This has been quite the turn of the wheel has it not? Tarot Blog Hop has been resurrected, and we’ve covered topics as far and as wide, from Sacred Knowledge, Life Balance, and let’s not forget the 24hr Challenge at the Equinox.

Theme: The Most Wonderful Time of the Wheel…

As this is our last hop of the 2021 Wheel, I am sleighing down the gauntlet and posing another 24hr challenge...

It’s a simple one really, with your favourite deck in one hand, and wand in the other, you have from 8pm UTC on Yule, until 8pm UTC the following day to either explore:

• What Makes this Time of the Wheel Special for you?

If that doesn’t appeal, then I have a second offering as a replacement:

• Do you remember your very first deck? What made it so special?

As always if the muses speak, then let them flow, and go with what the 'feels' gives you...

Goodness, can you believe that this is the last turn of the wheel in 2021, it certainly has brought quite a lot of changes and challenges!

If they are not coming at us from the personal and professional levels, they are going splat from a great height, and being global ones instead! 

It really does feel that since the Solstice Post, we're finding ourselves at that crossing point, taking pause, and for once realising that its okay to be a little self indulgent, from time to time.

So, I am embracing this by taking a trip down memory lane, and yes, I will admit there is a little bit of naval scrying in this blog entry...

Let's introduce our Orcestra of Decks featuring within this post:

- IJJ Swiss Tarot by AGMüller

- Guilded Tarot by Ciaro Marchetti

- Heave and Earth Tarot by Jack Sephiroth

- Circle of Life Tarot by Maria Distefano

- Star Wars Tarot Deck by PaperandTears

- Rider Waite Tarot Deck by Pamela Colman Smith & Arthur Edward Waite

Recently, I finished my Past Life Regression Diploma; something that I have long held an interest in. At different points in this incarnation I have been for PLR and discovered that I have been here a fair few times, and wearing a fair few bodies as well.

Which, for me is another curious way for me to lead you into this last blog hop entry for 2021. It occurred to me that my tarot journey is much like my reincarnation cycle, in that each deck represents a stage in my cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

So as the title suggests, let's go knocking on some forbidden doors, and see what shakes loose...

My actual journey of Tarot begins at the age of 16, but my fascination with other worlds, stems as far back as the age of 8 or 9, where I was far more interested in myths, monsters, witches and wizards than sports like football.

As you can imagine, this made most of the primary and secondary years troublesome, but on the plus side, at least I could fly - well, until the day I accidentally put the thought into my head, that maybe I was too big to fly...

However it wouldn't be long until I met my first spiritual guardian, and my own bubble world until the day I left school at 16...

The day I left that place the world seemed to open up and present so many curious and interesting opportunities, the first of which led me to my first adventure into the city by myself.

I actually still remember it, I had on this white semi-frilled shirt, in the style of Interview with the Vampire, I was into my Adam and the Ants, Vampires, and Culture Club back in that era.

So there I was red denim jacket, long blonde hair, sparkling eyes of a newbie out on his own, and off on to the bus.. With a short hop and a trip on the train later, there I was in the city.

It was huge, lots of places to explore and discover, one of which was Tam Shepards Joke Shop, and there in the window was my very first deck, the IJJ Swiss Tarot Deck.

This big red pack, had a set of the cards, a layout sheet, and book of meanings. Bold as brass, through the doors I went into the Olivander's of Jokes, Tricks, and at that time Tarot Decks as well...