One deck ruined, another one acquired

The other week I pulled out my beloved Universal Waite deck to throw a spread or two for myself and found that it had got WET somehow!  It had been a little while--and by a 'little while' I mean way too freaking long--since I had done anything with them.  I had them wrapped up in a large piece of black cotton cloth and put inside a black wool bag that had a ribbon and everything.  The bag had been sitting in the bottom of my not-so-state-of-the-art back pack (still waterproof though) for all that time and unbeknownst to me, it got WET then dried again.  I blame condensation or leakage of a water bottle or something along those lines.  Anyway, I couldn't shuffle them anymore.

Nonetheless, I persevered, dear friends! I did what anyone would do, I am sure.  I purchased a new deck. I had been lusting after the Radiant Waite for years and years and years but since I had a much loved and perfectly serviceable Rider Waite deck, I couldn't justify bringing another THING into the house.

So now my go-to deck is the Radiant Waite and last weekend I had a chance to use it on somebody when I went to visit my Western Mass friend for the weekend.  Now, I usually don't read upside down at all.  In fact, I employ a tiny little trick or two to avoid it.  Simply, I refuse.  But I handed to the deck to my friend to shuffle so that I could drink my nice beer (we had walked four plus miles to the tavern for dinner and I had a blister or two and that beer was medicinal let me tell you) and she turned them this way and that.

She did not ask me a specific question, so I lay down three cards to get an idea of what the whole thing was going to be about.  One of the cards--the second card to be exact--was the Empress Reversed.

I interpreted it as showing that she is giving up some long-held dreams to pursue the dream she has chosen to pursue.  And specifically, that is the dream and ideal of having children one day.

We talked a little about those three cards, ate our meal, then I threw a standard 10-card Celtic Card and read that.  As I was doing this I was aware that the character of the reading was formed by the fact that she and I are close friends of several years and I know what is going on in her life.  The same cards in the same order, with a client I didn't know as well would be a very different reading indeed.

On other fronts, I am going to set up an Etsy shop for my tarot readings.  Please visit there!  I would drop a nice URL linky-link right here, but I haven't actually done the work yet.  I will make some kind of Big Announcement on this blog, as well as my Facebook page.  Like me, friend me, I'll appreciate it forever.

That is all for now, good people.  Blessed be!

We went to Salem, Ma this past weekend and had a lot of fun despite--well, in my case, because of--the dreary weather.  Salem in October is a little like the bar scene in Star Wars--every kind of person and creature is there.  This little send up should give you an idea of the spirit of Salem in October.

Movies while Arting

Normally, I would say something silly like In my real life I blah blah blah and fill it in with whatever job I was holding.  However, I haven't had a real life since the end of March so now I spend my days living my pretend life or my fantasy life as an artist.  It's great fun because I am a papier mache artist and that is by and large a messy calling.

Our house has a lot of good-sized rooms and long ago--before I even knew my husband existed--I claimed one of the biggest rooms as my "craft room."  These days we call it my studio, and I spend the better part of my week in there up to my elbows in flour-and-water paste and newspaper.  While I am creating these works of wonder, I like to watch movies or tv shows or listen to various podcasts and the like.  I stream a lot from Netflix.

Last month I asked for some ideas of shows and movies to stream and someone suggested Medium, which I went through at quite an alarming rate.  I also watched the first season of Glee which I highly recommend.  Lately I have been watching Psych which is a comedic police procedural centering around a guy who has everyone thinking he is psychic.  It's hilarious.

I also love to find witchy or supernatural movies like, well, like The Good Witch which I spoke about in the last post.  But what I really love to find are the schlocky movies.  The ones that are so bad they are good.  I love that stuff.

Here are some of the doozies I have watched since last we met:

The White Zombie

This is the whole movie--a little over an hour--and it is a zombie movie in the old sense.  The zombies are not gruesome creatures come alive hankering for brains.  The main one is a beautiful young woman, in fact.  These are dead bodies that have been given life but no soul or free will so are in essence slaves to the witch doctor that raised them up.

Another great one I watched and really enjoyed is Burn Witch Burn,  also known as Night of the Eagle.  In this one a college professor on the rise finds out that his wife has been practicing witchcraft allowing him to rise up  quickly at the university.  He makes her get rid of her "protections" as she calls them and as a result things get ugly for them, and fast.  Turns out, there is another witchy woman at the university who has it out for him.  It's Great Stuff.

Burn Witch Burn

Again, this is the whole thing.  It's pretty good.

Well, friends,  that is all for now.  Next time, and soon, I will talk about a couple of other interesting, more modern movies.

Movie Buff

So here is a new semi-regular feature here at This Pagan Place.  And by semi-regular, I mean when I feel like featuring it.  Movie reviews!  And maybe some tv talk.

The reason I bring this up is that I just watched the movie The Good Witch with Catherine Bell for the second time in as many months.  It's a horrible movie--formulaic and utterly lacking in depth--and I enjoyed every frame of it.  I love the witchiness of the titular (what a great word) character's house and shop.  And broom!

Catherine Bell plays Cassandra Nightengale, an unusual woman who moves to a small town when she inherits the big, spooky, haunted house called Grey House.  She opens an occult shop in the downtown, makes a few friends, and raises the ire of a few notable biddies of the community.  Namely Martha, the mayor's wife and head of the Citizen's League.

They try to run her out of town, she falls in love with the police chief and it all comes to a head on Hallowe-en.  Of course.

I love the little shop that is depicted.  It's tiny as a shoebox but it shows the glass containers of herbs and various colored candles.  There are beautiful masks on the walls, and she sells oils and potions to a few customers.  I wish it were my own shop!

Here is a clip from the movie showing the inside of her shop.

Cute, hunh?  

It's a Hallmark movie and there are two, maybe even three, sequels.  I haven't seen any of the sequels but I'm sure they are just as horrible and delightful as the first.  As soon as Netflix has them streaming I will watch them.

Dear friends, that's all for today.  Enjoy.

Learning from the Tarot

This will be a relatively short post because I am so smart that I forgot to take any pictures of my first festival gig.  I put on a beautiful green silk skirt and rigged up a red striped canopy.  It's not as Christmasy as it sounds, I promise.

The event is called The Ramble.  I live in a, well, underprivileged part of town.  There is a lot of poverty as well as a lot of art and sub culture here.  Every year for the last eight years a kind of arts festival happens in this area with artists and businesses participating.  It is very colorful and eccentric.

I decided to set up a canopy and a table and read tarot cards at this equally colorful and eccentric bike shop called the Old Spokes Home.  I was there from, oh, ten-ish to about 3:30, and earned a little over twenty bucks.  I also had a real lot of fun and learned a whole lot of stuff--maybe 3 or 4 things:

1.  Wear sunscreen
2.  Make a bigger canopy
3.  Put some colorful flanges or flags on that bigger canopy
4. Be closer to the sidewalk somehow and be generally more colorful

So one more thing--be sure to check out my updated, clarified, and cheaper fee structure on the Frankly Tarot page, and contact me for a reading.

This is a little tidbit from last year's Ramble.  There is an Epic Bike Ride at the end of the day which I miss every year.

Queer Pride Day in Vermont

No rain on this Parade!

I love the Gay Pride Parade. It's so colorful and so joyful. Like a real life Four of Wands.

If someone would design a Four of Wands draped with the bright rainbow flags, and some drag queens dancing towards them, I would buy that deck just for that.

 I haven't been to the Vermont Gay Pride for a couple of years but the Oaf and I caught it this year.  We watched from inside our about-to-close local Borders where there are nice big windows and air conditioning.

As we were watching, a beautiful red-haired woman started to jump and wave at us.  It was a good friend of mine marching with her Congregational church.  Just ahead of her was another friend of mine, Mary.  Preacher Mary, as she is sometimes called because she is the minister of the Congregational church in the next town.

There were something like five Christian churches marching in the Gay Pride Parade.  Five.  Maybe four, but I saw the Quakers, two Congregational congregations, and the Episcopalians. Plus the Unitarians usually have a crew marching.  Petty amazing.  It further convinces me that the World is getting better, not worse.

There is a spirit of revelry at Pride that is very Pagan.  It's the way people come out to celebrate their sexuality and with such a show of color. Everyone dons their beautiful and shining rainment and dances in the street.  It's like Beltaine or something!

I was not on the ball enough to have a live battery in my camera, so I did not get any shots of the actual parade.  But I hurried home to get the good battery and then went to the festival for a nice sunburn.

The Sisters LeMay, Vermont's premier drag queens, hosted the after-parade festival.  One or two of them lives right up the street from me--or used to anyway.  I think they moved.

Every year they have an ASL interpreter at the event (American Sign Language) and I sometimes thing the ASL interpreter is the most interesting part of the whole thing.

Ever see some hard-rockin lesbian band be interpreted?  It's pretty cool.

This is the band L. Dora rockin out on the stage.

And the ASL interpreter rockin out as well.  She looked like she was having a great time.

Apparently our governor was at the festival, so he has my vote next time no matter how many vacations he takes.  As was our Congressman.  That's how amazing Vermont is becoming.

Here are some random shots from the festival.  It was a hot and hazy day as you can tell.  The thermometer at the bank said 94 degrees.  I'm not sure it was as hot as that.

Bears' motorcycles all deck out

Bread and Puppet Theater

Lucy Belle LeMay

Marguerite LeMay

True Colors

Here is a special little surprise for those who looked at all the pictures and scrolled through the whole post--Drag Queen Racing!

A Very Hot Day

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Am I famous now?


This is the radio show I was on earlier this week.  On Monday afternoon to be exact.  It was a lot of fun!  We gave three or four readings to callers--mostly about love.  Maybe one or two on job searches.  It was great to talk to people I normally know only over internet forums.  I would definately do it again.


And I'm sure I am famous now--at least in certain circles.


On the tv series front;  I found a new show!  I am watching it right now on Netflix as I write.  Sorta. Kinda.


It's on one browser tab and my blog updater is on another.  Another wonder of technology. Oh, and what show is this that I am currently consumed by? Well, it was suggested by commenter (and fellow Tarot Guild member) Shannon Rae.

Yes, Medium!  I started the 3rd season today and I just started watching it Monday or Tuesday.  Of course, the Oaf worked very late two nights this week so I stayed up late watching episode after episode of Medium, and waiting.


I do love me a good crime drama.  Of course, I could use more crime drama and less family drama on these shows, but it's still compelling.  What really bugs me is that the show takes place in Phoenix--a very hot place.  The main character and her husband are happily married, but despite these two things they sleep in so many nightclothes as to be fully dressed, with covers fit for New England winter's night.  Maybe it gets cold at night there, what do I know.

Phoenix, AZ.  Sure looks hot.

It's hot here in the real New England.  I am in what is sometimes called Northern New England, or, to be poetic, The North Country, just like the song.  It has been in the 90's the last couple of days.  I ain't complaining--I lived in North Carolina and Virginia so I know what hot is and it's not this.  After all, it will break in a couple of days whereas in the South it will break in a couple of months, or three or more.

This is Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan singing "Girl from the North Country." But you have to watch it on YouTube.  It's worth it.

I wonder if I got a tiny touch of Heatstroke today.  I don't actually know it when I see it, but I did get on the wrong bus this afternoon.  Not only was it the wrong bus, but it was the bus I had already taken to get to my destination and I got on it again to go home.  Jeez.  Now I am sitting in the air conditioned room for the evening.


That's all for now, dear friends.  I thought I had more to write about.  If it comes to me, I'll let you know.