Raelyn Barclay

Meet the Cards: Ace of Air

03 May 2012 9 Comments

by Raelyn Barclay in Meet the Cards, Tarot Tags: Ace of Swords, Air, Aquarius, brainstorming, character development, elements, Gemini, Joanna Powell Colbert, Libra, Meet the Cards, numbers, numerology, one, plotting, Raelyn Barclay, tarot, Tarot Notes, The Fool, The Magician, writers, writing

Note: We’ll work through the pips by focusing on each number group rather than one suit at a time. Thus, to avoid redundancy, the first post of each number set will include the general information, that which is consistent across the number, in addition to suit specific information. The other three posts of each number set will focus on the suit specific information.

Generally, all Aces:

Share the purest, uncorrupted, attributes of their suit, or element.
Reflect the themes and wisdom of the Magician.
Symbolize potential.
Can represent Act One, the set-up, of your story; or the first stage of your character’s arc, their change and growth; thesis.
Begins the first of the three triads, or mini-dramas as mentioned in last week’s Numbers in Tarot post.
Tarot Notes is doing a series called Take a Number, for additional info on Aces check out her post on Ones.

Air is the breath of life, it blows away strife and carries positive thoughts. In most decks this would be the Ace [1] of Swords. Typically depicted by a right hand (symbolizing action) holding a sword aloft, think Excalibur.

What I See:

I choose to start with Air because of the butterfly, it reminds me of how we started this journey with the Fool or Seeker. I’ll bet you knew the Greek word for ‘soul’ is psyche. But did you know the Greek word for ‘butterfly’ is also psyche?! We have the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis. This image speaks to me of birth and transformation. We have the spring blossoms reminding us of the seasons and cycles of life. According to the book, that’s hawthorn which is considered the May-flower, so awesome that we’re starting the pips in May I come away from this image with a sense of trusting oneself to change.

General Air element/Sword suit:

Keywords: Strife, Tension, Conflict, Struggle, Communication, Travel, Powerful, Intelligence, Foresight, Boldness, Reason, Logic, Sarcasm, Threats, Legal Actions, Surgery, Cutting, Accidents, Justice, Truth, Detachments, Separations, Moving On, and Mental Activity.
Style: Storming, Freezing, Striving, Communicating, Cutting, and Confronting.
Jungian Function: Thinking

Light (upright) Reading:

You are blooming with new thoughts or decisions.

Keywords: Power, Courage, Fresh Ideas, and Authority.

Shadow (upside down or reverse) Reading:

You may be stuck in your comfort zone and avoiding change.

Keywords: Threats, Sarcasm, Pessimism, and Cynicism.

Plots:

The Ace of Air represents a new beginning on an intellectual level. Perhaps your story is about a student, or a teacher. The sword represents justice. Perhaps your story is about a mediator or lawyer, or even a law enforcement officer. How about a knight, sworn to protect and defend the weak? Or someone with knight-like qualities?

How about a Sci-Fi twist, and the people emerge from giant chrysalises? Or has that been done already?

How about a Charlotte’s Web type story featuring a butterfly?

All Aces represent the potential for creation. Perhaps you story involves a pregnancy. Perhaps a new idea is conceived.

Ace Themes: Beginning, Potential, Opportunity, Conception, Birth, or Elemental Energy.

Characters:

“Follow your heart,” says Hawthorn.

“You’re a brand-new being,” say Butterfly.

Suit Archetype/Feudal Class: Nobility, Warrior, and Political class.

The personality enneagram, a nine-pointed array of personality types, might also be a useful reference for character building.

All Aces are E1: Perfectionist and/or Reformer

Self Image — I am right
Passion — Anger
Virtue — Serenity
Narcissistic Trap — Perfection
Avoids — Vexation
Speaking Style — Teaching or Moralizing

E1 people are instinctive, spontaneous, and intuitive. Their “gut” feeling is the center of their awareness. They are often direct or territorial. They are concerned with power, ruled by aggression, and may be troubled by self-doubt or self-blame.

Additionally, look up one of the Air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) for personality traits.

Image: Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert from Llewellyn Worldwide

And the Winners Are…

01 May 2012 15 Comments

by Raelyn Barclay in General Tags: Angela Brown, blog, blogging, blogiversary, Ciara Knight, Claire Hennessy, Gene Lempp, giveaway, Raelyn Barclay, Wendy Andrew

Source: Wendy Andrew

Blessed Beltane

Or Happy May Day, my friends.

First off, a huge thank you to everyone who played along last month and helped me celebrate!

Okay…

I won’t make you wait any longer. Using Random.org because the wee beasties fought over who’d draw names…

THURSDAYS

The winner of the Steampunk Tarot Deck is…

ANGELA BROWN

TUESDAYS

The winner of the Amazon Gift Certificate is…

CIARA KNIGHT

SUNDAYS

The winner of The Artist’s Way Workbook is…

GENE LEMPP

ALL MONTH LONG

This is a set of 12 cards with envelopes: Congrats (inside says Congratulations), Birthday, Father's Day, Thank You, Mother's Day, Thank You, Follow Your Dreams, Hello, Happy Birthday, Welcome Baby, Happy Birthday to You, and Love

And finally, the winner of the hand-made cards is…

CLAIRE HENNESSY

:throws confetti: Congratulations!

Winners, please email me at BuriedNWords [at] gmail [dot] com. I will need a snail mail addy for all but the Gift Certificate.

Cheers!

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

29 Apr 2012 32 Comments

by Raelyn Barclay in ROW80, Sunday Summary Tags: August McLaughlin, blog, blogging, blogiversary, card-making, character development, Crimson Rogue, dogs, exercise, Facebook, giveaway, health, Jenny Hansen, link mashup, Liz Maverick, Lynn Viehl, Patti O'Shea, Query Tracker, Raelyn Barclay, readers, reading, Robin McCormack, scrapbooking, smash journals, Triberr, Twitter, writers, writing

Okay, this looks like fun, not to mention inspirational. Lynn Viehl posted about smashing which apparently is a new trend in scrapbooking. I’m not sure about the trend being new, certainly the name is. Hey, anything to make a buck. Paper scrapbooking is being beat out by digital a little more each year…hmm, sounds familiar. I will paper scrapbook until the supplies are no more. Anyhow, Lynn is encouraging us writer types to create “smash journals” for our stories. Brilliant. Go forth and smash
The Writing: Another muse-less week. I’m thinking I have too many pans in the fire elsewhere to focus. What worries me is the longer this goes on the harder it is to get the ol’ bubble butt in the chair. :sigh: Tomorrow is a new day of a new week.
Last check-in I followed a link from Robin McCormack’s blog over to Query Tracker. Awesome interview questions for the character you need to dig a little deeper to know.
The Reading: I’m halfway through a book Patti O’Shea mentioned on Facebook Friday, Crimson Rogue by Liz Maverick. I’m enjoying the story. However, the inconsistent formatting is distracting and, giving the author the benefit of the doubt here, the typos are frustrating, making me wonder if a second set of eyes saw this before publication.
The Blogging: Check with the original goal. Not so much with the new goal. Sigh, April is slipping by me. Maybe I’m ‘partying’ too much with my blogiversary
Speaking of blogiversaries, the amazingly talented Jenny Hansen is also celebrating a year of blogging this month. Check out her first ever More Cowbell vLog!
The Social Media: I think I’ve held steady on the sharing, thanks mostly to the ease of Triberr. I had a few conversations and am not feeling quite as spammy as last week
The Health: I sucked at tracking the water intake this week but think I did pretty good, especially with being in the triple digits last weekend. We’re in the high 80′s-low 90′s this weekend. Me thinks summer is here. What happened to spring? Dog walking, sadly only got out three times. Sugar reduction is going well and I’m toying with the next food change I want to incorporate.
Snacking is my big challenge in the food department. Either I don’t then pig out at the next meal or I do, but not necessarily a healthy one. August McLaughlin offered up some healthy snack choices earlier in the week. Yum.
To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Group 3: Congrats (says congratulations inside), Happy Birthday, Thank You, Birthday cards.

And here is your final look at the cards up for grabs in the blogiversary giveaway…

Just a reminder, I’ll be drawing the winners tomorrow night (April 30th), so hurry and post your comments. The more April posts you comment on the more chances you have to win. Good luck and THANK YOU so much for your support! You guys are awesomesauce

Numbers in Tarot

26 Apr 2012 12 Comments

by Raelyn Barclay in Tarot Tags: American Tarot Association, Anthony Louis, blogiversary, characters, elements, giveaway, Joanna Powell Colbert, Meet the Cards, numbers, numerology, plotting, Raelyn Barclay, Steampunk Tarot Deck, tarot, Tarot Elements, Temperance, The Fool, The Sun, writers, writing

Last week, in the Meet the Cards series, we concluded the Major Arcana (trumps) of the Gaian deck. Next week, we will begin to explore the Minor Arcana (pips).

Before we continue meeting the cards, I want to pause and explore the numbers we find associated with the tarot. Just like a standard deck of cards, tarot cards are numbered. And there is a whole science around numbers!

As we saw, the Major Arcana is numbered 0 to 21. Major secrets, lessons, and archetypes.

There are two basic thoughts on how you figure the numerology of the cards.

Reduction. For example, the Star (17) would be reduced to 1 + 7 = 8.
Numerical Signifier. For example, Temperance (14) would be 4.

Either way works and from what I can tell it’s a personal preference.

One overview of what the numbers mean is The Numerological Significance of the Tarot by Anthony Louis. There is also a school of thought that the odd numbers are masculine (active) while the even numbers are feminine (passive). That goes back to the elements too.

If we look at the above examples.

The Star (17) is reduced to 1 + 7 = 8.

Eight is made up of 2 x 4, or 2 x 2 x 2. Like the four, it is a number of power, manifestation, and material accomplishment.
Or Temperance (14) as 4.

Four is the number of manifestation and material reality. There are four elements, four sides of a square, four cardinal directions of a compass, four seasons, four winds, etc. It is a number of order, structure, power, and earthly dominion. Four is the number of the prototypical complete family: a father, a mother, a son, and a daughter.

What do those mean to you? How does it add to your ‘reading’ of the card as you look at the image or read the details out of the LWB (Little White Book) that came with your deck?

The Minor Arcana is closer to a regular deck of cards in that we have four suits (which correspond to the four suits of a standard deck of cards) and each suit is comprised of fourteen cards numbered ace [1] to 10 plus four court cards. The Minor Arcana represent the everyday events and feelings within each suit. The court cards represent family with the father (king), mother (queen), son (knight), and daughter (page). The Gaian deck focuses on this sense of family (or ‘it takes a village’) even more by changing the court cards to Elders, Guardians, Explorers, and Children.

If you’re interested, I uncovered a great series of lessons while researching this post. The Secrets of Tarot Numerology is 12 lessons long complete with assignments to practice. I’ll definitely be doing this in the near future.

However, we’re going to look at the journey.

Just like the Seeker’s journey through the Major Arcana we have a Seeker’s journey through the Minor Arcana, too.

Three mini-dramas, in fact.

Ace – 2 – 3
4 – 5 – 6
7 – 8 – 9

Or look at it this way.

Ace, 4, and 7 = new beginning
2, 5, and 8 = the challenge
3, 6, and 9 = resolution (if the Seeker met the challenge)

Each of the three sets of three goes a bit deeper as the Seeker grows and matures. The first triad parallels the trials and exploits of youth, roughly corresponding to the Child and Explorer [court] cards. The second triad is more about the experiences of midlife, corresponding to the Explorer and Guardian cards. The third triad is about maturity and wholeness, corresponding to the Guardian and Elder cards. ~Joanna Powell Colbert

Culminating in 10…transition. Something dies, is reborn, and the cycle begins again. Hmm, doesn’t that just sound like the “dark night of the soul”?

How about this?

From: Meaning of the Tarot Numbers

Is it me, or are you seeing character arc and/or plot structure at every turn of the tarot?

For a blogiversary giveaway tease hop on over to Tarot Elements where they recently featured the delicious Steampunk Tarot.

Teaser Tuesday: Yours to Take

24 Apr 2012 10 Comments

by Raelyn Barclay in Books Tags: books, e-books, Joely Sue Burkhart, Raelyn Barclay, readers, reading, Should Be Reading, Teaser Tuesdays, Yours to Take

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

It’d started innocently enough. Every time she was over by the park for lunch, she’d stop by his favorite bench beneath the largest tree.

Yours to Take

by Joely Sue Burkhart

releasing May 8th.

Your turn. In the comments, share your 2 sentence teaser, because our reading lists can never be too long

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

22 Apr 2012 27 Comments

by Raelyn Barclay in ROW80, Sunday Summary Tags: A to Z Challenge, Angela Brown, blog, blogging, blogiversary, card-making, Chuck Wendig, exercise, Facebook, giveaway, health, Kate Britt, link mashup, Raelyn Barclay, readers, reading, Roni Loren, scrapbooking, Tiny Buddha, Triberr, Twitter, writers, writing

Happy Earth Day

The Writing: Not so much. It wasn’t that I didn’t get the butt in the chair, though I did have a few days where that was a struggle. I don’t fully buy into the muse but nothing spoke to me this week.
I think I’ll print 25 Lies Writers Tell from Chuck Wendig and stick it on my wall!
The Reading: Two more fiction stories read plus a couple of short beta reads came in, which I need to get back to the authors, hopefully today I haven’t started the next craft book yet. I’m still trying to decide which way I want to go.
Speaking of reading, I have been thoroughly enjoying Angela Brown’s fabulous A to Z Challenge posts. She has created wonderful characters and each post (each letter) is logically building on the one before, creating an amazing story. I encourage you to hop over and read Abby & Basil’s story. I hope she develops this an actual published book
The Blogging: Check. I’m still maintaining about 2 weeks worth of scheduled posts. I’d love to have a month’s worth scheduled. I’m changing this goal from just posting 3 times a week (1 being these ROW80 check-ins) to scheduling 1 post per week until I have a month of posts. Once I have that cushion I’ll revisit what I need to do to maintain that cushion. Commenting: Check.
The Social Media: I had a couple short conversations on Twitter and managed one update on Facebook above and beyond blog posts. Not great but a step in the right direction.
I’m still trying to navigate the Twitter waters. Some days are awesome, I connect with someone and share info in a nice ratio. Others, I feel like spam, LOL. After my blog clean up between rounds, I realized I needed to do something similar with Twitter and my lists. Thanks to Roni Loren’s post about how to avoid being clique-y I think I have a plan. Just need to find the time, LOL
The Health: Woot. I got out with Beastie Girl four of the last seven days. Each walk only lasted about 20 minutes…baby steps Averaged 4 glasses of water each day. I did cave to the chocolate eclairs That Man bought into the house…yum, chocolate.
I love Tiny Buddha and it is a daily must read for me. Kate Britt wrote about how Forming a Healthy Habit Starts From Within. What’s is your exercising obstacle?
To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Group 2: Birthday, Welcome Baby, Mother's Day, and Father's Day cards.

Here’s a look at more of the cards up for grabs in the blogiversary giveaway…

All the cards are blank inside for your personal message and come with envelops. (Cards like the Mother’s Day card may cost extra to mail due to bulk.)