So time to dust off the decks (so to speak) and take alook at what this hop is going to be about.

Theme: Life Balance

In the spirit of balance and harmony, let's look at life balance. 

In particular, what do you do when you're not blogging about tarot? Describe it to us in terms of tarot cards, of course!!

The Catch: We have only 24 hours for this task! Can you balance your life/work/tarot needs and join our quest?

Possible topics and themes to explore in your post:

• Show and tell – what have you been up to since the last tarot blog hop you participated in? Whatever it is, describe it to us in tarot cards!

• Develop a tarot spread or tarot ritual to bring balance to your life

• Explore what cards most speak to you of life balance

• Use the cards to describe how you bring balance to your life.

• Design a tarot card that embodies life balance

• Or interpret the theme “Life Balance” in a way that’s unique to you!

It has been a long time since I picked up my cards and did a reading for someone. It was personal choice and circumstances that gave me the nudge to do it. 

However, it didn't stop me collecting or learning as much as I could from the decks. What started out as 1 or 2 decks, became something like 100 - 200 decks.

I wanted to share my passion and for a while I got into doing card of the day, then card of the week, before it came card of the month and then finally it became the card of what's the point? Let's face it, there as many cards of the week posts out there, as there are crystals and tarot decks for me to collect.

Where once upon a time, clients would come to you and only you, now if they don't like what they hear or see, another tarot 'expert' or what have you will give them exactly that. What they want to hear and see, so the meaning becomes demeaning and so the cycle continues.

Don't get me wrong, I sound like some bitter has-been tarot queen, sitting on his throne of tarot decks, wailing at the world that everyone hates him. 

Where the realities are somewhat different. So let's take a journey through the cards, visiting some past memories, present situations, and some future planning.

The decks featured in this post are:

- DC Vertigo Tarot

- Witches Tarot

- Mythic Tarot

- Labyrinth Tarot

- Crowley's Thoth Deck

- Secret of the Language of Light Oracle

- Starseed Oracle

Strickly speaking this is not the first deck, as that was the IJJ Swiss Tarot, followed by the Tarot of the Witches. The Mythic Deck was my third set of cards, and one of the first to actually 'speak' to me, it was this deck that taught me the language of the tarot.

I never actually learnt the meanings, of any card. I let it talk to me and tell me the story of the person I was dealing with. Don't get me wrong, I am not some kind of savant, I did look at the meanings back when I bought the IJJ but they never made sense, so I abandoned the usual methods and taught myself.

As I progressed through the Dragon Tarot, Tarot of the Cat People, the Alchemy Deck, and then on till morning. I began to actually learn the language of each deck, in place of the Tarot's overall language. It's a bit like learning every language is practically the same, but the nuances, locations, and dialects are the reason each language is different.

It is the same with Tarot, every deck's language is different but the fundemental basics remain the same throughout.

The question that perhaps has crossed your mind by now, is where am I taking you. So far its been a bittersweet reminisce of yesteryear's tarot decks, and the memoirs (such as they are) of a tarot reader.

Well, here's the thing; there is a theme running through this piece, however it's a bit early for that reveal, all I'll say is keep looking at the cards which are being shown.

Now induldge me a little bit longer, as I point out that by the time the Witches Tarot, comes along I have developed a very keen interest in healing, crystals, tarot, psychic arts, and learning.

By now I have been in business, and venturing out into the world of business rent, rates, clients, and suddenly discover that perhaps I may need to have a bit of proof that I am actually good at what I do. As well as have a bit of grounding in dealing with people's issues, as the folks that keep coming through my doors have baggage, that is a bit beyond my years.

(Are you sensing the theme yet, noticed the link between the cards and the text, no? Don't worry, just a little bit further...)