Heliotrope Metaphysical Tarot and Oracle Shop

I move to a small touristy town up North. (Northern Oregon? California?) I buy a metaphysical bookstore/shop that has been in business for decades. In this delightful small community, the place has been a real fixture. Tourists love it, the staff has been dedicated and stable, the town considers it a good addition to the local economy and reputation. So everyone is very wary of me -- an outsider, a newcomer -- coming in and taking over. 

I assure everyone that I have no intention of changing anything. I want to keep the staff and let them know how valuable they are. I tell them I will learn from them, and I appreciate them. I only plan to add more, not take away. Become even more involved in local projects and issues, etc. Everyone seems more relaxed and trusting after this. 

During the dream I kept getting a sense of purple, violet, and a word that sounded like "heliotrope." The name of the shop? I think so.
The only real change I make in this shop is setting up a reading spot. At the top of the stairs (the store is in a charming converted two story house, sort of a small Victorian) is a small room with a large window and built-in bookshelves. I set up a table and two chairs, place all my tarot decks and books and pendulums and other divinatory tools on the shelf. A cozy space for doing readings. I start to read for a client, get up to get something to show the client, when I come back, there is a woman giving a reading at a table near mine. I am very upset. I tell her I am the owner, she does not have permission to read, it's distracting to myself and the clients, and a disservice to the clients. So I apologize to the clients, do their readings for free, and kick this woman out. She doesn't even work there, she just showed up.

I looked up the metaphysical aspects of heliotrope. I don't know how much of the following is accurate, but according to Witchipedia: (italics are mine)

Magical Attributes of Heliotrope

Heliotrope is associated with the Sun and the element Fire.
Heliotrope represents devotion, that to lovers as well as to a God or a cause.
To dream of heliotrope means unrequited love. You can place heliotrope flowers under your pillow to encourage prophetic dreams, especially related to finding lost things and people.
The essential oil can be used to anoint candles and other objects used in divination and in spells for wealth.
Heliotrope can can be burned for banishing. (Witchipedia.com)

And finally, while reading Brent Swancer's piece on the Djinn at Mysterious Universe, the reference to David Morehouse's book Psychic Warrior gave me a jolt. Last night, I had a dream I was back in this shop, and someone (unseen, and above) handed me a silver bracelet with the words Psychic Warrior engraved on the silver.

Reading at Eugene, Oregon Pagan Pride Day

Eugene is having a Pagan Pride Day! I'm honored and excited to know I'll be one of the tarot readers at the fair. If you're in the area, please come! Contact eugenepaganpride.org for info.  Here's their poster:

The Twin Peaks Tarot | The Daily Grail

Oh this is good! A tarot deck based on one of my favorite television series, Twin Peaks. The creator, Benjamin Mackey, utilizes the Rider deck as the foundation for his take using characters from Twin Peaks. The Daily Grail (a site you must visit -- every day!) has more.

"The Twin Peaks Tarot | The Daily Grail: I think there are certain characters that David Lynch was purposefully basing off Tarot archetypes. There's one scene where Major Garland Briggs, he's talking about his experiences in the White Lodge, and there's a scene where he's sitting on this stone throne and he's surrounded by this lush greenery, and the pose he's striking is almost exactly the pose that the hierophant strikes. Then there's also a scene with Blackie at One-Eyed Jack's, she's at her table and she's playing the Tarot Cards. And it's a really small thing, you don't see her doing it a lot and they don't make a lot of direct references to it...but something like that, makes me think that maybe David Lynch has more of a conscious connection to the Tarot." (Benjamin Mackey,creator of the Twin Peaks Tarot)

Mind the Gap: Meditations on Magical Realism | EsoterX

From one of my favorite esoteric, Fortean-anomalous-mystical type minded blogs, where the writing is always excellent and the topics varied and unique, is the following on his relationship with knowing tarot -- what to do, how to do it, and much more, such as "truth"… this from ExoterX:

Mind the Gap: Meditations on Magical Realism | EsoterX: So, I put the question to him. Do tarot cards work? After all, he had dabbled in the occult, explored the world of sympathetic magic, altered his own consciousness in myriad ways, and most importantly to the question at hand, given tarot card readings professionally. After I endured a brief diatribe largely summed up by “Who cares?”, and surrounding the poverty of my genetic inheritance and the abysmal greyness of my grey matter, he became more thoughtful, and gave an answer that has long stuck with me as a remarkably sane and fruitful perspective on all things anomalous or esoteric. He said, “Tarot, or frankly any kind of oracle, doesn’t tell you anything you don’t already know”. Then he took a smoke break. (Esoterx blog)

From Tarotize - Holistic Tarot: The Totem Tarot Spread

I found this recent blog post from Lisa Frideborg at Tarotize on totems inspiring and timely. I've posted several dreams and waking life moments involving Dog, and have been working with this recurring imagery. Without much insight, so far. I can't wait to try Lisa's spread.

Tarotize - Holistic Tarot: The Totem Tarot Spread: These days, it is quite easy to just Google the meaning of totem animals. However, no matter what they mean in general, you may still not find the exact message they have for you at this point in time... There are a couple of ways of resolving this: you can either keep trying to connect with the spirit animal in your dreams or in meditation until the message becomes clear... OR you can do a Tarot reading on it with the Tarot spread I created specifically for this: (Lisa Frideborg, Tarotize blog)

New pouch!

A surprise from my friend Diana who made this lovely pouch for me. The picture doesn't show the pretty green in the design.

Now, which deck to place inside this lovely case? Or, maybe an occasion to purchase new deck. Cosmic tarot, maybe?

Cosmic Tarot

Stay Positive: The Cosmic Tarot and The Star

This was on my Facebook page from Tarot.com:

Cosmic Tarot

This is the Major arcana card The Star, from the Cosmic tarot deck. I'm not familiar with the deck at all -- this is the only card I've seen from the deck. I just love this! The colors are so peaceful and soothing. It gives me a magical realism sense of things. I find the flamingo delightfully surprising, reassuring, humorous. Tropical and pleasant. The woman belongs there, is confident in a quiet, meditative way. The blue color of both the woman and the water and surroundings makes everything a whole, she is part of nature, they are one. In and out of the water. She is pouring water from gold cups into the lotus. Very spiritual and magical.

The message Tarot.com put with this card was to "stay positive."
And that has been the consistent message I've been getting lately. That message came through very strong in a reading someone did for me, and yesterday I did a 12 month reading for myself. Both readings told me to stay positive, not sink into negativity, panic, and fear, but to focus on the positive (what I want, not what I don't want) and expressing gratitude. When I feel myself going down, or, when things are moving as fast as I'd like, stay positive. (and be patient.)

7 Steps to Developing Your Intuition With Tarot Meditation | Biddy Tarot Blog

From Biddy Tarot, one of my favorite tarot people on the web (Lisa Frideborg being another) on developing one's intuition using the tarot:

7 Steps to Developing Your Intuition With Tarot Meditation | Biddy Tarot Blog: A Tarot meditation typically begins with a general relaxation of the body and the mind, before going deeper into the image of the selected Tarot card and exploring the messages of the imagery.

Tarot Card Meditation in 7 Steps

Step 1: Select a Tarot Card (Biddy Tarot)

All excellent steps. I've been doing my own versions of this for some time. I'm sure many of us have done something like this; this is one more path to try.