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Tonight is the night where the clocks fall back for most of North America. It's a fabulous time for ritual, because you can use the time change to your advantage to 'eat' something that you want banished from your life, and then recreate things the way that you would like to see them unfold. The fact that this happens over Samhain makes the work even more powerful! All you need is a deck of tarot cards, and some staying power, as you're going to be up late!

Preparation for this is easy. Before the appointed time--02:00--determine what you would like to rid from your life (I already have mine planned, I celebrated it's demise last night). Choose a card that represents that. For instance, if you are holding on too tightly to something that needs to be surrendered, you might want to choose the four of pentacles. Maybe you've got a personality trait of being too stubborn, and you want to learn to be more flexible; the king or queen of swords might be an appropriate card for that. You're going to have to know your cards a bit, but really, any card that resonates with what you want to see leave your life can be used. 

So last week I picked up a copy of Marcus Katz's 'The Ghost Train,' and I'm working through it. While Marcus actually recommends that you make it a study running up to the ending for Halloween, I'm doing it according to my traditions, and incorporating All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day, with the final part ending (for me) on Monday.

Even though this is recommended for over the Samhain period, this exercise can be done at any time of year. All you need is the book (available through Amazon Kindle), and your favorite deck of tarot cards. It uses 'gated' tarot spreads, meaning that each spread must be experienced before moving onto the next one. It's a very well thought out process, and one that allows the querent to gather an in-depth way of experiencing clarity and deeper self-awareness. This particular book links the past to the present, helping the querent to better understand past experiences, in order to use them as a foundation for future awareness. 

Okay, not literally ;)

It seems a long time since I've written, but it's taking a long time to fill the kiln! I'm making smallish pieces, and it's a pretty large orifice! However, I started working on some larger pieces today... watch this space. 

For those of you following the adventures in clay, here's the Fool. I've got a lot of work to do on these, and I think I'm going to be moving away from using the forms in order to start to craft my own. That's going to take time, but the awesome thing is that once I have made the original, then I can make my own sprig molds from that. This means I can keep my originality, but also keep the price down. Win win, right? Watch this space. I think I rather fancy doing the Tower next... and maybe working on some more creative pieces, too. 

It's been awhile since I've been here, and that's because things have been... mutable. I've decided to try to re-enter (because Mercury retrograde is always a good time to go back to something that's been previously started, right?) working with clay again. I believe I mentioned it previously, in my last article. I've been doing a lot of reflecting since then. 

You see, Tarot is such a part of my life that it is hard for me to isolate things. I see the cards in shapes throughout the day. I think about what card would represent what activity I'm doing at the time. I use the Tarot as a guide to activities, as a focal point for my art, and more. Between astrology (to which I've also returned over the last year), runes, stones, and the tarot, my life is pretty full of amazing shapes, themes and designs. 

I saw those words on a bumper sticker this morning and they made me cry. Why? Because in the last year, who I wanted to be got overshadowed by who other people needed me to be. Things that were important to me, like working with my tarot cards, writing my books, articles and blogs, knitting my sweaters, and playing with my clay got shoved to the back burner while I performed duties that others needed of me. My New Year's resolution was to find myself again, and by gods, I'm going to do just that. 

Within the next few weeks I'm returning to a project that I started nearly three years ago. I make pottery masks, and I have always wanted to do a series on the tarot. I think embarking on the whole deck may be a bit ambitious--at least at the start--but I do think I can execute the creation of the majors, all embodied in a 'green man' type of wall-hanging. It feels good to have a vision, and a goal, again. 

So last month I acquired a set of Karen Mahony's Alice Tarot. Having done about 20 readings with it, I have to say that I'm very impressed with it. 

The cards are of high quality, and have a bit of a metallic sheen to them to add interest and depth. I like slightly large cards, and these accommodate that. The backs are the same dignified or inverted. What I like most about them, though, is that this is MY Alice.

When I was a child I adored Alice in Wonderland. It was my story: Alice in Virgoland. I always had to eat that, drink this, do too much, be too curious, and I was never backwards about telling adults exactly what I thought. I won't say it did me any favors, but I certainly resonated with Alice! I had my images of what the characters in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were like (and I was terribly disappointed in Disney's version). So when I saw another reader post a layout with the Alice cards, and Alice looked like my Alice, I had to take a closer look.