Tag: name

New Deck, New Year, New Giveaway

video of my brand new tarot deck and a new free tarot special

It is time for Zombie Cat readings to shamble off for a while.

I created this “seasons of the year” layout quite a few years ago just for the New Year holidays. It gives one card as a theme or guidance for each of the upcoming season in order, no matter what time of year the reading is done. Then it gives a card that serves as guidance for the year as a whole. Halloween / Samhain is celebrated by some as the new year and calendar 2021 will be here before we know it. I usually keep this layout front and center through Lunar New Year, whenever that falls. Because it can be used any time of year, It is always available by special request. If you can’t find it on the website, just email and we’ll arrange something.

BUT now I have a problem….

After the “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” press conference thing this weekend (it’s a long story related to the U.S. presidential election results – please, google it and have a good, long belly laugh) I can’t call this the “seasons of the year” anymore. It’s going to be a while before I can see the word “seasons” without laughing. I hope the poor landscaping company gets a lot of good new business form everyone talking about it. Support your local small businesses!

I need your help…

For now, I’m calling this the “year ahead” layout, but that is way to milqutoast boring for the holiday season. I can’t call it pathway anything to avoid confusion with the three card layout. Do you have any ideas for a name that describes what this is BUT does not use the word “seasons?” I’d also like to stay away from anything too snarky. “George” is already taken by my sourdough starter.

Here is the deal – I’ll give one of these readings by email in trade to the person who suggests the best layout name (as determined by me) for the layout formerly known as ‘seasons of the year.’ Leave your layout name suggestions in the comments by November 30, wining name to be announced here in the blog, and on social media on December 1 2020. If multiple people give the same chosen name, the first submission is the winner. All policies and disclaimers apply. No monetary value. Swim at your own risk. No lifeguard on duty. Wash your hands and wear a mask.

Have at it! I’m looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

Spell Your Name

Last name-niggles post, at least for a while.

In “The Niggles: What’s In a Name?” we looked at how names communicate outward. Our “brand” as they say is a shorthand way to communicate who we are. It can be authentic. It can be a disguise. But it, our name,  is something to consider.

“Shakespeare’s Roses” looks at how names…words…communicate inwardly. We respond differently to different words. They have an impact on our inner world. Would we feel the same about roses if they were actually named goobers or something? Maybe the thing would change the word, maybe the word would change our inner perception of the thing.  Either way, we are back to the notion that words have power. Power to shape our perceptions of the world and the world’s perception of us.

Names are labels. How does that make you feel?

Those words alone carry connotations and implications that impact us. You are named. That gives you autonomy. If you can be named, that means you are seen, accepted & loved (as in a christening) or made to own your actions (as in naming a suspect). Both of these are empowering things, granting identity and autonomy.

Labels are, on the physical level, practical things. They communicate important things, so you don’t put salt in your coffee, or take the wrong amount of medicine. When applied to people, however, they have no use and may cause harm. Humans are multifaceted, complex, shifting, growing, feeling…so many things that are far beyond the grasp of any one word or label. Labels lessen. Labels condense and summarize. Labeling others is the essence of bigotry. Labeling ourselves makes us less than who we really are.

For people, names are better than labels. Pick a name, any name. Remember Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla from Schoolhouse Rock? That’s a fun name. Rufus was a lot of stuff. If you labeled him  “old guy” that gives us a limited view of who he is. If he labels himself “old guy” then he constricts the energy and potential in his life compared to thinking of himself as adventurer, kangaroo fan, friend or brother.

The names and labels we give ourselves is the overlap between the outward way we communicate to others with names in the “branding” sense and the inner perceptions other names and labels elicit within us. The names and labels we choose for ourselves are like a magic spell of sorts for our inner psychology.  Did you quit something or did you choose something new? Are you a religion or are you a compassionate person? Are you a disease or are you someone fabulous who has some extra things to deal with?

In some Native American traditions, names change as people move through life and change. (Waugman, E.P. 2011, Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/whats-in-name/201107/names-and-identity-the-native-american-naming-tradition) I’ve read in other sources that this new name is self-chosen to reflect accomplishments, and major life changes, and to embrace this new self – identity. I can’t remember or find those other sources at the moment. In Dune, Frank Herbert shows a bit of the same. The Fremen give Paul a tribal name (he is seen, accepted, official, even loved, like we see in christenings and other baby naming ceremonies) but Paul also chooses a public-facing, outside the tribe name for himself. He chooses one that reflects his spiritual purpose, his destiny in the story.

In a way, the Fremen names reflect reality. We have our given names, our tribal, legal, on-the-official-paperwork names, we have nicknames within our circle of friends and family, and we have the ever shifting internal labels we grab and claim.

Take care the names you give yourself. Your inner label, your mental identity, your name  that you give yourself is the magic spell for who you aspire to be and who you allow yourself to become.

Shakespeare’s Roses

shakespearesroses
Image copyright Ronda Snow 2019 Used with permission

“What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

“What I told you was true, from a certain point of view”  – Obi Wan Kenobi

Obi Wan nailed it. Sorry Bill.

Names, labels, adjectives, the power of words; all of those things have niggled at me off and on over the years. The niggling about names hasn’t stopped since we talked about it the other day in the “What is in a Name” post. That was a first step away from Shakespeare’s literalness about flowers. Let’s take it one step more.

Shakespeare was right, of course, in the most literal sense. You could name that particular fragrant flower a “rose” or a “gagglystank” or anything else, and the literal flower would still have the same chemicals causing the same fragrance, the same petals, the same stems, the same thorns and all the same physical attributes.

But, like business and website names, any name has more to it than just literal, physical descriptions. Names, like all of language, is about communication. If I say “rose” and you speak English, you know exactly what I mean. Not just a flower, but a particular type of flower with a particular set of physical attributes. You can probably imagine the scent, the petals, the stems, everything about them. If I say “gagglystank” to you, chances are you will have no idea what it means much less have a physical description come to mind. Gagglystank is a word that tells you a little about my feeling about the scent of roses, but is definitely not the NAME of anything. There is power in a name. Communication happens when things have a name. Communication conquers time and space. That is why “branding”….naming….matters. It is outward communication. A name is immediate, instant communication of what a thing is. TaoCraft Tarot is hint about what I do and my way of doing it.

Shakespeare’s roses (in addition to being a great idea for a band name) is about the literal, unchanging being of objects no matter what words are projected onto them. Names are more than the literal objects. Names are also about every intangible thing the tangible object symbolizes. Outward communication is one step away from the actual things. One more step takes us inward. Consider the psychology and emotional response to a rose.

If we called roses gagglystanks instead, would they really smell as sweet? What emotions and connotations would a different name elicit? I’m not fond of rose scent or anything too cloying or floral. Gagglystank is a perfectly good word to tell you how I feel about the way those specific flowers smell. But it can’t be the name of the thing, because it doesn’t communicate to you. It isn’t a meaning our language has agreed to use. It doesn’t capture the visual beauty. It doesn’t capture the emotional response to the flower generated by generations of love-symbolism our culture has connected to that flower. When we see or hear the name “rose” all at once we understand the literal thing, the things the symbolizes, and likely experience a positive emotional feeling to go along with it all.

First you have a thing. Then you have a name-word for the thing. Then you have all the abstract things that go with the literal thing, all wound up in an emotional response to the whole word-name-symbolism package. Names means a lot.

tower

This second-step away from Shakespeare’s roses is the place where Tarot cards get their power. The cards have powerful images. The cards use powerful words. They prompt us to take that next step beyond literal things and outward communication in order to get right to the realm of symbolism, emotional connotations and, most importantly, inner response. The Tower comes to mind. Set aside the lighting and other images, lets talk about just the Tower alone for a minute. First you have a literal picture of a literal tall thing. You name it Tower, and without the picture, a Tarot reader can convey instant understanding of both the thing and the image. If I say “tower” then you know I’m talking about a big tall skinny outdoor object or part of a building. Then you bring in all the connotations of a tower: tallness, a higher perspective, potential isolation.  The inner FEELING of the reader guides the seeker to the right connotation and symbolism, even when reader and seeker are the same person. The process of inward symbolic communication…the second step away from Shakespeare’s roses…is where a Tarot reading really happens. This kind of word and name driven inward communication is the same no matter if you are reading for yourself or someone else, nearby or at a distance.

The thing, the name of the thing, along with the symbolism, connotations, and emotions that the name carries are all part of intuitive communication. Names speak both outwardly and inwardly.

There is power attached to a name. That power can attach to any name for any thing in any language, but not every name carries that level of potency. Roses by other names may not smell as sweet except in the literal sense. Roses by their true name have a complex fragrance…from a certain point of view.