Anyone serious about tarot needs to master the Celtic Cross. Here is why as well as how.
There are a myriad tarot spreads. You can make your own, or use none. Just pull as many cards as you like and read them as you want. As with food and fashion, we each have a preference. But there are reasons the Celtic Cross deserves so much reverence.
1) It respects you and your question.
The Celtic Cross is not designed to give rushed, biting and abrupt answers. It recognizes that your question is important to you. So it takes the time to explore every detail of your situation before giving you advice and a prediction.
2) It kindly proves itself to you.
Fortunetelling involves powers beyond the natural. Powers that only a few can truly harness. To minimize the trickiness of the business, the Celtic Cross states what you already know: your past, hopes, fears, pains, secrets, goals. If it accurately describes these things, you can trust its promise of what tomorrow will bring.
3) It allows for great interaction.
When interpreting a spread, it is crucial to look at how the cards are connecting. Is the Page of Cups offering his chalice to The Magician? Is the Knight of Swords on his way to attack the King of Wands? The way the Celtic Cross is laid out lets many interactions come about.
It has dozens of variations. Each reader has a fancied version. Below is what my elders taught me. I use it faithfully.
1) The Hierophant (reversed) – The Present
What is happening at the moment?
2) Three of Wands – The Problem
What needs to be remedied?
3) Two of Pentacles – The Past
What led you to where you are?
4) Seven of Pentacles – The Near Future
What happens next?
5) Seven of Swords – The Conscious Goal
What does your mind want?
6) Four of Wands – The Buried Truth
What lies in your subconscious?
7) Eight of Swords – The Advice
What will the Fates have you do?
8) Six of Swords – The Environment
Where are you in the broad view?
9) King of Pentacles – The Hope or Fear
What does your soul crave or dread?
10) Queen of Wands, Nine of Wands, The Sun – The Ultimate Outcome
What does the future hold, after all is said and done?
11) The World – The Underworld
What lies beneath that can help or hinder?
STEP 1: Read the cards in the above order, one by one.
Then read the Ultimate Outcome cards as one: The Queen of Wands is reprimanding the man in the Nine of Wands. But he is supported by The Sun. All will be well for the querent in the end.
STEP 2: Compare the Near Future with the Ultimate Outcome.
The man in the Seven of Pentacles has put life on pause, anxiously awaiting what is next. Then it comes: first, it will be bad (Nine of Wands), then he will be glad (The Sun).
STEP 3: Compare the Buried Truth with the Hope or Fear.
If it is a positive card, it is the hope. Otherwise, it is the fear.
The two positions are aligned. A buried need for stability (Four of Wands) and a desire to be solid and steady (King of Pentacles). The querent is clear about his wishes.
STEP 4: Compare the Conscious Goal with the Ultimate Outcome.
It all happens as hoped for. The querent wishes to get away with something (Seven of Swords). And after a bit of scuffle (Nine of Wands), he does (The Sun).
STEP 5: Compare the Advice with the Ultimate Outcome.
The querent needs to stop acting the victim (Eight of Swords). Once he moves forward, he will face the punishment he fears, yes (Queen of Wands and Nine of Wands). But it will all work out (The Sun). No rainbow without rain.
STEP 6: Close the reading.
For this, you have ten more things to do. All the best to you.
games (mostly text-based) about houses and places-- exploring them, haunting them, feeding them:
childhood homes (and why we hate them) - after a decade, you return home.
return - a text-based horror game about coming home.
singing from the far side of the hill - about a trans woman, homeless after a bad breakup, who rents a stranger's spare room. it's a decision she comes to regret.
anatomy - Explore a suburban house, collect cassette tapes, study the physiology of domestic architecture.
leave house - leave house
the open house - We at Northtree Real Estate (in partnership with Optix Dynamix Labs) are proud to present our new, state-of-the-art, open house simulator! Come and take a quick tour of 15615 Hollow Oak Lane, a familiar and comfortable showcase home in one of our premier developments!
what girls do in the dark - This little game is based off one of the greatest fears they had as a teenage girl: showing up late to a stranger's slumber party.
unbecoming - a sonically-textured interactive horror fiction exploring cycles of trauma and unspeakable forces of nature in a mythic rural American landscape.
13 laurel road - an interactive fiction game about the relationships we have with places and reconciling with trauma. You play as a young man named Noah who has been tasked with picking up some things from his cousin’s old house.
domvs - a gothic mystery game in which you rely on your environment to uncover the truth.
flesh, blood, & concrete - you find yourself in a vast, empty apartment complex.
i am still here - a short, unconventional ghost story and vignette reflecting on the end of a long lockdown.
vacant - Film a ghost-hunting show.
what gets me about every instance of clubbing/partying discourse on here is the Jughead complex people bring to it. Oh I'm weird I'm a weirdo of course I've never been to a party or the club only cool normal people have access to those things. Which is just completely false the biggest freaks I know are partying harder than anyone you just have to pluck up the courage to go the first time and then you'll see there's nothing special about these spaces and nobody at a party when you're an adult is going to care if you're socially awkward
i watched one (1) video on how to draw hands that changed my life forever. like. i can suddenly draw hands again
these were all drawn without reference btw. i can just. Understand Hands now (for the most part, im sure theres definitely inaccuracies). im a little baffled
09/28/2022
We have a tiny victory! I finally convinced my supervisor that I should be allowed to work from home while I am very ill.
I had some congee today--i'd made up a couple of onsen eggs and put them in a bowl to crack over it for breakfast, but apparently my sister thought I'd simply forgot to put them back in the carton. Unsure of which eggs were mine, I didn't take any, and she had a surprise when she tried to make french toast this morning. (Serves her right!)
My throat hurts less, which is good, but I'm coughing more, which is less good. My voice is even weaker than it was before.
Jonathan may need migraine glasses long-term. Their photophobia and migraines aren't going away. I've found a few that would be good, but I really need to get home to them soon. As soon as I'm better, I want to catch the next ticket to the road. I need to be in the best shape I can be, but I can't wait too long if it means the love of my life can't function.
They're so lonely without me. I miss them too. I want to be there. I need to be there. I'm so tired here.
As soon as I enter the road, I have 2 weeks to get to my destination or risk being lost forever. I can live that way, but I can't leave Jonathan on their own.
I can make it. I have to make it.
(via thatfoodiejess)
yes its based on 'Ivan the Terrible and His Son'
some in-progress screenshots/behind-the-scenes under the cut~
Sketching, lineart (which was abandoned eventually, as you can see lmfao) and basic color/lighting blocking:
I created mockup poses using DAZ3D, as well as using Dotflare's 'HD Gabriel' model and Xetirano's 'V1 model' as visual references for drawing some of the details correctly.
I modelled the background by hand in Blender and aligned it with my previously-created DAZ3D poses to get the perspective correct and kinda just...slapped some colors and perspective blur on it and called it a day.
This is about 12 days' worth of work, ish. I can't remember if I worked on it every day or not.
09/26/2022
ah... I've been neglectful. Hello, readers.
I am back at my desk. I have spent the past several days trapped in my bed again, shifting in and out of consciousness. I have taken ill. My father came down with it a few days past, and I was foolish enough to believe that if I locked myself in my room, it would pass me over.
Not so! I am absolutely miserable. My throat is swollen and on fire. My chest has begun to hurt. I am so frail already, and Cruel Fate has taken it upon herself to make my life even harder. Mm.
I went to the doctor yesterday to confirm my diagnosis, and she was... really something. She told me that there really are other illnesses out there, still, other than the crawling mist, and made me feel really quite stupid. Then, a few hours later, her receptionist called me to apologize--that the doctor had never actually looked at my test results, and had simply assumed I was looking for attention.
Well.
My supervisor is working from home today. He seemed to think that I should be fine to work in the office, despite the fact that I barely have a voice with which to speak.
I've gotten to speak with Jonathan a bit more. We got to talk for a whole 20 minutes yesterday when I got my test results--I could barely breathe, they were very kind with me. Their head is feeling a bit better.
The road will have to wait a few days more, unfortunately. Gracie has been very helpful. I found and washed her favorite pillow, and she has been cuddled up beside me in bed. I will share a picture later.
I have barely been able to eat today. I made myself a bowl of rice with furikake, but it tasted every oddly of wood, so I threw the entire thing away. Hoping I don't pass out at my desk.
Thanksgiving Menu and Guide