Burst of energy, creativity, inspiration etc. What I get from this card today is ‘Do it!’ And if you don’t know how then fake it. I’ll get the hang of it soon enough. In the background is Hermes, all about quickness, the messenger of the Gods but quite often with his own agenda. For me this is a warning to not take everything at face-value.
Cards used this week have been from the lovely Tarot of Prague by Magic Realist Press. It is one of my favorite decks and I am lucky enough to own a first edition and no, it will NEVER be for sale 😀
I also want to add a little note that I made a book-blog only in swedish though. I have been on Goodreads a while now and tried to review in my rather wobbly english, here is an oppertunity to review in my own language, with no censorship, no angry author comments, no deleted reviews and I won’t even drive traffic to Amazon! Click the image to see it.
Big sticks, a little like opinions. We all got them and we either keep them to ourselves, flaunt them or hit others in the head with them. Take a pick. This is the second appearance of the World. I take my que from her then. Handle your opinions/wands with grace. Lashing out won’t get anything done.
Oh funny note: Went to the library today and actually heard the librarian talk about how some people just read too much! *jaw dropped* I took my bundle of 6 books home anyway, like an addict with the weekly ration of illicit drugs.
I will just keep this one post updated instead of making new ones all the time:-D
Had a little nap and dreamt of Moomin!
Currently reading:
Haruki Murakami – 1Q84 (about 55% in)
Alice Munro – Lives of girls and women (38% in)
Challenges: (too tired for more challenges)
Mid-way challenge:
1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? I am doing so much better then I though. It is 1am here and I just stepped out of the shower and feel refreshed and ready to go! Did rest my eyes while listening to ‘The wings of the dove’ though.
2) What have you finished reading? 1 short story, 1 essay book and 1 novel
3) What is your favorite read so far? I have to say the essays by Jonathan Franzen since he is a new author to me and I had some preconceived ideas about him.
4) What about your favorite snacks? See image just above…
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! I found just a few since I haven’t really started my rounds yet, was gonna do that when the tiredness set in.
Book-trailer challenge: I picked a book I really want to read. ‘Wonder’ by R.J. Palacio (you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out)
‘Tengo wrote a story about the Little People and their deeds. Eriko furnished the basic story and Tengo converted it into an effective piece of writing.’
‘Tengo curdled a story about the Hexes and their potions. Eriko elucidated the nocturnal boil and Tengo splattered it into an thankful piece of spleen.’
ok another using a random word generator (and this is so stealing reading time…)
‘Aomame severely distorted her face in the gloom. She had to try her best to follow what this man was saying. “Are you telling me that I was transported into this other world of 1Q84 by Tengo’s storytelling ability…’
‘Aomame vividly protected her ignorance in the gloom. She had to clean her camel to follow what this man was sharing. “Are you telling me that I was buried into this buttered toast of 1Q84 by Tengo’s sinful folly…’
Hour2 mini-challenge (From River City Reading) is to connect the book we read with a song. I am right now reading Jonathan Franzen ‘Farther away’ and since it is about authors and bird watching and especially about the suicide of his good friend David Foster Wallace the song I picked is by The Beatles – Blackbird
Well, I read tarot too, just that I don’t blog a lot about it.
But this weekend is the bi-annual Dewey’s Read-a-Thon! It starts on the 12:th October. Since it goes from noon to noon and I rarely get out of bed until 11 am or so it is perfect for myself 😀 I doubt I will stay up the full 24 hours though, I like my naps, but this is such a perfect day to have more or less an excuse to lock the door, turn off the phone and just indulge in my favorite things – Reading and snacking!
This time I plan to rest my eyes a lot more by listening to a few audio books and I got a whole lot of short stories and even might squeeze in a BBC dramatization or two so I can close my eyes and just lean back and enjoy. Â I also really want to finish up some half-read books laying around the house.
So I am preparing by baking some bread, buying plenty of juice and fruits, got firewood ready, comfy clothes washed, family and friends notified, putting books in a basket, charging the kindle and sleep well the nights before 😀
I decided to take 1 month off from the distraction that Facebook is. Most of it due to receiving a message from my biological father there that he was not interested in any kind of relationship with me on Facebook, he also already blocked me from his phone and his e-mail. I guess he wants me to travel the 850 or so kilometers to him? He never said. I got hurt and upset. I was already very depressed and for some reason this propelled my right out on the other side. I am all calm now, nothing can touch me.
The cards I used this week was the mottled in brown and green Secret Forest. I used it before and like the murky colours and the figures that you more guess at then make out clearly. It’s a mood-tarot. Just throw away the LWB and all meanings and step into the forest and hang out a while.
This time I only pulled a card when I felt for it and then left it out all week. By the end of the week (today) I still only got 3 cards but only took photos of these two due to poor lighting.
For the first I see a figure by a tough tree, digging into the mountain. It made me think of roots, and what holds me into place. The figure looks like she is ready for battle with spear and shield, or is this the moment just after the fight? The contemplation over just what she won or lost?
The second card is Temperance pouring and mixing and fixing and mending dividing and being way to preoccupied with getting it just right, making sure it is fair. It never ends though – the water in those cups, it is really overflowing just she cannot be SURE it is. She might run out…
I got a package with books today and that makes me feel like this weekend will be a GREAT one.
I had and read a few of the Proust earlier but this is the year I will finish them all 😀
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Skelleftehamn in the north of Sweden
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Finishing off some started books, like ‘The left hand of darkness’ and ‘Hard-boiled wonderland’
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Popsicle!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
40+ swede living with a cat named Charlie. Loves to read tarot and books.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
Take it easy, rest my eyes now and then, get some fresh air, read a bit outside the box, books I wouldn’t normally pick.
It’s funny how your mood will colour your card interpretation. Today I pulled 7 of swords after a sleepless night and saw this:
disparate and lonely buds, chopped off, with no stems or roots or support. A swords struggling to fight against 6 closely intertwined swords, to break up the pattern. But it is really trapped, weakened. Locked in but with the ambition to be free. Mental stress and wariness but not yet giving up.
Another day, when waking up refreshed and rosy-cheeked, I might see the Chariot here, the quest and the glory, the Will breaking free. But today oh dread.
Didn’t manage to get a photo of the story cubes, but it was Mail and Foot. And yeah, I did go to the postoffice to collect a parcel with 2 books 😀
First the daily card. I pulled this about 5am when my cat Charlie woke me up cause he wanted to go out, then stood frozen in the door for a minute while my warm sleep drained away. I made tea and took a card and got 4 of Jewels/coins. I always loved these Cycladic figures. They are from around 3300 BCE but the pattern has a long history and they were made rather consistently in style for about 5000 years, just suck on that. 5000 years. Some were found in graves, some obviously cared for like dolls, some in temples as votives. They look surprisingly modern with their stark abstract features. But we have to remember these would have been painted with pigments too. What we see is really just the ‘bones’ which is also the title for the card: Bones of Jewels. What I think of when I see them is how humans gave them shape and life just because they could. These were now actual useful tools, they were not worn to show status, they were simply created cause we could and cause our ancestors liked them, just as I like them today, more then 5000 years later.
I remember seeing these ‘in the flesh’ once as an exhibition at a museum in Stockholm while studying ancient history and culture and I just fell in love. They were all standing in concentric circles, graded for size, facing a large round marble sphere. The largest almost life-size, the smallest like my pinkie.
Apart from that… I started reading a book ‘Ghostwritten’ by David Mitchell but got side-tracked into Haruki Murakami’s book ‘Underground’ due to the connections. Underground is a non-fiction book on the Sarin-gas attack in the subway in Tokyo in 1995 mastered by the cult leader Aum. It’s touching, sad, horrific but really gives an insight into how people reacted that were there and survived. The Japanese soul. These people who stayed in a dangerous situation just cause it was their duty. I only read the first few stories yet but it is interesting.
Then a weather update. We didn’t get 1 meter that they said could happen. We got about 30 cm. Plenty enough if you ask me. Photos:
Been reading a novel by an author called Anna Kavan ‘Ice’ and it is one of the weirdest books I ever read. Imagine opening a book and recognize the landscapes and even some of the feelings from a dream. I do keep a dream journal (now and then) and in it I have logged a dream taking place on a desolate island in an icy ocean and in Kavan’s book I am right back there. Slipstream is a label used and I like that. Slip stream. Something flowing and bending in ways you could never imagine or predict. Just like a dream. The book is slightly depressing though but the strangeness of it is appealing even so.
The card I got yesterday was 6 curved blade which I guess is same as 6 Swords. I am come and go it says. Well, I am not really coming or going much at all. It feels like I live my life all in my head. Or my dreams. I need to try and reach out and re-connect with the world again. Now just how did one do that again?
First of all, I am just starting this new book by S.J. Watson ‘Before I go to sleep’ Imagine Lucy (Drew Barrimore) 20 years later waking up still with no memories only to see her aged hands and face in the mirror and married to a stranger. Only here – add to that a certain creepy feeling that things are not as they should, and a hidden secret journal… Perfect reading for a cold and dark February evening.
And I pair it with a tarot deck some people think is creepy too! I don’t, I quite like it, the weirdness of it. It is the I am One tarot that caused some flurry of critique on the AT forum when it came out since the Majors, the titles and the suites (but not the art of the minors) are based on an earlier deck with no credit given. Here is a harsh review of it which I don’t really agree with myself. The earlier deck is OOP and hard to find but you can read on it here: The new tarot for the Aquarian age
I find the art interesting and the titles for the cards make it feel more of an oracle then a tarot. The LWB is kinda nice too in that it makes connection between certain cards. We’ll see how much I use it. I am at a point in life where I read more books then cards…
Burst of energy, creativity, inspiration etc. What I get from this card today is ‘Do it!’ And if you don’t know how then fake it. I’ll get the hang of it soon enough. In the background is Hermes, all about quickness, the messenger of the Gods but quite often with his own agenda. For me this is a warning to not take everything at face-value.
jema 