PDR: Burnout

I haven't posted here for two weeks, although I've been working with the Tarot Nova daily, and with the Anna K almost as frequently. At some point I succumbed to burnout. The readings have been for the most part interesting and thought-provoking, but my desire to write about them has dwindled away. In other words, fun has become drudgery.

Is this a familiar pattern in my life? Why, yes it is... 

I told myself to just draw a couple of cards, write up a brief post, and let that be enough for now. Here's what I got:

I love this Knight of Cups -- going with the flow, free & easy, ridin' the wave. And there's the 7 of Pentacles, signifying taking a breather from work, standing back, reassessing, letting things progress for a while on their own. The message?

"Dude, give it a rest."

Sounds good to me.

Deck Interview with the Nova

I interviewed my Tarot Nova two weeks ago, when I first got it. A deck that gets right to the point, it's pithy, frank and quirky.

1. What is your most important characteristic? Page of Cups
Taps right into my intuitive mind, expresses itself in playful and poetic ways, enables deep communication, isn't afraid to look silly.







2. What are your strengths as a deck? 13 Death
Cuts right to the point. Will help me let go of old ways of doing things, including reliance on external sources.








3. What are your limits as a deck? 6 of Wands
Limits? Ha! I spit on your "limits"! :) Hmm... maybe it will make other decks look like losers in comparison.








4. What are you here to teach me? 20 Judgment
How to hone my own judgment, and to trust it. To show me that I myself hold the key...








I have to say that so far, it's delivering on all of this.

Goodbye Elemental, hello Tarot Nova

I feel fickle, but I'm going to put the Elemental aside for now, and take up a different deck for the PDR. I still love the Elemental, and would like to return to it later in the year. However, in the last few weeks I've acquired two new decks that I can read with like I've never been able to read tarot before. One is the Anna K, the other is the Tarot Nova. A fellow PDR participant, firefrost, is going to be blogging with the Anna K over at Tarot for the Soul, so for now at least I'm going to use the Nova.

Here's what the Aeclectic Tarot website has to say about the Nova: It's a cute gift shop tarot, and the cards are appropriate for children. Oh, the pain! The humiliation! I think the Nova is a work of inspired minimalism, full of humor and joie de vivre. Above and beyond all that, it reads like -- like -- well, like a thing that reads very well. A book. That's it -- it reads like a book.

Here's what I got today when I asked it, How's this PDR thing going to go for us, deck?

Yes, but...

Yes: 6 of Wands. Ha! It won out over the Elemental and the Anna K! Tough competition, indeed. This collaboration is going to be a success.
But: The Fool. Only a fool would have made this choice! No, seriously: Leave behind your expectations and climb aboard the giant kitty-cat -- it is going to be a fun ride.

PDR: A reading for Wally

Thanks to fellow PDR participant souljourney, I can no longer say I’ve never read tarot for strangers. Now I have read tarot for a stranger’s... cats. After seeing my “Meow!” post below, souljourney offered me the opportunity to read for some of her seven cats. Having had seven cats myself at one time, I know how complicated all those feline lives and interactions can become. So, I took her up on the offer... but not without some agonizing.

It felt like a huge, intimidating leap to take. What if I got it wrong? Finally I figured out that if I got it wrong, souljourney would tell me so, and I’d learn from the experience, and no one would be harmed by it, and somehow life would go on. Given that, why all the drama?

So I did readings for three cats, using a different deck for each. For Wally, I chose the Elemental, my PDR deck.

Here’s the info souljourney sent me about Wally:
16 y/o. He sometimes urinates where he isn't supposed to... like on the side of the tub.

Here’s Wally’s reading:

Tell me something about Wally:
6 of Fire (6 of Wands)

Status matters to him. As he gets older and physically less able, his place in the pecking order may be slipping. Maybe he’s used to being confident and an “alpha,” or maybe he’s been comfortable just being in the middle of the pack -- either way, it’s important to him to be respected and taken seriously.



The situation (inappropriate urination) from his point of view:
Daughter of Fire (Page of Wands)

Message! Message! (The dove carries a letter, the girl carries a piece of paper, the symbols in the lower left are of a mouth and an ear.) Marking his territory is part and parcel of the pecking order issue above. He’s posting reminders to the other cats of his presence and his importance. There’s a chance the message could be for you, not for the other cats -- has he been getting less attention & respect from you lately? If not, then it’s likely about the other cats.

The one thing he'd like you to know:
4 of Air (4 of Swords)

He’s feeling his age, even if it’s not showing yet. He doesn’t have the energy he used to have. Sleep is good. But it’s hard to rest well if you’ve got to keep protecting your status. Also, there’s a mental rigidity: He’s set in his ways. He likes his way of doing things, & he doesn’t want to have to change.



What you can do to help your relationship w/ Wally:
3 of Water (3 of Cups)

The Elemental's book says it so nicely: The power of sympathetic understanding. The healing power of true unselfish love.

I’m thinking that it looks like it will be hard for you to win the battle against his inappropriate urination: he’s getting old, he doesn’t want to change, and he just wants you to love him for who he is.

~~~~~
Souljourney gave me positive feedback on all three readings, and confirmed that Wally is indeed the alpha. Maybe she’ll say more in the Comments if she gets the chance.

Now I think maybe I’m ready to read for people. Faunabay, I hope you’re feeling brave!

Seriously cute: the Tarot Nova

In the last two weeks I’ve acquired three more tarot decks and one more oracle deck. One of the new tarot decks is the Tarot Nova. I’m in goofy love with this deck -- it's small and cleverly illustrated and eminently readable. It is seriously cute: adorable to look at, but no-nonsense to read with.

Today I found myself wondering, at noon, where the morning had gone, whether I was going to get anything accomplished, and what I should focus on for the remainder for the day. I shuffled the Nova, intending to draw 2 cards, wanting a “Yes, but...” reading from them. Two cards flew from the deck and landed on the floor. I flipped them over to find:

Yes, but...

I laughed out loud at the Knight of Pentacles. Look at him riding the turtle! He’s getting somewhere, yes, but at a modest pace. Slow and steady wins the day. I see his message as: “Keep plodding along. You’re doing fine.”

The second card is the 6 of Pentacles, a loaf of bread baked in a pan. Another Pentacle, probably work-related, let's think about it, but -- bread? What does that have to do with anything? I puzzled for a moment, and then my jaw dropped. I remembered I’d promised to bake Irish Soda Bread today, to go with tonight’s leftover lamb stew.

Yes, you’re doing fine, but... don’t forget to bake the bread.

Is this deck cute, or what?