Blog, Essays

House Ritual: Locating the Perfect House

In this post, I describe how I used the Ritual Manifestation Spread to locate and secure our new house. The morning of May 8th just also happened to coincide with our first house exploration with our Realtor.

Now for this ritual layout, I went high-tech. I love my iPhone and have a few tarot decks loaded on it. One of my favorite tarot apps is called Beautiful Tarot and it uses the Rider Waite deck. As we travelled to meet our realtor I loaded up the app and started laying out my elemental cards. I didn’t use a focus card because I had no real image of what our new house would like. I figured that I’d leave it open to the fates and to our realtor to guide our hands into discovering “the perfect portland home”.

Locating the New Home Spread
Locating the New Home Spread

As you can see from the image, the layout is the same. I chose the 6 of Wands due to the Victory aspect. I then shuffled the deck and drew 4 cards and placed them into position.

Starting with the Air card, I selected The Fool. For me, this card is almost an exact opposite of logic but it does give me a fertile ground for new ideas. In searching for a new home, I need to keep an open mentality. The Fool is all about new beginnings and trusting in the universe to deliver and that’s exactly what we’ll do with our search.

Moving on with the Water card, I drew the 7 of Swords. Feeling a bit hesitant, I read this card in two ways. I needed to go with my gut and trust in what I wanted for a house; but I also needed to be cautious about being deceived from the shiny factor of what is new.

I drew the Page of Cups for the Fire position. Another interesting card to have for this passion position, I saw this card as the love and having fun with it. I needed to keep an open mind but use my imagination to picture all our items in each space.

Finally, in the Earth position I drew the 10 of Cups. I find it funny that I drew this card as the thing I desired for my last house. It seemed only fitting that it appear for us as this is also sort of what we wanted for our new home too. To be happy, loving and have all the things that are associated with a new home.

Another benefit to having this spread on my phone is that it comes with me as I search for the house. It’s a perfect travel-sized version of a layout. I slip my iPhone into my pocket and then just keep the app running. And when we find the perfect home, I can just hit the shuffle button in the app and erase it.

With the first two core spreads of this ritual accomplished and running, that left one more aspect to fall into place… making sure that we had a smooth transition. To find out what happened in that layout, read the next post.

Blog, Essays

House Ritual: Selling the house

In this post, I’ll describe the process I used to help our house sell. In fact, the house sold in just 7 days and I really think that I have this ritual to thank for this.

Selling the House Ritual Spread
Selling the House Ritual Spread

The Ritual Manifestation spread uses 5 cards. It’s set up so that a card is placed in a center. This center card is the focus, or the purpose of the spread. You can draw a random card, pick one to suit your needs, or you can place a description or image of what you want in the center.

As this is a ritual about selling a house, I wanted the focus card to show the energies of those who purchase the house. I wanted the new owners to feel serene, happy, and joyous in owning our house. So, I took out my Tiny Tarot deck and searched for a card that fit this. I used the Tiny Tarot deck because I knew that these energies needed to stay in the house as people wandered around. I wanted the spread and the cards to connect to those in the house. The Tiny Tarot is also a small deck that can be easily hidden out of sight so that it wouldn’t scare potential buyers.

I settled on the 10 of Cups as my focus. This card shows a happy family overlooking a field with a house in the background. It is light and airy, and shares the perfect feelings that I want people to use. Feeling confident, I placed it into the center.

The remaining cards, are drawn at random. They give you an idea of the 4 elemental energies that go into achieving the dreams. You can put the cards down in any order, but I like to start with the top position (which I see as air).

The element of air corresponds to the energies of thoughts and logic. Air sustains us and gives us ideas. When used as a position in this spread, it can show you ideas to use to attain your goal, or it can share troubles or unconscious desires. It goes in the North because I see air as being above us. It surrounds us and shares space with the sky.

For this process, I pulled the 9 of Cups. Here we see a person sitting confidently in front of a collection of cups. When I saw this, I interpreted it as needing to put my best foot forward on displaying the house. That I needed to show off the good things (and reveal the not-so-good things) that the house had to offer. I also needed to show confidence in that this house was awesome and was ready to accept a new family.

The next card I placed down is the card to the right of the focus. This card represents the element of water which corresponds to the energies of emotions and feelings. Water ebbs and flows just as the tides of the oceans and our inwardly watery landscape. In the Ritual Manifestation spread, it shows you the emotional mindset you need to have in order to attain the goal.

For this process, I pulled The Empress. The Empress is a creative, nurturing card. The energies from this card suggest that I take a creative approach in selling the house. I used this energy to stage the house. I created fun place settings at the table, and we even had Jazz playing in the background to help boost a fun and lively atmosphere.

The next card is placed to the left of the the focus. This card represents the element of fire. Fire is my favorite element. It’s constantly moving and changing form. Fire fuels us to live and survive. It motivates us, keeps us warm, and gives us light. In this spread, this fire in this position comes from below (or our core). It shows us the things that motivate us and can show us areas where we may lack energies in.

In this ritual, I pulled the 10 of Wands. This card shows a person carrying a bundle of sticks. The way they’re carrying them suggests that this is a burden and affects the person carrying it mind, body, and soul. For me, I saw this card as being a warning to not do everything myself. Yes, the house was mine to begin with, but I am married with a partner who loves me and is there to help me. So, going into selling this house I need to remind myself not to carry the whole thing on my back.

Finally, the last card, placed under the focus, represents the element of Earth. Like the solid ground beneath our feet, the element of Earth corresponds to physical things, and stability, and abundance. In this spread, it can show you how to keep your feet on the ground, rooted in this reality.

For my house selling ritual, I pulled the 7 of Wands. It shows a person defending their territory as 6 people below raise wands in arms. Normally, I’d tell someone to be less defensive or even more defensive when this card shows up. However, as this card is in the Earth position, I read this card in a more tangible light. I saw this card as being showed many different offers for our house. The Pacific Northwest is in a very competitive house buying/selling spree and this card reminded me to be vigilant with what offers we were to get and to select the right one.

With this layout now in place, I put it into a hidden area where it would work it’s magic on selling the house. I then adjusted my tactics for how I wanted to sell the house and put those practices into place. Excited about the prospects of selling my place, I then turned my focus to the next spread.

To continue reading about how I used tarot magic to find a new house, click here for part two.

Blog, Essays

House Hunting Tarot Style

We just had a very powerful full moon over the 4th through the 6th. For those of us who believe in magic, the full moon is the perfect time to use the full illumination of the planet to achieve goals, receive blessings, and to ensure the best possible outcome for a magical working… like the one I want to describe in this set of posts on how to use tarot in attaining your dreams and goals.

My partner’s company got bought out and the commute is not a good one. Therefore, we decided to relocate from Vancouver, WA to Portland, OR. I knew that this needed to happen and needed to happen fast. Enter the perfect time for using magic.

All you need to work magic like I’m going to describe in this series is:

Any tarot deck can be used, but I recommend that you use a deck that you don’t read from. I have a dedicated magical working deck that I use to perform my spells with. However, because this ritual has three parts, I needed 3 decks. So I used all three of my Rider Waite decks. After each ritual gets laid out, you need to keep the cards out until the goal is complete or you feel that the magic has affected the goal.

As you can see, I’m putting my own designs on the line here. However, magic is worked best when you use your own energies and designs. Therefore, using my own spread helps aid more power and energy to get my goal. I also have had many friends use this spread with great success so I feel confident in that it can help you attain your own desires.

You also need to have an idea of what the end result will look like. The more specific you can be, the stronger your magic will be. In my case, I could have had the end result to be “find a new house in Portland, OR”. However, that is a bit too generic. I had three goals in mind:

I wanted our current house to sell quick, I wanted to find “our” home, and I wanted a smooth transition.

Combining the three-step goal with the fact that I had 3 days of full moon power at my disposal, I decided that each part became it’s own ritual spread. To find out more about my adventures in house hunting with tarot magic, read part one where I set up the release of our old house.

Blog, Conferences

Lessons Learned from The Readers Studio 2012

I’m home and finally had a few minutes to spare between tarot readings and putting the house on the market to post my lessons learned. When I go to a conference, I try and keep a running list of things I have learned. This post represents some thoughts on what I learned over the past 5 days in New York with 180 other tarot enthusiasts at the Readers Studio.

  1. Boundaries are important. Normally when I arrive to a conference or go to a festival, I stay within the area that the event happens in. This year, I had to leave the hotel to head into the city and it broke the Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ) and my mind. It sucked my energies and sorta threw me for a loop that I wasn’t ready for.
  2. James Wells presented a class on how to handle grief and do grief readings. A lot has happened to me and my PDX community over the past six months, and while I thought I dealt with the grief, this reading taught me otherwise. James gave us a system to deal with grief and not only can I implement it in myself, but I can share it with clients.
  3. There are no silly questions. During a Curveball Spread reading, I learned that the cards will answer to even the silliest of situations. I did a reading on my lost water bottle AND my two broken necklaces and got really silly but straight forward answers. As Thalassa says, “TWS. This stuff works!”
  4. Kindred spirits are awesome. Usually I’m the only bright flame in a room; the energizer bunny; the one who never sleeps. Well this year, I found two kindred spirits in Shari and Shawn. I no longer need to fear my power and feel like i’m the only fiery wacko out there.
  5. Speaking of Shawn Nacol, I learned a lot from his class on The Roots of Tarot. Part elemental working, part alchemy, his class crystallized a lot of the things I’ve been exploring on my own with my alchemy element working over the past year.
  6. James Wanless taught us a whole person profile reading that shows how we can manifest our best lives by examining the parts of our body as a whole. This reading will help me spot what I am missing to bring things into balance, while utilizing my strengths. I look forward to playing with this technique more.
  7. Upon hearing three presentations from three powerful male tarot readers, I was pleasantly surprised at the depth they took us in. Many of my peers engaged in conversations about the differences between an all-male panel, and an all-female panel (which was last year). My insight to this was that last year the women presented topics that we could go home and dive deeply in. But this year, the guys took us deep and sort of bombarded us with awesome info.
  8. Finally, I learned that Shari and I cannot share the same space for longer than a few minutes. Chaotic things happen. Good things. Silly things. It’s a energetic rush, but our crazy is just a bit too much for others. Even the infamous Wald Amberstone feared our combine powers (sorry Wald!).

Thanks for sticking out with all these long posts. I hope you enjoyed attending The Readers Studio vicariously through my writings. In 2013, the Amberstones promise to push the boundaries of tarot and the conference in new and exciting ways. Save your monies now and grab your seat for RS2013. You won’t regret it.

Blog, Tarot Blog Hop

Tarot Blog Hop: Beltane

Photo taken from the Beltane Fire Festival page on Wikipedia.
Photo taken from the Beltane Fire Festival page on Wikipedia.

Blessed Beltane everyone. Special welcome to the visitors of Mary Caesto’s Harmonic Spirit. I hope you find my post as illuminating as the other posts in this hop!

This Tarot Blog Hop was run by Andrew McGregor who presented us with a challenging topic of: The Fire tends to all. Beltane is a challenging sabbat for me. It contains overpowering sexual energy that, for me, clouds the true beauty of this holiday. Namely, the ideas of love, new growth, and love of community. I had no idea what I was going to post for this topic, but seeing that I just spent a whole week filled with positive, radiant, loving people in New York City at The Readers Studio, I believe I have found my voice for this topic.

The fire tends to all when we come together in circle to celebrate our passions. The fire re-energizes and fills our cups over when we experience something so deep, so clearly, and the voice of the Universe blends its energy and messages into a voice so clearly that you cannot misinterpret the message. This is the type of experience I had this past week. Before leaving for New York, I felt used, bland, and generic. But after spending a week with people I love, people so excited about tarot as I am, I learned that I am a beautiful dynamic person who is LOVED by her peers without prejudice.

The fire tends to all, to support us, our voices, and helps us transform like a phoenix until we become the best that we can be. That’s when we shine like the stars appearing in the night sky and across the Universe. Or as Rainer Maria Rilke says in the poem You, Darkness, “for the the fire makes a circle of light for everyone.” Which is also what tarot does for those who use the cards.

Thank you for stopping by Tarot Inspired Life. To continue the blog hop, please continue on to the lovely Zanna Starr’s Tarot Notes blog to read her post.