Many thanks go out to you for making this a great year for the Magpie Oracle and Lenormand Revolution!

I wanted to make you a gift of appreciation for the overwhelming support you gave my creations this year-  one, that in turn, supports your divination practice.

I’ve found that one of the best ways to become proficient in Lenormand is through the use of flashcards or keeping a visual  journal, and investing a lot of time in readings.  Included in this post is a tool that will help you learn Lenormand via printable flashcards.

Each card features a Lenormand symbol and comes with a set of keywords to get you started with card recognition. I recommend you print these out on card stock and cut them to deck size. You can also give your cards an adhesive back.  This will make it easy to add them as labels of learning to your Lenormand journal.

May this gift make learning an enjoyable experience. Please return here in 2014 for the launch of some exciting new products, casting sheets and a special announcement.

Buon Natale!

(Click on each sheet and print)

A Free Online Meetup: Ancestry and How it Conditions Us

I’m hosting a free online class with my friend Christophe Richart Carrozza who spent many years in Paris assisting Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s work in tarot and Psychomagic. Christophe is now taking what he knows to new heights and will be presenting a fantastic spread on working with our ancestry. This is a rare opportunity to participate in one of Christophe’s classes presented in English. Click on the below link for more details and bring a deck.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

7:30 PM PDT – 9:00PM PDT (Check your timezone here)

Click here join in the Zoom Meeting Room

The Meeting ID is: 293 752 804

You can also join by phone. Find your local number here, or Dial by your location

Giveaways are Good for the Soul

Hey Diviners! The new moon in upon us and with it come free offerings.

On March 24^th, I’ll be presenting a free Mediumship & Tarot workshop at The Mystic Dream in Walnut Creek, California. This class is part of the shop’s Wisdom Festival and follows a full day of workshops covering a variety of magical topics. Please come by, say hello and divine with us.

In April I’ll be in New York for the annual Readers Studio conference where Andrew McGregor and I will be launching our latest divining kit, The Charming Dead Oracle that’s simply… otherworldly.

On May 26-27 I’ll be joining many diviners for a weekend of workshops and readings in the sweet village of Elora, Canada for the Elora Tarot & Divination Festival organized by Shelley Carter as part of the Elora Tarot Lovers Project which features 45 works based on the Tarot Lovers card. The tag line for this project is a timely one; Celebrate love and connection as an antidote to hatred and division.

In other news, fellow indie deck creator, Doug Thornsjo is in the final hours of his Kickstarter campaign for his eerily emblematic deck with a Steam Age soul, Tinker’s Damn Tarot. At the time of this post, Tinker’s was just $600 shy of reaching its goal. Hence my reason for adding it to this newsletter. I’m a big fan of Doug’s work and indie decks, and would love to see this become a successful campaign so I’m giving away links to the recordings of my 5-week Creative Casting course to anyone who supports Doug’s campaign. Other teachers in this course include Rana George, Andrew McGregor and Michele Jackson. Check out the class description here and get in touch with me here once you support the campaign. At the completion of a successful campaign, I will send you the links and pdfs for each class.

One final freemium. I entered a piece of art titled, I’ll Show You Mine (pictured here), in the Tarot Lovers Project and will add your name to “the hat” if you help fund Tinker’s Damn Tarot. By funding this project your name will be entered to win this 16×16 piece which is mounted metal and speaks of sharing a vulnerable heart in trying times. Can you tell I really want this deck? I do and suspect many others do as well. Thank you for considering!

Here’s to you enjoying a fabulous new moon in the sensitive sign of Pisces. May all of your highest dreams and wishes come true.

In the Gaelic tradition, October 31st is observed as Samhain which marks both the end of the harvest season and beginning of a New Year. Throughout Latin America, November 1st is observed as Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead where the ancestors are remembered and celebrated at their graves, while on November 2nd the Catholic tradition commemorates the departed on All Souls’ or Saints’ Day with prayer and ritual. Each reflect on the life of the departed with reverence.

In this online gathering we will use our decks to build Altars of Prayer that serve as both divination and connection with our ancestors’ deeper message.

RSVP here. Class size is limited. Attend with your favorite deck.  A link to get into the online classroom will be posted to you 24 hours before we begin.

Today’s casting sheet borrows from a 1700’s pseudoscience known as Phrenology, a way of understanding a person’s psychology and personality traits by measuring the size, shape and structure of the head.

The professional Phrenologist employed an instrument known as a craniometer to measure areas in the brain that were over or underdeveloped as well as balanced or out of sorts.  Similar to hand analysis, Phrenologists also relied on a variety of pictorial graphs for charting and determining the well-being of their patient.

The following casting sheet is from one of the more basic phrenology charts illustrating seven areas in the brain that a phrenologist examined.

Here’s how it works:

Take your Magpie Oracle, Lenormand Loadstones, or favorite deck and pull a card or cast your divination system over the chart.  You may also try dedicating a specific number of charms or cards to each section.  Always go with where your first impulse takes you in order to see where the divination is leading. In doing so you will soon discover that your way is the best way.

If casting the Magpie Oracle, take note of where your charms land.  Are the charms evenly distributed throughout the chart, or have many collected in one area and not another?  In either case, take some time to sit with what’s in front of you to ponder on what your chart is revealing about your current situation.  Is a theme building or message developing? Keep that perspective on the front burner when asking the following questions.

For this particular divination I created a list of questions I felt would expand my mind while exploring the seven areas on the phrenology chart, though I encourage you to add some of your own.

• SKEPTICISM: What does being a skeptic prevent me from understanding?
• COMPASSION: How can I practice compassion without going into compassion fatigue?
• CONFIDENCE: Where is the highest place confidence can exist that’s beyond the ego?
• RESPECT: Who, what or where can I extend my respect?
• CURIOSITY: Where is my curiosity leading?
• PATIENCE: What area in my life could use the most patience?
• REASONING: Where is reasoning best directed?

Once you’ve finished your divination write your discoveries directly onto the casting sheet and place it in a location where you can continue to work with it.

As always, have fun and may your future follow your highest wishes.

Download the Emblem Elucidator to start building your Magpie Oracle II’s Keepsake Box vocabulary.

Keywords for the Magpie Oracle Lenormand set can be found here.

Need a deck? You can download and print two free Lenormand options here and here.

(Click, Print & Divine)

Let’ celebrate love by sharing what we love with who we love!  In honor of your sweet, divining heart I give you 36 Valentine’s Day cards– Lenormand style. May this mini deck warm you and inspire a divine future filled with amore.  Baci!

(Click, print & divine with love)

(Click, print & divine with love)

(Click, print & divine with love)

(Click, print & divine with love)

Have you ever found yourself trying to piece together the back story of people in old photos? This happened to me a few years ago when I came across a photo of my grandfather’s family, pictured to the left. I’ve seen this image many times over the years and recall my grandmother disliking it due to the poverty it portrayed. While the hardship is undeniable, the image is rich with emotion. To me it symbolizes family members having no choice but to stay behind in Southern Italy while their eldest son immigrated to America. Living in their hearts must have been a strong mix of grief with hope that their son would find a better opportunity and return a rich man. This photo, costing more than the family could possibly afford, would serve as an important reminder of why the son immigrated. Sadly he would never return to Italy nor see his family again thus making the photo a priceless possession.

No one in my family knows the name of the child in the photo and this mystery has haunted me since my youth. As I grew older I found myself viewing him as a Page found in tarot decks. He began to represent a messenger of hope for something better and new. It’s because of this association that I began an art project that took me on an unexpected journey.

On January 1st of 2012 I committed to making art for the sake of aligning with creativity. My aim was to move out of the way in order to create an opening for art to express itself. Inspired by the mystery of the child in the photo, I decided to begin my artistic quest with him and exchanged his cane with a Page’s coin and again with a wand found in a Pamela A deck.  This soon followed with other overlays of tarot imagery onto cabinet cards and at about twenty pieces into the project, and through the encouragement from others, the possibility for a full deck began to emerge. 

Over time I posted samples of the deck on Facebook and as a result have received some sweet feedback from many of you asking when and where the deck can be purchased. However before I can point you to an order page I still need to finish the deck and could really use your help in reaching that finish line.

How can you help? It’s easy. I’m looking for extra images that will help complete the deck and would love to include photos of your relations.

If you have older, preferably pre-1915, sepia toned cabinet cards, and/or hand tinted or black and white photos from your family album that you would like to see included in this deck, then please, by all means submit them.  I can only take high resolution scans in jpeg format.

I can’t promise that all photos will be used, but what I can offer is a free deck to the submissions that do find their way into the deck. Contact me here with any questions.

If you do submit a photo with your inquiry, please add any history you know of the person in the image and which tarot card you think would be a good match for your image.

Thank you so much for reading, sharing this information, and possibly contributing to this project. I’d love to give our families this new opportunity to guide us.

Are you looking for a way to keep a record of your grand tableau? Want to leave your reading out for further viewing but put your charms and cards away? Here’s a printable sheet that allows for that.  Simply print and add charm titles and keywords from your reading directly onto the following grand tableau template.  Keeping a record of your divination is a great way to track the accuracy of your reading while building a strong relationship with your system.

(Click, print & divine)

Working with the houses?  Print the following house template and assign or cast your charms over each house.  Like the first sheet, log your information directly onto the page to record and review the progress of your reading.

An easy way to warm up to the house system is to think of your charms as house-guests who, through conversation are influenced by the house they visit.  Let’s take the example of the visiting charm which is known as the Ring; this charm is involved with engagements, agreements, contracts, and often viewed as something round, or things that go in circles. When this charm lands in the house of the Ship, it may point to a future overseas engagement, or perhaps a round-trip. The Ship charm is associated with travel, overseas business and transitions.

Here are a few more options for enhancing your reading skills:  Practice charm and card combining with my Lenormand activity sheets.  Magpie Oracle Keywords can be found here.  Need a deck?  Here’s a free Lenormand deck that you can print and use immediately.

(Click, print & divine)

Please add your name to my subscriber’s list. This is where I announce new release dates. Many thanks for stopping by!

The Generations Oracle is here!

Kits Ship on September 13, 2021

The Generations Oracle is a set of unique divination tools specifically designed to help you connect and open dialogue with your ancestors so you can get to the bottom of vexing issues. This tool is flexible, user friendly and can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. You can use the kit’s individual elements as standalone tools, and in whatever order you prefer, if that’s what feels right at the moment. Each kit comes with helpful video links that guide you in successfully divining with your items. In addition to the videos you will have access to a private Generations Oracle Facebook group where Lisa, Carrie and several guests in the field of ancestral communication will offer live sessions on how you can extend the experience with your oracle. What’s inside? Read on!

Reading Cloth Featuring

Learn to use the oracle with its creators:

Carrie Paris is devoted to creating tools that unite diviners with accurate insights. She was in the first class to receive a Masters in the Cultural Study of Cosmology and Divination from the University of Kent, UK, and has authored numerous Magpie Oracle casting kits, the Relative Tarot, Legendary Lenormand, Sirens’ Song Lenormand and co-created the award winning Lenormand Revolution deck. Carrie teaches a series of popular online courses that explore casting, tarot magick and ancestral communication through divination and enjoys teaching her craft in many countries and online from her home in northern California.

 

 

I have been swimming. Not in the literal sense, but more in the way one swims with divergent thoughts. It feels unsettling, especially when I float past my very doable to-do list only to view it as if it’s grown horns. What am I doing? Why am I drifting from responsibility? What’s the point of this unanchored energy? I’ve come to recognize these questions not as being particularly helpful, but more as distractions that keep me swimming in the waters of paralysis analysis. Sound familiar? Then read on.

Much of my stagnation feels lockdown related, eclipse influenced and at times a combo of the two. One thing is for certain, my situation favors avoidance and for this reason I created the following spread that works in tandem with today’s partial solar eclipse.

Eclipses are notorious for amplifying energetic standstills, and for many the desire to suppress eclipse-driven angst far outweigh the gumption to stand in the dark and face the cause of our anxiety. The aim of this divination is to help us show up and locate the intelligence that exists within that tension and to view it as a strong request for change. Here’s how it works:

You will need two decks for this spread. Any tarot, Lenormand or oracle will do. Deck 1 represents the hidden agenda behind any aimless drift you may find yourself in and why you are choosing to remain in unmoving waters. Deck 2 represents the request for change being communicated from your standstill and what may transpire should you choose to take action over nonaction.

Each position is paired with one of five significant phases found in the June 10th eclipse which is being touted as a ring of fire eclipse meaning the moon will pass in front of the sun to create the illusion of a ring of fire.

For this spread I’m using cards created by an artist who means the world to me, Lisa de St Croix. I will be divining with two of Lisa’s Tarot de St. Croix decks; a lovely first edition (2013) featuring warm, terracotta borders, and also her latest 2021 reprint which is a borderless version of the Tarot de St Croix featuring titles on darker cardstock. Both decks share the same imagery, and with this new reprint, I couldn’t help but see how one perfectly lends itself to what I call Shadow divining while the other can be used for Light divining.

For this divination I suggest you select and assign a deck as your Shadow deck to represent the hidden agenda behind any impasse you might be experiencing. Next, select and assign another deck as your Light deck to represent the request for change this divination is pointing to.

Shuffle both decks, keep them separate and place your Shadow deck to the left and your Light deck to the right. You can use the following diagram as your guide or make one of your own. The goal is to have two decks going simultaneously so you can see both sides of your situation.

Visit here for a full printable of this spread.

Step 1: Partial Eclipse Begins

If you are fortunate to safely witness today’s eclipse you will notice the moon starting to become visible. Many describe this phase as the sun looking as if a bite has been taken from it.

Question for Shadow deck/1 card: What is at the root of what is eating my time/energy/drive?

Question for Light deck/1 card: How can I expose and therefore break free from justifying agendas that eat away at my progress?

Step 2: Partial Phase

The moon begins to block the sun causing your environment to darken and lose the sun’s heat and light.

Question for Shadow deck/1 card: What am I choosing to engage with that blocks my light?

Question for Light deck/1 card:  What action can I take to fearlessly reach into the darkest part of my shadow and pull from it insights that inform rather than obscure my mission on Earth?

Step 3: Ring of Fire Phase

Here the moon is positioned in front of the sun. While not covering the entire sun, the moon appears smaller than the sun causing it to create a ring of fire.

Question for Shadow deck/1 card: What small excuses do I passionately surround myself with?

Question for Light deck/1 card:  How can I best sustain a fire that fuels vitality, drive and focus?

Step 4: Partial Phase Ends

The moon begins to move across the face of the sun allowing the return of light, heat and orientation.

Question for Shadow deck/1 card: What is the purpose behind engaging with actions that continue to disorient me?

Question for Light deck/1 card:  What steps can I take that will illuminate my commitment to my purpose?

Step 5: Final Phase

With the moon’s influence no longer in sight, we return to the light and heat of the sun.

Question for Shadow deck/1 card: What influences encourage me to stay hidden?

Question for Light deck/1 card:  How can I recognize the difference between being in my true light over expressing a false light?

Once you’ve finished divining, and if possible, keep your reading out so you can check in with it as needed. I like to take my time with readings and will continue to nurture my divination from this new moon to the full Strawberry moon (June 24, 2021) by revisiting it and perhaps adding more cards or charms. A good way to keep your reading alive is by taking a photo of it and saving the image as the screen saver on one or all of your devices.

Eclipse times can be found here.

Not in a location to watch the eclipse? No problem, you can follow it live here.