Category Archives: Tarotcast

Weekly Tarotcast

Tarot-cast for the Week of June 3, 2018

Ornitographies by Xavi Bou

Above is the art project Ornitographies by Xavi Bou.  It is a study of birds in motion within a single time frame, making visible the invisible.  This series investigates the unnoticed movements and questions the limits of human perception of time.  Unlike the movement and scientific studies of Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey  Xavi’s pieces feel more organic, more flowing. His images show the flow of movements of past, present and future.

To me these are a visual representation of zazen.  The goal of zazen is just sitting, suspending judgmental thinking and letting the words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.   It is about experiencing the whole concept of life without judgment in each moment.  Sounds simple but I have found it super hard.  As I watch my kitten playing with his mouse, I realize he is one of my teachers of this practice.  May you have a lovely week my friends.

P.S. Please share.

Aries – Knight of Swords

Ornitographies by Xavi BouLast week you had the theme ‘beauty adorns virtue”  This week continues that theme with the Knight of Swords  This card suggest that you slow down and take time to smell the roses. Be in each moment.

Taurus – Four of Wands

Ornitographies by Xavi BouThe artist last week asked you to pay attention to the details. The Four of Wands wants you to focus on the details in your home.  Focus on the how to create more harmony in your home.  Whether that is adding a calming color or adding some pop, remember harmony does not equate to uniformity.

Gemini – Three of Swords

Ornitographies by Xavi BouThe painting last week was about standing up for you rights, even if it is seems hopeless.  And that beauty arises outside the realm of judgment.  The Three of Swords extends this theme by having you deal with three self-defeating thoughts.  Your challenge is  look at the reason of why you carry around these thoughts through a lens of self-compassion.

*Cancer – Emperor

Ornitographies by Xavi BouThe artist’s theme last week was about being aware that you do not have control over reality, but you can nudge it towards your favor. And so the Emperor extends this thought for another week by having you add to and build upon the reality you are in.  This can look as simple you have to go to work but can you manipulate the time or space that you do it in.

Leo – Eight of Wands

Ornitographies by Xavi BouLast week’s art theme was to see parody(humor) in your life.  The Eight of Wands continues that theme of bring in and accepting the positive even joyful energy in your life. Arms and minds open.

*Virgo – Hermit

Ornitographies by Xavi BouDulle Griet’s hinted about being a bit devilish or against the social norm last week.  The Hermit would like you to continue the exploration of the outer edges of societies’ norms, but in theory with meditation and reflection.  This is a favorite card of Virgo, for this is a lifelong challenge of balancing your social and solo sides. The challenge with this card is not to seek solitude out of a reaction of being over social but to be proactive about scheduling your need of space and time to decompress. And the bigger challenge is do it without guilt.

Libra – Four of Pentacles

Ornitographies by Xavi BouLast week your challenge was to met people outside of your normal wanderings.  This week the Four of Pentacles takes an about-face from the emotional realm to the physical one.  Your goal is to save time, money and space anywhere you can.  Your challenge is not to feel selfish about it.

Scorpio – Six of Pentacles

Ornitographies by Xavi BouLast week your challenge was two-fold, taking on a challenge and proving the “haters” wrong.  This week, the Six of Pentacles’ lesson is around the “give and take” in your life.  The goal is lowering your input to people or work that you are not getting something positive in return.  The challenge is to do it without them noticing.

*Sagittarius – Judgment

Ornitographies by Xavi BouLast week your painting was about finding and bonding with your inner horse.  The Judgment card challenges you to create a ritual or rite of passage that moves you on to the next act of your life.  This can be as simple as lighting a candle and blowing it out to release the old, or as complex as burning all your old journals.

*Capricorn – Tower

Ornitographies by Xavi BouThe art last week challenged you to see the boundaries you may be holding on to around your passions or your way of life.  The Tower comes this week to break down those walls if you haven’t already.  The Tower comes to shake things up because something you have not been dealing with and that doesn’t work, needs to change.  The best way to deal with this card is to stand back and enjoy the destruction.

Aquarius – Five of Swords

Ornitographies by Xavi BouThe painting last week advised you to see that your history or past experiences are useful in the present whether you see it or not.  The Five of Swords this week continues this theme by challenging you that you can learn more from your mistakes and failures then you can from your successes.

Pisces – Four of Cups

Ornitographies by Xavi BouLast week’s painting suggested to come at your life with softer edges.  This theme continues with the Four of Cups this week.  This card is the card of self-compassion and empathy.  To see the world, its people and yourself without sharp edges.

May light be on you, around you, and within you,

Nina

 

Tarot-cast for the Week of May 27, 2018

Night Rain on Oyama by Utagawa Toyokuni II
Night Rain on Oyama by Utagawa Toyokuni II

This tarotcast is an experiment with my casting for the week and art.  Usually I pull cards and then cast about for the art to go with the general energies of that week.  This week I am going in the opposite direction and letting the art take the lead.  I think the arts were born under the sign of Gemini.  Gemini is the first sign in which we work on how and why we communicate with the world.  Art is a place where we try to create, experiment and communicate with something outside ourselves to convey what is going on inside ourselves.

So this tarotcast I’m going to let the art solely express your goals, challenges, energies that surround you.  I will add a tidbit about the painting that I find relevant to the piece or energy of your cast.  This is exercise in mindfulness, of truly experiencing a piece of art. I challenge you to dive deep into each piece and ask how does this makes me feel and see what thoughts it brings to the surface.  Like the sign of the Gemini where the twins peer at each other, looking for similarities and differences, so does the exercise of experiencing art.  The artist is the twin to the piece and then the piece becomes the twin to the viewer.  Art challenges us to look in to it and truly see ourselves – our common humanity through time and space.

P.S. I have also put links for each piece if you want to dive deeper into the art or artist. Please share.

Aries- Ginervra de’ Benci by Leonardo da Vinci 1475

twin

On the back side of this portrait he painted VIRTVTEM FORMA DECORAT (“beauty adorns virtue”)

Taurus–  Portrait of Paolo Morgia by Fede Galizia, 1595

Fede was well-known as a portrait painter by the age of twelve. She was meticulous in her attention to detail look at the reflection of the glasses in his hand, they reflect a window not seen.

*GeminiPortrait d’une negresse by Marie-Guillemine Benoist 1800

Six years previously slavery was abolished in France, though short-lived, so this image became the symbol for woman’s emancipation and black people’s right.

Cancer – Early Moonrise, Florida by George Inness 1893

Inness was known for interpreting rather than recording natures views, moving away from the Hudson River School artists’ transcriptions of nature.   According to Inness “you can suggest reality…you cannot paint reality.”

Leo – Stay High 149 aka Wayne Roberts 197?

He was a superstar in the underground up and coming graffiti scene of the 1970’s.  This piece is a parody on the British television show The Saint.

Virgo – Dulle Griet by Pieter Bruegal the Elder, 1565

Dulle Griet also known as Mad Meg, in Flemish folklore who leads an army of woman to pillage Hell.  Her mission refers to the proverb “She could plunder in front of hell and return unscathed.”

LibraLe Pont del Europe by Gustave Caillebotte, 1881

The three prominent characters in this portrait are theorized as a  representation of the three classes of Parisians who normally not met in society but do on this bridge.

*Scorpio – Carousel in Santa Monica by David Michael Hinnebusch 2006

In 2006, a friend of the artist, who didn’t like Hinnebusch’s art on found materials, took him shopping at the art store. He bought $2,000 US worth of Golden Acrylics, brushes and 10 large canvases and this is one of the painting that came out of that excursion.

Sagittarius – Personnages aux Chevaux, Characters with Horses, by Marcelle Cahn  1935

Was one of the few female artist in 1930’s associated with the movement Abstraction-Creation, which was a counteract to the Surrealist movement.

Capricorn – Closed Gallery by Robert Barry 1969

Closed Gallery consisted of three invitations to gallery shows in Amsterdam, Turin, and Los Angeles printed on simple white cards. They informed the recipients that during the exhibition, the gallery would be closed. “It’s the purest form of this notion of what the physicality of art is and what art is really all about. One doesn’t need to even have the gallery space”, said David Platzker, who sent out numerous announcement cards worldwide, each saying simply “During the exhibition the gallery will be closed”.

 

Aquarius La Rue du Soleil,  Port Vendres by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1926

Charles started his career as an architect and was influential in the Art Nouveau and Secessionism.  He abandoned it later and focused solely on painting watercolors later in life.  Though like the reflection of the buildings in the water you can still see buildings are still in his mind.

Pisces – Summon Up by Frederick Hammersley, 1958

He wrote that “hard-edge is often very hard to take, coming to the cold or even to the practiced eyed.”

May light be on you, around you, and within you,

Nina

 

Tarot-cast for Week of May 20, 2018

rock garden of chandigarh

The Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a sculpture garden in Chandigarh, India.  It was started in secret by Nek Chand, a government official in 1957. He worked in his spare time, may times at night, bicycling his materials into the forest, an kept it secret until 1976.  since it was on public land the authorities wanted to tear it down, however, locals fought for his creations. He won and was hired by the government to continue his work with a crew of 50 workers. Today it is spread over an area of 40 acres. The entire project was built from industrial and home waste and thrown-away items.

I just love this story and its creation.  It started from a man who saw all this destruction and waste and he decided to create something magical.  This is an amazing trait of humans and to create beauty out of what others consider trash. A trait that is useful in building up our resilience but also creates a bit of magic in our lives.

P.S. Please share.

Aries- Six of Cups

rock garden of chandigarhLast week the Tower challenged you to let go of needing to control change and to subtly navigate it by shifting your stance.  This week the Six of Cups continues the theme by having you look back in to your history for clues on how to deal with this change.

Taurus– Nine of Swords

rock garden of chandigarhThe Nine of Swords is the card of worry.   Worry can be helpful when you use it to prepare for the future or to re-think about your past.  However, the challenge with this card is to know when worry becomes nothing but thoughts that have no objective or conceives a useful action.  This week be aware where your worries take you. Continue reading Tarot-cast for Week of May 20, 2018

Tarotcast for week of May 13, 2018

Mother’s Day… I’m thinking about all the people who Mother’s Day maybe hard to celebrate.  I’m thinking of all the mothers who have lost children.  I’m thinking of my friends and others that have lost their mothers.  I’m thinking of those people who have a hard relationship with their mom, or mothers that have tense relationships with their children.  I’m thinking about all of those that have chosen not to be a mother, like myself.  You should be celebrated too because you choose an alternative way to give that energy.  And I’m also sending energy for all those who want to be mothers. May you find mothering with ease.

I’m lucky, I have a wonderful relationship with my Mom.  She is the person I learned unconditional love from.  She is the first best-friend I ever had. I learned strength from her and laughter.  I learned it was okay to be an intelligent woman and to choose to live a life outside of the norm.

We all have someone who was that for us – a teacher, a dad, a dog, an aunt, a sister, a friend.  Toady take a moment to see that spirit that held that mother-energy for you.  Celebrate that entity or even Mother Earth for taking care of you.   Mother’s Day to me is a celebration of the creative, caring, and comforting feminine energy that is not attached to gender, sex, color, species or any specific outside packaging. It is a celebration and a commitment to foster love in the world.  May you all sit in that energy of love and warmth today.

P.S. Please share.

*Aries – Tower

I see why you needed your rest last week, you got the Tower card for this week.  The Tower’s challenge is about change in which we have no control over.  The best way to deal with this card is to react as if you are either surfing or kayaking white waters. Know you cannot stop the force of the water but you can navigate it without danger by subtly shifting your stance or dipping in your oars.

Taurus- Four of Pentacles

The Four of Pentacles challenges you to save your resources this week.  Whether that is your time, space, or money, you can identify what is precious with how it feels when you are limited by it.  It is a great time to start saving but be aware not to be miserly to those close to you.

Gemini – Queen of Swords

Last week, the Chariot asked you to make a simple or complex change to your life and to pace it according to how you want your life to flow. The Queen of Swords continues this theme by challenging you to plan out how to make the change long-term.

 

*Cancer – High Priestess

The High Priestess challenges you to work on your intuition skills.  You will gain more insight when you step back and look at the big picture then to focus on details.

 

Leo – Ten of Cups

The Ten of Cups is the party card of the deck and it doesn’t come up too often.  This card challenges you to have a good time.

 

 

*Virgo – Hanged Man

The Hanged Man is the card of stagnation, side projects and spiritual quests.  Take the down-time this cards brings to you to go off the beaten path and tend to your spirit to find peace and stillness.  This can look like mediating at a Zen garden, or taken a left turn when you want to go right.

Libra – Five of Cups

Be careful of melancholy this week.  When the Five of Cups shows up it challenges you to find two things good in every “bad” thing that happens.  There are lessons for you in losses this week.

*Scorpio – The Emperor

Last week, the Wheel gave you the choice of changing your fortune by saying yes to opportunities.  The Emperor continues this by having you build on things you said yes to and found that you like it.  This can look as simple as building a friendship that started last week, or as complex as building on that new business idea.

 

*Sagittarius – Nine of Pentacles and Tower

This week is all about your choices.  Last week you had two big karma cards of Judgment-evolution and the Star – healing and hope.  The theme of choosing to heal the past to pave the way to the portals of evolution continues this week.  For those of you that choose or are chosen for the Tower, you still will have to deal with healing but you will have released the pace or outcome of that change/evolution.  For those who choose to take the slower more controlled path the Nine of Pentacles challenges you to pull back from the world and contemplate what to do next.

Capricorn – Six of Pentacles

The Six of Pentacles continues the theme of last week’s World card looking for opportunities that lead to the next phase  sometime after mid-July. Remember last week  challenging you to make your micro-cosmos represent your macro-cosmos.  The Six of Pentacles challenges this at a karmic level.  For all the good little deeds you put out in the world, they will come back to you three-fold in your macro-karma however so does the negative.  So this week open doors for people, say thank you, or make someone cookies just because it is a nice thing to do.  Be careful not to purposely offend someone, flip someone a bird on the road, or in general be aware of your material, spiritual and emotional footprint.

Aquarius – King of Cups

The King of Cups wants you to master your emotions. This King has you look at how you emotional deal with the outside world.  Your challenge – to open up and reveal a bit of yourself to acquaintances.

Pisces – Four of Wands

The theme of last week’s  Magician card bringing in the divine to the material world continues this week.  Refine your focus to your home and home life, so this week your challenge is to focus on projects at and about your home.  You will feel more at ease and accomplished in the outside world if your home is in order.

 

May light be on you, around you, and within you,

Nina

 

Tarot-cast for Week of May 6, 2018

Ellsworth Kelly

Above is the artwork, Colors for a Large Wall, by Ellsworth Kelly. Kelly covered 64 square canvas in a single color and then randomly fused them together to become a bigger piece.  This was the beginning of his life-long inquiry that paintings were objects within themselves. This painting became the seed for many of his future pieces juxtaposing panels of different size, shapes and colors in to countless variations of work.

Kelly once said that ..if you can turn off the mind and look only with the eyes ultimately everything becomes abstract. I would also add that paradoxically it becomes simpler.  That by turn off the mind both abstract and simplicity can hold a unique form of beauty and peace.

P.S. Please share.

Aries- Four of Swords

Ellsworth KellyScience says that rest is a valuable component of your health regime and the Four of Swords recommends you will need it.  The Four of Swords also challenges you actually to not push anything through this week.

Taurus- Two of Cups

Ellsworth KellyThe Two of Cups recommends applying your energy to deepen your close relationships.  Our emotions are set into memory with our senses. So look in your love ones’ eyes, breathe in their scent, touch them with love, and listen to their feelings behind their words. Continue reading Tarot-cast for Week of May 6, 2018

Tarot-cast for Week of April 29, 2018

Japanese manhole covers

Japan has taken street art to a whole new level.  In the 1980’s, the government wanted to standardize their sewer system; however, in some of the outer communities they were meet with resistance.  Until a savvy bureaucrat solved the problem by having each town choose their own manhole design.  Now nearly 95% of the municipalities in Japan sport their own specially design manhole cover.  You can read about the history and see more examples in Drainspotting by Remo Camerota.

Ponderings:  When we want something to happen in our environment to evolve – letting people have creative input seems to oil the wheels of progress.  How can you use this tool in your own dealings?

P.S. Please share. I have added to your signs some manhole covers which may relate to your week ahead.

Aries- Ten of Wands

Japanese manhole coversThe Ten of Wands warns you not to take more on this week.  You have more than enough on your plate as it is.  Your hint:  Be aware of obligations that sprout from guilt.  If it does, don’t do it.

 

Taurus- Ten of Pentacles

Japanese manhole coversThe Ten of Pentacle is about completion that creates success.  This week focus on projects that are near completion. For now ignore projects that have just started or take on anything new this week. Continue reading Tarot-cast for Week of April 29, 2018

Tarot-cast for Week of April 22, 2018

Today we celebrate Earth Day around the world.  The origins of Earth Day is a story of co-evolution.  The first event evolved in the mind of John McConnell who in October 1969 proposed a global holiday to celebrate life on Earth and peace. The first celebration was in San Francisco on March 21, 1970.  He created an Earth Day Proclamation for the signers to take care of the Earth and all of its inhabitants.  So far it  has been signed by 36 World Leaders.  Earth /Peace Day is celebrated (on the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and on the Fall Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere) by the UN and various cities around the world by ringing bells to honor this oath.

The second arising was on April 22, 1970.  Senator Gaylord Nelson rallied an American-centric Earth Day which started with state wide protests against pollution on that day and ended with the creation of the EPA and the passage of the Clean Air, clean Water and Endangered Species Act by the end of the year.  By the year 2000 Earth Day has become a worldwide campaign to get people engaged in fighting for a cleaner environment.

Even though I am for both  Earth Days.  I am fonder of the celebration on the Spring Equinox.  Because it is grounded in the cycles unique to our world and has the holistic approach that if we see with the lens of peace we will do less harm.  Don’t get me wrong the April 22 Earth Day has birthed amazing activism around the world:  The Canopy Project, A Billions Acts of Green, Recycling etc…  But I wonder if we blended the two celebrations and honored the Earth on the Spring Equinox would it have changed our view to a more holistic and proactive one?

P.S. Please share.  I’ve picked some places and animals that need our protection.

Aries – Page of Swords

The Page of Swords represents the act of gathering information and doing it subtly.  This info is important to your future; however, gather your intel more behind the scenes than usual.

 

Taurus – Seven of Cups

The Seven of Cups represents imagination and dreams.  Take this week to envision imagine your dream goals.  Use all your senses to conjure up what it will feel, smell, sound and look like.

 

Gemini – Two of Swords

This week you will come to a cross-roads.  The Two of Swords tells you now is the time to trust your intuition and make a decision.  You have been going back and forth long enough.  The funny thing with this card, no matter which road you pick you will end up in the same place.  This card is about the journey. The destination is already set.

Cancer – Nine of Wands

The Sun card is still shining on you. Last week, the Sun foretold that something you started around February 18th needs tending again.  The Nine of Wands is the card of preparation.  This gives you another week to gather your resources and continue to work on last week’s project(s).

Leo – Queen of Pentacles

Whatever you learned last week with the Page of Pentacles the Queen now wants you to start move forward with what you have learned.  This Queen is the kinder less pressing version of the Empress.  Anything you create this week will be more helpful in the short-term rather than the long.  And remember help is help in any form.

Virgo – Page of Wands

The Page of Wands tells you that your energy is being drained.  To ignite your passion again take a romp in the woods, color, go to a concert.  These kind of activities are necessary to rekindle your fire.

*Libra – Hanged Man

The Hanged Man comes when inertia sets in and there is nothing to do but wait it out.  The best way to handle a Hanged Man week is either to go totally off course and do a short project, or to look at what is on your plate now with a different perspective.  This is not a week to start anything.

Scorpio – Ten of Pentacles

Yippee you all finally get a break.  The Ten of Pentacles card says that you have done a good job these past four weeks and it is time to bask in your success.  You get this week off so enjoy what you have sown.

 

*Sagittarius – Moon

Last week, the Justice card challenged you to see how to champion justice with the mind and spirit and not with the heart and sword. This week, the Moon card is having you investigate and add integrity to the mix.  The Moon is about things that are hidden, coming to light.  So you will start to see that the Justice you sought last week is becoming illuminated.  The big challenge with this card is to make sure the justice you serve isn’t backed by the dark side of the Moon – the subconscious and/or overly emotional motives.  So the clearer you are of why you are championing this cause, the better protector you will be.

Capricorn – Ten of Wands

The Sun continues to shine for you this week with the focus of the Ten of Wands. You have come to a place where you have completed something but you are not letting it go.  Is this the perfectionist in you?  Or are you afraid of where to go next?  The Ten of Wands challenge is to release the projects that are finished, so you can continue growing the things that actually need work.

Aquarius – Eight of Pentacles

The Eight of Pentacles is the card of mastery.  Your challenge this week is to master a skill.  This week is all about practice, practice practice.

 

*Pisces – Star and Ten of Swords

Okay, this is an interesting week for you all.  You got the Star which is the card of hope and success. and you got the Ten of Swords which is not listening to your instincts about people who end up hurting you.  So your big picture is you are on the right path, keep going, and follow the Star, and then in the details “beware of enemies bearing gifts.”

May light be on you, around you, and within you,

Nina