Unflinching Authenticity
28/2/2018
I turned 29 about a week ago to very little fanfare. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy.
0 Comments
Year In Forecast - January 2018
31/1/2018
On the evening of January 1st, I pulled out 12 cards from my Initiatory Golden Dawn deck to forecast the upcoming year. But instead of posting it here, I wrote them down in my planner to kinda meditate on as the months goes by. The card for January's forecast [theme?] was the 9 of Cups - The Lord of Material Happiness.
Which I found confusing at first. Habari Gani, everyone- and a Happy New Year to you all!
When this post goes live I will most likely still be in my bed, as my beloved and recover from the nerdy masquerade ball we'll be attending New Year's Eve. So I wanted to make sure this was ready for you- our last day of Kwanzaa, and our last Principle: Imani [or 'Faith']. DarkLake Tarot Does Kwanzaa - [pt 6/7]
31/12/2017
Habari Gani, everyone?
Did you miss Part !? Part 2? Part 3? Part 4? Part 5? It's New Year's Eve! How has the time flown by so quickly, huh? But just because we're all ready to say 'good riddance' to the collective dumpster fire that has been 2017, that doesn't mean that we are done with Kwanzaa! In fact, as we make the transition to 2018, I think this is one of the potent times to really consider today's Principle: Kuumba [or 'Creativity']. DarkLake Tarot Does Kwanzaa - [pt 5/7]
31/12/2017
Habari gani everyone?
Did you miss Part 1? Part 2? Part Three? Part Four? Yes I know this entry was late, but honestly when I sat down to write this last night my eyes felt like they were seconds away from exploding out of my skull. So this is a belated Day 5 of Kwanzaa post [and you'll be the getting the last two on time to compensate!] So, yesterday's Principle was Nia ['Purpose'], where we are asked “To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.” As I mentioned before, keeping in mind that Kwanzaa is a hella-Black festival, the emphasis in the last part of that phrase is critical. 'Restore OUR people to their traditional greatness.' No doubt it's pointing to the times before our ancestors were treated as chattel and goods. Before the centuries of colonialism, slavery, apartheid, etc. stripped us of everything that made us great as a people. However I think that that is a struggle that is hard to articulate in a tarot spread- at least, not here. For Kwanzaa is about pushing forward and making the future better for those yet to come. And thus, that's the direction I went with the spread for Nia. DarkLake Tarot Does Kwanzaa [pt 4/7]
29/12/2017
Habari gani?
Did you miss Part 1? Part 2? Or Part 3? We're almost at the end of 2017 [holy shit] but only at the halfway point of Kwanzaa! Today's Principle is Ujamaa ['Cooperative Economics'], where we are asked "To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.” This particular Principle might be amongst the most important for us as members of the African Diaspora to consider- especially in today's sociopolitical climate. But let's deal with the spread first! Darklake Tarot Does Kwanzaa - [pt 3/7]
28/12/2017
Habari Gani everyone! Did you miss Part 1? Or Part 2? It's the 3rd Day of Kwanzaa, so our principle today is Ujima ['Collective Work and Responsibility']. Essentially we are asked “To build and maintain our community together, and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.” I'm only able to offer you today's spread however. I had a long day where I went from work to rehearsal immediately afterward... and also had an week-long injury/muscle sprain flare up to the point where certain movements just suck. So I'm going to go to bed now and hopefully some rest and a heat pack will help! The only thing I'll point out with this spread is that the point is to see how everything is connected- our trials, tribulations, achievements and victories. That philosophy is what Ujima is about. So while the obvious connections are there between cards 1-2 and 3-4, consider all 4 positions in the spread as just one facet of the same picture.
I'll see you all tomorrow~ DarkLake Tarot Does Kwanzaa - [pt2/7]
27/12/2017
Habari Gani?
[read pt 1 here!] It's the second day of Kwanzaa, so our new word for today is Kujichagulia ['Self-Determination']. It encourages us to name and define ourselves, and to create and speak for ourselves. I feel like this particular principle is the easiest one for me to grasp, so I wasn't too surprised to see that coming up with the corresponding spread was relatively quick as well. DarkLakeTarot Does Kwanzaa! [pt 1/7]
26/12/2017
Happy Holidays everyone! I trust that you all had a wonderful time celebrating whatever holiday you hold dear with your loved ones.
Today is Boxing Day and thus, the first day of Kwanzaa! As part of my personal journey into exploring my own African heritage, I found it important over the last few years to start studying Kwanzaa for myself. created in 1966 by Dr Maulana Karenga, it's more of a cultural festival as opposed to a religious or spiritual one- so literally the only prerequisite to celebrating is having some of that sweet Melanin in your blood~ but everyone should learn about Kwanzaa anyway, so that's what these posts will be about! The Mahou Shoujo Oracle Deck
19/7/2017
The Mahou Shoujo Oracle Deck has been a project I've mulled around in my head for a very long time- and I'm SO glad that I finally got off my butt to start it!
Combining my studies in Tarot and the Divine Feminine alongside my profound appreciation for the Magical Girl anime that have shaped both my life and my practice, I debuted the first five illustrations for this deck last Saturday at The Summer Festival- a 1-day anime convention held at Simon Fraser University's Burnaby campus in British Columbia, Canada. I was even able to get some prototypes of the cards printed out as well to use in the pay-by-donation readings I offered at my booth, where they were received very well! If you're reading this and you were one of the many who stopped by for a reading- THANK YOU from all of my heart! It was an excellent way to not only get the word out about the Mahou Shoujo deck, but to also gain invaluable practice with a deck that I designed and had yet to workshop with the public [so again, thank you to all my willing guinea pigs!]. The next step in this project- now that I have a workflow established- is to continue to add more Magical Girls to the roster. The important thing to me is to ensure that I explore all aspects of the Divine Feminine through this project- the Light and the Shadow, the standard and the subversive... all sides have something important to share in the archetypes they embody. That's why you'll find a quintessential Magical Girl character like Usagi from Sailor Moon, alongside the sex-obsessed angel Panty from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt- femininity is complex and I adore every aspect of it! Along with Sailor Moon and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, I have Revolutionary Girl Utena, Cardcaptor Sakura and Puella Magi Madoka Magica represented in the mix, but I'm looking forward to rediscovering the Magical Girls of my youth, and even learning about those I never checked out before! So if you have suggestions for any Magical Girl series you'd like to see represented in the Oracle deck, be sure to let me know in the comments who you'd like to see! Why I Read Tarot
19/4/2017
... you know what?
I had this long post planned to publish last month about why I enjoy tarot, what it brings to my life as a person and why naysayers can bite me, but between being busy and a lack of motivation, I just... couldn't be bothered. There's that malaise sinking in again. And you know, starting a business as lofty as this [and let's be real, declaring to the Universe that you will make a living off of your readings is still a lofty goal to have] has been very daunting, and discouraging at times too. I don't have the same drive to put myself out there in the same way as other people seem to do [surprising I'm sure to those who know me personally], and the elements of 'The Hustle' seem both inorganic and... inauthentic. To me and my way of going about things, anyway. It was enough to me to question, at least once or twice- "why am I really doing this?" I got my answer about a week ago. One Card, Three Times, Two Days
23/10/2016
I do a Daily Tarot Draw on my phone as I wake up and prepare for my day.
I don't always have the time to devote to the usual process of grounding and centering myself like I do out of habit when I use my physical deck [especially when my mornings consist of shoveling food in my face and trying to dash out of the house without tripping over my cat!], so I utilize a little bit of urban witchcraft and two nifty apps: The Galaxy Tarot app and the Golden Thread Tarot app. [If you don't have them already on your phone, go and download them- they're both free!] Anyway, the results of these two apps' Daily Draws I use as my little message for the day. Sometimes it works as a forecast of events- for example, both times that I have gotten amazing, positive news, I've drawn the Page or King of Cups! Sometimes it's just a 'heads up about managing my expectations or tempers. Little things like that. These musings and lessons learned I've now been posting on my Instagram [@darklaketarot of course!] Sometimes, and very rarely, I get a repeating card- and for a piece of technology it's easy to dismiss something like that as a glitch- but I record it just the same. But today, I've received the same card not only as a repeat of yesterday's draw on the Galaxy App, but also on the Golden Thread app. Too odd to not pay even closer attention to than normal. So let's talk about that! A Tarot Check-In
14/10/2016
Every time a New Moon approaches I treat it as a mini-New Year. A new Lunar Month presents a new cycle of manifestation and release, a new chance to make changes in our own paths. This is also where I tend to utilize Tarot and Astrology the most in my daily life, especially if I'm running low on energies and can't do anything more ornate.
Every night before the New Moon, after reading other bloggers' takes on the astrological energies infused in the cosmic occasion, I lay out my cleansed tarot deck, and deal out my cards to match the spread I use. Those cards stay unflipped overnight, and then I turn them over the following morning to take notes. I leave those cards exposed until the Full Moon night, so it's like a little daily reminder of the lessons I have to learn. Rinse-repeat for the Full Moon, until the next New Moon night. You get the gist *wink*. |
Oh Hey!LINDSAY - Black Woman, Wife, Witch and Resident Blogger of DarkLake Tarot~ Archives
February 2018
Categories
All
What I'm Listening To |