This entry was written yesterday, but it was so late, that I decided to wait til today to type it up.

After Curves yesterday I was getting a chicken sandwich at Jack in the Box, and I bumped into someone--someone I had been thinking about out of the blue last week, and I don't think I had even thought about him in years!

It was a guy I knew in fifth grade. He was almost nondescript, I could have easily not recognized him. I have met up again with a couple of people from back then, I almost never recognize them - but they always seem to recognize me. If I hadn't been thinking about him earlier last week, I probably wouldn't have thought to start looking at him.

Then we were both looking at each other from across the room. I moved up in line and I was near him.

"Is your name Martin?"
"Is your name Hermgirl?" (not really, but you know what I mean.)

I smiled and looked up at him, and asked him a question I had asked almost 30 years ago.

"Would you be interested in going steady?"

He laughed at this. Who knows what direction his life would have taken if he hadn't been impervious to my feminine wiles?

Anyways, this was an interesting bit of synchronicity. I had found a penny while I was walking one of the dogs yesterday, I always expect something interesting when that happens.

The Saturday Night Tarot Hoedown

(Not the kind of hoedown done by Ashley Simpson.)

Tonight I am curious about two things: My future as a Tarot reader, and my future in web design, so I will do a three card draw on each.

Drawing on my relationship with the Tarot:

King of Swords, Queen of Pentacles reversed, Strength.

I posess the intellectual ability to be very authoritative on the subject, although my downfall is materialism--the tendency to focus on things like collecting shiny new decks and books. The best path to take, my True Will in the situation, is to realize that this is part of the Great Work of self-transformation, and that it is best served by using the Tarot to go within to find my strength.

Drawing on my future in Web Design: the Lovers, Six of Pentacles reversed, Page of Cups reversed.

It is a great Gemini kind of communication device, but just like anything the Gemini gets their mitts on, it can be a bih time-waster. I don't have quite as much knowledge about it as I'd like to. And this last piece of interpretation I am deducting from the way the cards fell: Whenever you have, as I do here, a three card draw with two in a row either reversed or upright, this can tell you that "You will know more about the situation in the future."

So basically, (the Lovers) a good fun thing for a Gemini, (6 of Pentacles reversed) don't let it become a time-waster, (Page of Cups, reversed) you don't have too much knowledge about it yet, (2 reversed on right side) give it some time, you'll know more.

Shameless plug and bid for the opinion of all and sundry:

So here is a link to my Tarot page on my website: link. This is something I've been working on over the past week. I am no HTML expert, by any means, but I did do the code for that (admittedly simple) table myself.

I was wondering, if anyone would care to comment: I was told by someone that a shade of purple I was using on the left side made the text unreadable, so I went a skosh lighter here. Does anyone else find this unreadable?

I am planning to nest a table of one column in the green side as a menu of articles--which I have one of almost ready to go, and plans for another one in the near future, so there will be two there for a while, and it will grow from there.

Even as rudimentary as it looks, I feel extremely proud of this--I would enjoy others opinions on it.

SFBATS in my Belfry...

Hermworld Industries regrets not producing a Friday Night Tarot Hoedown this past week, as we wanted to make sure we got to bed early enough to be sure to get to the San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium on time. The Hoedown will return this week.

I arrived on time on a rainy, windy, morning, the dreariness of the weather a counterpoint to all the fun that was about to be had. I noticed the people attending the event were a mix of ages and dress styles, and while being mostly women, there were quite a few men mixed in.

Pretty much the first thing I did when I got ther was get my shopping nailed down at all the vendors, so as to have plenty of time for schmoozing. They handed out lots of freebies, and what was purchased was gotten a good deal on, so the bank was not broken. Lady Nuit's admonishments were gladly heeded, as we do all things unto Her, and greatly is the Queen of the Night Sky to be praised.

The decks and books I got were these:

• The Visconti-Sforza deck (won at a raffle)


• Dorothy Simpson Krause's Millennium Tarot (a generous gift)


• J. Philip Thomas' Tarot de Paris (classically beautiful)


• Liber T (sort of a "Thoth clone" with strange "sci-fi" sort of pictures on the pips)


• The Universal Tarot (A Waite clone)


• Tarot and Astrology by Muriel Bruce Hasbrouck


• Llewellyn's 2005 Tarot Reader (which I got autographed by Mary K. Greer and Thalassa)


• The Book of Formation, or Sephir Yetzirah, translated by Knut Stenring


• Tarot and the Magus, by Paul Hughes-Barlow


• New Dimensions for the Cube of Space, by David Allen Hulse (which I got at a Bookmarket I saw on the way back to BART)
  

I was then greeted by Joseph Earnest Martin, creator of the Quest Tarot (and apparently, in some circles known of as "Lord of the Margarita Salt Flats", whatever that means.<%P) I schmoozed with him, Thalassa, and some other symposium goers, and then was happy to connect with a friend.

Then it was time for the speakers. Joseph Martin kicked off the conference, speaking on "Tarot Taboo--Breaking Tradition with the Cards" and of course, almost the first words out of his mouth were about love: "The more you feel love and compassion and having fun, the better!" This is a guy who oozes love and warmth from every pore. Anytime you mention compassion, my ears prick up, for some reason I really love that word.

His talk revolved around breaking out of the box of tradition that some have attached to the Tarot, which he illustrated with some acts of "scientific" prestidigitation, as well as donning an apparatus that had digitized text that moved from right to left (sort of like those messages on buildings in NYC)that said, "Everybody loves a Psychic BOY!!!"

Then Mary K Greer gave a talk. Being a person who loves fabric--I worked for three years in a fabric store--I couldn't help but admire the beautiful orange and green chiffon dress she wore. She spoke on the theme running through the Minor Arcana of the Rider Waite Smith deck, which, as she explained, were based upon the grail legends.

Her in-depth research of the complete works of A.E. Waite was evident as she waxed eloquent, punctuating her scholarly discourse with mystical wisdom, giving me to understand that Waite was not as stodgy and unspiritual as I had previously come to believe.

Then it was lunchtime, and I hung out with my friend. She very generously presented me with a Tarot deck. I'm going to have to think of a way of reciprocating.

Anywho, we barely had enough time to grab some fries at Mel's Diner and rush back to the Unitarian Church. Where it was time for a slide show given by
Holly Voley, who presented "A Field Guide to the Rider Waite Smith Tarot Deck." This was a deck collector's dream, showing the many different editions of the Waite deck. This could have given Stuart R. Kaplan a run for his money.

Then my friend and I helped J.P. Thomas set up a labyrinth in one of the rooms for a presentation called "Tarota" in which the querent is shuffled and the cards are drawn from a bucket. I walked the labyrinth and found it quite interesting. For helping, he gave me a beautiful art print which I later discovered was "Alchemy" a Tarot de Paris card that corresponds to Temperance.

Thalassa, the Mistress of Ceremonies, gave a talk entitled "Tarot: All Terrain Vehicle of the Soul" in which we learned that it's a metaphysical floor wax AND dessert topping! In her weird and wonderful way, she talked about how Tarot figured in the timeline of history, and about how the Universe is always communicating with us, and the Tarot is a great tool to help us listen.

Then the proceedings were almost over, but not before Thalassa re-emerged garbed in purple--purple wig, purple robe, etc. There was much hurling of Mardi Gras beads, and a raffle, a special bat dance, some more schmoozing, and then it was over. There were a lot more speakers and presenters, but many were running concurrently in different rooms, so I only got to comment on the ones I saw.

Much fun was had, some things were learned and discussed, goodies were gotten, friendships cemented, and my relationship with the Tarot as a tool was revivified. I really enjoyed being with this group of people.

And what better antidote for a boring Monday...

...than a little verse from Uncle Al

INSIDE INFORMATION

I am assured that every man is God
Because the simplest-minded, dullest youth
Witless and ignorant, a stock, a clod,
Has perfect understanding of Pure Truth.

Innate, exact, identical with mine,
Though all in vain Philosophy has sweated
That simplest concept even to define
Humanity is certainly indebted.

To intellect for divers useful arts;
But when it comes to any serious odds,
Our brains play second fiddle to our hearts--
Damned lucky that we happen to be Gods!

Friday (Middle of the)Night Tarot Hoedown

Due to the stress of the past week, I had to put a moratorium on the daily card reading, it will be returning next week.

I am going to the SFBATS festival. Will take copious notes and review the event for you all.

Tonights offering, in fact, comes from the Daughters of Divination website--an organization I am really thinking of joining because they seem to have a lot of cool Tarot events planned. That seems to be the only way I will have of meeting any local Tarot people and getting more practice face to face.

I have despaired of the Tarot Meetup group in my area--it seems that 5 people joined and promptly forgot their membership. At one point, to drum up local interest, a couple of years ago I even started a yahoo group which I advertised on Craig's List, once again to no avail. There were 3 active members, we had one meeting in a local library, which basically consisted of me giving one member a reading, and the other member not being able to find us as she searched the library. Meanwhile, we got thrown out of the library for talking. About eight months ago, after no activity on the yahoo group, on the Meetup message board, someone claimed that MY yahoo group was THEIRS--the hubris! So of course, I shut it down.

Anyway, to the reading:

~The Psychic Polaroid Spread~

1. Wheel of Fortune, reversed: Well, things have been topsy-turvy lately. We've had a little bad luck.
   


2. Page of Swords: My ability to just observe and take things in is coming in handy. Since this is Swords it kind of reminds me of the Watchers on the Highlander--"...to observe and record, but never interfere..."
   


3. The Chariot: An interesting callback to the wheel theme. I am going to forge ahead, rolling on my big wheels with a fire in my belly, taking what I've learned and running with it.
   


4. Six of Pentacles: Interestingly, I had done a spread before this one in which this came up, but it was reversed, as were most of the cards in the draw, didn't like it, so I scrapped it and did another. I can be a very generous person, and sometimes a little spendthrift, I think this is a warning not to go overboard with the $$$.
   


5. Three of Cups: Might these young ladies be dancing in a wheel? Much rejoicing, happiness and fulfilment. Don't forget to have fun!
   


6. Four of Wands: This one also showed up in the prior spread--I had thoroughly shuffled, so this is a message that things will be ok. There will be peace in the valley, by and by.
   

Summary: So there's been misfortune, if I keep my head about me while others are losing theirs, etc. Things may be swirling around me, but if I keep dancin' and don't be afraid to step out and take the driver's seat in my life, there will be harmony. And don't spend too much money on books at that festival, young lady!

"Our master, the Devil, prospers the revel..."

It's Crowleymass!!!

And in honor of the Great Beast, Aleister Crowley, 666, the closest thing I have to a spiritual guru, I offer the link to one of his most beautiful poems.

Not for the faint of heart or people of narrow sensiblities...

So, this morning, I got up at seven am, not grudgingly, without even being asked, so that I could help my mom move some stuff to her new apartment. I guess I half expected to be patted on the head and told what a good daughter I was (It's kind of a mistake to expect a good guy badge for certain things), and she did seem happy that I was there.

But later on my sister got there and was also helping, and after that the three of us went to lunch, and my mom made a point of telling me I was very smelly. I'm sorry, but I had just spent all morning lifting heavy boxes, having mom be sharp with me here and there throughout the day, if I sweated a little, I'm sorry. My sister gets there, does about half of what I did, and my mom is sweet and deferential towards her. Not that I expect her to kiss my ass, but I don't think she realizes how mean and nasty she is to me. After we got home she was even more cutting and insulting.

Part of this I know is just the whole tension of the experience of having to leave, and me having tension about her leaving. I want this to be over so we can all move on with our lives. In a weird way, she is acting as though she is going to continue to have control over everything in our house (granted, STILL half her house even though she is moving) from her apartment 8 miles away.

Her attitude towards me is as cold and denigrative sometimes as it is towards my dad, who is on the hook for things he did and said before I was even born. I feel like she looks at us both as complete slobs who will just bury ourselves in our own shit without her stabilizing influence.

I also think that four months or so down the line (she had mentioned something today about being on a six month lease, so how permanent her residency is questionable), she will come to my dad and say "If you clean things up, I will come home." But part of the reason he's not throwing a hissycow over this is because she's done this before, and she spent 3 months in an apartment, and according to him, she was running out of money and begged him to come home (it may not have gone down exactly like this.) He will have been looking at the fact that this is a $1000+ a month drain on the finances, even if it is her money that she worked for, and he may not see her coming home this time as the glittering prize for being a good boy. Not that he's pure as the driven snow.

Basically, I am just venting steam here, because having said all of these things, I really love them both and we get along well most of the time. I am just sort of caught in the middle, wanting to keep things smoothed over so that there is as little drama over this as possible. I've been trying to reinforce the positives of the situation to each of them, I guess because when they get frustrated with things, they tend to take their anger out on me.

One of the interesting things about my mom, my sister and me is how we can be at each other's throats one minute, and a few minutes later be picking apart the faults and pecadillos of some other (not present) family member. The saving grace of our family is we sort of all have the ability to communicate, even though they all make me feel like pulling my hair out at times.

Card of the Day: The Empress. The waters from behind the High Priestess flow freely behind her. There is a wisdom here that is higher than my wisdom. The mystery of the Great Mother, of the All-Nurturing Energy, is something I need to lay hold of. I think of Sigourney Weaver in the first Alien movie, talking to the ship's computer(which was named Mother), saying "Mother, you BITCH!!!" But the ship's computer doesn't reply, it just keeps counting off. One must continue to learn, even in the face of conflict. The character of Ripley goes on to become the strong mother figure, protecting and defending the innocent ones she loves. The mother ship destroyed, it is as if she takes it into herself, suceeding in its mission--to persevere and survive, even as she rebels against its own self destruction. It is that alchemical communion of dividing and uniting that seems to allow the transformation to take place.

Early Saturday Morning Tarot Hoedown

In this episode, I have a special offering for you, a spread I made up.

The Joey Tribiani "How you doin'?" Spread

It consists of four cards, put 'em side by side, or in a square if you want, it matters not (but if you just put them in a row, you could add a card or two underneath each position to clarify the issue!)

Imagine these questions in a Joey Tribiani/Vinnie Barbarino voice--this is a very important part because it adds to the fun:

1. What's goin' on? What's been going on in the past.


2. Wheah you at? Where you are today.


3. WhatCHOO lookin' at? The issues you are facing.


4. Wheah you goin'? Probable outcome on the road you are traveling down--this is a changable thing, not a locked in destiny.

And my cards in this spread: 10 of Cups, 2 of Pentacles, Queen of Pentacles, and 8 of Swords.

What I see here is that in the past there has been famial harmony, which is going to be transforming into something else. Where I am is that I am going to be learning an intricate balancing act of discipline--I am going to be keeping things together. What I am facing--once again my mom's issue is at the forefront and she is there in all her Capricornian glory. Probable outcome: I may find myself a little fearful about breaching the tension in the houshold in the coming weeks, but I will overcome by being bold.

The Pentacles represent the issue of me becoming more resposible materially--to be honest, I have relied on my mom for a lot, and this is going to be me learning to take care of things for myself a lot. Discipline, discipline, discipline...

Card of the Day: Ace of Swords

Behold Excalibur!!! I AM the rightful King of England!

But seriously, this signifies that in this time of family transition, I am going to find that sword in the stone. My intuition, intelligence, and wherewithal are going to be coming to the fore in this experience. I am being given an opportunity to learn about my greatness (!!! I know) and my True Will.

My mom came home from work today with a bunch of moving boxes. She is leaving Dad and me this week, going to live in her own apartment. She had hinted around that she might do this but I didn't think it would be so soon.

She has been very unhappy living here, in many ways our house is not a very good place to live. You see, my dad is a very bad pack-rat.

Our kitchen is practically unusable--only one person can be cooking or doing anything like that at one time, and forget about having guests over, because the kitchen table is buried underneath stuff. We can't go into the garage anymore to wash clothes, we have to have dad go out there and do it for us.

Our back yard is better than it has been, but that is only because a couple of years ago some neighbors called the city and the city got on my dad's ass.

So I don't blame my mom one bit. And I love my parents very much, and in many ways we get along very well together, but they definitely have their problems. When my mom told me I just said well, I just want you to be happy no matter what you do.

Having said all of this, I also feel like a heavy weight is being lifted off my shoulders. You see, my mom has often taken her anger at my dad out on me. She is a controlling Capricorn, he is a Gemini, like me, (this is a BAD romantic combination, folks!) and I don't think they've gone a day of my life without having at least a minor argument.

I talked to my dad about it, and I said, "It's gonna be ok, Pop, just you and me, we'll be fine."

I am going to miss her, but I am not going to miss the controlling, energy-sucking (she's a bit of a psychic vampire) thing she does.

So, I did a five-card draw on the situation: Queen of Pentacles (the Capricorn Queen shows up!), Justice, 9 of Cups, King of Pentacles, and 5 of Wands, reversed.

So basically, she's seeking balance and happiness, and taking decisive action. I feel like the 9 of Cups means that she will find this (whenever I see 9 of Cups in a reading, I say you'll get your wish.) 5 of Wands reversed--there will definitely be more arguing before this is over. But basically, I think things will be fine.

Some silly shit I posted at a Tarot group a few years ago

And with that opening (cut for me by the gracious founder), allow me to parry my sword through and introduce myself (Cyrano deBergerac-style bow.) I am Hermgirl,Queen of the Throne that lies between the Emerald Pillars. To translate my flowery parlance that means I am a worshipper at the "herm" of Dionysis (sp?),seeker of the knowlege that comes from experience. Jack of all trades, master of none. I am here to make new
buddies!

I have been doing Tarot off and on for about 10 years now, & I take a sort of casual approach to the cards. I am not as conversant as I see many of you are in the pagan arts & sciences (i.e.--knowledge of Arthurian legend, phases of the moon, crystals, etc.), but I do hope to learn & hopefully share what knowlege as I may have with others. I have more of a consciousness bent than a wiccanism bent--but that is only because I have so much more to learn.

My card having
been drawn today (Queen of Swords), I wanted to pose a question to the
members: Do you use music when you read & if so, do you ever just listen to the radio? What popular music (if any) do you find most conducive?
Yesterday I was reading W/the radio on, & found some very interesting correspondences. My card of the day was Death, whilst Sting's
"Brand New Day" was in the background. Interesting. Then I did a spread :The Hanged Man, the Sun, the World(R).

This I interpreted this as the sacrifices I have been making in balancing school& work,my struggle for enlightenment amid such a hectic sched, & alas it hasn't been going as well as I want it to lately. I pull another card--the Moon.

Aha! I take the World & turn it rightside up. I move the four cards around as the Santana/Everlast song "Put Your Lights On" comes on. The juxtapositions of the sacrifice & the great reward, & the light & the darkness make a trippy vibes & the music all comes together for me creating the Tarot "high" that I need, until I say blessed are those who have walked in darkness, for they have seen a great light!

I realize I am being extremely long-winded here, but I was just wondering if other members had those kind of experiences with their cards? I thank everyone for enduring my verbosity, and I do hope I can contribute as I am contributed towards.

Friday Night Tarot Hoedown!!!

YeeHaw! Pardners, saddle up for more Tarot goodness!

Today, the method of reading I will be using comes from the Complete Tarot Kit, which I got recently. It has a manual and journal written by Susan Levitt, and two miniature decks, a Rider Waite and a Thoth, which, while being very cute, are so small they are unshuffleable. I will have to learn the push/put method or something.

The book and journal that come with the kit, however, are indeed quite well done. She manages to interpret the Waite and Crowley decks, side by side, in a beginner sort of way without doing injustice to either.

Here is the reading I did tonight, using the method of interpretation set up in the journal.

The three card Body~Mind~Spirit spread.

Body: 7 of Pentacles
Mind: 8 of Wands
Spirit: The Magician
Major, minor, ace or court: the Magician
Suits represented: Pents, Wands
What is your intuitive sense about the cards? Planting seeds, watching them grow, thoughts traveling--ending in magickal power and skill.
Divinatory meanings from the book: Delayed sucess, swiftness, and magickal strength.
YOUR divinatory meanings: Physically, I have planted seeds for my goals to come to fruition. Mentally, my mind is in perpetual motion, the swift trajectory of my ideas. Spiritually, I have power to do great magick.
How do the cards apply? Well, I am watching Excalibur, so I feel kind of Merlinesque.---8:o)
What else do you see? The 7 of Pents is like, planting seeds, with growing wands, and the garden in the Magician card--it's like preparation, action, and completion.

Basically, the questions in bold are the things you should consider in their order to interpret a spread.

And tonight's five card draw: The Devil reversed, Ace of Wands, 9 of Pentacles, Death, 3 of Cups, reversed. Here, there is an offering of new beginnings and more wisdom. But I must allow old things to die and not fuck around, like by staying up all night.

Pearl Jam on Letterman

Ok, am I the only one that thinks that Pearl Jam are the most UN Rock & Roll band that ever was? I have held this opinion for quite some time, but tonight's offering was odiously symptomatic of the absolute contrivedness of this band.

Eddie Vedder just makes me sick, but what is up with Mike MaCready? His hair looks like he is TRYING to look like Woody Guthrie or Levon Helm. Grunge is OVER you guys, give it a rest, already. Am I saying that Woodie Guthrie or Levon Helm are uncool? No, they are legends. They also didn't have stylists that told them how to dress.

Enough about them. I think they should make Anna Gasteyer the permanent host of the Late Late Show. And I love Crosby and Nash.

Card of the Day: 5 of Pentacles, reversed. A new approach to old problems and time to start over and look at things in a new way. The people on this card are really starting from square one, if you think about it.

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