Fires of the Harvest: My time at Autumn Fires 2012

            When I rolled in, I was immediately thrown off. This was my first time at Wisteria’s small little harvest season festival, Autumn Fires, being more adapted to the weeklong events of Wisteria Summer Solstice or Starwood, along with one of Wisteria’s other weekend event, Cornstalk, under my belt back in 2009. Where there is usually camping, there was now parking. Where there is usually merchants there now lay the tents. But that was an aspect I loved about this festival, too. While usually strongly community-based, there was an even stronger sense of community at this small gathering than the earlier festivals.

            Disorientated by the setup, I propped up my tent where it seemed to be a good location and hoped I was right. After hanging out with Eric Cornwell, owner of UpCycle Bike Garage in Athens and another Wisteria volunteer, I came back to my campsite to discover the Palace, a center of activity and excitement, had set up nearby. It was while enjoying the company of the Palace that my day was truly made as two of my friends appeared. With the festival having been brought to their attention on such a short notice (I mentioned the festival the previous weekend, and they didn’t find out if they’d be going until the day before the event), I was thrilled when my tribe was able to make the festival, another friend and member of the tribe showing up later that night.

            We hung out at the Palace until after dark, finally deciding to make a journey to the faery shrine without the use of lights.

Upon returning, it was straight to Paw Paw for the last night of Tent City jamming until next year. I stayed for awhile, eventually going to bed. I put on a second layer of socks, a third layer shirt, a jacket, gloves, and a toboggan, on top of being on top of a couple layers of blankets and snuggled up inside a sleeping bag. And it was all necessary. Friday was a cold night for camping, but worth it in the end.

Saturday was much warmer. I spent most of the day with my tribe, relaxing back at camp. Eventually I ended up helping a member of my tribe with tiki duty as we walked around the event site filling up the tiki canisters.

Later in the day, a feast was held featuring a freshly slaughtered and roasted pig in honor of a handfasting held earlier that day. The feast was followed by Wisteria’s volunteer coordinator calling all of the volunteers up on stage one by one to talk about each of us individually and give appreciation for our work throughout the festival season.

Afterwards, it was back off to the Palace where my tribe would end up putting together an even bigger grouping for a journey to the faery shrine in the dark before the firing of the clay pit, which would serve as the night’s main bonfire for drum and dance.

The following morning I was up in time for morning yoga, a festival feature I’ve only actually caught once before, regardless of always having it planned. Shortly following, it would be time to go around and give out hugs for the festival was drawing to a close. Never a goodbye be said, for we know our paths will cross again with stories to tell each other of the winter when next we gather.   

            And so it comes to an end, this year’s festival season at Wisteria. Just eight more months and we get to do it all again. It sure has been one hell of a season, though. I felt so excited to be back after missing the festivals last year. Over the course of this year’s festivities I’ve gotten to get to know old friends better, added some new friends to the list, and made some memories sure to last. But nevertheless, all things must come to an end so they may come again, and the time spent away makes the time spent at the community less likely to be taken for granted.

Until next year, love to you all.

We're All the Fool (Part 2)

The first reading I preformed was a past-present-future spread. The next day, I gave the Celtic Cross spread a spin as I read for the friend that paid for my deck. Then later on, as I was camping beside a professional reader, I was offered to read for her so she could give me some tips. I was still going through the deck to find the significator card based on the querent’s personality and/or appearance. It was something that didn’t really seem natural to me. The professional reader suggested that I let the deck choose the significator. This advice has had an impact on my readings since, adapting it over many readings and giving me more depth in the querent’s situation as well as their personality that may not be initially apparent.

            Over the course of the remainder of the festival, I ended up giving several readings, daily, to many different people. While still falling back to the “little white book” in the beginning, I was already on my way to distancing myself from it.

            After the festival ended, I still found myself reading for at least one person a day for the next couple of weeks. I feel this really helped me get used to reading the cards, picking it up rather quickly.

            But one of the biggest developments in my journey so far was the creation of my own spread. One of my empathic friends had expressed interest in learning Tarot so I decided to develop a spread that focused on empathic energies. Although not originally named, the Empathic Spread became a key factor in the development of my involvement with the cards.

            After I designed the spread, I created a group on Wiccan Together so I could share it with the Tarot community and get their take and experience with my spread. In addition, I decided to test the spread myself. I decided to offer readings on Everything Under the Moon. This was my first experience reading online, or over any distance for that matter. The first two reading requests I had received were from site moderators, so my combined newness to Tarot, use of a new spread, and first distance readings with that fact had me a bit nervous in the beginning.

            Positive feedback from the people I read for helped a great deal to boost my confidence. I’m not always the best at explaining, either, in the sense that I know what I want to convene but can’t turn it into words.

(Will finish in a part 3)  

We're All the Fool: My Journey with the Cards

                

In Tarot, the Major Arcana is often given the metaphor of the Fool’s Journey. It shows the progression through the stages of life. The Fool represents us all, just as its journey is the one we all walk at various points throughout our lives. So I would like to share with you my journey with Tarot as it currently stands.

            To begin, we have to look back to before I even knew what Tarot was. As a young child, before I became involved in the occult, before I knew anything about psychic abilities of any kind being outside of the magic of Hollywood, I would dream of tomorrow. I remember stopping in the middle of my days, confused for recalling my dream from the night before and mistaking it for the previous day, wondering why things are happening the exact same way. The only word I had for it back then was déjà vu.

            Down the road, I would eventually receive more influence from my father, ultimately going to live with him. This influence connected me to the occult. As I began to learn, I realized that my days weren’t repeating. I was seeing the future. Usually as visions while asleep, I’ve also seen my brother with a bloodied nose before it happened and predicted the death of one of our dogs by recognizing an omen in the sky on the morning she was put down for an event that took place later that day.

            It all intrigued me. I wanted a way I could channel this ability. I wanted to be able to use it on command. Tarot became that channel for me. After research online, reading whatever books I could get a hold of, and talking to other readers, I eventually reached the point where I felt ready to get my first deck.

            At first, my issue was money. Living in a low-income household and not having a job myself meant that I didn’t have enough to buy a deck if I were to buy other things I needed when I got money. I ended up getting my deck bought for me by a friend. It was the Wisteria Summer Solstice festival 2010 and we had just gotten out of a Tarot workshop hosted by Gina Kruzel, the mother of another friend of mine. My friend and I decided to go buy decks for ourselves from a festival vendor; he would spot me the money. I spent all day studying the “little white book” and gave my first reading later that night to another friend of mine at the festival with us. This was how my excretion began.

(Will continue next time)   

The Tarot Ways

Divination is the art of recognizing a pattern in the events as they are and following that stream forward to predict where the outcome will lie if things continue as they are. This can be used to show us where we've been and where we are going. But more than that, it shows us where we are. It helps us to recognize what we may have ignored or not even given a thought to. Divination shows us the situation we're in, where we stand, and where the path will lead us if the course continues.

One of the most common forms of divination is the Tarot deck, a set of cards based in symbology to convey through their depictions that which is in the subconscious mind. With thousands of decks to choose from, a potential reader will find that the deck that works best for them is the deck that seems to "call" to them. They will find that not only is that deck more closely in tune with them psychicaly, but also that it will have the symbology in it that will easiest communicate to them. This is important when choosing a deck because while, at first, they will probably find themselves giving a "book" reading, after getting accustom to reading Tarot they will find that the cards will start to "speak" to them, leaving you to judge a card's meaning based on their intuition. This will generally lead to a great improvement in the quality and depth of their readings.

Now, how do the cards communicate with us?

As it was once explained to me, all knowledge is kept within a collective unconsciousness, which we may tap into to learn of a specific question we have. Subconsciously, we know the answer to both the question and the position of every card in the deck. When we shuffle, the subconscious more or less stacks the deck so the cards are in place to answer the question. Because the reader knows, subconsciously, why each card is in the position it is, seeing that card come up will translate that knowledge from their subconscious mind to their conscious mind, using the card's symbology as a medium through which the knowledge can travel. This is why it is commonly said that the reader should try to not focus on shuffling, let the subconscious take over for that, and to shuffle until they feel the deck is ready.

A Touching Dilemma

           Currently, one of the biggest debates within the Tarot community is whether or not to let other people touch their cards. Some believe that only the reader should touch the cards, some think it’s okay for people they trust to touch them, some will let the querent (Latin. Seeker. One who seeks. This is the person for whom you are reading the cards) touch the deck. Ultimately, how one treats their deck is up to the individual reader. The belief that something is true, especially in dealing with energy, will make it so. From this, we can impose our own blocks, or we can tear down those of others. Each side of the debate has their own reasons for their views on letting other people touch their decks.

            To begin with, allow me to go into the energy of the matter. Energy is neither good nor bad, black or white, but can be viewed as having a “positive” or a “negative” charge. The aura is an energy field that surrounds an object. This field, when seen around a living object such as a human, will ebb and flow, even change colors, based on thoughts, emotions, and physical or spiritual ailments. There is even an entire alternative medicine method based around altering a person’s aura, known as reiki. Because this energy can be changed at the mere whim of a changing thought, or a person’s emotional state, that energy’s signature could transfer into something it is being concentrated on, whether intentionally or not. When something like a Tarot deck, which acts as a channel between your different states of consciousness, is used as a tool through which energy is concentrated, then it can build up residual energy from multiple readings. When a deck gains negative energy, this can muddle a reading as much as it can transfer the energy to the people handling the deck. This is why most readers will cleanse their decks often. 

            Each decision as to letting others touch a reader's deck is based upon these principles of energy. Some people don’t want anyone other than them to touch their deck so it is only their energy in it. Other people will let people whom they feel they can trust to touch their deck. Then some people think the querent should handle the cards so their energy is in the deck, which the reader feels enhances their reading. Myself, I allow my querent to touch their significator (the card that represents them) and channel their energy through that. I’ll also let friends handle my deck.

So here’s a question to any Tarot readers reading this: Do you let other people touch your deck, and why so?

The Art of Tarot

Divination is the art of observing the present and the past through the superconscious to predict what the future will hold. The superconscious is the higher self, the part of a person that is connected to the collective unconscious of all that exists and has ever existed. Through a meditative state or the dream state, we may commune directly with our superconscious. Otherwise, the superconscious communicates with us through the subconscious, usually in the form of intuition.

            Calling this communication between the different states of consciousness at will is the key component behind the art of Tarot reading. This is generally achieved by utilizing the medium of symbology, archetypes, or both. These mediums stand as the link between your superconscious and subconscious, acting as a language between the two that is developed by both personal recognition the metaphorical or symbolical meaning that an object or character represents, and the study of traditional occult (which means hidden, or secret) meanings of a representation. An example of this could be seen in the symbology behind water. A personal recognition would be whatever a person's personal experience with water has led them to associate it with. However, from an occult point of view, water represents emotion, spirituality, and the collective unconsciousness.

            This is all used together brilliantly and beautifully to create decks that hold a storehouse of occult knowledge that allows us to commune with our different levels of consciousness, as the subconscious talks to the normal, waking consciousness through gut feelings, recognized as intuition. It is through that intuition that we may get a glimpse of the knowledge and wisdom of our superconsciousness. That glimpse of what it holds can, if we let it, show us where we stand in an unbiased light, as well as show us where we are going if we continue to walk this same path.

Extra Source: Raymond Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft