My relationship and its status...

... is not up for discussion unless you ask me about it directly.  Is that understood?  I apologise profusely for being so confrontational and nagging about this, but I realise that unless I pull a You-(should) Know-Who, the message isn't going to get through:  if I make mention of the relationship, ask me about it, because I made the mention.  A few of you reading this know exactly what I'm talking about, as does Julian.  He ( and the few who know what's doing ) also knows my irritation is well-founded.

Right-o, moving on.

With the stress of moving ( the actual move is happening tomorrow ) my mom and I decided to have a knertsie for our nerves.  So we each had a little bit of strawberry cream, and since I had plans to run to the shops to return an allergy bracelet, I downed mine so I could get done and go.  I hereby apologise for any errors, grammatical or otherwise, that you find in this entry.  I never did get to the shops, if that clarifies anything...

I got a lovely Medieval Scapini Tarot deck as a gift from Z the other night.  The poor dear hasn't been feeling all that well, but M&M and I stopped by their house the other night to drop off a birthday gift for the Prime Elder of the Tradition and, as is wont when Pagans and friends get together, we all ended up chatting, but sort of in shifts:  ME went off with Z to the Temple space and they had a fat chat about ... something.  Then, as we're getting our stuff sorted and getting ready to maneuvers, he pulled me into the Temple spac eand showed me his tarot collection.  Wow.  Me likey lotsa.

Anyway, as we left he gave me his spare Medieval Scapini.  Wow.  It's LOVELY!  Below are my thoughts on the deck.

Two quick scans ( although I wanted to do it with MUCH higher resolution :( )

The art of the MS is probably best described as being "modern medieval".  What that means is that while there's much "archetypal" medieval symbolism and the figures are drawn in an almost illuminated manuscript style, you also find many modern symbols and images inside the art of the cards.

This is what I mean:

If that isn't a flying saucer, then call me Susan!

Here's another one:

I'm in two minds about this one, though my first thought was, "Another UFO!!", and it's still the predominant thought in my mind.  On reflection, it could be a covered dish or something along that line ( the King's been thrown from his castle; why not his supper, too? ), but I still see a UFO in this card.

In the Ace of Swords, I found this little gem:

Yes, I realise that by this time the Crusaders might have brought faint elements of Far Eastern art with them from Jerusalem et al, but as the artist himself ( apparently ) confessed, when he designed this deck after re-creating the lost cards of the Visconti-Sforrza Tarot, he didn't really know much about tarot interpretations; I'm guessing that at this stage he just put in some things he considered mystical and "tarot-ish".

As for the interpretations of these cards...

... I'll let you know what I think about them once I've had the chance to get my hands on a copy of the LWB  (^_^)

What I can tell you, from official reviews, is that the LWB seems to be indispensible.  Unless you have it, or have used the MS before, you won't have much of an idea of what's going on.  Since I don't have the LWB, I'll have to sit and think carefully about using this deck now or later, once I've sat and worked through it a bit.

Some thoughts over the last week.

After my post last week Julian didn't want to really talk to me.  Yes, he was the single Christian at the braai that Sunday.

We had a chat about interfaith relationships (specifically Christian/Pagan) before we got to why he was really unhappy:  I voiced my thoughts on a same-faith relationship not to him, but to the Internet.

Perhaps I should have at least warned him what I was up to, or what was running around in my head.  I don't usually, but then, usually my entries aren't quite so personal.  I never try to hurt anyone with my entries; I jsut say what's on my mind at the time.  Unfortunately, what was on my mind didn't include Julian, but dreams and thoughts of someone else.

That said, through asking a thingy here and reading a few cards there, with a little bit of spying mixed into all of that, I've noticed that people never speak to me about my relationship directly.  Remix:  those friends that read the blog don't ask me about our relationship directly.  Maybe I'm stepping on some toes here, but guys and girls, I'm the one typing the blog and venting here, not Julian.  This is a space for me to say what I'm thinking or going through and venting.  Julian might get a mention occasionally, but he isn't involved in the blogs I post and has no say over what I do or don't put up.  If anyone's worried about what I put up, speak to me.  I don't like the Snake or the Page of Swords coming up in readings I do for my blogs.

Am I making sense here?

On a MUCH lighter note:

This is Gizmo.  She's a very recent (like, just over 24 hours recent) addition to the clan.  She's a rescue that couldn't stay at her rescuer's house because the dam that was already there kept getting territorial, so she came to me.  I'm keeping her in the room for a few days just to get used to me before I let the dogs and guinea pig meet her.  Zan says Moscow should be OK with her, and I know BG will be, but I'm never sure what Moscow will do around people or other animals.

Going to run now.  Have stuff to sort out and and and...

So sleep tight and see you guys soon.

So at this Church bazaar a while back...

... a little girl was standing there, loud and proud, with her basket of kittens.
  "Christian kittens for sale!  Christian kittens for sale!" this little girl shouted at the top of her lungs.
  The pastor, all happy and proud of this little girl for selling her "Christian kittens" with such proud abandon, very happily bought two from her.

Two weeks later, at another market, the same little girl stood with her basket of kittens for sale, but her message this time was, "Pagan kittens for sale!  Pagan kittens for sale!"
  The same pastor, who happened to be bargain-hunting, was mortified when he heard her.
  "My child," he said, "two weeks ago you were selling Christian kittens.  How did they become Pagan kittens!?"
  The little girl looked up at the pastor and said, deadly earnest, "Oh, no, pastor, it's simple:  last time their eyes were still closed."

(Shared, with some editing, after that of the fabulous Z. Katz)

We were at a braai last weekend and there were only six of us there.  Out of the six of us, the one Christian stood out a bit, but he didn't mind too much.  I can very happily report that he has his opinions, we have ours, and we all get along happily enough.

When I heard this joke, the thought struck me that we, as the Christians do, tend to lump everyone in the same pot.  "Christians this, Christians that!" we shout, without taking the time to actually single out those individuals or individual groups that actually cause us the metaphorical grief we go through.  In the same breath, yes, the Christians LOVE shouting' "Pagans this, Pagans that!", but some of them are also trying to send the message of "Single him/her/them out."

Am I making any sense here?

I took part in a competition yesterday (body art/beauty/maquettes) and was involved with two sections:  as a model for Section 4 (Hand and Arm Prosthetics) and as an entrant for Section 7 (3D masks:  Venetian Creations).  I didn't win in my section, but my artist won second place in hers.  The point is, there were some REALLY beautiful men there, not only in terms of models, etc, but some of the really normal, Camel-man type beauties as well, and I had a roving eye for most of the day.  Yes, I am in a relationship, but looking at these men and thinking about last week's braai, I couldn't help myself from thinking, I would really love to have a Pagan boyfriend.  It's a personally discriminatory thing for me to have thought, because you should be happy with the love you have, faults included; I also know of AT LEAST one other couple that are a Christian/Pagan blend, and their kids follow their own paths.  But, that said, it doesn't change the fact that, given the chance, I wouldn't mind in the least having a Pagan boyfriend/lover.  Or even agnostic.  Would it be a way for me to properly cut my ties with my Christian upbringing (yes, shocker, I was a right little Churchified happy clappy, but in hindsight, I always liked the activities more than the messages I was supposed to be learning)?  Or is it the way most people think when it comes to their faiths?

Ironically, wanting a Pagan boyfriend hearkens back to the Christian idea of marrying inside your own faith. That'd be ever so slightly hypocritical of me, I think:  cut your ties, but sneak one of them into your life.

UUUURGH!  My head says it's time to stop babbling so much and start making sense.