Calling All Pagans!

[lucky-E-leven]

I sooo cannot do that! Naughty woman!! Though it would be more shocking for me than her, I'm sure. ....How're you doing Lovely?

I guess I see your point, though my daughter (18) thought it was cool that I took her to the local toy joint and helped her pick out her first pair of thong panties.

I'm doing fine now. This semester's been a bitch, but it's in the bag. I should now be able to mutter something a little more intelligent than, "Fucking professor... Fucking test... Fucking university... Fucking dean..."

So cool to see you posting around here. Feels like it's been forever.

 

[Lady_Kit]

Like i said, i got a hard cover art book A5 sized...not sure if that means anything to you (i think its british paper sizes only...and i dont know where you are ) id say about 20cm high 12/15cm across it had a black hard cover, was ringbound and had black pages. I think the black pages suit the 'visualisation' i hold for a BoShadows...

if you can mould that idea, then that's great, you could try air dry clay, plasticine, modrock if you can get any...the like. good luck with it all

It hadn't occured to me that the book was a tool for visualizations, not just a recepicle for words and images.

You're correct about the size, thats British. I'm in the US, Ohio to be specific. A book that was 5 inch x 7 inch might be about right.

More to think about.

 

[Lady_Kit]

I guess I see your point, though my daughter (18) thought it was cool that I took her to the local toy joint and helped her pick out her first pair of thong panties.

I'm doing fine now. This semester's been a bitch, but it's in the bag. I should now be able to mutter something a little more intelligent than, "Fucking professor... Fucking test... Fucking university... Fucking dean..."

So cool to see you posting around here. Feels like it's been forever.

I know more about my daughters sexuality than my mother ever knew about mine, and daughter knows more about me. The truth is, I'm not emotionally prepared to give tasseled pasties to anyone. And it makes me feel old to admit it.

I don't post as much as I used to, mostly due to lack of time and energy. But, I still stop by when I can. I have been so glad to see the joy you've found in your new life.

And yes, it does feel like forever.

 

[3113]

But what if she already has one? Would she typically use more than one?

She certainly can use more than one. If you want to make it more specific--does she use tarot cards or anything like that? You could make a book where she can record her readings, interpetations and tarot spreads. In which case, you could give her the book along with a deck of cards--or a crystal or whatever she might be into.

The thing is, you don't need to call it a Book of Shadows (or Mirrors)--you can just say it's a "Yule Journal" for whatever magical (or non-magical) purposes she cares to put it to.

my guess is that she is following a Celtic path, but I say that only because I don't think its either of the other two. How would I know?

It's likely that if there's nothing in particular that you've noticed as decorating her home (say primarily Egyptian statues and pictures), then you can use more generic symbols (pentacles, moons).

Oak/Holly and Stonehenge are very typical Yule symbols and just a bit more unique than the usual pentagram or moon symbol.

You should be fine with such a design. It'd be both beautiful, festive and apt.

 

[Lady_Kit]

She certainly can use more than one. If you want to make it more specific--does she use tarot cards or anything like that? You could make a book where she can record her readings, interpetations and tarot spreads. In which case, you could give her the book along with a deck of cards--or a crystal or whatever she might be into.

The thing is, you don't need to call it a Book of Shadows (or Mirrors)--you can just say it's a "Yule Journal" for whatever magical (or non-magical) purposes she cares to put it to.


She can certainly use more than one. And it's likely that if there's nothing in particular that you've noticed as decorating her home (say Egyptian statues), then you can use more generic symbols.

Oak/Holly and Stonehenge are very typical Yule symbols, Yule, by its name, behind a Celtic holiday and celebration--as compared to just a Winter Solstice celebration.

You should be fine with such a design. It'd be both beautiful, festive and apt.

"a book where she can record her readings, interpetations and tarot spreads."

Thats it! Thats the thing! She does read cards, for herself and others, and I know she keeps a dream journal, so...yea...this works!

A million thanks!!

 

[FallingToFly]

You make candles?! And you're only telling me now?!

Goodness! A fine witch friend you are . . . I import mine from a coven in Ireland.

I prefer to make my own- and we have really good local apiaries so I can get beeswax cheap

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

It hadn't occured to me that the book was a tool for visualizations, not just a recepicle for words and images.

You're correct about the size, thats British. I'm in the US, Ohio to be specific. A book that was 5 inch x 7 inch might be about right.

More to think about.

oops. when i said visualisations...i meant...that the black pages suit the idea of he book of Shadows- i see shadows relate to the colour black if that makes sense.

I dont know i this is true or not, different people seem to have different opinions, but apparently you should never buy your own Tarot Deck, it should always be a gift, and once they have been 'given' no one but the recipient should ever handle them. Has anyone else heard this? it was a matter of divided opinion between my Wiccan friends...

My best friend bought me a deck a few years ago, i don't use them anymore.

 

[Stegral]

here in my area there is a little store that sells stones, herbs, inscence, books, crystals, jewelery.... they actually have a wishlist box if you want to go in & fill one out so anyone unsure can come in & get it & cross it off your list. each year someone gets me the witch's almanac.

I make pentacles with beads & wires so they turnout like dreamcatchers.
I also do other goddess symbols like the waning, full & waxing moons.
Trust your heart to guide you. you will either think of something to make or see something that will just make you look twice...

If your area has a shop that local pagan/earth based people can shop in, go there... if you can't feel the desire of her emanating from things she has handled I will almost bet the staff may have noticed her looking something over, but putting it back.

I will offer out that I am a PM away if you would like some simple artwork to work from.

I dont know i this is true or not, different people seem to have different opinions, but apparently you should never buy your own Tarot Deck, it should always be a gift, and once they have been 'given' no one but the recipient should ever handle them. Has anyone else heard this? it was a matter of divided opinion between my Wiccan friends...

My best friend bought me a deck a few years ago, i don't use them anymore.

I "trained" on a friends deck to see if the tarots were my "gift" as she thought it was. She told me to buy my own from brand new... I went into the above said shop for weeks waiting for a deck to "call to me" I spent way too much time looking & touching the decks to no avail. out of the blue one day I stopped in to peek at the cards, cynical I couldn't "feel" what my friend was talking about. Low & behold there was a BRAND NEW set out on the shelf not an hour earlier. I didn't know it until I asked for it & muttered why I hadn't noticed it before. the salesperson told me they "just arrived" & she had felt compelled to put them out first. another oddity is that this deck has 3 extra arcana cards & is NOT read in the negative if the cards are upside down like most other decks. I love my deck & others handle it quite often as I do readings for others, but I always re-charge it in the light of the full moon
I do my own readings & others, my cards are "tuned" to me

 

[FallingToFly]

Bah, humbug, on the Tarot thing.

I bought my own deck and ignored all the traditional cant on how to keep them, handle them, etc. They stay in my workbox (a really big chocolate tin that has the most gods-awful design on the top and is bright brassy yellow) with all the other stuff- herbs, charm bag components, the occasional handful of gris-gris material, another deck of cards, vials, etc- and everyone handles them. My husband, my kids, my friends, everyone. They are well-worn and well-loved and I'm still pretty solid on my readings with them, lol.

There is no right or wrong way to worship. Just because I do things one way and oher people don't means diddly. The gods have a way of guiding us on the path we're meant to take- or at least walloping us repeatedly until we make the turn.

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

thanks stegral and Falling, its interesting to hear the other opinion, i never let anyone touch my cards because the 'non touching' opinion was all i was ever exposed to. I didn't take it up as a serious follower, they were more for exploration i guess.

I would love to have my reading done, but i guess i have to actually go and see someone to do it...im not paying a ridicuulous amount to have my reading done...it was like...£30 for a 20 minute reading!!!!!

 

[FallingToFly]

thanks stegral and Falling, its interesting to hear the other opinion, i never let anyone touch my cards because the 'non touching' opinion was all i was ever exposed to. I didn't take it up as a serious follower, they were more for exploration i guess.

I would love to have my reading done, but i guess i have to actually go and see someone to do it...im not paying a ridicuulous amount to have my reading done...it was like...£30 for a 20 minute reading!!!!!

Keep an eye out- some nights I get drunk and do tarot readings fro anyone who asks. GHaven't done it in a while, but I'm considering it for this weekend.

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

Keep an eye out- some nights I get drunk and do tarot readings fro anyone who asks. GHaven't done it in a while, but I'm considering it for this weekend.

over the net? can you do that? i would love that.

 

[TheEarl]

Seconded on all of the suggestions so far. My parents appear to have an uncanny knack for finding me altar tools. If she keeps an altar, then that could be a way to go too.

On the whole though, the Book of Shadows is a great idea.

The Earl

 

[oggbashan]

Would wood do?

I gave a pagan friend a hand-turned wooden bowl made of Oak. She was delighted with it but what she does with it? I don't know.

She seems to appreciate anything made of wood that is functional, practical and good to handle. Even a wooden yard broom pleased her. The handle and head were wood. The bristles were natural fibres, I know not whence.

Og

 

[Lady_Kit]

The daughter does keep an altar, and when I travel I ususally bring her bit of this and that for it. My contributions typically amount to sand, pebbles, small pieces of driftwood, pine cones...she seems pleased by these items.

I'm liking the book idea more and more. Its easy enough for me to do in the time available, and, based on what you've all said, should be a welcome gift. Always a good combination.

 

[cloudy]

The daughter does keep an altar, and when I travel I ususally bring her bit of this and that for it. My contributions typically amount to sand, pebbles, small pieces of driftwood, pine cones...she seems pleased by these items.

I'm liking the book idea more and more. Its easy enough for me to do in the time available, and, based on what you've all said, should be a welcome gift. Always a good combination.

Feathers are a nice gift as well, although, usually they're meant for the one who finds them. (if you find a feather in your path, pick it up - it's a gift - you've done something right).

 

[TheEarl]

I gave a pagan friend a hand-turned wooden bowl made of Oak. She was delighted with it but what she does with it? I don't know.

She seems to appreciate anything made of wood that is functional, practical and good to handle. Even a wooden yard broom pleased her. The handle and head were wood. The bristles were natural fibres, I know not whence.

Og

Wood is good. Quite often you need something functional for a spell, like a bowl and it's nice to have something natural that feels good.

The Earl

 

[3113]

thanks stegral and Falling, its interesting to hear the other opinion, i never let anyone touch my cards because the 'non touching' opinion was all i was ever exposed to.

As a long-time reader and someone who knows a LOT of other readers, I'm in agreement with FTF. I don't know who came up with the "tarot cards must be a gift" idea, but it's bogus. Almost all readers I know bought their own and keep on buying their own--once you're into it, one deck is rarely enough

Letting others touch the deck, on the other hand, is a personal decision. I know readers who don't let anyone else touch their deck, and readers who insist that the querent (the person they're reading for) must touch the deck or it won't work. All up to the reader in that case.

 

[Lady_Kit]

Feathers are a nice gift as well, although, usually they're meant for the one who finds them. (if you find a feather in your path, pick it up - it's a gift - you've done something right).

I do consider a feather a gift though I didn't know there was any significance to finding one. I usually keep them for myself, at least until the cats find them, then all bets are off.

 

[3113]

I do consider a feather a gift though I didn't know there was any significance to finding one. I usually keep them for myself, at least until the cats find them, then all bets are off.

Just thought of an extra gift--most tarot readers love to put their cards in bags or boxes. You could make a nice tarot bag or box for her as well.

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

As a long-time reader and someone who knows a LOT of other readers, I'm in agreement with FTF. I don't know who came up with the "tarot cards must be a gift" idea, but it's bogus. Almost all readers I know bought their own and keep on buying their own--once you're into it, one deck is rarely enough

Letting others touch the deck, on the other hand, is a personal decision. I know readers who don't let anyone else touch their deck, and readers who insist that the querent (the person they're reading for) must touch the deck or it won't work. All up to the reader in that case.

Hmmm, well im not wiccan/pagan and so i look to others for the knowledge, i wasnt to know that it wasnt true, but now i know better, thanks

Would you use multiple decks in one reading?

The whole touching and not touching the deck thing i can understand from both points of view.

Would you say you'd have to practice wicca to practice tarot readings, or just a spiritual interest in tarot will suffice?

 

[3113]

Would you use multiple decks in one reading?

Nope. I've known some readers who've experimented with that, but generally speaking, readers don't like to mix up decks. Each deck has it's own feel and...well, I think the two decks would just fight each other for dominance

Would you say you'd have to practice wicca to practice tarot readings, or just a spiritual interest in tarot will suffice?

No need to know any Wicca/paganism to read tarot. I've known Christian readers (there's a famous book and set of cards by a woman named Connolly that are *very* Christian. Pretty, too. They look like stained glass: Connolly Deck), Jewish readers, Buddhist readers and Hindu readers.

Granted, there are a lot of decks out there that favor paganism and Wicca, but there are enough choices for just about every spiritual path. Something like 80-90% of the decks are clones of the Rider-Waite deck which is based on not only ancient symbols and mythologies, but also Biblical references, alchemical symbols, Kabbala, etc.

Tarot, by it's very nature, is a mixed spiritual bag.

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

Nope. I've known some readers who've experimented with that, but generally speaking, readers don't like to mix up decks. Each deck has it's own feel and...well, I think the two decks would just fight each other for dominance


No need to know any Wicca/paganism to read tarot. I've known Christian readers (there's a famous book and set of cards by a woman named Connolly that are *very* Christian. Pretty, too. They look like stained glass: Connolly Deck), Jewish readers, Buddhist readers and Hindu readers.

Granted, there are a lot of decks out there that favor paganism and Wicca, but there are enough choices for just about every spiritual path. Something like 80-90% of the decks are clones of the Rider-Waite deck which is based on not only ancient symbols and mythologies, but also Biblical references, alchemical symbols, Kabbala, etc.

Tarot, by it's very nature, is a mixed spiritual bag.

I was going to say that there would be an issue over power distrubtion in a multi deck reading!

I cant remember what deck i had, and i dont know what i did with them, but it seemed very pagan/wicca orientated...Major/Minor Arcana, 4 suits in the minor Pentacles, cups, swords and challice (i think??)

I dont really have a religious side, and i am yet to discover a spiritual fulfillment in my life and so i don't know how 'in touch' i'd feel with a real deck if i learnt tarot seriously.

 

[3113]

I cant remember what deck i had, and i dont know what i did with them, but it seemed very pagan/wicca orientated...Major/Minor Arcana, 4 suits in the minor Pentacles, cups, swords and challice (i think??)

Pents, cups, swords and wands. Very pagan, yes, but such symbols were also absorbed by Christianity (Christian knights with swords, holy grail cups, Pents are often just coins or disks instead of pentacles, and wands can be spears--which pierced the side of Christ--or staffs for walking).

What I'm saying is that the probably pagan origins of Tarot have gotten well and truely mingled along the way with a lot of Medieval symbols that are either non-denominational or Biblical. There are, for example, angel figures in a few of the majors and, in some decks, a "Pope" as well as a very Christian devil and Judgement Day.

At a guess, you probably have a Rider-Waite deck or a Rider clone. They're the most common, and the most frequently used by people who want to learn.

 

[angela146]

If I may suggest ...

You hit on something in your original post: by creating the gift with your own hands, talent, style, you are imparting some of yourself into it and creating a connection between the two of you.

Choosing materials that are significant *to you* can enhance the connection; for example, a piece of cloth that has been sitting in your sewing pile for a long time or a style of fabric that you have always liked.

My grandmother liked brass. She had brass doorhinges, knobs, vases, nicknacks, flowerpots... I have a picture of her and my grandfather that she gave me in a brass frame. Sometimes I pick it up and I can feel her. The connection is stronger than it would be if the frame were made of wood.