first steps

Nagging over on the corner of my interest was a hub-bub of conversation form tarot readers I admire -- Mary K. Greer, Caitlin Mathews, and new (to me) Donneleigh (among others). They were bubbling about a new interest in an old method of reading. I declined to look or listen beyond placing book and deck on my "wish" list at Amazon.

As finances haven't pulled back up from the farm fiasco or my husband's health issues of the past couple years, I didn't order a deck or a book, but kept the thought there that I would look into it when I had a handful of dollars at my disposal.

Then, one day, (June 6) I more or less accidentally tuned in to one of Donneleigh's Lenormand videos on memorizing images and numbers.  I paused the video to jot down the images and numbers (knowing I'd seen those images before).  I watched the video twice and memorized the numbers and images in order. She makes it that easy.  Eventually, I remember where I'd seen the images before -- I once owned Titania's Fortune cards. Never used them much as I had no context for them. They were astoundingly accurate the few times I drew one (and looked up the meaning in the accompanying book).

Armed with my new list of images and numbers, I found an old deck of playing cards, discarded deuces, threes, fours, and fives and wrote the new numbers on the cards, recalling (but not depicting) images as I went along.

I did my first reading that evening:

rider, book, clover, key, anchor

I decided to jump in with both feet and offered readings to a few of my friends, explaining this was brand new way of reading. I back each reading with runes to make sure I was on the right path, and gave answers largely based on the cards (with runic nuances in some cases).

Some would think this foolhardy to give readings the minute you lay hands on a new system. I've been reading in other ways for 14 years -- tarot, runes, geomancy, I-ching, playing cards, prediction techniques of numerology and astrology. Though this system is new to me, it is very like a daily reading I've done for years with a divination system called Gong Hee Fot Choy which involves playing cards in houses.

When I see 8 of hearts, I know it is the Moon. When I see Ace of Spades, in this system, I know it means woman (in playing cards, it can mean death). I know how to blend the energies of the cards with the house they are in or with other cards.

Yes, I have much to learn, but it is almost as if I am remembering rather than learning. So... off to this old new adventure!