Away

Dear friends,

I am sorry for my absence during the last week... it's not mere laziness on my part. For the last two weeks I have been having a strange throat ache that neither became something serious nor went away. Then it became a pervasive cough that first I thought was simply a response to my irritated throat. But this weekend (finally?) it worsened, and I spent the whole Friday and Saturday coughing all kinds of mucus and phlegm out of my lungs. Today I have decided to take an antibiotic and see if it helps - I dislike taking medicine, but my chest and head hurt from coughing and blowing my nose.

So now I am nauseated thanks to the stupid antibiotic but my cough has lessened a bit. Despite the fact I have done nothing today, I am feeling very tired.

ONIM ~ The Horse King

...and blahness ensues.

No, I did not feel like posting today. I began to write the second part of the Witches Runes study yesterday, but I couldn't finish. I found it very hard to chain my thoughts coherently and turn them into a decent piece of writing. My brain became so tired that I hard to turn off the computer, finish organizing my wardrobe and do some Yoga in order to feel human again.

I wonder if the lightheadedness I have been feeling is related to overexposure to a computer screen. I already spend 8 hours working in front of it... then I come home and spend at least another hour... not good. But I decided to get my read in gear and post my ONIM reading, because I want to have discipline.

My lesson and challenger for this week is The Horse King... he's a challenger because he came reversed. In this position, he's is all about control - excessive control. The Horse King asks me to stop trying to do everything by myself and center all the decisions on me. "Live and let live for a while", he says.

Guess what, Mr. Horsy, I can't do that. I am a control freak, you hear me? Control. Freak.

He chuckles. And shakes his head.

Grail Tarot says... learn through practice!

This week was a strange one.

It was intense, even though apparently I did nothing out of the ordinary. I feel that my week passed in a strange wave of chaos from which I felt rather disconnected. It was as if most of the time I was seeing everything from the outside.

Perhaps this is due to my newest discoveries in my spiritual path. I have been reading different things... difficult things, against which I wish to fight sometimes... So it was a mentally tiring week. I can feel the ghost of a headache burning my brain. I feel like I could sleep for a thousand years.

I decided to get some guidance from the Grail Tarot, which I find a helpful tool specially for spiritual questions. I made up a small 3-card spread, that I will share with you right now.

ONIM ~ Joy

My card for this week comes from the Wisdom of Avalon deck.
"Joy" is the name. Such a simple word. Such a difficult notion.

In the booklet, Colette Baron-Reid says that this card represents a moment of celebration, of reaching a goal. It's the ending of a journey - a happy ending. I do not think our journey ever ends, but some stages of the journey do. This card shows I am on a different road now.

But this card also more than simply reaching a goal for yourself... the wisdom behind joy is when you share it with other. When you are able to radiate what is inside of you to the others.

I was amazed by how this card relates to what I have been learning lately. That is my lesson, that's what I am trying to incorporate in my daily life. To carry more joy in my heart, and more importantly, to give it to others as well. It's very hard sometimes! Often, when I am feeling like crap (which, considering my roller-coaster moods, isn't such a unusual feeling) I get a feeling of "entitlement" - it's my constitutional right to be annoyed and treat everyone around me like the dirt under my feet.

Bad Marina. Bad, bad Marina!

PCO: where is the love?

I did this reading for my friend, A. She's in a long-distance relationship with T., and a few months ago I did a reading about whether she'd see T. again (in flesh, not through the computer) before the year was over. So far the reading has been accurate, so she asked me for another one.

Apparently T. and her are living in a limbo... she says she has been trying to keep the flame alive, but he has been acting distant. So she asked the cards 'what is going on with our relationship?'.

The first thing I noticed about this reading is the lack of Diamonds. Diamonds IS fire, so yes, their relationship is rather cold right. But before I started interpreting the cards themselves, I did the Geomancy analysis.

  =  + 
judge = color witness + number witness
Conjunctio = Cauda Draconis + Laetitia

I was very surprised to see that these are the exact same Geomantic figures I got for the other reading I did for her. My impression is that this reading is a development of that other one... the was no significant change in their situation, they are still heading to the same future.

ONIM ~ The Lady of the Gift

My card for this week is The Lady of the Gift. When I saw her, I smiled because it reminded of the give away I started last week! What a coincidence!

But this Lady is not just about material giving... it's about giving a bit of yourself in other areas of life. She comes and gently asks me if I have been withholding affection and attention. And when I say "no", she tells me to think again.

Sometimes we withhold these things without realizing. And we don't do this because we are mean, evil and uncaring. We do this to protect ourselves. We do this because we think we have given too much in this aspect, or because we feel we don't have enough for ourselves.

I have been feeling a bit like this, emotionally. But the Lady of the Gift put her hand on my shoulder and says "when you give, you receive, but in a different way".

The oracle have been telling me that I need to give more... I thought I was doing it, but I confess that after a while I was doing it reluctantly, feeling angry for being the only person giving, the only person trying. That's not true giving... that's not true release. When you really open yourself and allow the excess the flow through your floodgates... when you do it because you want, not because you feel you must... then you receive the real payment: freedom from the binding excess.

The 13 Witches Runes ~ Part I

One of my all-time favorite oracles is the Witches Runes. Differently from the nordic Futhark runes, they are not an alphabet in the most literal sense of the word, but rather a gathering of symbols that are a part of the western "collective mind". Love, man, woman, moon, sun, death... all these are present in the Witches Runes. Although apparently simple, these symbols can be used for fortune-telling with incredible accuracy, and some people also use them in magical rituals.

Sadly, there's very little information about this oracle on the web, so I have decided to talk a bit about the 13 symbols here in the blog.  I use the method taught by Susan Sheppard in her book A Witch's Runes. The book is wonderful and very complete - if you like what you see here, I recommend buying it!

It's important to keep in mind is that there is more than one kind of "Witches Runes". One has 8 symbols, the other has 10 symbols and the last one has 13 symbols - this is the one that I use.

I'll split the explanation of all 13 runes in 3 or 4 posts, so I can write more detailed definitions for each of them. Although I have learnt the method from Susan Sheppard's book, the explanations below are my own and come from my own experience - please do not repost them anywhere else without asking first, ok?

I hope you all enjoy it! :-)

A Birthday Giveaway

A BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY!

Dear friends,

In one month exactly it'll be a very special date for me. My birthday - December 1st! Not that the perspective of getting old makes me particularly happy, but it's still my birthday and I think that life itself is the greatest present we will ever get.

Despite my recent struggles in my own life, I know I have it much better than many. I have a job and a comfortable place to live. I have a loving family and a handful of good friends who make my journey in the Earth worth it. I can take care of my basic needs and even have time and money to worry about other things. I recognize that this is a luxury that I can afford for now - I do not know when the wheel of Fortune will turn.

I wish to share my current prosperity with others... give something back to the universe, and show my blog friends how important their company is to me in this cartomantic/spiritual journey. That's why I decided to hold this little giveaway!

To participate, all you have to do is leave a valid comment in any November post. By valid I mean saying more than 'cool post bro!'. You don't have to write an essay, don't worry!

On December 1st - my birthday - I'll put all the names in a hat and ask someone else from my family to draw one randomly. The winner will be able to choose one of the three following deck/book sets:

I. Complete Tarot Set: it comes with two versions of the Sharman-Caselli tarot, one in colors and one in B&W. It also comes with a very complete book on tarot. The colored Sharman-Caselli has been used sometimes, so it may show some wear...

II. Universal Marseille Tarot: a colorful rendition of the Tarot de Marseille, plus a very good book on the TdM written by Lee Bursten. Published by LoScarabeo.

III. Cosmic Tarot: it's a German edition, both the book and the deck are in this language. But the quality is very good, specially the cardstock - it does not have that thick US Games lamination and the colors are perfect! It's just like the old AGM edition.

I'll send any of the sets worldwide! Just make sure you do not mind sharing your address with me.

That's it! I hope to see you here this month, and I'll do my best to post more often so everyone has a fair chance to participate! Thank you for reading! :o)