The Week Ahead - Tea Leaf Forecast

The forecast for the week ahead comes in the form of Tea Leaf Fortune Cards. I purchased this deck at the end of 2011, played with them a little, but never went back. I think the main reason was I tried to do a year forecast and it wasn't so simple. You basically have a lot of cards in the form of predictions made from the art of Tasseography, a form of fortune telling using tea leaves. After you pull the number of cards needed, it’s up to you to group them together to form the accurate predictions.

For the week, we need seven cards in a straight line. Then after looking over them, decide which cards deal with the same issues and form your predictions. Here’s what came up for my week ahead: May 27 – June 2.

After laying them out in a line of seven, I began grouping the cards together. What you see above is what I decided upon.

Mice - discord among friends or family, Skull - hidden secrets can harm you, Vulture - depression, anxiety. Worry that someone is against you.

I felt these three cards grouped together and carried a similar theme. Someone is lying and it's not a harmless lie. It will cause discord among a group. It will be very upsetting to me and cause me grief.

Cane - Pay attention to your health, Dog-Barking - advice from a friend.

These two cards could very likely connect back to those first three cards. I could be so upset about this dishonesty that it causes me to be physically drained and perhaps neglect my health. I should listen closely to advice given by a friend on this situation.

Elephant - a long journey, either physical or mental, will leave you wiser at the end, Mountain - You are on the road to success.

I feel this will be a mental journey, perhaps even a result from the above dispute and the advice given by the friend. This change, this gaining of knowledge, will set me upon the road to success.

Overview - Don't get dragged down by a dispute among friends. Keep moving forward and accept advice from a reliable friend. As your mental journey develops, you will find yourself gaining knowledge and heading down the right road to success.

I'm actually impressed by this outcome, and it wasn't so hard to group them together.

Interview at Brigit's Biddy Tarot

Over at Biddy Tarot, Brigit features a 'Going Pro' series. Guess who, yes me, has been featured in this week's interview. It was a joy to talk with Brigit about my journey into the world of Tarot. Stop by and get to know me a little better. While you're there, check out all the wonderful things going on at Biddy Tarot.

Vintage Lenormand by Rootweaver and a look at the week ahead

A couple of weeks ago, I received a delightful gift - the Vintage Lenormand by Rootweaver, standard size and mini version.

The deck consists of 36 cards and is created in the Lenormand style of cartomancy. The high quality card stock makes both decks easy to handle, and the images are rich and earthy.

To purchase your own deck/decks visit Rootweaver's Decks.

To give you a view of some of the images, I decided to do a forecast for the week ahead using my new deck. Remember this is a personal forecast, which may or may not show energies you are also working with.

Card 1 - Monday and Tuesday - The Fish simply translates into money. It offers good fortune and reliable resources.

Card 2 - Wednesday and Thursday - The Bouquet represents a gift and happiness. Connecting back to the Fish gives a sign of this gift being in the form of money, financial profit.

Card 3 - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - The Lily is the business card, signifying work-related issues. (An alternative meaning for the Lily is purity and peace, according to the keyword list accompanying my deck.)

The Week Ahead

The week begins with the focus on money, which is provided in the form of a gift in the middle of the week. The weekend brings the week to a close with significance on business, perhaps the gifted money came from work, or could it be the gift will be put to business use. Either way, all of these flowers give me a sense of peace and natural growth.

Tarot Blog Hop - Tarot Tradition and where it all began

The Tarot Blog Hop presents the question, ‘What traditions are important to you in how you read Tarot?’ Advised to use the question as the basis for this post, I debated on what direction to take. I decided to go back into the past, back to the very beginning, or at least as far as I could venture.

But first – The Tarot Blog Hop is a chain of blogs where each blogger touches upon the suggested topic. The blog before this stop is at Alison Cross' This Game of Thrones, and the blog stop after is Louise's Priestess Tarot. If you've managed to arrive here without a map, here is the master list of participating bloggers. Enjoy!

The Sola Busca Tarot
a redrawing of the oldest existing Tarot deck,
printed in the late fifteenth century in Italy.

Where and when did it all begin? Myths and theories vary on the subject of the Tarot’s origin. The evidence suggests in the late 14^th century cards similar to what is known as the Tarot appeared in Italy and France.

The early Tarot cards were used in card games. Which leads to the question – Which cards came first – playing cards or the Tarot?

According to Tarot historian Tom Tadfor Little, traditional playing cards date back to 1375, arriving in Europe from the Islamic societies. The first known Tarot deck was created in the 1450, which suggests the Tarot derived from the traditional playing cards.

The first mention of the use of playing cards turning toward divination came in 1487. The first reference of Tarot connecting to such shows up in records from a trial in Venice, in 1589. After this, no references to the Tarot connecting with divination appears until the 18^th century.

These early decks were painted. Mass production didn't begin until the 1500s, with the invention of the Gutenberg press.

Today, we can find Tarot decks everywhere and in many forms. From themed to traditional decks, from fortune telling to self-discovery, over the years the Tarot has made a place in our culture. No longer does one have to hide the desire to explore these images, at least not as one would have had to in the days of witch hunts.

I hope you all enjoyed this short history on the Tarot. Much more detailed information is available on this subject, and in no way does this post even gets close to covering the massive topic.

Enjoy the Blog Hop!