Saturday 6 June 2015

What is witch?

What is witch?

What is witchcraft?

What is magic? 



 The warmth of the new sun at 7 o'clock on a July morning.

The silence, the din, the stillness, of the birds and the insects rising at dawn.

The smell of newly-thawed earth in spring.

The first bud on the tree. 

The curl of the fiddlehead spiraling open.

The morning fog glimmering on the strands of the spider's web.

-

The pitch and toss of the sea when the wind howls wild. 

The blue-grey and white foam and the smell of salt stirring in the air.

The rumble of distant thunder and the pale yellow glow in the sky as the storm closes in.

The exact moment the gathering shadow breaks open, and it starts to pour rain.

-

The play of moonlight piercing the pitch-black of the forest at night.

The heady smell of dew-damp earth.

The close comfort of the darkness wrapped around you like a shroud.

The sweet tingle of instinctive apprehension, when you hear the rustle-crack of wildlife stirring in the black around you. 

The feel of watchful eyes from the shadow, out of sight.

Soft earth, sharp stone, and cool grass beneath bare feet.

-

The flicker and play of flame licking hungry at the air.

The heat rushing over you like water as you stand in a circle around the bonfire.

Sweat on your brow and a chill at your spine. 

The fluttering sashay of robe and gown in the dance of candlelight. 

The silhouette of a figure outlined against the firelight, surrounded by velvet night.

Life force tingling in your fingertips and toes.

-

The thud of footfalls against the ground in steadily quickening rhythm.

The bite of exhaustion in your muscles as you swing your arms over your head with the dance.

Letting your wild soul take form around you, feathers and fur and claws. 

Howling at the moon as her light casts pale silver light amidst the murky blue-black.

-

The quiet thrill of old, forbidden knowledge and long-forgotten secrets.

The small spark of mischief in you, the quirk of your lips in a small grin. 

-

Feeling the pulse of blood, thick and dark and sacred in your veins.

Feeling it change. Feeling it slow to match the cadence of the drums.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

-

Wednesday 3 June 2015

Tarot

I used to have a temperamental relationship with tarot decks. My first was a hand-me-down from my mother, who was into tarot cards back in the early 2000s but never did much with hers. They were decidedly hideous, I could never get them to "work" and they turned me off to tarot for quite awhile. I still have a hard time with traditional tarot decks, or decks with the traditional art style. I sometimes wonder if that first horridly ugly deck turned me off to them forevermore.

My second deck was a (in retrospect, no less hideous) "dragon tarot" I found for $15 at a local Chapters. I found I had ultimately the same difficulty with it - I seemed to have no connection to the deck, and trying to do readings was an excercise in futility.

I tried again with the more well-known Dragon Tarot, which is still pretty damn ugly. (Noticing a trend?) and had only moderately more luck.

The first deck I had that I spent a goodly amount of money on, and finally felt that connection with, is the Shadowscapes tarot. I love the art style, and I find the artist sneaky - a lot of the traditional symbolism of tarot is there, but she's hidden it in metaphor and used different ways of including it. It seems finding a deck "pretty" in some way, connecting to it artistically, is important to me. The symbolism and "traditional" measure of a deck is no good if I don't enjoy looking at it.

I have a second deck I was gifted from The Honey Badger, which is the Pagan Cats Tarot. I adore it, though I don't use it as often.

Through an interesting twist of fate, my friend ordered a deck called The Wild Unknown Tarot and ended up having a second one sent due to a shipping kerfuffle. Rather than have them pay to send the other back, she sent the money for the second deck (from me) so I could keep it.

So now I have another new deck I can't wait to use. It's almost the opposite in a lot of ways, to the Shadowscapes deck. Shadowscapes has a lot going on -  bright colours, complex images with tons of hidden bits and pieces to find. This deck is black and white with pops of colour, and very simple by comparison. I can't wait to get a feel for it.

Do you use tarot decks? Do you prefer traditional ones, or nontraditional? Bright and wild or simple?