A case of the multiplying Mythics...

Years and years and years ago, one of the first decks that I ever bought, was The Mythic Tarot by Juliet Sharman Burke and Liz Green. It was beautifully illustrated by Tricia Newell. I bought it because as a child, I was absolutely fascinated by Greek mythology. Oh, how I loved that deck. 

Then, for some weird reason, years ago it disappeared and no matter how high or low I hunted, I couldn't find it. 

Every now and again, I'd almost question whether I'd actually owned it. Had I dreamt having it? Maybe I'd have gone along with the dream suspicion if... it hadn't been for the fact that I have the Mythic Tarot Workbook on my shelf too, and I clearly remember buying that separately and using it with the cards.

Now, as you may know, (if you've read my previous post) I don't like losing things and to be fair, I rarely do. I was truly gutted about the loss of the Mythic deck. Still..I kept an eye on eBay or hopefully rummaged through the charity shops in the hope I might see another one, but I had no luck.

Then, a few weeks back, I saw that someone on TABI (the Tarot Association of the British Isles), was selling an updated deck by the same author. As this is called The New Mythic Tarot, the cards have now been illustrated by Giovanni Caselli. I was feeling particularly grumpy about my lost cards, so.. despite my reservations about them possibly looking very different to how I remembered, I paid for the deck and awaited for its arrival.

In the meantime, I happened to come across someone online who wanted to sell their old battered original style Mythic deck. I was staggered. She didn't want much for them at all, so I took a chance and half expected them to turn up with a card missing or to be damaged. I crossed all fingers and toes.. and hoped.

Within an hour of closing this deal, and by absolute fluke.. I heard about a friend who had another original illustrated Mythic deck, but this time, it also came with a black tarot cloth and the accompanying hardback book. And..she didn't even want any money for them. 

Yes. Pause for that a moment. I'll say it again. She wanted NO money. After some messaging back and forth, I asked if I could make a donation to her charity of choice - which suited her down to the ground and made me happy too. 

I reasoned that if I had two worn, slightly damaged decks, I could cobble them together if necessary and then have my beloved deck back at last!  

*******

The two decks of cards arrived within days of each other. Each deck was used, but in good condition. I couldn't really believe it. No missing cards and no real issues. 

Then, the new version from the lady at TABI arrived. But, as soon as I popped the cellophane open, I knew immediately that the illustrations would not work for me.  


All in all, a stroke of luck you might say? Well, I certainly thought so. 

So this could have been the end of my story of woe (and joy), as I now have the original style Mythic back in my life. 


But...fast forward to today, when it was raining and miserable outside, so I decided I'd clear out my tarot shelves, and sell some of the decks I no longer want. 

Halfway in, elbow deep in tarot cloths, cards and books... something caught my eye. 

You may know what I'm going to say. I'm almost kind of embarrassed to say it.


For the life of me, I do not know how.. or why.. or where my original deck had been for ten years... but... there they were, back on the shelf. 

I went and told my kids.. who had recently shared my excitement and joy at finding a Mythic deck again. 

This time, they stared at me like I was bonkers. My husband also gave me a similar look and said "SO.. now you have three" and then raised an eyebrow. 

I have no explanations. 

None.

Right now, the three original Mythic decks are on my altar, sitting side by side like old friends. 

It also appears, now that I can compare the three of them together... that my original deck was probably from the very first print run, as it's made of beautiful thick card stock, whilst the other two aren't quite so sturdy. 

It's made my day. I feel like I've found an old friend who'd gone travelling for ten years. Who came home to find she now has twin sisters. 

Even Aphrodite looks like she's mildly blown away by the three of them.

(note: See how big the original centre deck is? Yay for decent card stock!)

I hope your weekend has been a good one.

Mx

The Tarot and the Psychic and being literal...

I have a beautiful ring that my husband bought me. How I treasure it and all of my other jewellery that I feel is precious and magical. It is unheard of, that I lose jewellery. It just 'doesn't' happen. Until one day, I realised that I couldn't find my ring. Here it is. 

The Belonging to the Darkness Ring - Bloodmilk Jewels

I only ever take it off in two places. It's either placed on the kitchen windowsill (should I be washing up), or taken off and put directly in my jewellery box at the end of the day. It was in neither place. Fruitless searching revealed nothing. Absolutely nothing. A creeping, insidious fear started growing in my belly, that somehow I had lost my ring or worse still, it had been stolen. 

A few months went by. I'd randomly search old handbags, boxes, pockets in clothing.. still, there was no sign of the ring.

Then, I remembered that someone at TABI  (a tarot forum, where I work as an Endorsed Free Reader), had lost something and she had asked if other readers would consult their cards to see if the tarot could throw some light on her missing item. 

I thought this might be a good thing to do for myself. I took my Deviant Moon deck and shuffled it. Then, I asked the question "please show me any clues as to where my missing ring may have gone?" and randomly then selected my card. 

I drew the Page of Cups. I thought about the Page. He (or she), is a student or learning something. They're at the phase where they are practising their skills. I link the Cups to arts and creativity. As I am an artist (but consider that I am learning all the time), I thought this was a clear nudge towards looking at the area where my painting equipment sits. I immediately went off and dragged out everything I could find. I went through drawers, boxes and paint trays, with still no sign of the ring.  More weeks passed. 

I resigned myself to the fact that it was gone. 

My friend Laura found out about the missing ring after seeing an Instagram post with me moaning about it's disappearance... and (without me asking her), she decided to sit and meditate to see if she could glean any clues as to its whereabouts.  Now, Laura is very psychic and is a very talented witch and creatrix, so I was really excited to hear what she had to say.

She messaged me after the meditation and said that she got these impressions and saw these things:

A white square box shape
Being near water
Near a white shelf
An army hat
A scarf
A fan (something spinning round and round).

The scarf comment made my heart flutter, as I realised that there is a place in our kitchen where I always throw my scarf and gloves after we've been out. I went downstairs to this area and stood there reading her clues and scanning around.

The shelf/worktop is wooden, but we'd washed it with white emulsion. There were my cookbooks lined up and on top of them, my husband had put an white square extension lead. On top of the lead was his hat. A foot away was my scarf. My heart started beating faster and I looked closer, at the cookbooks. There, on top of the books, hidden underneath the lead and the hat, was THE RING!

My heart was fluttering by now and I could feel my eyes filling up. This was just amazing! Underneath the worktop is our washing machine (so obviously the ring is near water) and the fan.. well, next to the washing machine is our tumble dryer, which rotates and blows air into the drum. 

I rushed upstairs to tell her and to say thank you.

Then, I thought about the tarot. Had I misread or miscontrued the card's message? 

I looked again. This time I actually LOOKED and saw things literally.

The Deviant Moon

Copyright Patrick Valenza

How much WATER is in this card? (I mean, this whole area of our kitchen has the washing machine and sink near it) PLUS.. on the same worktop at the opposite end.. stands our fish tank. I had totally disregarded the fish on the card and ignored how literal the message was. (note to self: Sometimes the tarot is REALLY literal!)

My husband, meanwhile, was very impressed.. and then he said one last thing which put the lid on it, so to speak.

He said "You'll pulled a PAGE card didn't you? Well, the ring was nestling on top of the PAGES of the cookbooks".. My mouth dropped open ever further at this point. 

I'm still blown away by all of this to be honest. I've never used the tarot for finding things before and I'm entirely grateful to Laura who trusted her gut instinct and 'said what she saw' and trusted her Guides.

You may find too that it's hard sometimes to trust your gut or your inner voice. You may also find that you read your cards  'by the book', which is what I did on this occasion, without paying attention to the images jumping out at me. It's a lesson learnt.. Spirit and Tarot works in mysterious ways.