It started out with our annual Fourth of July Blow Stuph Up party, which was a huge success. I firedanced, played Rockband and my inner pyro got to come out any blow off mortars. Then we had a weekend visit from our friend Drakino. We took him to the gorge and to St. Helens. I cohosted another class, Divination for the Curious, which was a lot of fun and attended a concert by Ayria and Project Pitchfork.

This weekend kicks off the “even crazier” period of July. We’re going camping this weekend. Then on Tuesday I head out to the Oregon coast to attend a Tarot Intensive hosted by my friend Katrina. I’m very much looking to both camping excursions. I drive home late Friday night only to turn around once more Saturday morning to tour Tillamook with Kender, and his parents. We’ll continue heading south along the coast till we hit Lincoln City where we’ll join my family who’s flying out Friday. Neither of our parents have ever met, so this is going to be a fun and wild ride.

We’ll spend the night, and our anniversary, at the coast and then head back Sunday with my family in tow. For the final days in July, I’ll be showing my family all the changes Portland’s done since their last visit.

I’m taking every little “free moment” to breathe and remember to enjoy this moment. If I didn’t enjoy being busy, then I wouldn’t be doing all this. Of course, I figure I’ll sleep when the end of this month comes. Or in August. *gryn* In any case, wish me lots of energy and fun!

I’ve added pages that tell seekers about my reading rates, ethics, reading events, as well as a page of testimonials from past seekers. I’m also slowly and steadily moving the bulk of the tarot-related posts from this area to there. In the future, I hope to post reviews, essays, readings and tarot-related tidbits from my life to that site. Of course, I also hope the area attracts more seekers who’d like me to read for them and help them achieve their dreams.

I’ve been trying to get back into the habit of doing daily tarot readings and kicked Friday’s festivities off with a three card draw. As it aligned perfectly with my feelings for the day, I will use the cards to structure my summary here. You can visit my photo gallery to see the pictures I took at the event.

Ten of Swords
The Ten of Swords, in the Deviant Moon Deck, shows a being trapped in a box with swords jabbing in from the outside. It’s not a pleasant card but always reminds me of how I tend to be hard on myself. It’s the inner critic at its worst. Therefore, when this card appeared I made a mental note to myself to go easy on myself and not let the critic get to me. This helped me mentally prep for the drive and any adversity.

I started out the day being a bit nervous and ancy. Long trips always make me jittery and this was no exception. I knew that parking and finding my way around the con were going to be the biggest headaches so I left a bit early. The drive went smoothly and uneventfully. I saw deer munching grass off to the side of the interstate and even spotted a Bald Eagle perched in a tree. Seeing them confirmed just how special and grand the day was going to be.

I made it to SeaTac with two hours to spare, so I set about trying to find parking. The DoubleTree Hotel’s parking lots were completely full. No spots to be had. And of course, my inner critic started badgering on me. Feeling defeated, I kept telling myself to stop and calm down. Finally found a valet parking place next block down and got ECKS (my car) a nice resting spot for the day.

The next hurdle was getting my badge. Navigating the con was easy, thankfully. Everyone was in costume or garb and I silently thanked my sensibilities to have dressed up a bit. After asking for directions to registration, I stood in line waiting to fork over my cash– only to be turned away because I didn’t fill out a form. Grumbling, I filled out the forms, stood back in line, and in less than five minutes had my badge.

The Ballroom was located just around the corner from the main registration area and I smiled at my fortune. I peeked into the room, decided not to listen to what was going on in there, and instead, parked myself outside the door and decompressed while sorting and repacking all the goodies I received into “the HEAVY bag of doom” (containing Cathrynne’s books and copies of RAVENS) that I brought with me. When I was ready, I got up and strolled through both the dealer room and art gallery, where I saw many amazing prints and pretty shinies.

Ten of Cups
The ten of cups shows an image of people huddled close together, enjoying each other’s fortune and company. This was how I saw myself feeling for most of the day. Abundance, fortune and companionship. It was nice to feel wanted and loved by friends and I felt glad to have been wanted.

At 2:30 I wandered back into the ballroom. s00j and her entourage had arrived and just started setting up. I claimed a spot up front and waited. Not too long afterwards, Sandi showed up and I offered whatever assistance I could. Nothing much was going on but I noticed that the hall was beginning to fill up with all sorts of s00j fans and curious attendees.

A few people brought their Ravens books to sign so I took out my Indigo pen and set about signing some people books. During one of the signings, a nice young gentleman called out to me and was all like, “hey, you’re Jaymi… Jaymi Elford, right? Phil’s told me a lot about you.” Taken off guard, that was my introduction to Ben Dobyns, another fellow Ravens collaborator. We chatted a bit and then I wandered back up to the front.

Cathrynne Valente arrived, then a few other people I recognized from other Seattle gatherings and I chatted around with various people. At 3pm, the concert commenced. s00j, Betsy, and Vixy took center stage and introduced themselves. Songs were played and sung in between readings by Cathrynne from Palimpsest. Then s00j, Betsy, and Vixy singing songs that were written and inspired from various stories. s00j had said that her muse and Cathynne’s muse were dating and I thought that was such a great line. They ended this section with “Ravens in the Library,” a perfect way to introduce our part of the event.

Sandi took the mic and spoke about the anthology and introduced the readers, who all took the stage one by one and read parts from stories. K read from Neil Gaiman’s story. It was a wonderful telling complete with vocal inflections for each character. Cathrynne took the mic next and read parts from her story. Angel followed and despite the fact that it was her first PUBLIC reading, she did an awesome job of bringing her character, Pip, to life. Sandi finished out the reading with a powerful selection from Phil’s story. I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t read, although I think Phil was bummed that I didn’t get to read. There will be other events and other chances.

That left the last half hour for book signings. I finally got to meet and chat with s00j, someone that many of my friends know and I have never been able to meet yet. We talked about Faerieworlds, keli, and things in general. I even got my picture taken with her.

s00j sold out of 18 copies of RAVENS in 20 minutes. We used the foot of the stage for our signing line. It was fun to write in books once again. I even got my copies of RAVENS signed by Ben, Cathrynne, and s00j herself. Oh and Cathrynne graciously also signed the four books of hers that I owned. (Thank you for the patience Cat!) While she was penning her name in the books, I took a moment to ask her why she wasn’t doing an event at Powell’s. She replied that the bookstore staff didn’t seem interested, which is why she and s00j are playing at other places here in PDX this week. Hearing that was absolutely shocking because I thought Powell’s was a strong supporter of Cathyrnne’s work.

I was impressed and pleased with the concert and signings. It was fun to chat with Ben, and to sign and thank people for purchasing books and supporting the cause. I totally can see joint efforts between authors and musicians being a new tool for promoting works. Music and the muse– a VERY powerful combination. I now sit here with tons of ideas on how to use this as a template for my own work. Partnering with my hubby and other local musicians for collaboration and shows.

Two of Pentacles
The Two of Pentacles shows one of my favorite images in this deck. In the card, a bellydancer dances and swings two “hoops” in her arms. I hope to make a costume of this card one day. It’s a card of earthly balance but all I could see in this card for the reading was that I was going to end up dancing at some point that night. Which was why I brought my poi with me.

After the event was done, and things got packed behind the stage, Sandi and I went to work in the dealer room. We got 10 copies of RAVENS sold or distributed to the dealers. Phil was on his way and we put off eating dinner until we had some time to kick back and relax. Once he arrived, we wandered upstairs to listen to Tony & Vixy’s concert (with s00j guest appearing). It was fun to hear them play and I thought about what a great community the musicians have in the city.

Sandi and Phil convinced me during dinner to stay and hang out with them for the night. So, once again we chatted while trying to find out what the evening could offer us all. We settled on staying at the DoubleTree and dancing the night away. It was an interesting mix of music and brought back awkward feelings of old school dances. I whipped out my poi and decided that it was time to swing with glow sticks.

I had a hard time sleeping Friday night and ended up leaving Seattle around 8:45ish. I left my hosts a message on their desk and drove home… a million and one thoughts racing through my head.

Thanks Phil and Sandi for allowing me to crash once more at your place and for allowing me to participate on the concert/reading/signings. I didn’t wake you up because I know you both weren’t feeling well and had a hard and long day on Friday.

It was my hope that by sharing Tarot Alive with others that it would present them some practical ways to use tarot, and the archetypes, as personal assistants on their path. For example, they could perform variants of this experiment to embody other personalities to receive help or assistance with blocks in their lives.

I wrote up a quick summary and outline of my experiment on the GEM wiki site and set about to make the worksheets. Yesterday, while I felt better, I created the guided meditation to use during the meeting (it was also the first I’ve ever made) and gathered up all my gear.

At the workshop, I explained what we were going to do. I then helped everyone figure out the numerology that gave them a pool of 3 cards to work from. We spent quite a bit of time going over the cards and meanings, and gathering ideas. I brought some of my favorite tarot books to help them figure out which card to become. I then walked them through the meditation (hopefully giving everyone enough time to do each step) and waited until I phelt that all three participants had embodied their archetypes before moving on.

I greeted and introduced them one by one, and allowed each one to tell us a bit about who they were and what they wanted to share. We had the Hermit, Death, and Balance (aka Justice) with us. I asked questions for each and was surprised at the depth and honesty of each card’s response. The Hermit was a bit quieter than most, but I knew that he was enjoying being present.

I enjoyed interviewing the archetypes. I went in not knowing who I was going to be working with and while I was very nervous about coming up with questions… the ones I did fit and provided us a lot of playground to cover. Watching everyone was also a fun experience. While we did not have any props to use, I definitely noticed a shift in how people held themselves. Death, sat as if they were riding on a horse, and holding a sythe. The Hermit was off to the side, silently drawing within. And Balance played with a hair tie, making symbols representative of various balances one could draw upon in their lives.

I thanked each archetype for giving us their time and helped the participants back into the present. After giving everyone time to get resettled in the here and now, we chatted a bit about the experience and what they learned. Overall, I felt that this event was successful and that everyone was pleased at what they discovered from the archetypes. Many also felt that the numerology aspect helped enlighten aspects of their own life that were previously unknown.

I’m pleased at the results that everyone experienced. I know that a few participants will take this idea and run with it, morphing it as it benefits their own path. As for me, I’d love to be able to do this experiment again and have other participants go through it to see what they think of the experience.

On Ravens in the Library: Still waiting to hear from the editors on the book’s release. It was supposed to get sent to the publisher this week. Due to illness and business, they’ve been running behind schedule. But the imminent release of the book has me all ancy… I want it to arrive now, darnit!

On Touched and the Editing Process: I’m slowly making my way through TOUCHED. I’m halfway through revising Chapter Two as well reworking other plot issues in my head. Cyd, my writing partner, read through the revisions on Chapter One last week and gave me feedback. She sent me this on IM: “You have found your story, and I salute you!” This compliment pleases and surprises me. I didn’t think that I’d be getting a large thumbs up so early in the process. On the other hand, I’m glad she likes what I’ve done to try and capture my audience’s imagination and draw them into the world and story I’m telling. Now all I need to do with that chapter is just wordsmith and smoothing. Emailed the chapter to the others in my writing group and hope they also like what I’ve done.

On Chinese medicine: I’ve started acupuncture treatments. Last year, my friend Taylor Ellwood gave me a free consultation with Elie Cole and I finally went in to see her. She’s very knowledgeable, easy to talk to, and gives me much to work on and think about. I’ve always been curious about eastern medicines and am happy that I’ve been given an opportunity to see what it can do for my asthma, allergies and bipolarism. So far I’ve experienced the acupuncture needles, been cupped (a relaxing technique but leaves huge bruises– kender freaked when he saw them), and received nutritional recommendations to further improve my heath. I’ve received two treatments so far and left each appointment feeling more at ease with myself and calm.

On the Tarot School: I received the first lesson for my tarot classes last week and am slowly going through the materials. It’s totally not what I expected, but this is good. This lesson delves right into numerology. I’m excited by this new material but I also feel intimidated. I hope I can get the work done. I also need to schedule a phone call with my instructors. I have questions about how to submit my homework and need to tell them which deck I’m using with this course.

On The Fountain: We watched The Fountain last night. It’s billed as a sci-fi thriller but to toss it into that general category does a disservice to this film. Darren Aronofsky, who also did Requiem for a Dream and Pi (also amazing movies), crafted one hell of a mind-twist. While the plot entangles and entwines the stories of three lovers, it leaves you with a feeling of something deeper and primal at work. It’s more about redemption, love, death and finding peace within the universe. It reminds me that time is precious and that I need to focus on the things I love: my hubby, my work and spirituality. And I’m sure that it’s the big reason why I couldn’t sleep.

Okay, now that I’ve spewed all this out I’m going to try and be productive now. Diving back into Chapter Two of TOUCHED.

I loved Tarot for Writers. Go read my review and find out why.

The Archeon is a very personal deck. It contains the personal mythology and beliefs of visionary artist Timothy Lantz. The Archeon Tarot defines and explores Lantz’s symbolism and mythology in a very contemporary and graphic fashion. The card’s imagery is absolutely stunning. Lantz uses a digital canvas to create the cards and explore the very depths of his soul. Long before this tarot deck was even published, I had seen images of the cards on his website. And I was impressed with what I saw. The cards are a wonderful blend of dark, gothic, carnivale mixed with elements of the mystical and fantastic. But don’t let the darkness of the deck’s imagery fool you because within each card there is a strong sense of light and beauty. Each card’s image contains dazzling backgrounds and characters expressing realistic emotions; each layer thick with symbolism. Even the cards’ back include snippets of Lantz’s personal mythology and symbolism.

The little white book (LWB) that accompanies the deck helps guide the reader through Lantz’s world. It begins with a personal definition on his art. He defines the title of the deck, Archeon, as having a relationship with archeology, where “those who consult the Archeon Tarot sift through the layers of the cards, thus finding a way to harvest order and meaning from chaotic or seemingly unrelated events of life.” Which is a perfect description of what a tarot reader these days seeks to do. The LWB continues on to describe the cards, helping the reader peel away the mystery of these gorgeous cards. Lantz describes the Major arcana in detail beginning with quote that best fits the card’s mood. He goes on to describe the card’s imagery and offers suggestions for both upright and inverted meanings. All of which help to add and elaborate on the personal mythology and symbolism contained in the deck.

It’s hard to find any faults in this deck. I would have liked to see the minor arcana and court cards covered in detail just as much as the major arcana but this only begs for an expanded book to be written about this unique and creative deck. I strongly recommend this tarot deck for enthusiasts who admire the beauty of decks like the Vertigo Tarot or readers looking for a very modern interpretation of tarot. I know I am very much looking forward to working with the Archeon Tarot and exploring the personal mythology of Timothy Lantz and how it relates to my own life.

The Fey Tarot distills the best of both worlds in tarot and the art of Japanese anime and recombines them into something new and exciting. Written by Riccardo Minetti, featuring the artwork of Mara Aghem, this deck is wonderful for both the young at heart and in age. The tarot presented here is lighthearted and kind, “bringing no shadows.” However, this lightness does not eliminate the darkness of traditional tarot decks; instead, The Fey Tarot subdues and twists the negative card meanings inwards. In doing so, this set becomes easily accessible and understood by children.

“The Fey Tarot is a deck full of life,” writes Riccardo Minetti, the author of the enclosed book. There cannot be anything closer to the truth. The bold colors of the cards contrast with the simplicity of the design, creating a uniquely magical and deftly detailed series of story-cards. Each whole card is alive; from the attention paid to the expression in each creature’s eyes to the way the fey’s world blends into the card. Using a combination of unique and bold color palettes, Mara Aghem brings the center focus of each card straight into the emotions the images evoke. Every creature’s face, every part of their actions, contains realistic emotions. Each card becomes a theater for the mind?s eye; where the fey perform on center stage teaching their lessons and showing their perspectives and views of the world and the meaning of life. The cards beg to be played with and explored.

The book is also a masterpiece. At 156 pages long, it delves deeper into the concepts and ideas that made this deck possible. It begins with the core foundations and beliefs of the artwork, going straight into designer Aghem’s mind showing how she developed the cards’ sketches and emotions. Then it introduces the mysterious history of the tarot, and how the fey are a perfect match for this divination tool. Lastly, the cards themselves are described in detail, Minetti adding layer upon layer of insight and meaning into the simple but intricate artwork. The book ends by showing 4 unique spreads to use the cards with, from simple 3 cards on up to complex 8 card designs.

The Fey Tarot is a great addition to tarot enthusiasts’ collections. This is the product of the first collaboration between Minetti and Aghem (hopefully not the last). This deck marks a new perspective on deck design for the new millennium. It also moves away from traditional meanings of the cards giving them a fresh and playful twist. I would also recommend this deck as a great way to introduce young children to the modern world of the tarot, as it presents a very accessible and non-threatening view of the tarot and it’s concepts.