What I feel is wrong with France's decision to ban on Muslim women wearing viels is that it is a blow against individual and religious freedom.
As a person who relys on lip reading in noisey enviroment and as someone who is not Islamic, I may find the wearing of the veil inconvenient and the motives behind it hard to reconcile but I can respect the right of someone to wear one, especially if it is not preventing them for carrying out a particular function (for example, not obstructing the field of vision when driving).
Now I'm not French either, and therefore the arguement could be raised that it's none of my business. Fair point, but it does raise important questions for people outside of France.
The law further adds fuel to the fire of extremeists across the world.
Islmaic extremeists will quote France's law as an example of the "West's" intollerance of the Islamic faith.
Far Right Extremeists will quote France's law as an example of how their country should be run.
It further polarises the extremes of this argument and makes the middle ground harder to find.
The last government to actively, negatively, target a particular religious group in it's law making was the German government of the 1930's.
Make no mistake this is a step on a very dangerous road.
As someone who likes to have the freedom to decide what to believe and what I wear that denotes my beliefs without the fear of official pressure to dress in way that is deemed correct.
If you think that what the French Government has done is a good thing then consider this:
I wear a pentagram, a charm of a dragon and several beaded wristbands. These are often combined with T-shirts that are of a nature that the more conservative members of society may deem unsuitable.
These things display both my beliefs and my freedom to express myself.
All these things could be deemed as preventing me from integrating into society if the people making that decision wanted to a society of button down, suit wearing conformists who attend a christian church on a weekly basis.
And if you're secular rather than spiritaul think of it like this:
How would you feel if you were told that wearing replica football shirts was to be banned because it emphasises the divisions in society?
or
How would you feel if you were told that wearing your hair down in public was no longer appropriate because it contravened a state ruling on decency?
You might think that my examples are far fetched. I disagree.
Rather than alienating Islamic women that choose to wear the viel can the state not alternatively raise it's concerns and maybe pass a law saying that, where there is good cause, a Muslim woman wearing a viel must reveal her face to a government official to confirm her identity?
If there is really an issue with the viel causing rifts in society then surely it is better to broker a compromise and educate both sides of the argument to help them understand the issues that each have.
I can't help but think that no good will come of this.
And if you don't think it's your problem then read this and think it over.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
A pagan's perspective on recent news events - Spring 2011
I hope that you all had a good solstice and that the arrival of spring has helped raise you spirits after what has been a cold winter.
Since my last look at the news, in the Winter issue of the Incantation E-zine, the world is no less odd, worrying, scary, amazing, wonderful and cool and it certainly has lost none of its magic.
I'm going to kick off by passing on my sincerest best wishes to the survivors of the events around the Pacific, particularly in Japan, and my deepest condolences to anyone who lost someone in those events.
Once again nature showed contempt for mankind's advances and architecture.
I do not believe that any religion can offer any explanation for events such as this and those who offer such explanations deserve everything they get. Strangely enough I'm not going to offer any such explanations - ever.
It really does reveal the very fragile nature of our existence, whilst at the same time revealing the strength of
the human heart, our will to survive and our resourcefulness.
In amongst all the sorrow and bad news the reports of survivors being found in amongst the rubble and wreckage bring some relieve and, in my opinion, bare out the old saying "where there's life, there's hope".
So from natural chaos to man made chaos.
Across the Middle East and North Africa dictators and their regimes are being displaced and challenged. Whilst, in a lot of ways, this is can be a good thing (and I'm not about to start campaigning in some pro-dictatorship way) with it comes uncertainty and fear for many, many people. Not only is every day life disrupted but also their futures must seem very uncertain and, as someone from a stable country, it's hard to imagine how it feels to live through that kind of event. Quite why these despots are surprised that the masses that have been so deprived of so many basic things whilst they live in riches is beyond me, after all history presents us with plenty of examples, but then again I'm not some egocentric, power hungry nutcase surrounded by yes-men.
That may have something to do with it.
And then there's Gadafi.
Now here is a perfect example of power corrupting. Colonel Gadafi has been incharge of Libiya for a long, long time. In fact some would say for too long.
In my opinion, this guy is not just mad, he's A-grade insane.
He's as crazy as 6 rainforest's worth of hallucinogenic toads, all gathered together in one place, fed LSD and then forced to watch a 48 hour marathon of Jamie and the Magic Tourch with their eyes taped open!
It takes a special kind of nuts to deny what is going on outside your window.
I just hope that the men and women who are now involved opposing Gadafi remember the words of Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, "if you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine".
A man is hard to defeat, the idolisation afforded to a martyr is even harder.
So what is happening here on this fair isle of Albion?
Well the ConLib, or LibCon (I never remember which way round that should be), government continue to make cuts to the essential services in this country. It is interesting that they expect many public sector workers to take pay cuts in the near future but there has been no indication that the members of the government will be doing so.
What ever happened to not asking someone to do something that you would not do yourself?
Politicians would get a lot more respect from people if they shared the burden that they do rather than making these decisions whilst still living the high life - they may not be on footballers wages but it's not a bad life that is for sure.
And don't even get me started on overpaid sportsmen.
The recession is certainly biting but they seem to think that, by making everything more expensive (don't even get me started on the cost of fuel) that people are going to spend more money. My friends and I are all having to cut our cloth accordingly these days and it actually results in less money being spent across the board because impulse spending drops per person.
Now I am not an economist by any stretch of the imagination but the whole system seems counter intuitive.
It almost feels like a system that someone made complicated, whilst showing how clever he was, is now running itself and that the people involved are too scared to admit that it doesn't work and therefore just allow it to force them to make ridiculous choices.
I admit I could have that wrong but that's how it feels to me.
The cut backs that are taking place in this country will leave some of the most vulnerable peole in society unsupported. One group of people that are particularly close to my heart are those in need of the help of the Mental Health services. Waiting lists are long enough to get some of the much needed life saving help that these services offer and they are only going to get worse.
I wish the politicians, bankers and those that get rich from their actions realise that the mess they have made is going to cost peoples lives.
But I have a feeling they won't.
The actions and motives of the ConLib government hark back strongly to origins of modern British society. That has it's origins in the order established by William the Bastard in 1066.
1066 was the year that everything changed on this fair isle.
Prior to the arrival of the Normans in England the rulers of this country had a strong link to their subjects, there was a social order but is was an inclusive one rather than an exclusive one.
Their society, whilst Christian in name was based soundly in the traditions of their pagan ancestors.
Whilst there was undoubtably "have's" and "have not's" in that society, those that had honoured the obligation to look after those around and beneath them.
There was less detachment between the populace and those that governed them.
When William conquered this country he installed his social order, with it's strong links to the roman church, and his knights as the ruling class of this country and thus began the exclusive class system that still exists to day.
I'm no communist but a society that prospers together should also work through the tough times together and currently it feels like the well off in this country are expecting those "beneath" them in the social order to take the brunt of the hit.
I feel that that is wrong.
On a more postive note, despite the tough financial climate, this years Comic Relief raised a phenomenal
amount of money to help those in need in Great Britain and across Africa, which goes to show that the spirit of giving is alive in well in the hearts of society.
A society that is often portrayed as being insular and uncaring.
A brilliant example of this spirit of giving is Jack Henderson.
His brother, Noah, has been in the Children's Hospital in Edinburgh a lot and Jack wanted to raise money for them as a thank you. His web developer dad set up a website offering people a chance to request Jack to draw them something and for which they would make a donation.
Despite originally being intended for Friends and family , and having a target of £100, the site has proved amazingly popular and has already raised over £3,000 pounds!
The link to site is http://jackdrawsanything.com/
Just goes to show that one small lad has a great idea and, with the support of a family member, is making a real difference.
Giving is something that was certainly at the heart of pagan society. In Heathen society giving, and receiving, gifts was an important thing. It is something that, if we all practiced it, would certainly make the world a better place.
Life is, after all, about what you give not just about what you get.
And now this is written, I'm going to take part in what is possibly the most exciting event of the year for people who love filling excessively long documents in. Yep that's right, more confusing than a self assessment tax return, I give you, the 2011 UK Census.
Happy form filling my friends.
Since my last look at the news, in the Winter issue of the Incantation E-zine, the world is no less odd, worrying, scary, amazing, wonderful and cool and it certainly has lost none of its magic.
I'm going to kick off by passing on my sincerest best wishes to the survivors of the events around the Pacific, particularly in Japan, and my deepest condolences to anyone who lost someone in those events.
Once again nature showed contempt for mankind's advances and architecture.
I do not believe that any religion can offer any explanation for events such as this and those who offer such explanations deserve everything they get. Strangely enough I'm not going to offer any such explanations - ever.
It really does reveal the very fragile nature of our existence, whilst at the same time revealing the strength of
the human heart, our will to survive and our resourcefulness.
In amongst all the sorrow and bad news the reports of survivors being found in amongst the rubble and wreckage bring some relieve and, in my opinion, bare out the old saying "where there's life, there's hope".
So from natural chaos to man made chaos.
Across the Middle East and North Africa dictators and their regimes are being displaced and challenged. Whilst, in a lot of ways, this is can be a good thing (and I'm not about to start campaigning in some pro-dictatorship way) with it comes uncertainty and fear for many, many people. Not only is every day life disrupted but also their futures must seem very uncertain and, as someone from a stable country, it's hard to imagine how it feels to live through that kind of event. Quite why these despots are surprised that the masses that have been so deprived of so many basic things whilst they live in riches is beyond me, after all history presents us with plenty of examples, but then again I'm not some egocentric, power hungry nutcase surrounded by yes-men.
That may have something to do with it.
And then there's Gadafi.
Now here is a perfect example of power corrupting. Colonel Gadafi has been incharge of Libiya for a long, long time. In fact some would say for too long.
In my opinion, this guy is not just mad, he's A-grade insane.
He's as crazy as 6 rainforest's worth of hallucinogenic toads, all gathered together in one place, fed LSD and then forced to watch a 48 hour marathon of Jamie and the Magic Tourch with their eyes taped open!
It takes a special kind of nuts to deny what is going on outside your window.
I just hope that the men and women who are now involved opposing Gadafi remember the words of Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, "if you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine".
A man is hard to defeat, the idolisation afforded to a martyr is even harder.
So what is happening here on this fair isle of Albion?
Well the ConLib, or LibCon (I never remember which way round that should be), government continue to make cuts to the essential services in this country. It is interesting that they expect many public sector workers to take pay cuts in the near future but there has been no indication that the members of the government will be doing so.
What ever happened to not asking someone to do something that you would not do yourself?
Politicians would get a lot more respect from people if they shared the burden that they do rather than making these decisions whilst still living the high life - they may not be on footballers wages but it's not a bad life that is for sure.
And don't even get me started on overpaid sportsmen.
The recession is certainly biting but they seem to think that, by making everything more expensive (don't even get me started on the cost of fuel) that people are going to spend more money. My friends and I are all having to cut our cloth accordingly these days and it actually results in less money being spent across the board because impulse spending drops per person.
Now I am not an economist by any stretch of the imagination but the whole system seems counter intuitive.
It almost feels like a system that someone made complicated, whilst showing how clever he was, is now running itself and that the people involved are too scared to admit that it doesn't work and therefore just allow it to force them to make ridiculous choices.
I admit I could have that wrong but that's how it feels to me.
The cut backs that are taking place in this country will leave some of the most vulnerable peole in society unsupported. One group of people that are particularly close to my heart are those in need of the help of the Mental Health services. Waiting lists are long enough to get some of the much needed life saving help that these services offer and they are only going to get worse.
I wish the politicians, bankers and those that get rich from their actions realise that the mess they have made is going to cost peoples lives.
But I have a feeling they won't.
The actions and motives of the ConLib government hark back strongly to origins of modern British society. That has it's origins in the order established by William the Bastard in 1066.
1066 was the year that everything changed on this fair isle.
Prior to the arrival of the Normans in England the rulers of this country had a strong link to their subjects, there was a social order but is was an inclusive one rather than an exclusive one.
Their society, whilst Christian in name was based soundly in the traditions of their pagan ancestors.
Whilst there was undoubtably "have's" and "have not's" in that society, those that had honoured the obligation to look after those around and beneath them.
There was less detachment between the populace and those that governed them.
When William conquered this country he installed his social order, with it's strong links to the roman church, and his knights as the ruling class of this country and thus began the exclusive class system that still exists to day.
I'm no communist but a society that prospers together should also work through the tough times together and currently it feels like the well off in this country are expecting those "beneath" them in the social order to take the brunt of the hit.
I feel that that is wrong.
On a more postive note, despite the tough financial climate, this years Comic Relief raised a phenomenal
amount of money to help those in need in Great Britain and across Africa, which goes to show that the spirit of giving is alive in well in the hearts of society.
A society that is often portrayed as being insular and uncaring.
A brilliant example of this spirit of giving is Jack Henderson.
His brother, Noah, has been in the Children's Hospital in Edinburgh a lot and Jack wanted to raise money for them as a thank you. His web developer dad set up a website offering people a chance to request Jack to draw them something and for which they would make a donation.
Despite originally being intended for Friends and family , and having a target of £100, the site has proved amazingly popular and has already raised over £3,000 pounds!
The link to site is http://jackdrawsanything.com/
Just goes to show that one small lad has a great idea and, with the support of a family member, is making a real difference.
Giving is something that was certainly at the heart of pagan society. In Heathen society giving, and receiving, gifts was an important thing. It is something that, if we all practiced it, would certainly make the world a better place.
Life is, after all, about what you give not just about what you get.
And now this is written, I'm going to take part in what is possibly the most exciting event of the year for people who love filling excessively long documents in. Yep that's right, more confusing than a self assessment tax return, I give you, the 2011 UK Census.
Happy form filling my friends.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
No title, just thoughts
First and foremost I want to send my condolences to all those who have lost loved ones, relatives, homes, life's worth of possessions or their life in the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in and around the Pacific in recent weeks.
I cannot imagine what it must be like to go through that kind of event.
Secondly I just want to put on record the fact that I for one do not believe that the recent events are the beginning of the end of the world.
Not that brave a statement, as if the world is beginning to end then domestic electricity is going to go pretty high up in the order of things and therefore what I type here won't matter one bit because no bugger will ever read it.
But I honestly think that we as human beings can survive most things, after all our ancestors lived through ice ages and other such events.
I'm not saying that the events of the last few weeks are not serious because they are more serious than words can ever begin to express.
What I am saying is that I do not consider them any kind of divine message nor heralding of some sort of "end times".
Humanity can be smart.
We can be strong.
We can survive.
We can adapt.
To allow my own spiritual feelings to creep into what has otherwise been quite a secular post, I would like to say that the teachings of the Wyrd show us that life twists and turns and to be able to adjust to the events around you is a great advantage.
Rather than dreading tomorrow, try living for it.
To all those effected by recent events, directly and indirectly, I wish you all the very best.
I cannot imagine what it must be like to go through that kind of event.
Secondly I just want to put on record the fact that I for one do not believe that the recent events are the beginning of the end of the world.
Not that brave a statement, as if the world is beginning to end then domestic electricity is going to go pretty high up in the order of things and therefore what I type here won't matter one bit because no bugger will ever read it.
But I honestly think that we as human beings can survive most things, after all our ancestors lived through ice ages and other such events.
I'm not saying that the events of the last few weeks are not serious because they are more serious than words can ever begin to express.
What I am saying is that I do not consider them any kind of divine message nor heralding of some sort of "end times".
Humanity can be smart.
We can be strong.
We can survive.
We can adapt.
To allow my own spiritual feelings to creep into what has otherwise been quite a secular post, I would like to say that the teachings of the Wyrd show us that life twists and turns and to be able to adjust to the events around you is a great advantage.
Rather than dreading tomorrow, try living for it.
To all those effected by recent events, directly and indirectly, I wish you all the very best.
\m/
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
The rub of things - part 2
When I posted last night I never intended there to be a part 2.
I was sure.
I felt I had to do it.
I felt I had to do it to stop my anxiety.
I was wrong.
I was the anxiety that drove that post, not my true intent.
My anxiety was driven by my OCD.
It's happened before, and it may happen again.
The difference?
That now when it happens I can, within 23-48hrs, spot that it has happened and correct my mistakes.
I can tell, in retrospect, what it my OCD and what is my anxiety driven reactionism, where I've lurched from one extreme to another.
One day I WILL be able to to spot it as it happens and prevent nights like last night's events ever happening in the first place.
Until that day all I can do is ask for your understanding, dear reader.
Despite what I wrote last night I will not be turning my back on writing about what I care about and what I believe.
The thought occurred to me today - why would I stop doing something that I enjoy?
So please bear with me whilst I resume "normal" service.
I was sure.
I felt I had to do it.
I felt I had to do it to stop my anxiety.
I was wrong.
I was the anxiety that drove that post, not my true intent.
My anxiety was driven by my OCD.
It's happened before, and it may happen again.
The difference?
That now when it happens I can, within 23-48hrs, spot that it has happened and correct my mistakes.
I can tell, in retrospect, what it my OCD and what is my anxiety driven reactionism, where I've lurched from one extreme to another.
One day I WILL be able to to spot it as it happens and prevent nights like last night's events ever happening in the first place.
Until that day all I can do is ask for your understanding, dear reader.
Despite what I wrote last night I will not be turning my back on writing about what I care about and what I believe.
The thought occurred to me today - why would I stop doing something that I enjoy?
So please bear with me whilst I resume "normal" service.
\m/
Monday, 6 December 2010
The rub of things.
This blog post has been coming for a while.
I'm not really sure how to put this into words but I'll do my best.
Basically, due to on of the forms that my OCD can take (called Scrupulosity) I am going to have to take a step back from writing about religious things. I know that this blog has never been overly religious but I have discussed Pagan issues and topics on here because they are something I care about. Unfortunately I have found writing about them has caused me problems that I could not have predicted, and I am going to have to change the direction of my writing for my own benefit.
I want to make it clear that my personal spiritually-agnostic-pagan-mish-mash of beliefs have not and will not change.
I want to apologise to anyone who feels let down by this, it is not my intent to disappoint you and I hope you can understand why I must take this open ended hiatus.
I will continue to post here - the topics will still be those that matter to me and spirituality will still feature when it feels right.
I'm not really sure how to put this into words but I'll do my best.
Basically, due to on of the forms that my OCD can take (called Scrupulosity) I am going to have to take a step back from writing about religious things. I know that this blog has never been overly religious but I have discussed Pagan issues and topics on here because they are something I care about. Unfortunately I have found writing about them has caused me problems that I could not have predicted, and I am going to have to change the direction of my writing for my own benefit.
I want to make it clear that my personal spiritually-agnostic-pagan-mish-mash of beliefs have not and will not change.
I want to apologise to anyone who feels let down by this, it is not my intent to disappoint you and I hope you can understand why I must take this open ended hiatus.
I will continue to post here - the topics will still be those that matter to me and spirituality will still feature when it feels right.
\m/
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Dragons?
So my weekend has featured dragons quite heavily and it has led to me thinking about the "reality" of the subject.
For a creature that is regarded as being very much a mythical creature by most accepted wisdom it is strange the dragons crop up in a wide number of disparate cultures who had no real links to each other and yet all cast a similar image of the creatures themselves. For a long time I have thought that this could point to the existence of dragons, in some form, during the early years of human kinds experiences.
Whether these creatures were all the size of the giant creatures described in certain northern European legends or the ones of the Far Eastern origin , or in fact if they existed in a variety of sizes (which to me would seem likely) it seems clear to me that such creatures existed at some point.
Now I know that at this point it is worth giving a nod to accepted thinking and say that if they had existed then we would have found archaeological proof that they did.
In a way I agree but then again that argument is slightly flawed. Most fossil evidence belongs to the prehistoric era of the earths existence and there is no reason to think that the "dragons" existed after that period and that their remains (presuming they didn't have some strange instinctive behavior that drove them out to see to die) have been lost to archeology by simply being in places remote enough or inaccessible enough to be dug.
I could go into great detail on why we have not got a bone record of a dragon but that is for another time and place.
What I'd like to talk about is that the fact that there creatures exist in a lot of cultural histories, bearing very similar descriptions and yet entered into "mythology" during the modern age. There can be no doubt that the influence of the monotheistic religions on Western European cultures where the creatures and stories of the prior cultures were discredited and turned into metaphors for other things, after all a creature such as a dragon will have been symbolic to those who knew of them yet do not fit in with monotheistic thinking (although the book of Revelations does make mention of dragons) and would therefore become the thing of imagination and therefore easily discredited and demonized.
There is no doubt that the dragon had massive influence in the "old" world. The Chinese have a year in their calendar dedicated to the Dragon and images of the creature have survived the years and are used across the world. It is a creature of spiritual significance, even to this day, and holds a place in the heart of many a good story teller. It represents the strength of the natural world and a reminder that man is not as all conquering and invincible as he might feel.
Personally, I can see no reason to believe that dragons existed (in many shapes and sizes), we may never have "proof" other than the tales of old.
For a creature that is regarded as being very much a mythical creature by most accepted wisdom it is strange the dragons crop up in a wide number of disparate cultures who had no real links to each other and yet all cast a similar image of the creatures themselves. For a long time I have thought that this could point to the existence of dragons, in some form, during the early years of human kinds experiences.
Whether these creatures were all the size of the giant creatures described in certain northern European legends or the ones of the Far Eastern origin , or in fact if they existed in a variety of sizes (which to me would seem likely) it seems clear to me that such creatures existed at some point.
Now I know that at this point it is worth giving a nod to accepted thinking and say that if they had existed then we would have found archaeological proof that they did.
In a way I agree but then again that argument is slightly flawed. Most fossil evidence belongs to the prehistoric era of the earths existence and there is no reason to think that the "dragons" existed after that period and that their remains (presuming they didn't have some strange instinctive behavior that drove them out to see to die) have been lost to archeology by simply being in places remote enough or inaccessible enough to be dug.
I could go into great detail on why we have not got a bone record of a dragon but that is for another time and place.
What I'd like to talk about is that the fact that there creatures exist in a lot of cultural histories, bearing very similar descriptions and yet entered into "mythology" during the modern age. There can be no doubt that the influence of the monotheistic religions on Western European cultures where the creatures and stories of the prior cultures were discredited and turned into metaphors for other things, after all a creature such as a dragon will have been symbolic to those who knew of them yet do not fit in with monotheistic thinking (although the book of Revelations does make mention of dragons) and would therefore become the thing of imagination and therefore easily discredited and demonized.
There is no doubt that the dragon had massive influence in the "old" world. The Chinese have a year in their calendar dedicated to the Dragon and images of the creature have survived the years and are used across the world. It is a creature of spiritual significance, even to this day, and holds a place in the heart of many a good story teller. It represents the strength of the natural world and a reminder that man is not as all conquering and invincible as he might feel.
Personally, I can see no reason to believe that dragons existed (in many shapes and sizes), we may never have "proof" other than the tales of old.
Here be dragons?
Why not?
\m/
Monday, 29 November 2010
My initial musing on Tarot
As those who follow me on Twitter may know, I invested in two tarot decks, and following many months of tinkering, thinking and mulling things over I thought that I'd share my feelings at this point in my dealings with the cards.
It is worth mentioning at this point that my interest in divination began many, many years ago and developed as I discovered the runes of the Elder Futhark.
I approach divination in the following way. The past is woven and tied off, the present is being woven as we speak and the future has yet to fully take shape. Knowing that every single thing in the universe is tied to every other thing in the universe, knowing that cause and effect exists, and that it is impossible to predict with 100% certainty the events of the next hour nevermind the next year I still believe that it is possible to combine all the possible eventualities to come to a reasonably firm idea of what could be.
What could be.
That's the bit that is most important to be.
I believe that no process of divination can give you concrete results. What it can do is suggest possibilites, hint at the end that your current course of actions may lead you and help you realise what you already know but hadn't "twigged".
It's an inward glance.
So then back to my tarot experience.
At first I bought a Rider-Waite deck. Though the deck is beautiful I didn't connect with it (although I still have it and am allowing it to "absorb" my magic of my family before I re-visit it in the future.
It is a very monthiestic deck and not really in keeping with my view of the world.
My next deck was the Sacred Circle deck.
This deck is themed around the polytheistic views of the ancient British celtic cultures.
I like this deck. I feel comfortable working with it (though I only read for myself) and can feel a connection with it (most probably because it doesn't clash with my world view).
The deck in itself is really nicely illustrated using a mix of both photographs, paintings and computer artwork.
The creators have spent time capturing the intended meanings of each card in the image and those looking to use the cards as an aid to meditation would find a lot of joy with these cards.
So I suppose the question is, would I reach for those or my stones?
I have to say that having had my rune stones for over 15years they are always going to be my go to's but I'm going to persevere with the cards.
After all it matters not what you use (books, stones, card or whatever) you're connecting to the same source, it's just a matter of finding what works for you.
It is worth mentioning at this point that my interest in divination began many, many years ago and developed as I discovered the runes of the Elder Futhark.
I approach divination in the following way. The past is woven and tied off, the present is being woven as we speak and the future has yet to fully take shape. Knowing that every single thing in the universe is tied to every other thing in the universe, knowing that cause and effect exists, and that it is impossible to predict with 100% certainty the events of the next hour nevermind the next year I still believe that it is possible to combine all the possible eventualities to come to a reasonably firm idea of what could be.
What could be.
That's the bit that is most important to be.
I believe that no process of divination can give you concrete results. What it can do is suggest possibilites, hint at the end that your current course of actions may lead you and help you realise what you already know but hadn't "twigged".
It's an inward glance.
So then back to my tarot experience.
At first I bought a Rider-Waite deck. Though the deck is beautiful I didn't connect with it (although I still have it and am allowing it to "absorb" my magic of my family before I re-visit it in the future.
It is a very monthiestic deck and not really in keeping with my view of the world.
My next deck was the Sacred Circle deck.
This deck is themed around the polytheistic views of the ancient British celtic cultures.
I like this deck. I feel comfortable working with it (though I only read for myself) and can feel a connection with it (most probably because it doesn't clash with my world view).
The deck in itself is really nicely illustrated using a mix of both photographs, paintings and computer artwork.
The creators have spent time capturing the intended meanings of each card in the image and those looking to use the cards as an aid to meditation would find a lot of joy with these cards.
So I suppose the question is, would I reach for those or my stones?
I have to say that having had my rune stones for over 15years they are always going to be my go to's but I'm going to persevere with the cards.
After all it matters not what you use (books, stones, card or whatever) you're connecting to the same source, it's just a matter of finding what works for you.
\m/
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