Tag: Weiser Books

English Magic Tarot (Weiser Books)

On By benebellIn deck reviewLeave a comment

The English Magic Tarot was first published in 2015 by Weiser Books. According to its tagline, this deck is “rumoured to be the very key to the English Hermetic tradition . . . here restored in full.” Okay, you have my attention. Keep going.

This deck places you in that heyday of English magic, between the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Early Modern period. These cards are set in the turbulent times of King Henry VIII and onward for about a century. The courtier on The Sun card is wearing clothing in the style of the mid-1500s, which the guidebook likens to Sir Francis Drake. Judgement features a giant Wicker Man going up in flames.

How would I describe the art style? Dramatic, hardboiled pulp fiction featuring swashbuckler protagonists set in 17th century England. Think John Constantine meets Three Musketeers with lots of mystery and mysticism. Also, with the mannerisms of 1950s comic book illustration.

Now let’s get into the depths of the tarot deck’s premise.

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Your Tarot Blueprint with the Relative Tarot by Carrie Paris

On By benebellIn deck review6 Comments

The Relative Tarot, created by the inimitable Carrie Paris and published by Weiser Books, is not just a masterfully done photo-collage mixed media deck that stitches vintage photography with details from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, but it’s also a powerful analytical and psychoanalytical tool. I feel like both Jung and Freud would give their stamp of approval!

What is most special about this deck is its design, created specifically to help you cast your Tarot Blueprint, based on concept of birth cards, inner and outer soul expression cards, and your significator. The companion guidebook– A Guidebook for the Diligent Diviner (love that title, Carrie!)– walks you through how to calculate each card in the tarot that represents a facet of you.

Altogether, they will produce your Tarot Blueprint. Instead of going the route of a run-of-the-mill deck review, I’m going to put my copy of Relative Tarot to use and create my own Tarot Blueprint for self-assessment.

So first off, the promise of the deck is ambitious. In the Introduction, Paris tells you this: With the Relative Tarot, you will be able to answer these three questions about yourself:

  1. Who am I?
  2. What have I come here to do?
  3. How do I find my soul’s truth?

All right, Paris. I’m taking you up on this. =)

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Tarot for Troubled Times by Shaheen Miro and Theresa Reed

On By benebellIn book review, Sightsee the Tarot, tarot4 Comments

When You’re Feeling Lost: The Compass Spread

Surprise. I know I said here in this video that there would be no Sightsee the Tarot episodes over the summer. However, everybody makes exceptions for The Tarot Lady, amiright? I’m so excited about this newly released book, Tarot for Troubled Times (Weiser Books, July 2019) by Shaheen Miro and The Tarot Lady herself, Theresa Reed. So I just had to set aside everything else, make time, and share with you my impressions of the book.

This installment of Sightsee the Tarot walks us through The Compass Spread and then offers some insights into post-reading candle magic, per the guidance and tips you’ll find in this book.

When you’re feeling adrift, like you’re just floating along with no sense of direction, use the Compass Spread by Miro and Reed to chart a steady course.

In this companion post, I want to showcase the book.

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Keys to Perception: Practical Guide to Psychic Development by Ivo Dominguez Jr.

On By benebellIn book review2 Comments

Ivo Dominguez, Jr. is well-known and highly respected in the pagan and Wiccan communities. He’s a founding member of Keepers of the Holly Chalice coven and an elder of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, a Wiccan tradition that syncretizes astrology, the Qabalah, and Western ceremonial magic. Dominguez is the author of several lauded texts– Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans, Spirit Speak: Knowing and Understanding Spirit Guides, Ancestors, Ghosts, Angels, and the Divine, and Casting Sacred Space: The Core of All Magickal Work. His latest book is Keys to Perception: A Practical Guide to Psychic Development.

In Keys, Dominguez begins by stressing the importance of meditation to strengthen the power and acuity of the mind. A regular practice in meditation is the cornerstone of psychic perception. If sitting meditation is difficult for you, he suggests forms of walking meditation, tai chi, or qi gong, etc.

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Reviewing the Lunar Nomad Oracle by Shaheen Miro

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, oracle deck4 Comments

The Lunar Nomad Oracle is a Lenormand-based oracle deck with a dream-like, visionary aesthetic that’s surreal and almost, I want to say, Dadaist style to the art. It feels subversive, almost anarchical, and yet undeniably beautiful.

The deck art here has a Victorian-inspired digital photo-collage style, giving off a vintage feel, and yet through a point of view and aesthetic that’s wholly modern. For instance, there’s something fresh about the negative photography for the Mice card. Reading spreads with the Lunar Nomad Oracle is like visualizing a dream sequence. It’s beautiful.

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