Blog | Inner Compass Tarot

Modified from the original post at D*I*Y Planner.

Leather products these days are a sign of class and longevity. I’ve always loved the smell of leather and its cool, slick feel. By now you’re probably wondering why I’m including a case review here? I know I would. Well, this case is unlike any you’ve ever seen. Enter Renaissance Art (they’re now called Innovative Journaling). This small company builds amazing leather products. They produce a wide variety of handmade journals, bags and cases.

Recently, Renaissance Art added a few new products to their line. Products that cater to journalling enthusiasts all over the world. I’m here to tell you about my experience with just one of these new products, the Moleskine Cover with Single 3×5 Card Case for a pocket-sized Moleskine. Bottom line, I think this little leather case is worth the price for tarot enthusiasts to invest in. The idea that you can keep both a Moleskine journal and a card in the same area was just too good to pass up.

I purchased a two-tone Moleskine Cover with Single 3×5 card case from Renaissance Art a few years ago. This little gem is the perfect cover and companion to any small pocket-sized journal. It’s made of rugged leather so has that worn in and well loved look. This little case combines my two passions into one location: tarot and journalling. Opening the case exposes a slide in area that you can slip in a tarot card of the day, or index cards, on the left side and still have easy access to a journal on the right.

My Renaissance Art case open showing tarot journal and card of the day.

This case comes in three different colors: brown, black, and a two-tone brown/black combination. Renaissance Art even gives you three choices for your pen loop (small, medium and large). The leather Renaissance Art uses feels like it’s been around the globe and well traveled; unlike other companies whose fine grain leather feels too smooth and clean. The price is also right, at $50.00 to start (the price does quickly add up as you select various options like monogramming, adding a starter Moleskine, and a gift pouch.) But is this little case worth the price? I think so.

You can place 5 tarot cards (or 10 index cards) snuggly in the pouch area. Sliding cards into the case is easy: first you place the small set of cards into the bottom holder, then you bridge them as if they were a slim pack of playing cards and slide them up through the top strap. This holds them down so they don’t slip out.

Immediately upon purchasing the Cover from the online store, my mind flooded with ideas and uses. My first thought was how I could use this with my tarot practice. Barring the traditional uses for a Moleskine (like journals or planners), here’s what I came up with for various types of people and how they could use this case:

Tarot enthusiasts: Slide a daily personal card or meditation card into the pocket. Use the Moleskine to capture thoughts and meditations on the card as the day progresses, or various spreads done to clarify goals.
Writers: Use the pocket to keep track of story scenes, characters or settings. Use the Moleskine to write out the actual story.
Students: Use the pocket to keep track of essay ideas or cram notes for tests. Use the Moleskine side to take class notes, write essays or compile study questions to use before your tests.
Artists: Use the pocket to keep a paper-style watercolor palette of colors. Use the Moleskine side when you travel to capture sketches and scenes from your journeys in a watercolor Moleskine notebook. Replace the pen in your pen holder with a water brush for quick and anytime painting.
Programmers: Use the pocket to keep track of current stories in your Agile development project. Use the Moleskine to keep track of meeting notes, extended story and feature requests, and comments from potential users.

I’ve now owned this case for a few years and I’m still very happy with the purchase. The snap enclosure still works and the leather holds up to a constant battering of being jostled around in various bags. Just looking at it makes me smile. Ordering was a breeze and the product came very quickly. Renaissance Art’s craftsmanship is of high quality and I know that the case protects anything inside of it throughout any weather. I’ve even gone camping with this case and it’s protected my cards from being warped and my thoughts from being smudged in some serious Pacific Northwest rain.

Blog, Essays

Hosting the Tarot

March 14, 2009December 31, 2018 innowen

Last night I lead my first GEM meeting. I decided to share a concept that Katrina Wynne teaches in her Transformative Tarot Counseling program. It’s called Tarot Alive, and it is a playful approach to using tarot. It combines role-play, numerology (to help with card selection), and meditation to show people how to embody the energies of the major arcana. Effectively they become the personality in the card.

It was my hope that by sharing Tarot Alive with others that it would present them some practical ways to use tarot, and the archetypes, as personal assistants on their path. For example, they could perform variants of this experiment to embody other personalities to receive help or assistance with blocks in their lives.

I wrote up a quick summary and outline of my experiment on the GEM wiki site and set about to make the worksheets. Yesterday, while I felt better, I created the guided meditation to use during the meeting (it was also the first I’ve ever made) and gathered up all my gear.

At the workshop, I explained what we were going to do. I then helped everyone figure out the numerology that gave them a pool of 3 cards to work from. We spent quite a bit of time going over the cards and meanings, and gathering ideas. I brought some of my favorite tarot books to help them figure out which card to become. I then walked them through the meditation (hopefully giving everyone enough time to do each step) and waited until I phelt that all three participants had embodied their archetypes before moving on.

I greeted and introduced them one by one, and allowed each one to tell us a bit about who they were and what they wanted to share. We had the Hermit, Death, and Balance (aka Justice) with us. I asked questions for each and was surprised at the depth and honesty of each card’s response. The Hermit was a bit quieter than most, but I knew that he was enjoying being present.

I enjoyed interviewing the archetypes. I went in not knowing who I was going to be working with and while I was very nervous about coming up with questions… the ones I did fit and provided us a lot of playground to cover. Watching everyone was also a fun experience. While we did not have any props to use, I definitely noticed a shift in how people held themselves. Death, sat as if they were riding on a horse, and holding a sythe. The Hermit was off to the side, silently drawing within. And Balance played with a hair tie, making symbols representative of various balances one could draw upon in their lives.

I thanked each archetype for giving us their time and helped the participants back into the present. After giving everyone time to get resettled in the here and now, we chatted a bit about the experience and what they learned. Overall, I felt that this event was successful and that everyone was pleased at what they discovered from the archetypes. Many also felt that the numerology aspect helped enlighten aspects of their own life that were previously unknown.

I’m pleased at the results that everyone experienced. I know that a few participants will take this idea and run with it, morphing it as it benefits their own path. As for me, I’d love to be able to do this experiment again and have other participants go through it to see what they think of the experience.

Blog, Books, Reviews

Review: Tarot for Writers

March 12, 2009December 31, 2018 innowen

Review originally published at D*I*Y Planner.

Tarot for Writers

I have a tarot love affair going beyond the metaphysical. I use the cards for more than divination: journaling with the cards and involving them in my creative writing, for example. In 2006, I wrote about how tarot can help generate story ideas. Rkfoster also wrote about tarot and paper-based planning. I consistently tell people that the cards are an excellent writer’s companion. The pictures speak to the imagination, the cards weave stories when set side by side in a reading. In addition, the symbolism just begs to be written about in a narrative form. I’ve always wanted to write a book on tarot–one that goes into detail on using the cards for creative inspiration. However, Corrine Kenner beat me to it. Her Tarot for Writers demystifies tarot and shows writers how to use a deck in fueling their creativity and writing practice. Tarot for Writers is jam packed with techniques, writing samples, and reference sections on both the meanings and symbols found in tarot.

The book has three main sections. Part one gives you the low-down on what tarot cards are, their history, and how to use them. Kenner introduces tarot in a way that doesn’t confuse or scare people who have never worked with a deck before. Part two gets to the fun stuff. These seven chapters discuss prompts, games, spreads and general information on applying the tarot to every aspect of the writing craft from plot to characters to setting and more. There’s even a chapter on using a tarot deck as your own Writing Coach. Part three takes you on a card-by-card tour of what each card means, its literary connections and archetypes, and gives a list of prompts to kickstart the muse. Finally, Kenner ends with a glossary of tarot terms and symbolism–which for me was a nice touch. I tend to use a lot of symbolism in my own work and I can see myself using the symbolism glossary as a handy reference guide.

What I liked: This book looks at tarot completely from a writer’s perspective. I love that it assumes the reader knows nothing about tarot and it tells you only the pertinent parts that relate to using it as a tool with your works. Kenner skips over the metaphysical background that turns many people from tapping into the creative and brainstorming power. Part Two gives an overwhelming (in a good way) package of exercises, spreads and ideas. There are many exercises to get your creative muse involved; it’s fun to pick and choose what to try. I also love the Writing Coach chapter. While I’ve used the cards to ask questions relating directly to my plot and characters, I’ve never really thought about asking it if the work I’m revising is going well or what I should be working on next. In the “Writer’s Guide to Tarot Cards” section, I liked how Kenner kept the focus on writing when discussing each card: integrating writing archetypes and suggesting prompts to further write about.

What I didn’t like: For me, the first third contains the “meat”. These are the chapters that give the techniques and spreads and all the other tips and tricks on integrating tarot with a writing practice. The last two-thirds of the book gave “just another set of tarot-based meanings” to apply to the cards. I understand why Kenner included this section in the book. These definitions are useful in providing people new to tarot with individual card meanings. But, for me, these meanings didn’t provide anything new. I’ve learned much of what she has in these sections from working with the cards in my own studies. Therefore, I felt like Part Three padded the book and took away from the primary focus of showing how to use the cards with writing.

Bottom Line: Despite my nitpicks, I think Tarot for Writers does exactly what it sets out to do. Corrine Kenner does an excellent job in teaching tarot and exciting writers to experiment with a tarot deck. Get this book if you’re a writer curious about the tarot and how it can help with your writing. If you’re a tarot enthusiast seeking new ways to expand your tarot knowledge you’ll want to add this to your library. And after you read it, break out your deck and start playing—let your deck take your creative writing to new realms.

Blog, Classes

Towards a Tarot Degree

February 15, 2009December 31, 2018 innowen

I’ve wanted tarot certification for a while now. Therefore it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of my 2009 goals is to get certified. This is important to me. I want validation on my knowledge and I when I teach tarot classes, I want to tell people that they can trust me and my knowledge because I’ve taken classes and gotten certification. Kender and I agreed that once we got our 2008 tax return he’d get a new Macbook Pro and I’d use my portion to pay for tarot classes. Our return hit the bank account Friday (insert much happy dancing here) and we put the order in for his new system yesterday.

I just finished paying for the Tarot School’s Correspondence Degree Program. It’s a 15-month program designed to solidify and certify people in tarot. I’m excited… looking forward to the start! This is one of two programs I’m going to get certified in. The other one is a “Transformational Tarot” and focuses more on how tarot can transform your life.

As I go through the classes and exercises I’ll post my responses here. That way, for those interested, you can all see exactly what I think and am going through. WHEEEE! *does the happy dance a little more*

Blog, Essays, Publications

My First Tarot Publication

October 9, 2008December 31, 2018 innowen

I can now finally say, that I am a published pagan/tarot author. It’s been one of my goals to start pushing out into the tarot writing scene and I’ve done it! I am very proud of this and hope there will be more chances to share and write about tarot in my future.

In the beginning of this year, I answered a call for writers from Megalithica Press asking for essays on how people use pop culture in with their magical life. I wrote a nice essay showing tarot enthusiasts how they could use pop culture with tarot. Including some of my secrets on using an iPod with tarot information and the cards.

The essay got accepted in the anthology and I was told the book would be due 2009. Well, I got my contributor copy last week. It’s out and available for purchase from either Megalithica Press (the publisher), or amazon.com. Of course, if you really want to help me and the publisher, I recommend you buy it directly from Megalithica. My name does not show up when you click that link, but believe me, I am in this book!