Happy summer, everyone!  If you’re new here, welcome to the June casting calendar.  At the beginning of every month I make available  a new casting calendar and every three weeks you can find a variety of other casting sheets for divining life. Here’s how the casting calendar works…

Click on the calendar and print.  Take your Magpie Oracle, though any divination system will do, and cast your charms over the calendar.  If casting isn’t your thing, you can randomly select and assign a charm to each day of the week.  Whichever route you choose, pay attention to where your charms land and mark your findings directly onto this sheet. If more than one charm shares a date on your calendar, view it as an opportunity to try your hand at card combining.  If your charms bypass a day altogether, I recommend you take that as a day of rest, or removing debris from your schedule.

Return to your calendar often to reflect and check on the accuracy of your reading. Take special note of  important celestial dates happening this month like the Summer Solstice on June 21st, seen as a time for peak experiences, and the Full Moon (June 13th), which is an opportune time to ask what you would like to see manifest by the light of this moon.  The New Moon (June 27th), is  for creating new beginnings. What are you beginning or setting out to do? How will you start and what will change for you?

As always, happy casting and may your future follow your wishes.

Magpie Oracle keywords can be found here, and keywords for Lenormand Loadestones here.

(Click, Print & Divine)

“May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand”

Irish Blessing

March is the month that brings us the Day of the Festival of Saint Patrick and as the saying goes, everyone is Irish on March 17th.  So let’s set the mood for this month’s casting calendar by putting on some Irish music and casting our Magpie Oracle charms over the following sheet that invokes the luck of the Irish in body, mind, hart and spirit.  Here’s how it works:

Cast or assign a charm or Lenormand card to each day of the week.  Everyday on this calendar promotes the idea that adding a little more luck and good fortune to your life-focus builds a stronger bond with Fate and community. Take note of where your charms land and combine their meaning with the provided starter sentences.

Magpie Oracle keywords can be found here.

Card combining activity sheets here.

A free, printable Lenormand deck can be found here, and here.

(Click, Print and Divine)

In an effort to find a casting element for the New year, I came across the teachings of spiritual Master, Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov, who suggests we pay close attention to what happens during the first 12 days of January.  According to Aivanhov, each day can be paired with each month of the year and so reveal an annual forecast.  That is,  January 1st represents the first month of the year, while January 2nd represents the month of February, and the 3rd nods to March, etc. I fell in love with this idea as it lends itself beautifully to a casting sheet.

This New Year’s eve,  which also happens to be the new moon, I plan to set my intention for 2014 by assigning three Magpie Oracle charms to the first 12 days of January (Lenormand and tarot cards work too).  I hope you’ll join me in divining a promising New Year.

Here’s how it works:

(Click and Print)

Included is a printable casting sheet featuring the next 12 months.  Cast all of your charms directly over the sheet and take note of where they land. More than one charm landing in a month points to extra energy, while none suggest taking some quiet time.

You can also randomly select and assign three charms for each month and place them in a row of three; left, center and right.  The central charm will act as the month’s main focus, while the remaining two describe how you can act on your focus. By the time you reach December you will have utilized 36 charms.  This is a grand reading so give yourself plenty of time to divine before, during and especially after your reading.

Keeping an annual divination alive can be a challenge and this is why I recommend printing two casting sheets on sturdy card stock.  This will allow you to keep the main sheet out, preferably in a place where you will see it for the year.  My hunch is that over time a theme for the New Year will reveal itself.  That theme would be easy to miss if placed in a drawer.

Use the second sheet to cut out each individual month and assign them a place in your home. I’m going to be hanging mine on a beaded line over my altar.  Having something like this always prompts participation, plus the 12 pieces will make for a nice set of ornaments or beautiful year end review.

I purchased a set of metallic writing pens to add to the festive New Year theme and recommend you use something that’s easy to print on black paper.  No doubt what the glitter lovers will be using.  Add your findings to your sheets and decorate away.  The more cretive drive you put into your divination the better the outcome.

For those who would like to cast the entire month– a January casting calendar follows.  Keywords for the Magpie Oracle can be found here.  Don’t have a deck?  I made one that you can download for free here.

Wishing you a fabulous New Year and sending a thousand thanks for your ongoing support with the Magpie Oracle and Lenormand Revolution. Because of you, we had an amazing year.  May your future follow your wishes!

(Click and Print)

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)

This evening’s new moon is in Sagittarius and with it comes a renewed energy for connecting with our intentions. This is also the last new moon of 2013 making it the perfect time to reflect on the year. Did you accomplish what you set out to do this year?  I’ll admit that over time a number of my intentions morphed into unexpected surprises—thankfully with happy endings, while others simply phased out. What I recall most are the intentions I put into action through spreads.  These were charged with magic, so in turn they stuck.

Below is a layout that can be used as either card spread or casting sheet. In it you will find eight positions that aim to bring structure to the anatomy of your intentions. To the right of the spread are sentences that help release the things that get in the way of our objective, while to the left we are given opportunities to connect with our true and hopefully unobstructed path.  Crowning the spread is what we will become conscious of should we keep our eye on the prize, while below gives us a foundation to work from.

If you are using your Magpie Oracle I suggest you cast the lot over your casting sheet or randomly select a charm for each position.  Both tarot and Lenormand cards can also be used in this layout as layered elements that enhance the meaning of your charms.  Choose a system that works best for you. Doing so will add greatly to the anatomy of your intentions.

“Let the future follow your wishes.”
–Words spoken by fortune-tellers before giving coffee ground readings

In 2012 I attended an informative talk by author  Mary K. Greer  covering the historical origins of the  petit Lenormand  deck. The talk, held at the always fun  Bay Area Tarot Symposium  gave an overview of the petit Lenormand deck with its 36 divination cards dating back to the mid-19^thcentury. What caught my attention was the discovery of where some of the deck’s symbols may have originated.

Part of Mary’s research connected and paired symbols found in Tessomancy, or fortune-telling by coffee grounds, to several of the symbols found in the petit Lenormand deck. A detailed account of Mary’s recent discoveries can be found on her  blog,  or by downloading her excellent online webinar through Global Spiritual Studies.  In addition, Mary, along with Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin of  Tarot Professionals have published a wonderful book from Mary’s research called the  English Lenormand.

This casting sheet is inspired by Mary’s findings and offers a pictorial-graph of 36 coffee cups each brewing a Lenormand card symbol. The cups borrow their positions from a layout known to many in the Lenormand community as reading the Houses, where 36 cards are placed in numerical order and used for an additional layer of meaning in a spread called the Grand Tableau, or big picture.

Below is a non-traditional take on reading the house system. It suggests we read each house or position as individual homes— though in this case I have converted the houses into coffee cups.

When a charm lands on a cup it begins a conversation between the two symbols and distills them into a unified meaning.  If more than one charm lands on a cup it will simply encourage more dialogue, and when your charm and cup match, it amplifies the meaning of the two and invites extra focus.  For example if the Garden charm, which points to social gatherings, lands in the house of the Garden it could indicate a rather large gathering, or the possibility of more than one social engagement.

The idea is to view each position as 36 individual homes that your charms will visit. Each house will present a style and character that is somewhat unique. Take some time to observe the habitat, its inhabitants and the impression they leave on your charms.

Here’s how it works:

Take a moment to develop your question. The clearer the question, the clearer the answer.

Cast your charms over the casting sheet and watch where they land.  Each charm will land on a cup, or in some cases very near it.  Wherever a charm lands will hold specific meaning.  For example, there are several variations of reading the meaning of your charm’s location on, near or around a cup.  This casting sheet adopts an Arabic Tessomany method:

When the majority of the grounds gather at the bottom of the cup, it will indicate that certain events are based in the future. Grounds that gather in the middle of the cup or along the sides, reveal events coming up one month from the day of your reading, while grounds closer to the rim point to the present. Grounds that settle close to the handle are used to expect occurrences in your home life.

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 land on.  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 trip around the world. The Ship charm is associated with travel, overseas business and transitions.

Invite each charm to stay as you would a house-guest. Encourage your guest to share their story giving a listening ear to what they have to say. In doing so you are linking the dialogue between two symbols— possibly more. In time you will notice that some guests are very welcoming company, particularly for their sage-like advice, while others may appear to be the dreaded guest that never seems to leave. Either way, look deeply into every visit for insights and clues, or how they might be relevant to your situation.

So, now why don’t you try it? Brew a pot of rich Arabic coffee and get yourself in the mood for some charm casting. Use some of the Magpie Oracle keywords to get your conversation going and let the future follow your wishes.

Like most diviners, I’m a visual learner. We love our images, don’t we?  And nothing makes me close a how-to book faster than pages that are overloaded with words and not enough illustrations. Hence the included Lenormand printout.

Learning Lenormand can feel overwhelming, especially when faced with chapters upon chapters of how-to descriptions.   With that in mind I wanted to create an illustrative activity sheet that would prompt engagement with Lenormand card combining– an exercise that helps Lenormand learners understand and speak the language of the cards.

This is the first of many basic activity sheets that will help get you started with combos.  Look for new sheets every week.  I recommend you get a pretty binder to add your findings.  Enjoy!

Simplicity makes for happy diviners and getting into the habit of learning the language of your oracle lends itself to accurate readings.  A good way to exercise your oracular muscle is by combining symbols.  Here’s a simple sheet to get you started.  Add your words to the provided spaces and see where your intuition leads.  Check back weekly for more combo sheets.

Ah November, you are this introverts idea of heaven.  I love how you cause me to take refuge and reflect while warming my bones by the fire.  This latest casting sheet leads to further reflection and inspires possibilities that are best harnessed by firelight.  Rather than watching television or engaging with your computer, take an evening to yourself and cast your shiny charms by the the warm glow of a fire.  Here’s how it works:

Print this casting sheet and cast your Magpie Oracle or other divination system over the month of November.  Many diviners cast their charms directly over the sheet watching where they fall, while others reach into their tin placing one charm onto each day.  Go with what your intuition tells you.  There’s no right or wrong way to do this, only your way.   Take into consideration Nov. 3rd (new moon) and Nov. 17th (full moon), as well as:

• Nov 1, All Saints Day/Dia de Los Muertos
• Nov. 4. Islamic New Year
• Nov. 5, US Election Day
• Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day (US), Remembrance Day (Canada)
• Nov. 13, Ashura (Muslim)
• Nov. 27-Dec, 5,  Hanukkah (Jewish)
• Nov. 28, Thanksgiving
• Nov. 30, St. Andrew

Each day begins with a starter sentence that takes a cue from the charm that it is matched with.  Add words like, with/from/for/about or/using, to the end of each starter sentence followed by the meaning of your charm.  For example I pulled the Birds for November 1st.  This charm represents communication via the airwaves, anxiety and gossip as well as couples and sometimes siblings.  I went with the first sentence that came to mind: Take a break (from) online activity and/or gossip.

Try it out for yourself and click here for Magpie Oracle keywords.

How often do you summon courage and take chances despite the odds?  This month I found myself in just that position and rather than playing it safe I decided “not to move the way fear wanted me to” and packed my bags to align with new opportunities in Berlin and the UK.  Joining me in my leap of faith were hundreds of Lenormand Revolution decks and Magpie Oracles.

I was invited by one of Germany’s psychic celebrities, Malkiël Rouven Dietrich and Berlin’s Astro TV to feature my wears on their esoteric home shopping network.  Astro TV is Germany’s hub for a wide range of esoteric products and live readings.  Upon agreeing to their proposal, I was immediately schooled in a foreign way of doing business that involved making an appearance on German national television, working with contract attorneys and learning the ins and outs of international law.  Luckily the risk payed off and my products are now well featured in Germany.

Following Berlin I headed to London to attend and present at the UK Tarot Conference.  This wonderful event,  headed by Kim Arnold, was celebrating 10 years of successful tarot learning so Kim gave her conference a tarot card 10/Wheel of Fortune theme by treating participants to a ride on the London Eye— Europe’s tallest Ferris wheel and an excellent living example of the Wheel of Fortune.   I wanted to keep with Kim’s theme and incorporated the London Eye with the Wheel of Fortune and my recent experience with risk taking into one of my talks.  Hence the following spread, Fate’s Spin.

Fate’s Spin

While taking risks may sometimes feel as if you’re entering unknown territory, it can also be approached proactively.  In other words, not every leap of faith has to be treated as a a great unknown, especially when we invest our time in getting to know it.  If you are being presented with an opportunity, or asked to try something new, I suggest you meet it halfway with the following spread which helps connect, centralize, and solidify your desired outcome.  Doing so will better prepare you should Fate’s wheel turn in an unexpected direction.

Click on the image and print. Your Magpie Oracle, Lenormand Revolution,

or favorite tarot deck work with this spread.

7 Steps with Fate’s Spin

1. Where can I locate fortune in my life?

The position of this question is at the hub of the London Eye/Wheel of Fortune. I feel it is always important to create a central space for fortune to enter your life so you can easily identify it when it presents itself.

2. How can I recognize opportunity when it presents itself?

Often I meet with clients who place a debris of distraction in front of their dream.  This self-sabotaging agenda keeps opportunity at bay and leaves little room for anything useful to enter.  What is the opportunity that you’ve been setting yourself up for?  What kind of spin are you putting on it?  Is it one that’s inviting and gives opportunity a positive place to land?  Clear your space of any buildup that might prevent opportunity from coming in.

3. How can I create a more fortunate spin in my life?

While fortune sometimes enters by pure luck, it can also use some help in reaching you.  What are you doing on purpose to create a more fortunate spin on your life? Remember, what you put into your dream is what you’ll likely get out of it.

4. What can I do to prepare for the changes that come when I activate Fortune’s spin?

We begin to activate change when we willingly invite fortune in.  These changes are best met when we prepare for the possibilities fortune brings, and while these change may come as a surprise, this question and card give us a focal point to anchor in when and if surprises happen.

5. How can I be receptive to what chance has to offer?

The opportunity to take risks rarely happens everyday.  When it does, and as the above questions suggest, it is important that we actively participate in aligning with what’s being offered.  A way to better align with opportunity is to become open and receptive to chance.   Too many times people close the door when asked to take a chance.  This reading is asking you to look at things as if you were saying yes and in order to do so you must be receptive to the chances you are taking.

6. What role or purpose am I creating when I acknowledge rather than overlook the changes in my life?

Acknowledging the steps you take to build your dream helps to solidity it and give it body.  This includes noticing and taking into account the changes that have occurred since taking your initial leap of fate.

7. How can I be a living example of my fortunate divination?

While this may appear to be the final card in the spread it is actually just the beginning.  Every card you pulled up to this point is meant to inspire steps that will help you to embody your reading.  Keep this spread out and in a place where you can work with it daily.  Readings are meant to be put away after you’ve manifested or realized each card from your spread.

Fortune’s blessings!