Fuchsia Reflections

Daily Draw December 5th, 2009

I started another Christmas gift last night at 11 p.m., so I’m pressing signatures again for a small book, and need to paint some covers that match “repurposed” artwork from someone else.

Today’s card is from The Sorcerers Tarot:

2 OF CHALICES

Reflective love and little gnomes giggling in Mirrorland. She is pensive, but considers that with a smidge of effort she can make something up that will take the place of two hours of shopping. She hates shopping and prefers to strip away the superfluous. You can’t see them, but the little gnomes give you ideas for new projects, and while niggling at your brain they get to look at your breasts!

Time to haul out some fuchsia and blue acrylics they say. Right-oh lads, I’m on it.

Daily Draw – A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y

Daily Draw December 3rd, 2009

After a 4-hour wrestle with my old friend Microsoft NET Framework and Windows Update, I am operational again. Windows configuration just gets more and more complicated, I was nearly in tears wondering if yet another workaround would solve the problem. Fortunately some cups of tea from the spouse kept me going through the worst of it. You know, the bit when your face screws up and you start to cry and whine “It shouldn’t be this hard.” I love you Bill but come down to earth fella, people don’t have the money to buy new computers and Windows 7.

Today I picked one card from one of my Lenormand decks and then decided to do a comparison with all of them. I call this the “A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y” draw because I have five Lenormand decks plus the Tarot Lenormand which I designate as “Y” because sometimes it has the imagery, and sometimes it doesn’t.

BEAR

Good luck today despite some malevolence from bees (Microsoft bees to be exact.)  On the deck I designed myself, I used a polar bear cub because they are considered auspicious because of their colour and rarity.

I got some Christmas books in the mail, which also offset my earlier anxiety.

Take Two Aspirin

Daily Draw December 2nd, 2009

I traded a deck for some fabric, to give impetus to my new fabric postcard project. That is greatly exciting!

Strangely, there are a couple of silly memes going around the tarot crowd: One is that you need two or more back-up copies of decks, and the other is that certain decks with collages of dead people’s artwork, are worth $1,000 because they have splotches of gold or silver ink on them and they’ve been out-of-print for four months.

It makes one sad to see the intellect and reason of humans fall so low. It must be terrible to be so stupid.

From The Sorcerers Tarot:

10 OF CHALICES

This little fallen angel doesn’t look too happy, but perhaps she is merely contemplating her log cabin and hearth, glad to be away from absurd meanings within meanings, and just wanting a bit of peace, plus an aspirin for her cold.

The gatekeepers beckon as they flank the delicate scene. “Farther up and farther in!” cries C.S. Lewis from beyond the riverbank. I would get away from this tiresome plane. . . . .

Emily Dickinson would understand.

Learn the Music of Loose

Daily Draw November 30th, 2009

I am getting busy due to making and mailing things for Christmas. I’m drawing a quick card only for setting a thought for today from my new Sorcerers Tarot, which I really like.

XV – THE DEVIL

Tempting me to lose my temper and get frazzled? I like the idea of flute music enticing me away from something. Eccentricity, following instinct, heeding imagination and passion.

I am starting a long-term project of making fabric postcards this winter, to make yet another self-created deck for my collection. This, along with embroidering French knot rugs for my dollhouses in wild, abstract art, is the focus. I have trouble letting myself go, I rarely relax, so hopefully I can learn to loosen up from The Devil.

Here he is with a small inked flower and leaves, shaded with coloured pencil on fabric–this is ready to go into a fabric postcard. But first I have to sew three handbags and. . . .

Loosen up Judith!

Alice Has a Romp of Joy

Daily Draw November 23rd, 2009

I am using the Alice Playing Cards from Lo Scarabeo today. I love the big quadruple indices these cards have, they look so crisp and hip, and the artwork by Jesus Blasco is wonderful. Something a little different as is usual with Lo Scarabeo.

8 of Hearts
5 of Diamonds
2 of Hearts

 

8 – Celebration and good times, fun, party feeling

5 – News coming today, and good news as reflected in the surrounding cards

2 – Personal fulfillment, ambition, feeling of accomplishment

I am finishing up a couple of projects today and getting ready to mail them off. I am expecting books and things in the mail that I bought with Christmas money, so these cards seem to reflect good news and good times, fun with new and old software and a new book that is good.

I Get a Nibble

Daily Draw November 22nd, 2009

I got my Lenormand deck printed and trimmed and I’m just waiting for the collage on the tuckbox to press and dry. However, it’s a perfect day to try it out. I wrote up a one-page explanatory sheet with some of my interpretations and card symbolism to go with the deck. I call it The Illustrative Lenormand Oracle.

I find it embarrassing that I’ve only used Lenormand cards for one-card draws, so it might take a while to figure things out doing 3-card draws. I generally find that fewer cards allows greater impact of the message.

ANCHOR; MICE; CHILD

And I thought mice were such nice little creatures.

Work, stability and hope from the Anchor. I like the idea of home port and security with this card as indicated by the engraving I used for the background. The Mice can indicate a thief, loss, false friends or errors, and the Child is one of my favourites, I LOVE this little girl I found in my clip art collection. She’s pointing and asking questions and bursting with enthusiasm. She’s also a bit naive, so she’d better watch out for those dastardly mice and their nibbling.

I take this to mean that work can be an anchor and not to worry about people who disturb you, but keep the channel of joy open and concentrate on that. I do feel the loss of my job still after over four years, it sometimes nibbles at me, but I feel much better at home doing my own work, secure and not dealing with unethical people, but being able to feel joy and curiosity again.

I am working on some bookbinding today while my two tuckboxes dry. It’s good to have work set out to do, that’s a very stable thing when you work from home.

Let’s Go Dutch

Daily Draw November 20, 2009

This is the little playing card deck I made from Dutch Tile designs I had in a clip art collection. I designed the pip symbols in Photoshop and coloured them for each suit according to the colours of the tiles for the Ace and face cards for that suit. Then I created and printed the deck from Quick Cards 2. It is a Patience-sized deck, I love the tiny decks.

Ace of Diamonds
7 of Hearts
10 of Hearts

 

Another Ace, this seems to be my week. I am hunkering down for a quiet read with the second volume in a biography of Pierre Trudeau that has just been published and that I reserved from the library. I am also doing some new work and configuration of the Electric Quilt program that I just upgraded.

Ace – Unity, a very strong union
7 – Genuine friendship, true friends, platonic love
10 – True love, unity, someone by your side forever, through everything

That’s auspicious, I am feeling a bit jangly and withdrawn–winter is setting in and I’ve been trapped in the house by rain for days. The rain is also holding me up from spraying my Lenormand cards with fixative and finishing that. It has been kind of blah the last couple of days.

The harmony of love brings a peaceful feeling today though.

Caution, Purple People Ahead

Daily Draw November 19th, 2009

After fiddling around for weeks trying to print my Lenormand deck, I switched back to regular off-white cardstock, and they printed fine, so I’ve made two copies and will be trimming them and making custom tuckboxes for them. I am so pleased.

Amazon.ca has shipped my Art Nouveau Oracle which is another Lenormand deck. I also bought the Sorcerers Tarot for the artwork and delightfully different imagery. I love that Lo Scarabeo doesn’t publish books with every deck. I like to use decks without having some dumbed-down ABC by the author of the moment, attached to a perfectly fresh deck, stultifying any attempt at fresh insight.

Today I am using the Dames de France Playing Cards, and I’d forgotten how beautiful these are. That’s one of the reasons I like rotating through decks, I get surprised all over again by the beauty that first attracted me to a particular deck.

6 of Spades
3 of Clubs
7 of Diamonds

 

6 – Caution in dealing with others, keep emotions in reserve.

3 – 3 hours, 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months–something is coming at me and will hit hard. It is being created now. Get ready for it in order to diminish the impact.

7 – Keep my business to myself as people might misinterpret what I do or say. Gossip, scandal being circulated.

It seems to be about opening up to people, and assumptions and errors. Welcome to the human race. So caution is needed. I was actually pulling back from speaking to some people this morning so shall consider that a good approach.

Playing Card Roster

I have enjoyed using my playing cards this week for 3-card Personal Prophesy draws, so I think I’ll rotate through all the decks through the next couple of months. This is similar to the Spring-related cards I used on the blog trying to forge on through last winter. I’ve got 51 decks plus 4 tarock decks with minors like playing cards that I’ll use. Some I’ve already used, so I’ll check them off when I print this list and just carry on.

I like to stay in touch with my many decks and this is a good way to do it.

PLAYING CARDS

Illusions in Art – Classic
Can You Believe Your Eyes? (Illusions deck)
Shakespeare’s Flowers
Birds of China (Chinese Titling)
Inventors
Scientists
Classical and Romantic Composers
Famous Battles of the Civil War
Illusions in Art – Contemporary
Hiroshige Playing Cards (Tokaido Highway Woodcuts)
Chinese cards with brushwork illustrations
Chinese Concubines in Costumes
Ukiyoe (Piatnik)
Goethe Transformation (Reproduction of 1805 Jeanne d’Arc transformation deck)
The Key to the Kingdom Transformation Playing Cards
Jeu Roman (Playing cards about Roman France)
Genius of Nature Playing Cards (Art/botanical deck)
Les Metiers et Leurs Protecteurs (Occupations and their Protector Saints)
Les Saints Guérisseurs (Saints of Healing)
Les Chemins de Saint-Jacques (Pilgrimage route from Middle Ages)
Art for the Earth Transformation Deck
Under the Sea Transformation Deck
La Fontaine Playing Cards
Playing Card Oracles (Cortez/Freeman)
The Da Vinci Code Playing Cards
Millennium Celebration Playing Cards
Ambraser Hofämterspiel (Facsimile deck set by Piatnik)
Zodiac Playing Cards
Alice Playing Cards
Civil War Illuminated Poker Deck
Virginia Beach Souvenir Playing Cards
Collage Playing Cards( Revamped Bicycle deck; handmade)
Eisbergfriestadt Playing Cards
Tudor Rose Patience Pack
Jeu des Armures
Renaissance Playings Cards
Middle Ages Playing Cards
Jeu de Cartes Revolutionnaires
Louis XV Playing Cards
Claude Weisbuch Playing Cards
Berliner pattern – Slim Card
Jeu de Cartes des Croisades
Jeu Henri IV
The Famous Abbeys Playing Cards
North Yorkshire Playing Cards
Shakespeare Playing Cards
Dutch Tile Playing Cards (Digital; Handmade Patience deck)
Anglo Miniature Patience Deck
Dames de France
Antique Engravings Playing Cards (Digital; handmade deck)
Dead Hand Chaos Poker Deck

Tarock Decks

Tarot Philatelique
Tarocco di Alan
Tarot of Reincarnation
Tarot Francais des Fleurs

More Minor Disappointment

Daily Draw November 18th, 2009

Time is walking softly toward a new year.

From the Ukiyo-E Playing Cards by Piatnik:

Ace of Spades
3 of Diamonds
2 of Clubs

 

 

Another Ace, this is my week for Aces as well. Ace – A conclusion or ending. Death literally of figuratively. Conclusion or death of circumstances.
3 of Diamonds – Petty, domestic conflicts. Petty differences blow up into a big feud, which rather reminds me of my family rather than my spouse. I like the shadow figures behind the screen in this picture.
Gee, that 2 is determined to stick to me. More minor disappointments. Has this man just missed the bus behind him?

I finished a project yesterday that I am mailing off to a lady, so in that sense there is a conclusion. I actually feel better now that it’s done. I’ll keep an eye out for the petty conflicts, I am a bit irritable already due to a stuffy head and cold. The minor disappointments might refer to mail received, so I’ll try to ramp down the excitement so I’m not disappointed.