It is a bit of a review of what she has done, stories about her life and a little advice. It was easy to read and I read it quite quickly. I am no longer a speedy reader, I find it difficult to concentrate for long and I struggle to physically hold a paper book open due to disability. I quite easily read 30-40 pages without even thinking about it. It wasn't heavy reading. The book sort of continues the TV show. There were tears when subjects reminded me of my mum but also prompted me to remember good memories of my mum. There wasn't really much useful in the ways I can enhance my abilities as a tarot reading psychic. I just need your name and when I am in a relaxed state think about you. I get my visions that way. I was once asked to read a lady for a job, reading the tarot on the phones, and saw that she had bought a younger dog to keep her older dog company and to try to make him feel young again. The older dog was a German shepherd dog and had had issues with his back and hips and was arthritic. I told the lady this, and she was pleased that i had received such information as no one else had. I was happy to pass on the information.
I have had this book in my TBR pile for a long time, years in fact. I have been watching the TV show modeled on her life for a while again and decided to read the book.
It is a bit of a review of what she has done, stories about her life and a little advice. It was easy to read and I read it quite quickly. I am no longer a speedy reader, I find it difficult to concentrate for long and I struggle to physically hold a paper book open due to disability. I quite easily read 30-40 pages without even thinking about it. It wasn't heavy reading. The book sort of continues the TV show. There were tears when subjects reminded me of my mum but also prompted me to remember good memories of my mum. There wasn't really much useful in the ways I can enhance my abilities as a tarot reading psychic. I just need your name and when I am in a relaxed state think about you. I get my visions that way. I was once asked to read a lady for a job, reading the tarot on the phones, and saw that she had bought a younger dog to keep her older dog company and to try to make him feel young again. The older dog was a German shepherd dog and had had issues with his back and hips and was arthritic. I told the lady this, and she was pleased that i had received such information as no one else had. I was happy to pass on the information.
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The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic WorldThis is an odd book, more focusing on the psychic world and giving explanations of the different aspects. It has a lot of information but is useful to just dip into and find whatever takes your fancy that day rather than try to read cover to cover. I found this is a charity shop but you can pick this up online. The Element Encyclopedia of Magical CreaturesAnother compendium of magical creatures. I have looked up the different animals of the Druid Animal Oracle in this book and added the descriptions to my research. This has a lot of other magical creatures, not necessarily real animals but if you're thinking of writing a fantasy book, both of these books would be valuable to research from.
The Celtic Wisdom of the Trees, Mysteries, Magic and Medicine by Jane GiffordThis is one of the first books I bought about trees and the Celtic tree alphabet. It was first attracted me to learn about tree oghams. I would really like a set of staves made from each of the woods of the trees and with a pyrographed ogham symbol carved into the staves. You read the ogham staves, similarly to reading runes. The ogham associated with each tree is on the name banner of the Green Man Tree Oracle deck. This book has a lot of photographs, as well as information and is a perfect accompaniment to the book that comes with the oracle deck. Unfortunately, I don't think this book is available now but it can be bought second hand but it is expensive now. The Country Diary of and Edwardian Lady by Edith HoldenI have had this book for ages, although I haven't actually read it yet. It has beautiful water colour paintings and a lovely diary of what nature and things to look for each month, from birds and animals, plants and trees, folklore and fact. It looks like it has been handwritten rather than typed and printed. Altogether a lovely book that I will actually read very soon. I picked this one up in a charity shop. What interesting books have you found?
![]() I have a tried, several times, to record a video for this but I just can't get the hang of it so i will write it here instead. I will try to do a video again soon. So the symbolism in this card include the holly in the bottom right hand corner, reed in the bottom left corner, snow, the stone circle with the sunrise and the fox is standing on a frozen pond. Fox is associated with cunning, diplomacy and wildness. The Gaelic name for fox is Sionnach and the old English word for fox is Tod. Beatrix Potter wrote the Tale of Mr Tod and he has featured in other books and stories. In Scotland, there is a folk saying "when the feast of Brighid (Imbolc) is past, the fox won't trust his tail to the ice". You can take that as meaning the ice is not strong enough to stand on and you should not walk on frozen ponds. Certainly, in recent years it has been unseasonably warm in late spring. This year it was warm enough to not need a coat. There was a Celtic cheiftain of Gaul called 'Son of Fox' or Louernius. This name has also been found on some 3rd century AD pewter tableware in Berkshire and in a 4th century AD shrine in the Cotswolds.
In the Old Testament, fox is seen as a symbolic of cunning and duplicity. Herod was described as 'the cunning fox'. Christian traditions associate the fox with the devil. This is in the 2nd century Alexandrian text 'Physiologus', which describes how the fox buries itself in the earth, pretending to be dead. When the scavengers and ravens approach, he leaps up to catch them and eat them. The association with the devil can possibly be attributed to the familiars legends.
In England, fox is admired for his cleverness and courage, but disliked for his raids on poultry farms. In Wales, it is considered lucky to see a single fox but the opposite to see several. Certainly in the case of a fox at a poultry farm, it is easier to manage one fox, rather than several of them. Foxes don't go in to a poultry farm and kill all the chickens for the hell of it. They will kill a chicken to eat, but also kill a few more to take away and eat later. As late as the 1890's, there was a story in Kirtlington in Oxfordshire of a woman who could turn herself into a fox. A beautiful fox who was often seen near her house. The fox was hunted frequently but never caught. On one occasion, the hounds nearly caught the fox but he ran into the woman's house. Minutes later, the huntsmen went into the house but found no fox, just the woman sitting by her fire. In Lincolnshire, a belief recorded in 'Folklore concerning Lincolnshire' in 1908,is that if anyone is bitten by a fox, they are marked for death within 7 years. Families in Ireland were said to be descended from foxes and these families were warned of coming death by the appearance of many foxes around the home. There was an old method of removing a stubborn thorn was to tie a piece of fox tongue to the wound before going to bed. In the morning, the thorn would be drawn out and easily removed. I don't see how that would work or how hygienic it was. It sounds kind of gross to me. There was also a supposed cure for whooping cough associated with fox. You were meant to put out a bowl of milk where a fox could drink from it, then the sufferer would rink what was left. This also sounds gross. Foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, slugs and snails and all sorts of night time creepy crawlies would have been in that bowl!. In many parts of England, it was believed that foxes knew how to get rid of their own fleas. They would take a piece of sheep wool in their mouth, then wade into a pond or stream until just their noses and the wool protruded. The fleas, in their bid to stay dry were meant to get onto the wool. The fox would then drop the wool and leave the water. In Victorian heraldry, fox was said to be full of wiles and subtleties. It repesented those who have done signal service for their prince and country in embassies, where there is more use for wit and dexterity rather than strength or valour. Everything I have read today, concerning the myths and legends about the fox points to their being cunning and clever, sly and manipulative. If you draw this card in a reading, it is drawing your attention to the time period of January as well as someone who may not have your best interests at heart. They may be manipulating you, but letting you believe the things you are doing are your idea, not theirs. It can mean that you need to use your brain, to remain silent and to keep your own counsel. You will know when to say what you need at the right time. while being diplomatic, to get your point across. Many years ago, I started a course of higher education at Reaseheath College. I was doing a HNC in Countryside Management. I was already a witch, learning about paganism and this helped to a degree, although I wasn't doing it for that. I actually wanted to be a countryside ranger, working in the field. Anyway, as part of the course, we had to do module on animal, tree and plant identification. For the exam, we had to identify trees and mini beasts, (not my favourite things as I hate spiders but thankfully there were none of those), and the assignment was to press and identify, describe 30 plants and flowers. As part of this assignment, I also included some of the myths and legends, medicinal uses and magical properties of the plants. A few years later, I was volunteering with the ranger service and was asked to lead a walk. This involved a recce walk and about a weeks worth of research. The walk was about the myths and legends, magickal properties, old wives tales and medicinal uses of all the plants and trees and animals we saw on this walk. I had about 30 note cards covered in tiny writing, of all the things we would see. I have drawn on this research to use in my reading of the Druid Oracle decks. I thought you would like to know which books I used. A Modern Herbal: The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic And Economic Properties, Cultivation And Folklore Of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs And Trees With All Their Modern Scientific Uses by Mrs M Grieve F.R.H.S.This is a hefty tome, in alphabetical order of plants and trees, describing their medicinal uses as well as some local names of the plants. Mrs M Grieve first learnt about the medicinal uses of plants and trees when she lived in India and when she returned to England at the turn of the 20th century, she concentrated more on this work. When WW1 she turned her garden into herb nursery to address the shortage of supplies of medicinal plants. After the war, she wrote over 300 pamphlets or monographs of individual plants. These were edited by Hilda Leyel and became the main source of information for the book, which was published in 1931, when Maude was 73. You should be able to find this book on second hand book seller sites. Plant Folklore This is a handy little book in dictionary form. Its not as in depth as the Modern Herbal but its a neat little beginner book. You can get this second hand from here These are just two of my library, I will add more books in the coming weeks.
I love the artwork and meanings behind the cards of the Druid Plant Oracle. These cards work well with the Druidcraft tarot deck and Druid Animal Oracle deck. I use them all together when possible. The artwork is stunning and I use the book that comes with the deck and the Plant Wisdom book for reference. I will do a separate blog post about the books.
I have so many history and witchcraft books that I plan to review for you in the coming weeks and I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I have. I also really want the Lisa Parker Familiars Tarot deck as I love her artwork. I won a cushion in her weekly Dog Lottery a few months ago. I will take a photo tomorrow and add it. I have the Druid Animal Oracle deck, again written by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and illustrated by Bill Worthington. The artwork is very similar to the Druidcraft Tarot deck and has a lot of the symbolism associated with the cards of the tarot deck and plat oracle by the same writers and artist. The cards are slightly smaller than the tarot deck and therefore a little easier to handle.
I use these cards, along with the tarot deck, plant oracle and green man tree oracle as they all work together, for really big and in depth readings, such as the Year Ahead spread. Sometimes I use them to clarify a question for a simple ten card spread. I have researched and read about the myths and legends about different animals, which the writers also draw on for explanations of the cards. I have the Animal Wisdom book, which I have read a few times and dip into for clearer thoughts regarding the cards. I hope I can do a reading for you, using these cards ![]() Many years ago, I was interested in analysing my dreams and had a small library of dream books. I found a really good one but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was called. It got thrown away by accident. It taught me to write my dreams down, what I saw, heard and sensed and also how I felt. It then went to get me to analyse the dream, line by line. What my symbology in my dreams will mean different things to me and to you. For example, going back to your childhood home in a dream, could mean a whole host of different things depending on how I feel about my childhood home, when I'm awake. The childhood home that (thankfully not frequently) appears in my dreams, was in a block of flats, that were all connected via balconies, so it can be a place of mazes and tunnels. It's also a place I saw a few ghosts, and other people have mentioned similar. What I'm trying to say is that the symbols in my dreams have different meaning to you. If I saw a black cat in my dream, it would be ace because I love cats but if a dog person saw a black cat in their dream it would mean something else to them, possibly even something sinister. A dream dictionary with the same interpretations for everyone just doesn't work. You also don't need t spend money on courses learning to analyse dreams. I was reading an article in one of the newspapers yesterday, a woman who had learnt to analyse her dreams, and had made some dubious choices because of them, but once she started looking at them differently, she made some better choices. You can read it here Ditch the dictionaries! Invest in a dream journal and get into the habit of writing down your dreams, then analysing them line by line. Your dreams are personal to you and a one size fits all meaning of your dreams will lead to confusion rather than truly understanding what they mean to you. Everyone who knows me, knows I love cats. I don't have a black cat any more. My Baby died about 10 years ago.
According to some animal shelters, black cats are the least likely to be adopted. They say that people still associate them with witchcraft and evil things. The black cats that I have been owned by have been the most loving and cuddly cats. Baby never left my side when I was at home and didn't have an evil bone in her body. She was quite a small cat and if there was a flock of sparrows about, she would run away from them, because they would gang up on her! Sooty used to sleep on my feet every night when I was a teenager. I also lost count of the times I would talk to a black jumper on my bed, thinking it was the cat! It's time to change the thoughts on black cats and I'd love to see pictures of your black cats on my social media. Today is cold and miserable day, perfect for sitting under a blanket with a cup of tea and a good book and it's also National Read a Book Day, so I thought I would tell you about a couple of my favourite books. The first oracle deck I got, illustrated by the talented Will Worthington. I love his artwork and connect with all the decks he's done on so many levels. They are rich in symbology and although I have the books, I don't tend to refer to them much at all. I was researching the myths and legends associated with trees and this deck and book draws on those along with the ogham alphabet. I'm a Pagan and I have found this book very good. There are lots of recipes for cooking scrummy food for the sabbats as well as cleaning and healing recipes to try. The book that started me on my spiritual path is this one. It is well written and full of ghost stories as well as the legends and traditions of Cheshire. I remember reading this as a child and scaring myself silly over some of the ghost stories but also very intriqued. This was actually my mum's and I borrowed it, secretly, a few times. I have now inherited all of mum's ghosts and legends books and hope to investigate a few to see what I pick up at the locations. Unfortunately, you can't buy this book new anymore and there was only one listing for it on Amazon. You may find it on Abe Books though.
You can buy the other books here The Real Witches Kitchen The Green Man Tree Oracle. I was going to put a link for it but the Amazon prices are ridiculous! I'm sure you can find it elsewhere at a much better price |
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