This post is going to be doing some jumping around on multiple topics. Here goes...

I've had a Lenormand deck of cards for a few years now, but never really used them until recently (as in, less than a year ago).

In this time I've learnt that my Lenormand aren't quite what's been out there for a number of years.  For instance, most decks have a card called The Ship - I have The Train.  there are also other cards and Images I have that other Lenormand don't, and vice versa, and at one point it had me wondering, Is this even real!?


I then took some time out the one afternoon to have a look through the companion book* and have a look at the tarot associations for the cards and came to the conclusion that my Lenormand are as real as the other decks out there.  So there are a few differences (biggest being that mine don't tie in with playing cards, nor have any such symbolism, and the few card substitutions), but don't we have the same thing in tarot?  Look at the Beast's Thoth tarot:  instead of the Pages and Temperance, he has Princesses and Art.  Why should it make his tarot any less real then what old Arthwaite went and made?  For those who don't know, Arthwaite's Rider-Whaite-Smith tarot is a reimagining/corruption of the traditional "Marseilles-style" tarot, which itself is one derivation of the Visconti-Sfroza Tarot.

So, back to Lenormand:  I'm now part of a Lenormand Card study group online - wow!  That's all I'm saying on this right now anymore.

Touching on a subject I went on about last time, the wine shop at the Old Biscuit Mill (aptly named "Wine @ the Mill") had a selection of curries and stews that they served up as... BUNNY CHOW!!  Would you believe, I go ten years without seeing a bunny chow and suddenly I see hundreds of the bedamned things in one week, on two separate occasions.  it's so weird how things turn out....

On the topic of curry:  my sister has had this craving for wraps for a long while, so Friday my mom decides, right, we're making rootis for supper.  So, 5.00pm she's finished her class and had a shower and it's off to the brand new, simply GIGANTIC new Checkers that opened up on Sandown Road to get chicken, veggies and whatever else we might need for our chicken curry rootis.  Ingredients bought, shop closing warning received, we make our way back home - and realise, just before Parklands Junction, that we don't have any wraps or rootis.  Out of everything to have forgotten, we go and forget the ingredient that gives the meal its name.

Rush into Woolies - no, too pricey.  And small.  Rush all the way down Wood Drive (Friday evening traffic, please note) to Spar - also small,, but cheaper and good quality.  At least, that's what we thought, until Zan and I actually worked out the number of rootis in the packets and relative "so much per rooti".  It turns out, Woolies would have been the cheaper option with eight rootis for R35, whereas Spar were almost R30 for six...

Touching on "The Process" again, I'm on chapter 22 now.  WOW!  Again, WOW!  I can't get over how amazing I'm finding the whole thing.  One thing he said has been running and bouncing around in my head for the last two weeks, and it goes along the lines of, "Sitters come to us [divinators] because we fulfil a unique need in their lives.  Yes, they can very easily and for the same price most professional readers charge go to a psychologist or counsellor, but they come to US, as readers.  Why?  I just spent a few minutes trying to put thoughts to words for the possible reasons, and you know what?  I kept coming up blank.  I think they come to us because they can.  Make no mistake, there are a few that come for the mysticism and magic others, and some that come to us to hear the answers they want that maybe other people or circumstances in their lives aren't giving them; but, I personally think, for the most part they come to us because we can help them in a way most other people can't.

The cards are our tools.  Runes, Lenormand, tarot, bones... they're all of them a way for the sitter to get an answer from us without us seeming as if we're shrinks.  They can block out, forget for a moment, that we're also people, and ignore that we're interpreting the cards on their behalves.  WE aren't the ones giving them advice or helping them with an issue.  Its the cards doing all the work.  We aren't even the ones doing all the talking, it's the voices of the cards making themselves heard.  They can let themselves forget for a moment that so MUCH that goes into and comes out of a reading is what we see in the sitter, how s/he reacts, what s/he says.  That's fine, you know.  Our work as readers is to read our cards/stones/bones and conveying what we see to the sitter.  Making him/her happy by being calm and doing our work is the most important thing we can do for him/her.  Reading what we see and conveying it the best we can is simply an extension of that....

Blessed be!

Ooooh, baby! I found out someone actually reads these posts (^_^)

That said, anyone who really knows me knows I love food, even though I don't have the biggest repertoire of recipes or the greatest culinary imagination.

THAT said, anyone who truly knows me knows I love curries and pizza.  On the topic of curry, Zan, Amma and I spent some of the day in Town looking for a pipe for P, as well as just walking around Shortmarket Street for a bit and popping into the Golden Acre Mall to see the ruins of the original reservoir.  Nice little piece of history.

On the walk back up from Golden Acre we stopped, as we are wont to do, at a stall with shiny things.  The stallholder's name is Myroenesa (may-rrho-nee-sah) and when asked for a suggestion for a lunch spot sent us to the Eastern Food Bazaar.  That involved walking all the way BACK DOWN Shortmarket, crossing the road, and following the smell of curry to what we were told would be an Indian restaurant.  Well, the smell of curry certainly led us to Indian food.

Bunny chow - Amma was rather surprised when she saw the men at the next table eating this.  When she asked for a photo, he looked at her funny, but let her snap one anyway.

We all had the 405 from the Madras Dosa House:  a Chicken Masala Dosa.  It.  Was.  Stunning!!  And so filling, too, that we all brought most of it home and had it for supper.

The menu for the Madras Dosa House.  You order and pay at the far right end of the counter (out of shot - obviously), then hand the (apparently arrogant) Indian chef your slip for your order.  In the silver bowl to the right (also out of shot) is a bowl of coconut chutney - amazing, but f***ing hot!

a)  This is the nice gentleman that let Amma take the photo of his food.

b)  The chandeliers are pretty, aren't they?

The whole bazaar was fitted into this one corridor in the... well, some building in Town.  The decor was provided mostly by beautiful old Indian doors, with "typically" Indian music playing in the background.  The whole feel of the place is one of relaxation and simply enjoying an incredible meal.

And this is Myroenesha.  She gets full credit for the amazing lunch we had (^_^)

Lately I've been stuck on old, medieval / middle-aged instruments.  Now, let it be known I can't play an instrument to save my life (I can barely hold three notes on a recorder), but I so badly would love to learn to play a citole.  The reason for this is that I quite honestly find guitars, pianos and even Western-style violins overplayed.  I don't find them as exciting as I did before, and since importing a Pipa isn't very financially viable (never mind getting new strings or finger plectra).  With a citole, strings are made of the normal nylon/gut we use on classical guitars, and other types of gut strings are also easier to get hold of.  As it is, a gentleman by the name of Paul Butler has greatly inspired me to at least try and make a citole.  Also, having a guitarist and former instrument repairman in my life isn't hurting my chances of (at least partial) success.

Let's all hold thumbs and see what happens, eh?

On to tarot (my greatest love).  I've been listening to Dan Pelletier's "The Process:  The Way of the Tarot Reader" and can quite honestly say that it's only the second piece of tarot "literature" I've truly enjoyed, the first being Christine Jette's "Professional Tarot".  As whacky as it sounds, his voice is comforting, and I can honestly say he regularly has me laughing at things that wouldn't make sense to other people.  He makes you listen, even if you don't immediately absorb the information, and though the best idea is to sit and take notes, it's easy enough to listen to while you're busy and still be learning something.  What's nice about it - since it isn't a paper-and-ink book - is that you can rewind something if you've missed it, and where you might sometimes not understand something written down, Mr Pelletier's voice immediately makes any meanings clear.

The entire audiobook starts with him speaking to "you" on the phone and making an appointment for noon the next day; from there, he takes "you" through rose-garden related activities and likens the tarot to his roses, people and experiences in his life.  He often speaks of his friend Dutch and his cats.

As a teacher he is stern and to the point, but also funny and aware (constantly reminding "you", actually) that his path in the tarot isn't "your" path in the tarot.  Besides constantly telling "you" to get rid of your LWB and giving you general tips and pointers in regards to the cards, he doesn't try and teach you meanings or how the cards "should" be read.  All of this he leaves up to "you", and rather enjoys "shooting down", for (current) lack of a better description, authors and experts on the history and interpretations of the cards.  One example that springs to mind is from the "Interpretations" section of the audiobook, where he quotes an author on his/her interpretation of the Empress in combination with three other cards:  pregnancy, pregnancy, pregnancy (in summary).  He shoots these "interpretations" down and justifies this by mentioning hysterectomies, barrennes and a lack of an active sex life.

The best way to experience this audiobook is to get hold of it for yourself.

All in all, "The Process:  The Way of the Tarot Reader" is an incredible audiobook and well worth acquiring.

Blessed be!!