The Twelvetide Fortune-Telling Method, Part 2

As promised, here are the dreams I had on each night of the twelve days of Christmas. According to legend, each dream allegedly predicts events in each of the coming months of the year.

This time, I've kept them (relatively) short and (hopefully) sweet, and omitted my attempts at discerning what they might mean, as I'm clearly not good at that, if last year was any indication.

...

Dream, December 26 -
"Last night, I dreamed that an enormous electrical pylon crashed to the ground and started a fire. I could see sparks and flames emerging from the wires."

A few days after this dream (Dec. 28) I happened to drive a few miles out into the country and came upon this:

There were no sparks or flames, but the broken electrical pylon bore a startling resemblance to the scene in the dream. Much like last year, the first dream prediction came (partly) true before the month was even over.

Dream, December 27th - prediction for February
"Last night I dreamed first of envelopes that were addressed with garbled letters and numbers. A sorceress demonstrated a magic spell to sort them out. I was awakened by the sound of a book falling off the shelf - it was The Dream of Heroes by Adolpho Bioy Casares.

After falling asleep again, I dreamed that the word Socialism had been outlawed in the UK.  The country was full of uniformed officers carrying sensitive recording equipment to catch anyone uttering the word."

Dream, December 28th  - prediction for March
"Last night I dreamed of a campfire in the dark woods. In the shadows at the edge, half-seen faces flickered in and out of sight."

Dream, December 29th - prediction for April
"Last night I dreamed I was boarding a plane. The destination was unclear."

Dream, December 30th - prediction for May
"I was wandering around lost in a conference of some type. My husband was off doing his own thing. I tried to befriend a gingery-haired man, but he kept alternating between friendly and cold, so I finally gave up and moved on.

I was wondering what to do next when a white-haired man with blue eyes approached me. He said "I've been looking everywhere for you" and handed me a paper with instructions. I wasn't sure hat the instructions were, but I was glad to have them. I asked the man his name. He smiled kindly and said "Dublin."

I woke briefly, and after having committed this rather strange dream to memory, fell asleep again. This time, I dreamed of a dark and snowy forest - it seemed to be in Russia. I was being told the story of a man who lived there. He had once been a humble goose-herder (though a very excellent one) but had since risen to great fame.

He told me the secret of his success: 'It's not what you are, but what people imagine you to be.'"

A couple of points about these dreams - first, I've come to think that the name Dublin was a reference to "double" rather than the city, and he perhaps represented my animus - a male version of myself.

Second, when looking for information about goose herders, this previously unknown-to-me fairytale called "Death and The Goose Hearder" turned up, which is quite intriguing on its own.

Dream, December 31 - prediction for June
"Last night I dreamed that I was standing on the road at the edge of town, watching a solar eclipse with drnelk."

Specifically, this was the road leading toward Austin, if that has any particular relevance. Dr. Nelk is a twitter pal of mine, and after telling him about this, he did show me photos he'd taken of the solar eclipse last year.

Dream, January 1st - prediction for July
Last night I dreamed of my cousin Nancy. We met at an unknown house on a lonely road. The dream was convoluted though, with no real storyline."

Dream, January 2nd - prediction for August
"Last night I dreamed that I invented a tofu and barley grass powder concoction. It tasted so wonderful that I took to the streets, trying to convince passersby to try it."

Again, if it means anyhing, the streets I took to were again on the side of town leading toward Austin, at the big shopping center there.

Dream, January 3rd - prediction for September
"Last night I dreamed...nothing."

Well, there's always got to be one, eh?

Dream, January 4th - prediction for October
"Last night I dreamed that my spouse and I had split up (amicably) and were moving out of the house. As I was preparing to leave for the last time, I went back in to get my good camera. Suddenly the house was full of rooms I'd forgotten were there."

Note - this is the first time I've ever dreamed of an amicable split with my spouse, though I do sometimes dream of a more acrimonious one.The house we were leaving was not one I'd ever seen before, except in other dream permutations.

Dream, January 5th , prediction for November
"Last night I dreamed the lyrics to She's So Cold by the Rolling Stones. Clearly my inner Mick Jagger is a judgmental prick."

I felt this was taking a poke at my age, or my looks, or both, which I suppose is better than the third option, death.

Dream, January 6th  - prediction for December
"All night I dreamed of wandering through endless shops and supermarkets, passing between automatic doors."

Once mre, this seemed to take place on the northeast side of town, so if there has been any common motif running through these dreams, that would be it.

...


There you have it, Now we wait another year (provided the world lasts that long) and see how everything has worked out.

In the meantime, happy dreaming!

The Year Of Dreaming Dangerously

Okay, that's a wee bit of an exaggeration. It hasn't been dangerous at all. But it has been interesting, 

When I decided to give the twelvetide fortune-telling method a shot last year, it was mainly as a lark, to try a different form of divination and bring old folklore into modern practice. I hadn't the foggiest notion what the results might be. Now that a year has come and gone, it's time to review. What came to pass? What was a bust? Let's have a look, shall we?

The original post is here

Prediction for January:

Aside from China's landing of a probe on the dark side of the moon and running various tests (as mentioned in the original post) at the same time, I also became acquainted with Before The Moon Falls, by The Fall, a band that had only vaguely entered my awareness before. 

These two items I consider to be predictive hits. As for ballerinas and plunging to my death, nada. 

Prediction for February:

Aside from Trump's plan that didn't work (does anyone even remember which one it was? ) this one was a bust. No hair accident, no driving the old men crazy, not even anything particularly amber colored. The closest anything came to this at all was discovering an odd shade of lips gloss (Pac-Man Pinky pink ) that seems extremely appealing to men of a certain age. But this is pretty wide of the mark, and what's more, it happened in December. So yeah, I'm calling it a bust.

Prediction for March:

 Yeah, no.

Prediction for April:

Big hit with this one re: Bobo being our mail carrier, which I wrote about here. The catch is that it happened in March, not April. Aside from that, it's interesting to see how such dream imagery translated to real life (provided you believe in such things.)

Alas, still no word from Robert Reich about his feelings for me.

Prediction for May:

This was my favorite dream out of the bunch, and the one I was most hoping would come true. And it did come true, though it wasn't immediately obvious, as it turned out to be quite metaphorical, even for a dream. The key here is in remembering what a monstrance is made to hold.

It happened in two parts, the first in April (so again, a month ahead of time). I was unexpectedly sent something which was very meaningful to me, and I wondered how I'd got so lucky. The second part came in August, and fits in with the rare recording aspect of the dream (though neither Berber nor Moroccan). They were two parts of the same thing.

If it seems I'm being cagey about this, it's because it's one of those things that instinctively feels private and not for public display, so you'll have to take my word for it. This dream also gives me a hint of what the recurring motif of silver might indicate.

The carnival represents social media, of course.

Prediction for June:

A hit in my estimation, described here. Again, slightly early, but a little closer to being on time.
The bit about the tea, though, is still a mystery.

Prediction for July:

Not a darned thing. Sorry.

There were no real workable dreams for August or September, as one was an OBE and the other was more or less a blank. There was some imagery of farm houses in the OBE which I think I found when out in that direction recently, though. For whatever that's worth.

Prediction for October:

This one came to pass while running our little shop at the street market during the summer. Again it came early, in July, or maybe August. We went to eat at a pastry shop, and when going to wash up, I discovered a room much like the one in the dream, with velvet curtains on rings. However, it was not a dressing room behind the curtains, but a storage room. The restroom, quite unusually, had no mirror.

Despite things not fitting exactly, it did give me a dizzying moment of deja vu.

Prediction for November:

It's so hard to know what to say about this one. I did not meet a man or a girl of this description, I did not come upon a box of fire. Did I participate in casting a spell on myself? This is much harder to say. But, having thought it over at length, I realize how much this dream is interwoven with the next one...

Prediction for December:

Again, this one took shape in a way that diverged significantly from the dream imagery. While the aforementioned forum member has been mercifully absent from my waking life, the theme of following clues and searching for hidden things has been very present. Also, frustration with/ losing interest in a game and finding a key (though not a literal one) were strong elements this month as well.

This being the case, I would call it a predictive hit, but in such an allegorical way that it would make no sense to anyone not aware of all the details. In short, I couldn't have seen it coming, but in retrospect the story is there. Not sure this is much help as far knowing the future, though.

And because the twelve days of Christmas has only eleven nights, I threw in one more for good measure:

Prediction for January 2020:

There has been no sign of Christopher Eccleston or anyone else to save the world as yet. So, nope. Unfortunately.
 
All in all, the twelvetide fortune telling method was fairly good, as these things go, and certainly a fun and mystical activity for the holidays.

Next post, I'll lay out my dream predictions for 2020, and if they're anything like right this time, it's going to be a weird year.

The Gateless Gate

When I wrote about the twelvetide fortune-telling method in January, I didn't know how much to expect as far as divination was concerned. There have been a few subtle bits and pieces that had seemed accurate predictions, and this one in March that I'm convinced was quite accurate indeed, although the month was off.

Now I've got another hit, I believe, and this time, the timing was very close to the mark. Read on and decide for yourself...

This is what I wrote about my dream on December 30th, 2018:

"In waking life, there are two arched gateways in my town that are several miles apart. In my dream, however, theses gateways have become two sides of the same gate, as if the distance between them has disappeared. It's a little eerie, as if this suddenly appearing shortcut violates the laws of physics. Nevertheless, I pass through it on my way somewhere. I find a shop where I ask for a cup of hot tea.They say they don't have any, but I tell them they do, they just don't realize it. I find the tea and get my drink for free."

A couple of weeks ago, thinking about those gates, I went to check the one that is in my neighborhood. It had been a while since I'd last looked. But when I got there, what do you know - it was gone.

The gate had been in that space between the trees - previously, and always, as far as I know - it had  led to undeveloped land that was used as a wildlife reserve. Now, there was a road being built, It was easy to see down the cleared space to where a neighborhood was going up.

Now, I had known that a housing edition was being built somewhere back there, but it was my understanding that there would be no road connecting it with our neighborhood, for the sake of minimizing traffic. Yet there it was.

Feeling a bit disturbed by this, I drove the several miles it took to reach the new neighborhood to have a look at it.  The route I took is marked here in green:

This is a route that had been more or less the same my entire life, but sure enough, there was now a new road - one with the same name as the one in my neighborhood. Like so:

As you can tell by the positions of gate 1 and gate 2 on the map, they are not connected, but by golly, there is now a new road connecting them much more closely together, something I did not at all imagine happening last December.

Here is the second gate, just for reference:

And here is the new road, from the vantage point of the new neighborhood being built:

This is just on the other side of the now missing gate.

The distance between the two gates is now reduced considerably, and at the same time is sure to bring changes to this place, which had remained the same for such a long time. This change does make me a bit uneasy, much like the gate in the dream.

This was a prediction for June, and while I discovered this in late ,May, the road isn't open yet. For all I know, it will be open within the month.

As for the part of the dream with the shop and the tea, I'm not sure what meaning that has, if any.

I suppose it might mean that even though this change may be somewhat disturbing, not to be too closed-minded and risk overlooking any positive aspects of the new situation.

Witch's Market

Last night we went to the Witch's Market. I had my fortune told. Normally, I don't go to professional readers as I can do it myself for free, but this reader had such a warm and friendly aura that I decided to give it a try.

 Attika K. Bast, tarot reader

She used a Thoth deck to do a past, present and future reading, as well as a pendulum forecast as part of the bargain. The cards are the kind I've been drawing in my own readings, though being Thoth, having somewhat more intensity.

The card representing the past was balance - meaning, she said, that a situation that had long been unbalanced had recently come into balance, allowing me to move forward. (True). Present was Lust, the Thoth's version of Strength - though connoting more of an energy and passion. She interpreted this as currently trying to find the thing I was passionate about, a purpose in life. (Also true - I've mentioned this a few times recently on this very blog.) And then there's the future card - Indolence, reversed. Uh-oh.

Indolence is the 8 of cups, though of course much more grim. An almost fatal laziness leading to hopeless disappointment. My card was reversed, though, so she said it was a toss-up whether I would give in to the hopelessness and fatigue or fight against it despite the enormity of the struggle.

Being that depression, anxiety, fatigue and lack of confidence are profound influences in my life, this was also a likely truth. Not one I'm proud of, but one I have to face all the same.

We used the pendulum part of the reading to expand upon this question posed by the final card. Despite the tricky bits of the reading, we ended on a good note.*

Afterward we talked a little shop - always nice (and a relief, really) to do with another experienced tarot reader - and then I went on my way.

My family did a bit of shopping among the vendors, as well. Beeswax candles for protection and to invoke the Green Man, fancy handmade soaps with herbs and spices. Not pictured are my husband's "sexy man" scent blend and teen son's magical lip balm. We all smelled AMAZING on the way home, let me tell you.

Also I bought a corset. No, there is nothing particularly magical about a corset, but it was there and I've been wanting one. For my posture, you understand.

It was a fun night with a good atmosphere and we hope to return soon.

*I know very well this is a classic part of the fortune teller's game - you never  never, never let a client leave a reading with a bad taste in their mouths. You never let them leave without some sort of hope - to do so is irresponsible. We both knew that was a crappy card, and she helped me find solutions around it like a good reader should. 

The Twelvetide Fortune-Telling Method

There is an old legend that says your dreams on the twelve days of Christmas foretell what will happen to you in the twelve months of the coming year. At the suggestion of Liza Frank on twitter, some of us have written down our dreams of the last twelve nights. Here are mine.

(Sorry it's a bit long. It couldn't be helped. I dream a lot. )

Dream, December 25th -
Something about ballerinas, then talk of gravity. Some sort of test was happening on the moon. A fog. An illustration I recall from a childhood book about anxiety, saying "what if the moon falls?" Then back to gravity when I think, "what if death is like falling 150,000 stories?"

This was alarming enough to jolt me out of sleep.

As a prediction for January, it's interesting, because China has just landed a probe on the dark side of the moon. No word yet about the moon falling or my plunging 150,000 stories to my death. I'm  really hoping this part isn't accurate at all.

Dream, December 26th -
Down at the river - not the one nearby, some other, unknown river - I find a packet of hair color. Without much consideration or forethought, I decide to try it. It turns my hair a strange shade of amber, which for some reason elderly men find irresistibly attractive. My husband, however, is embarrassed to be seen with me.

There was more to this dream but it's vague, something about cliff faces and river valleys and some plan of Trump's that doesn't work.

Prediction for February - avoid hair experimentation at all costs, as it will only lead to trouble. Also, Trump will probably make some plan that doesn't work.

Dream, December 27th -
I'm invited to the meeting of a book club in Los Angeles, but it turns out it's a book club for nudists and I'm the only one wearing clothes.  At first I'm like, "FFS, all these naked people" but then there's an earthquake and I'm trapped in the building with them. And they're naked. It's all very awkward.

Prediction for March: God only knows. Something about seeing people's vulnerability? Being trapped in a situation where I have to confront my own awkward feelings? The book we were meant to be discussing was about military strategy, I think, so that just makes it even more confusing.

Dream, December 28th -
My son and I are walking down the road when we meet our new mail carrier, James "Bobo" Faye from Finding Bigfoot. He greets us very cheerfully and hands us each a copy of Reader's Digest.

Later, I'm wandering around a resort or conference center when I come across former US. Labor Secretary Robert Reich in one of the rooms. He tells me, much to my surprise, that he's secretly been in love with me for years.

Prediction for April: I haven't the foggiest idea what mail carrier Bobo could represent, but my son interprets it as meaning that I will be given something by a person I know, but who doesn't know me.

Robert Reich possibly represents finding some meaningful labor or purpose in life that has always been there, but without my realizing an aptitude for it yet.

Dream, December 29th-
There is a carnival in a town somewhere, nothing elaborate, rather small and cheap. I don't recall entering a raffle there, but I'm told I've won and will receive two prizes. The first prize is a silver monstrance with a leaf design. The second prize is a very old and rare recording of Berber music from Morocco. I'm ushered into a room full of rare and valuable music to claim my prize, and I'm amazed by the beauty and quality of the artwork there.

Prediction for May:
This one is tricky. Perhaps something that seems unprepossessing will turn out to have important spiritual or cultural value. Perhaps something valuable will be gained by sheer luck or chance.

Dream, December 30th -
In waking life, there are two arched gateways in my town that are several miles apart. In my dream, however, these gateways have become two sides of the same gate, as if the distance between them has disappeared. It's a little eerie, as if this suddenly appearing shortcut violates the laws of physics. Nevertheless, I pass through it on my way somewhere. I find a small shop where I ask for a cup of hot tea. They say they don't have any, but I tell them they do, they just don't realize it. I find the tea and get my drink for free.

Prediction for June:  This may foretell a move. As for the tea - it could mean something unexpected will be found, but then again I can't overlook the fact that my name begins with the letter T. Finding myself, perhaps? Well, one can hope.

Dream, December 31st-
Wandering through a museum with Albert Einstein. There was a flute on display, and I say to Einstein, "I never could have played the flute, too many notes above the staff."

(This is true, as I always struggled with reading those treble clef notes in piano lessons, but I hadn't thought about it in many, many years. )

Prediction for July: Pretty stymied by this one. Something to do with math problems? Musical notation may be more like a language, but I did struggle with sheet music as if it were numbers. Why else would I have been talking to Albert Einstein, of all people?

I'm not too keen on this theory, really, so here's hoping this means there will be some new discovery about the physics of sound instead.

Dream, January 1st -
Floating dream. I was floating on a giant frisbee-type craft, out of my back yard and heading northeast. Suddenly I discover a walled estate I hadn't even known was there. I drop in for a look. It turns out to belong to Richard Branson. I float away on my frisbee again (not wanting to get caught trespassing) and observe some creepy farmhouses. These farmhouses are unsettling so I make my way to a pretty town, where I nosed around until some lady turned up and was very annoyed at my snooping.

Prediction for August: this was more of a quasi-OBE type experience than a regular dream, so not sure it counts. There was a hint of something troubling behind it, though, so if it means anything, it might be a forewarning of problems in that month.

Dream, January 2nd -
Only vague, shadowy dreams this night, nothing my memory could hold.

Prediction for September: heck if I know. Total mystery.

Dream, January 3rd -
A series of dressing rooms or changing rooms as if in a clothing store, with velvet curtains on rings. I was trying on various clothes, but there were no mirrors so I couldn't see how they looked. This place reminded me of my mother's old shop (which was a bakery, not a clothing store, so that was odd.)

Dream ended when I was woken by the doorbell, which hadn't really rung, according to other people in the house. Strictly a dream doorbell.

Prediction for October: trying to make changes or improvements to the self or surroundings, but perhaps not having the self-awareness to judge how well it's working.

Dream, January 4th -
It began in a muddle about traffic, which I think was just clearing out the stresses of the day. It then resolved into the dream of the burning coal I wrote about here, which was so haunting I thought it deserved a post of its own. To reiterate-

"last night I dreamed of a man who had a young girl who worked for him. Each night he had her carry a burning coal from one room to another in a little silver box. She did as she was told, but what she didn't know was that this was part of a love spell he was casting on her, and therefore she was helping to cast a spell on herself."

This dream ended when I was woken by the dream doorbell again. Second time in as many days. I wonder if this happens because the dream is moving into an area the psyche does not want to deal with.

Prediction for November: beware of seduction, or having your strength used against you. No matter how appealing it sounds or how dutiful you might be.

Dream, January 5th -
A certain member of a message board I'm on had hidden his posts throughout the forums in treasure-hunt style, leaving clues as to where to find the next one. (I'm assuming the search function in this dream was very poor indeed.) The final post was actually outside the message board, in this sort of cyber-reality we had to break though to find it.

The point was to leave a reply, proving your bravery and cleverness at having found it, but when I got there, I found I was simply too tired to care.

Nearby, I found one of those hide-a-key thingies that looks like a rock, which was much more interesting. Inside were many keys of all shapes and sizes. A few were gold, but most were silver. There was something exciting and hopeful about this find. Notably, this is the third appearance of silver in these twelvetide dreams.

Prediction for December - Given that this particular person is an aggressive flirt, I take it as another warning about seduction, and also to avoid being drawn into psychological games. The appearance of the keys might mean understanding or gaining access to something previously closed to me.

Dream, January 6th.
At a tropical beach resort with my family. We're eating coconuts and living the life, when suddenly a figure in a black leather coat runs by, unnoticed by many. It's the ninth Doctor, as played by Christopher Eccleston. This is a surprise. He asks me for directions to the exit, then thanks me and keeps running. I think, well, if the Doctor is here, you know something hugely important must be happening. At the same time, I had no doubt that the Doctor would take care of it.

Prediction for January: no idea, but it was comforting dream. The knowledge that someone would come along and save us all.

...

So that's that, and I'll be keeping one gimlet eye on this post throughout the year to see how it plays out.

Charmed Life

Divination is something I've been interested in as long as I can remember. Not that I believe that the future is set in stone - far from it, actually - but the methods used are fascinating.

Since I don't believe in a predetermined future or fate (in most cases), one may wonder why I have such an encompassing urge to go around reading arcane signs and symbols everywhere. But that's the answer, isn't it? Because they are arcane symbols. Not only are they beyond language, but often go where our conscious minds can barely reach. They tell us what's in the hidden parts of our psyche, the things we already know without knowing.

It's a bit like throwing dust into the wind. It makes the the invisible visible.

Given this, it's only  natural that I prefer forms of divination that employ meaningful symbols. Tea leaves and tarot are probably the best known of these, but charm casting falls into this category, too. In some ways it's even more so, as one can choose whatever charm seems personally relevant to represent a situation.

For instance, a bird charm can symbolize happiness to one person, industriousness to another and gossip to someone else. The important thing is to know what each charm means to you, specially. No good getting meanings out of a book, unless you happen to be in complete agreement with the book.

If you're anything like me, you're always collecting odds and ends and shiny things. Potential charms might turn up in the bottom of your pockets. your jewelry box or your junk drawer (unless you're one of those crazy neat freaks who doesn't have one). The best charms are the ones that come serendipitously, just when you need them. Some of the charms I use were found, some were given to me, a few I made myself - not very well, but good enough to get the message across.

Charms can be cast and read whatever way you like, but my preferred way is to make a basic (and in the example below, a very bad) sketch of the astrological houses. I don't bother with the more detailed meanings of the houses here, just a truncated version that tells me what's going on where.

(Seriously, what was going on with my ability to draw a circle here? I blame the cheap chalk and the rough paving stone. :p)

 After giving the charms a good shake and tossing them into the circle, we read where they fall.

So what of this fortune? Well, first of all, the charms representing the evil eye and jealousy are not in play, so that's a hopeful sign. Second, the 8th and 9th houses are empty, so death, taxes, sex, philosophy and religion are pretty much not happening right now. On the other hand, luck, spirituality, stability and secrecy/privacy are in the 1st house, the house of self. Longevity, personal power and information are in the house of material possessions. I suppose that means "hang in there, things will get better"?

Memory, energy and protection are in the third house - that's communication, so that makes sense too, but betrayal is in the 4th house (that little green thing is a coiled snake, by the way) and that's not so good - even though I know who it is. Gossip is in the 5th house, with deception just creeping in, but peace is there, too. This also makes perfect sense, for reasons better left unsaid (since I don't want to add gossip to gossip) and theft is nearly in the 5th house, but - mercifully - in the center of the circle, so I don't consider it to be a factor at this time.

Love, marriage and social life are in the 6th house, representing health and physical labor (too true) and transformation and money are in the house of marriage and partnerships. This could mean my husband will be paid for his work (*update* yes!) but that's also the house of enemies. Let's hope it's the former.

The female figure and the deer are in the 10th house, status, and it's anyone's guess what that means. My status is of  a woman who is shy and vulnerable? That I'm a woman who protects the vulnerable? Or that I'm simply a woman with a lot of deer visiting her yard? Well, all of these could be true, but the meaning is not clear. This is the only one that has me a little worried because it is hard to read.

The house charm is in the 11th house, community and groups, and since we are still considering moving to a new community, that fits as well. That's also the house of ambition and goals, and since that little pink house technically represents my "dream house" (literally a house I dreamed of, here ) that's also appropriate.

The 12 house, the unconscious, contains the symbol representing the world at large and the one representing attack or aggression. Well, one only has to open the newspaper to see the world is in some kind of crazy flux at the moment, that a raging undercurrent of something is at work. The collective unconscious must be in a right state about now. But the attack, aggression - whether that's something else in the undercurrent or something more personal remains to be seen. The 12th house is also the house of hidden enemies, so time to be on guard. Let's hope there are no other foes coming out of the woodwork

So, in essence, this fortune could be read as, cheer up, things could be worse. Also, beware of snakes and gossips. Well, that's good advice for anyone. ;)

...

How ever these charms fell and however accurate they may be, do I think that this is the work of an invisible hand? Not very likely. (Not saying it's entirely out of the question, just that it's not likely). No, I think what I'm looking at are the inner workings of my own mind. Those things, thoughts, ideas, and perceptions bubbling away unawares, potentially bursting into reality for good or ill. 

If you think about it, the idea isn't that much stranger than the concept of unseen forces intervening in our lives, which is a common belief worldwide. The universe is mysterious but so is the mind. The mind, I believe, is about as mysterious as anything could be. And I do love a mystery.

Especially when it's got a great plot.:)

Scanning The Far Horizon

Or at least the horizon of July, 2016.

As this is a time of potential changes for my family, I thought I'd break out the trusty Russian Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards and see what's ahead for the month. There had already been a few good omens (several  synchronicities, a crane flying overhead while I prayed to Quan Yin) and the Chinese fortune sticks had also given a pleasant forecast, whatever way we choose to go. I was curious as to what these cards would say.

For posterity, here is the reading, in short version:

Apple, second position - a pleasant unexpected occurrence, a present.

Clover, second position - happiness, slightly clouded by a misunderstanding.

Handshake, first position - a strong friendship will support you your entire life.

Lily, first position - a happy life full of meaning.

Branches, fourth position - tears, an offense.

Pig, first position - purely a happy and prosperous year.

Anchor, third position- disillusionment with the ideal, doubts.

Bear, third position - you will get you want, though not in the immediate future.

Final card, synthesis -
Crayfish, fourth position - too much haste often defeats the business.
Scales, third position - if you maintain your balance, you will come out whole from a predicament.
Fisher King, fourth position - in a difficult moment, you won't sink but will rise to the surface.
House, third position - beware of people surrounding you.

Final card, final outcome-
Crayfish - having made too bold a step, you will back off.
Scales - in your fate, good will outweigh evil
Fisher King - fortune, especially on the sea.
House - you will enjoy success in all affairs.

All in all, I was quite pleased with this reading. It went along very well with the others, and while a couple of cards were less than fabulous, they make perfect sense in context of the situation.

I do have to wonder if it means that we will put off our changes for a little while, until the time is just right. But there's this feeling that the choice will be ours to make, either way.

Who knows what will happen? But as of this moment, that's the lay of the land.


Yes, I know the fish card is not officially named the "fisher king" but that's what we call him and it's a lucky tradition these days.

The Fantod Deck

I've long been intrigued by Edward Gorey's Fantod Deck. Where else could you receive fortunes like "creeping sickness" and "loss of wits"?

Happily (or unhappily, considering the fortunes)there's a site where you can have your fortune told by Fantod online, here: http://www.phobos%20deimos.com/Edward_Gorey/The_Fantod_Deck/Fate/The%20Fantod%20Deck%20General.htm

Today's card was the The Bottle, so melancholia and itching may be in my future, among other things. :)