Echoside: Phoenix Rose

The Chariot. Photo credit: Phoenix Rose This comes from the Apophenia Tarot by Steven Archer. The deck's stark imagery is captivating, in my opinion. When I was gifted the deck I did not know much about Archer. The deck had no guide book and on his website the artist said there would never be a book. I admire his brazen honesty. Archer stated that he only created the deck because his fans kept pushing for it, that he himself is an artist and not into tarot at all. The cards are a fan bit and nothing more. The title, apophenia, makes so much sense given his statement. As someone who has read tarot for half of my life I can see how, as an artist, Archer did a great job with this deck. I feel artists have a way of channeling things and end up with something they didn't know they knew. One card in particular struck me. The Chariot. Pictured is JFK, the First Lady is not with him, but the Lincoln Continental, the grassy knoll, and arrows imply his ...

Earlier this year the need for inner child healing work was screaming to be done.  Last year (2017) brought many unhealed wounds to the surface.  I erroneously thought these were no longer an issue, as it turns out they are huge issues begging to be healed.  I was pregnant for most of 2018 and I refrained from diving too deep to inner work because I was very hormonal and emotional.  I didn't want to cause myself undue stress or anxiety facing the roots of my stress and anxiety. I am now 6 weeks post partum at the time of writing this and the inner work albeit minimal has finally begun. My husband suggested a couple useful journal prompts for self reflection.  I also incorporate tarot into my self-work, more on that later.  It's quite interesting when the synchronicities start happening on these inner journeys we take. I knew journaling would be a part of this process. It's always been a way for me to get to know the true, inner me. A theme that has come...

Today's blog will be showcasing The Wild Unknown Animal Spirit Deck by Kim Krans.  This is a beautifully illustrated oracle deck.  On the surface the meanings behind the cards are simplistic, however these simple reflections to ask oneself can have you diving quite deep into yourself. New Deck Interview ...5…...6… ……4…… ...3…...2… …...1……. 1. Tell me more about yourself; What is your most important characteristic? **Hummingbird** Positive, Enthusiastic, Spiritually Resourceful Inside the tiny hummingbird resides in endless well of energy and positivity. The hummingbird's secret is that it has learned where to gather nectar, and it returns to these sources daily for nourishment and rejuvenation. The secret elixir springs from many sources, but usually involves nature, creativity, and exploring spirituality. Follow the way of the hummingbird and you cannot go wrong. Every drop of life becomes sweet, every moment worth savouring. 2. What are your strengths a...

It's been almost a year since focusing on the blog.  In my tarot studies whenever I get a new deck I always do an interview spread.  It just dawned on me I should post them to the blog.  Over the next few weeks / months / whenever I have time I will be uploading the interviews. This week I'm going to start with my newest deck: Tranquil Willows by Rowan Saille and Tranquility Fearn New Deck Interview ...5…...6… ……4…… ...3…...2… …...1……. 1. Tell me more about yourself; What is your most important characteristic? **The World - Capturing the essence of allness. This deck has its unique world. Can be used in many ways. 2. What are your strengths as a deck? **5 of Wands - Fairness, seeing both sides of conflict. Helping in making decisions. Learning to work with rather than against. 3. What are your limits as a deck? **4 of Discs - Relating this to the decluttering aspect, the workbook may be cluttered with too much options. Putting things in boxes. T...

A conversation happened recently where a good friend was asking about the concept of how tarot decks have to be given to you, that you shouldn't buy one for yourself. He threw out his deck based on this information he was told. While this old wives tale has a mysterious allure to it, almost a romanticism that somehow makes a deck more special, it is still just an old wives tale. There is an adage to "the deck must be given" and it's "or stolen." I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not becoming a thief to acquire a deck, not in today's day and age when they are so readily available! Our fore-mothers, the old wives that made up all these tales, I do not wish to discredit them. There are still nuggets of truths that are valid today, though some things just no longer hold truth, and we need to use discernment in the now-moment. I have been given decks that I absolutely adore. My first deck, Rider-Waite-Smith, was given to me. I did my best to...

Something I have learned reading tarot is how important it is to understand that the future is written in sand and not in stone. We have the power of choice in most situations. Yes, there are situations beyond our control - recognizing those situations and letting go of trying to control them is the most liberating feeling. Distinguishing between what we can control and what we can't control is a line that has not been clearly defined in this society. What you can control: your actions/behaviours and your thoughts. With the added caveat to controlling your thoughts - you cannot control what thoughts pop into your head - what you can control is what you think of, and do with, those thoughts. Confused yet? I promise it is an easier concept than reading about thinking of thoughts. As humans we are metacognative: the ability to think about thinking. As an observer/seeker stand point, we are able to observe the thoughts that pop in our heads. If we believe those thoughts to be true t...

Click here  for Part One, here for Part Two. Aepheria and the Priestess discussed how they had both been captured by the king and his men. Both bound and hidden away. To the women this had to do with their powers and favour with the Gods. This King wanted to rule the land. He wanted to be a God and snuff out anyone who knew he was a mere mortal, power-hungry, man. The pair gathered up branches and other materials from the woods. Soon animals came to partake in the ritual. They set about casting their circle. Aepheria began chanting and invoking the highest God, the Allfather, to enter the circle. At the same time the Priestess was summoning the King who was suppressing the land. Both entities emerged in the circle. A God. A Mortal. Face-to-face. The great awe the mortal king felt in the presence of his maker brought him to his knees. The Almighty God stripped the man of his kingship. As punishment for his ill-will towards the people of the land the God turned the man into a t...

I have spoke through a couple posts now about spreads. I feel like I've been avoiding this. I have no idea why, they are just tarot spreads! As stated in last week 's post, I listed some of my favourite questions to ask to get an open-ended reading (the intent is to be as objective as possible). This week I will talk on how I do my layouts. I use the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid . I have used intricate layouts such as this name spread described here , it was very time consuming and convoluted. Starting out with a small spread and working from there is always the most helpful. Three or four cards, plus one or two clarifiers - only if needed. Take note of any "jumpers" from the deck when shuffling. For me, if a card jumps/falls out of the deck when shuffling I don't always include it in the reading. If it lands face down I put it back in deck. If it lands face up I feel it was trying to be seen. Also, knowing the difference between whether you are a go...

Click here for Part One. Upon arrival to the island they come across a juggler. He is a fancy and upbeat entertainer. The woman quickly realizes that he is looking for coins in exchange for his liveliness. With nothing to offer she politely moves on as the juggler heads towards the sailor docking the boat. The unnamed woman gave a thankful nod to the sailor and headed off to the darkness of a nearby wooded area. She was not familiar with this island, but she trusted the tree spirits to guide her. They all whispered to her to be quiet, be still. She did as she was advised and heard distress in the distance. She followed the murmurs and found a woman bound and gagged. She recognized the power within this woman instantly. Hurriedly undoing the ropes, blindfold, and mouth gag. All the while the unnamed woman was chanting seemingly incoherent mumbles. The bound woman, finally freed, she kissed the heroine on the forehead. A circle of bright white light encompassed them both, "Ae...

I find there are two types of people that come to tarot: those with very specific questions, and those who have no idea what they want to know. As a reader it is easier to read when specifics are involved, however looking for too specific an answer does not allow the cards to offer alternative possibilities. The best is to find an easy medium between specific and open-ended. Focusing on one aspect helps to narrow down the reading because every card holds many meanings depending on how you read them. The Big 3 topics that most people want insight on: career, relationships, and health. Your question does not have to be limited to one of the Big 3, but it's an example of choosing an aspect that you want to focus on. Asking, "where is my career/relationship/health heading?" Is focused enough onto a topic and open-ended enough to give many possibilities.  However, it may still be too open-end. Your career may take a fabulous turn, but that may not happen for 10 years down ...

The woman with no name is locked up, trapped, captured.  She is helpless and bound.  There are four guards that take turns watching her cell.  She wonders how and when she will get out of this. What the guards don't know is that she is fierce despite her vulnerable and helpless exterior.  She will no longer be held captive, she decides to take the whole cell down.  She has favour with the Sky Gods, and the tower cell is struck down in an instant with a fiery crack of lightning at the moment she called upon them.  The guards were flung, unknowing of this woman's importance, unknowing of her power.  She narrowly escapes the destruction as chaos ensues behind her. Wrapped in torn sheets she makes her way down to the port where she meets a young seafarer.  He is loading his boat with bundles of steel.  She has little to offer him. However, he is kind, seeing the destruction she has fled from, he takes pity and offers ...

Last week I said that I would be posting sample questions and spreads for using tarot to navigate your life. However, I am going to go a different direction given a conversation I had this week with some dear friends in the tarot community. I do apologize and will get to it in a future post. This seemed like a more pressing thing to talk about as even the most skilled readers will ask other readers for input in interpreting cards for themselves. This is because it can be difficult to remain objective when you are too close to the situation. We can't see the forest for the trees. How I learned to become objective for myself is to read cards for other people. Not close friends and family. Reading for absolute strangers (you can find many groups where readers do free exchanges). Reading for people or situations you know little about can have a great impact on exercising your intuition. One mistake I made reading for myself is that I would look up every single possible meaning of e...

I'm going in a different direction with tarot.  Today I am announcing a new blog series entitled Creative Tarot. Tarot is and has been a useful tool in divination - the art of looking beyond what we can see with our eyes, for divine guidance or predictions and fortunetelling - for many ages.  Tarot has also been used for the mundane as in playing card games.  I will not be discussing interpretations, readings, history, or anything of that nature in this new series. What I will be using the tarot cards for is to assist in creative writing.  Someone with absolutely no knowledge of tarot or their meanings can use this method to work in conjunction with a creative writing project.  While I do have knowledge of the card meanings, I'm not relying on that for creating a wee story. I will be using the classic Rider-Waite-Smith deck, basing the story strictly on the pictures, and what comes to mind.  I will pull 3 cards per blog post, and 3 parts per series. ...

In last week's Tarot Talks I spoke of comparing yourself with the have-nots in life and how tarot can take you out of that head-space and provide clarity and offer a different perspective. This week I would like to go a bit further into using clarity provided by tarot. This is a bit of a paradox because tarot can sometimes have us raising more questions than answering the ones we came in with. It is true that tarot is complex, but it doesn't have to be complicated. Learning it's language -  I don't mean memorizing the instruction book either - and how it speaks to you is the key to a successful and insightful reading. Oftentimes tarot gives insight into different paths when we find ourselves at a crossroads. I don't believe that tarot should be used as a GPS, but rather should be used as a compass. GPS systems have a set destination and you follow exactly where the voice tells you to go. A compass on the other hand tells you where True North is and it's up ...

We all search for clarity in various ways. While the motivations may be different for the individual, it all comes from a place of comparisons - wanting what others' have that we don't, believing the grass is greener on the other side, or even comparing our current reality to what we think our life " should " look like. This place of comparing emphasizes our insecurities and doubts. It makes our frustration signal rise and the downward spiral begins. We become clouded and need to clear the way to make more effective decisions in our lives. Tarot is a tool that helps move from a place of comparing to a place of clarity Tarot is a tool to help gain clarity into a confusing or frustrating situation. The place of comparing isn't necessarily a negative thing, as humans we need to be able to compare, make sound judgments that could literally mean life or death. We tend to take this comparing to other levels: jealousy, envy, self-doubting, insecurities, and feelings...

Have you ever been really excited about a new tarot or oracle deck that you just received, but then you start working with it and you just don't seem to mesh well with it even though you really want to?  This has happened to me on a couple occasions until I learned what a deck interview was. It's important to learn how to best work with your decks. A deck interview is a spread that can help you determine the "personality" of your cards.  Instead of answering typical questions about you and your situation, you are asking the tarot cards questions about themselves. The point of doing this is to help you to work with the deck in a more meaningful way.  I learned the importance of this when I first started using Healing with the Angels oracle cards by Doreen Virtue.  I was new to working with angel decks and I thought I would use this to study the archangels.  For some reason all my readings and spreads were way off in left field, and I ended up feeling prog...

Today's featured deck is Steven D. Farmer's Messages From Your Animal Spirit Guides Oracle Cards Back in 2014 this was the first oracle deck that I received.  Prior to that I only worked with tarot.  Oracle cards were a new-to-me thing.  I had asked the Universe for signs of my power animal, long story short, this deck popped out to me one day at Chapters, it wasn't even in the right section, which worked out for me! Septarian and Clear Quartz Crystals shown with deck Ladybug "This is a time of good fortune and abundance, so be willing to receive all good things in your life." The ladybug is small, yet mighty.  Things are happening, and quickly.  This card is definitely resonating with what I see in the collective.  The veil between the worlds, the separation between the physical and astral used to only thin during certain times of the year, such as Beltaine or Samhain.  However, lately the veil has been thinning over the years.  In a n...

Tarot Tuesday - February 14, 2017 Because today also lands on the notorious of all days for lovers I am showcasing the 1JJ Swiss Tarot, or referred to as the "Juno and Jupiter" deck because the Pope and Popess (Emperor and Empress) are substituted for the Gods.  Perfect for today, as Juno and Jupiter were consorts, and Lupercalia is being celebrated today, as celebration associated with Juno. 1JJ Swiss is derived from the French Tarot Marseilles, and designed for playing tarot card games, such as Troccas and Troggu, which I may discuss in a future blog post.  For now lets discuss this reading. Spread in a V formation for Valentines We see the Valet de Coupe, or Page of Cups.  A message is to be delivered, spiritual or emotional of nature. This person is a dreamer and extremely creative. Next, Roi de Coupe, or the King of Cups, Reversed. This King has closed himself off.  Emotionally unavailable.  Looking for love in all the wrong places.  Self-pity....

How can you do a tarot reading when you are not face-to-face with the person? I, and many other readers, get that question often.  I have provided tarot readings in person, through my Facebook page and email .  I have read for a querent when they couldn't be live in the chat.  It all remains very accurate.  Receiving digital readings have become quite common place.  Heck, if you wanted to get an old time feel, I will mail you hand written reading. >_<  heehee Some still wonder how....  If their energy isn't there, how can the reading be done?  Don't they need to shuffle the cards?  No.  The querent does not need to shuffle the cards.  I know many readers who don't allow anyone to touch their cards.  As someone who has done it both ways, I prefer to just shuffle the cards myself. Energy.  Energy is all around.  Essentially we are all connected by tiny molecules.  The esoteric and scientific communitie...

#XIXTheSun happy, harmony, love, energy, personal growth, vitality, confidence, success Hanson-Roberts, Essential Tarot (1984) Always a good card to get in a reading.  The imagery on the card is one of happiness, joy, growth.  A warm, sunny day signifying the bright, solar energy.  The naked baby on the white horse signifying innocence and joy.   Change is indicated in this card, but it is always a positive change.  Usually in regards to family matters.  It heralds a message of a celebration (pregnancy, engagement, wedding) or a welcomed new beginning. The Sun is a divine masculine, creative energy.   Affirmation: "I welcome all new opportunities.  Now it is my time to welcome happiness and harmony into my life." Much Love ~Phoenix Rose~