October 11 - Daily Draw and Observations (spanish style)

For the last of my Spanish-style daily draws, I'll be using the Thomson-Leng Tarot.  Not strictly in the Spanish school, as three of the four suits are illustrated RWS-style, but it does follow Picard's elemental attributions and the suit of Wands follows his geometric layouts.

I drew the Four of Cups, the Eight of Cups, and the King of Rods (wands).  The Four of Cups illustration has its typical RWS connotations; dreaminess, willful ignorance, but with an Airy, intellectual quality.  I like to think of it as the absent-minded professor card.  That's been me lately: diving in and out of Tarot books, spending time with my decks, and forgetting about most everything else!  The Eight of Cups is less traditional; the landscape remains the same but the only person pictured is staring at the cups in the riverbed rather than traveling away from them.  Picard's interpretation is balance and reason.  I ought to be trying for a bit more balance in my life at the moment!  The King of Rods represents genius, or great talent; it seems to be saying that I'll have more luck with the tarot if I put down some books for a bit and get myself involved in life.

I used Pixie's Astounding Lenormand for my Lenormand pair.  Clover + Garden seems to say that I'll have good luck or fun at a social event; I'll be heading out this evening, so hopefully that holds true!

After spending some time with Eudes Picard-inspired tarots, I've come to see and appreciate a few things about them.  I believe they're intended, and represented faithfully in the El Gran Tarot Esoterico and Universal Wirth Tarot, to be a more 'natural' tarot, sort of an offshoot of the Marseilles vine and flower decorative elements.  The Minors are the 'effects', as Picard says in his book Manuel synthétique & pratique du tarot, and they are also intrinsically connected to the world, especially the natural world, around us.  I really appreciate this interpretation of the Tarot, and I hope to revisit Picard's designs again in another series.

September 24 - Daily Draw

For my daily draw today, I felt like spending some time with Pamela Coleman-Smith.  Her illustrations are featured on the Rider-Waite Tarot, brought to life here by the PCS Commemorative Edition of the RWS.  It's an absolutely beautiful deck, feels and reads like a dream.  To go along with it, I got out my Pixie's Astounding Lenormand; a wonderful deck by Edmund Zebrowski.  It feels just as creamy and shuffles as wonderfully as the PCS, and features art taken from Pamela's work, so I love to pair them together.

The Tarot seems to be telling me that I have perfect happiness at the moment with the Ten of Cups, but to make it last I'll have to have a strong will and keep my ducks in a row (Chariot); otherwise I'll begin wishing and dreaming this happy time away as pictured on the Four of Cups.  This certainly applies to my life as a mother - it's hard to sit back and enjoy the children as they are, without wishing they were either more grown up or smaller again.  No Pentacles today, for the first time in several days!  I suppose that means it's time to turn  some of my concentration away from the business and back towards my other responsibilities.

The Lenormand pair for today is Mountain + Ship.  This tells me there's an obstacle I'll have to actually move around and avoid, I won't be able to conquer it or move it myself.  Sometimes when life puts something in your way it's best to just turn and take the longer route, rather than beating your head against a roadblock for ages.