Divination 3x3x3 Tag: Tarot, Oracle, and other forms of Divination

A few days ago Chloe from Inner whispers posted a video on Youtube which was called: Divination 3x3x3 Tag. In this video she shared with us her three favorite Tarot decks, Oracle decks and other forms of divination. At first I thought this is not for me, since I don’t like to talk in English and especially not on YouTube. Writing on my blog feels entirely different, much less vulnerable.  So then I thought why not make some pictures of my favorite decks and share them here:

Because it was already extremely difficult to pick three decks from each category, the decks I will show you are in random order.

My 3 favorite Tarot decks:

The Original Rider Waite Tarot by A. E. Waite, Pamela Colman-Smith

I had to pick an RW because it  has the imagery I can always fall back to. It is the system with which I’ve start out my tarot journey. This version appeals to me the most. Not only for its color scheme but also for the feel and smell of the cardstock.

The Druidcraft tarot by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

After a long period without tarot this is the deck that brought me back to this deep felt passion of mine. I love the West European feel of it. It feels close to home for me. And of course the art is amazing, as all will’s art is.

The Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans. 

Although I own this deck for only about fourteen I already am so in love with this deck. It reads very intuitively and I am sure we will bond perfectly together

My 3 favorite Oracle decks:

The Tao Oracle by by Ma Deva Padma

I’ve bought this oracle because I was already in love with the Osho Zen tarot but these cards exceeded my expectations. The images are so beautiful and diverse. The deck covers every aspect of life; the dark and light. For now I use it only as an oracle but you can also chose to read it according to the I Ching system which I am not familiar with (yet).

The Sacred Rebels Oracle by Alana Fairchild, Autumn Sky Morrison

This is my favorite Oracle deck ever. It somehow makes me feel as if this deck is made especially for me. It came to me in a period I needed this deck very much and it has given me already so many wonderful messages

The Goddess Inspiration Oracle by Kris Waldherr

I love the fact this deck has 80 cards: so many aspects of the Divine Feminine in one deck. It is an easy deck to work with: just pull a card and you will get an empowering affirmation from one of the many goddesses from all over the world. I use this deck very often.

My 3 favorite other forms of divination

My DIY runes

These 24 pebbles are my doorway to the realm of divination. They have opened doors for me I never knew existed. Recently I’ve start using them again and  I love the honest and raw energy they have.

The Celtic Lenormand by Chloe McCracken, Will Worthington

I’ve waited so long for this deck to be published and now I am so happy it is finally home with me. Besides using it for divination it has already become my main deck for creating magic. I love it how the images, as small as they are, really draw you in.

The Enchanted Lenormand Oracle by Caitlin Matthews, Virginia Lee

While waiting for the Celtic Lenormand this lovely deck came to my attention and it has become one of my favorites to. The images are lovely and solely based on the symbol. So a good counterpart for the more intuitive Celtic Lenormand.

I hoped you enjoyed my take on this 3x3x3 tag. 

What are you favorite decks? Please share or leave the link to your participation to this tag in the comments. 

New moon in June reading with the Tao Oracle

Lately I've been meditating more regularly again. My practice was buried under too much worrying and feeling restless and so forth. Working with the last Embrace card “No-Thingness” has been very revealing to me.  I've discovered the more anxious and stressed out I am the less I do the things which could be healing for me, like prayer, meditation or just sit and do nothing. So now I've picked up my meditation practice (again) and so far so good. Before I start with the actual meditation I like to visualize a circle with elemental symbolism like colors, forces of nature, animals, goddesses, seasons etc. (not all at once of course J). This separates me from my daily hustle.

Any way after my meditation instead of picking up my The Osho Zen Tarot as usual I've pulled my Release and Embrace card for the coming lunation from The Tao Oracle by the same artist: Ma Deva Padma. 

Release: Work on what has been spoiled

Embrace;  Opposition

At first I was bit confused because It seemed as if the two cards had to be drawn just the other way around: to release oppositions and misunderstandings and to embrace healing and restoring the balance  But then I realized this is exactly what the cards are telling me. My first automatic response to a situation is to try to make things right for everybody. To restore the balance, to clean up the mess so we can move one like nothing has happened. Everything for the sake of peace.  Often I feel very uncomfortable if there is a conflict, a tension or even a difference in opinion. So this will be my challenge for this lunation: to let things be as they are for a while and let others work out their own issues without me coming to the rescue. And perhaps even more to be able to have and to keep my own viewpoints without letting myself be talked over by everybody else for the sake of harmony and balance. 

Dispersion – Dust in the wind

Tao Oracle

Another card which reminded me of a song of long ago. It is a card from The Tao Oracle form Ma Deva Padma. The card is called Dispersion. The keywords in the caption are: Diffuse negativity, restore harmony, circulate, revitalize, dissolve divisions, lighten up.

I couldn’t have drawn a better card for today. After a tedious tiring morning, I decided to go outside and ride my bike. The wind was blowing through my hair. It was sunny and it felt like spring. A lot of bulb flowers were blooming already. It was as if the windy warm weather was my dispersion and was making me feel so much more awake and alive. Every irritation and worry from this morning was blown away as dust in the wind and it was wonderful!

The song that came to mind was an old one: "Dust in the wind." This song has even a violin solo and so it is as if the man in the card is playing it. Any way I feel  a lot better and I hope you’ll like the song as much as I do.

Kansas - Dust In The Wind

I close my eyes

Only for a moment, then the moment’s gone

All my dreams

Pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind

All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song

Just a drop of water in an endless sea

All we do

Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind

Now, don't hang on

Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky

It slips away

And all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind

dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind

Dust in the wind

all we are is dust in the wind

(dust in the wind)

all we are is dust in the wind

Excess: too much of everything will get you nothing in the end

Tao Oracle

After several days using the tarot for my daily draws, I have drawn the card for today from the Tao oracle by Ma Deva Padma (the artist of the Osho Zen Tarot)

Well this card is surely a wake-up call on various levels.

The man is crouched and almost crushed by the overload on his back. When you look closely everything is stacked neatly and there is even a tree growing on the top so I wonder how long he has been carrying this enormous burden.

When we keep going and keep adding to the load we all know we can go on like this for a long time until we reach our breaking point and believe me, we will reach it. The question is do we learn from it. Or do we recover and pick up the cause of our burn-out and carry on as if nothing has happened.

I have to be honest, it took me a couple of times to get it (one less urgent than the other, but still). I also can say, I've learned a lot and I hope I won’t get burned-out anymore. But of course there are still a lot of excesses in my life. One of them is my obsession with secondhand tarot decks.  I keep checking secondhand sites for new adds more and more. Since I was able to quit smoking last year I think I can manage to reduce this addiction to normal levels. This is just a minor excess and there are more of course, but the point is, they can grow slowly without noticing and suddenly you could be on the verge of breaking. Therefore it is so important to really take a close look at yourself from time to time and question your  motives, your desires and be honest about your limitations, your levels of stress and to sort out what you really want and need to be happy without having to feel guilty or ashamed because we’re only human.

Don’t set the bar too high

Today I will be using the Tao Oracle by Ma Deva Padma. Before I pull my card I want to share my mega find on our Dutch online thrift store. Just before the new year, I had bought five beautiful, as good as new, tarot and oracle decks. The previous owner had only bought them to be a part of her collection and had never used them.  Even the boxes were undamaged. So now I am a very happy woman because right beside me on our dining table I have: The Tao Oracle by Ma Deva Padma, Angeldreams and the Angel Tarot by D. Virtue, Mystical Lenormand by R.E. Fiechter and Ask your Guidies by S. Choquette. And everything far below 50% of the retail price. I feel like I've won the New year’s lottery!!

Tao Oracle

For the second day of this year I've pulled: Duration. In my opinion an excellent card for everybody who is  totally excited to sprint into this year, heavily packed with goals and resolutions. (Myself included J) This card shows us a mountain in four different circumstances. And it’s no surprise to any of us, in each picture the mountain remains the same. This mountain is the perfect symbol for the keywords of this card: constancy, continuity, endurance, perseverance, maturity, strengthening, stability, a deep commitment. And in the end that´s what it´s all about. Not how we start out, which is of course important but also if you can really commit to your goals or whatever it is you want to manifest this new year. Do you have the strength to go on when it gets hard? According to the book it is so important to be aware of your inner core. (inner mountain) That unchangeable everlasting part of you. When you connect to this part, you can endure everything: “The essence of a mountain is stability, a deep and abiding quality that withstands the tests of time.  It is the solidity of rock and the stabilizing function of earth, and it is unequivocally itself.”. Perhaps it is a good idea to search for a symbol of your “inner mountain” to carry with you in your daily life as a talisman. It can be as simple as a pebble as long as it has meaning for you.

Mystical Lenormand

So this is definitely a card for the long run but what does that mean for me today? To answer that question, I drew three lennies from the Mystical Lenormand: house + bear + stars: 

• My home is my base to grow spiritually.
• My house is my safe haven where I can explore     new ideas and goals.
• The love and support of my daughters is a strong   foundation to have hope for the future.

I think I'll pick the second option. Perhaps it is a sound idea to review my goals in order to find out if I haven’t set the bar too high for myself. Sometimes it seems like I do this deliberately so I will fail again and I can beat myself up about it (again). But I can assure you it isn't. It is a common problem for people who are perfectionists. That's why I think it wise to give my lists a closer look to see if I have to adjust my goals in order to be able to stick them when circumstances change.