Tradition

 

We all know how a lot of people will dig their heels in and refuse to learn cartomantic traditions, instead choosing to rely on "intuition." That would be fine, but for the fact that they push their views on the public, thus polluting the waters. Or they might make a deck, but choose to "innovate" rather than design the cards according to the reading tradition. There's a metric fucktonne of unreadable schlock out there.

I've been hanging out at cast iron discussion groups and found quite the opposite, in many cases. Let me explain first that a long time ago, people washed dishes with lye soap. Lye is used to this day to strip the seasoning from cast iron cookware. (Sometimes seasoning gets really crusty and needs to be stripped and done over.) The lye turns it to sludge and it washes right off. So you didn't want to wash your pans with soap then. People wiped their skillets with a rag, or scrubbed them with salt. But our modern dish detergent like Dawn is safe for washing pans. Still, some people still try to say you "should never use soap." I call bullshit. Wash your damn pan.

A lady at one of my cast iron groups said she knows this, she just doesn't use soap because her grandmother didn't, or told her not to. It's a way of keeping her grandma with her, I get that. Others will strip their pans by throwing them into a fire, risking cracks, warping, red scale and general heat damage. There are safe, inexpensive methods available but they choose to risk ruining their pan. They do it because a family member used to.

So people will follow a tradition for sentimental reasons, even if it's fatally flawed. But if there is no sentimental attachment, they want to tear it apart in spite of the value it has.

It makes no sense.

A "To Go" Bag

 

I've been away for awhile. There's really not much to say here as far as explaining how to do things, since the content always gets stolen and I have better things to do than sending out takedown notices. But I guess it's fairly safe to share this idea. It's a to go bag.

The idea is to get one of those big Tarot bags and fill it with small things. This one has a mini Lenormand, Chronata's Hallowstones, a good pendulum that I can't subconsciously force to tell me what I want to hear, three bone dice, my casting stones, a scrap of shearling for casting, and some small runes. I might add the Mercury Chain and a small crystal ball at some point, but I need to make bags for those. Maybe I'll add some small Tarot Majors, too.

Everything is kept separately in smaller bags, not jumbled together.

The Lenormand is a Fromann & Bunte mini, available here: https://gameofhopelenormand.bigcartel.com/product/minis-are-here

I like mini Lenormands. They make laying a Grand Tableau much less problematic when you're short on space.

The pendulum was made by a guy named Stan who sells them at the link below. It's the first one I've owned that I couldn't force. Its snakewood and excellent quality, not like those cheaply made yet overpriced ones that are flooding the market.

http://www.pendulumandpenink.com/shop2.htm

 

The Hallowstones are similar to Crowstones. Like Crowstones, they have a deceptively naive, folk-arty look but they're actually very incisive. They're a Halloween-themed set that Robyn was offering a few years ago. They're not currently available, but she's always got something interesting there.
https://tarotgoodies.webs.com/apps/webstore/

The runes are a little opalite glass set I found on etsy.  (I found the dice there, too, as well as the red pouch.) They're small enough to fit easily into one of those little deerskin pouches.

And the rocks are just a personal collection. I'd recommend everyone to put something together. Rocks, coins, dice, bones, whatever. There's lots of ideas in this little book:

https://www.luckymojo.com/lithomancy.html

These random object casting oracles work best when you accumulate pieces naturally. The book suggests starting with just three pieces: something to represent yourself, a yes, and a no. Cast them and see what lands closest to your piece - that's your answer. As time goes on, you'll accumulate meaningful pieces without trying. They just show up. ;) I tend to take something out when I add a new piece, but you can accumulate pieces to your hearts content. They might not fit in a to go bag after awhile, though.

And it all fits in a Tarot bag. I can just grab it on my way out the door.
(From Baba, of course! https://baba-store.com/collections/drawstring-pouches )