Excuse the arty clutter behind the fabulousness that is my new zoom lens.  I was making due pretty well with the starter lens but this one really makes me happy. Here is a tree that is very very very far away from me. Also, I took this through my bedroom window and you can barely see the screen. Nice.

I will be geeking out with my new toy shortly.

Things I am working on:
Finishing up The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying - this is my 4th reading and it is really clicking more than ever.  So much wisdom and mindfulness and it is all becoming clearer the more I study.

I have several Tarot posts almost ready to go dealing with questions I have been asked regarding how to choose the deck and also basic reading info especially when it comes to the Minor Arcana.

Running my latest batch of photos through Lightroom. 

And I just got a bullet journal kit and I think I am going to use this one for daily mindfulness. Yay for journals and brush pens and stickers and rulers and paper-y things.

​Have a great evening!

Well Blessed Ostara and a lovely Spring Equinox to you!  It is still rather wintry blah looking but there are bits of color peeking out of random places and my allergies are in full swing!


<---- The Tarot of Card of the Day is a nice one for the first day of Spring. The Sun! That is the Sun from The Tarot of the Magical Forest and I love this deck so much.  Sun, happiness, brilliance and radiance.  Seeing everything clearly and understanding everything. The Sun has the vital energy we need to live and to see and to be brilliant!!

​Go outside and stand under some warming sunshine. Or, if your day is like mine, maybe imagine what that sun feels like under all that manky cloud cover LOL
​

Playing with some Chalk Markers this morning - It felt like a Springy thing to do! 

As you can see, I have a few books on tarot and subjects found within tarot study. But I am always looking for more because it keeps me learning and seeing more!

A few of my favorites:
The Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin - Really great for linking art/creativity with the Tarot and seeing the cards in a different way.

Rachel Pollacks books 

Way of the Tarot by Jodorowsky

Tarot: History Symbolism and Divination by Robert Place

So, if you have any suggestions please let me know!

I admit, I have a *problem* or rather am challenged to NOT buy every awesome Tarot deck I see. Instead of struggling with it, I just buy them - saves on wasting time thinking LOL

Usually, I do not buy cutesy decks but this one was different. It is adorable, yet it is also very serious. Based closely on the Rider Waite Smith deck, it features a variety of foresty animals doing Taroty things.  The colors are fantastic and the images work for me. Sometimes better than my more *serious* decks. I am really enjoying working with these cards and getting the feel for them.

Tarot of the Magical Forest.  Comes with the usual LWB explaining the background of the deck and gives the basic card meanings.  I posted pictures of a few of my favorites and my card for the day today was Strength. A small fuzzy sheep, hugging a lion and it is a wonderful image for this card.

So, if you are looking to add to your collection and want something different but incredibly well done, this deck is a winner! The only smallish downside, is they are very thin and bendy, which makes them both easier to shuffle and harder because I am afraid to bend them, but they still make me happy.

I am slowly working on reviews of all my decks, which is taking awhile because I have so many of them, yet, never enough!

It has been a bizarre year. I can't count how many times I said WTF, before finally just giving up and waiting for it to be over.  While I was waiting, I read. A LOT.  I read a lot as it is, but I think I reached a new record of books read in a year.   I decided to note them this year and share it on New Year's Eve.
So, here we are! 126 books and various magazines as well.
I liked how I started the year with Book 1 in a series (The Invisible Library) and ended the year with Book 2. Excellent series.
Also, I am always looking for new good books, so if you have any suggestions, please leave them!

2017 was the year of card 13 for me. In the RWS deck, that would be Death. In my go to deck, The Wildwood Tarot, that would be The Journey. Very similar in nature and very apt cards as well. I tried to remember them when dealing with the myriad of changes this past year has brought. Not all of them good, but change is necessary.

RWS - change, free yourself from what no longer works. Things have to end, in order for you to grow, move on, do not stagnate.

WW - ​From the book--
It is time to face the inevitable, to let the bones be laid bare and acknowledge the deepest aspects of your fears and desires. Do not fear change, because this is also a time of purification and realignment. This change may seem extreme and destructive, but old crops must be cleared for new growth to thrive and static or sterile modes and concepts must perish. A celebration of the past or an acknowledgement of the passing of  one part of life may be required. Let the threads of the old slip from your fingers with joyful remembrance and enter this time of withdrawal and renewal with patience and calm.

I am hoping to renew my interesting in blogging, both to get the ideas out of my head and maybe share them with people that I can learn from in return. I remember back in the days of Xanga (Bianca Broussard anyone?)  and then Myspace, I was a constant blogger and I LOVED it, but oh the work it was to stay in that fast lane of blogging reciprocity LOL

Still, I enjoyed it and am hoping to find that same sort of connection again.  

I am not sure that I liked this past year all that much. It seemed so filled with overwhelming negativity and I am trying to counter that with as much positivity as possible.  So, I say goodbye to Death's Journey and hello to Balance and Temperance (more on that tomorrow)

Happy New Year to you! I wish you enough in 2018!