Tag: Ghoulish Delights

Kitten Whiskers

 

One of the big perks of being a professional Tarot reader is you get to keep some of the ideas that drop into your head on the behalf of  other people. Or, some might say, you get to take your own advice.

One theme came through quite a lot early on in the lockdowns, say mid-March through Mid-April. Time and again I heard that it wasn’t the time to go into deep spiritual things. It was a time to take care of business on the physical side of things to get set up for the big stay-at-home and to take care of one’s self on the emotional side of things. It was OK to spend the day in your pajamas and randomly stare into the refrigerator. Still is, if that is what you need. Part of that overall self-care advice was to enjoy small familiar comforts as much as possible. Simple pleasures and little things are showing their importance these days.

I’m more than happy to take that little wisdom nugget to heart. On one hand, I’ve been wanting to share some of the really cool things I’ve found just out of pure fan-girling enthusiasm. On the other hand, I made a promise to myself to stay “on brand” and on topic with TaoCraft Tarot because it already includes my favorite stuff wrapped in an aesthetic that I love. But that’s the web and this, at the risk of sounding like a Julie Andrews song, are a few of my favorite real life things.

I am a Meatpuppet.

I like science fiction. I love a good sense of humor. Double extra bonus point is you reference one of my all time favorite cyberpunk novels, Neuromancer.

On of my good internet buddies and energy healer extraordinaire (you know, Pip over at Hygge Energy Healing, speaking of favorite things) told me about a story that was posting a chapter at a time. I’ve been an avid fan aka meatpuppet of David Turner’s How To Be Dead series ever since. If you like humor and fantasy / sci fi blended together in the vein of Terry Pratchett, Dave Turner’s series has it all. Think Monty Python meets Doctor Who covered in Shaun of the Dead with a heaping helping of Douglas Adams. 

Take, for example, the Grim Reaper. Spooky and eternal, yes. But also prone to dancing around the office to Blue Oyster Cult and frequently searching for cookies. You find yourself caring about Death as a character, not to mention protagonist Dave Marwood, flat mate Gary, love interest Melanie, Death’s assistant Anne – all of them – feel like people you’d want to have a beer with. All except that executive who turns out to be….well, you’ll find out. Or at least I hope you will. What better way to spend a global pandemic than a good, satisfying read about ghosts, vampires, zombies that aren’t zombies, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, werewolves. The only word of caution I have is that reading it might make you want to put “Don’t Fear The Reaper”  on loop or eat a bunch of chocolate hob nobs. All five books in  the HTBD series are available on amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make sure my ringtone is still “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and rummage through the kitchen for some cookies.

I may be a meatpuppet but at least my hands aren’t dry anymore.

“Ghoulish Delights” was just that….a delight. Amanda has since rebranded her excellent skin care products and added teas to become Balefire Apothecary. One stop relaxation, that. Aromatherapy was always one of my favorite parts of the Natural Health program, but I’m not interested in making and selling blends or products. I use aromatherapy all the time both for my personal use and as part of the ‘psychic summary’ section of a reading…but that is another kitten whisker for another day. Let’s just say I really appreciate a good blend when I smell it. These are my absolute favorites. It is easy enough to find blends with florals and musks but base notes are another thing. Woody resins are far and away my favorites, and Amanda is an absolute genius with them. Rather than being heavy, they are perfectly balanced with smoke and sweetness, fresh and watery, herbs and outright magic. The blends evoke a sense of place and story. The “corpse cream” renamed to body cream in “Bridgewater Triangle” scent is, was and will be #1 on my list: the campfire smoke, marshmallow and autumn leaves is irresistible to a fall season lover like me. The stuff actually works, too. I hand wash all of our dishes, do all of the cooking and knit. All that yarn and hand washing is a recipe for dry skin any time of year, doubly so in the winter. The cream is protective and soothing, and when I’m not doing all that other stuff I’m walking around sniffing my hands because the stuff smells so darn good. Seasonal teas, wildcrafted ingredients, perfume oils, leaping bunny certification, and a range of skin care are all good reasons to check out the apothecary. The creative names and scent descriptions are still there too.

Whether it is raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, a dollop of hand cream or a good comedy horror book, I wish you a wonderful evening with a few of your favorite things.

P.S. just out of due diligence and all of that other responsible stuff, I think I’m supposed to tell you that these are unsolicited reviews. I’m not paid and received no free samples or anything. This is 100% unadulterated grade A fangirling. Thanks to Dave Turner and Amanda at Balefire Apothecary for allowing me to rave about their stuff.

The Niggles: What’s in a Name?

A lot.

Sometimes, a whole lot.

“Re-branding” seems to be a thing lately. “Ghoulish Delights Bath Shop” is becoming “Balefire Apothocary” (fingers crossed she’ll still carry my very most favorite hand cream) and ” Hearts Peace Healing” is becoming “Hygge Lightwork”.  One personal trainer is becoming a Tarot reader, while a musician is becoming a personal trainer and a martial artist is shifting to being a musician and life coach. Modern Oracle Tarot is now TaoCraft Tarot.

My sense is this is growth, evolution, and expansion is a very good thing for all of us. The new name isn’t just a marketing ploy. There is no ill will or negative feeling about our old names or identities at all. Shedding our old “brand” is like a snake shedding its skin: It’s necessary for growth. We are re-naming, re-imagining, and re-building in order to embrace more things and to become more fully ourselves. I can’t speak for the other folks, of course, but after brief chats on social media, I get the feeling we are all very much on on the same page.

Expansion and deeper authenticity is certainly my aim in abandoning Modern Oracle and building TaoCraft. As I write this, Modern Oracle feels like something that happened ages ago to someone else. Time passes. I’m not the same person who started Modern Oracle. TaoCraft is me, now.

That doesn’t mean I have to abandon EVERY single little thing. “The Niggles” are still here. Those posts are about ideas that camp out in my head, and niggle there until I write about them. Yeah, I know. That sounds more like a brain parasite than creative inspiration. Some ideas are like that.

Since the very beginning of this re-branding process, I’ve felt pushed to talk about TaoCraft as a name. I have no earthly idea why, or even what to say, so I’ll follow that spirit, inspiration, call of the muses, or brain idea-parasite such as the case may be.

Let’s start with the obvious. “TaoCraft” is a made up word, and I’ve stuck a capital in the middle. Why? I like it. As two words, it is a description. As one word it is a NAME. I threw the capital in because 1. it works as a humpback web address and 2. “Craft” is an integral part of the concept with a dollop of double meaning.

Tao, as many of you know, is from Chinese philosophy; Taoist, Taoism, Tao Te Ching. Just to be pedantic, Tao and Dao are the same thing. Tao is Pinyan westernization of the Mandarin word, while Dao is from the Wade-Giles system. The few minutes I studied Mandarin back in the 90s, I was taught using Pinyan, so there you are. Tao it is. Tao is usually translated as “way” as in a “way of life” or a “way of doing things.”

What does Taoism have to do with Tarot? A surprising lot, actually.  “Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao” by Diane Morgan explains it best. It was an enormous influence in the early days of my Tarot career because it connected two great loves. Time and time and time again, Tao and Tarot were philosophies, a way of looking at the world, that I could rely on. I could lean on them in turbulent times without them crumbling to dust and nothing as religion and other philosophies always, always did. When your life puts your beliefs to the test, they shouldn’t fall apart. Taoism and Tarot never did. No matter what I would learn or explore, I always circled back to them and found them reliable, trustworthy. Tao and Tarot belong here in this new mental and spiritual living place. They are very much authentic me. This re-branding is, as is highly valued within Taoism, an exercise in deep authenticity.

Craft is also a bridge. As Tao and Tarot bridge east and west, craft bridges old and new. When I see the word, “arts and crafts” spring to mind. My grandmother taught me to embroidery when I was 6. Embroidery, cross stitch, knitting, beading have been a part of me since then. I like to create and make. That embraces the meditation mala and assorted stuff I make and put in the TaoCraft Tarot shop on Etsy. Craft connects to a fond memory of a cherished Grandmother – a wise woman whom I swear was magic. Which brings me to the new craft. THAT craft. THE craft. Not the movie, although it is one of my favorites. TaoCraft expands my Tarot cyber-world to include, mala, meditation, Reiki, and my own brand of magical craft. It took half a century to even flirt with the notion of associating with magic or witchcraft, but dammit, I’m claiming it now. And I’m defining it on my own terms. This is my own non-diestic, non-ritualistic, natural, energy reading WAY of engaging with a solitary sort of witchCRAFT. I’ve finally found words for what I’ve been doing all along in Laura Zakroff’s excellent book “Sigil Witchery”. A “modern traditional witch” is one who “does what needs doing when it needs done using whatever is at hand.” That. So that.

There you have it. That is what is in THIS name. Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot.