August 20th, 2009 Author: sythyry
I’m going to do Crowdsource Tarot readings tonight. Ask a question in a comment; I will give it a shorter or longer answer as a comment. I’ll edit this to say "Too Late" when I’m done for the night.
Edit: Bedtime is 11:00, and I’ve got all I can handle before then!
If you have an important question that you want an answer for soon, ask it and I’ll answer tomorrow. (Crossing my palm with Paypal wouldn’t hurt on getting that answer, y’know?) Otherwise, I’m going to do this now and then!
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Monday, skirt or pants?
If add on allowed, button top or wrap?
Monday, skirt or pants? If add on allowed, button top or wrap?
Klutz, reversed
A harlequin is trying to juggle mystical symbols: a pentacle, an ankh, a crescent moon, a wand. Most of them lie scattered around his feet. He is reaching for one that is outside his grasp, and about to trip on the pentacle.
Meaning: Your carelessness is your greatest liability.
Well, that suggests that you should wear the least risky clothes suitable for
the occasion. I don’t know what those are for you — for me it’d be pants,
but I present as male. Buttons do sound advisable.
Crow
An emaciated lion wearing a jacket and tie considers a dead crow in the middle of the road.
Meaning: You may need to take your sustenance where you can find it, even if it is distasteful to you or others.
The lion’s clothes suggest pants to me, though in my mental image of the card,
he’s not actually wearing one. Dress for practicality. Your clothes are a
tool in this situation — choose them accordingly.
Overload, reversed
A man in filthy clothes stands immobile in front of a supermarket shelf filled with many brands of laundry detergent, looking dazed and stressed. His cart is empty.
Meaning: You continue to collect more information in lieu of making an actual decision.
Crowdsource Tarot says, “Oy.” Only it’s not quite so nice about it.
I’ve been hemmed in by various misfortunes. When can I expect this situation to improve?
Should I stay with the job I have, or should I look for a better one?
I run one society, play an important part in another and sit on a council for a national event. I’m going into the third year of a four year course. I also write and GM a game.
Am I taking on too much this year?
What should I be listening to, to help make my library sing?
(this is obviously work related: things are falling into place, but I want to make sure everything does, and I don’t leave out something important.)
Or I should ask perhaps not ‘better’, but ‘more fulfilling’.
I’ve been hemmed in by various misfortunes. When can I expect this situation to improve?
Well, first of all:
Gazebo
A gazebo stands unused in an open field,
bedecked with flowers. A group of adventurers eye it warily, weapons drawn.
Meaning: An orientation toward fear and defensiveness creates problems
that did not previously exist.
Some of the problems are of your own making, or your own enlarging anyhow.
Step 1: stop making more problems. Deal with new situations calmly — take a
bit more time to think about what might be going on. Some people and forces
that you think are your enemies are not actually your enemies. That doesn’t
mean they’re your friends; they may be neutral or apathetic. But treating
them as enemies just makes matters worse.
Flight, reversed
Icarus soars through the sky on a pair
of wax wings, his face shining in ecstasy. The sun is visible, but still far
away.
Meaning: The people who are advising caution aren’t trying to
spoil your fun. They care for you, and they’re pretty smart.
Part 2: Get sensible local advice, and listen to it. Your friends know a lot
more about your situation than some guy at a computer a thousand miles poking
at a virtual card deck.
Cat
A tomcat sits on a fence under a full moon,
yowling.
Meaning: You should be ready to make noise in order to make
sure your needs get met.
Part three: Push for the redress of wrongs against you, and otherwise stand up
for your rights.
Tea
Athena and Albert Einstein are chatting in a tea
shop. An oriental-style black dragon refills their cups.
Meaning:
Seek out companions and surroundings which inspire you.
And, be sure to take some time for yourself. Put problems aside as best you
can, and do with you need to do to help your sanity and personal balance.
Best of luck to you!
Considering where I am interviewing, this is less helpful than you might think.
*head desk*
Thank you!
I’m in Army ROTC leadership this year. Apart from following rules and orders, what should I do to make sure that I don’t screw this up? o_o
Should I stay with the job I have, or should I look for a better one?
(better = more fulfilling)
Pretzel
On a crowded city street, a vendor sells
dry-looking pretzels from a cart. A teenaged boy looks dubiously at his
girlfriend as she buys herself one.
Meaning: You can likely get the
thing you think you want, but it will be disappointing once you actually
have it.
No. It won’t actually be more fulfilling.
Zucchini
A tired person in wizard’s robes leans on a hoe in the middle of a zucchini patch. Glorious green zucchinis and brilliant yellow blossoms surround him.
Meaning: The essentials of life may not be fancy, but they are fresh and abundant.
More accurately: How fulfilling or not a job is is a small measure due to the
job, and a larger measure due to you: you must learn how to be fulfilled by
work before it can actually be fulfilling. (There are exceptions of course,
but that’s generally true.) If you just change job without learning
how to like a job, you won’t like the new one any better.
(Disclaimer: this is guaranteed to be a genuine Crowdsource Tarot card drawn
by a genuine person. No deeper insight or intuition is guaranteed.)
I run one society, play an important part in another and sit on a council for a national event. I’m going into the third year of a four year course. I also write and GM a game.
Am I taking on too much this year?
Klutz, reversed
A harlequin is trying to juggle mystical symbols: a pentacle, an ankh, a crescent moon, a wand. Most of them lie scattered around his feet. He is reaching for one that is outside his grasp, and about to trip on the pentacle.
Meaning: Your carelessness is your greatest liability.
Yes and no. You are capable of handling all of that. But if you are careless
organizing your life, you will mess it up severely. That’s pretty much
generically true about when you’re running at capacity.
Dumpster
A shabbily dressed man rummages through a dumpster behind a fancy restaurant. He has already collected a large bag of salvageable food.
Meaning: There is a lot more to glean from your current situation than you think, if you will take the time to look.
On the other hand, you waste a lot of time and attention. You can actually
squeeze a couple of hours of stuff you really won’t miss out of your day –
cutting down on aimless net-browsing, perhaps — and use that time to great
effect on things that you actually love.
Not sure if this counts as one question or two:
Should I accept the current equilibrium? If not, how should I change it?
PS – How are you deciding how many cards to use in each particular reading since it seems to vary from one to the next.
Thanks for the second reading. I really like this tarot deck.
Thank you very much! I’ll be thinking about this.
Mufi and I are writing a game. What have we been forgetting, that we should do before the game is done?
What should I be listening to, to help make my library sing?
(this is obviously work related: things are falling into place, but I want to make sure everything does, and I don’t leave out something important.)
Dumpster
A shabbily dressed man rummages through a
dumpster behind a fancy restaurant. He has already collected a large bag of
salvageable food.
Meaning: There is a lot more to glean from your
current situation than you think, if you will take the time to
look.
You should be listening to things that you used to like, but have ignored or
thought you moved beyond lately.
Pretzel, reversed
On a crowded city street, a vendor
sells dry-looking pretzels from a cart. A teenaged boy looks dubiously at
his girlfriend as she buys herself one.
Meaning: You cannot stop
others from making their own mistakes.
Everything won’t fall into place, even if everything that you control
does. But the failures will be minor and localized.
All of my life, I have a hard time concentrating on things that I should do (my work, in college, the classes of my major), and an easy time concentrating on things that are not central to my life (right now: Arabic and music.)
What should I do about it?
I’m in Army ROTC leadership this year. Apart from following rules and orders, what should I do to make sure that I don’t screw this up? o_o
Rice (Alpha of Foods), reversed
An Indian woman stands
behind a steaming pot of rice — steaming so much that it nearly obscures
her. She holds out a bowl of rice, her hand piercing the steam.
Meaning: You provide abundantly for others.
Give people treats.
Give people the most fundamental support, too. Expect to have lots of crying
on your shoulder, and other problems which you can solve. If you get the
reputation as the one who fixes things, it will serve you very well indeed.
Shear
Seven sheep, their fleece the colors of the
rainbow, wait in a line in front of a farmer holding shears.
Meaning:
Take what you will, so long as it can be spared.
Only exploit your power in the most careful and innocuous of ways –
especially around issues of homosexuality, which are going to arise.
Chef
A cheerful chef, his white toque adorned by
mystical symbols, its top flopped into a lemniscate outline, stands at a
counter with a measuring cup, a chef’s knife, and a plate on it. He holds a
whisk triumphantly skyward in one hand.
Meaning: You have the power
that comes from being skilled. Your cuisine reigns supreme.
It’s gonna work wonderfully.
And… if I didn’t say this before…
THANK YOU for running this crowdsource tarot!
Not sure if this counts as one question or two:
Should I accept the current equilibrium? If not, how should I change it?
PS – How are you deciding how many cards to use in each particular reading since it seems to vary from one to the next.
(I’m in a sort of Tarot-based trance, kind of. I read until I come to the end
of the reading, which is obvious when I get there.)
Emergence (Alpha of States), reversed
A tiny iridescent dragon hatches from a mottled green egg.
Meaning: The most important thing is tiny and fragile; you must nurture and protect it.
No; the current equilibrium, even now, is giving way to a newer and rather
more glorious disequilibrium. Standing in its way to maintain equilibrium
would be a terrible shame.
Puzzle
A child places the last piece into a jigsaw
puzzle, on which is depicted the classic Rider-Waite image of the World.
Meaning: Everything is about to fall into place the way it
should.
You know how, or you will soon know how. You’re not asking this question
totally out of the blue, are you?
Coelacanth (Alpha of Beasts), reversed
A coelacanth swims serenely in a beautiful blue-green sea.
Meaning: You focus too tightly on things of interest to very few people.
Well, maybe you don’t know, but that’s because you’re not paying attention …
or you’re deliberately avoiding knowing.
Lightbulb (Alpha of Devices)
A large, clear lightbulb, filament glowing, is surrounded by blindingly bright light. Inside it, two flies are screwing.
Meaning: Your ideas are really good. Go for it!
When the (fairly obvious) right answer occurs to you, you will know it.
Follow it.
Politics is becoming progressively less fun to observe. Should I ignore it and let its consequences fall on me unawares, or continue to stoke the rage?
Thank you! That helps to confirm my own suspicions, actually
Between instability at my job and family illness, this has been by far the most difficult week in recent memory. What can I do to improve my situation?
- HC
Mufi and I are writing a game. What have we been forgetting, that we should do before the game is done?
Spiderweb, reversed
A large black spider checks her web
to find a tiny fairy caught in it.
Meaning: You are caught in a
situation from which it may be impossible to extricate yourself.
Avocado, reversed
A pretty waitress presents a halved
avocado in both hands, her position hinting at other pleasures.
Meaning: The offer is purely commercial. Enjoy yourself as you think
best, but guard your diet, your wallet and your heart.
You need to remember that, in the market of games, you are pretty small and
pretty powerless. No matter how pretty your game is, you will need to
be very careful that you get the benefit of it.
Klutz
A harlequin is trying to juggle mystical symbols:
a pentacle, an ankh, a crescent moon, a wand. Most of them lie scattered
around his feet. He is reaching for one that is outside his grasp, and
about to trip on the pentacle.
Meaning: You are trying to do too much
at once, or something more ambitious than your skills allow.
The game you’ve got in mind is more than you and Mufi alone can do as well as
you’d like. You have many friends and allies who would probably love to
assist you. Call on them. (Yes, I am volunteering.)
Rooster
A rooster crows a welcome to the new dawn from
the top of a fence, his tail and comb brilliant with firey colors. Goblins
and tiny gnarled monsters flee into the shadows.
Meaning: Dawn is
coming. The night and its terrors flee before the light. You can have a
fresh start.
(1) You’re gonna have to advertise it and make a big noise!
Also,
(2) Ooh, it’s gonna be wonderful when it gets here!
Mecha
Two anime-style mecha duel with overly-adorned
swords and energy blasts in front of a pagoda. The one that is facing the
viewer has an open cockpit; a terrified androgynous Asian youth is piloting
it.
Meaning: You don’t think you can do this, but you can.
These are all second-order considerations. Of course you’re forgetting
stuff; that always happens. You are going to do most of what you wanted, and
it’ll be great.
You’re welcome! It’s great fun!
I’d love a reading. I expect the cards will know what aspect of my life they want to talk about, though finding ways to make my creative efforts profitable is much on my mind of late.
All of my life, I have a hard time concentrating on things that I should do (my work, in college, the classes of my major), and an easy time concentrating on things that are not central to my life (right now: Arabic and music.)
What should I do about it?
Random
A long string of digits streams across the face
of the card, against a background of paint splotches.
Meaning: Go
ahead. Give in to your whimsy.
You wanted to find a pattern in that number, didn’t you?
Anyways. Ancient Greeks divide food into “sitos” (staples, bread mostly — the
stuff that keeps you fed and alive) and “opson” (relish — everything else –
the tasty stuff.) Chinese food theory has a similar division, and surely
other countries do too. The things you should do are your sitos; the
non-centrals are your opson. They are both essential to a balanced ChipUni
psyche. If you managed to banish Arabic and music, you’d be a miserable
depressed lump.
Edgewalker, reversed
This card is divided along the
diagonal. In the upper half, a shaman speaks with guides in the spirit
world. In the lower half, he sits in trance while the family of a sick man
looks on worriedly.
Meaning: You should seek counsel or expert
help.
Having said that, you do need to focus more on the sitos. You cannot
do this alone. I think that the counsel in question is probably legal
counsel (IIRC, Eli is a lawyer?), not ADHD drugs or such. Imagine that you’re
billing your hours — to yourself. Chop your day into 15-minute segments, and
write down what you’re doing in each one. Show the results to Eli (or
whoever). No comments are needed: the process of doing this will make you
more aware of what you are doing with your time, and more aware of time and
responsibility in general.
Fashion
An impossibly tall, thin woman wearing a
featureless mask struts down a runway in a frilly lingerie ensemble, while
camera flashes illuminate her.
Meaning: Present yourself in the way in
which you want to be seen.
In particular, present yourself in your billable hour list as you want
your wife and yourself to see you, and that’ll do it.
Sorry! All I guarantee is that these are genuine Crowdsource Tarot cards, read by a genuine Crowdsource Tarot reader! No accuracy or insight is implied.
Oh, and good luck on the interview!
Politics is becoming progressively less fun to observe. Should I ignore it and let its consequences fall on me unawares, or continue to stoke the rage?
Flambe, reversed
A waiter in a tuxedo presents a
wide-eyed catgirl with a flaming rainbow-scaled fish on a platter,
surrounded by parsley.
Meaning: Look, don’t touch, for now. Don’t get
burnt by jumping in too fast.
You certainly shouldn’t ignore it. But you shouldn’t be a part of it, or not
more than you have to …
Shear, reversed
Seven sheep, their fleece the colors of
the rainbow, wait in a line in front of a farmer holding shears.
Meaning: You are about to get fleeced.
But you can’t avoid the consequences, even if you’d really rather like to.
Zucchini
A tired person in wizard’s robes leans on a
hoe in the middle of a zucchini patch. Glorious green zucchinis and
brilliant yellow blossoms surround him.
Meaning: The essentials of
life may not be fancy, but they are fresh and abundant.
Focus on tending your own garden for a while. Not wholly avoiding politics,
but politics doesn’t make very good fertilizer for the stuff that counts.
Umbrella
As a storm approaches, a street vendor selling
incense and water pipes switches over to selling umbrellas.
Meaning:
Be prepared to take on opportunities that are likely to present
themselves.
Besides, you’re going to go off doing or thinking about something different
and rather more worthwhile soon.
This is most useful – thank you very much!
Thank you for the thoughtful reading! We’ll see you tomorrow!
Interesting… hmm. Thank you. Sounds like a time to leave a blog I participate in.
Something new and (more) worthwhile sounds encouraging.
I have decided to start with the best shoes, and Ask A Goth from there.
It’s not entirely out of the blue, but not in the way you’re thinking. This is a question I’ve been asking myself for a couple years now.
If you don’t mind, there’s an alternate interpretation I’d like you to consider for the second and third cards? They seem an expression of fatalism to me. What if the second is not saying that everything is about to fall into place, but that everything already has fallen into place? Reenforced by the Coelacanth which is in many ways an icon of the unchanging.
I see those two cards as saying ‘everything is as it should be and always has been’.
Between instability at my job and family illness, this has been by far the most difficult week in recent memory. What can I do to improve my situation?
Crow, reversed
An emaciated lion wearing a jacket and
tie considers a dead crow in the middle of the road.
Meaning: Beware
of pride; it will not serve you well.
Denial, reversed
An ostrich hides its head in the sand of its backyard, while bill
collectors knock at its front door.
Meaning: Ignoring your problems
will not make them go away.
Umbrella, reversed
As a storm approaches, a street vendor selling incense and water pipes switches over to selling umbrellas.
Meaning: When it rains, it pours.
Well, um … sorry about this, but for a while, stuff will suck.
Cat, reversed
A tomcat sits on a fence under a full moon, yowling.
Meaning: The way you are dealing with what matters to you is becoming annoying to everyone else.
And, to make matters worse, you’re leaning on your friends at bad angles, too.
Not too much, but at bad times, and you’re not listening to them as
much as you should be.
Tea
Athena and Albert Einstein are chatting in a tea
shop. An oriental-style black dragon refills their cups.
Meaning:
Seek out companions and surroundings which inspire you.
However, leaning on your friends the right way will make things much
better. That way being: getting together with them, and focussing on doing
things with them — not one word about your work or family illness
(beyond what is basically socially necessary). This of course will not fix the
problems, but it will leave you much more able to handle them.
Coelacanth (Alpha of Beasts)
A coelacanth swims
serenely in a beautiful blue-green sea.
Meaning: You are connected to
something very ancient.
Meditation, religion, or other traditional practices are likely to be helpful
too. They have provided peace and calm to many people over many thousands of
years; they are effective tools, whether or not you want to use them generally.
Very, very good advice. Thank you!
Will FurFright, especially the gaming rooms (which I’m running.. eek), be a success?
I’d love a reading. I expect the cards will know what aspect of my life they want to talk about, though finding ways to make my creative efforts profitable is much on my mind of late.
I’ve never done an unfocussed reading with this deck before, and my usual
methods of doing them with Tarot decks don’t seem to work, so this is random
and experimental.
Walrus, reversed
A walrus walks along the beach with a
collection of oysters, chatting amicably. A carpenter trails behind, with a
slice of bread spread thick with butter.
Meaning: Someone is deceiving
you.
(I’ve been drawing cards one at a time, and that one came up three times in a row.)
Beldam (Alpha of Callings), reversed
A withered old woman with white hair and a wandering eye offers to lay cards for the viewer.
Meaning: Don’t ask a question if you don’t want to know the answer.
So I think you’d better figure out where that lie is, and go deal with it.
It’s not going to be pretty.
And, as for making creative efforts profitable:
Firefly, reversed
A wide screen television shows the
spaceship Serenity floating placidly through space, its tail section lit
brightly. A group of fen stare in rapt attention.
Meaning: Don’t waste
all your energy on an unimportant, lost cause.
If some line of creative work isn’t turning profitable, or at least
getting enough attention, after a reasonable amount of time — squish it.
Switch to something that actually does work, or has a better chance of working.
Cat
A tomcat sits on a fence under a full moon, yowling.
Meaning: You should be ready to make noise in order to make sure your needs get met.
Advertising and publicity are the key here. Your material is good, but if
nobody knows about it, nobody’s going to buy it. (If you’re anything like me,
you know that already but you hate hate hate hate to
hear it.
Wolf
A lycanthrope changes form under a full moon.
Meaning: Honor the bestial and raw within your nature. Do not disdain
parts of who you are.
You seem like a very sweet and gentle woman. (Whether you are or not
isn’t relevant for this: people quickly get the impression that you are.) Many
potential customers dismiss you early, thinking that you are too bland and
insipid for them. Be sweet like pomegranite juice; be sweet like espresso; be
sweet like chutney. And be obvious about it.
Oh, on a separate note (not for the tarot) Will you be there and would you like to run anything?
Will FurFright, especially the gaming rooms (which I’m running.. eek), be a
success?
Disintegration
A hideous and wicked green-skinned hag
holding a broom is melting into a puddle. A girl with a bucket in her hand
watches, alarmed.
Meaning: A surprising, and suprisingly mundane,
means will solve your problem.
Well, there’s going to be some trouble, but it’s a kind that’s
particularly apropos for Halloween, and not that hard to deal with.
Bacon
Two perfect strips of bacon sizzle in a cast iron
pan. Mmm…bacon.
Meaning: That which you are happily anticipating is
about to be delivered to you.
Success will be meaty and crispy, if not exactly sweet.
Very welcome!
Glad to hear it!
For extra fodder for your intuition, I draw one more card:
Edgewalker
This card is divided along the diagonal. In the upper half, a shaman speaks with guides in the spirit world. In the lower half, he sits in trance while the family of a sick man looks on worriedly.
Meaning: You serve a specific and valued role in your community.
Dunno what it means though. My psyche is toast after a dozen quick readings.
Cursed if I know where it came from, but I hope it helps.
I hope it shows up soon and delightfully!
A Goth is likely to give better sartorial advice than a clothes-not-so-positive geek across the continent, even if it does have a magic computer program to help it!
Sorry to have stressed you like that. I’m sure we all appreciate the effort.
Bacon is *always* a good sign!