‘Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.’ -Kahlil Gibran

Today is the longest day of the year and the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere. Let’s take advantage of this extra light with a casting map that turns our attention towards what energizes us.

This map works with any divining tool-  Charms, found objects, runes, crystals, tarot and oracle decks, etc. All are welcome and encouraged. Here’s how it works.

Print the following casting map or mark the positions on a piece of paper. You can download a printable version here. Imagine what it is you wish to energize through this divination. Write your wish on a piece of paper and place it in the center of your casting map.

If you’re using cards, assign a single card to each position on the map.

For casting, lightly cast a handful of items over the map. Where they land will hold meaning. For example, if an item lands directly on one of the map’s symbols, go with it by divining it. However if an item misses a symbol, move on. I treat these misses as a non issue.

Want to take advantage of all the symbols on the map? Randomly assign an item to each. This will take more time, but then again, it’s the longest day of the year. You’ve got time!

Merry Solstice!

Positions

• Central Sun: This is your Summer Solstice Message
• Crown: This is what’s ruling you
• Snake: Shed this. It doesn’t fit anymore.
• Sword: Lay down this weapon to end the battle
• Ouroboros: This will sustain you
• Jar with Magick Dust: Add of dash of this for magick
• All Seeing Eye: This is what you’re ready to see
• Planchette: This is ready to be communicated
• Caduceus: This is ready to be healed
• Open Hand: Create boundaries with this
• Arrow: Aim for this
• Scales: Create stability and balance with this
• Crystal: This wants to be crystal clear
• Shooting Star: Wish on this
• Crescent Moon: Your intuition want’s you to know this
• Key: This is ready to be unlocked
• Hourglass: This wants more of your time

Whether you’re new to casting maps or a seasoned pro, all of us will experience getting lost or stuck on a symbol. When this happens, I reach for the following 3-step formula to unlock accurate insights.

Step 1— Describe the Literal Meaning

To break the ice, describe the card or item literally. Avoid going into symbol-speak. That will come later. For example, if the item is a key charm or the Key card found in Lenormand decks, simply describe it as a key; This is a key. Next, describe the color, texture, temperature, or smell. All literal context eventually opens the doors to Step 2.

Step 2— Give the Item Symbolic Meaning

Now that you’ve literally described your item, add some words that give it symbolic value. For example, and staying with the key as our symbol, describe what a key stands for. How is a used and what is its purpose? Does it remind you of anything or anyone? At this point, familiar tie-ins between the symbol and you or your sitter’s situation start to become clear. However let’s take it a step deeper.

Step 3— Look in the Mirror

This final step invites us to look at what is being reflected in our story through the divination. How can the symbol offer a mirror of clarity or insight to our situation and how can we apply that information to our life? The aim of divination isn’t always to predict the future, but to locate a line of action that will improve our future. At this step, encourage your sitter to imagine how their situation might improve when applying this line of action. This type of dialogue empowers you or your sitter to leave the reading with a self-motivated plan.

“Any Oracle that endures must be of service to at least three consecutive generations.” 

– Margaret Mead 

For the past 7 years, I’ve been creating divinatory tools that help open channels to ancestral communication. Some of you may recall the Charming Dead Oracle or Magpie Oracle Seer Charm kits that were part of a series of online courses I co-taught with my gifted friend Andrew Kyle McGregor.

Yet, in the beginning, there was the first edition of the Relative Tarot. At the time of its first release, I’d initially intended that this deck be limited to court and Major Arcana cards to represent the ancestors, sitters, friends, family, key players, personality traits and significant communications; but, The Relative Tarot really wanted to become a 78-card experience. It evolved into a tool that heightened the connection to spirit, the little details, memories, insights, the everyday things encountered in the Land of Form that support the experience of evidential mediumship. While I fell down a personal rabbit hole with this particular project (it’s very dear to my heart and my own calling), little did I realize how big the demographic for divination and ancestral communication would be.

Both versions of the deck sold out almost immediately, (thank you!) and this was a clear sign that there was a great need for magical approaches to both personal healing – and in doing so, healing the family tree. Happily, the Relative Tarot was picked up by the publisher Red Wheel-Weiser and a beautiful new edition will be released in November 2021. Stay tuned.

In addition to ancestral-focused cards and casting kits, I’ve been working behind the scenes with Lisa Bonnice, host of the Shift Network’s popular Ancestral Healing Summits. Together, Lisa and I have co-created a new tool for divining messages from our ancestors with which I’m head over heels in love. It’s my experience that the most meaningful tools arrive at your doorstep very quickly. They knock loudly, ensure you’re aware of all of their needs, and are ready to give them form – like, now!

Artists often describe their creation process as being timeless. I get that now. The Generations Oracle was a relentless, energizing creation and like the notorious duende, it wouldn’t let go of my attention until we were finished, half a year later – which felt like a heartbeat. Please stay tuned for the release date. For now, you can hear more about The Generations Oracle in my Shift Network interview on Lisa’s Ancestral Healing Summit which is free to listeners between February 22-26.

It was also during the creation of The Generations Oracle that I created the following casting map for Diane Wilke’s Southeastern Tarot Conclave. Like many of my tools, the goal of this map is to help us open a dialogue, specifically with our beloved ancestors. It also combines and layers tarot cards with casting charms, a very happy marriage, though any divination tool will do.

Visit here for printable downloads of this spread or simply mirror the positions using a set of cards. Here’s how it works:

Please note this divination is a lighter version of mediumship and for communicating with those on the Other Side. More specifically our ancestors. And by lighter, I mean it doesn’t require you to go into a deep state in order to start a conversation. That can definitely happen, but for this divination, I encourage you to learn the steps before going into deeper dialogues with your ancestors.

• Step 1: Set up your space and create boundaries. Invite to your divination a helpful, as opposed to drama-charged ancestor and preferably one who has your best interest in heart. If using a tarot deck, remove and set aside the 16 court cards. If casting, I recommend randomly selecting your items and assigning them to the positions on this map rather than casting them.

• Step 2: Start with the 4 Pages positioned inside the circle. Pages are often referred to messengers and go-betweens and for this divination, each Page represents your ancestor’s message regarding 4 life lessons they experienced during their time on Earth in body/Page of Pentacles, mind/Page of Swords, heart/Page of Cups and spirit/Page of Wands. Think of these 4 positions as your ancestor’s opportunity to communicate something important they learned and also hope you will not forget. Here your charms or cards will represent your ancestor’s voice and message.

• Step 3: Now that you’ve opened a dialogue and have an idea of your ancestor’s Earth experience, let’s move to the 4 Aces which can symbolize a new start or influence. For this spread they represent a seed of support your ancestor is offering you during your time on Earth. Assign a random card or charm to each Ace to reveal the possible potential and growth you can experience with your ancestor’s support in body/Ace of Pentacles, mind/Ace of Swords, heart/Ace of Cups and spirit/Ace of Wands.

• Step 4: The 12 remaining court cards help identify the character and physical traits of the ancestor you have been in communication with. And this is where I ask you to put your cards to the side and rely more on charms or other casting items. Randomly select just one item and cast it over this spread. If it lands directly on any of the 12 court cards, or pretty close to one (I’ll leave it to you should you wish to include the Pages in this casting), chances are this is the ancestor who is revealing something to you about their character and physical traits. As a side and in my personal experience, if a charm lands outside of the spread, this indicates an ancient ancestor who exists beyond the family memory.

Determining traits via the court cards is an old cartomancy technique for selecting a significator. With this method, the diviner would select a court card to represent their sitter, or someone the sitter is asking about. There are a number of methods for determining a significator and most were originally gleaned from the querent’s gender, race, age, sun sign, or social and marital status. Some of these methods feel outdated as we find the topic of personal identity ever evolving. For this reason, I’ve added a chart that highlights a just few of the traits diviners often experience, but please build your own. This is, after all, your divination.

Once your divination is complete, take a few minutes to observe your findings. Rather than shelf your reading, now is the time to ask more questions, search old family photos, or dig into your ancestral history, all of which can help affirm your divination. Look for themes that might be rooted in your linage and extend the experience by divining ways to heal, or further dialogue with your family line. Don’t worry if nothing reveals itself just yet. It happens. Instead, view this as an opportunity to trust your intuition and learn patience while practicing this art.

Merry divining.

Thank you for your orders, Everyone. Please return next year for the 2020 True North Oracle online event and kit!

The True North Oracle: A New Moon, New Year, True You Plan

A magical kit and one day online workshop for ushering in your best year and more!

Sunday, January 6, 2019

The first New Moon of the New Year

11:00am PDT/2:00pm EDT

Check your timezone here

Let’s Divine a Magical 2019 into Existence!

We wake up every New Year’s Day hardening our resolve to be richer, healthier, more successful and appealing. And yet, this traditional approach to manifest our perceived Best Self has an alarmingly low success rate. Why? It speaks mostly to the Muggle mindset and so lacks inspired direction and magical follow through.  This is why Tina Hardt and I have created the True North Oracle, a kit that delivers a spellbinding plan for lasting results.

Welcome to the True North Oracle, an inner compass kit crafted to help you divine an unswerving course to a True and fully-realized You. This oracle has been designed to take you on a guided journey during which deep, revelatory readings will lead you exactly where your heart is ready to go.

Included with your kit is the True North Oracle workshop held on the first New Moon of the New Year. In this gathering, Tina and I will help you identify and align with your inner compass so you can chart your own course to success.

We understand the challenges and importance of staying on track, and for this reason you are invited to the private True North Oracle FaceBook group. Here we will make ourselves available for supporting you through your magical goals. We will also include added bonus casting sheets and more to be announced. Can’t make the live workshop? No problem. A recording of the class will be available 24 hours after the live class. Inside of your take-it-anywhere, pocket or purse-sized tin are some whopping components.

We hope you can join us on this momentous adventure!

What’s inside the kit, you Ask. Oh so much!

• A bridge-sized deck of 54 True North Oracle cards
• Over 70 casting charms charged with the task of opening channels and activating intentions
• An eight-sided compass die
• A set of (very cool) purple dice that determine the number of cards to work with
• A numinous silk Compass Cloth that serves as your platform for cards and casting charms
• A downloadable pdf with charm descriptions, spreads and how-to tutorials
• Access to the class recording
• A private FaceBook group where we can all share, discuss and celebrate our results
• Loads of bonus materials

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.

This full moon in Virgo marks the best time to methodically examine how we can align with what is right over what is wrong. Take advantage of Virgo’s tendencies to reveal what wants to be scrutinized in order to understand your position in life. Who, what and where are you drawn to and for what reason? Is this a suitable alignment? If not, then now is the time to make things right by asking questions that realign you with your truth.

Rather than start the year on January 1^st, I prefer kicking things off with the first full moon of the New Year. I usually begin with clearing a large space in my home, usually on my office floor, and a jar of very colorful pens that help me highlight and fill in my planners (yes, I have three) with goals and priorities that are supported by a lunar calendar. While I don’t always swing it, I try my best to see that my projects and schedule work in tandem with the eight phases of the moon and when I’m really on top of things I avoid making plans when the moon is void of course.

Tonight’s full moon is in the sensitive sign of Cancer making it not only ideal for divining, but also for activating and planning heartfelt work that supports the idea that including our emotional needs in our plans makes for happy outcomes. In order to maintain this focus I’ve created a Look Ahead casting sheet that features the twelve full moons of 2017. The aim is to have each full moon serve as snapshot reminders of what lies ahead. It’s also during the full moon that my projects become illuminated and reveal their greatest potential.

I invite you to give this casting sheet a try. It’s really very easy and just about any casting tool or deck of cards can be included. For this particular sheet I’m using the Magpie Oracle Keepsake Box. Here’s how it works:

I’ve always been fascinated with the many names people have given to the moon. For this casting sheet I’ve applied names assigned by Native American tribes, though you can customize your sheet by adding your own.

Once you’ve printed your casting sheet, write on the central moon image what it is you hope to achieve in 2017. Next, settle in and revisit what you wrote. Imagine how you would feel if and when you achieved your goals. From that perspective randomly select one to three charms for each full moon on your sheet.

Following are sample questions you can apply to your divination, though I encourage you to create questions that put you in direct alignment with your personal plans.

Once you finish the divination take a photo of it and keep the image on one of your devices as a screen saver. This way you can keep track of your progress.

Sample Questions

• January 12, Wolf Moon in Cancer: What action will create security in my home, family and community?
• February 11, Snow Moon in Leo: How can I best lead the way towards achieving my goals?
• March 12, Worm Moon in Virgo: What is the order needed for manifesting my desired results?
• April 11, Pink Moon in Libra: What is the harmonious outcome that wants my attention?
• May 10, Flower Moon in Scorpio: What is ready to be renewed?
• June 9, Strawberry Moon in Sagittarius: How can I best move ahead with my adventure?
• July 9, Buck Moon in Capricorn: What aspect of my long term goal wants my attention?
• August 7, Sturgeon Moon in Aquarius: How can I stay open-minded to new possibilities when they are presented?
• September 6, Harvest Moon in Pisces: What is the most imaginative approach I can take?
• October 5, Hunters Moon in Aries: What’s my niche/brand/signature?
• November 4, Beaver Moon in Taurus: What am I ready to give the works to?
• December 3, Cold Moon in Gemini: How can I best adapt to changes coming my way?

Happy New Year Everyone! Over the holidays I received the wonderful news that the Sirens’ Song Lenormand won a 2016 Tarosophists Annual Tarot & Divination Award! This was an unexpected surprise and one I know couldn’t have happened without your support. As a way of saying Thank You, the Sirens’ Song is now having a 30% off celebratory sale between now and Febrauary 1, 2017. Get one here while the sale lasts or purchase below!

Pre-Orders for the Magpie Oracle Kits (with added surprise) are Happening Until February 1, 2017!

I’m also taking pre-orders for the Magpie Oracle Lenormand Kit and Keepsake Box. These kits sell out quickly so now is your chance to get one or both. I’m going to be on the road and in the air a lot this year making this is the only time in 2017 these kits will be available. Pre-Orders will come with an added surprise you won’t want to miss and closes February 1st. Once orders are in it will take an additional month to assemble and ship your shiny lovelies your way.  I’m aiming to begin shipping on March 1st.

Order the Lenormand Charms here

Order the Keepsake Box here

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Every new moon I like to set intentions that deliver a full moon outcome.

What intentions are you communicating during this new moon in Gemini?

You’re a tarot-loving deck collector, or perhaps you know someone who has several decks to prove it. However one item I’m certain neither own, one that will elevate their collection to the nth degree, is the Tarot at your Table deck and dinnerware collection.

I designed this collection with Julia Hesse to rejuvenate the salons of old Europe where people came together for the purpose of inspired dialogue. We wanted to integrate the concept of a salon with the wisdom tarot and position it in a time and place most of us gather; mealtime. And so, Tarot at your Table was born and includes a set of beautiful tarot themed porcelain dinnerware with a companion major arcana deck. In addition each set comes with access to an online classroom that offers ongoing free webinars, spreads, recipes and tips for hosting successful salons.

These items are available at our Kickstarter page until December 25th. Once our campaign closes we will not be making more sets. This places your dinnerware and deck   in the category of collector’s items.

So this holiday season, add a bit of  European salon to your tarot collection by asking for what you really want. Send this video to your family and friends and perhaps Santa too.

Merry Holidays!

GREAT NEWS! The Relative Tarot has been picked up by  Red Wheel-Weiser.  Stay tuned for a stunning new edition in November 2021.

If you’ve had a reading with me you’ll know I’m fond of using Significators and the Birth and Annual cards. These terms describe a person’s personal cards which are assigned to them at birth and add an accurate layer of insight into their tarot profile. Readers determine a querent’s personal cards by calculating the numbers from their birthday with the sum total giving a precise tarot blueprint.

For the past month I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a 38 card deck called the Relative Tarot, a deck that was inspired by one of my relatives and gives sole attention to the major arcana’s Birth and Annual cards, plus the minor arcana’s Court Cards.

Rarely do I begin a reading without calculating my client’s tarot blueprint and so I wanted to create a deck that would highlight the mission that exists within their personal cards. I also wanted to provide something both querent and reader could put to use right away; a customized deck for identifying and navigating the querent’s purpose in life. In short, this deck was designed to activate the Soul’s agenda and lead the querent in knowing how to finish the sentence:

I came here to,  ________.

The Relative Tarot is a major arcana and court card deck sans the pips. Each card features vintage photos that are overlaid with recognizable tarot imagery. The aim behind this combination was to bring familiar tarot symbols to life by pairing them with engaging personalities. Together they present relatable pictures that reflect our inherent potential, and individually they offer a three layered map that opens to our personal design:

• The Relative Tarot’s Birth Cards serve as springboards for understanding our Soul’s mission
• The Annual Cards offer an annual theme for aligning with our goals
• The Court Cards put us in touch with our ancestral imprint and guide us to our royal resources

Pre-orders for this limited edition deck can be found here. Shipping begins in late February of 2016.

Buyers of the Relative Tarot will also be sent an invitation to join an ongoing study for creating personal tarot profiles. These online classes will only be free to people who have purchased the deck.

In late February, Glopilot’s website wizard, Gabe Marihugh and I will launch MyBirthCards.com, a site dedicated to understanding and working with your personal cards. The site features a handy calculator that quickly determines your Tarot Blueprint. In addition, MyBirthCards.com will offer several online classes and worksheets for activating your Soul’s mission and so much more.