The cards

I did not particularly like these cards, though reading their names in German intrigued me, but it commonly occurs that the first set is given, the second one chosen. I did not have a great deal of success with learning the symbolism or meanings, probably because I was trying to learn them by rote as opposed to allowing the intuitive side to kick in. I've since come to the conclusion that things happen when they are ready; I wasn't ready then, so I didn't have any success.

I found my second set of tarot cards, the Cosmic tarot, in Keswick in 1994. The vivid artwork spoke to me - there is no other way to describe it - and completely on a whim I bought them. I didn't use them; I just looked at them.

Breakthrough

This demonstration led me to fascination once more and I took a course in astrology and tarot which gave me an alternative way of viewing the cards. The idea that the numbered cards followed a progression, a story, clicked with me and I was able to go much further with this work as a result. It appeared that the wyrdlings that had been planted several years ago had finally come to fruition. I bought another set of Cosmic tarot cards for myself and took it from there.

At the same time as studying tarot, I touched on the subject of astrology which, as I had suspected, was a great deal deeper than the newspaper columns which seem so universally laughed at. I also became aware that the two disciplines, though different, had their links - both in that some cards represented signs and planets, and that the symbolism behind these matched in many ways. That helped me to learn both disciplines. The growing fascination with astrology led me to enrol on the Certificate Course at the Faculty of Astrological Studies in London. I am as yet not at a point where I can use more than very basic astrology, but am coming to the conclusion that I will be using astrology not as a predictive art, but as a way of understanding the basic make-up of individuals and relationships.

Moving on

Alas, with my emigration from England to California in August 1997, my second set of Cosmic tarot was lost in the mail, along with my hand-embroidered reading cloth. I decided that I would need a "down-to-earth" set of cards for professional reading, so purchased another Cosmic set in October 1997. I no longer read professionally, but the well-worn cards are much used and very comfortable by now.

As is always the way with cards, it didn't quite work that way; the Cosmic have become my personal cards, and the Thoth have become my "client" (friends and family) cards - the opposite of what I originally intended! I did work a psychic hotline for a while but it did not suit me and there was far too much going on in my life to continue in any sense of fairness. I find that a little reading suits me much better, for those I know well, but may return to the professional side in years to come. It's better to go with the flow than to fight it.