wyld_dandelyon | New Moon Readings

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New Moon Readings

I'm going to try something different this time around. ( Being a New Moon, it should be a good time to experiment.)

I have a Tarot post due at my Patreon, but between the work I'm doing to try to get better elected officials into office, some totally unnecessary interpersonal drama, and my head full of the work in progress, I open a blank page to write about Tarot and it stays blank.. I'm also getting ready to perform at the 19th Street Coffeehouse in their Midwinter Talent Contest on Saturday, I've got a Writer's Group meeting on Sunday, and a sick cat who needs extra care in his old age. So, I've lots of non-Tarot things cluttering my brain, and I'm finding that I don't seem to have any handy topic-hooks handy for a proper reasonable-sized post. (I know there's lots of possible hooks, they're just evading me.)

So, instead of free readings, I propose the following:

Anyone who poses at least one question/topic about Tarot, writing, music, art, or some other creative thing I do can request a card.
If you don't want a card, you can still ask a question or suggest a topic (or more than one), and receive my thanks for your kindness.
All of my Patrons over on Patreon can ask for a card, and people who are Patrons specifically for my Tarot work get two. Just remind me. Please feel free to ask a question or suggest a topic if you want, but it's not required of patrons.
Anyone who tips can also get a card whether or not they pose a question or topic hook. The guitar case below is my personal PayPal link, featuring my own artwork, which still inspires me even though it isn't Tarot-related.
Patrons, people who have tipped, and people who have signal boosted (for this draw or for my Patreon) can ask a clarifying question after I do their reading, and I will draw another card for you.
I am continuing to offer a five-card reading for $25, or if you want a larger reading we can discuss costs.

As always, new friends and old are very welcome.

About the readings,

You may ask about real life or a creative project, even for a character you play in a game. I can draw a card for you to meditate on, to represent the Guide you need right now, or to get you unstuck. I can draw a card for your protagonist or villain, or can draw a card or cards for you to use as writing or art prompts, and I can modify a more-traditional five-card spread into a prompt for a story focusing on plot or characters or a little of both. Let me know if you have any particular request.

You can pick from my decks, including the Brian Froud's Faeries Oracle, the Daughters of the Moon Tarot (one of the round decks), or the Shapeshifter Tarot. If you want a Guide to companion you in the new year or the holidays, the Susan Seddon Boulet or Fairies Oracle both work well. If you don't pick a deck, I might pick from any of the decks available to me (I have a whole shelf of them).

I understand all too well that when people don't have cash or spoons that is generally when they most need inspiration. Don't be afraid to ask for a card if you can't tip--just let me know some topic or question you'd like me to post about.

If you're not a Patron, and I use your question for a patrons-only post, I will privately share that post with you as a thank-you. If I use it for a public post, I'll reply with the link.

When you tip, it's helpful to me for you to mention it here so I can connect your Paypal information with your request. Tips should be at least $2 (Paypal charges fees). If Paypal doesn't work for you, drop me a message and we'll work something out.

I will reply to all requests, though with the contest and writers group this weekend, there may be a little delay, depending on when I see your post.

Thank you, and Blessed Be.

Status: Open! I plan to leave this post open through Sunday night.

As always, while I work hard to offer insight and inspiration, all I can legally promise is entertainment. See my "Dandelyon's Readings" page if you have questions.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

How do you chose your tarot decks, either to own or to use in a particular reading?

Have you ever [designed / thought about designing] a tarot or oracle deck? If so, how do you work out what art for what card?

card pls :) how do I prioritize my eight million NOWNOWNOW life goals?

Edited 2018-01-19 20:13 (UTC)

Oh hey I DO have a question. I have....a lot of decks, because I collect them, because the different visual interpretations of the symbolism fascinate me, but I don't really do readings.

One of the things I'd like to do this year is start getting to actually know one to three of my decks, for readings.

So what do you think is the most productive study method? To learn the standard/generic card interp, and then study that card in each of the decks to learn nuance, or to study the specific card, and then pick up the book?

no card, just curious.

Could I have a card on creative endeavours?

That's a great question. I'm not sure I'll answer it first, but I'll definitely answer it.

Please let me know if you want a card.

May I please have a fairy card?

Thank you.

This is also a great topic.

I have! I'd be happy to write about that--both about the traditional divination disks I planned out for Torn World and about my thoughts about painting a set of cards.

I greet you at the door and lead you inside, and we find ourselves in my art studio--the one I've planned, but never built, at least in part because I'd rather do art in a cluttered room than clean the room. Rooms re-clutter so easily, but art--art is the antithesis of entropy, at least for a while. If I make a painting, it may get dusty, but it doesn't get unpainted.

So I look around in wonder at the neat easels and bins of paints and pencils, at the set of drafting tools and the tall stack of kneaded erasers. As I look, I realize that this really isn't my space at all--there's a whole section for pastels, and another for glitter, and the illusion of walls is created by a delicate webbing which holds paintings and a calendar and reference pictures up all around us.

There, in the center, is the Spirit Dancer. She is whirling from one project to another, and it's beautiful whirling, to be sure, but I really can't figure out how she can focus on all ten or twelve or thirteen of them at the same time.

"Oh, hi!" She whirls past us, dusting us with glitter. I end up with a blue nose-tip until she whirls back again. "Oh, sorry, that goes over there!" She scooped most of it off my nose and darted across the room to add it to a painting. The glitter looks good there, but my nose now has abstract streaks of shiny blue.

She smiles at you. "I have so many paintings to do--look at all those canvasses I want to fill!" Behind one of the gossamer walls is quite a stack of canvasses in different sizes and dimensions. "I thought I'd bring you both here instead of going to visit, though it's ever so long since I visited anyone." Then she brightened. "But you're here now! Isn't it wonderful?"

And then she was off again, scattering paint and glitter across a dozen different canvasses.

A tall, thin faery walks into the studio, in between two drifts of gossamer. "Darling, sweetie--you're doing it again. If you don't focus on one or two or three things, at least long enough to get them done and learn something in the process, they'll all look like this poor human's nose--accidental and incomplete."

The spirit dancer pours a blend of colors onto a horizontal canvass and wiggles it around, letting the paint drip over the edges onto the flowering mosses below. A host of pastel frogs hop into the area and contain the mess, though one of them just sits under the flow of paint until it is quite covered, smiling as if it's getting the best extreme makeover ever. "Oh, Pook, I know. But I have so many great ideas--how can I possibly choose between them?"

"I know it seems like you can't work on all of them at once, but there's a paradox, a mystery here. All these things are connected, but they're not all equally easy. Some of them can help you learn to do the others better or faster, right? Like doing finger exercises before trying to play Bach."

She frowned. "So I should do this little painting before that big one?"

"Oh, it's not as straightforward as that. But look--if you are aiming to end up on the pinnacle of a figurative mountain, and there's lots of spots to visit along the way, well, you can make a map of sorts. Which things are you most ready to do? Which things are necessary or helpful precursors to other goals? Are there any things that won't move you toward that big goal, and that you don't need for other reasons? I mean, heading out to buy dinner might not be one of the milestones along your way, but if you don't eat, you'll collapse and get nothing done, right?"

"Oh."

"Am I right or am I right?"

"I--I'm hungry!" The Spirit Dancer says it softly, surprised. "Maybe I should have come to visit you after all. You always offer us food, when we visit, and food would be really great about now."

The Pook, on the other hand, is smiling at you. "Let the confusion go, and think about all of your goals. You have enough information to make a sensible plan, one where achieving one goal helps with the ones further down the road." She takes out some fine dust, and scatters it around us--all four of us, and the art studio fades from our vision. "It's a paradox, but all these goals are really one goal, just as all your moments are really one life. Ah, here we are."

We are in my kitchen, and I do, indeed offer food, which both the Spirit Dancer and The Pook accept with delight. I offer you food too, so we can continue the conversation as long as you want, but if you need to head off and take a walk in the peace and silence of a snow-covered garden to think through your goals and make a grand plan, we will understand.

I'm not going to make any demands on your time or energy. I just want to comment that I'd have a lot of difficulty if I ever tried using different Tarot decks, especially the most "non-mainstream" ones. I am very, very strongly imprinted upon the standard Ryder/Waite/Smith deck, because that's the first one I ever learned.

Actually, I first learned how to "tell fortunes" with normal playing cards. One of my aunts "had the Sight" - she could read tea leaves, cards, or even palms, but she told me once that she didn't need any of these tools, but people got scared if she just started telling them things. She died when I was six, though, so all I ever learned was some of her card-reading - and I had to make up the rest myself. But then, around 1966 or so, when I was in the process of becoming a hippie (but before I became a Witch), I was telling my friends' fortunes with playing cards when someone informed me that he'd heard there was a special deck of cards that was just for divination. That "someone" and I bought our own Tarot decks, and learned together, from books and things, how to use them. (I consider him my "brother", although we were born into different families by mistake.)

Just some of my thoughts on the Tarot... :-)

Yeah, that makes sense. ("Learn archery" doesn't really become possible until "learn to exercise without overstraining", at least, has been achieved. For instance.)

Thank you.

There's a thaw outside, no doubt temporary, since it is only January. The harvest of the garden was long-ago gathered or froze solid on the vine. The nights are still much longer than the days, and the world lies sleeping, even if it's not cold enough on my porch to hurt my lungs. It's the hard part of winter, when my health has been worn down by the heating-season allergies and the dark and the cold, but the thaw is a reminder that won't last forever.

But it certainly isn't warm out. I can't open the windows to clear the air inside, and my fingers are already complaining that they're old, and if I wanted to stay outside, I should have worn gloves. I usher you in quickly after a brief pause to smile at my slumbering rose bushes. It's great to see you, come on in, why don't I make some tea--or something else, if you prefer?

We get into the kitchen, and she is there, a much-wrinkled old fae, thin and wiry, and dark as tree bark. She has made tea, and it swirls with fae magic. Will it be bitter with loss or sweet with hope--or both? It's hard to tell, since both can be part of the Lady's message for us. She comes on a wave of change, of completing one thing and moving on to another. This can feel good or bad or both at once, but it cannot be avoided. Change comes to us all, in little and large ways.

She smiles at us and says, "Welcome", and it feels right, even though she is sitting in my kitchen. It is as if she is welcoming us into the future.

I laugh, and repeat her greeting anyway. It is my kitchen, after all. She has dimples when she returns the smile. "I made some tea, but first, think about whether there are things you don't need to keep as you move forward." I think about all the clutter I'm slowly trying to sort, and the bags of stuff in the front hall that I'll take to the thrift store once there's enough to fill my trunk, but she continues, "You can let go of old pain, let your grief mellow, or let things that are holding you back fade." Now I think of the wordless, irrational dread that makes it so hard to pay bills, so that doing so takes much longer than it should. If I could release that, I'd have that much more time to make music or stories, or even just to enjoy life.

I don't know what things you're thinking of, but there must be something that matters, because she pours the tea, and offers each of us a cup.

For you, I am drawing a card from the pathfinders deck, because you share so many photos of different animals.

The first thing that comes to mind for Bee is the whole busy bee thing, but I really don't think that cliche is your message. Bees wander where they will, enjoying the flowers along the way, and bring back their harvest to make sweet honey. They care for each other, and share what they've learned about where the best flowers are in little dances, so their friends and co-workers can enjoy the same experiences that they did.

This seems to be very like you, always sharing the little joys you find whether it's photos, someone else's art, or your own art or fiction. I think that Bee is telling you that seeking out the sweetness and brightness in the world and transforming it into something nourishing and delightful is an important component of your creative process (and also an important support of your creativity and health), and that doing those things should never be discounted as unimportant or frivolous. Those things are just as fundamentally vital to you and yours as flowers and honey are to a bee hive.

And though you may never see it, your actions make a bigger difference too. The honeybee may not know that when they dance for joy and sip the sweet nectar in a flower, they are fertilizing it so the plant can produce fruit and seeds, but many others depend on that process so they can eat and, in turn, find joy in the world and spread that joy in whatever ways they do that--but at the minimum, helping to spread the seeds so that every year there will be a new generation of the flowers that the bees depend on.

I also started with Rider/Waite, but as I moved from doing readings by laying the cards out and reading from the book to a more intuitive process, I found that deck harder and harder to read, often feeling like it was hiding the meaning behind the symbolism instead of revealing it through the pictures. I found that I connected much better with less orderly decks, and decks whose art called to me as art.

I'm astonished that anyone can do readings based on regular playing cards, but I'm sure I'd have no trouble with Magick cards, so long as there was a wide enough selection of images available to symbolically represent the complex world we live in.

Thank you

As I said, my aunt died when I was six years old, so whatever I learned from her happened when I was very, very young. And that was now 64 years ago. But the way I remember, the suits stood for different things ("diamonds mean money"), and each rank represented something ("nines are good luck", "queens are women"). So each card was somewhat specific - the nine of diamonds meant "good luck with money" - and I could infer more details by the positions of the cards with respect to each other.

I find the pictures in the Rider/Waite/Smith(*) deck much easier to read than playing cards. The pictures suggest their meaning(s) to me, and it's been decades since I needed to consult a book, because I just look at the pictures and know what they're trying to tell me. (Although I daresay quite a few of my readings are more than slightly unorthodox!)

(*) Pamela Colman Smith, an amazing woman, was the artist who created all the pictures in the RWS Tarot deck, as instructed by Arthur Waite

Would like cards from the Shapeshifter deck please (patron) for the big event that's coming up in about two weeks if all goes well.

Tarot questions... hmm. I'm curious how readings feel different for you from one deck to another, and how you decide which decks work well for you.

Thank you for the questions! Doing that talent contest took more out of me than I expected, so I'll draw your cards tomorrow.

But they did invite me to the finals! If I can figure out how to do it, I'll post the video my partner took on Patreon.

For you, first I drew the 9 of Pentacles reversed, entitled Success. The image is two people in capes riding horses, one with pale hair and a pale horse, cape flying and sporting the image of a unicorn, and the other is dark of hair and on a dark horse, with a red cape sporting the image of a wolf or bear. Behind the horses are cattle. They are riding through shallow water, fording a stream, perhaps. Their path looks unclear. I am sad that this card is reversed, since I think that is a caution that your event may not be the success you hope for. But perhaps it is a warning that will let you do something about it now?

The next card, also reversed, is The Star. This is generally a card about the connectedness of all things, and about finding peace and inspiration. In this image, the central figure is a woman-spider, surrounded by her web and by glowing lights, with a green bat above and a red one below--oh, wait--those aren't bats, they are dragons. It's an interesting image upside down, as I don't think spiders care much about whether their heads are pointed up or down as they sit in their web.

I'm not sure what to make of these cards. The Star, both in this image and in the traditional one, where the goblet or ewer held by the central figure holds water that flows freely between the water below and the vessel, is a good strong card whether upright or reversed. Perhaps something is blocking the necessary connections?

I do see that both cards have a water element, so emotions are doubtless involved, and are likely central to the aspect of this that The Star represents. Pentacles are generally skill, creativity, or money.

My overall impression is that the path forward may be muddier than expected, and harder to locate, but if you pay attention to the connections between things (or people) necessary to moving forward, this isn't a closed door, just more complicated and more of an adventure than you expected.

Edited ((I hit post before I was done, apparently)) 2018-01-22 09:34 (UTC)

Congrats on making it to the finals!

Eek. Okay.

I have a question: for the Star card, when you say the green bat is above and the red is below - is that while it's reversed, or when it's right side up?

Thank you!

Upright, the green dragon is above and the red one is below.

The card in question is the first card on this page: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/560416747358784961/?lp=true

(At least, it's the first one right now, pinterest pages don't always stay the same. But it is clearly labeled.)

While I'm searching images for you, the last one on this page is the Success card. http://www.learntarot.com/ssdesc.htm

Edited 2018-01-22 19:20 (UTC)

Right, dragons, not bats. Thank you. I can see both of the images okay.

I think it's soon enough to respond to the warning.

Good luck. I'm rooting for you.

I hope the images helped. I am also always willing to share the images privately if the card's image isn't already online; what I won't do is to put copyrighted information on the web without the artist's permission.

Patreon post up, for how I decide which decks work well for me.

Patreon post up, for how I choose decks. Are you one of my patrons? If not, I'll copy the text for you in a private message. (Sometimes I hate being dyslexic for names so much of the time.)

The card that I designed & drew some years ago (The Fool) that illustrates the post will be visible to non-patrons in a week.

And thank you again for the question.

Just got the notification!

*heads off to read*

I'm not a patron of your on Patreon - I couldn't decide which version I was interested.

OK, I'll send you a message with the text of the Tarot post. And thank you again for your question!

As to the Patreon, it's really great to hear that you are interested.

You should know that the way Patreon works, all of the $5 levels get to see everything up to and including all of the $5 levels. The different names for the $5 levels are just to tell me which of the things I do are of interest to my supporters. The drop-down menu they provide only lets me segregate by dollar amounts when posting (though if I were providing something by mail, I could, of course, do that separately). Like most services, it's set up for someone who does just one thing, and adapting the system to allow for a variety of things is always a challenge.

I could change that structure, I suppose. My goal was to be able to go back and see how many people wanted what kind of material at any point, and since as a creator I can see who's supporting at which "tier", that makes it easy for my dyslexic brain to not get that part of things mixed up. But there might be a better way to do it.

Or maybe I should just add a tier for "I want to support you and see your stuff, whatever you do"? Hmm...I'd need a clever name for that...

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

New Moon Readings

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Thank you!

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NowNowNow - Spirit Dancer's Conundrum

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The Lady of the Harvest

Bee

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Your Reading

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Patreon!

Patreon post up.

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