Tarot Reading Sample & Valentine’s Day Offer

From now until March, I’ll be offering Valentine’s themed tarot readings at the shop. This reading will answer such valuable questions as:

Does he like me?

But does he like like me?

Who of my many suitors should I take to the Valentine’s Ball?

And also serious questions like:

Why don’t I have a girlfriend?

Is this chick I dig bad news?

When am I going to meet somebody who doesn’t smell/live with their parents/reference Frida Kahlo every 5 minutes….

(Frida Kahlo is the bees knees.)

You get the idea. So head over to the shop and ask me questions about your love life before you annoy your friends with them.

Also…

You can now view the TarotReadingSample and see what my clients are talking about. This sample is a preview of the PDF document you’ll receive, complete with sample photos and information about what you’ll learn in each section of your reading. The content, however, is a secret that can only be revealed in your personal reading.

XOXO,

Happy New Year!

I hope you stayed up late, said your good-byes and welcomed 2013 with open arms.

In the spirit of newness, I am embracing a new online home. The launch date of the new blog is officially Saturday January 26th, 2013, the first full moon of 2013 and an auspicious date for Pisceans like me. So, when you look up at the full moon that night, with your drunk/sleepy eyes, know that both our lives are moving forward in directions only the stars could fathom.

If you find yourself in need of direction, tarot is always illuminating, like the stars themselves.

XOXO,

 

Holiday Tarot

It’s holiday time again!

In honor of this festive season, I’m offering a holiday themed tarot reading on my Etsy shop. It’s good to get some clarity in December, it sets you up for success in the New Year.

Here’s how it works:

The cards are dealt in an Evergreen spread (seen in the photo above)

Card 1 – Roots
Your foundation, what’s going on around you, what you currently believe

Card 2 – Star
What’s guiding you through the holidays and into the New Year. Spirits, guides and universal forces that are at your disposal.

Card 3 – Hope
What to look forward to in the New Year

Card 4 – Peace
What to keep in mind to remain healthy in mind, body and spirit

Card 5 – Family
People in your life (including friends and lovers) who are influencing you for better or worse

Card 6 – Gifts
What surprises, developments and unexpected events are coming to you this holiday season

So check it out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/RMinerva

XO,

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

Today is the Mexican Day of the Dead. Technically, this observance goes from midnight October 31st to the night of November 2nd. The fist day honors children who have passed on and is called Dia de los Inocentes. The second day, Dia de los Muertos honors the adults who have passed.

Dia de los Muertos is a mixture of the ancient Aztec celebration for the goddess Mictecacihuatl, the Lady of the Dead, and Catholic holy days, All Souls Day and All Saints Day.

Read more about it here.

Here‘s a really beautiful gallery of Dia de los Muertos photographs. (It’s the really fast-loading, easy to flip through kind, not the reload a new page for every image kind. Because I love you.)

Maybe you’d like to incorporate this holiday into your life?

You can light a candle and pour a shot of liquor for your relative/ancestor/hero to enjoy. Leave both on the windowsill overnight for any wandering souls to enjoy. I like to pour a shot of tequila for Frida Kahlo. If the person you choose to honor didn’t drink alcohol, you could leave an offering of coffee, tobacco, perfume or candy. Traditionally, spirits tend to like those things.

You could also build an altar or decorate a mantle for the dead. Like this one for Frida:

Or, go to the cemetery where your ancestor is buried, light candles and place flowers on their grave:

Baking is another component of Dia de los Muertos celebrations. Pain de los Muertos is baked and sugar skulls are sculpted out of marzipan or fondant:

31 Days of Halloween – Day 31: HALLOWEEN!

Today is the day. THE DAY. We lived to see another beautiful All Hallows Eve. How should you/we/I celebrate this horrifying occasion? I have a few suggestions:

• Watch horror films. Kate Hudson movies don’t count. (I still love her.)
• Eat all the chocolate. All. Of. It.
• Drink red wine from a fancy glass, like Dracula but without the blood.
• Walk around in costume. Let your inner Creepy Weirdo out to play.
• Scare children. Somewhere between “sleep with the lights on” and “scarred for life.”
• Visit a cemetery. Pay your respects.
• Go to 8tracks and listen to Halloween playlists.
• Be nice to cats. I hope you do this everyday, but especially today.
• Film yourself lip synching Rocky Horror songs and send me the video. Watch this for inspiration:

• Make a magic potion. By “magic potion” I mean “tequila.”
• Paint your nails black, especially if you’re a dude.
• Cast spells. Go ahead. What could possibly go wrong?
• Invite that cute girl over. Ask her to play Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board *wink*
• Dress your pets up in costumes. DO IT. Send me pictures.
• Throw bat-shaped confetti in people’s faces. That’ll shut them up. Don’t try this on your husband/boss/mom.
• Ouija the shit out of that board.
• Meditate. You’re going to need that inner peace to deal with your family over the holidays.
• Watch paranormal shows and take a shot every time someone says “Did you hear that?” You’ll be drunk in 20 minutes.
• Eat black licorice. It’s the best. Don’t even try to tell me otherwise.
• Bloody Mary. The mirror game or the drink. Your choice.
• Tell ghost stories. Everybody has a ghost story.

Happy Halloween! Blessed Samhain!
XOXO

31 Days of Halloween – Day 29: October Moon Meaning

Tonight, October 29th, is the full moon. Not that anybody can see it with Frankenstorm descending upon the East Coast. Still, the October full moon is special this year because it occurs so close to Halloween. The moon is powerful three days before and three days after the date on which it reaches 100% fullness, meaning there will be tons of magical moon energy around on Halloween night.

Here are some correspondences for you to use during your rituals, parties and other All Hallow’s activities:

Name: The Blood Moon… also Falling Leaf Moon or Shedding Moon (depending on the culture)

Colors: Black, silver, dark purples and blues, orange, gold

Stones: black stones like obsidian and tourmaline (to banish negative energies while the veil is thin) and psychic power stones like amethyst, moonstone or quartz (to help your divinations or to contact the dead)

Foods/Herbs: traditional autumn foods like apples and pumpkins, herbs associated with psychic powers and protection (parsley, sage, rosemary. thyme… like the Simon and Garfunkel song… also lavender and basil)

Deities: Crone or witch goddesses like Hecate, Morgaine le Fay and Freya, also Hades, Persephone and other death-related deities. Spirits and deities associated with Day of the Dead celebrations. Perhaps Baron Samedi, depending on the culture and specific beliefs…

So, how will you incorporate these spooky moon correspondences into your Halloween?

• Go to sleep with amethyst under your pillow, see if you have psychic dreams or are contacted by an ancestor
• Smudge your house with sage to create a good atmosphere for your party
• If you plan to use ouija boards, runes, tarot or other divination devices, keep quartz nearby to heighten psychic energy
• Make pumpkin soup with rosemary and sage for protection, abundance and general deliciousness
• Use witch-related decorations (cauldrons, brooms, black cats, pointy hats) to honour Hecate

Have a hauntingly good evening!

 

 

 

 

31 Days of Halloween – Day 28: Rocky Horror Picture Show

I want to be Dr. Frank-n-Furter when I grow up. There’s nothing better than Tim Curry in lingerie. NOTHING.

I suggest you check your local theatre listings. There’s likely to be a midnight showing in your town/city, especially at Halloween time.

Put on some thigh-highs and head out into the night….

For the Rocky Horror virgin, here’s what you’ll need, from the geniuses at Rookie Mag:

 

Remember kids: don’t dream it, be it.

XOXO

31 Days of Halloween – Day 27: Hudson Valley Haunts

The Hudson Valley, home to Sleepy Hollow and other spooky locations, has an online Halloween magazine. Here‘s a link to several articles about local ghosts and haunted places.

Halloween 31 – Day 26: The Legend of Jack O’Lantern

The tradition of carving jack 0′lanterns has its roots in an Irish legend:

Stingy Jack was a cheap, lazy drunk. One night, he invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Not wanting to pay for the drinks, he told the Devil to turn himself into a coin. The devil agreed but instead of paying for the drinks, Jack kept the coin in his pocket next to a silver cross, making it impossible for the Devil to change back to his old self. Jack made the Devil promise to leave him alone for a year and then removed the silver cross, allowing the Devil to return to Hell.

A year later, the Devil came looking for Stingy Jack. Jack outsmarted the Devil once again, tricking him into climbing a tree and then drawing a cross on the trunk, trapping him up in the branches. This time, Jack made the Devil promise to leave him alone for ten years. The Devil agreed and then went on his way.

A few days later, Jack died.

He floated up to Heaven, but God didn’t have room in paradise for a drunk trickster, so he sent Jack down to Hell.

Once in Hell, the Devil, still pissed about Jack’s tricks, told Jack he was not welcome. Instead, Jack’s punishment would be to wander the earth forever as a ghost.

Jack, back on Earth, carved a lantern out of a turnip to light his way through the long, dark nights.

The living often saw the ghost of Stingy Jack wandering the roads and fields, especially in October when the veil was thin. They called him Jack of the Lantern and began carving fearsome faces into turnips to scare him away from their homes on spooky October nights, when ghosts can contact the living.

XOXO

31 Days of Halloween – Day 25: Tudor Ghosts

The Tudors are one of my many obsessions. The wives of Henry VIII seem particularly tragic:

Poor Catherine of Aragon was traded in for a newer model because she couldn’t force her body to become pregnant with a male heir.

Anne Boleyn was rejected for the same reason, except she lost her head.

Jane Seymour gave Henry the heir he always wanted and then promptly died of sepsis.

Anne of Cleves was rejected for not being pretty enough, but at least she got out alive.

Katherine Howard was only a teenager, but that didn’t stop Henry from beheading her, just as he had her cousin, Anne Boleyn.

Lucky Catherine Parr married Henry a few short years before his death, outliving him.

The rhyme used to remember all of Henry’s marriages goes:

King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded. One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded.

Henry was kind of a dick.

It’s ironic, he was so concerned with having an heir, yet he had the greatest heir of any king in history: Elizabeth I, who reigned for 45 years and had an entire era named after her. He just couldn’t see it because, you know, she had a vagina.

Obviously, Henry’s queens are pissed. Their ghosts are still looking for him, haunting the halls of his castles, hoping they’ll get the last word.

The ghosts of Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Katherine Howard have been repeatedly spotted in Hampton Court Palace. I like to think they’ve formed a coven and meet every Tuesday to stick pins in a Henry-shaped voodoo doll.

Anne’s ghost has also been seen in Windsor Castle. Elizabeth I haunts Windsor as well. Let’s hope they found each other in the afterlife. I picture them sitting in a window seat with the drapes closed around them, comparing facial features. They totally have the same eyes.

XOXO