The Pink Floyd Tarot

Who needs cards when the music paints such vivid imagery?
(click on the Tarot name to read the lyrics)

Fool - Fearless (Meddle)
Magician - Bike (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
High Priestess - Remember a Day (A Saucerful of Secrets)
Empress - Mother (The Wall)
Emperor - Welcome to the Machine (Wish You Were Here)
Hierophant - Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. II (The Wall)
Lovers - If (Atom Heart Mother)
Chariot - Have a Cigar (Wish You Were Here)
Strength - Young Lust (The Wall)
Hermit - Time (Dark Side of the Moon)
Wheel - Us and Them (Dark Side of the Moon)
Justice - Childhood's End (Obscured By Clouds)
Hanged Man - Comfortably Numb (The Wall)
Death - The Nile Song (Relics)
Temperance - Breathe (Dark Side of the Moon)
Devil - Money (Dark Side of the Moon)
Tower - Burning Bridges (Obscured By Clouds)
Star - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Wish you Were Here)
Moon - Brain Damage (Dark Side of the Moon)
Sun - Fat Old Sun (Atom Heart Mother)
Judgment - Wish You Were Here (Wish You Were Here)
World - Eclipse (Dark Side of the Moon)

Thunder Moon

Here's a cool page about the Full Moon at Wikipedia. I've always referred to July's Full Moon as the Thunder Moon rather that the Buck or Hay Moon that other references usually seem to list first.

There are thunder storms predicted for tonight and scattered tomorrow, but it doesn't look like it's going to kick the heat and humidity out of the valley just yet. Ick!

Oh and Google Maps has now expanded to the Moon. Be sure to check out the zoom feature for a really great close-up.

Quick!

found on Diane's blog...

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Closet book is 'The Essence of Magic' by Mary Greer. Page 123 is the the last page of a chapter...just a couple sentences and then the rest of the page is blank. Next closest book is 'The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book' by Dr. Roy Swank. Page 123 is mostly an example chart to record what you eat each day with only a couple of lines of text at the end of the page.

But just like they say...the third time's a charm!

'The Slow Cooker (Ready and Waiting) Cookbook' by Rick Rodgers

Sweet and Sour Beef Brisket shows how beautifully brisket braises, but choose the thinner, leaner first cuts. Well triimmed pork picnic roast makes an admirable pot roast, as Joy's Mexican Pot Roast illustrates, but be sure to skim the cooking liquid well. Boneless pork roast loin is a fine choice, but note that the cooking time is five to six hours, less than is allowed for most of the other pot roasts.

Remembering the Alamo

A fabulous witch who's an old friend from a cozy e-mail list we both are part of recently mentioned her close proximity to the Alamo. This prompted some dusting off of the old travelogues from thirtysomething years ago. I was 11 and some of my memory has faded over the years, but Alamo still ranks among the most memorable historical places I've been to. Those old-time Western matinee movie images had imprinted upon my impressionable Midwestern mind a certain expectation that was simultaneously shattered and exceeded the moment I saw this place with my very own eyes.

Perhaps I was a bit jaded, having just toured the Astrodome a few days before (keep in mind that I was 11 and it was the mid-'70's) but the Alamo seemed kind of...small. Everything was supposed to be bigger in Texas - so where was the imposing fortress rising up along the wide expanse of horizon that rolls like a tumbleweed off into the sunset? There it was, looking rather innocuous, tucked snugly in the midst of the city! Our hotel was mere steps away. I was so suprised that there was not a larger 'zone of austerity' around this building. Something along the lines of the wide open elbow room around the old mission outside of town that we visited later that day. But then I walked through the building and the distractions of a modern time diminished as I dared to imagine the soul that permeates those walls. Passionate faith and sacrificial blood that so often play a part in the human quest for freedom are among the many things I've yet to experience with comparable intensity, but I do try my best to understand.

Historical sites have always seemed surreal to me. To think about what a place represents, what the people who created the history there might have been like in their every day life, and what motivated them to do this thing that sparked change in our world. Did these people have any idea the venues which hosted a few pivotal snapshots of their lives would become a place people would travel great distances to see on their Summer vacations? Would the tough grizzled men who fought at the Alamo have a chuckle at the thought of a silly little girl from a place called Indiana walking through the door more than a century later daring to claim even the slightest inkling as to what made them tick? Would they be pissed or relieved (is that redundant?) that the locals would pass right by day after day buffering any conscious reverence of a larger than life past with the minutiae of their present?

Or is it all just another adventure in the Wayback Machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman?

Go with the Flow

Pondering the existence of my blog and sorting through the varied topics I could install as fixtures - I decided to occasionally post randomly drawn cards from my deck and mention a bit about the person who inspired each of the cards.

A couple entries back, I mentioned the artwork of Lorena Moore and on last month's Full Moon I posted the Moon card, but didn't take an opportunity to wax effusive with praise to my good friend, Julie Cuccia-Watts. Last Summer I drove up to Wisconsin to visit Julie and her family and go to a showing of her Maat Tarot paintings at the gallery in the Watertown Market and the experience of seeing all that lush, soulful Tarot displayed in one room was nothing short of incredible. If you've never browsed around Julie's website, you really should check it out sometime. She's recently added a link to great (and free!) online readings using her Blue Moon deck.

Since this entry has been to catch up the concept and only links back to images - I'll post one of a handful of extra cards that ended up as a result of making my deck.



(click on image for larger view)
This Alchemy card is an image I've associated with the Temperance card since I moved to Cincinnati 14 years ago (hmmm...numerological coincidence?) and I think most Tarotists would agree that the Tyler Davidson Fountain is a great player for the part.

Practicing with explosives

No...no need to call Homeland Security on me here. I'm just talking about 4th of July fireworks. Here's a cool site to play with - click around and light up the sky!