This week has already been a busy one: I completed the little book that will accompany my Lenormand deck coming out later this year under the LaPanthere imprint. The cards are rich and lush and inviting, my artist shares not just my vision, but my own first name, and Stacey Williams-Ng, the mastermind behind the company La Panthere is a true genius. I am so excited to show you all my cards! Also, my book, The Language of Lenormand (Red Wheel/Weiser is the publisher) came back to me from the copy editor, and that, too, looks wonderful. I can’t wait to receive my galley copy, because that will ..read more

What with all of the week’s whirlwind of news: with Disney now suing DeSatan (GOOD!) and 45 having to make the case in court as to how he did not, in fact, grab anyone by the p@%&^( when we know he totally did;) what with the wearying probable prospect of a 2020 presidential rematch; what with a couple of bullies (granted, one worse than the other) punted off the airwaves, I thought I would have a veritable grab bag of topics about which to write. The thing is, this blog has always been a joint undertaking, with the cards dictating both subject and perspective, and with me serving as scri ..read more

This morning, I appeared on a German podcast to talk about my upcoming book on Lenormand. I had set an alarm to wake me up early, but when it went off, I didn’t wake up right away, as I was in the middle of a dream I wanted to finish. As it happens, the dream was one I would loosely term a nightmare, and so, how fitting that today’s Tarot card is the 9 of Blades (Swords), commonly called the Nightmare Card. The RWS version portrays a person who looks to be female, but doesn’t have to be, sitting up in bed, face in hands, with nine swords precariously placed above her head. In Courtney Alexand ..read more

Today’s Tarot card is the 2 of Blades / 2 of Swords. In the Dust2Onyx Tarot by Courtney Alexander, the card shows us a shaman who holds a sword in each hand as he stands beneath a waning moon. This shaman seems to be awaiting advice as to what decision to make. I am so pleased that this card turned up today, as I had no idea what I might write about, but as always, Spirt has obliged by giving me my topic. Decisions, decisions…here we go. This morning, I had my second visit to a pain management specialist. I mentioned him in a previous post, I think, saying how much I liked him, and how hopefu ..read more

I have written recently about 45, and do not love the prospect of giving him more space in my head or on my page. The cards, however, insist that I write yet a little more, in light of yesterday’s events. And so, without preamble, let us go to the cards. Tarot, as always decides on my subject each week, and here we have Papa Blade, the King of Swords from Courtney Alexander’s Dust2Onyx Tarot. I don’t as a rule, read reversals, and I keep all my cards upright. That does not mean, though, that I am unaware of a card’s “shadow,” and here, oxymoronically, I realize, the King of Swords’ shadow is ..read more

Today’s Tarot card is my favorite, next to the High Priestess. Maybe it’s because I’m a Leo, and there’s a lion in it, but I think there’s more to it than that. Strength can take so many forms, can it not? It is the willingness to see the things about ourselves that perhaps we would rather not; to recognize that Strength need not be aggressive, but is always assertive; that it can be expressed in silence and not just in silence’s opposite; that it can express itself (to paraphrase) in the simultaneous wisdom of the snake and the gentleness of the dove. As Courtney Alexander writes in her book ..read more

Overall, it has been a wonderful week since last I wrote. I am officially a California resident, having gotten my new ID, and I swear I nearly skipped out of the DMV, so delighted am I to be a member of this cool club. The DMV people were welcoming and happy for me and I mean, come on: who has ever had that experience at the DMV in Jersey? I’m just saying…To celebrate, Nancy and I dined on IN 'N OUT burgers, and I swear mine tasted better than any burger I’ve ever eaten before because I’m pretty sure they used the special sauce they save for just us Californians. Sorry, not sorry. Another gre ..read more

Today’s post will perhaps read as more personal than as something for the collective, but then again, maybe not. I never know what I will write until it has been written, which is a lot of what makes the writing feel so worthwhile: it reminds me in the same way that the cards do, that I do not write alone. Spirit guides my hand. Where my partner Nancy and I live is peaceful and spacious and lovely. When I lived in New Jersey, it was in a house. Although larger than our apartment is now, it felt crowded with the memories and the stuff belonging to people who had once lived in that house with m ..read more

This will be a short post today. I am still flying high over the news that my book on how to read Lenormand is now out for preorder on Amazon, and will be released on October 2. I hope it is a work that will cause its readers to fall in love with Lenormand as deeply as I did. For me, it was love at first sight, and ideally, my readers will all fall as hard and as fast and as deeply. For those adherents of other card systems, I hope my book will make the case for enlarging their repertoire. For those who think Lenormand is the “basic bitch,” the “little step-sister,” the “inferior instrument ..read more

TAROT: 9 of Gourds / LENORMAND: Heart, Tree, Ring / ADINKRA: Kintinkantan It is a beautiful, sunny day here in San Diego. I’m told that the natives refer to a day like this as “another ho hum day in Paradise.” I have come to this place so late in life that I suspect it will never feel ho hum to me, so full have I found it of beauty and love, of serenity and creativity. The cards today speak of the gift of such bounty, and advise us in how we might consider receiving it. Today’s Tarot card, from Courtney Alexander’s Dust 2 Onyx Tarot, is the 9 of Gourds (Cups), commonly called The Wish Card. I ..read more