Tag Archives: the fox and the tarot

Tarotcast

Tarotcast for week of January 29, 2017

Some of my favorite ocean creatures are the nudibranchs. Nudibranchs are a group of soft bodied, marine, gastropod mollusks. The word “nudibranch” means “naked gills.” Those are the little appendages you see on their backs. The nudibranch is about 2-3 inches long snail like creature. Because they shed their shell during their larval stage, these animals have developed toxins to make themselves unpalatable to predators.

This is why they can be so colorful. You would think they were colorful to attract a mate, but their simple eyes can only see light and dark.  Scientist have found that at least two species make a noise that is audible to the human ear. Scientist believe this is a way that these hermaphroditic creatures can attract mates.  We have currently discovered over 2,300 species of these colorful creatures in all parts of the oceans.

Some of my favorite ocean photography is done by David Doubilet.   I first noticed his work when I saw a series of photographs he did for National Geographic about nudibranchs. He designed an underwater white light box so they could be photographed in their element and created some of the amazing photographs below.

P.S.  Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

Aries – Page of Wands – “Oh Passion, wherefore art thou?” This week you need to find ways to reignite your passion. I mean come on, Mars is in Aries, your planet is in your own house until March 4th. The universe has given you the whole month of February with no obstacles, so make no excuses – get out there. Like Auntie Mama says: “Live, that’s the message.”

*Taurus – The Star – The Star means healing and enlightenment. It is also Aquarius’s card, so it is a great way to start off the month of February. The challenge for Taurinians with both this card and with Aquarius sign is to learn how to step back and enjoy. You feel guilty/angry/depressed if you aren’t “doing something.” This week work on being passively (definition- in an accepting manner, without active response or resistance) active (definition – engaging or ready to engage in physically energetic pursuits). A great metaphorical exercise is to sit in a train station/bus stop/airport/mall/street corner, any really busy place and just watch for 20 minutes. You will start to see and feel the rhythm then you can dance rather than rush back into life.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of January 29, 2017 →

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Tarotcast for week of January 22, 2017

Every day, Art breaks the barrier of a human life span. Artists like Frida Khalo or Diane Arbus continue to speak and influence through their artwork. The Venus of Berekhat Ram, pictured above, is the second prehistoric sculpture discovered. It with the Venus of Tan Tan are the “first” sculptural art works dating between 230,000 to 700,000 years ago. Both were likely made by our ancestral cousins Homo erectus and both are of the female form.

Art is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” These archeological findings let us view art done by species of hominids that no longer exist. They are communicating what they saw as beauty and conveying emotion through time and this blows my mind.

Why did they do art? This ancestral artist was it male or female? Does that make a difference to what they were trying to convey? These are important questions because I bet the majority of you thought “male artist.” I know I did, but why? This is a different species. We can only guess but we will never really know. These assumption should be carefully looked at for bias and if they are holding us back today. Seven hundred thousand years from now, what will our art say to the next species that roams this Earth, and will they ask the same questions?

Below in honor of women, I have attached some female contemporary artists that may or may not align with your tarotcast.

P.S. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

Louisa Gagliardi

Aries – Five of Pentacles – Last week The Hierophant suggested that your resolutions be around things that add structure to your life and belief systems. This week the Five of Pentacles – frustration and a sense of loss- is here to help you define where you need this structure or the broken parts of your belief system. Your environment is setting up obstacles this week to focus you on your true wants and needs, so they can be fixed. But, be careful with this card, don’t make little obstacles or losses bigger than what they are.

 

Hayv Kahraman

Taurus – Three of Cups – The Fool’s motto mindfulness with humor continues this week with the Three of Cups- friendship. The Three of Cups suggest that you grab a glass of wine, beer or tea and spend some time hanging with your best friends. Your soul is needing the camaraderie and joy that only friendship can bring.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of January 22, 2017 →

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Tarotcast for week of January 15, 2017

The New Year’s calendar is a bit of a family tradition in our house. Each December my Mom gets a bunch of calendars for free, usually from places that she has donated to or advertisements from companies that want her business. By Christmas she has a pile of them that that we can pick from. I usually pick out a scenic calendar, because I put crazy stickers on the pictures to create weird scenes. (Like the one above, a trail of ant stickers on rock formation in honor of the movie Them.)

The first calendar to feature an image with an advertisement was in the late 1880s. It had an  image of George Washington, but wall calendars didn’t really kick off until the early 1900s with the popularity of the calendar girl. The world of wall calendars has now expanded WAY beyond Presidents or the Pin up girls of the past. Interestingly, while researching this, I found more 2017 calendars with dudes then with the ladies.

P.S. I have added some calendars that loosely fit your tarotcast. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

*Aries – Hierophant – Your first big card for 2017. If you all haven’t made resolutions to better your life, this is the week to do it. The Hierophant suggests that your resolutions be around your things that add structure to your life and belief systems. An everyday approach looks like (lol) getting a calendar and using it. Or in a bigger esoteric way, if you aren’t believing in yourself or a project, this is a week to look at why and start implement strategies that will fix it. Otherwise, you’ll have to throw it out and start anew.

*Taurus – The Fool – Welcome to your first big card for the year – The Fool – mindfulness with humor. This week gets this calendar’s message and find play in your spirit. Take advantage of working outside of the box this week. You and your work will benefit way more playing on the grass then staying on the well trodden path.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of January 15, 2017 →

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Tarotcast for week of Jan. 1, 2017

The Red Balloon

Happy New Year. This is a picture from one of my favorite movies, The Red Balloon. This is a must see for all ages. This story has a great message about love and surviving bullies.

May this year bless us that our growth is with easy and it takes us to new heights. And may we get there through love and cooperation.

Aries – Three of Wands – For your first week of 2017, you all got the Three of Wands – planning.  The Universe is giving you this week to do some planning before jumping into the new year. The Three of Wands’ image is a person waiting on a dock for his ship to come in. The lesson with this card is to be patient. Change is about to happen, so use this time wisely and get ready for it by organizing and planning. This is a great week for all of you who love to roam the aisles of Office Depot.

Taurus – Knight of Cups – Maybe you all didn’t get enough of the holiday love, because the Knight of Cups is here to give you another week to bask in the “Yummy.” This is a week to savor what you eat, the ones you love, and the warm home you are in. This is a week to indulge in the things you are grateful for.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of Jan. 1, 2017 →

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Tarotcast for week of Dec. 25, 2016

Many of the folklore around making wishes came from trying to communicate with the gods. For example, Ptolemy, Greco-Egyptian writer and astronomer, believed that shooting stars were a sign that the gods were looking down and listening to wishes. Medieval farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary to protect their crops. If ladybugs (they eat pests and their red and black mimicked the robe worn by the statues of Virgin Mary at the time) appeared, the crops would be saved. And the folklore, of a ladybug landing on you gives you luck and a wish, was born. Early European tribes believed that wells were a dwelling place of the gods, hence coins and wishes being sent down into wells.

Last week’s tarotcast was about looking backwards. This week’s tarotcast is about peering into the future. This tarotcast will come from you. I challenge you to write down 3 wishes. Though we all want peace and a better world, I want you all to hone in on what you want for yourself. Maybe it is more time to be creative, maybe it is a new car, or maybe love… Wishes come true but they take time and come in unique ways. So be patient, be open and have hope with 2017. No guilt – I am giving you permission to “dream a little dream” for you.

Aries – What are you going to wish for?

Taurus – What are you going to wish for?

Gemini – What are you going to wish for?

Cancer – What are you going to wish for?

Leo – What are you going to wish for?

Virgo – What are you going to wish for?

Libra – What are you going to wish for?

Scorpio – What are you going to wish for?

Sagittarius – What are you going to wish for?

Capricorn – What are you going to wish for?

Aquarius – What are you going to wish for?

Pisces – What are you going to wish for?

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

Nina

P.S. The month of January is a great time to get my Astrological Tarot Reading for a panoramic  look at your new year.

Tarotcast

Tarotcast for Week of Dec. 18, 2016

From Winter Solstice to New Years, I reflect back on what has been and plan for what is to be. So this tarotcast is dedicated to our rearview mirror view.

Not sure if everyone knows but I am a bit of a data geek. I have kept excel sheets on the tarotcast cards that each sign gets since I started this blog. I look at the data in two ways, how many times each card was pulled (for anomalies) and what the actual cards were for each sign (trends). For fun I wanted to see if the data show some statistical difference. And it did. This means that certain cards get pulled outside the average, (which is approximately 9 times) in a 12 month period. With this data I looked for general trends. Now, to be truly scientific I would have to do this for many years. But let’s see how this works out with the data I have so far.

Overall, the least pulled cards (2 times) this year were the Two of Cups – love and the Six of Pentacles – giving. So this year the world was not a very giving or loving place. As an example at least politically, we can see this with Brexit and the US election where open arms policies are changing to arms-crossed policies.

The card pulled the most was the Five of Wands (21 times) – confusion and chaos. The Ace of Wands (20 times), which had us asking ourselves the big philosophical questions of why we are here what we stand for. The Ace of Swords (16 times) challenged us to decipher truth and logic.

The most pulled Higher Arcane (karmic) cards were the Chariot (15 times)- balance while moving and Strength (14 times). In their higher forms we have persevered, tamed our “wild beast” and moved forward with balance and determination. In its lower form, we lost control and direction, which came out as aggression. Again I see an example of this in the aftermath of the US election. I think that how we all deal with Trump on either side of the table will require perseverance and “taming the beast” in our government and in ourselves.

Below are your tarotcasts from the past year with general trends for each sign. The pics are from a tarot deck, New Vision. This deck literally reverses the view of the regular Rider Waite deck.

I would love feedback on how true this kind of tarotcast reads for you.

P.S. Don’t forget, New Years is a great time to get my Astrological reading for a panoramic view of your coming year.

Aries – Your big trends: In May your challenge was around relationships – either you broke up or you finally broke through. Then, in August and September, you were challenged with the death of old habits and strengthening of habits which make your environment run more smoothly. The cards that came up the most for you were 10s. This was a year where you finished up a lot of cycles of the heart, mind, body, and soul. Look in your rearview mirror and see all the things that you have accomplished.
Continue reading Tarotcast for Week of Dec. 18, 2016 →

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Tarotcast for week of Dec. 11, 2016

Photo by Lida Xing, courtesy National Geographic.

I like synchronicity in my life. It leads to my some pretty fantastical places and ponderings. This past week it has been around dinosaurs. Above is a picture of feathers that cover part of a dinosaur’s tail preserved in amber around 99 million years ago. Lida Xing found it in a market in Myanmar(Burma). A study done by Lida Xing and colleagues from Canada and the UK recently micro-CT scan on this piece to reveal how these delicate feathers cover a dinosaurs spine. Even though scientists have found other impressions of feathers in fossils and amber, this is the first time to find feathers attached to the spine they came from. (Current Biology)

Then I read an article in the August issue of the Smithsonian about notorious aristocrat from Transylvania, Baron Franz Nopsca von Felso-Szilvas. One of his many contributions at the turn of 1900’s was that he was the first to theorize that birds were descend from dinosaurs. Later while “rabbit holing” down the internet I found my favorite artist for this week, Darren Pearson. He uses long-exposure photography to get these light paintings of dinosaurs and other cool images.

Not sure if these synchronistic stumblings are profoundly connected, except in the fact that they are all real cool things that people do. And that life is a continuum that connects time and space.

P.S. If you need a stocking stuffer or “woo woo” holiday gift, I do gift certificates for my tarot readings. And, I have added links at the bottom for holiday gift ideas from a few artists and shops I love.

P.P.S Remember, when signs have * it’s a big week for you. I have added photos from artist Darren Pearson.

Aries – Ten of Cups – The Ten of Cups’ lessons are about celebrating and being joyful. This is a week to keep that energy flowing. Take in the joy by driving to see the neighbor’s Christmas lights. Then spread the love out by baking cookies and give them to your postman. This card is challenging you to enjoy this season and then spread it around. Remember, love is a multiplier not a divider.

Taurus – Page of Wands – The Page of Wands represents enthusiasm in the tarot deck. This week this Page is challenging you to do things that spark your passion. This is a week of experimentation and fun. Remember when you were a kid having a blast and spending most of the day building a fort, and then ended up playing in it for only an hour more because it stopped being fun? Enthusiasm is way more fun when you are building something. Have at it.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of Dec. 11, 2016 →