In this essay I go into as much depth as I can about this elemental working as I learned it from Taylor Ellwood and what I hope to accomplish.

Preparation
Entering a year long study with anything takes a bit of prep work. This elemental working takes quite a bit of preparation before you decided to jump right into doing it. At minimum, you need to know three things:

• The element you what to work with. I keep a running list of “elements” in one of my books of magical stuff and when it gets close to the next year I look over the list and select one, or add a new one to it. You will want to create a virtual meeting space to work with the deity and have that deity give you a symbol (or agree on one that you have found) so that you can invoke that deity at any time.
  
• The deity exemplar you want to work with. This can be a real deity from a standard pantheon, a person you know or admire, an animal totem or spirit guide, or a fictional character. Sometimes it’s good to research a few candidates, and interview each, for this experience to find the one that suits you best. Once you have your deity, you need to research everything you can find on that entity. The more of a complete image of the deity you have, the better the experience becomes.

• The change, or desired outcome, you want this element to help you achieve. Why is this working important now? What do you hope to achieve by mastering this element? These are good questions to keep in mind as you prep for a year long adventure.

To put this into practice, I’ll use myself as an example:

Obviously I picked “alchemy” as my element. This term came out of having several discussions with my friends Anna, Ember, and Taylor, as well as my husband Kender, about what I wanted to do with my tarot life. Ever since I got home from the Readers Studio, it’s been clear that I want to make tarot a central figure in both my working life and spiritual life. Everything I want to do moving forward joins hand in hand with tarot. The below is how I defined my intent for this alchemical working:

transformation of myself and synthesis of all the knowledge I have learned throughout the years of studying and playing with tarot.

I have a picture in my head of where I want to be in a year or so: published tarot author; successful tarot reader/coach to clients in helping transform their life and giving them a clear set of bullet points to attain their goals and dreams; and a budding tarot coaching practice where I teach others what I know and how to read the cards from no knowledge at all.

With all this in mind, the idea of alchemy… turning lead into gold, pushing myself beyond my limits to become something new… seemed to fit rather well.

The second thing I did was list a few possible deities: Nicholas Flammel, Kelsier, and Vin. The first one is the only “real” alchemist I’ve heard of, while the other two were characters from the fictional world of the Mistborn series. That series uses a creative magical system where the characters imbibe metals to have effects on the world. It’s a form of alchemy and seemed to fit well with my intents. I then interviewed each person to see what they said and how they felt teaching me the principles of alchemy according to the desired transformations. The only one who wholeheartedly wanted to work with me was Kelsier. So I had my deity.

Finally, I took to the interwebs to re-remind me of the metals Kelsier and Vin used in the Mistborn series; I also reread the info about my deity. Since I’m no alchemist, I also thought it important to have a background idea of what this magical process was and where it came from. With Taylor’s help I gathered a list of book titles and purchased a few of them to help give me the basics I needed that were specific to this working’s needs. I also found two symbols to work with Keliser. One is a hand motion that I can use at any time to invoke him to help me with my working. The other is a meditation focus that I’ll use to set my transformation intent.

Dedication Ritual Outline
This is where we fast forward to today. This morning I went into my ritual room and held my dedication ritual. I’ve written a new script to use and share so that I can help others learn this process. Despite this being my 4th year doing the process, I still feel like I am an initiate at it. Another goal of this year’s working is to integrate tarot a bit more strongly into the working from previous years, so I’ve added more tarot bits and integration.

Bring a tarot deck, or two, into your sacred space. If you like candles, incense, or any other implements, gather those too. Prepare yourself however you normally do before performing spells or rituals. Then you can follow this script.

Set up circle.

Bring in elements to preside over the working. Light candles, incense, or whatever helps you focus.

Ground and meditate.

Say: Today I dedicate myself to the element of . I call upon my mentor exemplar who will guide me through the next 12 months of learning about the element and how I can effectively use it in my life.

Say: Welcome deity. I call upon you today to dedicate myself to you and your teachings of . Please guide me through the process of working with this element that will bring me clarity and insight into my life during the next 12 months. I promise to listen to you and do the internal work necessary to improve my life.

Meditate and see if the deity has insight to offer. Pull first tarot card and ask the question, “What aspect of should I focus on this month?”

When finished thank the deity and elements by putting out candles and focus.

Write down experiences and thoughts gleaned from the working and then begin to do any activities that you or your deity feel useful to learning about this element.

This outline is flexible enough that it doesn’t take a whole lot of time. It also allows you to perform other workings that you may want your deity and the elements to oversee. The next section gives you what I did at my ritual.

Alchemical Dedication
I lit a yellow candle for air, then lit a dragon’s blood incense stick. Using the incense stick I proceeded to light a red candle for fire, and a blue candle for water. I don’t light candles for earth, preferring to use that time to ground myself and open a connection to earth.

When I felt stable and grounded, I then began the above script, dedicating myself to alchemy and Kelsier. I spent some time talking to him in the space I created for him. I was looking for his approval as well as any words he wanted to tell me. His first request of me was to “know my metals.” Before you can work to combine any two metals together, or in his terms, burn a metal effectively, you need to know each individual item by heart and what it does to you. Therefore, I will be taking a 78 day, one card a day, study of my “metals” or my tarot cards. I will try to fully imbibe each essence and craft my own LWB of meanings for each one. At the end, I hope that I have a good base foundation for which to burn and combine these elements.

I then deviated from the script for a bit. I had two side workings:

• Perform a new moon/eclipse ritual reading for today.
• Cleansed and initiate 4 new tarot decks into my service. One of the decks was my new Gaian Tarot and I wanted Kelsier watching over this process since I’m using this deck in this working.
  

So I performed these workings and then refocused my attention to the script. The final thing I did was to pull a single card from the deck to focus my energies for the next 30 days. The card I drew was “20-Awakening.” While I have not read the information Joanna added to her book, I can already tell you that I feel like this is an auspicious start to this year’s working. I am awakening from an old perspective, an old way of doing things, and magics and working on the wonder that is transformational alchemy and the serious study of tarot and integration of it into my life as a whole.

I set this card on my altar where I will visit it daily and meditate on the concepts of awakening and “knowing my metals” for the next 30 days.

I closed the down my ritual and then wrote down notes of the experience in my book of shadows stuff.

Conclusion
This post contains a heck of a lot to digest, I know this. Unfortunately, there’s no real short cut way to explain the transformation and processes that go into a year long working. That would take a whole book or more to elaborate on. It is my hope that you all have gotten an idea of this year long element working can go. The effects of working with an element in this way are powerful. Three years later I am still working with, and honing my power, with the element of movement. The weight I’ve lost under that element’s guide and help makes me proud.

What’s Next?
Now I start my year long journey with alchemy. I’ll start working on my card a day experience tomorrow. I plan to focus on just the Shadowscapes deck as that’s my go-to deck. And I’ll also do any other assignments or workings as Kelsier, or I, deem worthy of fully integrating the processes of alchemy into my life.

I won’t be posting experiences every day. However, I will be posting a 30-day summary of my experiences, which should give you a idea of what it’s like to undertake this experience. You can also visit Taylor’s blog, Magical Experiments, to get his perspective of how he uses his own technique in his life.

I hope you have questions. Really, I do. So please, feel free to contact me in any way, here, Facebook, email and I will do my best to help you understand what this is and what I get out of doing it every year? Yes, there have been “failures” but even then I have learned a lot from those experiences.

I shared a stories of how I got into tarot, and what I like to use the cards for. I tried giving a more in-depth response and explanation of the year long elemental working I am doing and how the tarot fits into it, as well as some quick information on both my book-in-process, Experimental Tarot Techniques, as well as some of the information I give to people in two of my more popular classes. We also talked a bit about spread creation.

For those who missed my debut radio appearance, you can listen to it here:

I’ll share stories of how I got into tarot, what I use the cards for, and my new year-long elemental journey with the element alchemy. This process combines using the cards and creative visualization to help promote a deep and long lasting transformation within one self.

Here’s the link to the show and look forward to everyone tuning in.

Come one, come all and join me in welcoming innowen.etsy.com to the fold. I’ve added my current 21 case stock to the store and these are ready to ship. They all fit standard sized decks and I am taking custom orders for decks that are smaller or longer in size. I also offer a wide variety of acrylic and cotton fibers (I’m allergic to wool and other animal fibers) colorways as well as Fimo clay button options. I’ve even made accessing my store simple by offering a link and a sampling of the cases on the store in the right hand sidebar to this site.

In the future I plan on adding handmade journals and Kindle (or other eBook reader) cases to the site! I’m excited to be able to share my art creations with you and to give your decks a comfy home to sit in.

Check out the Magical Experiments page at Blog Talk Radio here and I look forward to everyone tuning in.

I purchased The Tarot Game right before going to The Readers Studio and since returning home, I haven’t had much time to read the rules or play. Much to my surprise, Jude was offering two person games via Skpye. So I jumped on the chance to play and learn from the creator herself.

The following game notes are one sided only. While Jude graciously gave me permission to write about our session, I felt uncomfortable posting the details of her side of the game. However, my side should give readers an idea of the variety of gameplay offered by The Tarot Game.

The goal of the game is to fill in the reading sheets to receive wisdom and knowledge about your question or theme. Since we were playing a “short” game (we were on Skype for an hour), we used the Beginner sheet which had us go until we both filled in 4 cards. Alternatively, you can use a tarot journal and go until you’re satisfied with the cards and answers you’ve got.

We started out the game by swapping questions or themes we were exploring in the game. I choose the theme of alchemy because I am preparing to work with this element for a whole year next Wednesday. I told Jude that my definition of alchemy was, “transformation and synthesis of my life and tarot knowledge to get me to the next (or higher) stage in my life.”

Then we picked out blessing coins. Usually this is done by each person playing the game but as Jude was the “game keeper” she randomly picked three coins for me. These were: vision, charity, hope. Blessing coins are fun items that players get to keep or swap and give to other players as the game progresses.

We then rolled the dice. I asked her to roll a single dice (the game comes with me) and we got a two. This put me on the Spiral spot. Jude drew a card from the Spiral Deck and told me to tell her a story about a time where I had to compromise–focusing on the benefits of doing so. So I pulled my 4 of Swords out from the deck and told Jude about a time where compromise helped me out in my marriage. I then jotted down notes and she took her turn.

On my next turn, Jude rolled two dice and I got to move forward 7 spaces. This put me on an infinity symbol which gave me “free will.” I was free to stretch or do anything I wanted. So I decided to grab my own set of 6-sided dice from my bookcase and stretch.

Then I rolled three dice for a total of 18. I landed on the “tell the player to my left something nice about them.” And so I gushed a bit about Jude. Based on my response, she gave me her passion blessing token.

Then I rolled two dice and got a total of 8, which put me on a roll again spot. So I rolled one dice and landed on The Hanged Man Spot. This gave me my second (of four) card for this reading. Jude then asked me a question from the Major Arcana sheet, “Tell me about a turning point in your life.” And I told her about the time I had mono and what I learned from it. These were how to take care of myself, focus on one thing, that it’s okay to say no, and how to ask for help.”

Once more, my response solicited Jude to give me a blessing token. This time, it was balance. Little did she know that balance is something I try to strive for throughout my life. Thanks Jude!

I rolled two more dice and moved 7 spaces more. I landed on a star card. This is not The Star card from a tarot deck but another one of the special spots from The Tarot Game. Jude pulled a card from the star deck and asked me to take a full deck and grab a card from it. I was then to create an affirmation from this card, based on what I saw. I grabbed my Pocket Universal Waite and the 4 of Cups jumped right out at me.

Now I’m not good at crafting affirmations so my first attempt was “I push through to succeed.” Jude helped me refine and hone the affirmation, so that we came out with, “When I am feeling myself unfocused, I push through to succeed.” I’m also supposed to find time to integrate this affirmation into my life for a week.

We then had a small discussion on productivity techniques and she gave me some good advice on some new techniques I can use to integrate into my self-employment practice.

By this time, Jude already filled out her reading sheet. Apparently, in the game, it is okay if players finish before one another. The rest can either keep on going or end the game there to go onto the Completion phase. Wanting to get the full benefit of playing, I opted to move on.

I rolled the two more dice and got a total of 9. This put me on the Sun card. She asked me, “How do I express myself?” And I answered by talking, writing, making collage and doodle arts, graphic design and crochet.

That last roll completed my reading so we moved onto the last phase of the game. This is where each player takes time to look at their cards and create an integrated affirmation or action plan that will help them answer their question or address their theme.

I spent time looking at my cards. In order I drew: the 4 of Swords, The Hanged Man, the 4 of Cups, and The Sun. Using what I knew about these cards I came up with the following affirmation:

Rest, perspective, reach out to accept help, do the work, and enjoy the fruits of my labor/success.

When I told Jude this, she said that it was fine but not exactly what she was hoping for. The hardest thing for tarot readers to do in the game is to create affirmations based on the card meanings themselves. Instead, Jude says that the affirmations work best when they integrate aspects of what was said in the game.

Together we created the new and improved affirmation:

I accept the support of my husband while I rest and push through to do the work to express myself and make art.

She then recommends that you work with this spread and affirmation by journalling about it and meditating on what was said for awhile.

I plan on using both affirmations that I created to help bring forth the transformation and success that I want for myself and my tarot business.

It’s my hope that this review/reading of The Tarot Game fuels your desire to give it a try for yourself. I’m already chomping at the bit to try this game out with my husband and all my friends. If you’ve already played it, feel free to leave some comments about your experience in the comment box below!

I arrived just after 2:30 and before the pacNW storms could get any wetter. Ember had lovingly set up a spot in her living room for our activities, complete with a red parlor theme. The tea was already stepping and cups of honey and lemon sat ready to sweeten the deal. After greeting the kitties, I set about to ploofing out my gear and setup a small nook for me to call my own. I brought The Herbal Tarot, the Shadowscapes Tarot, and the Tarot of the Divine Legacy to play and share. We love to have a “show and tell” with our new decks and I got to experience the pretties that is the Wizards Tarot and the Mona Lisa Tarot while she looked over my offerings.

Once we stopped oohing and aaahing over the decks, we set down to “serious” play. We decided to use the handbook that comes with the Wizards tarot to base our day around. We spent time looking through the book until we settled on three spreads. Our first spread was the Strength’s Familiars Spread, which was a fun and unique look at “selecting” a familiar to use. Ember drew The Lovers Card, while later on, I drew the Chariot. Surprising (or not) our readings were rather spot on and we both agreed that we’d do further investigations with our familiars.

We scanned the book again, this time selecting two more spreads. Ember decided that Transfiguration’s (aka Death) Past Life Spread looked interesting; while I wanted to play with Alchemy’s (aka Temperance) Spread. I won’t write about the Past Life experience but it was rather insightful and I can’t wait to see what insights Ember receives when she meditates on the lessons and “anvils” the cards gave her.

I chose the Alchemy Spread because this year I plan on working with the “element” of Alchemy to focus my energies and transform and manifest myself and my magical practice into the image I have inside my head. I’ll be writing more about this process and the elemental working later. I used my Shadowscapes deck with the Alchemist’s Spread and was NOT disappointed. This three card spread helped me to understand what energies I have in carrying out “creative” projects from idea to draft to completion (or publication).

The first card I drew was the Two of Wands. I see this card as the brainstorm generator card. In the Sulphur spot, this card defines and shows exactly how I work to start new projects. I don’t think I could’ve picked a better card. The figure in the card is myself, sitting with my cat (one of my kitties loves to snuggle as I write) looking off into the swirling yellow and orange “creation mists” waiting for inspiration.

The second card I drew was The Chariot. Which was funny and fitting since I received it in Strength’s Familiar Spread. This “Mercury” position shows my ability to nurture and develop new projects as they bloom in the early stages. There’s no doubt about it, when my ideas fully form, I go go go with them until they’re done. I set my mind to it and do whatever it takes to finalize it.

The third, and final, card I drew was the 3 of Cups in the “Salt” position. This card displays the ways in which I take ideas and move it from start to finish, transforming the vision into a manifested product. The 3 of cups, at first glance, seems a bit odd here but for me it makes perfect sense. I rely a lot on my editors, friends and colleagues to help me solidify my ideas, generate missing bits, and hone my writing via editing to present it to the world. The power of community helps me publish my book and as I have an extensive network of professionals, I’m at no loss for publishing my work into the world.

All in all, I was impressed by this little reading and can’t wait to find a copy of the Wizards Tarot for my own study. We finished our spreads and then headed to dinner where we had a lovely steak dinner. As Ember works really early in the morning, I collected my gear, towel, and decks; scritched the kitties; and headed home.

World Tarot Day was a success this year. I had such a great (and long) day of participating: chatting with my mentor Wald, networking with my community on Twitter, winning a copy of Tarot for Manifestation by James Wells, and sharing tarot love with one of my closest friends. As we draw World Tarot Day 2011 to a close, I want to thank everyone who’s had a reading from me, or attended my class, or spoke with me about tarot. You all inspire me and help keep the fuel for my tarot obsession burning.

A few moments ago I pulled out my trusty Shadowscapes tarot and asked the cards: What is the spirit of Tarot for the next year? In return, I received the King of Cups.

King of Cups- Shadowscapes Deck (copyright by Llewellyn Books)

As an answer to the question for this year, the King of Cups suggests that we combine both knowledge and heart (passion) together to form a solid and long lasting formation with Tarot. This year will be the year that, if you study hard, and really take the time to integrate the cards’ wisdom, that you go deep and learn to become the mirror that Tarot is.

And on a personal note, the King of Cups is one of the cards that is focused on in the current Lesson (number 6—almost halfway there!) that I’m working on for my Tarot School Correspondence Degree study.

What card did you draw today? How does that perspective reflect the upcoming year’s worth of Tarot spirit for you and the rest of the world? Have more insight into the King of Cups? Please post a comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Follow my twitter feed (innotarot) to get first hand snippets of the fun as it unfolds. I plan to use the hashtag of #worldtarotday. You’ll get two posts from me tomorrow: a tarot tea party recap and another answering the question of “What is the spirit of Tarot for the next year?” On Thursday, I’ll share with you my experience with playing The Tarot Game with its creator, Jude Alexander.

Do you know where your tarot deck is? How about your towel? Are you ready to educate, experiment, and see what the tarot can do for you during this exciting tarot-charged day? If not, find your local tarot reader and ask them to share the wisdom of the cards with you!

Theresa’s amazing. I’m so glad that I got the chance to partner with her at the Reader’s Studio. She started the session right on time and lead us through an hour’s worth of tips, tricks, and inspiration to start, or work on our own blogs.

So what did I learn?

1. Blogging gives us four things: it helps you get to know me; it allows me to educate you on various tarot aspects; it allows me to entertain you (well, I DO firedance… maybe not with the cards tho); and it helps increase my business awareness online.
2. Theresa gave me permission to talk about things that have “been said before”. Everything may have been said, but it hasn’t been said in my voice or with my perspective.
   That it’s okay to write for both clients and peers. I want to strike a balance between sharing tarot stories with both clients and peers while getting them the information they need.
3. I brainstormed new topics to write for and I learned that I should put blogging due dates on my calendar to really make this habit stick.
4. Blogging should be done with a “just do it” attitude. Or as I like to think of it, a NaNoWriMo mode, where I shove my author and editor brain aside and just write something and get it up. So I’ll be trying to do that more often.

She was even kind enough to answer a question that I forgot to ask during the teleclass.

“What is your take on the difference between a newsletter (email or print) and a blog? I tend to do both and have a hard time figuring out where to draw the line on sharing.”

Her response, “Ah – good question. Here’s the deal: a blog allows you to reach an audience and show your personality. And hopefully it gets people to sign up for your newsletter. Because the newsletter is where you can offer deals, etc. for your clients and get to know them better – and allow them to get to know you even better! ” Good advice indeed.

I’m looking forward to next month’s seminar on “Stop Being A Broke Ass Tarot Reader” on Tuesday June 21st. If you’re a tarot reader and could use some expert advice on growing your business, then don’t miss this one!