Friday, February 25, 2011

Early!

I'm posting much earlier than usual, so it might seem to some like I'm doing 2 posts in a single day. Nah, I just want to go to a party tonight and am being a grown up and taking care of business first.

I went to a workshop today at the Sacred Space Conference called "Interviewing the Divine: Using Tarot to investigate obscure deities." about using tarot to learn more about obscure deities. WOW! What an awesome idea and I'm angry at myself for not thinking of this and grateful to Dawn Footer for presenting this wonderful workshop and a space in which to explore using this tool and its efficacy.

I have always used tarot to look into my immediate future, to consult about a spell-working or specific ritual, or to look into the future for friends. I used to read tarot cards for my friends in high school. In my school we'd get 2 free periods a day and kids would routinely sit in the halls with each other and hang out, have lunch, socialize, etc. I'd often be found sitting against the wall with a cloth on the floor and the cards spread. I remember the Principal coming by and watching me do a reading with interest. I asked if he wanted his cards read but he politely declined lol Back then I was brash and bold and very Page of Wands. I'm at a point where I don't want to go looking for trouble, so to speak. If I need to know something, I'd rather get the information through a dream. I have put away my cards for a long time. I've taken them up again in recent weeks to check on some spellwork because I wasn't doing it for me and I wanted to know if my lending help would be for the best, or if the type of help I could provide would be useful.


There are many deities of whom we have no record, but who still call to us or try to speak to us. In today's workshop we were given the name of a deity, their country and basic gender. Aka, a Mother Goddess from Turkey. We broke out into 4 groups of 4 and each of us answered, using our tarot decks, a series of questions. Then each group of 4 internally compared their findings, then the whole group compared notes. It was amazing how much overlap there was between the cards that were pulled and the cohesive imagery and story that wove together with all of us answering these questions.

There were 8 on the sheet, but rebel that I am, I plan to use some of them and modify others. I noticed that when I changed one of the questions, I got a different answer than the others, but one which was consistent. The original question was "How would you like me to work with you?" I had a problem with this question because to me, it felt like it would be an invitation to work together, and since this was only supposed to be an interview for practice, I wasn't comfortable asking that. Instead I asked "What do you need done for you?" The answer I received fit in perfectly with the narrative. I was very impressed. This is a wonderful, visual, practical way of directly communicating with those you wish to know better.

I want to learn more about the little known pre-Roman deities, especially the Sabine and Etruscan and the ones from the neolithic age in Sicily before the Sicels and Sikels. Now I have a tool to do it! Dawn counseled us to not work with too many too quickly because the messages could get muddled. Makes sense! After all, it's an interview, not a party. You only want to hear one voice at a time.

Gratitude to Dawn for helping me reconnect with my Tarot and hopefully connect with those I seek to know.

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