I bought a new deck today. It's beautiful. I am going to post pics of it here, with explanations for each card, as soon as I can get the scanner to work that is. I was in a store today, shopping for gifts for Clearwitch and her BF Asmadeus to take to them. It's an occult store, and I saw this deck which seemed to shout out to me. It's a Celtic Dragon deck, and the original pictures were painted in watercolors, so it's very appealing to me visually. I haven't even seen my tarot deck in at least two years, so I decided to spend the $30, and indulge myself. So there is an hour drive from the city to my house, and I was holding the cards and shuffling them on the highway for about half and hour, just getting the feel of them again. Well, I asked the deck to find me, because I couldn't remember which card signified me. I flipped the top card after shuffling a bit more and my jaw dropped.

It was The Magician.

Here is the explanation for the magician in this deck. Again, it is a Celtic Dragon deck, so it differs from others a bit.

The Fool has progressed far enough to see results from magical studies and endeavors, thus becoming a practicing alchemical Magician. As the Magician stands before her alter, her concentration and actions have attracted many astral Dragons to aid and guide. The Dragon topped wand in her left hand symbolises the connection with the subconcious and superconcious minds, a vital and necessary ingredient to successful magic. Twining, green, Celtic embroidery on the robe reveals the awareness that the spiritual and the physical must be balanced for progress along the path, and that all things in the physical and astral planes are intertwined. Psychic ablities are beginning to flourish, as seen in the half formed images of Dragons in the incense smoke. Using the Dragon topped wand, the magician is focusing her attention on Dragon energy and knowledge in order to comprehend the ancient wisdom in the book.

Divination meaning of The Magician: You are discovering how to use the laws of magic, faith and will power to get what you need and desire. Study and practice in a new career or spiritual path that attracts you. Your thoughts and energies flow in harmony to accomplish what needs to be done. This is an excellent time to gain self-control.

I did a online reading once, long story short it said I was going to die.

(as I was talking to Clear's BF Asmadeus, I turned up this card)

The Wheel

A large ancient book, entitled The Grimoire Of Life, is held open by the claws of a Dragon. One of the pages reveals a large eight-spoke Celtic Wheel, an ancient symbol that all life turns and returns in patterns, cycles and seasons. This symbolic message is repeated in the text: "The wheel turns. Learn to ride with Dragons." The triform spiral below the text is the Celtic symbol of fate, similar to the interlocked motif of three triangles that represented the Norse Fate Goddesses, The Norns. Dragons represent the flow of diverse and recycling energies throughout all creation and lives. When the wheel turns, and we return to a certain pattern of energy and action, we call it karma. Karma can be positive or negative, paying or receiving, going forward or going backward. If we can learn the lesson embedded in "negative" karma, we can transform it into "positive" and move into a different cycle. However, we must be aware of truth (the feather quill) and be willing and diligent in seekng Dragon-knowledge of universal energy flows if we are to succeed in our forward path through life.

Divination of The Wheel

Luck and fate are turning in your favor. Your life has entered a change of cycles that will allow you to move forward or slide backward, depending on your preperation and determination. It is time to make changes. Break with incompatible lovers, friends, relatives, relationships or careers.

*wrinkles nose in thought*
Hmm......interesting I have that deck and a few others. Next, you will do Celtic Tree Oracles and post the branches on-line with the tree meaning and all directional castings.

Normally decks are never bought for the self but gifted to the person with the spirit on the giver in them. (as I never bought mine Raven did and every other deck I have ever owned.)
Asking a deck to find you rarely works as the subconcious intent of the person interfers too much to acutally call out without some inner pretenes. Gifted decks are the most powerful and are the most trust worthy for they do not hold those pretenses in them from the start. Yes, one can call to a deck but for the most part one cannot even trust themselves (or what they hold in their own soul) enough to call out to another human, let alone place the intent of the consious programmed mind aside to make a call of pure intent.


In essecence: be careful of what you call for, you may not bargin for the results of the hidden cost. And greet the gifts of those with care for the intent of the soul lies longs after they have left.
For magical purposes I would recommend taking a close friend with you to shop as they know you better then yourself and could express a gift of love you might not see in yourself for yourself.

(behold the disclaimer)
All in all these are just my words and can be taken however they want by whomever.*shurgs*

I have to disagree there. Never let someone else choose your deck for you, they can never know which one truly calls out for you. By choosing yourself you are able to feel which one is the right one, the only right one. As long as you are capable of separating mind and heart, that is.

That is how I got my deck, a friend of mine wanted to buy me a tarot for my birthday, and instead of buying it on his own, he took me with him, so I could choose for myself. And it has yet to fail me.

I am definitely with Clear here...

... but, different things work for different people. I prefer to depend on my own knowledge and strength, as I have been betrayed by others. I doubt there are many people I would trust to chose something I consider that important. A Tarot deck should be all yours, and of your own choosing. But then again, we differ on many issues. If a deck calls you, there is no reason not to believe it is yours.

I was gifted a deck once...it was the most common deck out there. I was thankful that my christmas wish was granted, but I could never bring myself to use the deck. It didn't call out to me. One of the things the tarot has always been to me...was a way for my subconscious to communicate with my conscious..

I was taught that I should pick my own deck because I would be drawn to the correct one, I was taught that I should never let anyone else touch my cards without my first giving them direct permission by handing them over.

They sit wrapped in an heirloom cloth in a little cedar box and they have never done me wrong. I have had the same beautiful deck since I was sixteen and deamed knowledgeable to read my own. Only two other people have ever handled them, my sister-the one that taught me...and my best friend-the one who shares my interests.

As for the information about one never being able to even trust themselves or what is in their soul...That is what my tarot deck is for. To me, it brings me closer to what I supposedly do not know enough to trust.

However I consent that other people are taught different things and I realize that your system probably works as well for you as mine does for me. But I felt the need to point out to you that everything is done differently and just because it is so does not make it wrong, just like in the meditation thread. Deja Vu.

Perhaps thoughs of us who feel more at ease with picking our own cards are more oriented with ourselves originally. A..taking fate into ones own hands kind of thing. But, I suppose thats another thread.

i've only ever let one person select mine, she chose the goddess deck, and it worked for a time, but now i've fallen back to the waite deck, it just seems to snap into place for me, where as others besides the goddess deck I have to concentrat to get them to tell me the story...it just depends on who you were taught the tarot from...like many other topics of this nature, it's a matter of practice and the come befores...

The more I handle this particular deck, the more it speaks to me. The knowledge and comfort is coming back so quickly it's amazing really. My other deck belonged to my great grandmother and then my grandmother, it skipped my mother and became mine. I was very comfortable with it, but it never spoke to me in this manner.

It must be the Dragon's, the Dragons comfort me.

Anninn...you know, that was the exact same thing my mother taught me...never let anyone touch your deck, or play with it, treat it with respect, never let the cards lie on a plain surface, use a soft cloth between...I have a piece of black silk wrapped around my deck...a Palladin deck. I don't know what it was about it...but I liked the pictures...the white-bearded man on the box...he looked so serene, so calm...it was an obvious choice. *smiles*

I rarely use mine these days, but every once in a while I shuffle through it...picking out a few cards, one for me, one for each of the ones close to me. And I usually hit the spot. I'm not that good with readings yet, I have a problem seeing the theme...the connection between each card. But I'll get there, in time.

Clear does this for me too. Every time she turns up Temperance, which I will do next. I shuffled the cards for a while and flipped up The Star, which is what she represents to me.

Seven gold winged Dragons do a star dance through the night sky. There are stars all around them. The stars are beacons to guide the seeker through the journey of the subconcious mind and on to the path to a better physical and spiritual life. Shooting stars flash by, symbols of quickly moving events. The seeker must constantly keep alert in order to benefit from rapidly appearing and dissappearing opportunities, some of which may never again come in this lifetime. Planets can be seen, including Jupiter with it's rings, representing the postive energy and manifestations that can go hand in hand with certain opportunities and actions. The Dragons ride the universal currents of unseen energy, instinctively knowing that they are there to be used by those who know of their existence. Once the human seeker learns of the unlimited, invisible streams of universal power, he/she need only trust instinct to call upon their boundless energy.

Divination of The Star:

Personal spiritual experiences give you a glimpse of universal conciousness. You need to stretch beyond what you think is your potential. New opportunities will present themselves to you. Divine guidance is available if you listen.

The oddest thing is, I have only drawn the Major Arcana. This is very unusual, as these are the least amount of cards in the Tarot Deck. This is what I mean about the deck speaking to me.

I've got chills now...thank you.

*luffs waters deck*

This is amazing really, at least she will find it so... for she knows more of me than anyone.

In perfect harmony, three Dragons coil and turn through the skies, weaving strand of spirtual energy with their claws. The sky itself holds repeating petterns of spirals, symbolizing the primal matter of creation-destruction that is all around us. One Dragon is blue; another is shades of red; the third is shades of green. Red symbolises vibrant life energies and the sexual drive; green, the productiveness of the mind; blue, the watery instability of emotion. All there must be twined together in equal parts in order to temper and modify life experiences, so what is out of balance (intemperate) can be corrected. An elongated, golden lemniscate (a figure eight) of eternal life twines through the spinning circle of Dragons, representing that a balanced life cannot exist without the important element of spirit.

Divining the Temperance card.

This card may presage a period of creative inspiration, or a time of harmony and peacefulness. Self-control and inner guidance will get you through the difficulties. A trip gives you a new perspective on an old issue. You need to adapt to new circumstances.

I am certain that Clear will agree that these two cards very aptly profess exactly what we mean to each other, and the fact that we turn them up for each other is quite profound.

*gasps*

This is amazing...it fits you perfectly! And the elements of water and spirit...hehehe. This is almost scary, you know...

Can you post King of Swords too? Sire's card...

The King of Swords (and I now have chills)

I ask everyone to remember that the description of the card is as important as the Divinatory meaning of it.

The King of Swords stands on a ledge inside a great underground cavern. The cavern is part of the interior of an active volcano, a place of primordial energy for either creation or destruction. In one hand the king holds a sword (his strength of will) as he stares down into the bubbling lava and fierce fire. He has studied long and hard to learn how to reach this divine, but potentially volatile, center of power within himself. Looking up at him out of this pit of rolling heat and molten rock is a large Fire Dragon, with a baby on it's shoulder. The king has learned through life experience that he must take responsibility for all his actions and uses of magickal energy. He has mastered self-control of his emotions, knowing when to defend and when to release. He knows he can now walk through fire and control his fear of unexpected events. His crown represents spiritual enlightenment, the result of a lifetime of searching. Behind him, up the flight of stairs, sets his massive throne, symbolic of stability and security. The king descended the stairs, deep into his subconcious mind, and now makes contact with universal, manifesting power, from which he will mold his desires into actuality.

The Divinatory Meaning:

This card suggests a powerful but stubborn masculine influence which may be opposing you. In a new project, do everything exactly by the rules or you will lose.

The Emperor (and still I only choose Major Arcana cards)

The Emperor, or Lord of Dragons, is powerful in his calmness and comprehension of universal laws and universal connectedness of all creation. As with his companion dragon, the Emperor's third eye sees both the physical and astral entities and energies around him. The brown of his tunic and trousers reveals his common sense attitude toward all things, but this is tempered and refined by the spiritual gold of the designs of his jewelry and clothing. He accepts the responsibility of his position on the spiritual path that he has chosen, as he watches over and regulates the activities of his children (the power in the mystical center of each human) and the little dragons (newly formed magical endeavors). The stars of his crown symbolize spiritual guidance through the labyrinth of spiritual oneness, both for himself and for others who might follow him. The long sword at his side represents the leadership and justice he must be prepared to render if necessary. He and his companion dragon sit peacefully in the beautiful garden of regeneration and renewal, in the hidden spiritual place that is the goal of all seekers.

Divinatory Meaning of The Emperor

Your life will be smoother if you cultivate leadership and stability in order to progress. You may be influenced by a charismatic personality. You may move into a position of power in your job. This is a good time for real estate transactions. "God" influences come into your life.

I am done for now - this is way too freaky all at once.

Awesome!

Read my cards!

I said no more, but I am talking to Clear, and I had to complete it with his.

She will understand what this card symbolises. Especially in light of what he has done for me in the past.
And once again - it's Major Arcana.

Strength

A large Dragon sits with its wings outstretched, it's mouth open and emitting a controlled gust of fire. This dragon symbolises the Guardian of the Threshhold, the inner spiritual guardian who tests all initiates before they pass on to a higher level of spiritual developement. The Dragon challenges the seeker but she is not afraid. She lifts her hand to it in love and understanding and stares into it's eyes as she telepathically communicates her right to make this journey and pass through to greater acheivements. Her willpower is strong, and she is determined to continue her quest. In her right hand is a red rose, symbolising her accomplishments. Her green robe is decorated with spirals, showing her concious understanding of the constantly moving energies of creation-destruction, the very foundation of magic and growth. The green pentacles on her yellow gown reveal her connection with the Goddess and the protection derived from this connection. Her feet are bare on the dark stones; her foundation in the spiritual is secure and unimpeeded. Several small Dragons cluster about her feet, symbolic of her astral guides and teachers.

Divinatory Meaning of Strength

Let your intuition guide you into taking a stand. If you are right in a disagreement, do not give in, but use calm persuasion to carry you to victory. Use courage, willpower, and inner strength to overcome difficulties.

Isn't this what he always tells me? *is stunned*