Loving the Playing Card Oracles, and a Relationship Reading

The Playing Card Oracles by Ana Cortez,
published by U.S. Games, Inc.

The last two readings I’ve done with the Playing Card Oracles have been great: very accurate and in depth. The combination of geomancy and card meanings seems to hit a sweet spot for me, too.  I find I'm better at synthesizing the meaning of the cards and figures with the PCO than I am with tarot.  I’m also in love with the pocket sized edition, and will be purchasing a backup soon. Then I will have four copies of this deck, which seems a little crazy, but crazy is fine with me (I currently have a regular US Games, one Vintage, and one pocket.)

I thought I’d post the reading I did last night to show how I’ve been using and interpreting the deck. I’ll post how I interpreted the cards and the geomancy outcome, and then will relate it more directly to the querent’s situation at the end. Since I find it useful to see how other people come to their interpretations, I’ve also included my detailed notes on the cards and figures.

I used the Present 4-card spread, and asked, “Where is Mr. X’s head at with regard to his relationship with Ms. Y?”

Head: 4 of Spades – North Wind
Throat: 2 of Clubs – The Friends
Heart: 4 of Hearts – West Wind
Foot: Ace of Clubs – Ethra

Right/1st Witness (by number): Tristitia
Left/2nd Witness (by color): Puer
Judge: Fortuna Minor

Reading Summary:

X’s primary focus is on sexual energy and sexual motivations (4/spades in the Head position.) The two clubs cards point to a lot of mental energy and thoughts about the situation. Communication is probably easy for him with her, but he has a distanced curiosity about the whole affair and might be trying to keep her at an arm’s length emotionally (The Friends). Despite this fact, he feels a genuine, gentle warmth for Ms. Y (West Wind). The West Wind makes him want to ignore any worries or conflicts and just focus on the positive vibe between the two of them. The foot position is not well grounded with only an Ace (i.e. the very beginning, only a little) of air, so practical considerations are probably not on his radar so much. His dreams and fantasies about her are taking precedence. Ethra gives a need to reach out to connect, and in the foot position, this may be done in a very matter of fact way.

Geomancy Overview:
X has moved from a sorrowful but “stuck” situation in which something carefully built has eroded (Tristitia), towards a passionate, but immature and unstable situation (Puer). X may behave impulsively here, and will take initiative (Puer). A secret will be kept (Tristitia). In the end, what is gained here will be easily lost, but it will move quickly and will happen easily while it does, and while circumstances allow (Fortuna Minor). X may abuse power in this situation, and will see success for his hard work done. He may be fickle and unstable, but in general, X will be protected from misfortune & harm in the situation (Fortuna Minor).

What’s Really Going On: 

The cards and geomancy really hit the nail on the head! X is indeed in a serious relationship that has gone downhill and caused longterm disappointment, but he’s very stuck by his circumstances and cannot leave (Tristitia). This has lead him to explore this unstable passionate connection with Ms. Y, and theirs is a secret relationship (Puer). As The Friends and West Wind imply, he’s pretty clear on keeping things light, friendly, and fun instead of intense or emotional.  He's being very forward and assertive in pursuing her and in stating what he wants from her (Puer), but he's also being kind and being sure she knows that he wouldn't hold it against her if she wanted to end things at any time (West Wind).  He doesn’t seem interested in hashing out the practical issues either (weak Air/Ace in Foot), and just wants to focus (laser focus!) on the pleasure (sex!) (North Wind, West Wind.) 

Fortuna Minor’s influence is unfortunately pretty accurate, too. They moved into their relationship very quickly, but their togetherness is very dependent on their current circumstances. Should those change, they most likely would not continue seeing each other. In other words, it will be “nice” while it lasts, but Ms. Y shouldn’t hope for something long-term or deep from this connection.

(Feel free to skip the detailed notes below!)

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Books for the New Year

Happy New Year!!

The holidays and traveling kept me very busy for the past few weeks, and away from my computer and divinatory interests.  Although I did continue to read the kindle version of The Art and Practice of Geomancy: Divination, Magic, and Earth Wisdom of the Renaissance, by John Michael Greer, before bed each night. His approach to explaining the charts really clicked with me, and I look forward to trying out the methods with some practice questions soon.

The other book I've almost finished is Traditional Astrology for Today: An Introduction by Ben Dykes, which is absolutely fabulous. It's exactly what I've been looking for.  It deserves its own post, though, so once I finish the final chapter I'll write up a proper review.

Beginnings, Studies, Obsessions

I had a blog parked elsewhere for a long time, waiting patiently for me to start writing about my divinatory interests.  But procrastination is strong and I am weak.  Momentum is key, though, so I'm giving that ball a shove to get it rolling.

Today I bought some stones to use to cast figures for astrological geomancy.  I went into the shop expecting to find something more obviously for this purpose, but ended up buying two bracelets to take apart into loose stones.  The type I chose was Sodalite, which I knew nothing about, but they were the best compromise of size, attractiveness, color, hand feel, and price.  Now that I’ve looked it up, I think this was a fun intuitive hunch!  It’s a stone connected to my zodiac sign, and it supposedly brings peace and calms anxiety.  It may enhance intuition and clarity, both important for any divinatory endeavor, I’d say.  It’s also said to enhance communication skills for writers and the verbalization of feelings.  And hey, it can support your thyroid to help you lose weight, heh!   It's just the magic stone that does everything.  ;)

I have so many areas of interest and I’m usually prone to fluttering around, jumping from topic to topic without staying with any one of them long enough to get any depth.  It's time to change that, so in the next few weeks I will zero in on something to tackle first.

Here is the list of my long-term plans:

• Learn Traditional Astrology more thoroughly:  I cut my teeth on psychological and modern astrology, and have loved Liz Greene and Co. for years.  I’ve never been satisfied with its accuracy when delineating a chart for someone I don’t already know very well, though, and this has led me to investigate traditional techniques.  I’m also interested in predictive astrology, so traditional is where it’s at for that, too.
• Start with Horary Astrology:  This will satisfy my desire for straightforward answers, and will help me learn the traditional basics.
• Learn Astrological Geomancy:  I see this as a stepping stone to horary, actually, since you handle some of the chart reading in the same way.  This will be quicker to master than the astrology and will give me something to practice with friends.
• Try out Mel’s horary-ish, geomanticy Astrological Spread/System for the Marseille Tarot:  another fun, quicker way to practice similar chart reading to answer questions.  (this would be Mel from the Aeclectic Tarot forums)
• Tackle the Lenormand:  For whatever reason, I have a hard time getting out of the introspective, psychological, self-help mode when using tarot cards.  I’ve been having some fun learning the Lenormand and find it much easier to build down-to-earth sentences from the cards, especially about practical matters.  I have courses from Melissa Hill and Britta Kienle, and plan to eventually get the Treppner course too. Look out!
• Learn cartomancy with Playing Cards:  I’ve had the Playing Card Oracles deck and book for a while, and just need to sit down with it to really let it sink in.  I love the geomancy angle and think it adds a great depth and structure that I can connect with.  I also considered other systems because I love their detail and comprehensiveness: Hedgewytchery, Kapherus, Regina Russell.  But maybe Lenormand will fill that specificity niche for me, and I can settle down with the PCO.  We’ll see.

So there they are, my big ambitious plans.  Now I just need to nurture my discipline.  See you soon!