Tarot Radio Show | 25 March 2013

I've been a bit remiss at posting the links to the Tarot Radio shows, but here's a link to the podcast culled from the 2 hour show of 29 April 2013.  Relax - it's not a 2hour podcast, it's about 35 minutes.  You can download it, even if it's only for the soporific effect of a Glaswegian voice!

https://soundcloud.com/alison-cross/radio-bute-tarot-talk-podcast

Tarot Blog Hop | Beltane

You say Tomato, I say Tomato
You spell it Judgment, I spell it Judgement
Does it matter?! :)

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

If you're here because you have hopped upon the Tarot Blog Hop and alighted here from either Stella or Cher's place - I'm really pleased to see you!  If you are a regular reader and are wondering about this Tarot Blog Hop thing,  here's the facebook details so that YOU can take part in the next one! And, of course, I'm really pleased to see YOU here again too!

The question set to us by the Beltane Tarot blog wrangler, Arwen Lynch, is:  What traditions are important to you in how you read Tarot?

Initially, I just stared at the question blankly:  I didn't have any traditions, did I?  But, of course, I DO have traditions

Here are some of mine:

Protecting Artists' Work - can WE help?

When I'm creating a blog post here at Thrones Towers, I like to illustrate it with one or two card images.

Sometimes it's the image that's important, rather than the card.  For example, if I am blogging about masks, I might search for a Tarot card that shows a mask: I'm not concerned whether it's the 10 of Swords or The Magician.

Other times, I might be talking about a specific card or even a specific card in a specific deck: Would any Page of Wands card would do? Let's pick some nice ones!  Or maybe I need the Page of Wands from Alexander Daniloff's Tarot specifically. So, let's go get him!

What do I do?

I would like to tell you that I go to every artist and ask for their permission to use their cards in my blog posts, but I don't.

Boston

So, there I was last night, plinky-plonking away on the ipad's tiny keyboard with my eyes smarting from squinting in the darkness when I noticed that the TV seemed to be showing rather a lot of footage of people from Boston.  I was working with the sound turned down.  Why I didn't just turn the damned telly off, I don't know. I like the company.  Even if it is Jeremy Paxman.  I turned the sound up and the full horror seeped through the screen and into my living room.

How strange to be working away diligently on a blog post about the history of Tarot cards when some person (I use that term very loosely) was blowing up a whole crowd of cheering, happy people who were simply raising funds for charity.

Who would do such a thing?  The media speculation begins.  So I decided to speculate myself.  I reached for my RWS deck, shuffled and drew a card: 8 Cups.

This is my take:  Whomever is behind the bombing seems to be someone who is disenchanted with how life is for them - those cups are artfully arranged to look like there is one missing.  But, of course, there ISN'T one missing (otherwise it would be the 9 of Cups!).

Lots of people would be happy with 8 golden Cups, but not this person.  They have turned their back on their (comfortable? happy-looking?) life and headed off to seek for truth.  But what truth are they finding?  There's no objective truth in an ideology - whatever ideology it might be.  Heck, sometimes it's hard to find a definitive truth about ANYTHING - the sky isn't blue, mountains aren't solid, there are sounds and colours that are beyond our capacity to experience, Justin Bieber isn't that good a singer.

Does the red cloak have any significance here, for this question? Matadors have red cloaks.  Men who goad bulls to anger and violence? Little Red Riding Hood had a red cloak. She outwitted a big bad wolf.

Maybe the only difference between a terrorist (a matador) and a freedom fighter (Little Red Riding Hood) is where you find yourself when he acts out his ideology?

My second question was direct - Foreign or Domestic?

The card drawn is the Queen of Pentacles.  She sits in a lush setting and is well-dressed - someone who is not short of a dollar or two.

The Queen is not a character that you would associate with any kind of violence.  But Pentacles IS the suit of home and hearth.  Does this signify a home-grown terrorist?  Or does it just mean that the bomber is someone who feels that their hearth and home needs defended against 'American Imperialism'?

Or is it simply to do with money? She's totally focussed on that Pentacle....

How would you interpret these two cards for my questions? And have you drawn cards about this horrific act to see what the cards have to say?

All thoughts are with the people of Boston.

Tarot Challenge | Day 9

She's the gal for me!

Question: What card do I pull the most often? Why do I think that is the case?

I had a look back through the Tarot cards that I have pulled when I was selecting a Court Card's energies to guide me from a) the dark moon to the full moon or b) the full moon to the dark moon.  The card most drawn is the Queen of Wands.

I'm quite pleased about this as I am working towards being a bit more Queen of Wandsy.

Naturally, I think I tend to live in my interior landscape, mainly inside my head, as per the suit of Swords.  I admit that I am more comfortable relying on my thought processes than, say, on my emotions.  I find my emotions unreliable and easily influenced by things like music, art and hormones. 

I went to an art exhibition in Glasgow a couple of years ago that featured the work of the Glasgow Boys. I got all weepy over a painting of poppies, their gorgeous petals scattered around their vase. I burst into tears.  Which was quite unexpected.  And hugely embarrassing.  I put it down to being Hormonal.  So, emotions are, for me, fickle things that can be influenced by a poorly-timed listen to a Leonard Cohen CD.