Month: January 2019

Top 5 Oracle Decks of 2018

On By benebellIn deck review, oracle deck, tarot community1 Comment

Continuing with the 31 Days of Tarot community challenge by Ethony, let’s talk about my top five oracle decks for 2018.

These are my top five oracle decks from the previous year, meaning (1) acquired the deck in the year 2018, and (2) actually worked with the deck in 2018, but most of these were published well before 2018.

The Celtic Shaman’s Pack by John Matthews and Chesea Potter is a deck I plan on reviewing in-depth at some future point. It’s an older deck that was then re-released  (and given a redesign) in 2017, but one I didn’t acquire myself until 2018. And I love it. Wow, I can’t even.

The guidebook that comes with the cards is everything you want to get you oriented in working with Celtic shamanism for yourself. I cannot shower this oracle deck with enough high praise, except to say you’ve got to try it to believe it. You can look forward to me posting a deck review of it this year, in 2019.

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Top 5 Tarot Decks of 2018

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot, tarot communityLeave a comment

In 2018 we saw so many incredibly innovative and ground-breaking decks to name that I could not reduce it down to just five. This was a difficult list to make and I wish I could name more. I even thought about doing a special mentions section, but then even that would get unduly long!

These are my top five tarot decks from 2018, though two of these decks were published in 2017. Also, my own deck, Spirit Keeper’s Tarot, was disqualified, since come on. I can’t pick my own deck.

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31 Days of Tarot 2019: Day 1

On By benebellIn tarot community5 Comments

How many years before something becomes a tradition? I don’t know. In any event, you may have heard of Ethony Dawn’s yearly “31 Days of Tarot” community challenge that she hosts every year.

You can watch Ethony’s YouTube video here introducing the 2019 prompts and get the full listing here on her website. Be sure to also connect in to the tarot YouTube community or find the community on Instagram via the hashtag #31daysoftarot19 to catch up on what everybody else is saying in response to each of the daily prompts.

I’ll be participating via Instagram and by blog posts (though after the first few prompts, I’ll be aggregating the daily prompts into end-of-the-week blog post recaps).

Reading, Energy, Major Lesson for 2019

I’m using a prototype test deck for Spirit Keeper’s Tarot where I’m test printing different shadings of sepia and different styles of the parchment background to get the aesthetics as close to what I want as possible. In the SKT deck, you’re given 3 versions of Key 0 to choose from for a significator card. For this reading prompt, I’m using The Seeker card as my Key 0 significator.

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Introduction to Chinese Esotericism

On By benebellIn Tao of Craft (book), Taoism13 Comments

Taoism is a nature-based religion, philosophy, and a 2,000 year old tradition of sorcery native to China since the Zhou Dynasty. In that same time, Buddhism enters China and a modality of it–esoteric Buddhism–is blended in with Taoist magic. Yet the roots of Taoist magic trace back even further than the dynasties of antiquity, back to Neolithic shamanism. This introductory six-video lecture series will delve in to Chinese occult practices that syncretize Buddhism and Taoism.

Video 1 is an introduction to the course and the distinction between exoteric and esoteric Taoist/Buddhist practices. Video 2 covers the history of Taoist and Buddhist mysticism in China. Video 3 gets into the cultural practice of Taoist sorcery while Video 4 gives you a crash course into Eastern metaphysics. Finally, Videos 5 and 6 will give a primer on practicing or integrating Taoist magic and esoteric Buddhism into your path.

1: Introduction to Buddhist-Taoist Esotericism

2: History of Taoist and Buddhist Mysticism in China

3: Taoist Sorcery and Its Cultural Practice

4: Taoist Metaphysics

5: A Thought Tour of the Chinese Occult

6: Taoist Magic in Contemporary Times

I’m creating this lecture series as an invitation to you to learn more about the occult traditions I practice. I hope you find within these offerings bits of insight, knowledge, and methods that you can integrate, syncretize, or adapt for yourself.

For the full playlist, go here:

tinyurl.com/chineseoccultism

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