Eliphas Levi, Solomonic Magic, the 22 Powers, and the SKT Majors

On October 31, 2019November 1, 2019 By benebellIn Spirit Keeper's Tarot, tarot, traditional witchcraft7 Comments

I’ve converted selected text from the Introduction chapter of Eliphas Levi’s Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual (here I’m using the English translation by A. E. Waite) into a much easier to digest reference table.

That is all. I’ll expound on this more at a later time. For now, those who know what to do with this, go forth and be merry; those who don’t care for this kind of thing, no worries! =)

Click on any of the tables for an enlarged view or to save the image file.

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Tutorial for the Do-It-Yourself SKT Vitruvian Mini Tarot Deck

On October 25, 2019October 26, 2019 By benebellIn Spirit Keeper's Tarot, tarot1 Comment

If you don’t know what I mean by the do-it-yourself SKT Vitruvian Mini tarot deck printables, then Read About the SKT Vitruvian Mini HERE, where there will also be a gallery of photos of the Mini deck for you to browse through.

This write-up will provide an overview for how to use the digital files you’ve been sent, assuming you’re reading this because you’ve ordered the SKT Vitruvian Mini digital printables.

In addition to the above video tutorial, here’s a PDF to download:

Instructions for Printing

and Assembling the SKT Vitruvian Mini

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Halloween Mood Decks

On October 14, 2019November 26, 2023 By benebellIn cartomancy, oracle deck, tarot, tarot community12 Comments

Does any tarot reader not end up having to sling a ton of cards around Halloween season? =)

Halloween seems to be that time of the year when everyone wants a tarot reading. Pro readers are getting booked for spooky parties and local festivities. When the mood is light and celebratory and the veil is thinning, here are some of my favorite decks to tinker with in late October. Even when the crowd you’re reading for are teenagers, I think these decks are age-appropriate and sure to enthrall.

Each of the hyperlinked headings with the deck name will take you to my review of that deck.

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The Reverie Tarot and Midnight Reverie Tarot

On October 10, 2019 By benebellIn deck review, promotional, tarot, tarot community, tarot symbolism6 Comments

As of this posting there are only two weeks left of the Reverie Tarot Kickstarter campaign, so please go here and support this psychedelic tarot pop-art project. The simplicity and minimalism here means you need to rely on your intuitive powers, which is what will help you dial up your clairs.

Constance Watkins has penned a dream-like world that brings tarot numerology to life. The Reverie Tarot and Midnight Reverie Tarot set is beautifully paired and would make a great gift to any poet, writer, or artist for them to keep close by on their work desk, especially since Watkins offers a guidebook of card meanings to go along with the deck. I wasn’t sent the guidebook to review and haven’t seen any of it, so you may want to reach out to the Kickstarter campaign for details.

With this deck, instead of examining the surface imagery of your situation, you examine its underlying numerological code. In fact, in addition to a classical tarot reading with the cards, also consider the numerological significance of the numbers splayed out in front of you.

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Tarot Fortune-Telling, Divination, and Life Coaching (Part II)

On October 3, 2019October 10, 2019 By benebellIn cartomancy, opinion, personal spirituality, tarot14 Comments

This is a continuation from Part I.

So what do we mean when we make the distinctions between tarot as fortune-telling, or as divination, or psychology-based tarot, or even the popular notion now– tarot as a form of life coaching?

I have a free 30-minute audio presentation plus 12-page handout, “A Comparative Analysis of Fortune-Telling and Divination,” which you can check out here. The 12-page pdf handout includes a compilation of quotes from various renowned Western occultists and cartomancers on the issue of fortune-telling and divination, some who don’t seem to make a distinction between the two and others who make a very clear distinction.

In other words, I don’t think we can say in any absolute terms what constitutes fortune-telling and divination, and whether there should be any distinction made between the two.

It boils down to a matter of subjective opinion and perspective. Maybe your perspective is that the two are totally different, and maybe your perspective is that fortune-telling and divination are one and the same, with no distinction of note. Either way, it’s just a personal opinion.

We each have to discern for ourselves what the implications of fortune-telling and divination are for us, and with all the chatter about psychology-based approaches to the cards and life coaching, we need to figure out what those terms mean as applied to the tarot.

Whether you bask proudly in the appellation of “fortune-teller” or you shirk from it and go out of your way to disown that label says more about you than it does anything about the tarot, and that’s okay.

Here are my own approaches to these terms and the distinctions I make for myself. What are yours?

Fortune-Telling

“I will tell you something you don’t know.”

Or as it’s more often phrased, from the querent’s point of view: Tell me something I don’t know. If you’re a fortune-teller, I would say you must be prepared to take up that challenge.

Fortune-telling is premised on the notion that some among us possess an ability for precognition and therefore can see beyond our ordinary constraints of space-time. Psychic ability and the four clairs– clairvoyance, claircognizance, clairaudience, and clairsentience– will be presumed. There is the potential for omniscience, but more realistically, the accuracy and the scope of information that can be provided is based entirely on the skill of the fortune-teller.

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Divine Masculine Tarot Prototype Look-See

On October 1, 2019October 1, 2019 By benebellIn deck review, tarot, tarot community9 Comments

Tarot of the Divine Masculine by Vasich & Vasich is a deck I’m really excited about. It features extraordinary talent in every aspect of its conception and design.

This post is a look-see of some prototype cards from the deck. You can also check out more images of the deck on Marko Vasich’s Instagram feed, @markovasich, linked here. The Kickstarter campaign is scheduled to launch today, October 1, 2019, so please go here and support their campaign.

The artwork here is done in oil paints. Like Da Vinci and Renaissance oil painters, the technique used is a multi-layering method, also known as the Flemish technique, which is what gives these works of art such vivid coloring. These works are hand-painted on gessoed art board. I can’t stop extolling the beauty of the art in this deck.

Look at the detailing etched into the temple columns for the background of the King of Wands. Look at the hairs on the lion’s mane. Check out the lizard or gecko coiled around the man’s left ankle and shin. Even the checkerboard tiling is painted with such expertise and subtlety as to exude realism.

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My Queen of Swords for the Cult of Tarot Community Tarot Deck

On September 27, 2019April 24, 2023 By benebellIn free download, tarot, tarot community39 Comments

Thank you, Cerulean, for telling me about the Cult of Tarot Community Tarot deck. I’ve participated in a collaboration deck before, the Tarot Pink, where I contributed the Two of Wands. For the CoT Community Tarot deck, I chose the Queen of Swords.

I ended up drawing two versions and hope you’ll help me out by voting on which one you prefer. I’m torn between the two because they go in pretty different directions, not just in the art, but especially in terms of interpreting the Queen of Swords. You’ll see what I mean.

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Do-It-Yourself SKT Pocket Notebooks

On September 24, 2019April 24, 2023 By benebellIn free download, Magical in the Mundane, Spirit Keeper's Tarot, tarot, tarot community3 Comments

This is a 2.75″ x 4.25″ saddle-stitch notebook you can easily make yourself from 3 sheets of loose print paper, 1 sheet of adhesive sticker paper for printable labels (these are typically free from UPS or FedEx), scissors, a stapler, and a corner rounder is optional.

I like this DIY pocket notebook because it’s easy to make at home, doesn’t require any specialty tools or expensive materials, and most important of all, fits in the back pocket of your jeans or easily with a pen in your jacket pocket. That makes it really convenient to travel with.

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Ancestral Path Tarot by Julie Cuccia-Watts

On September 17, 2019September 25, 2019 By benebellIn deck review, tarot8 Comments

The Ancestral Path Tarot by Julie Cuccia-Watts first came out in 1996, published by U.S. Games. At the time it was a bordered deck and had a different card back design. This year the deck has been re-released, now borderless and with a beautiful new card back.

There is both a 90s throwback vibe to this deck and a timeless quality. Ancestral Path reminds me of the way multiculturalism was celebrated in the 90s. You’ve got original works of art done by hand, with minimal digital retouching, not like the majority of decks we get today, which involve heavy-handed amounts of digital work. One isn’t better or worse than the other; it’s just iconic of different times.

Note here that Key 8 is Justice (and Key 11 is Strength). Ancestral Path is a fusion of different deck systems, which will become a bit more apparent when we get to the Minors. Here, though, I love the emphasis on priestess energy in the Hierophant card. Yes, it’s still a true Hierophant card, but I love how Cuccia-Watts has reinterpreted it with more feminine energy.

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