New Year, New Stuff
My next Holistic Show is February 6, 7, 8 at Gibraltar
Trade Center in Mt. Clemens.
Incense: 2 new scents. Sage, which we
all know is great for cleansing. Also good for meditation, purification,
and healing. The other is clove & lavender which I call Clovender.
These two scents are good for protection, calming, and enhancing psychic
energies. I also have a soap by this name, which I created when my
friend Storm made this same incense. I loved the smell so had to steal
it. The
soap also has instant coffee in it to make it a light brown and
changes the scent slightly.
I will start making candles in February. Between
the holidays and now inventory plus taxes, it was best to put it off.
February is when Infinite Flame was first started. Imbolc, February
2, is a holiday associated with Brigit, whom the candle business is
dedicated to. And the February & March shows are spaced farther
apart so I have more time in between. The plan right now is to create
the element set for the 4 directions
first so I can use a set myself to cast circles. Then to create the
Prosperity candles as they were
the best sellers and most requested.
I hope to have the newsletter on time in 2015 but
it is a good idea to follow Infinite
Flame on Facebook to keep up with what’s new. With my tablet
it is super easy for me to take pictures and post them as I create
new things. This is also where I announce days that I’m available
for tarot readings.
I am taking the booking app off my tarot website so
now you can email me to set up an appointment. Go to TarotTemptress.com
for more info on my readings.
Things are going good for me otherwise. Michael is
back in town and tried to get a hold of me. HA! He ruined our relationship
by keeping in touch with his ex and left to be with her but didn’t
last very long. Too bad, so sad, but he isn’t coming back. I
can, and will, do better and he can tell his lies to someone else.
I love Karma.
History of the Tarot?
Unfortunately, no one really knows exactly where
the tarot comes from. It makes me sad and angry when I think of all
the killing that went on in the name of religion when it was “convert
or die”. All those innocent people died because they wanted to
hold on to their beliefs. And so much important information and knowledge
died with them. Any religion that chooses to use such force to convert
people is not a religion I want any part of.
There are many theories of how the tarot came to be.
It is thought that the first decks were created as a way to teach
the masses, who could not read or write, about the mythology of the
Gods and Goddesses of the times. The images on the suits might tell
a story that teaches a lesson. This, to me, makes a lot of sense as
we now use the images on the cards to tell us what is going on in
our lives. These decks were often held together with a string to keep
them in order and were called “books”. They were dubbed
Books of Life.
Some say the cards originated in the Orient, where
they disseminated religious ideas through cards, dice, and colorful
board games like the Tantric Buddhist “Game of Rebirth”.
Similar games were found in other cultures. The early card game Faro,
“the Game of Kings”, named after Egyptian pharaohs by
the gypsies, is another example. Gypsies have always been associated
with tarot cards. When they first appeared in Germany, they claimed
to be from Little Egypt because they knew that area was associated
with magic and mystery. The name came from “Egyptians”
changed to ‘Gypties. They really came from India, carrying
their Hindu sacred books as card packs.
The gypsies are a main reason why the cards became
associated with the occult. They believed in the Great Mother and
the Christians were working hard to stamp out that faith. Gypsies
used the cards to tell fortunes for money or food. This is most likely
when the cards firmly became associated with divination, no matter
which deck or where they originated.
There are two references I found on how the deck got
the name. One is that it came from various names for the Mother Goddess
or Mother Earth. The Celts: Tara or Taranis, the Semites:
Terah, the Romans: Terra Mater. The other theory relates
to the Italian. In the fifteenth century, the word trionfi
was used to designate the 22 major arcana. The word tarocchi
(plural of tarocco) was not used until the beginning of the
following century, when it then referred to the entire deck. Arcanum
which comes from the Latin word arcanus, meaning mystery, is
the root of the word arcana.
The oldest deck is the deck belonging to the Visconti-Sforza
family, which ruled in Milan from the thirteenth to the fifteenth
century. There are three decks, none complete, that were discovered.
The tarot of Marseilles is believed to have been designed at the end
of the seventeenth century. This deck has symbolism that is very easy
to understand, they are more neutral and simple. This deck is often
the model for present decks.
There is much more information out there about the
history of the tarot, entire books in fact. So I won’t get too
much more into it as this is a newsletter, not a book. If I’ve
peaked your interest, then please find a good book on the subject
and enjoy. Don’t be surprised though if you read several books
and they have slightly different theories. I have three books in front
of me and they all differ in their historical information.
The thing to remember is that tarot cards themselves
are not “of the devil”, that is nonsense invented by early
Christians who feared anything that gave the masses power. Tarot decks
are beautiful collections of art that tell a story and can be used
as a tool to empower us to take charge of our lives.
So What Exactly Are Tarot Cards
A tarot card deck consists of 78 cards. 22
major arcana cards and the four suits; wands, cups, swords, and pentacles.
Each suit starts with an ace and has a page, knight, queen, and king.
The major arcana cards are more significant in a reading and
let you know major forces at work. The minor arcana, the court
cards, deal with every day events.
Cups are associated with water and deal with
emotions and feelings. These often indicate your love life or things
you care deeply about. Pentacles are associated with earth
and deal with business, career, money, the necessities of life. Wands
are associated with fire and deal with creativity and movement, things
that are in the works. Swords are associated with air and deal
with ideas, thoughts, learning and lessons. Swords often indicate
a struggle of some sort. (Some decks have wands as air and swords
as fire, and some readers use these associations also)
The major arcana cards, when laid out in order, show
The Fool’s journey through life. The first card, often numbered
0, is The Fool. He meets various people, The Magician, The
Empress, The Emperor, The High Priestess, The Heirophant. All
who teach him many things. He learns lessons from The Chariot,
The Lovers, The Hermit, finds Strength and Temperance,
moves along The Wheel of Fortune and has everything come tumbling
down like The Tower. Experiences Justice and Death,
meets The Hanged Man and The Devil, finds hope among
The Moon, The Sun, and the Star. In the end he faces
Judgement and receives The World. The cycle is complete,
and it starts all over again.
All these things are depicted on the cards with beautiful
artwork. There are hundreds of decks available so anyone should be
able to find a deck they relate to. I myself have many decks. Some
I actually use, like The Mythic Tarot and The Dragon Tarot.
Some are just for fun, I have seen a Gummy Bears Tarot. I even
posses a deck called Tarot For Your Cat which has advice like
“A good day to nap on clean laundry”! Hmmm, maybe I should
offer readings for cats…….
I choose my decks by looking at the suits first. If
the 4 of swords is just a picture of four swords, I put it back. I
want images on all the cards. I love the more creative decks. One
is called Tarot of the Cat People and the artist actually created
a whole world around this idea. The book is a very interesting read.
I also like decks that come with a book, although I have bought some
without a book if I really like the artwork. Two examples are the
Luis Royo decks, The Dark Tarot and The Labyrinth Tarot
(the deck with the image I use on my site).
There are other decks that are not considered tarot
decks but are still used for divination. These have less cards and
follow a certain theme like angels, goddesses, trees and the like.
Many readers offer readings with a traditional tarot deck or an angel
deck or even combine both. I think its kinda funny when someone wants
a reading but doesn’t want tarot cards because they think they
are evil. Card are just cards. Putting traditional tarot images or
angel images on them does not make them more or less evil.
The reader puts the cards in certain patterns that
are called spreads. The most popular of these is the Celtic
Cross. This is a great spread to use when there is a specific
question. Some readers simply lay the cards in three rows of cards,
with varying number of cards in each row. This is often called The
Gypsy Spread and there are a few variations on it. A reader can
easily make up their own spread to use if it makes it easier for them
to give the questioner their answer. More in depth spreads, like The
Tree of Life aka Kabbala spread, can take a long time to read
but gives a lot of information. I do a 32 cards spread every Halloween
to tell me what the coming year holds. It takes some time but I’m
very curious so I want to know everything.
The cards have traditional meanings that readers use
as a basis to divine information about the questioner and their life.
Some readers are also psychic and use that info to. Tarot reading
is a talent and I believe anyone can learn to read them if they have
an open mind. Negativity won’t work with the tarot cards and
sometimes readings don’t go very well if a reader tries to do
a reading for a person who tells themselves its all a bunch of bull.
I have talked with many people who have had readings
by a professional and there is a mix of good and bad reviews. I think
there are several factors that make a reading “bad”.
- The customer could be blocking the reader, either
consciously or unconsciously.
- The energy of the reader and the customer could
be clashing for some reason.
- The reader could be having an off day or is somewhat
distracted by something occurring in their own life.
- After the reading the customer changed their actions
thus rendering the reading null and void.
- The customer didn’t hear what they wanted
to hear or thought they were going to hear.
- Or they could have gone to one of the few bad readers
out there.
So bad readings could be caused by either the reader
or the customer. It happens. Don’t let one bad apple spoil the
whole bunch. Get several readings from different readers until you
find one you “click” with and you should be happy.
And this should go without saying but……beware
the reader who tells you that someone has cursed you or put a spell
on you and they will remove it for an additional fee. Just come
to me and I’ll remove it for half the price! Just kidding. But
I seriously have had a couple people at shows tell me someone told
them they were cursed. So there are people out there that do this.
If you seriously believe this, or truly feel you are cursed, YOU can
stop it with your own energy and actions. But that is a different
subject. Don’t fall for this scam.
Blessed be,
~~~~Rhiannon Rose @--^--
