I’d been meaning to write about this earlier in the week, but somehow I’d never gotten around to it.
First, some background:
During my daily walks, I’ve come across some pretty strange items over the years.
I’m sure that there’s a word for it – divination through found objects – but nothing seems to capture exactly what happens. Apantomancy comes close (as apantomancy is a form of divination through chance encounters, usually involving, though not limited to, encounters with animals) or even oryctomancy (which is divination using excavated objects), but nonetheless, I’ve found some unusual items during my daily walks.
Something I find a lot of is… playing cards.
Now I cannot express to you how often I have come across a single playing card in a random place:
In the middle of the woods, half-buried by leaves.
Floating in a drainage ditch that runs along the side of the busy road.
Skittering along in a light breeze across the gravel path of a New England cemetery, while my husband and I searched for the grave marker of my husband’s best childhood friend who died in 1987.
Folded in half and wedged between two crumbling bricks in a brick wall in the alley way behind a busy suburban restaurant – and the only reason I noticed it is because I had stepped out to get some quiet and privacy in order to make an important phone call – as I happened to be staring at that particular wall while I was waiting for the other person to pick up.
In the trunk of a newly delivered vehicle in a car-sales lot in Orlando – but the car only had 6 miles on it and the salesman insisted that no one had ever driven it before, as it had been delivered on a flat truck that morning from the manufacturer’s warehouse.
As well, I have had several vivid dreams over the last four years wherein Loki has shown me playing cards or made a direct reference to playing cards.
I didn’t know what to think, but it had gotten to be such a thing that I started to wonder if I should be considering these occurrences as some sort of message.
Could playing cards be used for divination?
The hell if I knew.
~~~
Such as eight months ago, I found this card:
Now while I was aware of cartomancy as a form of divination, I’d assumed that the ‘divination by cards’ definition referred exclusively to tarot cards.
Again, I wondered if there was some connection between tarot cards and playing cards, but I hadn’t thought to explore it further until that day.
(The chicken or the egg…does it matter? I didn’t know either way.)
So, I bit… what is the meaning behind the 9 of clubs?
Various websites define the clubs suit as a suit that governs finances, achievements and ideas. And 9 is the number of completion, fulfillment, unity and insight. Most interpretations of this card focus on the concept of ‘small’ or ‘short’ as well as contentment and finality without fanfare. 9 of clubs signifies to keep your eye out for small successes, a new idea that can lead to a slight increase, or a step towards positive change. Perhaps there will be a slight increase in pay, some progress towards a goal, the completion of a short-term plan, or the subtle end of a process. Several describe the 9 of clubs as indicating a new friendship or taking up with a new lover. And nearly every one of them mentions something odd:
Don’t be stubborn
And considering that, I have to laugh.
Stubborn is definitely something I can be.
And that definitely sounds like something He would say in response.
~~~
Moving onward, I found myself coming across a few more playing cards in random places while walking and cleaning house, and a few more meditation visuals and dream-sequences of Loki that featured what appeared to be references to poker, gambling and…lottery tickets.
Two weeks ago, a particular meditation visual was so strong that I suggested my husband buy a lottery ticket.
And he did. Sort of.
He bought scratch tickets…and the theme was something along the lines of ‘Set For Life’ — referencing the game of poker, with the usual logo of lucky playing cards.
(P.S – we did not win.)
~~~
So, this past Saturday, I went to a local mystical shop.
I was looking for a particular tarot deck that I’ve been wanting for a while, but they did not have it in stock.
While I was browsing their selection of tarot decks, I noticed these ‘Lenormand’ card decks and card kits were mixed in with displays.
Although I’d heard of Lenormand, I didn’t know exactly how a Lenormand deck differed from any other tarot deck.
But according to the blurb-descriptions on several of their featured decks…
Lenormand follows the heritage of fortune telling cards based on playing card decks.
So I bought a deck designed by Ryan Edwards, called Maybe Lenormand.
The two decks – one base deck of 36 cards and 16 additional – feature these lovely Victorian-inspired line illustrations that I absolutely adore.
You know, having some delightful artwork to focus on certainly helps as I learn this new divination skill.
And so, I am exploring a new divination skill – and perhaps that was what He was nudging me toward all along.
And here I thought He was encouraging me to play poker or gamble more.
In the summer of 2012, I had one of the first of a series of strange vivid dreams that involved Loki:
In this particular dream, I found myself searching through a building of many rooms, and while I didn’t know what or who I was looking for, I knew I was looking for something…or someone.
Most of the rooms were spacious but empty – white walls, sparsely furnished, lit by buzzing fluorescent ceiling panels. Like an abandoned office building, which I sensed may or may not be underground.
And then I was surprised to come upon what appeared to be a middle-aged man with dark auburn hair in one of the rooms. As I’d mentioned, though most of the rooms were nothing more that white empty walls, the room this man was in was full of brightly colored yarn. Skeins of various colors and in various states of unravel lay scattered all over the floor. While a few seemed no more than tangled handfuls of yarn, others were neatly wound and stacked in piles of three or four bundles, sorted by color.
Meanwhile the biggest jumble of knots lay closest to the man’s right foot. I could also see that he was barefoot…. and he wasn’t exactly sitting in the chair.
This man was sprawled in an elaborately carved wooden chair large enough to easily be mistaken for some sort of throne. I say sprawled because though I came upon him sitting upon this odd throne from behind and at somewhat of an angle, I immediately realized that this man was quite gangly; one of his legs casually dangled over one of the arm rests, and I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d miraculously found a way to fold the length of the rest of his body comfortably within the confines of the seat.
I don’t think he noticed me at first, as his head was bent in concentration upon his hands and the tangled mess of colored yarn in his lap.
However, when he did finally look up at me
He grinned….and casually asked me
if I knew
who he was.
Loki.
And Loki appeared to be knitting.
But not with needles, mind you; He seemed to be knitting with His fingers.
(from my notebook, 17 July 2012)
~~~
But I learned something interesting today.
It occurs to me that Loki may not have been knitting.
He may have been nålbinding (“needle-binding”), an ancient technique which may pre-date knitting and crocheting by 1500 years, where a single length of thread or yarn is passed through loops by use of a single needle, and the resulting fabric is sturdily connected by interlocking these loops of yarn or thread with one another. Nålebinding is also called ‘knotless netting.’
I came across this information today – though honestly I was researching something else that had nothing at all to do with Norse clothing -but a reference to socks caught my eye and I found my way to Hurstwic.org:
“However, Norse socks were not knitted (which apparently was unknown to the Norse). Instead, they were made using an ancient technique called nálbinding (needle-binding). Using a single large, thick needle, it was a method of knotting the yarn. Although time consuming, this approach resulted in a nearly indestructible garment. If the thread were to break or wear out, the garment would still be intact, since the thread was everywhere knotted to neighboring threads. Mittens and caps were also made using this technique. The sketch to the left shows the steps involved in making an article of clothing using the nálbinding technique. Note that the fabric grows in a spiral pattern. Once the spiral is large enough, it is knotted back on itself to create the shape of the finished article.”
(Photos: l-r: spiral nal-binding_sketch; Sock found in York; from Hurstwic.org.)
~~~
How does this personally relate to me in regards to Loki?
Loki has been referring me to knots and knotwork for many years now, and as it is with His method, I hadn’t any idea as to why He was always referring to such things, either literally or metaphorically. But I’m starting to connect some things about knots and knotwork today.
But, barring that, it does give His references to ‘creating sockpuppets’ a whole new meaning, eh?
In case you did not know – a few weeks ago, my family got a new dog: a Dalmatian puppy.
We named him Phineas.
He has beautiful blue eyes, doesn’t he?
He is incredibly sweet-tempered and probably the calmest Dalmatian we’ve ever owned (and V and I have had 5 other Dals over the last 25 years)
And yet, what’s new for us is that it turns out that Phineas is 100% deaf.
While deafness in Dalmatians is a rather common occurrence – something like 30% of Dals have some level of hearing loss/deafness – we have never had a deaf Dal ourselves.
So, as you might imagine, I have been doing research on how to train a deaf dog.
We’ve begun to learn sign language. We’ve invested in a vibrating collar.
And my latest goal has been to find a local dog training program/facility that can assist us in training our wonderfully calm, incredibly intelligent puppy – who just happens to be deaf.
While it would seem that there are plenty of trainers and facilities that offer specialized training for deaf dogs in California or Louisiana, there seems to be a dearth of actual trainers/facilities offering basic obedience training that encompasses deaf dogs in Central Florida.
Well, after many calls and emails and running around, I was excited to have finally heard back from a *local* training facility this morning.
So while V was checking through the website this evening
-and reading the customer reviews –
he found this review at the top of the list:
Tabitha ******* ***** —5 star I wanted to wait until our dogs settled in before giving my review….
Before we took Loki and Odin to [name of dog training facility], they were showing aggressive behaviors towards other animals, especially dogs, they were awful on leashes, and when someone came over they were jumping all over them.
They boarded and trained for three weeks… While at boarding Loki took to other dogs very well, he loves playing in a pack of dogs… Odin is now tolerant of dogs-he does great one-on-one but doesn’t care for a group of dogs. . They have some more work to do … but are so much better than they were. [W]hen I come in the door they are calmly waiting in their “place” until I call them out, and they don’t jump when they get to me.
I am so glad we took them to [training facility], it’s the best decision we could have made. Thank you so much for taking the time to work with [Loki and Odin]!
~~~
I just had to laugh…
Especially at the description of Loki and Odin being awful on leashes or jumping all over people who visit them.
I was also amused at the description of their personalities-
how Loki is sociable
but
Odin is only now tolerant of others, and does better one-on-one
LOL
Though I could have told Tabitha that working with Loki and Odin requires a lot of patience
…but it’s always worthtaking the time to work with Loki and Odin.
There was something about Tyler Joseph’s sing-song delivery of the lyrics that just annoyed the heck out of me.
And yet, almost from the day that I first heard this song, it would *not* get out of my head.
It became a really insistent earworm, nearly on par in annoyance factor with ‘It’s a Small World.’
Then, a dear friend of mine reminded me of the possibility that it could be another example of pandoramancy.*
So, I did what I always do when I come across an incidence of pandoramancy?
I concentrated on listening to the lyrics the next time the song randomly came up.
I thought about what sort of emotions, thoughts and associations came immediately to mind while listening. And since I am a person who is rather particular about words, I Googled the lyrics, so I could familiarize myself better with the lyrics as well.
But it all seemed to no avail, since the lyrics seemed, at first, surprisingly much simpler than I ever would have expected, and yet, the main thing seemed to be how annoyingly repetitive they were:
All my friends are heathens, take it slow Wait for them to ask you who you know Please don’t make any sudden moves You don’t know the half of the abuse All my friends are heathens, take it slow Wait for them to ask you who you know Please don’t make any sudden moves You don’t know the half of the abuse
Welcome to the room of people Who have rooms of people that they loved one day Docked away Just because we check the guns at the door Doesn’t mean our brains will change from hand grenades You’re lovin’ on the psychopath sitting next to you You’re lovin’ on the murderer sitting next to you You’ll think, how’d I get here, sitting next to you? But after all I’ve said, please don’t forget
All my friends are heathens, take it slow Wait for them to ask you who you know Please don’t make any sudden moves You don’t know the half of the abuse
We don’t deal with outsiders very well They say newcomers have a certain smell Yeah, I trust issues, not to mention They say they can smell your intentions You’re lovin’ on the freakshow sitting next to you You’ll have some weird people sitting next to you You’ll think “how did I get here, sitting next to you?” But after all I’ve said, please don’t forget (Watch it, watch it)
(Watch it) All my friends are heathens, take it slow Wait for them to ask you who you know Please don’t make any sudden moves You don’t know the half of the abuse
All my friends are heathens, take it slow (Watch it) Wait for them to ask you who you know (Watch it) All my friends are heathens, take it slow (Watch it) Wait for them to ask you who you know
Why’d you come, you knew you should have stayed I tried to warn you just to stay away And now they’re outside ready to bust It looks like you might be one of us
Okay. The first thing that struck me (aside of the 4 (!) repetitions of that rather long chorus) was the repetitive use of the words they and them and the phrases sittin next to you, watch it, and after all I’ve said please don’t forget.
So I immediately grasped the overall message that whoever they are, they are different than you or me.
They are – let’s see –
Psychopaths.
Murderers.
Weird people.
Freakshows.
So the song definitely seems to be a warning.
And there They are sitting next to you (the listener), and yet you don’t know how these dangerous people suddenly got to be sitting next to you.
Maybe you might love them for their differences ( as in loving on[the psychopath/murderer/freakshow] sitting next to you) but still fear them on some level….because you must watch it.
Because there are possibly valid reasons.
The singer goes on to explain that perhaps you should be nervous, because it’s been established that they are not only dangerous, but abused and distrustful of those who aren’t like themselves. They are easily triggered (take it slow/ don’t make any sudden moves) aggressive (brains will change from hand grenades ), paranoid (Wait until they ask you who you know), and perhaps are prone to display distinctly animal traits of perceiving the intangible (newcomers have a certain smell and they can smell your intentions).
But, surprisingly, by the end of the song, there’s quite a strange twist.
Suddenly not only has the singer identified himself as being one of them (We don’t deal with outsiders very well and Yeah, I have trust issues, not to mention) and he is warning you Why’d you come, you knew you should have stayed
I tried to warn you just to stay away
But you didn’t listen, so…
And now they’re outside ready to bust
Perhaps it is because It looks like you might be one of us
Damn.
So perhaps this is not just a song about the difference between criminals and law-abiding citizens, or even humans versus non-humans but more about how appearances deceive and behavior might not be so telling after all.
Perhaps you never know who is different, who actually is the monster.
Hell, it might even be …you.
Perhaps we are all monsters…it’s just a matter of perception.
And I can attest to their devotion, as I had the pleasure of seeing Twenty One Pilots perform at The Big Ticket in the autumn of last year.
Between the incessant high-pitched prolonged screaming of the pockets of barely post-pubescent females in the crowd, I also noticed that most every fan knew all the lyrics of nearly every song and it would seem that almost every single one of those fans sang those lyrics at the top of their lungs throughout the entire show. You could really tell who was a fan and who was not, to put it mildly.
~~~~
*Pandoramancy is when a random song seems to be not so random after a while. A song which is not just an earworm, but a song that suddenly engenders a reaction in the listener that is oddly dramatic or meaningful through either sudden association or several random yet repeated coincidences. As well, though an incidence of pandoramancy might only occur once, upon listening, there seems to be an over-reaching personal message for the listener inherent in the lyrics, based upon specific situational associations.
Pandoramancy can also refer to a form of divination that uses a playlist (containing a wide variety of music) and music storage software system (such as Pandora or Spotify). This divination operates wherein the querent will direct a question towards the Gods, and the querent then sets the playlist on shuffle, and the next song that comes up on the playlist is the answer.)
A great read on the topic of Godphones and the related responsibilities of having a ‘ Godphone.’
(Though, to be honest, my ‘god-phone’ isn’t akin in the slightest bit to a telephone. It’s less audio-visual and more…tactile/sensation-based. It’s rather difficult to explain.)
“Dude pick up the phone, Dionysus has been trying to call for three weeks and now He’s bugging ME about you!”
Honestly though, only Dionysus and Hekate have given me the experience of Godphoning. Cthulhu and Morrighan can’t be assed. As Godphoning is such an intensely personal experience that falls into UPG, my mileage may vary from another practitioners’. Generally though, most of us have a lot of common experiences that crop up in all our posts on the subject, and so I’m going to add to that wealth of knowledge.
The funny thing about godphoning is that it’s a joke term. A certain clique of spirit workers, shamans, and other spiritually minded folk were trying to explain the different ways divine communication can occur with humans. It was a VERY accurate joke though, and it stuck and is now used amongst the general populace. But what is a godphone?
I believe that we are in Week 4, but my depression and social anxiety has been hitting me hard in the past few weeks, and I will definitely admit that I’ve been struggling more than usual with my daily routines. Therefore, I’m not posting as much.
As well, as much as I’d intended to post my weekly process in this project, I haven’t been… but I have been doing the meditations and journaling.
I do think about the past- how I used to allow myself to feel so readily, and how it is not so easy now because of how I feel about my body.
When I think of the color magenta, I especially think of passion and body confidence.
During the meditation, I also felt nudged to associate this color with the intersection between sexuality and spirituality.
It is a warm, passionate color that has playfulness about it that especially reminds me of when my sexuality was uncomplicated and fun and I had the confidence to move and enjoy and I felt better about my body.
I wonder how to get back to that sense of passion and body confidence.
With this in mind, I am trying to re-discover it by taking better care of my body. I am trying to do less comfort-eating and engage in more exercise and physical activities.
Such as this morning, it felt good to weed my front garden. I’d felt guilty as weeding always makes me feel as if the land-wights are upset that I am tearing out all the plant life in my gardens almost to the point of barrenness. (Barren because I’ve yet to replace the hedges that I removed last summer with any flowers, and so nothing but weeds has been growing in those narrow dirt patches where the hedges used to be.)
For this reason, I am often overwhelmed (or likewise reluctant) to begin weeding — but once I do begin, I reach a good rhythm in my work. Soon enough, I’ve worked up a good sweat in the Florida sun, but I do not notice the intensity of my efforts until I’ve begun to see droplets falling into the soft, dark soil. I am perspiring freely into the dirt. Perhaps this is my offering – the sweat of my work as I clear away the weeds, deadfall, and other withered debris around my single rose bush and heather. The heather is rather large now and I have had to cut it back several times due to its growth. I feed both the rose-bush and the heather regularly enough that it’s quite possible if I left those two plants alone, they might take over the rest of the garden…if the weeds’ root-systems didn’t often choke them out.
Perhaps the front garden could be a metaphor for my life right now: The beauty of my garden is only found in one neat little corner while the rest is either choked with weeds or barren of growth.
But if joy (ie, the flowers) were allowed to flourish, that joy just might overtake everything.
Magenta is the color of passionate growth,as the blooms of the rose-bush are light pink edged in varying shades of dark pink, or magenta.
bloodteethandflame 