This Year's Word Is….

Flow….

Every year, at its end, we get that notion to have a resolution or something in the years time to accomplish. For me, the first half of the year will be a close to a chapter in my life when I get my art degree. School took a lot of me away from my business side. But now, I have a mission!


I was not able to focus on it before, so I tossed it aside and now I want to pick it back up and polish it up. I have done so by creating a new brand, as you see…my first blog post is the initiation of the branding for my tarot services.

Being the magical metaphysical person that I am, I took notice that the transition between years happens under a New Moon. What wonderful energy to assist in humanities desire to do things different! Personally, this is a double hit. I was born under a New Moon with only an hour and thirteen minutes to go before the New Year.
So of course I am thinking, 'I really should take advantage of this energy!'

I start seeing all these things popping up on social networks about the New Moon and its energy that is perfect for 'planting the seeds'. Then I find a blog post a fellow artist about having a 'go to' word for the new year (which she got from another blog). This is just after listening to an Abraham-Hicks rant that was talking about 'having a word'. While not totally in the same context all that matters is that there is a word, my word.
I think about what my word might be and of course it is not instantly forthcoming. But that is OK, I know the perfect word will come to me.

I post about it to a G-Community I am in and I find my response post is at 11:11. Well if that is not something synchronistic, I don't know what is. (11:11 has be 'with me' for many, many years.) So I think about what word can I connect to 11:11?
There are all kinds of ideas about what 11:11 means. It is seen so often and recognized as 'something' by so many people, it is a number that has gotten a lot of attention. Just google 11:11 and see all the stuff that comes up about the number.

There are concepts about 11:11 that I like and others that I think someone needs to bring themselves a little bit closer to ground level, but hey, I am one to say that just about anything is possible. I am not going to believe or disbelieve but I will lean one way or another.
With 11:11, it is rather personal. I have not subscribed to anything anyone is claiming about 11:11. I have seen it in my own life and the pattern it created with it's appearance and I know from this what it is about, for me.

11:11 pops up when I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing. I am where I need to be. I am thinking what I need to be thinking. To put it into a single word form so that I could maybe use it for my year word, I could only come up with fate and destiny.  The words may fairly convey the essence of the meaning of 11:11, it really was not working for me as a year word. The words just seems a bit to definite and fixed….then something happened. I could not tell you exactly what it was. But it was what brought my word to me. And it is a good word, a perfect word for me, for the year…
             … ….Flow
I am one who is easy going, but I am also a git'er done kind as well.

People like me when I held manager positions because I was not 'bossy' yet made sure everyone was doing their jobs and things ran like clockwork. I look back at the hard times in my life and the turning point away from those hard times always came when I finally stopped fighting it and just let go…let go and just let what ever happens happen.

I once explained it to a friend like this-
I was struggling, fighting the current and getting no where but more and more tired. Finally I had had enough and I said "F*** This!"…. I cannot fight this thing any more, there is no reason to work so hard and just get more and more down stream. Fine! I let go and I just floated along, enjoyed the ride and just went with the flow of things.

I found that when I just was in the flow… I would float past things, or things would float past me, that where just what I needed when I needed it. Every moment and every day was right there, in the moment. Enjoying where I was at that part of the floating along.
No more fighting! All just enjoying and only living in that moment and OH the ease of transitions. Flowing from moment to moment. I did not always have to think about things so much! Answers and solutions would 'magically' present themselves.

Honestly, I am fully aware of this and how it all works. Obviously, duh, I am telling a story of it within my own life. Unfortunately I have not been really abiding by my own knowings, Tsk-tsk!
Well I am all over that now! I have a word, I have a memory, I have a working metaphor and I am good to go! I approach 2014 and I approach it by being in the Flow!

My Pagan Way - Ramble Pt. 1

When someone says, "I'm Pagan", it does not really describe that person's beliefs. During the early years of Christianity, 'pagan' was mainly in reference to the old polytheistic traditions of the people in the area. Today being 'pagan' does not offer such a clear picture.
Today, every pagan is different from other pagans in some way. Pagan is an umbrella term as well as a fixed term. One who is Wiccan is considered pagan, but someone who is pagan is not Wiccan. Some Native Americans and Buddhists accept being under the pagan label, and some do not. Some who are Atheists feel pagan. Some see Paganism as a religion, and some are, and some see Paganism as just a sense of spiritual being that is in string connection with the earth and nature.

So what exactly is a Pagan? Ultimately that is up to the individual. No matter how much a 'liberal' pagan may explain the fuzzy parameters to a 'fundamental' religious person, that person will hold on to their own definition....well, that's not entirely true. There are people who will listen and learn. However, I'm speaking about those who are just sticks in the mud.

For me, being pagan is about the natural world, what we know and what we don't know. My father was a scientist who worked to preserve a part of the Amazon rainforest. My affection for earth and life upon it must be in the blood. The animals, the plants on this planet and the rocks and gasses that are light years away, yet can be seen, all fascinate me. It is life, it is energy, it is creation- the Universe and everything in it is my 'god'.

I honor and am an observer and of the Universe and all that is within it. I like to say that the only laws I follow are the laws of Nature, they are the only ones that can't be broken. I am an unofficial scientist who loves and is curious about my subjects. But it goes beyond formal science, beyond modern science, and even back to ancient science....and lets not forget Alchemy.

There is the tangible, the physical; what we can see, touch, taste and so on. There is the unseen physical that we do see evidence of, atoms, cells, viruses, radio waves.

But then there is the unseen, the non-tangible, yet, often encountered, consciousness, love...and Spirit.

Sometimes there is a conflict between science and religion, or religion and science (might be the better way of phrasing it).

There must be something more if for thousands of years humanity has created all kinds of concepts that link physical us with something unseen that is 'out there'. I think at the core, and when true to the faith, religion has a good grip on the Spiritual. But it is man and his mind that muddles things by throwing in stories to prove a point. Someone misses the point and looks to make a point out of a different part of the story. 

I think science is on the right track towards figuring it out, but they are not seeing it from the right angle and there are areas that are not put together, ignored or disregarded that are part of the science of Spirit.

The alchemists had the right idea for their time. To perhaps paraphrase what a spokesman for the association of alchemists would say, had there been one, "We know the Ether (spirit/god) exists. We do not understand it and are likely never meant to understand it because it is so big and vast we could never fully comprehend it, but we still accept and acknowledge its existence."

Spirit was a part of science at one time. Many of the early scientists were also astrologers. For many years astrology was accepted as truth. Then modern science came along and said 'no way, not possible' but astrology endures and survives through the criticism. We have been learning that planetary energy does have it's effects over great distances. Hard to imagine for some that a round ball of elements floating millions of miles away could effect earth. Why? Why is it hard to imagine. We see the effects of the Moon. Yes, it's closer. It feels more within our physical realm because we can see it. There is no reason why another stellar body would not also have an effect on us, in ways we cannot see....the astrologers see it, but they are looking at the tangible; the planets and their positions, and determining from years, centuries of observations and writings, what these effects are. 

....to be continued
Part 2 of My Pagan Way

Tarot & Fortune Telling ETA: And the Romani

Did tarot start with the Romani? And what About Fortune Telling?

Let's begin with these questions by taking a closer look.

What is Tarot?
      Tarot is a deck of 78 cards that came into existence in Italy in the mid 1400's.  At that time, the cards where used for the card game called Tarocchi which is played by rules much like Bridge.  These original decks were hand painted commissioned works, made at the request of wealthy merchants.  The earliest known deck dates to about 1441.  It would not be until after the invention of the printing press that tarot cards would be mass produced.   While a deck was made specifically for divination in the 1800's, it was not until 1910 that ever so popular and well known Rider Waite Smith deck was published.


But before all this... A French occultist, Eliphas Levi, found that the 22 Trump cards of the Tarrocchi deck neatly correlated with the Tree of Life, the foundation of Kabbalah.  It was this connection that he utilized tarot playing cards with mysticism and magic.

   • Some added interesting info and dates...
Eliphas Levi was born in 1810, Arthur Edward Waite was born in 1857, Edward Alexander Crowley (Aleister Crowley) was born in 1875.  And what is the link with these three besides tarot?  Both Waite and Crowley translated and published some of Eliphas Levi's written works.  Levi's works became a major part of the foundation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.  The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical paternity (that allowed women) started in 1888 by William Westcott and Samuel Mathers; the order 'died' in 1903.  However, both Waite (joined in 1891) and Crowley (initiated in 1898) had been members and when the HOGD was no more, both men created a spin-off order of their own.

Art by Morgaine du Mer

Prints available at MagickMermaid

How about those Gypsies?
       Gypsy is not the preferred term and is viewed as a ethnic slur.  This is the Romani people; traditionally and historically a nomadic people.  They are found all over the world today, but where do they come from originally?   With advances in genetics and DNA testing, it has been found that their origins are from Northern India and Pakistan.  Exactly why they migrated as they did is still in question for the Romani people have no written history.

       When the word 'gypsy' is mentioned it often brings to mind the idea of a psychic fortune-teller.  Where the idea of the Romani people being fortune-tellers comes from cannot be totally nailed down, it is a bit like the 'which came first, chicken or the egg?' question.
Palmistry and Vedic Astrology has a very long history in India and the Far East, so it would stand to reason that a people who originally came from India and the Far East would likely be skilled in these practices.  Even today, the cultural structure of the Romani has its foundation in Caste system found in Hinduism.
        In the early 1300's there was a linguistic association made.  The language of the Romani contain many dialects that originate from Sanskrit.   A group of Romani was compared to another group called Mandapolos due to the language spoken.  Mandapolos is thought to be derived from the Greek word that means 'fortune-teller'.

        With a nomadic lifestyle one must be quite creative and adaptive in making a living.  With the Indian and Hindu origin of the people, they likely already had the know-how for reading palms.
So did the early Romani utilize this 'fortune-teller' image and give the people what they were looking for?  Or did the 'label' fit from the start and just grow from there?
As for the cards, given that Tarot is known today as a form of divination, it is easy to see that the people and the cards would go hand in hand.  The Romani did arrive in Italy roughly the same time that the first tarot (game) cards are known to have appeared. But cards were commissioned works of art that only aristocrats and such could afford.

Is there such a thing as Fortune Telling?
       Fortune telling is a term used for the practice of divination. There is a distinction between the two terms; divination was conducted during a religious ritual, where as fortune-telling is less formal and more personal. Divination can be done with many different tools or none at all. Cards of any kind, not just tarot cards, can be used as well as tea leaves, the lumps and wrinkles on one's head, a persons palm and the classic crystal ball.
      "You will meet a tall, dark and handsome man."... this idea comes from the early days of cartomancy (using playing cards for divination) in the 18th century. Each court card in a standard deck of playing cards had been given specific meaning in the form of 'who' as in what they looked like and their age.  Readings done during this time was more of a form of parlor entertainment than it was actual divination. These types of meanings given to the cards have come a long way since then, as has the art of cartomancy.
       Today, tarot is more of a guidance tool. The cards reflect a different perspective than what a person may be clinging to. It introduces to the mind other possibilities and situations that had not been previously considered. However, there is still a bit of mysticism to the cards depending upon who is doing the reading. This is where intuition and psychic impressions come into the picture. It is not the cards that can predict the future, it is the reader who taps into the interconnectedness of the collective consciousness. And then there is the person who is astute in logic progression; 'If you do 'A', then 'B' will happen'.
       All good tarot readers as well as psychics will say that no future is set in stone. That there is the current path that one is on and that path can be changed. If a reader tells a client that their relationship is headed towards a nasty ending, then there is already trouble in the relationship. In order for that to change, the person must take steps to change it. The relationship could be healed, or could end on a softer note. Either way, the person receiving the reading has been given a seed of thought to contemplate and prepare for, or take necessary measures to avoid.
      What about things like pregnancies and accidents? There are specific cards that are indicators of these things, but they each have other meanings as well. It is all in the intuition of the reader that deciphers what the specifics in the card are relevant and important in the reading.

So what can we formulate from all this information?

   • Did the Romani really bring tarot cards to the world? 
I feel pretty safe in even saying 'absolutely not!'
Coincidentally, they were in the same place at the same time, however, evidence and logic would have it that the two never had any connection.
    • How so?
Though they where both in Italy at the same time, Tarot cards where only for the elite.  They where the only ones who could afford them.  The Romani people had a hard enough time making a living and were always on the move; there would be no way they could possibly afford to commission a deck to made for them, let alone stick around long enough for its completion.
    • How about fortune telling?
Is it just coincidence through a logical view of events and how these typically progress?  Or is there really some magic to it all?
Predicting the future can be done, but is quite rare.  I believe that it is a bit of both; a lucky and, or, logical guesswork, but at times, can be truly intuitive.
I am reminded of an account told to me by someone who was at the World Trade Center on that fateful day.  He was to attend a meeting and minutes before the meeting he had the strong urge to leave the building.  He did not know the 'why' for the impression he had, but heeded the feeling. He did not predict the attack specifically, but something deep within told him that he should not be in the building. He is alive today because of it.