Workers are fixing a pothole outside my house and they had to stop multiple times because it began to rain. A paradox of mine is I hate the smell of an asphalt roads being laid, but I am also fond of the smell of rain hitting asphalt. During my urban sojourns, it was a sign of a respite from the summer heat. Both these experiences are unique to the modern world and drew me to the photography of Franco Fontana’s asfalti. He is famously known for his abstract landscapes, and is considered the inventor the photographic line referred to as the concept of line.
His motto is the purpose of art is to make visible the invisible. I find that his body of work really exemplifies this. He is not condoning the natural world being slowly paved over, but that the lesson is to look for the hidden geometry that pulls our eyes and possible defines what we consider beautiful or not.
P.S. Please share.
Aries – Three of Swords
The Three of Swords continues the theme from the Moon card last week. This week this card advises to continue working with only three of the hidden thoughts you have discovered. This card also advises that these beliefs be not only removed but destroyed. They are based in negative triggers placed in your thought patterns by others.
Taurus – Eight of Wands
Messages are the theme for this week. Keep your eyes and mind open. There is a lot of important information coming at you that you will need in the near future. Be the sponge. Continue reading Tarotcast Week of September 9, 2018→
Fresco is the one of the oldest techniques of painting, dating back to 1600’s BC. This technique is believed to have been born in Minoan culture. It is a method of mural painting where the artist paints either buon on freshly laid wet lime plaster or secco on dry plaster. In the buon technique, water is the vehicle for the dry powder pigment to merge with the plaster. The alchemy of the plaster and pigment becomes an integral part of the wall. In secco the pigment lies on top of the plaster therefore is less durable.
Ali Cavanaugh has created a painting technique she calls modern frescoes. Above and below are pieces from her 2018 collection. She paints with watercolor pigments on bright wet kaolin clay. Her meticulous layer technique makes the portraits look back-lit and iridescent, or they dissolving into a nebulous watery form. Her portraits sway from the hyper-real or conscious reality to the watery realm of the unconscious.
I love her explanation of her process: I strive to paint not only the delicate features of the external person but to capture the tender unseen presence that transcends the understanding in the depth of a soul. In my experience in working with the people who I paint, I repeatedly discover the profound mystery of existence. This I believe is the one of the reason that artist do art and we as spectators view their pieces- to ponder why we are here.
P.S. Please share.
*Aries – Moon
This week it is time for you to do a deep dive into your unconscious and/or emotions. The Moon card arrives when you need to rescue information that was in the dark. To tap into this it could be as simple as sitting in the dark and wandering with your mind, or taking a more complex step into the wilderness to uncover your expansive unconscious under the stars.
Taurus – Queen of Wands
The Queen of Wands wants you outside in nature. The wilderness is calling you by name to come and play in the woods, park or garden. Unleash your inner nymph or satyr. Continue reading Tarotcast Week of September 2, 2018→
I have a thing for octopuses as you know if you have been reading this blog for awhile. So, of course I was drawn to this woodcarving above by Jeffrey Michael Samudsky. This piece is a replica of an Enteroctopus dofleini, Giant Pacific Octopus. JMS carved it from a single fallen Redwood. On his site you can see the process and how he work with and left many parts of the natural curve of the tree. He does most of his work with a chain saw, but his artwork goes farther than what you typically see on roadsides traveling through tiny towns of the Northeast. His pieces seem to personify the majesticness of not only the tree but also the animals he is carving. Many of his of his pieces riff off of the traditional art form of totem poles.
Totem poles are an indigenous art form of the Pacific Northwest Americas. They were carved out of the Giant Cedar tree, though due to the North Pacific weather few examples still exist before the 1900’s. Before the 1700’s and the introduction of iron and steel tools, they were carved with tools made from stone, shells or beaver teeth. The carvings symbolized the ancestors, clan lineages, notable events, cultural beliefs, myth and legends of that group. They were also used as architectural supports, welcoming signs to guests, or held the remains of ancestors. Though some of them were used for a way to ridicule a person or group who had done that clan wrong. So in essence, Totem poles were the highway billboards of today.
P.S. Please share. Also, I have put up another quote to download for your vision board. Enjoy.
Aries – Ace of Swords
Pulling an Ace of Swords foretells that the decisions you make ripple out into the next year. So take time to think through any decisions this week, even little ones. Think Butterfly Effect.
Taurus – Two of Pentacles
The Two of Pentacles is the card of balance. This card advice you to pick and then balance out juggling two of the main needs/projects in your life before you add in any more.
Gemini – Three of Cups
Last week, the Star card asked you to bring a little self-compassion and care into your life or challenged you to dive into your soul and heal karmic wounds so you can carry on with life a lot lighter. The Three of Cups continues this theme but asks you to search out close friends for support while doing this.
Cancer – Seven of Wands
The Seven of Wands is about expanding and contracting one’s passion. This week be aware of how your environment tries to get you to react. Your challenge is to be proactive and not reactive.
*Leo – Chariot
The Chariot says now is the time to start moving into your new year in a balanced, conscious and determined way. You all have until November 8, 2018. While the nodes, in Leo and Aquarius, are pushing you to make the changes you want to care on for the next 18.5 years.
*Virgo – Magician
The Magician is your first karmic card for the coming year. He represents the experimenter, the divine creator. The Magician asks: what do you want to pull down from the divine into the real world? Your challenge is to make sure what you manifest in the coming year aligns not only your passions but also with your morals.
Libra – Six of Wands
The Six of Wands wants you to enjoy the bounty that surrounds you. Your challenge is to make sure more than you benefits from it. Sharing is caring.
Scorpio – Knight of Swords
The Knight of Swords advice to you is to slow down and notice what is going on around you. There is information, that due to your chaotic life, you are missing. Your challenges – slow your roll and look left and right before crossing the road. Side note this can also mean to be careful not hurting your extremities.
Sagittarius – King of Cups
The King of Cups wants us to open your arms and give everyone a bear hug. Your challenge this week is making as many people in your life smile and feel comfortable in your presence. The goal of this card is to make you better gauge how your emotions affect others.
*Capricorn – Empress
The Empress is not the easiest card for Capricorns. This card challenges you to turn on your sensuous mojo. And this is hard because you all want to be practical or have an outcome while doing it. Asking how will this effort give me physical results? Well sensuality is about feelings and your senses. So the simple way to “turn on” is eat your favorite meal or drink and really savor it- take at least an hour to take in your nutrients. Or a more complex and challenging way is spend all day in bed with the one you love and involve all your senses.
Aquarius – Eight of Pentacles
The Eight of Pentacles is the card of mastery. Take this week to hone your skills and get better at what you already know.
Pisces – Eight of Cups
The Eight of Cups ask you to let go of emotions that no longer serve you and strength the ones you that do. An easy exercise to do this process is throw eight things away you no longer need.
I haven’t featured a lot of computer generated art, but this collection of digital illustrations caught my eye. If you know me well, you know I love nudibranchs, small slug like sea creatures. This series, Unknown Unknown, by Zhang Chenxi is a tiny alien world comprised of hybridized animal/plant creatures, and where the very real and Earth-bound nudibranchs would fit right in. I don’t know much about this artist other than he is on Instagram and Behance. But I do know I love his imagination.
P.S. Please share. Also, I have put up another quote to download for your vision board. Enjoy.
Aries – Page of Cups
Take this last week of summer and enjoy yourself with the Page of Cups. This card wants you to get a fresh outlook on what is going on in your life right now. Try to have the perspective of a child who is discovering something for the first time, where everything is new and amazing.
Taurus – Knight of Swords
The Knight of Swords warns you not to rush into anything this week. Take things slow; consider all aspects before moving ahead. Usually when this card shows up you are moving too fast and are missing some important pieces to the puzzle. Or you are literally just not watching where you are going and can bruise your extremities or mess up projects. Continue reading Tarotcast for the Week Of August 19, 2018→
Weather has been on my mind as we are in the dog days of summer. Where I live huge thunderstorms can rage in the afternoons and are a brief respite to the heat of the day. You can feel them coming as the air cools, breeze picks up and you can smell the rain on the wind.
The phrase dog days comes from the Latin term Dies Caniculares referring to the time that Sirius, the Dog Star, rises before the Sun, and it referred to the time period of late July to late August, the hottest part of summer in ancient Greece. So the phrase through time has become associated with the hot and muggy days of August. Even though now, since the constellations have shifted, we see it before sunrise starting July 12th to August 12th.
Jane Wilson was an artist in tuned with the weather. She painted a wide variety of subjects but landscapes became her focus. Jane moved to New York at 25; however, growing up on an Iowa farm highly influenced how she saw our relationship with weather. She said that living on the farm you learn to feel the weather coming. So when she painted she would aim for moments of strong sensation ⎯ moments of total physical experience of the landscape, when weather just reaches out and sucks you in. When you look at her landscapes you can really feel the dew of dawn, the heat of the afternoon, the spray of a stormy ocean or the coolness of the air as the sun sets.
P.S. Please share. Also, I have put up another quote to download for your vision board. Enjoy.
Aries – Ten of Wands
The Ten of Wands tells you that this week might feel like an uphill battle. It will be full of responsibilities. Your challenge is to figure out which ones are yours and which are others, and then make the conscious choice as to which you will do first.
Taurus – Page of Pentacles
The Page of Pentacles is the card of the student. Take time to learn something new. The area where you need to do your studies is in the material plane: your work or environment.
Gemini – Queen of Pentacles
The Queen of Pentacles is the gardener of the deck. You need to tend to your personal environment. These activities for example are deep cleaning part of your home, putting up shelves, stock your pantry, or gardening. The challenge is enjoying the space you are creating.
Cancer – Four of Swords
The Four of Swords would like you to take a respite. For some, you will need to take time out to reconsider something and for others you will just need the rest.
Leo – Page of Swords and Nine of Swords
This week is a two card week and that means that there is a couple of messages for Leos. For all Leos, it is a week to do some investigative work. There are messages that are hidden out there. They just need you to do a little digging to find them. And for some of you this info will help you with what has been worrying you. The challenge is realizing what to actual worry about and what is just in your head.
Virgo – Ten of Pentacles
Last week, the High Priestess challenged you to see the bigger picture while seeing the synchronicities in the details. This week the Ten of Pentacles shifts you from watching to doing. This is a great week to finish projects, which is appropriate for Virgos, because you are in your wind down month before your birthday. The challenge is finishing things you don’t want to carry into another year.
Libra – Seven of Pentacles
The Seven of Pentacles is the card of hard work. This week is a nose to the grind-stone week. The challenge is that the work you do is more of a long-term investment than an immediate return. But it will be worth the wait.
*Scorpio – Queen of Swords and Justice
Okay, two cards for you again this week. Last week Hierophant came to the rescue advising you the more organized and prepared you are the easier it will be to navigate in and around the chaos. The Queen of Swords continues this theme that prep and strategy will be needed this week. And Justice comes in to warn you that things are more black and white then what they seem. Your challenge with both cards is not to be too harsh or cold to those around you or yourself.
Sagittarius – Six of Cups
The Six of Cups has two parts. One is that the past holds some important information for you to use this week, so no need to create new tricks. And the second is you need to take a child-like view to freshen your perspective. This card advises, if you have forgotten how to freshen up your point of view, get on the floor, color outside the lines, spin in circles or go swinging.
Capricorn – Eight of Pentacles
The Eight of Pentacles wants you to feel and practice your mastery this week. This is not a week to learn new tricks but hone the ones you already have.
Aquarius – Two of Rods
The Two of Rods foretells success though it also involves a lot of waiting. The challenge is keeping busy during the waiting periods. This is a great time to catch up on your to do lists, read or start little projects.
Pisces – Page of Wands
The Page of Wands comes around when your Awe meter is low. Your challenge this week is get yourself into nature, go to a museum, a music show or anything that has to do with nature or art. Your passion for life needs to be re-lit. Life is good Pisces you just need to be reminded.
The last and fifth eclipse of 2018 will be this Saturday. I don’t know about you all but I have been feeling them. In Astrology the one common concept is that eclipses are transformative times for people whose Sun, moon or ascendant coincides within five degrees of the sign and degree of the eclipse. This year we had two pairs of eclipses in Leo-Aquarius and one odd-ball solar eclipses in Cancer. (You can look up the degrees here to see if it affected you.)
Eclipses are usually paired one solar and one lunar, a fortnight apart. This usually happen at least four times a calendar year and unusually from 5-7 times (next seven is in 2038). We have one more set of five in 2019 with Cancer and Capricorn pairings, and then we will have six eclipses in 2020. Thank the heavens things calm down until 2027 with five and 2029 with a six eclipses. But all this made me wonder how do we predict the number of eclipses?
Let me just say the answer to that question is both simple and complex and it is still evolving. Simply it involves the orbit of Earth and Moon orbital planes in comparison to the Sun which varies 5 degrees. And because of that sometimes the moon Earth and Sun aren’t aligned to cast shadows. Complexly even today scientists are adding on to the precision of that shifting number because of the interplay of Earth’s tides, rotation and tilt and the distance of the Moon.
The Universe does not run like a clock. The most interesting concept to me as I study Astronomy and Astrology is that the both prove that the Universe is alive. The definition of a living organism in its broadest form is something that is made of parts that interact with each other, it reproduces, and it syntheses energy to live and grow. This is something I see the planets and stars do on a daily basis.
P.S. Please share. Also, I have put up another quote to download for your vision board. Enjoy.
Aries – Nine of Wands
The Nine of Wands is about perseverance. For some reason this week you believe you need to take on more than you actually need to do. You have nothing to prove about your strength or your can do ideas of how you run your life. This card challenges you to lay just one thing aside this week to lighten you load. And for some of you rams you literally need to be careful of straining your back.
Taurus – Nine of Swords
The Nine of Swords is the card of worry. Worry is just an aspect of fear. Take this week to look at your fears and see if there is any truth in them in the here and now not the past and future. Then take action with the present worries, and let the past and future worries disperse in the mist of unchangeable and uncertain.
Gemini – Eight of Swords and Seven of Pentacles
Ok lovelies, you all got the Eight of Swords again, so some of you are still holding on to things that are binding you to a hindering reality. LET GO. And then move on to the energy of the Seven of Pentacles which is investing into long-term goals. Your challenge is to let go of the past and start planning for the future. This literally a good time for you all to invest- so contribute to your 401K, buy stock, make improvements to your home if you own it, etc…
Cancer – Nine of Pentacles
Where last week collaboration was the key, this week the Nine of Pentacles says you get more done alone or with just a chosen few. Your challenge is to see your successes and bask in them before you get back to work.
Leo – King of Pentacles
This is your second King, so lets’ just glance at the King’s energies. Kings are the manifestors of the deck. To get two in a row in your birth-month means this year the energy of manifestation is available to you. You can make some long-awaited projects happen this year. Last week the King of Wands wanted you to focus your energy on what you actually want. The King of Pentacles is the resource man asking you now that you know what to focus on, what do you physically need to make that happen?
*Virgo – High Priestess
The High Priestess in her simplest form wants to stare out the window and watch the world go by, reading a book like the Three-Body Problem, or get a divination reading . In her more complex form she might be challenging you to go on a retreat, write your own book, or cast a spell. The challenge is seeing the bigger picture while seeing the synchronicities in the details.
Libra – Page of Cups
The Page of Cups is the card of innocence. The challenge with this card is seeing things with fresh eyes and if you do you will find the solution or answer you need. If you are having a hard time with this – hang out with children, watch Anne with an E, or anything out of Miyazaki’s animation studio.
*Scorpio – Hierophant and Five of Swords
Ok two cards for you this week. First the Five of Swords forewarns, this week is going to be bit chaotic. The hard thing with this card is that you really have no control over it and most likely there is no way around it. The Hierophant comes to the rescue advising the more organized and prepared you are for this week, the easier it will be to navigate in and around the chaos. Also the Hierophant highlights that there is an important lesson you will learn by the end of the week that will come in handy in the near future.
Sagittarius – Knight of Pentacles
The journey continues with the Knight of Pentacles. The Knight of Pentacles means you are on the right path and your challenge is to get into the grove of your personal pace. All the Knights (movement) are all easy cards for your sign, so enjoy the journey and the wind in your hair.
Capricorn – Six of Rods
The Six of Rods advises you to take a moment this week to notice how far you come from the beginning of this year. This is your half way point from your birth year. The challenge is not to sit on your laurels, but to ask what am I going to do with the next 6 months.
Aquarius – Three of Cups
Companionship is the key this week. You have been out of the loop. It is time to call old friends and lift the glass even if it’s on FaceTime.
Pisces – Six of Swords
The Six of Swords’ lesson is about lightening the load that you carry with you. Whether that is mental or physical, you need to prioritize and hone down what you are carrying into your future. One thing with this card is that being by water can help in this process.
A feminine viewpoint throughout art history has had a small lens. It was not that woman didn’t do fine art but their main function was as objects for paintings or their work considered too feminine to have substance or meaning. During the 50’s and 60’s the art movement of Abstract Expressionist became even more of a boys club. This weeks’ artist is Elaine de Kooning who had to deal with this bias with a double lens of being female and married to an artist.
Elaine was an Abstract and Figurative Expressionist. Even though, she was the only female member of the Eight Street Club in New York City, an artistic think tank with some of the heavy hitter of the Expressions movement, her work was looked over. A perfect example of this overly male point of view was her first show. It was curated for married artists to show their artwork together; however, it was called Artists: Man and Wife. Which she later commented: “It seemed like a good idea at the time, but later I came to think that it was a bit of a put-down of the women. There was something about the show that attached women-wives- to the real artists”.
For that reason, Elaine chose to sign her artworks with her initials rather than her full name, to avoid her paintings’ being labeled as feminine in a traditionally masculine movement and not to be confused with her husband’s paintings. When you look at her body of work most of her portraits and abstracts are of men or bulls and are done with broad strokes. As if she is saying you want to see through the lens of a powerful woman – here you go.
P.S. Please share. Also, I have put up another quote to download for your vision board. Enjoy.
Aries – Page of Swords
The Page of Swords means you need to do some investigative work this week. Everything is not as it seems. There is an underlining dialogue or situation that needs to be uncovered.
Taurus – King of Swords
The last two weeks have been deep with the Star and Hermit challenging you to heal and take solace in solitude. You need that for this week because the King of Sword is the strategist of the deck. This card advises you to take this week to do some long-term, like until 2020, planning. Continue reading Tarotcast for Week of July 29, 2018→
intentions are the children of desire and the grandparents of destiny
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
You must be logged in to post a comment.