Poinsettia - The Christmas Flower

This picture is of a Poinsettia that I have had for about four or five years. Not many people keep them for very long after Christmas but with very little care and attention they can be kept for years - just like any other houseplant.
Poinsettias (Euphorbia Pulcherrima) grow wild in Mexico and Central America so the conditions they are kept in need to be similar to their native climatic conditions. Having said that they are quite forgiving and adaptable as are most houseplants which is precisely why they can be grown as houseplants. In the wild they grow as a shrub up to ten feet in height.
The red "flowers" aren't flowers at all but bracts or modified leaves. The small, insignificant flowers can be seen in the centre of the red bracts. They are now bred in various colours including pink, white even yellow.
A sunny windowsill is an ideal position, avoiding draughts and direct heat from radiators etc. The compost needs to be kept moist but not wet and certainly not standing in water or allowed to dry out completely. The night time temperature should not be allowed to drop below 10 deg.C. In late Spring when the red leaves start to fade or drop off the plant can be pruned back and fed, watered and treated as any other houseplant. One other thing worth mentioning for those with sensitive skin is that the white sap can be irritating so best to avoid getting this on one's skin.
The trick to encouraging it to turn red again for the next Christmas lies in the hours of light and darkness it receives. Mine is kept in a room that is rarely used in the evenings and so receives no artificial light from inside or outside in the form of street lighting and this is the key. As the Autumn nights naturally lengthen from September onwards, this extra darkness is what makes the Poinsettia's red bracts form. If it is kept in a living room or any room that gets artificially lit in the evenings then it is very unlikely to turn red. A way around this is to place it in a dark bag or box every night for at least 12 hours but this would take a good memory and lots of dedication to achieve this.

The Christmas Tarot

It may seem a little late to be talking about The Christmas Tarot - but I'm going to anyway.
This is a twenty-two card Major Arcana only deck inspired by the magic of a Victorian Christmas and the images were selected from Victorian Christmas cards. There are several changes of card names. The Fool is The Child, The Death card has been renamed Nativity, The Devil card is The Angel and The Tower is called The House of God. This is an electronic deck that can be easily downloaded in less than a minute. It can either be printed yourself or, as I did, sent to an on-line photo processor which gave excellent results - much better than I could have done at home. Included is a printable 45 page guidebook which includes descriptions of each card, several new spreads and tips and suggestions for your Christmas Tarot readings.
Visit the website and see the images on-line before buying and downloading. I can't actually see myself reading with this deck but I do love looking at the images - it's beautiful.

Quadrantid Meteor Shower

This shower of medium speed meteors can be seen radiating from a point in the north-east, assuming a cloudless sky. The bright, waning, gibbous moon may hinder viewing slightly this year but it's worth looking out this evening after 19.00 GMT as the hourly rate has been as much as 120 meteors per hour in recent times although this is more likely to be 40-60 per hour.

Lower numbers should be visible between the 1st and 5th January but the peak numbers are expected on the night of 3rd and the morning of 4th January.

BEYOND THE CELTIC CROSS

Secret techniques for taking Tarot to an exciting new level.
It was nearly a year ago when Catherine first mentioned to me about a book she had written with Paul Hughes-Barlow and having long been a fan of Paul's website Supertarot and more recently of Catherine Chapman's excellent blog TarotElements, I eagerly awaited publication and I haven't been disappointed. I have never really been a fan of the Celtic Cross tarot spread although I can see that it is useful so I was interested to see what was beyond it, as this book promised. The technique described takes a Celtic Cross reading and then re-reads it using the card counting techniques which are adequately illustrated. I had tried several years ago to learn this technique but I couldn't quite "get it" but the way that Paul and Catherine talk one through the steps makes it much easier to understand. So I then tried this method with an actual reading myself. The Celtic Cross spread that I laid out was OK but a bit ambiguous in places and I didn't gain much insight from the interpretation. I then re-did the reading using the card counting technique and the reading came to life and made absolute sense - I was amazed and so pleased that it actually "worked" for me.

I was going to describe this book as not one for beginners but then I thought "why not". There is something for all levels of experience to learn in this book and a beginner could do a lot worse than to learn these techniques from the start of their studies. Also explored are the rules of Elemental Dignities, card pairing methods, Elemental bases and the power of the Aces.

The journey through this book opens up new experiences of interpretation and insight to take tarot readings to exciting new levels. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone wishing to further their tarot learning experience.

Winter Solstice

At the time of the Sun's lowest ebb, the shortest day, the dying sun sets for the last time - but no sooner has the Sun disappeared than the seed of coming life again grows. Tomorrow the Sun will rise anew. The cycle of life will begin again with the Waxing year.
The Child of Promise, the Sun is reborn,
Bringing hope to the Darkness of the forlorn,
Death has been and left its mark,
With winter's bleakness, cold and stark.
We look towards the promise of spring,
And make our plans for New Year to bring,
With joy in our hearts as the old year departs.

London Tarot Conference 2009

This was the first time I have attended the London Tarot Conference and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to mix with other Taroists and like-minded people. On arrival we were signed in and given a name badge by organiser Kim Arnold's helpful husband Martin. I didn't attend the Friday evening workshops and Cocktail party so can't report on them. In the large conference room we choose our seats and received our goodie bags which included a pack of The Llewellyn Tarot cards - very nice. We had a short welcoming speech by Kim and then into a talk by Liz Dean who is a former editorial director in mind, body, spirit publishing, writer, editor and poet. Liz talked about the Major Arcana's dark beginnings in a brutal Roman festival and its first appearance as a hand-painted deck commemorating a royal wedding in 1441. We were taught how to play the card game of Tarot which was quite fun once we got the hang of it.
Following a coffee break there was the workshop, The Living Celtic Cross by Corinne Kenner the well-known tarot master and author of several books. Corinne gave us very large tarot cards and chose eleven people (yes, eleven) to arrange in a Celtic Cross spread whilst holding the cards. The "querent" asked their question and Corinne read the cards. Then it was the turn of the people holding the various cards to speak to the querent and give their version of the messages from the cards they were holding. Three readings were performed in this manner - the first with a relationship subject read by Corinne, the second with a money subject was read by Emily Carding and the third with a health subject was read by Corinne's husband, Dan.
We then had our lunch break and the optional lunch time workshops - Reading Professionally by Mary Collin, the Transparent tarot by Emily Carding and Tarot & the Creative Process by Kay Stopforth.
After lunch we were treated to an hour long talk by Richard Abbot showing us how to find and explore our Inner World using tarot as the link to familiar themes and anchors and finding out where common experience ends and personal experience begins. Richard runs a print and publishing company, organises festivals and events, has written six books and numerous magazine articles.
Another much needed coffee break brought us to the workshop: Hunting the Lady by Caitlin Mathews. Caitlin taught us how to discover where a querent's deeper issue is located in a Tarot Reading and using some intriguing spreads we hunted the significator and revealed the hidden agendas.
This was followed by a Tarot Meditation led by Emily Carding which was enjoyed by many and I overheard some positive feedback.
Kim closed the Conference by asking all the speakers of the day up to the front for a round of applause and a photo call.
A very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday and the chance to meet up with some more TABI members

The Magic of Twitter

I think it was two to three years ago that I downloaded some Tarot podcasts from the Tarot Connection to my laptop and MP3 player. I listened to these in the car, in the bath - whenever I could. The podcast contributors included Leisa ReFalo, Ginny Hunt and Bonnie Cehovet. There were others but these are the ones that stick more firmly in my mind. I marvelled at the knowledge and experience these people had but they were distant voices from another part of the planet and as much as I admired them, I had no real connection to them apart from an interest in Tarot. Until last week that is. I now find myself discussing mundane, day to day, household issues with.......Bonnie Cehovet! The distant voice from my treasured podcasts is now communicating with me via Twitter.

It seems such a bizarre situation that I had to blog about it. Twitter, for me, is a great equaliser of all people. The famous mingle and communicate with the everyday people at home. It does them good (I hope) and helps to keep them grounded and at street level and it does us ("normal" people) good to think that the people we admire are interested in what we have to say. Whether they are or not, I don't know but it's good PR for them. So it works for everyone and keeps us all connected. Perhaps a rather simplistic view and I know that Twitter isn't everyone's cup of tea but I find it fun and all the time it's fun - I shall be using it.

UK Tarot Conference 2009

Less than a week to go now until the UK Tarot Conference 2009 on the 16th and
17th October. This is the 6th UK Tarot Conference founded by Kim Arnold who was also responsible for launching the Psychic Café in 2005.
Kim started the Tarot Conference in order to bring Tarot out of the shadows and into the 21st century. She had been intimidated in the past by members of a church, because of her work with the tarot, so decided to do something about it.
This will be the very first time I have attended anything like this and I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about it. Having met Kim before, I have no doubt that it will live up to my expectations.
I can’t wait!

Happy Days

September already. Where has the summer gone? I seem to have had a non-summer this year. We had our holiday at Easter - to Malta, which was lovely and this was just as well because shortly after we came back my husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. He had an operation to remove a tumour and then had to start a course of chemotherapy. He was also found to have TB and that's all on top of COPD. And that's where our summer has gone. Back and forth to various hospitals for test and treatments. I'm not complaining and the children haven't complained either. They are at the stage where they do their own thing and create their own entertainment.
I like the changes of seasons and I particularly like this one - Summer into Autumn. I love the Autumn colours and the feeling of the garden settling down into its Winter rest. This doesn't mean an end to gardening though. Autumn is as busy a month as any other. Lots of trees around us mean plenty of leaves to be cleared. There are Spring bulbs to plant, shrubs to be pruned, tender plants to be moved and wrapped up for the Winter months, the grass still needs cutting, final trims to the hedges, perennials to be divided and replanted, borders to be weeded and mulched - the list goes on and on.
I also look forward to Christmas - one of my favourite times of the year. I'm not sure why - I just love everything about it. Probably my inner child takes over at this time of year. I actually find myself getting really excited about present opening! I don't get quite as excited about buying and wrapping the presents but I feel this is getting easier now that the children are getting older. They know what they want usually months in advance. I also enjoy indulging in things that I generally deny myself at other times of the year - Cadbury's Roses, Turkish Delight and Fudge are several things that spring to mind.
The sign of Virgo - the industrious one - prepares us for the start of a new school term and year, not something that I enjoyed when young. "The best days of your life" we are constantly told by our elders. Right and wrong, I feel, depends on the child and the school. The best times of my childhood was when I wasn't at school - the summer holidays were always enjoyed. Especially the parts when I stayed with my nan and grandad in the country - a completely different way of life. Easier in some ways and not so easy in others but much, much simpler and one I often look back upon with great fondness. I would so love to be able to live those days all over again. Happy days.

Tribute to Michael Jackson

I never did write anything here about Michael Jackson. Not because I didn't care - more likely because whatever I wrote couldn't do him justice.

I was never a great "fan" but I did enjoy his music very much. I grew up listening to him and watching him grow and develop from being one of the Jackson 5 with his brothers to a unique individual who had a lifestyle like no other.

He was frequently in the news for various reasons - not always good but I do believe that underneath everything he was basically a good person. I'm sure he was misguided at times and sometimes his judgement was way off but we all make mistakes and Michael Jackson certainly paid for his. His children (does it matter whether they are "his" or not) seem to be remarkably well adjusted and "normal" and I feel that, as a father, he was second to none.
To say Michael Jackson was talented is a vast understatement. He wasn't crowned "King of Pop" for nothing and I doubt that anyone will topple him from his throne - at least not for a long time. Long Live the King of Pop.