Tarot and Oracle Decks on my Altar

Lately it seems to be trendy to take the tarot and oracle decks you are currently working with out of their boxes or bags and put them out in the open on your altar or some other kind of sacred space. Preferable with a crystal on top to keep it safe, to charge it, cleanse it and whatnot.  I’ve seen this practice for the first time in a video by Raecine from Owlmoon 513.

I can remember, I was not overly enthusiastic back then, because in my opinion there would be a dust gathering problem and the backs might discolor in the daylight. Over time, on YouTube and on Instagram, I’ve seen others doing the same thing, which is totally okay because that is how we learn from one another. Personally for me, my Tarot and Oracle decks are one of the most important tools of my spiritual practice, so it would be very fitting to have some decks ready to pull from on my altar. Because my altar was in some serious need of dusting and cleaning/cleansing anyway, I thought, why not try to put some decks on there too.

And so I did. On my altar I have now out in the open: the Sacred Rebels oracle deck, The Wildwood Tarot, The Celtic Lenormand and as a trusted old friend; The Original Rider Waite Tarot.

It has been three days now since I’ve made the "altaration" and I absolutely love it. It such a good feeling to be able to pick up your deck and start shuffling it right away. It feels so intimate and very inviting to me. Like in the fairy tale of Mother Holle when the apple tree calls out: "Shake me, shake me, my apples are all ripe,." so is are my decks calling out to me: “shuffle us shuffle us, we have many tales to tell”

A Brat Bride Tarot spread

On the evening of January 31, the day before the Feast of Brigid, women in Ireland put a piece of cloth  on a shrub or hedge and left it  outside all night. This is the Brat Bride. The piece of cloth symbolized the mantle of Brigid, a Celtic goddess who brings healing and protection.

The dew and perhaps the snow that falls on the night of January 31, is Brigid’s and has healing properties  for body and soul. The cloth was kept throughout the year in a special place and came out when someone was sick as a tangible prayer for healing.

I’ve made my own version of the Brat Bride of a white handkerchief which I decorated with a little clover charm to give it a Celtic touch

I’ve done the following  three card tarot reading  with the Gaian tarot to put my intent into it before putting it outside this evening

1: What is my wish to imbed in my cloth?

The Gardener. What an apt card for this reading  since Brigid is the Goddess of creativity.  The wish I imprint in this cloth is to express my creativity freely and abundantly.

2: In what reoccurring situation, is it beneficial for me to call Brigid for help?

Whenever I feel insecure if I am on the right path, I can call on her for guidance and wisdom

3: How is Brigid’s healing dew offering me help and guidance during the year?

She will teach me to be patient and to see nature as a metaphor of the Divine. Nature is our most precious healer so it will be very beneficial to my health to go outside and find God(dess)

Dedicate the cloth with these words 

(they will transform your reading in a kind of tarot spell/intention):

I dedicate my Brat Bride to Creative Freedom. (name the wish, card 1).

I call on Brigid for help when I feel lost (the situation, card 2).

The healing dew Brigid offers me will help me by developing  patience and reconnecting with nature...... (card 3).

Tonight I will lay down my cloth on a shrub in our garden and be patient……

Source: Berthevan Soest

Shadow work and preparing for Imbolc

The last week of the Solitary Tarot and Oracle challenge is all about shadow work. And to be honest at first I wasn't excited about that at all. As soon as I heard Reacine mentioning the theme of this last week my I burst out  a whole repertoire of excuses: it is not the season to do this kind of exercises, my deck is far to sunny, I know my shadow part already, I don’t want/need to know my shadow parts, first I have to watch YouTube video or read blogs about shadow work etc. All these excuses were born out of fear and anxiety for the unknown.

And then I pulled the Four of Stones which summarized  how I felt perfectly: in the doorway to my path which will lead me to self-awareness is standing a huge heavy chest filled with blocking attitudes and false assumptions of safety. So reluctantly I've started with the last week of my challenge: I am dipping my toes in to shadow work. Since this is all rather too personal to blog about, I thought I’d show you my altar for Imbolc. 

The goddess statue is a thrift store find from last week. When I saw her I immediately knew I had to take her home. I love that she is not overly detailed so I can see in her many aspects of the Goddess. For now she is Bridget to me. Lately I feel very drawn to the creative part of The Divine; to seek inspiration. A few days ago I was trying to write some poetry when I remembered that Brigid is the goddess of fire and inspiration and yes even of poetry. I thought it was fitting she would be my focal point for Imbolc.

Slowly the earth is waking up for Springtime and I feel it is time for me to open myself up to her energy too and allow myself  to be playful and creative. 

Tarot bag from Tiferet tarot and Update

Late November I've participated in a giveaway hosted by Steve Bright form Tiferet Tarot

and I won!!!

 The winner would receive one of his handmade beautiful tarot bags. Since Steve is a qualified designer and fashioner of clothing, this bag is a beautiful crafted piece of work. It is a lovely soft bag to hold in your hands. It has a matching lining and is softly padded. My bag has a design with birds and little bows. The bag closes with a magnetic press stud. On the front side is little tuck bag for a LWB or a crystal or something like that.

Steve, Thank you so much for this beautiful gift I am so happy with it. I don’t have a special deck for it yet. For now it holds the deck I am currently working with and it has found a regular spot on my simplified altar. I can highly recommend purchasing such a Tarot bag, either for yourself or as a lovely Christmas gift

I love to hold it in my hands while and feel it while contemplating my question for the card I am about to draw. This way it has become a part of my daily little tarot ritual

After ten days of mostly rest I am still experiencing al lot of discomfort in my arm from the pinched nerve in my neck. I have started with leaving some comments here and there because I do miss you all. Typing and sitting behind my laptop is still painful but I wanted to write this post so much to express my gratitude to Steve and say hello to my blog friends

Hugs

Princess of Cups - a playful approach

This morning I wasn't surprised when the Princess of Cups came up. Here we see a lovely fair-haired young girl; almost a woman, strolling along the shore of the sea or a very large lake. The light of a crescent moon is shining upon her while she is sipping from her cup: Very carefully. Maybe she has secretly picked a goblet of wine from her father's banquet and is now tasting this rich deep red liquid for the first time savoring the taste and the feel of the wine warming her body.

Isn't that exactly what I should do regarding  trying to connect to the Divine in a more intuitive and heartfelt way; to let me be guided by an intuitive yearning. I feel like this card is telling me to go to this inner place of sacredness as a child: experience it as it was the first time with a fresh open mind. Just start over and feel everything while being mindful and alert. Go slowly, step by step and approach this “quest” playfully and creative; wiggle with your toes in the sand, and enjoy every step along the way. 

This morning, I've decluttered and altered my altar. Like the Princess of Cups it is "dressed in white" which is very peaceful and calming for me right now.. The card is from the Enchanted Map Oracle: Slow and steady (very appropriate J)

“If we experienced life through the eyes of a child everything would be magical and extraordinary. Let our curiosity, adventure and wonder of life...never end.”

Akiane Kramarik

PS I will be back on Monday: We have a busy family weekend coming up because M will be celebrating her birthday.

My Spring altar

I thought it would be nice to post a picture of my Spring altar. Notice the little broom as a symbol for cleansing my sacred space. Yesterday I've lighted my candles, touched my element representations and performed a little ritual which felt really good en familiar to do. Hopefully this wil bring about a fresh breeze through spiritual practice.

Nemetona - Sacred Space

For this weekend I’ve drawn an oracle card from the Goddess Guidance Oracle by Doreen Virtue. I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled this card from the deck: Nemetona – Sacred Space. She is the Celtic Goddess of the sacred grove.

“She is the sacred grove and it is her. She is sacred space, whether that is found within the majestic trees of a grove or if it is held simply within one's heart. She is holy breath, the sanctuaries we create, not out of stone and mortar, but out of love and reverence… Simply put, she is sacred space.”(Sora Nalani)

After the Nine of Pentacles from yesterday,  which was all about enjoying life’s little luxuries in the physical world, this one is emphasizing to retreat and  find a more spiritual sanctuary in order to connect to the Divine. This can be a real place in nature or maybe a church , but in my circumstances I am thinking more about a small altar or a inner sacred space. I was reminded by the importance of this by Sharyn in her yesterday’s comment:”We often need to mentally go to our room of quiet joy”. I do have a little altar in my room upstairs but lately it hasn’t been used very much. I’ve redecorated it for Ostara and Spring and that’s about it. My inner cottage has to be swept and dusted too. It has been so long since I have been there. It is definitely in need of some serious "Springitual" cleaning J

Have a wonderful weekend!

Clearing my altar

A few days ago I’ve written some  thoughts about the Seven of bows – Clearance from the Wildwood tarot. Especially about how hard it is to clear away the old for something unknown to take its place. That’s just plain scary. This has lead up to my decision to clear my altar. Over time is has been gathering more and more symbols, and all sorts of clutter and its very representable for my own spiritual confusion and uncertainties

My cleared altar

 So yesterday afternoon I took a basket and put everything that was on my altar in it.

Then I put a white clothe over it to represent a new beginning.  The most important is the candle in the chalice which represents the Divine and the cards. For now these are: “Wide open” From The Enchanted Map Oracle and “Wolf - Instincts” from The Earth Magic Oracle. I’ve picked them face up. Some crystals and shells to represent my openness for change and last, but certainly not least my skeleton key for opening doors.

Perhaps over time I will add something but only if I feel  I really have to. It is so strange and unfamiliar in my room but I am glad  I've done it. This altar gives me a sense of space and peace which is very soothing for now

Earth Protection Meditation/Ritual

 I have decided to also join this ritual, It’s a great cause. I feel that it’s necessary in this time and age to connect with our earth mother and with everyone who feels the importance about saving our environment. 

Earth protection altar

This ritual was scheduled at 12 noon. For me it was at 1pm due to the time difference with the UK. I've created a little focus point/altar and have meditated for some time with the intention of healing, caring and honoring the earth, I personally don't like to have intentions against something (fracking) but rather I bend it so it will become positive: bringing sense to those dumbheads J

I had started ten minutes late, but that didn't discourage me. It was a simple meditation ritual. But it felt good. The weather was very good. It was also nice to realize that I was participating to something so important.

My Goddess Altar

With this video I would like to share my altar for the Goddess that I've set up in my room. I've told you that this blog will also be a place for me to share my search for the Goddess and to write about my ever changing relationship with Her. This is much more difficult for me to write about in English than about other topics. Sometimes I don't even have words to describe my connection with Her in Dutch. But I'll give it a go.

For me at this time in my life, the Goddess is an indescribable force. She is too immense to comprehend so I commune with Her Aspects in deity form. I see Her in every goddess all over the world . I don't think it matters which deity you choose for every deity is a part of the Goddess. I don't think that even the earth mother is the all-embracing Goddess. Even she is a part of Her. Because it’s She who is behind every other deity.

In my point a view it doesn't matter how you honor Her as long as you honor Her with your best intentions. You can’t make mistakes in rituals or prayers. You can’t fail in Her eyes when you do your best. I believe the way we try to relate to her is more about us than about Her. She always relates to us; every moment of our life. We however still have to stop in our daily life and make a shift in awareness through meditation, prayer etc.

We often like to follow ancient lore, because that’s giving us the certainty we do everything right. And many aspects of the goddess have imbued the female archetypes. That’s why we don't honor for instance Freya for wisdom. It just doesn't feel right. But deep down I think it also doesn't really matter. Likewise any stones or herbs associated with any deity can be mixed up at random. That’s what I mean by you can’t make any mistakes. It is all about how we feel. And if we feel great and empowered then we can align with Her much more easily.

The divine

This is why you see goddesses of different pantheons on my altar: Isis, Bast, Hekate, and the earth mother. The old lady near the vase represents every old crone goddess. I also have sometimes representations there of Holda, Demeter, Tara and so forth. It variates by my feelings for Her and what aspect of Her I think I need to work with. The other items on my altar represent the elements (stones, shell, feathers and candles).  Also I have some symbols thereon (crystals, pumpkin, owl, book…) And there are always cards. I cannot imagine my altar without cards. Oracle or Tarot, it doesn't matter. I tend to choose the cards for my altar because they represent attitudes or situations I want to focus on.

My view is my own and I want to emphasize in no way  that my view is any better than anyone else’s. I would like to know very much how you experience God(dess) and how you've set up your altar.