Tag Archives: the fox and the tarot

Tarotcast for Week of October 21, 2018

Kito Fujio

With my ode to macabre this month, I highlight another photographer, Kito Fujio, who brings the spooky into childhood places of play.  This series is about the cement-molded play equipment in many playgrounds of Japan.  He shoots these at night with his unique lighting which gives these places of fun a more ominous or alien tone.

The design idea that drives many of these cement pieces are based on Isamu Noguchi playground designs. Noguchi was an artist of varied talents, though many of his playground designs never made it through the red-tape of government.  His idea about playground design was to make a place where children were introduced to the basic shapes and the concept of in, out, up, down and around.  As he said “I think of playgrounds as a primer of shapes and functions; simple, mysterious, and evocative; thus educational.”  Isamu Noguchi last design before his death was  Morenuma Park, which is a conversion of an old landfill into a beautiful and awe-inspiring nod to nature and shape.

P.S. Remember signs with an * it’s a big week for you.  Halloween is a great time for a reading.  Please share.

Aries – Page of Swords

Kito FujioThe Page of Swords comes to advise that you need to uncover information that is hard to find without inquiry and a bit of sleight of hand.  The Page of Swords is the card of the spy.  So some sleuth work is needed before you make any decision or move forward this week.

 

Taurus – Two of Pentacles

Kito FujioThe past two weeks the World wanted you to finish up the old to create room for new, and then the Lovers card wanted you to start creating with others.  Now the energy shifts to the Two of Pentacles, the card of balance and juggling.  This card advises you to juggle just two things this week and get very secure with your balance between these two items before you add another item or project into your hands.

 

Gemini – Page of Cups

Kito FujioThe Page of Cups comes when you need to be reminded about the joy in life. This card wants you to see, hear, and touch with the senses of a child.  This is week get out your coloring books, Playdough, Legos, or your favorite toy and play.

 

*Cancer – Lovers

Kito FujioLast week, the Fool challenged you to acknowledge and let go of the excess so you can pack lighter for the road ahead.  The Lovers continues this theme. Its challenge is for you to pick companions on this journey.  Take this week to make sure the ones around you support you.  This can be as simple as making sure you have the right people to work on a project or as complex as evaluate the broader community around you. Your motto:  Love is my guide.

 

Leo – Queen of Swords

Kito FujioLast week, the Empress wanted you to find something that you truly love doing and do it bigger and better.  The Queen of Swords continues this theme but has you hone in on the strategic part of your plan. This week stay in your mind and plan than worry about actions of the future.

 

*Virgo – Sun

Kito FujioThe theme continues with more building and growing with the Sun, last week the Magician called in new ideas and processes to continue building on what you started. This week the Sun not only continues this theme but ignites it with energy.  Your challenge is how to harness this energy and use it like a laser. Your motto: Keep growing and expanding.

 

Libra – Ace of Pentacles

Kito FujioThe Ace of Pentacles is the last card of your birth month and declares this year as a year of planting seeds for projects to grow until 2020.  So take this week to figure out what seeds you want to plant and tend in your garden for the coming year.

 

Scorpio – King of Wands

Kito FujiioThe King of Wands challenges you this week to be more creative and passionate about what you are doing.  The conundrum comes when what you do brings no passion into your life. If this is so then this week might be the time to make some changes in what rules your daily life.

 

Sagittarius – Four of Cups

Kito FujioThe Four of Cups is the card of disenchantment or not seeing what is offered is pretty darn spectacular and ultimately what you feel is missing.  The challenge with this card is getting into and enjoying the rhythm of the everyday emotional tides or currents.  By seeing the paradox of stability in motion or ” emotional flow” and then devoting yourself to it  gives you the last piece of your puzzle. Motto: In the ordinary I see the extraordinary.

 

Capricorn – Knight of Pentacles

Kito FujioThe Knight of Pentacle is the card of methodical and thoughtful movement. The challenges with this card are pace and the movement forward.  This week all your activities should move you forward at a slow and steady pace.  If they are not this is the week to get rid of or adjust them so they do.

 

*Aquarius – Wheel

Kito FujioThe Wheel is the card of change of karma and fate.  When this card shows up it means this is a turning point in your life that no matter what it feels like your fortune is changing. The challenge with this card is to see the only control you have is to spin the wheel.  You cannot control the spin or pick the price.  What comes this week is your gift how you use it is up to you.  Your motto:  Doesn’t hurt to try.

 

*Pisces – World

Last week, the High Priestess challenged you to pull into your inner-scape and plug into your intuition; you will be able to sync yourself with your life path. Now we know why, the World has shown up to challenge you to close old doors and open new ones. You got the World almost to the date last month, so you get another crack at it. This week take this energy and finalize some old projects or people and at the same time go out and look for new projects or people.  The World wants to help your challenge is you will need to go to new haunts to greet it. Your motto:  I am open to the new.

 

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

Nina

 

Tarotscope Week of October 14, 2018

Daniel Shipp Botanical Inquiry Grimoire

Daniel Shipp shot a photography series, Botanical Inquiry, by creating a analogue machine and technique that reminds me of Viewmaster 3-D .  These photographs are like dioramas.  The colors and beauty of the flowers become richer when juxtaposed to the urban and darker backgrounds.  It looks like a visual representation of an urban witch’s grimoire. A Grimoire is a book of knowledge and spells that each “witch” creates or can be passed down and added to.  It is just another form of a recipe book.  My grandmother passed down her The White House Cook book, 1887, which she wrote her changes and additions not only to the food recipes but also to the last 60 pages of medicinal teas and tinctures.

Grimoire, the word, is believed to be born from the Frankish word grima, mask or sorcerer, or come from the Italian word rimario, book of rhymes.  Either way or both it ended up morphing into the Old French word grammaire, which originally meant any book written in Latin.  This word sprouted from ancient Greece grammatikos meaning knowing how to read and write.  So like any good word the people took it and made it into  Grimoire, French  slang for any book that was hard to understand.

By the 1700’s it became associated with only books of magic.  It didn’t come in to the English language until the early 1800’s with the increasing interest in occultism  and the publishing of Frances Barrett’s The Magus. This was a popular book that complied magical lore from a variety of ancient books of magic.  Art, words, recipes, and Grimoires are all things made richer as they are passed down through  history and morphed with experimentation.

P.S. Remember signs with an * it’s a big week for you.  Halloween ia a great time for a reading.  Please share.

Aries – Three of Pentacles

Daniel ShippThe Three of Pentacles foretells you will need help from others if you want to accomplish what you need to do.  This week cooperation and collaboration are key.

 

*Taurus – Lovers

Daniel ShippLast week, the World wanted you to finish up old projects to create room for new projects. And now here comes the Lovers card wanting you to start creating, though this creation period is about working with others to create something new.  In its simplest form this can look like making dinner with your love ones.  In its more complex form this can be you sharing the creation process on a new project.  Either way this week you will need to cooperate and collaborate if you really want to create something out of the ordinary.
Continue reading Tarotscope Week of October 14, 2018

Tarotcast Week of October 7, 2018

Playground Deb Young and Francisco Diaz

Happy Birthday Month, Libra.

This week’s artists are Deb Young and Francisco Diaz or The International Collaboration Project. They create photo montages from random images.  Diaz in the US and the Young in New Zealand working remotely in real time on projects while viewing through the lens of each other’s cameras.  Their collaboration is based on gender equality to both redress the imbalance of woman in the art world and to infuse their narrative work with a masculine/feminine sensibility. This series of photo montage is called The Playground.

The playground is one of the first places where we learn how to cooperate, create friendships and use our imagination, but it is also a place where we first felt isolated and bullied.  As a child, it was where I first encountered gender inequality. The playground was where I learned there were boys that stood up for me so I could dig to China with them. Then there were others that didn’t because I was a girl, and they called me a confusing name for a 5-year-old, tomboy (if you want to read a great article about the history and complexity of this name click here).

I would like to give a nod to those boys and men that just see another kid/human wanting to play.  Thanks for standing up and supporting humans to gain equality, to being heard, and admitting that there is work that still needs to be done even within their own framework.  Also I ask a favor to all of us, like this photography team we need to collaborate to redress the imbalance in society in our art, government, and all other places where equality well, just isn’t actual equal. The only way we can do this is to see through the lens of another and collaborate to create the reality for us all.

P.S. Remember signs with an * it’s a big week for you.  Add Halloween readings to your trick or treat bags.  Please share.

Aries – Five of Wands

The Playground Deb Young and Francisco Diaz The Five of Wands is calling you to arms.  You will need to be valiant and noble, so you can bring a sense of light and passion not only into your work place but also into your life.  This week fight for something you believe in.

 

*Taurus – World

The Playground Deb Young and Francisco Diaz The World is the card of completion and opportunities.   In its simplest form it can look like finishing up old projects or finally crossing off your oldest to-do list items.  In its more complex form, this can be closing old doors, and throwing away old ideas or ideologies opening you to new opportunities and ways of “doing.”
Continue reading Tarotcast Week of October 7, 2018

Tarotcast for Week of September 30, 2018

Hi all, I just want to thank you for your support as I finish my third year of this tarotcast.  A few shouts outs: to D for cheering me on instead of me cooking or hanging with him on some nights when the writing muse has a hard time meeting with me.  For my Mom, coven of ladies and dude who are my life support system. To all of my subscribers thank you for reading, especially those that write back to me saying that one or another tarotcast has had some meaning in your life and those of you that have shared my blog with others.  You all have validated that this is an avenue that is part of my service to the soul.

The artist for this week is Taylor White.  She works in the streets as well as the studio.  Many of her pieces are inspired by dance, which she tries to capture, quite well in my opinion, the emotive essence of the human spirit.   When asked if her art had a specific meaning she answered:  I hope my work invites the viewer to connect with themselves in some deeper way, creating questions and answers in the way they respond to the piece – whether they’re drawn to it or turned off by it. My work is as much a celebration of you as it is of me; it’s a celebration of the spirit. I speak to an experience which is universal; we all occupy this coalescence of matter, roughly the same shape and configuration, and move through space by the same physical laws.

That is also the essences of why I write this blog.  The first half is to convey cool things I find interesting and their interconnectedness in art, history, and science.  A place for us to reflect, learn and see the commonalities of our existence.  The second part, the forecast, I hope helps you move through your life with a bit of reflection and guidance to ease your journey.  Thanks again for all of your support, and now on to another year.  Light and Love XO.

P.S. Please share.

Aries – Ace of Swords

Last week you were scavenging data from your dreams.  This week the Ace of Swords wants you to figure out how to use what you have gathered into your daily life. This week will inspire you to new thoughts and expand your mind.

 

Taurus – Queen of Cups

The Queen of Cups has asked you to have fun yet again.  Last week it was with a joy and sense of innocence of a child.  This week the Queen of Cups knows that emotions, good or bad can be triggered, but it is through the lens of the positive that you will ease not only your journey but also those you support.

 

*Gemini – Devil

The Devil comes when you are tested about your resolves.  This can look as simple as being tempted by pastry in your break room or can be as complicated as being beguiled by that person who has harmed you from the past.  Now is the time to harden your resolve.

 

 

Cancer – Ace of Swords

The Ace of Swords asks you to examine your logic and look for new ways of thought. This is a time were open-mindedness and new information will create more ease during your decision-making this week.

 

*Leo – World

Taylor WhiteThe World is the card of opportunities. This week many doors open for you.  Your only challenge is walking out your door so you can walk through new ones.  Enjoy the variety of life.

 

Virgo – Eight of Pentacles

Taylor WhiteThe Eight of Pentacles is the card of mastery.  The challenge this week is not to start anything new but to become better at what you are in the midst of doing right now.

 

Libra – Three of Wands

Taylor WhiteThis is your second three in a row so let’s look at 3s more closely.  Threes investigate the areas we need to stabilize.  Last week you were advice to hanging with good friends to stabilize your emotions.  This week the Three of Wands would like you to examine your foundation in how you interact with your life purpose. Are you hiding from your true purpose?  Or feel that your true purpose is out of your reach, or you are inadequate?  Even if you are feeling great with were you are at.  The answers to your success or failure lies in what are you calling in and who or what is influencing you.

 

Scorpio – Five of Cups

Taylor WhiteThis week has the potential of you feeling overwhelmed.  Your emotional waters are meant to be dealt with not to lie in.  There are at least two pretty fantastic joys for you this week.  You will see them if you let go of negative emotion that are drag you under the water.

 

*Sagittarius – High Priestess

Taylor WhiteInteresting the mate to the Moon is your card this week.  Last week, the Moon wanted you to understand that emotions feel as if they rule your life, but in actuality they are just signposts of where your life is at.  The High Priestess, the Queen of patterns, cycles and knowledge arrives to help you navigate not only your emotions of the past and your subconscious but to help you connect the dots so you can change karmic patterns. This in its simplest form can be lowering your carbon foot print or in its more complex form mean changing generational karmic patterns (think big patterns in your family or your generation) so not to pass it on to the next.

 

*Capricorn – Strength

Taylor WhiteThe Strength card would like you to strengthen your inner core.  This can look as simple as doing core stomach exercises to help your back, or as complex as creating mantras that keep the negative thought patterns at bay.  The challenge is seeing that inner strength is not as complicated as you think.

 

Aquarius – Ace of Pentacles

Taylor WhiteIt is time to take on a new project this week.  The Ace of Pentacles foretells this is an auspicious week to start something new, and if do it this week, it is more likely to come to fruition.  Also this will help you not feel as if you are in a rut or dull.

 

*Pisces – Chariot

Taylor WhiteThe Chariot continues the theme of the last two weeks – keep moving to create change.  This card is the karmic card of momentum and its challenge, it is all in your hands.  In its simple form it can look like you wanting to take a vacation – ask your boss for time off and then book it.  This card in a more complex form would be something like changing your location or job; you will have to go physically check out places whether that is a new house, a new city or a new place of employment to hand in your resume.  The challenge with this card is the Universe is not going to drop something in your lap. You will need to jump in your chariot and go look for or at it yourself.  You get this card when the Universe sees you are now ready and able to make this change happen for the positive.  It is saying:  I’m taking of the training wheels; you got this.

 

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

Nina

Tarotcast for the Week of September 16, 2018

Fruit Dennis Wojtkiewicz

Categorizing fruits or vegetables can be a contentious debate among chefs, botanists and gardeners.  Botanically a fruit “is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems.”  With this definition, squash and tomatoes hang with peaches in the fruit realm and beets, kale, and cauliflower grow with the vegetables.

However, this debate was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1893, Nix. v. Hedden.   The court ruled unanimously that an imported tomato should be taxed as a vegetable, rather than as a (less taxed) fruit. The court recognized that a tomato is a botanical fruit, but sided with the “ordinary” definitions of fruit and vegetable which was defined by when we eat them.  So the savory tomato is considered a vegetable by are palate and by the court.

This week’s artist, Dennis Wojtkiewicz, takes painting fruit/vegetables (depending on who you side with above) to a new level. His distinctive large-scale fruit, vegetables and flowers are painted with a combination of realism and being heavenly lit to create a sense of religious ardor for yummy plant parts.

P.S. Please share.

Aries – Four of Cups

Dennis WojtkiewiczThe Four of Cups asks you not to spend too much time gazing at your belly button.   You do need to check in with your emotions all this week, but in doing so, don’t stay too long in your internal emotional landscape.  Look up and out or you will miss some good loving from the outside.

 

*Taurus – Emperor

The Emperor is the card of manifestation, so this is a pivotal week in your material plane.  This week work on projects that are already in play.  By working with what is instead of what could be will carry you farther in the following weeks.

 

Continue reading Tarotcast for the Week of September 16, 2018

Tarotcast Week of September 9, 2018

Franco FontanaWorkers 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

Franco FontanaThe 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

Franco FontanaMessages 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

Tarotcast for the Week of August 26, 2018

Jeffrey Michael Samudsky

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

Jeffrey Michael Samudsky

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

Jeffrey Michael Samudsky

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

Jeffrey Michael Samudsky

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

Jeffrey Michael Samudsky

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

Jeffrey Michael Samudsky

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

Jeffrey Michael SamudskyThe 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

Jeffrey Michael SamudskyThe 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.

 

 

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

Nina