Weather Forecast for Tuesday, Jan. 17

I've been pulling cards to forecast the weather for the past few days, after reading Alec Satin's posts about using tarot for weather forecasting.  My success rate is pretty good so far!

Last night, (Sunday 1/15), I pulled 8 of Wands and 8 of Coins using the Noblet Marseille to forecast for today, Monday, Jan. 16.  In Alec's system, this means roughly, "Sunny and still, but with a chance of a snowstorm" [I changed downpour to snowstorm to adjust for the season.]  It was a bright and sunny day here, with no noticeable wind.  I thought I struck out about the storm, but just about 20 minutes ago my husband, who doesn't know about the forecasts, called out to me, "We have snow!"  Sure enough, for the first time in over a month or maybe two, we have snow.  Not a snowstorm, but about an inch so far.

Here are the cards I pulled for tomorrow, Tuesday, January 17:

Reyne de Baton, Fournier Marseille

3 of Swords, Fournier Marseille

Today's draw sounds kind of wishy-washy:  "Variable weather, storms, unpredictable."  Hmm.  Unpredictable?  Thanks, tarot!   I'll report back tomorrow in the comments.

Plan for the Way Forward

Today I decided to do a short reading asking for guidance to keep me on track with my study goals.  Since I have a difficult time staying focused on one thing long enough to make real progress, I wanted some suggestions from the cards on how I should try to accomplish this.   I used my trimmed PCS Commemorative deck, and laid out three cards with the loose positions of Do, Don't Do, & Direction/Think About:

Do: 10 of Pentacles
Don't Do: 2 of Pentacles
Direction/Think About: King of Cups

Do: 
At first this stumped me, since I tend to see the 10 of Pentacles as family, extended relatives, etc.  Since I can't see them being a resource for my esoteric interests, I wasn't sure what to make of it.  But it could also suggest a practical community or group.  Maybe I need to find and participate in communities that would support my learning.  I often lurk around forums without speaking up much, and I see this card as telling me that needs to change.  Since I finally started my blog for this very reason, I'll take it to mean that I"m on the right track.

The older gentleman on the card could also mean finding a learning group with some older, more experienced people who are sharing their wisdom.

Don't Do:
This illustrates my usual problem perfectly!  The 2 of Pentacles is juggling too much, trying to keep it all in the air, dancing back and forth from foot to foot (topic to topic), too much multi-tasking, dancing about which turns a little manic.  The sea waves even echo the roller coaster of progress:  make a little headway, then let it slide as I move to something else, make a little headway, let it slide, and so on.  This card just underlines what I've already been saying:  I need to stop doing this!! 

Direction/Think About:
The King of Cups here is a bit of a mystery to me.  Do I need to cultivate the King's emotional composure and maturity?  Since I pulled a blank with the card, I took a peek at Paul Quinn's Tarot for Life, and see the King can be a wise counselor and people reader, helping them navigate difficult times.  All I can think is that this card is gently reminding me that my ultimate goal is to read for others and to help them, so maybe I should think about practicing this sooner rather than later.

Other notes:
Two of the three are pentacles, pointing towards practical matters.  They are all minors, too, which focuses again on every day concerns.  More votes for just getting down to business!

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!