Today is my birthday! I am 27 years old, a Sagittarius with Gemini Rising,  a new mama, a blessed wife, and a proud spiritpreneur who plans to rock out in 2016!
To share with you all a little about who I am and why I am here I thought I would let you all in on a story, just a short little glimpse into my autobiography of magick - how I became a professional tarot reader. 
I hope that you all enjoy it and maybe come away with a little insight as to why I am the way I am when it comes to my love of the cards. 
Birthday Blessings,
December

Damon and I were discussing this the other day - about how the Pagan and Witchy communities could definitely take a leaf out of the Christian community book and hire pagans when they need a service done or product made. I remember distinctly how the Christian churches I belonged to either worked within itself - need your computer fixed? Hire the Deacon who also has an IT business! - or they hired businesses that had "Christian values." 

Some pagans might feel that it is the purpose of the pagan community to be different from the christian community, however, my point here is there is a reason to christian community is larger and has more influence in our society. While we aren't necessarily competing with this community, we should consider our own growth, strengthening, and development.

Supporting other pagans should be something we do to better ourselves and our community. 
What do I mean by taking our business to other pagans? 
I don't just mean occult shops, tarot readers, and other metaphysical businesses. 

Witchvox had an article years ago Why Pagan Shops Fail and How Some Succeed. In the article, Pennanti explains that many occult industry businesses are failing not because Pagans don't want to buy from Pagan's but because there aren't Pagan Businesses that are meeting the needs of the community. "There’s a level of entitlement in the pleas to buy Pagan – that they deserve it just because they’re Pagan. Stores aren’t charity, though, and I shouldn’t feel obligated to toss money at people selling stuff I don’t need. What do I need? What do Pagans need? I would love to see, say, a hardware store that was Pagan owned. A craft supply store. A garden store."

I suggest that when we need any business done, we should consider local and we should consider pagan. If you need catering for an event, ask the kitchen witch with the catering business. If you need website design, ask the druid that is also a computer and graphic design wiz. Want to hire a baby sitter or tutor for your kids, consider the young witch that helped out at the pagan community park clean up. 

Now, I'm not saying that you should lower the bar for a Pagan Business - if they aren't as good as the Jewish, Christian, or Atheist business around the corner, then, by all means, go where you will get the best service. All we're saying is to make community part of your consideration. 

We also are active on Facebook Pagan Business communities: 
Pagan Business Network_
Pagan Business Networking

I get this question, in various forms, quite often, especially when reading at events. 
Before I go on to giving my answer, let me please say there is no Right answer or One True answer to this question. Each tarot reader might have a different opinion and it really is all about you and what you are comfortable with. 

I know of at least one tarot reader who feels it is absolutely necessary for the clients to touch the deck. She feels that this connects the client's energy to the cards and that the next client that chooses that deck, they choose the whole package - energy, cards, message, and all. She might have a point as I've never had a client respond with distaste to my decks or their energy (at least those clients who want a reading - this isn't about those people who respond with distaste to my profession, that happens) even after they've been in the hands of clients all day at a fair. 

Varying Opinions
I have no issue with letting a client touch my cards. I've even had clients ask if they can go through my cards ot look at the images on a certain deck they are drawn to and let them. I don't feel it has a damaging effect and I usually cleanse my cards, thank them, and give them care between events anyways so I don't feel I'm bringing a jangle of energy home or from event to event to event. 

What About a Client with Bad Energy?
You can always choose who you want to read the cards for. I talk about this in my blog post on reading for people you don't resonate with. 
That being said, if you still would like to go on with reading for someone who's energy you don't feel comfortable with, by all means, shuffle, cut, and deal the cards yourself. Most clients won't know the difference. If they do ask why they aren't cutting the deck themselves, just say that you felt moved to do so or were intuitively guided. You don't have to make them feel uncomfortable by stating you don't like their energy. 

Cleansing Your Deck
If someone does touch your deck and you don't like it or feel the need to cleanse your cards, there are many ways you can do so - I discuss them here. 
If you are at an event or party, the easiest way is to shuffle the cards continuously with the intention of dispersing the energies on them. Otherwise, you can be as elaborate or as simple in the cleansing process as you like. This is also why I usually if not always have a cleansing stone like clear quartz or selenite near at hand for space clearing. 

However, I also know clients who guard their tools and tarot with great vindication. No one touches these cards but them and if they do, those cards then undergo a thorough cleansing and cycle of re-bonding with the reader. 
Still other clients have 2 decks - 1 they read for clients and allow or don't mind when they are touched and 1 for themselves that no one touches but them to keep the bond strong. 

As for how much each tarot reader allows others to touch the cards is also varying. Some only allow a client to cut the deck but do not allow any further handling. Others don't mind or even desire the client to thoroughly handle the cards. 
I used to ask my clients to shuffle the cards - I stopped doing that when 2/3rds of my clients turned out to be uncomfortable with it as they felt they weren't good at shuffling or had a hard time with 78 cards that were a lil bigger than a standard 52 card playing deck. I still have my clients, when in person, cut the deck because I think it draws them further into the experience and the connection between them, their question, the cards, and me can only benefit from it in my mind. 
Like I said before, when it comes to this question, it all depends on the reader and their personal beliefs. 

Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview! 
How long have you been reading tarot? What got you started?
I started reading tarot in 1996 when I was a newbie pagan. It was a period where I was trying out everything--tarot, herbs, crystals, totems, etc. My first deck was the Shapeshifter Tarot, because I liked the concept of being able to assume the forms of other animals, even if only in spirit, and the artwork was lovely. In 1999 I discovered Ted Andrews' Animal-Wise deck, and it was love at first sight. We worked out our own directional/elemental spread together, and it's been my main form of divination since, more from a totemic perspective than a strictly tarot-based one. 

Coming back to the tarot through the Tarot of Bones has been something of a homecoming for me. I'm older and more experienced, and I have a more nuanced and personal view of the cards and their symbolisms. Early on, I stuck mostly to the books; I was especially fond of P. Scott Hollander's "Tarot For Beginners". Now I'm reforming my own relationships with the tarot cards, and while I follow some of the common themes, there's a lot of personal interpretation. 

I love what you say on your website about your use of Bones, especially the part, I hope you don't mind if I quote, "Through bones we can speak with our evolutionary ancestors; through divination we create patterns that help us make sense of the world around us–and the worlds within." What started your wonderfully morbid hobby of collecting and creating art with bones?
I'm not sure I'd call it "morbid", though it certainly is wonderful! When I was a kid I was always bringing home little natural treasures--feathers, leaves, bones, etc. These were unfortunately lost when we moved from one place to another. However, in my late teens I found myself with a pickup truck and a small income, and so I was able to go to craft stores, antique shops and the like to pick up hide scraps, old fur coats, and so forth. In 1998 I began creating and selling artwork made from these remains, first small projects like pouches and necklaces, and then more elaborate costumes and other pieces. 

It's an intensely spiritual practice for me, always has been. I wanted these remains to have a better "afterlife" than being a trophy or status symbol, and I wanted to care for the spirits that were still within them, even if they were just haunts or impressions. So everything I create, even if it has a seemingly mundane purpose, is sacred. Everything gets a ritual purification with prayers once complete, and I make offerings through donations to nonprofit organizations that benefit wildlife and their habitats. These are our relatives, even if somewhat distant, and they deserve care and attention like our human ancestors.

They're also a constant reminder of the world beyond our human-centered habitats. We keep thinking in terms of "natural" and "artificial", when in actuality we are just human apes and everything we do is an extension of the big brains we evolved as a survival strategy. Yet we make decisions as though we are the only ones who matter. My hides and bones, especially my skull collection, help remind me otherwise; they're sort of a council that I consult. 

What other items besides bones are you drawn to as tarot and art mediums?
Honestly, I mostly stick to making art with animal remains and other natural and recycled materials. I have drawn on a wide set of skills in creating the Tarot of Bones assemblages--painting, sculpting, adhesives, design, etc. And I do use these skills in my more general artwork, but it's more along the lines of using acrylic paints to decorate a leather pouch or animal skull necklace, rather than creating an acrylic painting on a canvas as is more traditional. This is the first tarot deck I've designed, so I don't know what I'd use for a medium if I created another one, but I do have a few ideas on the back burner.

I use a lot of recycled and reclaimed materials. Every one of the backboards for the assemblages came from a thrift store as did many of the other materials, from paints to faux flowers. Even a lot of the hides I work with in my artwork are secondhand or salvaged. Most of the bones were bought new or found out in the great outdoors; a lot of that is because I was very particular about which ones I used, both with regards to species and condition. 

-so I've come up with some stock responses over the years, and I try to keep the conversation brief and civil since arguing is pretty pointless. It happens to everyone who makes hide and bone art, unfortunately, and too often the people who come in swinging aren't interested in hearing anything that doesn't toe their party line. So I try to keep the conflict to a minimum in situations where we aren't able to have a more constructive conversation.

My hide and bone art is part of how I am an environmentalist; it helps remind me and others that there is more than just the human-centered world we live in, and brings a more nature-centered energy to homes otherwise filled with drywall, furniture, computers and other human things. I reclaim a lot of materials in my art, and I make sure everything gets a use--even tiny scraps end up as pillow stuffing. I donate part of the money I make to environmental nonprofits, and because I have a flexible schedule I can do some volunteering locally, too. And a lot of the vegan alternatives to my materials are pretty bad for wildlife and their habitats; plastics are almost all made with petroleum, crystals and metals are often mined with very polluting methods, cotton and other plant fibers are grown in massive monocrops that destroy habitats and poison animals through pesticides and fertilizers. Never mind that everything you buy at, say, Michael's was made in China by underpaid, often abused labor, and was sent to the U.S. on ships that pollute the ocean with oil and other unpleasant things. I try to minimize my use of these supposedly "cruelty-free" materials, and buy them secondhand as often as I possibly can.

Without giving away your trade secrets of course, how do you purchase or find or gather your bones? 
I have a few different hide and bone dealers whose sources and methods I trust for legal and ethical reasons; Custom Cranium and Frozen Critters are two of the main ones, and for resin replicas I like Arctic Phoenix and Bone Clones. I used to have more access to wild land where I was able to collect bones on my own, but these days I have neither the resources nor the time. And since I share a small apartment with two other people and we have no yard, bone cleaning isn't really an option so I have to stick to pre-cleaned bones. But I'd rather be making art with them anyway, so it all works out--I get to support small businesses, and I have more time for what I really love doing. 

Why did you decide to create permanent pieces rather than ones that you could move around and change between photos for the tarot cards? I understand this decision raised the cost of creating the tarot deck for you?
First, I'm an assemblage artist, not a photographer, when it comes to the Tarot of Bones. So my primary art form involves putting the items together into a completed piece of artwork which will then be ritually purified and sent off to its new home. The photo is just what's necessary for translating that assemblage into an easily replicable format--tarot cards. And a lot of what I do to the materials in the process of putting together the assemblages permanently changes them, like painting them or adding a sculpting compound, so it wouldn't make sense to make them temporary anyway. 

with many of them appearing in more than one card's artwork, and saved a lot of money. But I had a grander, more elaborate vision than that, one that involved individual species and the symbolism of different bones in the vertebrate body. Since I needed to have a lot more bones for that purpose, why not just have bones for each unique assemblage?

Will you be selling any of the finished pieces? 
They will all be for sale once the Tarot of Bones is officially released, though I want to keep one or two for myself. I love having them around, but they take up a LOT of space; most of the free wall space in the apartment at this point is covered in them, and they need to do the equivalent of growing up, moving out and getting a job. Plus the money I've crowdfunded has all gone to materials, perks, and other costs. Selling the pieces will help me pay myself for the time and effort I put into designing the deck in the first place. I'm fully self-employed, after all, and every hour I put into the Tarot of Bones was an hour I wasn't able to put toward more immediate income to pay my rent and bills--but I had to have a place to live and food to eat all through the process anyway. So selling the pieces will help me get back my initial personal investment in the project.

You are currently ahead of schedule, if you stay that way can we expect edits to the current image releases or anything surprising before the release date?
Well, the pictures you see on the website right now are just quick snapshots saying "Hey, look what I made!" They're not the final photos for the card art. So after I have the assemblages done I'll be setting up a better photography studio in my home and taking the final pictures and then editing them with GIMP. I may go back and tweak a few of the assemblages before then, but the production schedule probably won't get moved up too much. The printing will take a while, and I want to hire a professional editor for the book and they'll need time, too.

Can you tell us a little about the companion book? Will it be a basic tarot cards defined or will it be just as unique as the cards themselves?
The Tarot of Bones companion book is not meant as holy writ or the final word on what each card means. But it'll give readers more of an idea of why I created each card as I did, why I chose specific animals, etc. It's a guide to the Tarot of Bones in specific, and while you can certainly use other books and your own interpretation when you use the deck, there's a lot of valuable information that may help you navigate the deck as its own individual entity. I won't be going into the basics of tarot; there are TONS of books that do that. But I will likely be including some unique spreads along with my card interpretations. 

Why did you choose crowdfunding for your tarot deck rather than the more traditional route of going through a major publisher?
Honestly? Creative control. I've published books with a couple different publishers, and while they've let me have a fair bit of control, this is a deeply and intensely personal project. It is the product of almost two decades of art and writing experience, and it draws together all of my skills into one Magnum Opus. I'm outsourcing very little with the Tarot of Bones; I hired Narumi of Lotus Lion, who has done several graphic design pieces for me, to create the back design for the cards, and again I'll have an editor for the book. But I'm doing everything else--the photography, layout, etc. 

Also, in doing a bit of research, it's harder to get a publisher for a photo deck; they tend to prefer other sorts of art. Since I wasn't willing to morph the photos of my assemblages into computer-generated designs, I just decided to do this on my own. It'll be my first major foray into self-publishing, so I'm drawing on my experience in the publishing industry to help me along. And I'll be getting some mentoring with some of the skills I'm less familiar with, like the photography.

Were there any surprises in the crowdfunding process?
Yes: the amount! The IndieGoGo campaign last spring met its initial goal in four days, and doubled the amount by the end of the six week campaign. I was incredibly surprised and honored that that many people wanted to back the Tarot of Bones. It just made me want to make even more sure that the final deck and book will be amazing. I also was wowed by the emotional support people gave throughout the project, all the cheering and high-fives I got. I mean, I have some of the best supporters and fans in the world, so the quality doesn't surprise me--but I was amazed by how many people came out to help! At this point I've pre-sold 250 deck and book sets just through that one campaign. And again--thank you to *everyone* who contributed.

What advice do you have for those out there thinking of creating their own tarot deck?
Do smaller projects first. This has been a HUGE investment of my time, skills and energy, to say nothing of money. If you've never undertaken a big art project or written a book before, I don't recommend this sort of thing as a starter project. Smaller projects will help you hone your skills to a finer degree so that you're more prepared physically and mentally when the time comes to get started on your tarot project.

Once you are ready, make sure you have a solid concept. You don't have to design all the cards at once; I went into most of these assemblages only sure of what card it was going to represent and what bones I was going to use. But those two factors--the bones and the meaning--were the common thread I had to work with throughout the entire project, and they helped to tie them all together. So make sure you, too, have at least one solid thread that binds your cards into one deck. 

Also, don't take my production schedule as something to measure yourself against. Remember I'm self-employed and I'm already in my studio almost every day. So I'm working on the assemblages and the book manuscript in between working on other projects throughout the day. I have the luxury of getting this put together relatively quickly because I've done this sort of thing before on a smaller scale, and I'm already immersed in a creative setting much of the time. 

Will there be a release party online or off that fans can attend? 
There will definitely be an in-person one in Portland, and likely some pieces in galleries after that as well. I'm not entirely sure how to pull off an online party, but I'm sure something can be arranged there, too. I want everyone to have the opportunity to celebrate with me, even if they can't be with me in person.

What amazing creative projects can we expect from you in the future? 
Wellll...a lot of them are currently secret projects under development. I don't like to announce things until I have a pretty solid plan, because I don't want to let people down. That and I am a VERY busy person, and unfortunately I just don't have the time to enact everything at once. So while I have several books bouncing around in my head, some other elaborate art projects on a similar scale, and some new avenues unrelated to anything I'm doing now, I need to maintain my focus on the Tarot of Bones until it's out and everyone's gotten their packages of goodies in the mail. 

That being said, I do have a new book coming out from Llewellyn in January, Nature Spirituality From the Ground Up: Connect With Totems in Your Ecosystem, which I'm really excited about as it talks about land-based, bioregional totemism in a lot of detail. You can always keep up on my progress with the Tarot of Bones and if you'd like to see what else I'm up to head on over to The Green Wolf.

​After last month's review of American Gods for the Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge, I thought I would continue with another work of Neil Gaiman, this time writing with the amazing and late Terry Pratchett (I say late, but I will admit that the term seems a little strange...what on earth is he late for?) ~ Good Omens. 
I must admit, I am particularly fond of my copy of Good Omens because across the top is a review snippet from another favorite author of mine - Clive Barker (who said of Good Omens, "The Apocalypse has never been funnier"). There is just something about seeing the names of three amazing authors on one cover, even if they did not write it all together. 

Its the end of the world as we know it...or that is what orders from Heaven and Hell are, anyways. Here on earth, things have their own ways of working out - that free will thing and the wonderful blunders and follies of humans tend to twist fate as it has always done. This time, however, the hindrance of the apocalypse is being helped along by our unlikely heroes - the demon Crowley and the angel Aziraphale. 

I must first say that I believe Crowley to be one of my most favorite characters in literature. 
The humor in this book in undeniable. I find myself laughing out loud frequently - and forcing those around me to listen as I read certain, particular funny excerpts. 

I sadly did not have the time to create every single one of the sixty projects in Witchy Crafts - I did do 6 of them from different sections to try and get a good idea of Lexa's instructional style and how workable each project was. The following 6 projects are the outcome, for good or bad, hah!

Witchy Crafts has something in it for every magickal crafter! There are crafts for beginners, crafts for experts, crafts for low budget, and crafts for when you want to go all-out on an altar piece or gift. Some of the crafts are huge and might take a week to make while others are tiny and could take less than an hour if you know what you're doing. There are crafts for every type of magickal practitioner as well, in my opinion. None of the crafts in this book have a definite religious brand on them and they can all be tweaked a little to suit your needs and style. 

I double and triple checked the book and couldn't figure out exactly what I did wrong. It migth have been the glue temperature, it might have been the type of incense cone I used, it might have been Mercury in retrograde or a void moon...who knows. If you attempt this particular project and it works for you, please let me know so I can see where we differed! 

I did, of course, have to add my own flair to the wand with replacing raffia/hemp with gold plated copper wire and doing a lil pyrographed sigil on the back. 

I tried this out in 2 different recipes to which I added my own ingredients:
Latte: Add a teaspoon or so of used coffee grounds (does cause some coffee residue in bathtub to clean out later) and a couple of drops of patchouli

Calm: Add 5-10 drops lavender essential oil and some lavender blossoms (last part might cause lavender residue in the bathtub to clean out later)

These recipes are very different from each other in that the coffee recipe can add a caffeinated kick to your bath  while the lavender calms you down and relaxes you. I can't take credit for the first recipe at all (coffee and patchouli smell divine together btw) as I first tried it from a sampler bar at the organic foods store Earth Fare in Tennessee years ago - been in love ever since.

There are 60 projects in this book and I intend to try my hand at all of them eventually. Some of these would make such great Yule gifts for my witchy friends! I currently have on my crafty to-do list the Pentacle Wreath and Coasters, Goddess Cornucopia, all of the tarot projects (of course), the ritual capelet and clasp, and the Altar Fan. Yea, its a long to-do list...

Besides not being able to figure out what the hell went wrong with my incense cone wand stand...I did have a couple of other issues with the book. 
When Lexa uses clay, such as in the Heirloom Chalice projects, she doesn't explain very clearly that baking the heirloom pieces like toys and buttons could cause them damage like melting and burning - big safety tip there. I know it should be common sense but I've seen enough craft projects in my time to know that people can get really into what they are doing and without gentle safety reminders they tend to forget that sort of thing. 
In the chapter Marvelous Mixtures: Recipes to Delight the storage notes are lacking. When dealing with oils, especially base oils like cocoa butter and almond oil, I always consider the fact these might go rancid without proper storage. I was disappointed to find no notes on storing the lotion bars, sugar scrub, or milk bath and as to how long they should be stored for before going bad and no longer can use. This is something readers would have to look up on their own, so the book is not an all-encompassing resource for these crafts. 

I really loved all the little extra chapters added to the beginning and end of the book that sort of hugs the projects together. 
The section on creating a craft group is wonderful for those witchy types that want to get together to celebrate and create. Its especially good for those of us who are solitary and hermits...ehem...to remind us to get out there and be around like-minded magickal people sometimes. 
The Witch Trials and Errors chapter near the back of the book that covers different difficulties you might run into when creating these craft projects is super helpful. She covers allergic reactions, the need to work with non-porous materials like glass, and keeping your craft tools away from your kitchen tools. 
I'm also a big fan of the charts in the Appendix. These are great and super simple references. I do, however, always recommend every practitioner create their own metaphysical correspondence charts at some point. 

While I really, really loved the projects and the whole concept of the book, I did have a couple of working issues with it. In the end I give Witchy Crafts 4 Stars

Lexa Olick has been crafting for over twenty years, creating artwork through knitting, crochet, felting, ceramics, sewing, and more. Her artwork has been featured in the online magazine Dark Romance, Dog Fancy magazine, and the Showtime series The L-Word. Lexa is also a talented writer who as received numerous awards for her screenplays. 
Visit her online at WitchyCraftsBlog.com

The Robin Wood deck is sadly not the first deck I've had problems with being broken. I've had decks given to me missing cards, I've bought decks used that are damaged, and I've had pets decide to do a little tarot reading of their own that has caused card damage. At first I was embarrassed to talk about the decks with other readers and I tucked them away in hopes of going back to them months later and they magickally develop that missing card or their tears and coffee stains be mended. 
I then realized that this was folly all its own and that the tarot can be used for so much more than just a traditional reading! This came to me when I was looking at a piece of furniture and wanting to do something to it to make it look spooky-magickal...like add tarot!

If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It
Make sure that the deck is broken. If it is missing a card, set the deck aside for a week or so and set your manifestation into gear to find the missing card. This has worked for me a number of times and usually the card shows up in the most random place. 
If the deck is damaged, do a thorough assessment and decide if its unusable in the traditional sense. Is it just one card? Would you still be comfortable reading for someone else with this deck, even if it isn't professionally? Are you still able to read for yourself? Maybe this deck just needs to be handled with care and set aside for personal use only. 
Don't dismantle or give up on your deck when it isn't too late. 

As I developed this concept of non-traditional card use, I looked online and realized there are many, many readers who have broken decks ( I am not alone! gasp!) and are looking for something to do with them! I began compiling ideas and here is the fruit of my labor:

Create a Major Arcana Deck
If the lost or damaged cards are part of the Minor Arcana only, the Major Arcana cards can still be used in readings. Some types of readings and spreads, especially ones focusing on the spiritual aspects of life, use only the trump cards. 

Oracle Deck
I know of some readers who continue to read their broken decks but as more of an oracle deck. They take out the damaged cards (or leave out the missing cards) and also take out any cards they don't resonate with or want in the deck. They then use the remaining cards as oracle cards, each representing a different intuitive message for them. 

Playing Cards
If you lose a Major Arcana card you can still use the pips and some of the court cards in a unique playing card deck. Playing decks have 52 cards consisting of 4 Aces, the pip cards 2-10 in each suit, and the Kings, Queens, and either the Knights or the Pages  as the playing card Jacks. 
Imagine playing poker with this deck!

Spell Cards
Use what cards are not missing or damaged for spells, manifestation, rituals, or meditations and pathworking. 

• If you still have the 4 aces and like to use them to call the Quarters in ritual work, consider framing them or putting them in your magickal tool chest for that purpose in the future. 
  
• Set aside the Emperor and the Empress or the Sun and the Moon to represent the Goddess and the God on the altar. 
  
• Add the 4 of swords or the Moon to a dream pillow or satchet for rest or psychic dreams. 
  
• Tape the Lovers card over the glass candle holder for the focus of a relationship aid spell. 
  

There are endless possibilities. 

Magickal Artwork & Decor
One of my favorite ways of using a broken deck is in art. 
The biggest piece of my tarot art is my tarot table. It started out as a cube steamer trunk to which I collaged the cards from my broken Jane Austen tarot deck. This is now an altar in my home and at events on which I do my tarot readings for clients and myself. There is a lot of tarot energy and my own personal mojo in this table and I love it. 

Use The Remainder in Business
If you're a professional tarot reader and one of your decks is broken, you can always re-purpose the cards to use in your business.

• Turn the remainders in to special business cards for top rate clients. 
  
• Paste them on your sign advertising your readings.
  
• Turn them into price tags for any other items you sell like tarot bags or boxes. 
  

So the next time you're going through your deck and find you only have 77 cards or your cat has gotten a hold of the High Priestess, again, don't despair right away! Those cards are still full of purpose and spiritual juice to be used in your magickal life!
Tarot Blessings,
December

I recently wrote a blog post where I tested a tarot spread my friend sent me. I also started a new series, Tea&Tarot where I review a tea I'm drinking and show a tarot spread that I use or have tried out. This has caused a couple of people to ask me about trying out new spreads, how I choose a new spread, and what is my method. 

In the case of Down the Rabbit Hole Spread, I was asked to test that spread by a dear friend of mine. I love sharing my love of tarot with others and find that sharing and testing spreads created by others is a great way to do that. If you have a spread that you've created that you would like to see if it is readable and beneficial to others than just yourself, please feel free to Contact me and we will see if it is a spread I'd be interested in trying. 

When it comes to choosing spreads from various resources, as I do with my Tea&Tarot posts, then I try and use spreads the correspond with my editorial calendar's theme for the blog. For example, in September, we focused on education and harvest so our tarot spread was one that expanded on a traditional tarot spread and was one I had learned a great deal from and wanted to share as an educational resource. In October, our focus is on Ancestor Work, Witchcraft and Halloween so our tarot spread is one that focuses on Samhain and the Ancestors. 

In other cases, I try out tarot spreads that associate with my situation at hand. When I was healing from my miscarriage and had questions about my own womanhood and fertility, I chose tarot spreads that uncovered emotional turmoil, discussed other forms of fertility and nurturing, and revealed aspects of shadow work that I needed to practice. I found tarot spreads for this online and in tarot books, keeping an open mind to different ways the tarot could help me in my time of need. 

When testing out a new tarot spread I usually stick with 2 options. 

1. If the tarot spread I want to test is in a companion book to a specific tarot deck, then I will use the companion tarot deck. The spreads with companion decks are usually created with those cards in mind. While many, I have found, work with any deck, the working and language usually corresponds with the images in the companion deck itself rather than a similar tarot deck. 
   
2. If the tarot spread is not connected to a specific deck or is one that a friend asks me to test, then I will use the Rider-Waite deck. The Rider-Waite is my go-to deck for new spreads, tarot practices, and teaching because the symbols in it are vivid, obvious, and familiar to me. I have no issues with reading the individual cards or deciphering their meaning. When testing out a new deck, just like testing out anything, you want to keep the other variables of your reading as low as possible. By using the Rider-Waite, I am not experimenting with the variables of a deck that I haven't acquainted myself with fully yet, so my focus can be on the spread and not the cards. 

This can be a tricky question when it comes to a person's creative property. ALWAYS ask the person who created the spread about their licenses, copyrights, and if they are ok with you using their layouts in readings that you make money from. Always give credit to the creator of that spread. 
I tend to stick to spreads I've created or some very basic spreads such as the Past, Present, Future; Body, Mind, Spirit; or Celtic Cross spread when reading for others. This prevents copyright hassle and allows me to give consistent readings to return clients. 
That being said, I won't say never and there may come a time in the future that I work something out with a spread creator and offer readings with that lay out to my customers. 

I have had this book for a number of years. It is one of my most read and well loved books on the shelf (please forgive its battered state, its been through a lot). It first came into my life when I was in high school and my small group of friends that were also witches were discussing the book. One of us bought it (Lady Aconita! Do you remember who actually owned it?) and we were passing around notes from it during class (a sort of alternative form of education I suppose). When there was a falling out within that group, I knew I would have to get my own copy eventually...that eventually came nearly a decade later. 
When I decided to write a review of this book, I looked at other reviews and mentions online to see if this writing would still be relevant today. Obviously I decided that it was because witches older and younger than myself are still grabbing it off the shelves! That being said, the reviews of the book are on a wide scale with some loving it (like myself) and some outright hating it. One only needs to look at the Amazon reviews to see the spread of opinions. 
While I do not want to linger on the discord of some of the bad reviews, I did want to acknowledge that many that I read seemed to be written by people making assumptions about the book rather than reading it for themselves. These assumptions are often based on RavenWolf's controversial books for teens, which have been disregarded as "fluffy" and, in some cases, inappropriate for the age range they are published for. This is, of course, another topic all together but I did want to say I love Silver RavenWolf's writing, she is one of the reasons I studied witchcraft as a teenager, and many of the people that consider her work to be "fluff" ...well I can't really see it and don't think they've actually read much of her work. (Another note: her works of teen fiction are meant to be taken as that - fiction, not how-to manuals). 
-deep breath- 
Now that we have that covered, let's move on and get into The Ultimate BOS, shall we?

The book is mapped out in 5 sections (not counting the index and what-nots in the back). Each section takes us deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole from the very basics of witchy history (including the why-fors and how-tos) and on to a grimoire of practices and principles. Each section is also marked by little black tabs on the side so that you can go to any particular part of the book upon opening, rather than consulting the main table of contents in the front. 
Each section has its own table of contents. I found this incredibly helpful rather than a 4 page table of contents at the very front to have to keep referring back to. The book actually reads more like an encyclopedia. The organization and effort that went into it...well, I cannot imagine and I wish my own book of shadows was this well put-together (confession: its actually a box of pages at this point waiting on me to reorganize and put it back into book-form). 

In this section, Silver covers some basic history and principles of witchcraft. 
I wanted to note that this section is heavily influenced by Silver's own religious beliefs rather than an over-all view of witchcraft from different cultures. Most of the principles and sections here deal with Wiccan belief systems such as the Charge of the Goddess, sabbats, the Wiccan Rede, and the Witch's Pyramid. That being said, most of this information is good to know for any witch seeking a magickal education, even if they don't practice this in their own lives. 
I am a particular fan of the sections on circle-casting (as it answers the question of why we cast a circle in the first place), rites of passage, and ritual from preparation to structure. Yes, this is all basic, 101 sort of stuff but I think even well-versed witches would do themselves some good to review these beginner principles now and then and remind themselves of where we come from and why we do what we do. 

This is the smallest section of the book and, I must admit, the one I use the least. Here is where the basic tools are described and the reader is given some basic knowledge of how to use them. I think it is the briefest section because one could write whole books on each category (and have). If you find yourself here, wanting to learn more about the 4 main ritual tools, candle-making for magick, the creation of poppets, and more then I would recommend finding a book that focuses soley on those matters rather than a book like this that only has space for a brief overview to give you the basic idea of why they are important. 
Books I recommend include:

Once we get into the last three sections of the book, the table of contents at the beginning of each section become more and more necessary. These sections are much larger and detailed than the last two. It is also helpful that the sections are laid out alphabetically so if you are studying herbalism and astrological connections, this section is where you need to go and you can easily flip between Astrology and Herbs either by checking with the table of contents or focusing on A and H. 

 I think this section also shows that, though Silver is an old-hand at most aspects of witchcraft, she is particularly fond of certain aspects - Astrology, history, and spell work. 
The only part about this section that I found to be an issue (a very minor one) is I don't really understand the inclusion of Affirmations here nor would I have organized the section in the ways she has with Hoodoo and Pow-wow as merely mentioned as segments of spellwork and not given more of a place in the first part of the book as a cultural and magickal lifestyle and practice. I am sure she had her reasons but I can't place them in my own head. I also give a lot of thought to wondering if she or the editors placed things in the book as they are now. 

Here is a favorite section of more than a few of my friends. Silver begins to guide us to dip our toes into the work of Hermes Trismegistus, Alchemy, and correspondences. I admit, I don't use this section much as I prefer to refer to my own tables of correspondences and associations rather than using those supplied by others. I will say that I recommend this section highly to those just getting into associative magick and into creating their own talismans and amulets. The correspondence charts and segments here pair very well with the last section with working on spells, using tools, etc. 

Here is what I consider to be Silver's forte - using magick in everyday life. Here you will find spells, advice, and magickal mindsets for problems spanning minor life struggles of acne and homesickness to major difficulties of imprisonment, finding a job, and eating disorders. 
I think this is the section that we can see Silver as a leader in her community and as a mom as she takes so much into consideration and, I believe, that much of this section probably came from real issues that either she, her daughter, or those in her life have had to deal with. As someone who loves to help others add magick into their lives every day, there is a lot of love from me to Silver for putting this section in The Ultimate Book of Shadows (and for including similar sections in most of her non-fiction books). 

I do wish this book came in hard back. This paperback book tends to get a little battered and the spine on mine is already warped from continual use. Also, my back cover is torn from the simple act of moving it around my office space. I get that the addition of a hard cover would make the book heavier but its already a size that I would not consider lugging around to the cafe or study group with me unless necessary so I would not be opposed to a little more weight. This is, of course, more of a publishers issue than it is a book or author issue (are you reading this Llewellyn?!?). 

This book is also great to take into consideration when creating your own book of shadows. Use the sections and tables of contents when figuring out what sections you would like to include in your own book or in a book you might be creating for a coven, a beginner witch under your mentorship, or your child if you plan to raise them in the path. 

As I am sure you have guessed by my continuous mentions of how much I like this book, I am rating it 5 stars. It is a book that will be on my shelves for perusal and reference for many years and I don't foresee there being a time I don't recommend it to those starting out in the craft.