Salon post: January 18

[jenett]

Good morning!

Topic of the week
What thing have you learned or done recently that's brought you joy? (Or at least a certain amount of pleasure. Doesn't have to be a peak joy experience.)

Alternately, related to what I'm up to, do you read Tarot? (Or use them in other ways?) Do you have a favourite deck? What's your approach? (Other oracle methods also welcome. We are an inclusive discussion here!)

Not interested in either of those? As always, whatever other topics people want to talk about very welcome. Start a thread, see who joins in.

A useful tool
melannen put together a bookmarklet (based on one by astrolat) that allows you to quickly share links on Dreamwidth and that will check to see if you're linking to a locked DW post. Instructions on the bookmarklet over here It'll create a new DW post, autofill the subject line, and then you can edit or add other commentary.

What I've been up to
Unpacking. I got all my books on bookshelves last Sunday, labelled them a couple of days ago (and now I need to go through and update my locations in LibraryThing. That's a longer project).

Tonight is for finishing tidying up the living room and cleaning before I have witchy students over tomorrow. (For a class on Tarot.)


Useful notes
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House rules:
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Comments

Happy things

[jenett]

Getting all my books on shelves!

Also installing a new shower head. (With a handheld wand! To go with my shower bench. If I have to have a shower only instead of a bathtub, it is going to be a shower with many options.)

Re: Happy things

[senmut]

I want to do a ReBath, and have the tub removed downstairs, install a shower cabinet with bench, handles, and dual shower head options (stationary and wand). Then ReBath the upstairs one to have a GOOD bathtub (still with proper showerheads).

[warriorinside]

What thing have you learned or done recently that's brought you joy?

Finally participating in a musical theater production for the first time in my adult life. It was only an ensemble role, but as that's all I had time to commit to, I was fine with that, and I learned a great deal about myself and what I want from life and from the people around me.

Oh, and that I want to continue doing community theater.

[jenett]

Oh, that's really awesome!

(My father was a theatre professor, so I have a great respect for the art form, but got my 'I want to do this thing' out of the way early in life.)

[senmut]

Phenom!

[batrachian]

This is going to sound silly, but how did you find somewhere to get involved? I've been vaguely itchy to do theatre things, but the last time I participated was in high school, and...yeah.

Tarot

[jenett]

As you can probably guess by the fact I'm teaching about it on Saturday, Tarot is a thing I do.

I am very much a 'I think it's a tool for figuring out some options in what's going on' rather than being amazingly predictive. I think it tells us about right now (or more to the point, our reactions to the cards tell us a lot about right now), and some about 'if nothing changes, here's a possible future', but of course the simple act of asking questions about options can change the things we're seriously considering.

Also, many Tarot cards are gorgeous!

My primary deck these days is the Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.

I have a copy of the first edition of the Spirit Keeper's Tarot by Benebell Wen that I'm looking forward to digging into (it's designed for a specific kind of spiritual work.) The first edition is sold out, but she's working on a second edition that is done in sepia, rather than black and white, and some other differences. Subscribe to her mailing list for updates and preorders.)

I pull a card (electronically) every morning (since I have the app with me, and often don't manage to do the card until I get to work) from the Shadowscapes app.

I started with the Robin Wood deck (which I still like, and occasionally pull out), and I have a handful of oracle and other divination-but-not-Tarot decks.

Re: Tarot

[malgrin]

I positively adore the Shadowscapes Tarot! Her artwork is extraordinary. I don't use it as my primary deck anymore (the deck I've been using most of late is The Paulina Tarot because it has a sort of dark whimsy that matches where my brain lives these days).

I always look at the Fool card first in a deck because it's a special favorite of mine (I named my home Fool Haven). The Fool card in the Shadowscapes deck is breathtaking.

I have far too many Tarot decks, but I generally only read from one at a time (usually one deck for quite a few years). I love Tarot art.

I was gifted with a deck last year that I want to spend some time with. It's called The Pagan Otherworlds Tarot. The art is delicious and it adds an additional Major Arcana card (The Seeker) and also five Lunar cards (with moon phases). It's going to take a bit of a brain warp for me to clue into it, but I'm fascinated by the way the additional cards change the overall dynamic of the deck.

These days, I tend to do a reading about 4 times a year unless something is particularly needing my attention. I do them at the cross-quarters to get a general feeling for that turn of the wheel up to the next cross-quarter.

Re: Tarot

[warriorinside]

I also have certain cue cards for me. If I see the High Priestess or its equivalent in a reading for myself, that's a cue to stop and shut up, because I will know what is right when the time comes.

Re: Tarot

[senmut]

Oh the Robin Wood deck was so gorgeous. A shame the artist had health issues that took art away for so long.

[muccamukk]

I recently was writing people prompt ficlets and drabbles for more joy day and (though anyone who knows me heard the screams of WHAT ARE WORDS!? How even this prompt!?) really enjoyed it. I got about half of them done, and ppl seemed to enjoy them.

Man, my mom had my cards out the other day, and it reminded me that I haven't done a reading in aaaaaages. I've had Sacred Circle tarot since I was a teen and know that deck best, though it's neo celtic and changes the order of the major arcana and some of the meanings. I also have the Llewellyn deck which I mostly have because the art is STUNNING. That's a lot closer to Rider White.

ETA: Sacred Circle, Llewellyn. Also, it's possible that I buy my decks based on how much I like The Star.

[warriorinside]

I'm a fan of the Celtic Dragon deck from Llewellyn. Man is that deck blunt sometimes, but I like it that way. I understand that some people don't, and that's okay.

[finch]

Also, it's possible that I buy my decks based on how much I like The Star.

For me it's the Hanged Man, but yes.

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

I do use Tarot, though as you can imagine I don't talk about it in many places. For me it's not divination, it's about revealing patterns in my subconscious- things I know but I don't yet realize I know, or don't want to admit to. It's been very helpful that way, but currently my deck is locked in our storage unit, along with most of our other things. It's a classic Rider-Waite deck, with added colors.

One of the things that brings me joy is looking at real estate listings- I've done this ever since I was a kid, with my mom, and the apps out there make it easier than ever. It's fun to look at places and think "how do they get the groceries to the kitchen?" Or, "what kind of teensy car do they drive to be able to turn around in that driveway?" And then of course there's the wild decorating choices- lots of really expensive houses have that one room that's truly horrific, or a guest bathroom that's clearly designed to get people in and out fast (bright red everywhere, including the ceiling). An old fave was a Texas mansion mostly decorated in 80s Laura Ashley pastels, except for one room in the basement that was no less than six clashing plaids. People are weird. But it's fun to explore, "what would have to be different about me for this to be my life?"

[cjsmith]

One thing startled me in your real estate notes. Do people actually ever turn around in driveways?

[cjsmith]

Bringing me joy:

I’m learning to cook, a tiny bit. I am mostly still hopeless at it. (Though I can bake you anything!! I love baking!) I recently learned to make a simple (or so I am told) chicken curry, and I did it once completely without help, and it came out well. I called this “passing my checkride” (a la the FAA flight test for pilots) and was inordinately pleased about it. ♥

[carbonel]

I'm not much of a cook, though I'm perfectly comfortable following directions.

Since last April, I've subscribed to Hello Fresh, and learned a lot that way. (Hello Fresh is one of several services where you get ready-to-cook meals with all the ingredients, and full instructions (with photos) as to how to put them together. It's kind of cooking with training wheels.

I like it because it provides an interesting variety of menus, and the thing I'm particularly bad at is meal planning. Left to my own, I'll default to a hunk of protein, steamed cauliflower, and a baked potato -- or, more likely, fast food or a frozen pizza. So having these bags of food that I know I need to cook while they're still fresh is a great incentive to do real cooking. Tonight is a new one to me -- a Mexican rice and beef dish that looks the real thing that just-add-beef boxed meals are based on.

[warriorinside]

cjsmith (reply fail, sorry) I'm sad that you used the word "hopeless" here. That says that you don't really think you can do it, and that saddens me, because the rest of your post says that you can.

You know how I learned to cook from a mom that taught me how to use the tools, but never taught me anything but recipes? I got to know the flavors and scents of herbs and spices, and what they go with. Knowing this, I can monkey with what is compatible and what is not, and come up with new things.

First things first is recipes, though. Have you ever gone wandering through websites like Yummly or Epicurious or AllRecipes and said "I wanna make that?"

[cjsmith]

Awwww, thank you! :)

No, I’ve never gone browsing for recipes to try, and to me it would be absolutely terrifying to attempt it. (Though now that I think of it, I do it all the time for baking! When I’m not just making up my own!)

Perhaps once I’ve spent a bucketload more time on the whole thing. I suspect that’s really a key point. Experience. It’s just so darn intimidating! The thing that’s helping lost edit: most right now is having a cooking buddy - someone who is right there in person and can tell me that no, the chicken is NOT cooked yet, or no, much as I love cloves, they don’t go in omelets, or no, it would not be faster to mix all those ingredients on the left hand side of the page at the beginning, or whatever. This saves me from a lot of throwing things away, which I hate. :)

[(Anonymous)]

I got Meera Sodha's Made in India as a holiday gift. I've done a lot of Indian cooking already, but this is a really good cookbook for me. It's not vegetarian, but the author's grandmother was, and she would serve three vegetable dishes for dinner, plus dal and some yoghurt and rice. So I'm making all the vegetable dishes in the book. They have all been really tasty, but the nicest discovery is a salad called kachumbar, which is finely diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and shallots or sweet onions with lemon juice and mint or cilantro or both, and optionally some crushed red pepper or diced green chiles. It's a lovely fresh addition to hot curries, and it also instantly makes a grand raita if you put it into yoghurt along with some black pepper and cumin. I eat yoghurt for breakfast as a rule, but plain unsweetened soy yoghurt is hard to find, so I tried lactose-free cow's milk stuff, and it actually is okay for me to eat. So I'm eating my new savory yoghurt for breakfast, which is a lot better for my blood sugar than my much-loved mango-peach or strawberry stuff.

Her mother likes to twit her about how when she was a child she would only eat Heinz tomato soup or shrimp, and the shrimp recipe is in the book. It's easy and very good. We call it "Kid Shrimp" and I expect to make it whenever shrimp is affordable.

Meera Sodha also makes various Indian breads sound really easy to make, so I'm eying those, although I don't have a good working place for rolling a lot of stuff out. We'll see. It give me pleasure just to contemplate, anyway. And I did order a bag of chana dal for the making of savory pancakes, which don't need rolling. I always find pancakes challenging to flip, but David asked for a very very wide spatula for making grilled sandwiches, and I realized that it would be useful for flipping pancakes too, so I got him one and got another one for the upstairs kitchen. He would let me use his, of course, but trekking up and down the stairs between kitchens can get old.

P.

[finch]

One of my goals for this year is actually to finish my freaking Oracle Deck, finally. I don't think I have any major publishing goals, but I might put it up on Gamecrafter. I just want to say I did it, you know?

When I need a tarot deck I usually pull out my Archaeon tarot, but if I'm not using my deck I'm just as likely to Calvincard it with my collection of random cards. XD

[senmut]

I think I learned a few trivial facts this week, but no skills.

As to my Tarot practices, I do use it on occasion, usually to nudge my subconscious.

This Egyptian Deck was my first deck, a modified Rider-Waite one. It is still, to this day, the deck I will not get rid of. Even though I call it the A-hole Deck, or the Captain Obvious Deck. Namely because it tends to fall in line with WHAT I ALREADY KNEW so easily.

Heart of Faerie is my Oracle deck, and while I have no spread I like to use it for, it is handy for one to three card pulls that I can meditate on.

[jazzyjj]

Well, no taro for me but interestingly enough, I was at a fundraiser several years ago and they had a fortune teller. I was rather curious, so had her do her thing. I must admit it was quite enjoyable. I don't recall everything she told me, but the gist of it was that I would have a very bright future. I think she was right on.





I am currently at my parents' 2-flat for my birthday weekend. My actual birthday is next week, but we are celebrating as a family tomorrow evening. Well some of us are anyway. Due to hectic schedules on the part of some of us, now is the only time we could fit it in. As far as learning a new skill, I've been learning more about my iPhone. Today I downloaded and installed an app used for accessing material from the National Library Service on my iPhone. I put the app through its paces a little bit, and I must say the team did a wonderful job. I also have one of the digital NLS players in my apartment, but this app plus another one I recently downloaded will allow me to read on the go. I'm pleased to report that screen reader access in both these apps is quite extensive.

[silveradept]

I'm glad to hear that the NLS app is doing well for you. I keep hearing about it as an option from the Talking Book and Braille Library here in the state, so now I can say with more confidence that it's a good app to use.

[lyr]

Like so many people do with tarot, I started with the ubiquitous Rider-Waite deck. Sometime in the mid-80s, maybe? I still have that deck; it's wrapped in purple felt in the cabinet of my altar, and I do take it out and use it occasionally; I have around a dozen other decks I've acquired over the years, either on my own, as gifts, or as inheritance from my mother. But I have to say I bonded more with my mah jongg cards and use them more now. They're a lot more polite, for one thing, and mostly inclined to suggest that I can avoid any looming problems by working harder. As a natural optimist, I appreciate that kind of outlook.

[cadenzamuse]

Oooh, Tarot discussion is my kind of salon day. I first got interested in Tarot in 2011, when a friend did a "calculate your card for the year" and it was very helpful for the year I had. And then in the past year, I finally let myself talk through my hangups about Christianity and, uh, divination? Witchy ritual shit? IDK. Anyway, I realized that the schedule in my phone is also a kind of "divination"--i.e. a framework for thinking about the future that has some amount of predictive something. So.

I read pretty fundamentally intuitively. I also ran into a great post in tarot blogland that I can't currently find that broke down reading philosophies into "window" (aka the reading is about predictive external things, like a person on a card is someone you will meet or your mother-in-law or whatnot) vs. "mirror" (aka the reading is reflective and all about your internal state and the reading is kinda Jungian and archetypal. Anyway, my readings are about 98% mirror.

I discovered as soon as I looked into getting decks that I was never going to get into Tarot through Rider Waite Smith, and happened across this blog post about beginner decks that aren't RWS clones from Asali Earthwork, whom I LOVE. I came out of research from that loving the Numinous Tarot, the Next World Tarot, the Mesquite Tarot, and the Sasuraibito Tarot. I decided I really wanted the Next World, it was out of print, I ended up buying the Numinous from a tarot shop in Australia, I wanted it that badly and...it is 100% my favorite deck. It took a while for us to warm up to each other--like it just sat in its box for a few weeks after it arrived--and then all of a sudden it felt like the deck for my everyday life. It's not a deck I have to treat nicely. I keep it in a plastic sandwich bag in my backpack so I have it when I need it, and I've never felt that it thought there was anything wrong with that.

I also now own:
*the So Below deck, which is okay but I should pass on because I don't read with it now that I have the Numinous deck
*the Simple Tarot which I got before I realized that what I need is big, very detailed, complex, colorful non-RWS clone images and which I may never use
*the Next World deck, which is a little more "tough love" of a read than my Numinous deck. Also it has oversized cards which I loathe, so I only read with it when I'm in the mood.

Now I'm gonna go dive into everyone else's conversations. If anybody else has queer, diverse decks that they like, TELL ME ALL ABOUT THEM.

[jenett]

Yay! And yes, Asali's list is awesome. (I keep eyeing the Wild Unknown, and haven't taken the plunge yet.)

Little Red Tarot is now an archived site, but if you haven't rummaged in there, I suspect you will find many things you may like or find handy.

[silveradept]

As it turns out, a thing that brings me joy recently is that I'm starting to see the grownups participate in the story times with the same amount of energy and exuberance (and causal disregard for dignity) that I'm modeling for them up front. That, and the stories I keep hearing that the children are doing the rhymes everywhere but story time, and that they're always ready for bubble time (which is wisely at the end).

I have a couple of Tarot decks, a Dragon Tarot that's pretty and I appreciate the artwork for, but don't actually use all that much. I sometimes feel like I'm not ready for it yet, slightly afraid of being able to do anything with it (it's RWS-based), or that it wants me to take it more seriously.

On the other hand, a deck I know and love well, and is my go-to deck, is the Baseball Tarot. It's a very skilled deck in the hands of someone who understands the game from all the perspectives that it offers and the intricacies that entails. I wrote an entire series about the things contained in the deck over several Decembers.

I also backed the Kickstarter of Tabula Idem, which came with a Major Arcana of cards based on the stories in the anthology. They're lovely, and a good minor arcana paired with them would make a happy deck for a lot of people.

My approach mostly seems to be trying for intuitive, which is way easier to do when I'm working with very familiar imagery to me, but I don't know all that many baseball fans who are also Tarot people who would appreciate a reading in that vein. So I'm perennially out of practice with them.

There are some other things around, but that's the big decks I have. (Shadowscapes looks very lovely, though. Might have to get one to stare at the pretty pictures.)