have questions or get stuck with your interpretations, feel free to leave a comment here, on facebook or send me an email!

Intuition presents itself in different ways. Sometimes those bits of flying-about Universe that catch in our dreams, visions, mind eyes and hearts, are messy to process. Sometimes it’s painful to hear. Sometimes it’s the obvious you were avoiding. Sometimes it’s the inspiration you were waiting for.

And sometimes it’s the tears at the grocery store. Pushing us toward flour, salt and water.

Sometimes it’s the bleakness of midwinter.

That if we can look past, would unveil, through the spitting snow and biting cold, a kind of life still in the trees.

Sometimes it’s sweetness in an indulgence. A sacred moment that we can prolong for hours through ingenuity.

And sometimes it’s a skill we have to invoke, by creating a space and waiting for the light — which is easy to find if we stand very still, and are willing to get very, very close.

I have an intuitive sense for magic-making and for seeing patterns that unfold into the future, like an origami chain building in one direction, one mountain or valley at a time. But it’s not something I can do on auto-pilot (at least, not yet). I have to slow down, listen carefully and get present to make it work. My coincidences start to pile up when I choose instead to bury my head as though  it doesn’t exist. Being intuitive isn’t always fun. Mostly it’s not fun at all. And I would like to pretend I could live in ignorant bliss of the future, of my path, of your path; of the pain I know we will both experience. But then I read cards for someone who is desperately clinging to that ignorance, and I realize that it’s not blissful at all.

What is most important for you to remember is that you are NOT CRAZY for listening to the voice of your inner self. Your intuitive sense is perhaps the most important sense you can develop. Like our other senses, it is how we navigate our lives. How we make decisions. How we experience the sacred (or mundane) of our everydays.

How do you experience yours?

The Moon is a lady. Her face, slipping through veils of wisp-tailed clouds. It was as it was meant to be. Her, in her fullness. Me, arched back in bed. The cool swell of her light, right where I might best spy, lying there comfortably in my tangle of blankets.

I always, when I plan magic like this, assume that the right ritual will somehow spill from head. I trust The Universe. We have this thing, you know. What I need will come to me. So that night, under Her full roundness, I found myself lying in bed, whispering a love spell… can you believe it?! I hardly can myself.

***

I am a handy lady, let’s just say. So when the sheetrock bathroom ceiling began to crumble and fall down, I did not take the advice of friends (“Here’s the number of a guy I know...”), but instead went to the home improvement store. I always, when I plan magic like this, assume the solution will just fall into my lap. So I milled about the aisles for a bit when I came upon the 1’x1’ ceiling tiles. Ah ha! This has got to be a billion times easier than hanging drywall overhead! I have installed tongue and groove flooring before, so the concept was similar. I was sassy with satisfaction of my brilliance. Who needs a guy!? I can do it all. 

Fast forward to Saturday. I’ve got a few of those babies hanging on the ceiling. It looks… like it’s all coming together. I take a break and drink coffee. I think, why does anyone need anyone? I snap a picture of my progress, so I can file it away in my scrapbook for later. I am a goddess. After this, I’m planning to bake a loaf of bread, change the oil in my car and crochet a fucking doily.

Halfway through my project the ceiling gets… wonky, let’s just say. I realize I should have made sure I was working on a level surface. I was unprepared for how crooked the corners of the room were. I start to wonder if it’s actually a two-person job, holding the end pieces up, which seem hell-bent on pulling all my work down. Everything, suddenly, is getting really metaphorical.

And that’s of course when it hits me. A message from The Universe. A peek into my future. And it’s super inconvenient because I can’t leave to go write it down, I have to hold these damn tiles up till the glue cures. So I’m standing on this ladder. In my bathroom. Holding up the ceiling. My kids are fighting over Goldfish crackers in the other room. And I’m having a stroke of brilliance.

Along with this, though, a growing awareness that my ceiling project is going to fail. For whatever reason, the corners are now starting to sag. I hear the glue creaking and moaning. I don’t have enough arms to save the work. I whisper a little prayer, release my grip, step down off the ladder and cover my neck as the ceiling falls down on me.

Sometimes all you can do is all you can do.

***

After I cleaned up the mess in the bathroom and showered, I told the kids we were going to a restaurant for dinner. This is a treat, if only because it can be harrowing to take both my wee babes to dinner by myself. Mama needs a margarita was encoded in “How about Mexican?” They were thrilled by the idea, so we went.

After a lovely dinner, which they both ate like people even, the waitress stopped at my table to compliment me on how beautiful and well behaved my kids were (they really were inordinately good). “You’re so blessed. SO BLESSED.” She repeated as if I needed the emphasis.

We all walked hand in hand to the car. The Universe was prodding me again. A purpose tucked away in mind, the blessings of two small hands in my hands. I oriented myself, searching for the Moon in the night. Give me the love I need, I implored her full face a week ago. There she was, a waning grin in the sky.

Tomorrow I’ll call a guy about the ceiling.

I have two Kalanchoes in my houseplant collection. One I have had for almost two years in February. Another I bought in November. It did not occur strange to me that both were in bloom when I obtained them. I also don’t recall the process my first Kalanchoe went through after it stopped blooming, but the plant looks very different now than it did when I first got it (I assumed it was an off year for the dear plant). My second Kalanchoe stopped blooming when I returned from my holiday travels. The flowers were brown and shriveled. Sullivan mentioned that it had died. I took it to the sink and began pinching them off. Then I realized I didn’t know anything about these plants, so I did some research on the internet.

It turns out Kalanchoe’s are forced into blooming out of season through artificial stimulation by the commercial growers. Apparently the process is “difficult” though I couldn’t find a description of exactly what was involved (closely controlled climate, I imagine). And the result is that the plant will flower once, but is unlikely to flower again. The plants are therefore considered “throwaway” houseplants. However some of the articles say it’s possible, since a Kalanchoe will naturally flower in the spring if left to it’s own devices, for it to bloom again. I trimmed the heads off my plant and made a spot on the table for it to rest during the winter.

What struck me about this experience, is that even when it’s not in bloom, my Kalanchoes are lovely little green living things, and I wonder how many of them are chucked out into the cold once their flowers begin to fall.

At the grocery.

Freyja was climbing out of the cart, Sullivan was running circles around me. The aisles were crammed full of people doing their shopping. I stood in the bread aisle, trying to decide which bread to buy.

I did not know which bread to buy.

There were perhaps a hundred different varieties. Multiple brands, “name brand” and generic, of the same type of bread. White. Wheat. Some mixture. Whole grain white. Whole grain wheat. Some combination. Rye. Raisin. Sourdough. All packaged in colorful plastic bags. Why are there so many types of bread in the store? Who buys all these different breads? Who buys the same bread in different colorful plastic bags? Why are all of these breads made and brought here?

I did not know which to buy.

The kids were asking me to let them ride the moving plastic horse in the front of the store. Many people were moving close to me with their carts full of boxes of things and jars of stuff.

The breads were all bagged in different colorful bags.

A man was stocking the shelves. An older man was asking the bread stocker about the bread. He was complaining that the brand on sale did not freeze well. That he suspected that it was more than a day old.

The bread stocker laughed, “Well I know it’s more than a day old. That’s why it’s all so cheap!”

All of the loaves of bread became Leggo blocks. Everything was plastic and multicolored. The man stocking the bread was a Leggo man. The old man was a Leggo man.

Tears came to my eyes. A Leggo woman with a full cart of Leggo blocks next to me whispered, “Are you okay?”

I said, “I don’t know which bread to buy.”

“Don’t stress out about it. Just pick one. They’re all the same, really.”

“Thank you, no.” I whispered. A pit grew in my stomach. I couldn’t feed my children plastic. I didn’t buy any bread.

The picture above is not mine.

I set an alarm for 2:20 a.m. A time I figured would give me some minutes to dress, find my coat and camera and head outside to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower. Of course, five minutes before my cell alarm went off, Sullivan ran into my room frightened from a nightmare. A few minutes later, the curious alarm woke him up completely. I told him we were going to go outside to look at meteors, a topic he has some interest in (as a dinosaur aficionado - have I mentioned he’s 4?). We bundled up and went out into the back yard with our little dog.

The sky was cloudy and the city lights sent a haze over the moon, but I could see some stars and I could see Mars and what I suspected was Venus. I pointed these out to him (he was unimpressed). After fifteen or so minutes, the dog started whining to go inside. Sullivan started asking me questions like “Are you sure meteors are real?” in the same tone of voice he asks me about fairies, trolls, magic, Santa and the Greek gods I tell him stories about. With the same skepticism that he asks, “Are you sure this plant is still alive?” With that same look he gives me when I am wiping my eyes in the grocery store because everything is made of plastic; his fruitbat, card-throwing, gypsy mama, who has no answers, this time, but a string of questions and coincidences that feel connected through the ether, asking him to watch some endless sky in the frigid cold for some mystical phenomena that may not even exist in his world.

We did not see a single meteor after twenty minutes, so we came inside, the dog, the boy and I. I put him to bed, but it was perhaps too late. He had trouble sleeping the rest of the night. I sat at the table, gnawing on my decisions, some pit growing in my stomach, retelling the entire story to a tired and spent houseplant.

2012. Pretty crazy, huh!

And with it, as with every New Year we move into, buzz about resolutions and reflections. What will you change? What will you make better? What went well? What went horribly wrong?

It makes sense to do this, by the way. We’re wired to recognize patterns and cycles and the turning over of that calendar page is a natural kind of demarcation for us. You could be cynical about it — refuse to take part. Decry resolutions as setting oneself up for failure. Or you might be an optimist, I suppose, and cheerfully make yourself a list. I fall somewhere in the middle.

Though I find that the year end time for me is best spent in reflection. And oh boy, was 2011 a doozey for me! Good, bad, everything in-between. You know, the normal life kind of year. How did yours go? Normal as well, I’m guessing (no matter how wrapped up in it you probably feel).

I’ve got something for you, if you’re the introspective type like I am. I was sitting with my cards the other evening like I do when I entered into some frantic tantric tarot-inspired journalling. I wasn’t reading cards in the sense that I was asking questions and divining answers. Rather, I was pulling the cards and letting them ask me. It was a different kind of experience for me. Kinda good. Kinda scary. A lot helpful. Because the cards gave me memories back that I might not have attached importance to before. They reminded me of things that I had forgotten (but should remember). They validated a lot of my feelings about painful events and helped me to see those .

And then I got to thinking about it — how this might be helpful to you, gentle readers. So I put together a booklet, staring the Payen Tarot de Marseille, with 22 reflective writing prompts.

As an experiement, I made this as a slideshow on google documents. You can preview the presentation here:

Each card of the Major Arcana is paired with some questions for reflection and a prompt to make a list. If you’re not a compulsive journaller like I am, you may enjoy making the lists instead. I recommend you write them on index cards, use a hole punch and binder ring to keep them together. Save them for next year and see how your experiences change (or how much they stay the same!).

If you like what you see, I’ve got two options for downloading. The first has four “slides” on each page with the background. Download this option if you have no plans of printing out the slides.

Download 22reflect : 2011 (the pretty version) here.

If you think you’ll want to print the slides and make cards, I’ve got a version without the background. Print them out on cardstock and bind them to use as you move throughout the next few weeks, or make your lists on the back of the cards.

Download 22reflect : 2011 (the printable version) here.

And if you like it a whole bunch, you might consider buying me a cup of coffee (or other celebratory drink).

I know I promise a reading with the Tombstone blueprint. At this point, I don’t think it’s going to happen! I started getting sick last Wednesday and it’s been Week of the Living Dead at my house ever since. I love the fall, but you know what really scares me? Cold and flu season.

And yet, I have a few items of note to share with you:

Did you know I write cartoscopes (horoscopes cast on a Grand Tableau using Lenormand cards) for Wild Sister?

Issue 4 dropped on Monday and once again, the Jen, the beautiful editor, has outdone herself. The theme is magic — which is lovely for this time of year. It’s an instant download and is beautifully illustrated with photographs and art (not to mention fantastic and inspiring writing from members of the community).

 

Lenormand.info has been re-designed and Lenormand 101 is now live!

You can expect another re-design in the near future as well! Though the course is functional, the overwhelming response I’ve gotten has made management a little tedious. My tech team (eh hem…) has discovered a better way to handle registration and I’ll be implementing that in the near future. In the meanwhile, I’ve been blown away by the feedback and testimonials I’ve generously received from my tribe.

I had the pleasure and the privilege of meeting Melissa and hearing her talk about the Lenormand at the Reader’s Studio 2011.  These cards and her method drew me in instantly, and I KNEW I had found the missing link. I have just finished with her Lenormand 101 class which is nothing short of brilliant…easy to access, easy to understand and the cards, within minutes, come alive!! The few questions that I had were answered instantly on email and clarified anything I wanted to know. I look forward to further lessons with the Sassy Sybil, as FAST as she can possibly prepare them. Thank you for your overwhelming generosity, Melissa, in sharing this information with us.

Warm regards from Belgium/Israel

Joy Lerner

I can’t stress enough: If you have no experience with cards. If you’ve never picked up a deck of cards, but have always been interested. If you’re overwhelmed with the prospect of learning a divinatory system. If you’ve been reading tarot for years, but can’t wrap your mind around a different deck of cards, this class is for you.

And finally…

I’ve started writing letters. See that fancy new button at the top of my blog? Yeah, here’s the scoop on that.

I have a new tarot blueprint. I think I’ll release it into the wild tomorrow, since I am unable to make a video with a reading sample (well, I could, but no one wants to see me hacking all over my webcam and wiping my nose while reading cards…). Until then, gentle readers, exes and ohs!

RABBIT RABBIT!

And it’s October, so this is the specific rabbit I’m talking about (or maybe this one).

Moving right along with our series on contemplative tarot reading, the blueprint I offer you today is called the Tombstone. This reading will examine the nature of our lives here on this plane and what we will leave behind when we move to the next. HEAVY, am I right? Contemplative tarot is not for the weak of heart! If thinking about death depresses or frightens you, or you feel you’re not stable enough to take on a reading of this nature, DON’T DO IT. If you can approach it with a curious and courageous spirit, knowing your safe and grounded, you’ll be fine. Also, be bold! Ask The Universe BIG questions! You’ll get big answers back.

Before we begin, grab your cards. I’ll wait. It might be wise to get grounded now (click play! Isn’t that easy?!):

[haiku url=“http://sassysibyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/groundingmeditation.mp3” title=“Grounding Meditation” graphical=“true”]

The metaphor we use in this spread is a tombstone (clearly), with the epitaph written on it. An epitaph is a short verse that honors the dead. Typically inscribed on the headstone, the verse can be witty, serious, personal or a “message from beyond”. Some of my favorite epitaphs are:

Jesse James (American outlaw & folk hero — if you aren’t familiar with the tale, he was shot in the back while hanging a picture on the wall):

MURDERED BY A TRAITOR AND A COWARD
WHOSE NAME IS NOT WORTHY TO APPEAR HERE

Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung’s tombstone is inscribed with:

VOCATUS ATQUE NON VOCATUS DEUS ADERIT

Which translates to “Invoked or not, the God is present.”

William Butler Yeats, Irish poet (you should really know who he is anyway!), has on his tombstone, some lines from one of his last, stoic poems:

Cast a cold Eye
On Life, on Death.
Horseman, pass by!

So let’s review: An epitaph is a statement that honors the dead. It can be a truism, advice, a bit of lovely verse, whatever the deceased (while still living) had requested, etc. The blueprint we’re working with today uses a rather famous Scottish epitaph, “Consider friend, as you pass by: as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, you too shall be. Prepare, therefore, to follow me.”

This blueprint does follow a specific order. Deep breath, lay out four cards starting with the top left. Next will be top right, then bottom left and bottom right.

Let’s break down the metaphor with some suggestions for interpretation:

Consider friend, as you pass by: — How do you live your life? Where are you currently? What is your current mode of being?

As you are now, so once was I. — What is the nature of life? What is the nature of my life? What is your personal legacy to live out? What is your ancestral legacy live out? Where are you called from? Who has called you to purpose? What do you need to consider?

As I am now, you too shall be. — What is the nature of death? What will be left behind? What will be remembered? What is your personal legacy to leave? What is your ancestral legacy to leave? What considerations should be made?

Prepare, therefore, to follow me. — What is your potential for living? What can be done for improvement? What can be changed? What might I change about my current mode of being?

Now the challenge! See if you can distill the top two cards into one sentence. See if you can distill the bottom two cards into a sentence. In other words, see if you can write a two-line epitaph that honors your life, from these four cards.

Consider, with these four cards as the framework for your consideration, how you want your life to be honored. Are you living up to your expectations?

It’s okay if you’re not. It’s okay if you can’t come up with anything. Again, these readings are to be done primarily for personal reflection and as a jumping off point for journaling.

Go offline for a bit and try the reading. You can download a beautiful PDF containing the spread by right clicking and saving right here!

The next post will be a video sampling this blueprint. In the meanwhile, try out the spread and let me know what you think! If you post about it on your blog, please leave a comment below so I can scope it out! Until then, gentle reader, I leave you with the epitaph engraved on the headstone of Frank Sinatra:

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

PS: If you want a weekly email with blog-post re-caps, you can sign up for that here (it’s a DIFFERENT list than the one on my sidebar. This ONLY sends you blog posts (on Thursdays)):