#morgan-greer

Question: How will therapy go?

(I tried to grab just the top card but the one under it stuck to it so I used that in my reading as well.)

RIGHT: 7 of Rods - my beliefs are going to be challenged and I am going to have to fight for them.

LEFT: 8 of Pentacles - I will talk about or work on something that will lead to financial or spiritual gain.

Ultimately this Tarot spread came true.

In regard to the 7 of Rods, my therapist keeps telling me to work on my substance use (cannabis) and doesn't believe me that it is part of my spiritual practice. She says it is a justification, but it's not like I smoke multiple blunts every day. I smoke between one and three thimble-sized bowls a day starting in the afternoon or evening, and they don't interfere with my productivity, plus it's legal here and I am of legal age to purchase it. Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is numerologically and alchemically smokable magic, although she is a Buddhist psychologist and writes my beliefs off as "justifications" or possibly delusion.

Story Time: A long time ago, I had a tarot deck. I had been years working up to getting one, and I finally did. Years before that, a friend I’d loved and trusted told me I shouldn’t get a tarot deck unless the design spoke to me, and I’m picky. Did didn’t find one for forever.

Then years later I’m in the Army, and a girl (another soldier in the same barracks) upon whom I may have had a huge crush and I start talking late one night about tarot. I tell her about the whole “speaking to me” rule, and she agreed. “But tomorrow,” she said, “We’re going to find you a deck.” With complete certainty in her voice.

The next day we drive down to Carmel in my little blue Fiat convertible and go to an occult/New Age bookshop. We look at all the decks . Nada. We tell the lady behind the counter what we’re looking for. She pulls an “art of the tarot” book out of her bag. Nope nothing in there. The art is just... off. Dunno why.

So we leave the shop and go to a large independent bookstore. It has a surprisingly large selection of tarot decks, more so even than the New Age shop. And there, staring up at me, is artwork that calls to me. No clue what deck it was. (Edit: It was the Morgan-Greer - “Good for beginners,” says a recent review - ha!)

So my friend has me buy a silk cloth to keep it in. I kinda went overboard and carved a box for it out of a chunk of oak I found in the woods over in the wood shop on Fort Ord. I got lessons from my friend. Then *poof* one day the deck, box and all disappear. Gone. I didn’t have a roommate. It wasn’t seized in a “health and welfare” inspection. Just gone.

My friend speculated that it wasn’t the deck for me, or I wasn’t meant to have them then. Other things weren’t meant to be. Before I could ask her out, some Special Forces sergeant did, and they were pretty quickly married.

Where is this going, you ask? Buried within the Dungeons and Dragons product Kickstarter in the link above is a tarot deck! An animated tarot deck! Sure the cards are plastic. But I love the art in a way that I did my old deck (edit: and no longer do. I’m sure different from 1990 me!). And it’s enough for me drop $50 on a Kickstarter. And these are the folks that made Humblewood.

Watch the video, tell me what you think. I’m not going to start reading tarot with them. I just want to have them.

We are currently moving through a season of dance where there are a lot of unknowns - unknown soundtrack, unknown aesthetic, unknown connections (what have each of us even been UP to in our lives?).

Life happens. This is not mean-spirited. People get busy. The company I’m in prides itself on connection and exploration of life and relationships, and this year, that has been a struggle.

In an effort to figure out that direction (or any direction), I turned to tarot - as I sometimes do. I’ve had my Morgan-Greer deck for about 3 years now. I’m very close to it.

This spread is a problem-root cause-resolution spread. 

The verdict: The unknowns are noted here with the Empress, the need for change is at the root of it (death - one of my favourite cards) - creative stagnation/lack of vision, the resolution - staying the course, staying rationale, coming to terms. The other day I took a minute to reflect on what I could control moving forward - and a lot of it is me and my reaction to this all :) 

So I look forward to seeing you all on the stage, however we show up.

Today I decided to try @storm-witch‘s Lucifer Quick Spread!

Today I drew the Knight of Cups from the Morgan-Greer Tarot.

The Knight of Cups is the most feminine of the knights, being in touch with his emotions and intuition more than the others.

This card appearing could mean that an emotional benefit is soon to come my way, hopefully to alleviate my downswing with my depression.