Well this card is very different from your typical 10 of Wands card. Instead of being weighed down by his burdens, staggering along with the bunch of sticks in front of his face so that he can barely see where he's going as in most Rider-Waite-Smith based decks, this guy has shouldered his load and seems to be almost casually sauntering along the road. Yes, the path seems to be a long one and his destination (the village or town in the distance) is quite a long way off but the guy seems to be coping well with his task, it really doesn't look like much of a struggle and the 10 of Wands usuall ..read more

Wow, this is such a powerful image. There is a strong sense of emerging after a period of difficulty in this card for me. It looks as if the person holding this sword has been buried and has fought their way towards air, towards the light. It makes me think of the scene from the 'Game Of Thrones' episode 'Battle of the Bastards' when John Snow is suffocating under the crush of retreating and dying men and just when we think he's almost certainly dead, he sees a chink of light, summons all his strength and manages to claw his way towards it, emerging and gulping down the air; almost a rebirth ..read more

The first thing I noticed about this card is how much it looks like a Hermit card but without the lamp leading the way. Instead of a lamp this guy seems to be following a path littered with spilled cups. I think there's a metaphor there. In most other versions of this card we see the cloaked figure from behind, their head is usually bent as if in grief and they focus on the empty cups in front of them, not noticing that behind them they still have two full cups. The person in the Bianco Nero Tarot's card almost looks as if he is choosing to turn away from the cups that are full, he pulls his ..read more

I have a new deck, The Bianco Nero Tarot by Marco Proietto and I love it.  It's very obviously Rider-Waite-Smith based but it uses hand drawn ink illustrations and is influenced by antique engravings and woodcuts.  It has an old yet modern vibe. It's gorgeous and I feel inspired to read with it and to make some notes so I've decided to do some posts with my thoughts on these cards, no structure, just whatever comes into my head. Today I'm looking at the IV Cups and straight away I'm seeing this card in a couple of different ways.   My immediate thought is that th ..read more

A blindfolded woman wearing a long white dress sits on a simple stone bench. Behind her is a body of water with rocky islands and a night sky with a waxing crescent moon. Her arms are crossed across her chest and she holds a huge sword in each hand, their tips pointing upwards. Element - Air Suit symbol - Swords Number - 2 Ruling Major Arcana card - The High Priestess II Swords and the element of Air are about thoughts, communication, problems and struggles.. 2s are about balance, choices, decisions, things coming together, things moving apart. They relate to The High Priestess and so are abo ..read more

Back Story: On 21st December I got a new prosthesis.  I was quite apprehensive about picking it up and trying it on as my limb centre hasn't had a good track record of making usable, comfortable legs for me.  After having my amputation in May 2016 I had 9 months with a newly qualified (and lovely) prosthetist who unfortunately just couldn't manage to make a decent leg for me so after persevering for as long as I could I asked for someone more senior and that's who made this leg. I've been waiting for a prosthesis upgrade since getting my first leg 18 months ago and really haven't be ..read more

Stand up for yourself and for your convictions today, be confident, let your light shine brightly. A lone wand or twig stands in the darkness, it's tip is on fire and gives off a bright glow which lights up the area around it. In front of it, in the darkness and so pictured as white wands (the lone wand is black) are 6 other wands, they have parted in the middle as if to let the flaming wand through. This card says to me 'It's all about you and what you believe in, stand up for those beliefs'... For me, there isn't so much of a defensive quality to this image as in the traditional Rider-Wait ..read more

Remember that life is all about balance, what you get is equal to the effort you put in. Get your head down and do some work this is a day for being productive. I love how there’s duality in the cards so a problem and also the solution, advice and a warning. I see her immersed in the book she’s reading whilst balancing on the tower of books that she’s sitting on so the message could be that it’s a day for really getting stuck into whatever work you have to do but remember the balance, don’t be so immersed in it that you neglect everything else. I love numbers in tarot too and 8s for me, as we ..read more

My prosthetist has told me that I need a much better foot because the one I have now is not up to my activity levels as it’s super basic and I am very active.  I have to wait for an OK for the funding and he’s also said that he doesn’t know how long the wait is but it could be up to a year . I’m hoping that’s a worst case scenario and have no intention of allowing things to go on that long.  Meanwhile, other NHS limb centres have no such waiting lists and other amputees that I know are getting the components they need as soon as they need them.  It is unfair and I’m feelin ..read more

What do you expect to get from a tarot reading? 3 High Priestess Cards: Sasuraibito Tarot, Wild Unknown Tarot and Dreaming Way Tarot One of the things that I've found strange when I tell people that I read tarot is what they actually imagine that I do and what they expect from a tarot reading.  Many people think of tarot reading in a purely fortune telling way and these people tend to want readings where they are told what's going to happen to them as if they have no control over events in their own lives. Many people think that because I have a deck of cards and have spen ..read more