Unlike some, I've never been able to connect to runes. I've found the idea of making my own set exciting but considering I don't like runes that was out of the question. I've seen a few sets of stones that are obviously invented and have no background whatsoever, unlike the runes and oghams. I use oghams but it a set of cards and not stones or wood sticks, it's the oracle Green Man Tree Oracle by John Matthews, beautiful art by Will Worthington. So while discussing about such sets in ISRC Forum, about maybe making our own oracles, I came up with the idea of this oracle made out of FIMO. I've thought about symbols and I finally made the oracle. The small FIMO stones I made are in metallic copper and I painted the symbols with metallic copper paint. I put here a picture of the oracle but there are more in the Gallery. I am just trying to inspire you to make your own set of stones with you own symbols. I put here my symbols to give you ideas. I've just noticed that I lost the stone Home. Good stones can turn bad depending of surrending stones.
Home: where our heart is, the center of our lives, family, friends, shelter.
Sword: conflict, fight, argument, to be careful about what we say and do for it can be used against us.
Broken sword: defeat, broken pride.
Tree: growth, abundance, lastingness, success, stability, organisation, structure, work, also represents the element earth.
Thunder: bad situation, bad outlook, problems.
Two arrows meeting at the sharp points: meeting, reunion, party, group of persons.
Unfinished symbol: something unfinished, problem not resolved yet, overestimating ourself in a situation, something at the infancy stage, too soon to tell.
Aquarius sign: thoughts, lucidity, ideas, project, dreams, represent the element air.
Dollar sign ($): money, abundance, success, gambling (in negative).
Moon: moody, emotions, mystery, delay, confusion, lies, deceit, doubt, female, represents the element water.
Flame: passion, energy, dynamism, self-confidence, represents the element fire.
Scythe: end, death, change.
Flower: joy, happiness, gift.
One bland one: surprise, unexpected.
One heart: warm and cozy feelings (but not necessarily shared), romantic feelings (but not necessarily shared).
Two hearts: shared warm and cozy feelings, shared romantic feelings.
Broken heart: heartbreak, broken relationship, lost relationship, broken deal.
Ladder (or reversed as Gate): situation that goes better, help; as Gate, obstacle, delay.
Circle: protection, vicious never-ending circle.
V: victory, success.
Iceberg: not everything is what it seems, hidden aspects, lies, something hard or impossible to reach.
Crossroad (X): decision to make, choice, doubts, indecision.
I find this frustrating when so-called scientists and sceptics try to test readers on documentaries, articles and especially on tv shows/news. Of course their conclusion is that readers are all fraud and are out there to make money on you. It's true there are frauds everywhere but putting everyone in the same box is wrong, it's generalisation.
The worse is that the methods used are not even scientific. They have no knowledge on these subjects and are deeply prejudiced. Worse, they do not test the readers's capacity to read well, they test whether the readers are telepath or not, in other words, if the readers are not telepath and can't read in the person's mind asking for a reading is feeding false datas and is testing the readers, then these readers are fraud. Tell me, how many persons you know are telepath? Probably none, right? I don't think I've ever seen a telepath myself and I hang with readers and Neo-Pagans. Indeed, some readers say they are psychic but most of them are not. Actually, anyone can read tarot or any oracle without having any psychic power, I'm among them. So these pseudo reporters completely distort everything, don't use any scientific methods, feed false datas and then make funs of readers because they are not telepath. Not once do they truly and honestly test the readers.
Let me teach you a few things about how these things work. I'll start with a pendulum and you can go buy one to test it yourself. I never use a pendulum on my side, for a simple fact, you can make a pendulum say whatever you want. You ask the pendulum if you will win lottery the next day, it will say yes, it will tell you you will meet the person of your dreams next week and a nice raise next month. Pendulums are like statistics, you can make them say anything. In other words, you have complete control over the pendulum.
Cards like tarot in the other hand are more difficult to control, but it is doable. Here are different ways to control the cards:
- If you are delusional about something, or the person you read is, cards will have weird reactions, they'll end up saying things that don't make sense. An excellent exemple of this is a friend who is highly delusional over many things and this person's lease was finishing. The person did not want to quit the place at all but was forced to. I read this person many times and with other oracles beside tarot and there was no move in the cards, just to show you how much the person was fixated with the idea of staying there. But then, maybe I should have not let the person shuffle and pick the cards, because when I hold my decks I tell them I want to know the truth, no matter what, even if it hurts.
- I made the mistake, when I read this person, to ask the cards many times over the same question which is something else cards don't like either, if you ask too many times the same question, the cards stop making sense because you don't accept the answers they gave you earlier, they don't want to deal with you anymore (didn't you get it the first time?).
- Another way to control the cards is to be emotional during a reading, really emotional, whether it's blissfullness, excitation, depression or fear. The cards will pick up on these and will be influenced. If you are too blissful, cards will tell you positive things that might be to good to be true, and probably aren't. You're excited about something? The cards might tell you you will get it, even if it's not true. Depressed and scared? Then you can expect the cards to come up with the worse catastrophies to make you worry even more. It's essential to be calm and objective about yourself and the situation when you read yourself, and the querent must be this way as well for the cards not to come up with stuff like that.
- People tend to ask the wrong questions or not phrasing well their questions. It's best not to ask a yes/no question because it's impossible for the cards to answer yes or no. Also, some ask about money but deep down they are asking about love and the cards end up not making sense because they don't know which question to answer, so it's important to have clear questions and to ask about what matter most.
- This one is the favorite of the pseudo-reporters and scientificc testers, also used by sceptics, feeding the reader false datas. It's obvious in science that if you feed false datas you will get false results. It's the same with the cards. If you're not honest and upfront, make up stories that aren't true, the cards won't make sense either. Also, cards require a lot of interpretation, the cards do not give clear cut answers, it's up to the reader, using the informations you gave him/her, to interpret the informations and give them to you. If you get Two of Cups and you said before that you're married the reader won't think then about a possible marriage when interpreting this card, per exemple.
If you really want to be read by a reader, then I suggest to avoid everything that can make the cards come up with nonsense that I described above. This is the only way to have a chance to have a good reading. So if you're a sceptic and used one or many of these methods and the cards did not make sense, I hope now you can understand why it did not go well, give tarot (and any oracle) a second try and this time make sure not to screw up, it's important not to go there and deeply wish the cards fail, because they probably will. These are also good tips if you want to learn to read tarot and/or any other oracles. The power of the mind is incredible and it's important to be careful about being calm, grounded and objective so that you control as little as possible the cards.
I just got a new deck, the Liber T Tarot of Stars Eternal, a pretty deck following the Thoth very closely but with illustrated minors. The art is strange but fit well with the deck with all those sweet colors and flowing and celestial art. I made as well a spread to see what kind of relationship we will have the deck and I. Here is the spread:
1. Tell me about yourself. What is your most important characteristic? XV - The Devil The deck seems to be telling me it is pagan in nature and a direct connection to the divine. Here is it Kernunnos on the card, the earthly and green God. Since I'm Wiccan and the panthion I use is Celtic I'm rather touched by this: Kernunnos is the God I use. It is saying the earthly world is as important as the divine/spiritual one, to find ecstasy in all things. This reminds me of a part of the Charge of the Goddess: "Sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in My Presence, for Mine is the ecstasy of the spirit and Mine also is joy on earth." This Devil is filled with earthly pagan creative energy.
2. What are your strengths as a deck? Two of Cups It harmonizes well the female and male principals, but as well everything else, like the dark and light, the above and below, the material and spiritual, etc. There is a definitive alchemical work going on with the deck. There is a sense of sharing as well, that if I give love I shall be loved back, the deck is ready to love me, will I?
3. What are your limits as a deck? IX - The Hermit This deck is filled with ancient wisdom and wants a real relationship and commitment from me, otherwise the relationship will be sterile. I have to be ready to search by myself the answers and show determination. Once I do, I will have a wise companion helping me. It's even possible the deck does not have all the answers yet, that like me, it still searches. I should not be scared of the strange ways the Hermit chooses to teach me.
4. What do you bring to the table -- what are you here to teach me? Princess of Cups The deck offers me to realise my potential, to cristallise what is hidden within me. It offers me as well an emotional rapture. It wants to teach me kindness and sweetness. Or maybe it is the deck who is sweet and gentle with me, caring.
5. How can I best learn from and collaborate with you? Six of Swords I'm not surprised to get this card. It says I'm going to need all my keen sharp mind and intelligence to use this deck. I will have to study indepth certain subjects and analyse them. At the same time, it might make my mind more elastic and make me understand complex systems.
6. What is the potential outcome of our working relationship? Prince of Cups The deck offers transformation of the self, to master emotions and fear and allow to express them, to be in control of your life. It will teach me to follow my desires remorselessly. Passion awaits... for both of us I guess (the deck and I).
