A week with the Vampire Tarot, Robert Place

[Rachelcat]

I’ve had this for quite a while, but I never got up the courage to do a deck of the week with it at Halloween. So here we are! I’ve studied the book in the past, enough to understand the attributions to the cards, if I can remember them!

The art is wonderful and the attributions are scholarly. They track mostly with Dracula, but include other early vampire fiction, and the courts are a mix of authors and characters. The suits are stakes, holy water, knives, and garlic flowers. (I hate discussion of card stock, BUT! The cards are huge, shiny-sticky, and pointy-cornered. Which may be some of the deterrents of me using it . . . ) Wash and shuffle, then an interview with a vampire (deck)!

Most important characteristic: III Holy Water
The deck is a manifestation of emotions. Jonathan is comforting Mina as she feels she is doomed to become a vampire. They are both expressing their feelings.

Strength: XIV. Temperance
These female vampires are showing admirable restraint by (trying to?) subsist on animal blood in a way that doesn’t permanently harm the animal. You know, instead of attacking, draining, and disposing of humans. The deck demonstrates Temperance by being an admirable mix of horror, art, and erudition.

Weakness: Knight of Holy Water, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
He the Irish author of a pre-Dracula vampire tale, Carmilla, about a female vampire who is erotic, hails from Eastern Europe, and must return to her coffin, all aspects that Stoker continued with Dracula. The deck focuses on the romantic (and sexual) aspects of vampires and tarot, to the detriment of other themes.

What can I learn from you? XX. Judgement
The deck can help me rise up to a higher level. In my readings? Or in my understanding? Here a new? vampire rises from his grave to an undead existence. A trumpet hangs from a nearby tree. Did his vampire nature call him to arise, or was it a trumpet blast?

How can I learn it? Knave of Garlic Flowers, Lord Ruthven
This is the main character in what is perhaps the first vampire story in English, The Vampyre by John Polidori, a friend of Byron. The character is very Byronic, immoral and predatory but irresistible to the members of both sexes that he pursues without pity. This works for earth of earth--it’s all very sexy and physical. So I can learn from this deck by being practical but open to its attractions.

Outcome of our work together: VII. The Wagon
This is the wagon that carries Dracula’s coffin everywhere so he can rest and rejuvenate when necessary. It’s kind of like taking your bed with you wherever you go, even to hotels that have their own beds! As a result of working with this deck, I will be able to move on or carry on with comfort, with what I need to continue my tarot journey. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Looking forward to it!

Have a happy Sunday everyone!

[Rachelcat]

Monday
Should I try to find someone to take over my tarot society duties?
Four Noble Truths

Issue: Knave of Knives, the Night-Mare of Life-in-Death
Charming. Looking in the book, I find this is the character in Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner who causes him to never die but instead to keep repeating his sad story to whoever he sees through eternity. She’s the manifestation / personification of an idea, the idea of cursed eternity. As my issue, I’m only thinking about it because I’m overwhelmed by other things, not these duties. But maybe that still means I need to let the small duties go so I can concentrate on the larger ones.

Cause: X. Fate
Everything changes sometime, nothing lasts forever. I just wonder if now is the time to force the change.

Outcome: VIII Stakes
All I have to do is bring it up, and it will happen quickly? If I make a plan, it will happen.

Advice: Ace of Stakes
Just do it!

Well, that advice seems pretty straightforward. I’ll see if I follow up as advised!

Have a happy Monday!

[Rachelcat]

Tuesday
Robert Place Bridge Spread
Something I need to know

Me: VIII Knives, XV. The Devil, Knight of Holy Water, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
My thoughts, and concentrating on bad things, are what is keeping me chained up. I need to be more Knight of Cups, follow my feelings to where they lead me.

Thing I need to know: XII. The Madman, X. Fate, VI Knives
I need to know that whether things are stuck or are moving in my life, I can move on to more clear thinking. And it’s kind of warning, too, I think. I shouldn’t complain that I feel stuck and chained up because things are about to move on, not necessarily where I want them to go!

Bridge: IV Knives, IX Knives, II Garlic Flowers
All knives all the time! Well almost. The knives are bridged with knives anyway. Note how the majors and courts turn the attention to the knives in the middle, too. I can choose to close off my mind or open it to frightening things. But the important thing is to open it to reality. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less. Sometimes I’m chained, sometimes I’m free. Even though Fate has made an appearance, I think the bridge is saying it’s up to me how I deal with my own mind and thoughts.

Well, that’s what happens when you don’t have a question for an unfamiliar spread . . . But I think it’s making sense to me in a way I can’t really explain. Something I’ll have to work on with my reading skills!

Have a happy Tuesday!

[Rachelcat]

Wednesday
We finally got the start date for tutoring. I’ll be starting this coming Monday. How will my first day go?
Elemental star

Physically: V Garlic Flowers
Not good at all! I will feel physically left out. Maybe locked out of the building? I’m afraid of car trouble or driving problems. I’m not used to driving across the city . . .

Emotionally: V. Van Helsing
I’ll feel the way I’m supposed to feel? I’ll be emotionally in tune with the organization and arrangements.

Intellectually: I. The Magician
I will be able to be creative and effective in figuring things out and helping organization.

Energetically: Queen of Garlic Flowers, Florence Stoker
I’m not sure why I’m reading it this way, but I will be pigeonholed/stereotyped because I’ll be an old white woman in a younger people’s world. I mean I don’t mind being seen as motherly, even though I don’t feel like that. Maybe it will be helpful for others to see me that way. My co-workers always say they trust me to be calm under pressure. They see me that way because I’m a Taurus rising. I’m really not that calm person they see, but if it helps them, then fine.

Spiritually: XVI. The Tower
Ok, this is plain bad. I’ve gotten some terrible readings on all of this. I keep trying to see them as challenges or worries to overcome, but now . . . ?

I see more readings on this in my future! In the meantime, have a happy day!

[Rachelcat]

Thursday
Halloween Oracle match-up again!

Hmmph! I think the first two oracle cards are the same as last time. I guess I need to listen to them.

Ghost, Regret: VI. Strength
My regret is that I couldn’t have been stronger when it affected my son. That will haunt me, but I think I’ll finally get over it. But not forget the lesson. Lucy chose to live in the woods instead of haunting her friends. She tried to protect them, but she wasn’t able to overcome the desire for blood.

The Witch, The earthly weaver of worlds: XIX. The Sun
A witch has a power a vampire doesn’t have: she can live in the sun and the dark. She can choose to use her magic for good. A vampire is more stuck with his evil origins and nature. So I think this is just saying my superpower is staying on the sunny side, knowing what’s right and doing it the best I can.

Eternal Love, Love is love is love and it transcends physical death: Knight of Holy Water
Ugh! Love stronger than death just sounds awful to me. Is there no escape? I’ve really been poisoned about relationships, I guess! But then there’s my romantic side. But maybe that was why I was trapped. But I’m all for love for others. I can get behind love is love! If it’s truly love and truly good for everyone involved.

I guess Halloween is a time for shadow work after all. Someday I won’t have to go over all this stuff anymore. In the meantime, have a great Thursday!

[Rachelcat]

Friday
Today was bill paying day, and I made a few charitable contributions. Am I overdoing it? Or not giving enough? Or am I just right? Call me Goldilocks!

What if I give more? Ace of Stakes
Just do it! Money is the lifeblood for those who have too little. No need to stint on it if I can afford it.

What if I give less? VII Holy Water
I’ll take what’s behind door number 1! It’s my money and my choice. But if I choose to give less, will that leave an empty door or a monster of hunger or need for someone else?

What if I keep my giving level at about where it is now? XII. The Madman
I shouldn’t slavishly follow my current example. It would be mad to be bound to what I’m doing now if my situation, or the world situation, changes.

Wow, not what I was expecting, but I think it’s pretty clear! Have a very happy Friday, all!

[Rachelcat]

Saturday on Sunday
Last day for Vampire Tarot
Witches of Oz Spread

Wicked Witch of the East: A negative in my life that I've already overcome
VIII Knives
I hope I’ve overcome overthinking and being tied up in my own thoughts! I’ve been back on the atheism sites again, and I was thinking about Pascal’s wager. It says that you won’t lose anything if you believe in God (Christianity) just in case there is a life after death. But I would lose so much. My worth and freedom as a human being, my empathy and morality, my trust in reality and rationality. These are what I’m determined not to lose, and blind faith in detrimental things is what I’ve already overcome.

Wicked Witch of the West: A challenge I’m dealing with currently
IX Garlic Flowers
I’m dealing with the challenge of how to accept my material abundance. How do I deal with having so much when so many have so little?

Glinda the Good Witch of the North: Something or someone helping me with that challenge
I. The Magician
I can deal with it by doing something about it. Figuring out the best way to do it and then do it. Which is the opposite of VIII Knives, which is about thinking but not doing.

Good Witch of the South: Something good coming to me that I don’t know about yet!
V Holy Water
Not sure what author has in mind here, but I’m going to say the vampire is telling her own story. The story may be sad, but it is good that she is illuminating her situation and her truth. I will be able to communicate my story and maybe help someone through that.

You as you receive all these influences
VI Holy Water
I can use my material resources and my experiences to help others who have had similar experiences, to protect and encourage them. It makes a difference just to know that someone cares.

Wow, a powerful reading (with an unconventional 5 of Cups). I enjoyed the Vampires this time around for sure. See you soon with this week’s deck.