fajrdrako: (Default)

  • Read comics. Discovered a whole series of Avengers comics that I'd missed, from the 1990s, written and drawn (mostly) by Rob Liefeld. What a hoot - seeing Nick Fury in Liefeld-type battle gear that is absolutely fabulous. After the Liefeld art, we had art by Michael Ryan, and then, to my delight, one of my favourites from that era - Ian Churchill, who did some lovely work on X-Factor at about that time.

  • Went to the First Avenue Public School Book Sale. It was mobbed. Pim sent me a photo of the line to get in - winding around the block. By the time I got there, it was crowded, but I was able to walk right in. Pim was there, and [livejournal.com profile] josannpq. Browsed, but failed to find the things I was actually looking for, so I bought:

    1. Lionheart by Herbert Strang and Richard Stead. I got it because I liked the cover and the coloured plate illustrations inside, though the book is in rather bad shape.



    2. Two travel books: The Best Travel Writing 2006: True Stories From Around the World, and A Fortune-Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani.

    3. Three medieval history books: The Renaissance of teh 12th Century by Charles Homer Haskins, the classic Feudal Society by Marc Bloch (with a nice cover picture from the Bayeux Tapestry), and The Medieval World by Friedrich Heer. I read the first two, very long ago.

    It makes me happy to see a book sale so well attended, so enthusiastically attended. Just a tiny neighbourhood book sale to raise money for a school, and hundreds of people there on the first day.

  • Went to a Tarot Club meeting, where we talked about relationships - how we read relationships in the cards, and what cards (or combinations) might mean certain things. It was fun.

  • With supper I drank something called the Miami Sunset. It was embarrassingly read. It tasted fine, but wasn't excuting - not something I particularly want to order again. I need to look up more drink recipes so I'll know what to order.

  • It was a beautiful evening, and I walked home along the canal, enjoying the mildness.

Tarot...

Apr. 19th, 2012 03:11 pm
fajrdrako: (Default)


Would anyone here like a Tarot reading?

I want to practise, and I've been practising on myself - which is okay, but it would be good for me to read for someone else. Any takers?

Just send me a question and any details you might want to add.

Tarot...

Apr. 14th, 2011 10:25 pm
fajrdrako: ([Tarot])




Had a good Tarot gathering at MacLaren's on Elgin Street. Since I was plagued by indigestion last night, I was cautious in my eating and ordered only mushroom soup - then had Kahlua in milk as a treat.

The subject of the meeting was Court cards, and it was fun. I find that if there are any readings that perplex me, or bits of Tarot lore I find intimidating, these meetings are a good way of demystifying it all, and getting me past any mental blocks I might have. It's sort of fluid and liberating in terms of what it does for one's readings.

I got two and a half readings, because I had come prepared with questions, proving this is a good thing to do. One was with the Shadowscape deck, one with the Norse deck. The second reading was particularly illuminating. It had a coda (also with the Norse deck) that was very clear indeed.

I walked home - a cool, pleasant night.

fajrdrako: (Default)




Good, busy day at work. I had lunch with [livejournal.com profile] gamergrrl in the lunch room, then went home - in the rain. It had been snowing all night, and the walking conditions were appalling.

At home, I did two things I'd been worrying about: paid my bills and checked on my bank account - yes, it was as frightening as you can imagine. Then I put together all my tax papers an notes so my tax accountant can get to work on it whenever she wishes.

I had time to do my exercises before heading out to the Tarot club meeting. It was loads of fun: held in the pub/restaurant on the bottom floor of the building where [livejournal.com profile] gamergrrl works. We used my new Corto Maltese tarot deck, which I'd never actually used yet, and it reads well. We also played a sort of game with an oversized Rider-Waite deck, and did readings with Shadowscapes and the Tarot of the Pagan Cats.

On leaving, it was still raining, and the world is a mass of ice and deep puddles. I was terrified about walking home from the bus stop, so when a taxi came by, I took it. Home safe and sound, and cosy. Thank goodness.

fajrdrako: ([Wolverine])




Stormantic is a Tarot card reader and X-Men fan who writes a bog about the X-Men, focussing on Storm, his favourite character. And Emma Frost, who seems to be a close second. Since his interests and my interests are parallel, I have been reading his blog with interest.

He has devised a system of reading the X-Men playing card deck as Tarot cards, which I think is a wonderful idea. I wanted to make notes on his comments, so I'm doing that here. )

Tarot...

Feb. 10th, 2011 11:29 pm
fajrdrako: (Default)




Went to another meeting of the local tarot club. As before, loved it; left feeling happy and energized. And (as I did with Pim last month) traded a deck of cards I didn't feel happy with, for one I loved. We discussed archetypes, using the Caroline Myss cards, the same ones [livejournal.com profile] walkingowl gave me a few years ago. I learned a new spread, and got to examine several decks I'd never seen before. I was very impressed by the Bohemian Gothic deck - not sure I'd want to do a reading with it, as it seems to say too much, rather melodramatic - but interesting!

Tomorrow I hope to make a few bags for my decks that have neither box nor container. I want to make a good list of my decks, too, because I keep forgetting what I have.

fajrdrako: (Default)




Groundhog Day. A movie - a good one - that sparked a slew of excellent copies, and some fine fanfic. Making déjà vu a literary genre.

Funny thing is, I keep forgetting from year to year what it is that the groundhog is actually supposed to do, or why. See his shadow? Predict spring? Is this a joke, or a superstition? I never really get my brain around it. Well, it makes about as much sense as most long-term weather reports.

This was a snowy day in Ottawa. Snow, snow, and more snow. We haven't had as much as usual this year, maybe because the rest of the world is covering the universal snow quota. It was pretty, but hard to get around - several of my plans were cancelled because people didn't want to go out.

Me, I went out. I might have skipped getting my comics today, except I knew it was the day Daken: Dark Wolverine #5 comes out. So I went to the Silver Snail, and bought comics, and walked home in the show. I picked up my dry cleaning and bought food to make chili for supper, and bird seed because the supply for the Little Feathered Guys was getting low. Then I went out again, to deliver a job application. It was all very aerobic.

I did a Tarot reading with the Barbara Walker deck. I read her Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets when it first came out, and wasn't very impressed - there was some interesting material there, but it was fairly superficial, and not all of it well-researched. Bad scholarship, bad feminism.

I didn't like her Tarot deck for several reasons. For one thing, it's ugly. For another, she gives identities to cards that aren't traditionally given names - for instance, the Queen of Swords is a rather horrific drawing of Kali, and the King of Pentacles is Baal. There are some nice touches - the brim of the Magician's hat is the infinity sign in red and black, for instance, and the Tower is called "The House of God". But really, I'd rather not read with this deck ever again.

fajrdrako: ([Tarot])




On Friday, I posted my pick for the Vorkosigan Tarot deck, and [livejournal.com profile] idiotgrrl asked to see my reasoning. So here I go again.

00 Fool - Miles Vorkosigan )

Saturday

Jan. 29th, 2011 10:40 pm
fajrdrako: (Default)





  1. Lunch was dim sum at the Mandarin Ogilvie with Vicky and Marion. Had a lovely time, but [livejournal.com profile] maaseru was there at the same time and we never saw her - nor she us. The restaurant is big, but it isn't that big. How'd we do that?

  2. Exhausted in afternoon. Read comics. Books. Napped.

  3. Did a Tarot reading with the Dali Universal Tarot. I like the look of the cards, but found them difficult to work with - I missed the numbers on the Minor Arcana. The plush red box they come in is magnificent, though.

  4. Watched Castle 3x13, "Knockdown". I liked the way... )

  5. Watched White Collar 2x11, "Forging Bonds". Very slashy... )

  6. Watched The Good Wife episodes 2x10 and 2x11, "Breaking Up" and "Two Courts". Enjoyed both very much... )

  7. Practised knitting while watching the second episode of The Good Wife. I'm still making mistakes, but feel a little more confident about it.


fajrdrako: ([Tarot])




Encouraged by mmegaera yesterday, I made my list of characters for the Vorkosigan tarot:

    00 Fool - Miles Vorkosigan )

fajrdrako: ([Tarot])




I was online, browsing for Tarot cards - specifically for good images of The Magician. I was amused to find the Buffy Tarot deck.

Yeah, I know, there's every sort of Tarot deck you can imagine. I myself have concocted (in my imagination) a Lymond deck and a Torchwood deck. In which, of course, the Doctor is the Magician and Captain Jack is the Fool.

Do any of you have favourite tarot decks? And links to them?
fajrdrako: (Default)




I was playing a video-game called "Three Cards to Deadtime", and I liked the look of some tarot cards used in the game:



In browsing cards online, I couldn't find a deck that looks like that - though of course there are very many decks online, and hard to find one without a name.

Anyone know what this is? Or was it just made up for the game?

fajrdrako: (Default)




I had a yen for The Labyrinth Tarot by Luis Royo, which I saw a month ago or so, and have been thinking about ever since. But when I tried to order it at The Tarot Garden, I got this message:
    We're sorry. This item can't be shipped to your selected destination. You may either change the shipping address or delete the item from your order by changing its quantity to 0 and clicking the update button below.

And at Amazon.ca they say:
    Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available.

I take it that it isn't licensed for Canada yet.

Drat. This saves me money, but makes me want it more.

I was pleased to see that the deck I got for Pim last year, The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, is one of the most popular decks on the lists. I chose it by browsing hundreds of decks online - a pleasant task - and narrowing my choices. I thought it the most visually interesting, and suitable for her.

Though if buying Tarot cards for myself, I should probably get a Rider-Waite deck. It's the one I learned with - that is, it's the one my teacher used, though I used the Hanson-Roberts. But Rider-Waite is cassic, and there's a Centennary Edition.

I find browsing cards to be fascinating. Did you know there was a Tarot deck of Italian football stars? A Tarot of Pagan Cats? A Prairie Tarot? Vampire Tarot seems to be popular these days - well, no surprise, vampires are the gout du jour - of which the best seems to be the Favole. Victorian styles are proliferating, too.

A few that caught my fancy in this browse:
  1. The Fengshen Tarot
  2. The Transparent Tarot - an interesting innovation in reading style
  3. The Rabbit Tarot
  4. The Tyldwick Taro
  5. Mage the Awakening Tarot Deck - this had me going "ooh, ooh, ooh!", and then I was embarrassed to be excited by a deck based on a game. But then... why not? I wonder what the Queen of Swords in this deck looks like. I see it's by the same talented woman who did the Shadowscapes deck: Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. I've come across her before, for dragon art. Sadly, this deck is currently unavailable, and if it were available, very expensive.
  6. The Pirate Tarot









Tarot...

Jan. 13th, 2011 11:09 pm
fajrdrako: (Default)




I went this evening to a meeting of the Ottawa Tarot Club. An interesting, intelligent bunch - as I thought they would be. They make it a point to be welcoming of new members, and friendly, and I think more clubs should follow their example. We discussed various aspects of the cards, and I saw the Gummy Bear Tarot Deck and the Shadowscapes deck, both of which I would love to own. Ahh, so many wonderful tarot decks out there, and more all the time. They talked about the value of making one's own deck, which is something I have wanted to do.

We met in a private room in a pub, and I spent the evening sitting with a huge poster photo of Johnny Depp facing me. That was not unpleasant.

We talked about:

  • The symbols of the Arthurian Tarot
  • Subjectivity and objectivity in readings - cards you particularly like and cards that are vexing
  • The value and mechanism of Tarot
  • Reversals - Mary Greer vs. Fred Gettings
  • The significance of the two and three of wands
  • Coins and pentacles
  • the notion of "good" and "bad" cards


I walked home, afterwards. More pleasant than taking the bus, and it probably took about the same time.

Tarot...

Dec. 27th, 2010 09:34 am
fajrdrako: (Default)




I treated myself to a tarot reading this morning, with the question, "How shall I compose my New Year's Resolutions?"

I love making New Year's Resolutions. I also love reading Tarot Cards, and may even do a physical reading as well as the electronic one online. I have the deck pictured here, but I also have several others - my favourite to do a reading with is the Hanson Roberts deck, though I'm also very fond of the Norse Tarot.

Like all oracles, the meaning of the cards is whatever we put into them. I like that as an exercise in creativity, in using parts of the brain and imagination that don't usually get used, a bit of psychological aerobics. I like finding patterns of meaning in bits of art. I like the historicity of the act - people have been doing this for centuries.

And it's a particularly useful thing to do at the end of the year.



fajrdrako: (Default)


As tarot reading sites go, this one is particularly fun to use.

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