Which Tarot Deck should I buy?

In this entry I want to address the question "What tarot deck should I buy?"

Note that I say "buy". It is perfectly acceptable to buy your own deck(s). I say this because I have heard many times that the first deck should be "given" as a present, never bought.

Well, this is a cute tradition and I encourage any Pagan moms to give their own sons and daughters tarot decks at the time of rituals for entering adulthood (note: entering adulthood is not the same as being a fully functioning adults, but this belongs to another post), but it is not mandatory to receive your first deck as a gift. You and your deck will have to build your own relationship whether this deck is given or bought.

So let's assume your mom is not fond of the gypsy ways and you are very much into symbolism, subconscious, and open to messages from your guardian angel/higher self.

At this point comes the question: Which Tarot Deck should I buy?

If you have googled a minimum you will see that there are countless tarot decks and oracle cards. Oracle cards are not the same as tarot decks.

Tarot decks have a long story of symbolism back to medieval Europe with some people say they go back to Egypt but there is no evidence supporting this theory. Oracle cards on the other hand have no restriction on the number of cards and type of character present on them.

I must say I am biased to tarot cards. Most oracle decks I have seen are too fluffy for my taste, that is, are unbalanced in the positive and negative aspects with a very high number of only "positive" and "feel good cards". This is not my cup of tea and sounds like spiritual bypassing.

Having made that different clear, among all available decks my favorite has to be the Rider Waite (RW). This is an all time favorite and I recommend it through and through for beginners, for meditation, for magic, for solo readings, for advanced readings, etc. The symbolism in each card is incredibly rick and at the same time you are not distracted by meaningless content. Everything that needs to be said about the card is there.

I am not a tarot deck collector. I own three decks and and the RW has been my to-go deck since I first bought it 10 years ago. My first deck was called “El Grand Tarot Esoterico” and I bought it because I desperately wanted a deck and it was the only one available at the shop. It didn't resonate with me at the time so I kept looking until I found a proper RW deck. The third deck is a “Thot Tarot” designed by occultist Aleister Crowley. I don't like it and don't use it.

TL;DR If you're thinking of buying a tarot deck, get a Rider Waite. This deck will stay with you from beginner to advanced. Here I leave the (associated) link

MandAlimited Classic Tarot Cards Deck with - a Modern Touch

What does it means to be a rational spiritual?

What does it means to be a rational spiritual person...

It means I am first and foremost believer. 
I believe in the unrevealed secrecy of nature.
the unfathomable of consciousness
and the Divine.

It also means I respect academics and bow to hard gained knowledge.
While checking transits on my horoscope.

That I will carefully consider your Unverified Personal Gnosis
and hold it to rigorous trial before accepting it (or dismissing it)

It means any sort of quackery revolts me, 
because it damages the reputation of both the sciences and the spiritual

I live in a dual world without the need to be mixed
Everything in its right place
Where it belongs

Practically it means that I will believe and defend vaccinations
And chemotherapy
But I will also respect the need of pray and ritual for healing (along with a Doctor's approved treatment)
Everything where it belongs

A Different Review: Kegelmaster 2000

Ok. This is awkward, I know. I'm sorry.  This is going to get NSFW so you can still close this window NOW!
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Ok!
When I started writing this blog I thought I would exclusively focus on Astrology.
However it is kind of becoming just a personal space to share all of my interests. And, what can I say? I'm not just an Astrology enthusiast. I'm also a scientist, an avid yogini, a music enthusiast, a  RIE mommy and a woman who had a natural birth which left me with a broken hoo-ha.
Yup.
I remember the first time when I peed my pants as an adult. I was walking home, pushing a stroller and it was a cold winter night. I was thinking the whole way "I should have peed before starting! I should have peed!" and at some point I just felt a warmness spreading in my pants (which instantly turned into coldness, because it was damn cold). I felt incredibly sad. To think one year ago I was a fitness trainer and now I was peeing my pants. Luckily I was like 5 minutes away from home and it was dark so no one saw me . (although, rationally there is nothing to be ashamed! it's not like I peed myself because I was drunk as a sailor!)

At that moment I started looking into ways to improve my pelvic floor tone, when I came across the Kegelmaster. I'm not gonna lie, it looks pretty terrifying and way too costly for the hard plastic it's made of. The name is also terrible. sounds like the bad cousin of terminator, which it is not something you want to put between your legs (and that's where the cons end). This year I finally went ahead and bought it as a Christmas gift for myself (even though it was middle of November). The selling point for me was the resistance part, since I couldn't find any other training device that used similar biodynamics. (I do own a set of Yoni Eggs, which might get reviewed later though).

Now, after a few weeks (3) of consistent use I am starting to feel the effects and I must say I'm pleased. No, I'm not opening bottles with my yoni but I do notice that I can compress longer and harder than before with my vaginal muscles. The yoga queef (it's a real thing that I should also review hmm) it is still there but with diminished intensity. I'm also more aware of my whole area down there. and (just because I have to mention it), yes, the sex experience has also been doing better.

As I said, this has only been three weeks and as any exercise I guess consistence and practice makes perfect but so far I'm very happy with the results, so I will leave the link here in case that you, as me, were googling "peeing postpartum what helps" . (this is an associated link, obv)

Kegelmaster Standard Progressive Kegel Exercise Device - Bladder Control Devices

A word of advice, if you do get a Kegelmaster, get yourself a water based lubricant. Otherwise it can be an uncomfortable experience.

Astrology Book Review: Astrology for Yourself - How to Understand and to Interpret your own Birth Chart

Astrology Book Review: Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand and to Interpret your own Birth Chart

This book was suggested to me via Facebook, and with such an interesting name and price I couldn't resist. This book is written by Demetra George and Douglas Bloch, both big names in the Astrology scene. Demetra is in particular a wonderful astrologer and a renowned expert in Hellenistic Astrology.

This book is meant to be a sort of journal to complete with keywords while interpreting your natal chart, and although this might sound like a terrible cookbook it is definitely NOT the case. The keywords are so incredibly well thought and they're very easy to remember because they go and make the connection with an sign's polarity, element and mode.

 Filling out this book has been a wonderful and very enjoyable journey to better understand my (and other's people) birth chart. They talk about the importance of the four cardinal points (Asc, IC, Desc, MC) and then they go through each planet in detail.

They also discuss how to analyse aspects. This is a very important point because you can't have cookbook for aspects, simply because there are so many possibilities! For me, being able to properly analyze aspects is key is you want to call yourself an astrologer.

I like that they also discuss the function of the moon phase in the chart, and of course there is something on moon nodes. It is rather little but luckily they have an extensive recommended book appendix if you want more information on any mentioned topic.

 They also have a small section on synastry with enough space to compare charts and they also mention other type of astrological practices which I think is great because not everything has to be focused on birth charts.

 The only thing I don't care too much is the amount of asteroids included. Really, there are so many! Since asteroids are kind of "meh" for me (except Chiron for personal metaphysical reasons) this was uninteresting.

All in all, this is a book to have if you are diving seriously into the (modern, psychological approached) Astrology world. Beginners as well as Intermediate students can all learn something from this book.

If you want to check it out, here is the (affiliated) link:
Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand And Interpret Your Own Birth Chart
#SolitaryAstrologerStudent

Astrology Book Review: The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need

(this post contains affiliated links)

When I started learning Astrology, I started in the most obvious place of all: The Internet

However, I quickly got tired , or better to say, unsatisfied with the short cookbook analysis found in most blogs. (This is not true for all blogs, and there are a few with really good information). Although it is also possible to learn Astrology, or at least the basics (and maybe beyond?) through Youtube, I am a little too impatient for watching hours of non stop rambling and sorting through more hours of low quality content.

I turned my attention onto, of course, Astrology books. I must admit I have a weakness for books and learning from them. (must be my Venus in Capricorn, desiring everything that is structured and from reputable, verifiable sources)
One of the first books recommended to me was The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need from Joanna Martine Woolfolk.

The name was impressive and the price is also not bad so I went for it. The book has a good description of planets in celestial houses, including a tiny section of decanates, houses and a small section of sun sign synastry. It also includes a natal chart interpretation example from Oprah's horoscope.

Personally, I was not impressed by the book. When I started learning astrology, I did not feel like memorizing whole paragraphs of "Moon in Capricorn means this, Mercury in Aries means that". I wanted a holistic approach where I could make sense of positions based on core zodiacal principles by myself for example, using the elements, polarities, cardinality etc. So in this sense, this book was not really what I was looking for.
It is interesting nevertheless if you wish to quickly understand the key aspects of your chart, but almost on an entertainment kind of way. In definitive it is a beginner, very beginner book. Nice to have but not critical for the solitary astrology student.
Overall rating: 6/10 

If you want to check it out, here is the link! The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need

Horary Astrology: Champions League Semi-Final 2019 (Barcelona - Liverpool)

(this post contains affiliated links)

Hello Everyone! This one should be a little fun ☺️  Let's analyze a horary horoscope together!

I am interested in all types of oracles and divination methods, and lately I've been very much into horary astrology (or just "horary").
But what is horary? Horary Astrology is a branch of "Traditional Astrology". It's very simple and direct and has little to do with Modern astrology. In horary, the astrologer answers a question, using a horoscope (a map of the sky) constructed the moment the question was asked. If you are interested in the subject I can only recommend the following book by John Frawley: 
The Horary Textbook - Revised Edition


Horary is not about deep psychological analysis, but it's more general for questions about everything under the sun. (Should I sell my produce in the market today? Where is my dog? How will the weather be on Sunday? How will the football (soccer) match go?)

My boyfriend, being a huge football fan of course, asks me quite often this last question and yesterday was no exception.

On Tuesday 7 of May at 13:23 in Italy he asked:
"How will the Champions League game today will turn out?"
I asked in return: "Which team are you supporting?"
He said:  "I think Barcelona will win"
I asked again: "Ok, but who do you want to win with your heart?"
He said: "Liverpool!"

Question understood! Now let's make the chart:

If you know something about Astrology you will notice that modern planets are missing. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Also, no asteroids and only major aspects. There are very good reasons for this but I might explain my personal relation with modern planets in another post. I'll just say that in my experience this very-slow-moving-not-visible planets do not exert any influence in every day events like the ones we try to explore in horary. There are also metaphysical reasons for this.

 For the Glory of God*

The question was directly asked to me by my boyfriend (the querent). The team his heart supports is Liverpool. With this information, I will assign "his team" (Liverpool) by the ruler of the Ascendant Leo, which is the Sun.

Barcelona will be represented by the ruler of the 7th house, the house of "enemies" (... but also the house of romantic partners. Isn't that fun? hah!) The cusp of the 7th house is in Aquarius, whose traditional ruler is Saturn.

The first thing that stands out in this chart is how close the sun is to the cusp of the 10th house. The 10th house is the house of the King. This means a crown which means a winner.

Second, you can see how Saturn (Barcelona) is sitting very comfortable in Capricorn which Saturn happens to also rule. This could in principle point to a team who is feeling very secure of their position and not willing to risk to much.

The last exciting thing is that Saturn and Sun are about to perfect an aspect, a Trine (120°). The Sun, sitting at around 16 degrees and Saturn is sitting at around 20 degrees. The Sun moves faster in the sky than Saturn. And they're approx. four degrees apart. Four ☺️ (you see where I'm going?) This means that the Sun is giving its best to cover this four degrees of separation. Since the speed of the Sun is larger than that of Saturn it is an "accidental dignity" and in the case of a sport where speed is also important,  it's a very good thing to have.

Taking all this aspects into consideration,  a veredict was made:

"The second half will be more interesting (Sun reaching cusp). Liverpool might score up to 4 gols "

The results of the game were very exciting. After the first half, Liverpool was 1-0 which is Ok, but not enough to get that place in the Final, Since Barcelona won 3-0 in the first round. The last 3 points were made in the second half, for a total of 4-0 for Liverpool in a very unexpected turn of events.

I'll just say that my boyfriends brains were blown away (and mine too!) because it seemed rather implausible. But, if it's written in the sky...  who are we to judge and doubt?  😉

If you liked reading a horary let me know and I will include more charts like this (because it's fun!) or I could also just talk more about horary in general (but beware, I'm also learning! this is my latest hobby)

I wish you a lot of fun watching the semi-final today as well!

* I agree with John Frawley (who then credits John Lilly). In my Spiritual practice I am always grateful to the Great Architect and it is only through Him that we access this knowledge.

Runic Lecture

The next lecture was done for a client, let's call her M. M wasn't really sure what direction to take in her love life. Her husband had passed away a few years ago and she was feeling lonely but unsure whether to re-start her love life.
I did a three Runes spread, in which the Runes position represent:

• Current situation
• Action to take
• New situation

The spread looks like this;

Situation is represented by Jera. This is a beautiful rune, that like a seed is ready to open up. M had been preparing herself mentally for meeting a special person. But just like a seed needs time, when Jera presents herself in a situation is calling to be patient. M needs to take care of herself first.

For action we got Ansuz reversed. Ansuz can represents a higher wisdom obtained through meditation and solitude, but reversed it basically screams "get out and do mundane stuff!". For its implication with higher communication, I told her to use the next full moon to write a letter to her past husband where she could explain how she was feeling, and finally let go.

The new situation, shows Ehwaz. This is a rune of movement but also the rune of humanity, and "two becoming one". In any case, it means that she will definitely find someone to share her time with, but I also recommended her to keep moving and maybe take a trip. A new relation is on the horizon but nothing comes without effort.