19 Solstice Journaling Prompts To Light You Up

The solstice is just around the corner, and regardless of where you live in the world, this time of year marks a turning point.

Whether you are celebrating the Summer or Winter Solstice, the common theme is Light.

While in the Northern Hemisphere the light peaks, in the Southern Hemisphere it returns, so the following solstice journaling prompts are universal rather than specific to geographical location.

When the light appears or peaks in our life, there is always a sense of joy connected with it.

It’s time to celebrate, have a laugh and enjoy the moment.

So, have some fun and get lit with this light-hearted collection of seasonal prompts:

A highlight to celebrate
What needs illuminating
What am I visualising
What do I need to be more optimistic about:
What am I attracting:
What am I inspired to do:
How can I be a beacon of light to others?
Where to focus my energy:
What do I need to be more mindful about:
A self-care practice that would benefit me at this time:
A new direction:
What delights me:
What lights me up:
A moment of enlightenment:
A fun revelation:
Happiness is…
A creative talent that needs nurturing:
What needs invigorating:
How I currently express myself

Let’s play the Solstice Divination Game

Here’s a fun and insightful way to turn the journaling prompts into a divination game.

Play on your own or with friends.

Write each journaling prompt on a piece of card, shuffle and draw up to four cards to create a spread.

You can also just draw one card for daily guidance over the coming weeks.

Or you can play with others by letting them draw a journaling prompt and tarot card for a mini reading.

*** This game isn’t just for the Solstice – play it throughout summer or when you feel like you want to get lit ?? ***

**You can also download my Solstice Divination Game Kit on Patreon, which includes an extended list of 29 journaling prompts and cards already prepared ready to be printed.**

It also includes a fun colouring image that can be used as a reading mat.

Join the Cosmic Spirit Study to access all the printable tarot resources I create to support you on your tarot and spiritual journey.

For only $3.33 a month it’s a total bargain.

Can’t wait to welcome you there ?

Warmest wishes,

Christiane

How To Create Your Own Oracle Deck

It is surprisingly easy to create your own oracle deck. That’s because anything goes.

You don’t need to be artistically talented. You can choose your own artwork, but you can also use photography, your own or stock and public domain images.

It can be any theme, with or without keywords, phrases, size, any structure you like.

You can even choose how many cards your oracle deck contains. It’s all down to your imagination.

But you need to ensure that the deck you create actually works in a reading.

When I created the Cosmic Journaling Oracle, I applied a little trick to give it structure:

I used the Major Arcana from the Tarot to cover a universal range of life experiences, so the oracle would offer meaningful advice in readings.

For this purpose, choose an upright and reversed keyword for each of the 22 Major Arcana cards, and hey presto, you have the titles for 44 oracle cards.

For example:

The Fool – new beginnings, folly
The Magician – potential, trickery
The High Priestess – intuition, illusion
The Empress – creativity, lethargy
The Emperor – leadership, control
The Hierophant – stability, dogma
The Chariot – independence, struggle

Once you have completed your list of cards you want to create, you can decide whether to just use the keywords or turn them into a phrase.

For example:

New beginnings: A new journey bears risks but also great reward.
Trickery: Beware of deception. Not all is what it seems.
Stability: A solid foundation provides security.

You can also expand on these phrases. In fact, if you don’t have the artwork for your oracle deck yet, you can just print the oracle messages.

I have done this for the Mainfesting Change Empowerment Cards and the healing cards included in Cosmic Journaling Through The Year.

Next, print your cards. Insert them in a Word table (you can also do this in Google Docs) and convert the document to PDF:

make your own oracle deck — Cards printed on 180g light blue card stock suitable for inkjet printers

For the artwork I have used my own photography.

Check out How to create your own Tarot Deck for more information on photo editing websites and where you can get your deck printed, if you want to sell it.

However, as a first step create your own oracle deck for personal use and try it out.

A handmade oracle deck would even make a great gift for a friend, who is into this kind of thing ?

Tip

Just in case you do decide at a later stage to have your deck printed by a printing company, make sure the size of the images complies with standard playing card sizes, otherwise you will have to reformat all your images, which would be a lot of unnecessary extra work.

You can find the sizes on printing companies’ websites, most of which will have templates for you to download.

You can choose from mini size (like mine) right through to tarot/large playing card sizes. Some companies even offer round and square card printing.

Try this…

An oracle deck with keywords can also be used as a random tarot spread generator, a technique I have already mentioned in my previous post.

Simply draw three cards to create your spread. Here’s an example:

You can either formulate a question around each keyword or just keep as it is to read intuitively with a tarot card drawn for each keyword.

Now it’s over to you to create your own magical oracle deck, or make a start by downloading the digital edition of the Cosmic Journaling Oracle (take advantage of 15% sharing discount during September!)

Warmest wishes,

Christiane

Tarot Guidance In 4 Words

There are many fun and creative ways to connect with the tarot and develop your reading skills, and here’s a little Tarot game you can play.

Let’s play Tarot Guidance in 4 Words – #tarotguidancein4words

How it works:

Shuffle your deck and pull a card.

Come up with a meaningful message in just four words that relates to the card. It should be a phrase or sentence, not just a set of keywords.

You can also apply this reading method to spreads, and in order to demonstrate it, I have used the Celtic Cross:

Present Situation – The Tower: Break down, break through.
What is crossing it – King of Cups: Be kind to yourself.
Heart of the Matter – The Emperor: Put your foot down.
Past influences – Knight of Pentacles: Persevere despite slow progress.
Attitudes and Beliefs – Seven of Swords: Watch out for dishonesty.
Near Future – Three of Swords: Heal your broken heart.
You as you are – Ace of Cups: Embrace love around you.
How others see you – Five of Pentacles: In need of help.
Advice – Two of Wands: Take a new direction.
Outcome – The Empress: Create your dream life.

Have a go and see what you come up with.

Share your ideas on social media (works great on Instagram) with #tarotguidancein4words and tag me @cosmicfaery

You can also use your oracle cards #oracleguidancein4words

Let’s play and offer some guidance along the way

Warmest wishes,

Christiane

How To Make Your Own Rune Set

Would you like to learn more about runes and how to read them?

In this article, I’m showing you how you can easily make your own rune set and start learning the basics.

One of the tasks of the 30 day divination picture challenge I recently participated in was to write my name in runes.

That challenge reminded me of a fun workshop I enjoyed at a TABI conference many years ago, in which we created our own rune set on paper cards, and it also reminded me that I always wanted to learn more about runes.

If you feel the same and are curious about runes, you can make your own card set before you spend money on crystal runes or rune decks.

Materials you will need:

200gsm heavy cardstock
ruler
ballpoint pen
colour pens
scissors (or guillotine paper cutter)

Instructions:

Cut the cardstock into 24 card squares measuring 55 x 55 mm. You can use ruler and scissors or a guillotine paper cutter.

runes Then fill out each card as per image on the left:

rune in the centre with a colour pen
name of the rune underneath
corresponding alphabet letter in the bottom left-hand corner
its symbolic meaning in the bottom right-hand corner
divinatory meaning at the top

Scroll down for full list of runes and their meanings.

If you feel adventurous, you can choose more expensive card stock, glitter pens and stickers to make your rune set more special.

If you want to use coloured or patterned card stock, make sure it is white on one side, so you can write on it.

You can increase the size of each rune card (perhaps to the size of a standard Tarot card), if you want to add more information or illustration.

Once you have completed your rune set, you can start getting to know the runes by spreading out your set face down and picking one each day as a special message.

For more information about runes, try the following resources:

Books

1. A Practical Guide To The Runes: Their Uses in Divination and Magick

2. Futhark: Handbook of Rune Magic

3. The Runes Workbook: A Step-by-step Guide to Learning the Wisdom of the Staves

Websites

1. Divination using Runes

2. Elder Futhark – Rune Meanings

elder futhark runes alphabet — Rune names and corresponding letters

Divinatory Meanings:

Fehu Frey – Cattle – Wealth, Energy, Mother Rune

Uruz Power – Wild Ox – Power, Creative Force, Health, Strength

Thurisaz Thor – Thorn, Giant – Protection, Irritation, Polarity, Regeneration

Ansuz Odin – God – Ancestors, Inspiration, Wisdom

Raido – Wheel – Journey, Growth, Rhythm, Solar Chariot

Kenaz – Torch, Fire – Clarity, Illumination, Knowledge

Gebo – Gift – Love, Sharing, Divine Interaction

Wunjo – Joy – Harmony, Contentment, Kinship, Heritage

Hagalaz – Hail, Air – Change, Transformation, Crisis, Egg of Life

Nauthiz (Nied) – Need – Necessity, Friction, Shadow, Distress, Recognition, Self-Reliance

Isa – Ice – Stasis, Blockage, Cosmic Coherence

Jera – Year, Earth – Harvest, Reward, Good Timing, Cycles, Right Action

Eihwaz – Yew, Horse – Protection, Endurance, Relationships, Twin Gods

Perthro – Hearth, Lot Cup – Risk, Gamble, Fun, Divination, Primal Law

Algiz (Elhaz) – Elk – Protection, Sanctuary, Awakening, Connection to Spirit

Sowulo – Sun – Hope, Warmth, Success, Wheel of Power, Thunderbolt

Teiwaz (Tir) Tyr – Victory – Justice, Analysis, Masculine Gods, Warrior Rune

Berkana (Beorc) – Birth – Fertility, Liberation, Earth Mother

Ehwaz – Two Horses – Harmony, Trust, Journey

Mannaz – Man – Community, Awareness, Order, Divine Union, Manifestation

Laguz – Lake, Water – Flow, Life, Vitality, Unconscious, Fertility, Renewal

Inguz (Ingwaz) – Fertility – True Love, Passion, Gestation, Growth, Music, Harmony

Othila (Othel) – Property – Home, Economy, Ancestral, Inheritance

Dagaz – Dawn, Day – Coming into Light, Intuition, Light Within

This is all the information you need to make a start. Please do let me know, how you get on. I’d love to hear from you.

Warmest wishes,

Christiane

FREE Desktop Wallpaper

I love creating magickal images, and here is one I made earlier.

It’s dreamy, dark and mysterious, and I want to offer it to you as a free desktop wallpaper.

Imagine following that path through the castle….where will it lead you to?

But don’t escape for too long. You’ve got work to do in the real world

It looks great on my laptop, and I hope you will love it, too.

Just click on the image to enlarge it on your screen. Then right click to save on your device, and then set it as your new background.

Enjoy!

Christiane

How to Create Your Own Tarot Deck

I first announced my intention to create a Tarot deck back in April 2012.

It was on a whim, although I had been playing with the idea to turn my own photography into Tarot images for years.

But this is what you do, when you have been working with the Tarot for a while: you look at your life and your environment with Tarot eyes!

First, you start to associate your everyday experiences with specific cards.

For example, last year was my Hanged Man year, I’ve been dealt some Tower moments in my life and made a momentous Lovers choice in the early 90s, which has led me to where I am today.

Then you start looking at your holiday snaps and think oh, that would make a great High Priestess or this is just the perfect Star for me, and so on…

My drawing talents are very limited, but with the advance of photo-editing software and online resources it has never been easier to turn regular photos into magickal images.

If you are interested in creating your own Tarot (or oracle) deck, but you cannot draw or paint, then why not consider using your own photography instead.

Here are some tips and resources to get you started:

1. Equipment

It’s perfectly fine to use the built-in camera of your smartphone, as long as it’s a minimum of 5 Mega Pixels. You can even use an easy-to-use photo app to edit and beautify your images.

However, I have found it easier to store and edit my photos on my laptop using the following web-based photo editing software:

https://www.befunky.com/

https://www.picmonkey.com/

https://pixlr.com/

These websites offer many free features, but you can also subscribe to premium membership to access even more.

2. Theme of your Deck

The deck I’m creating reflects my personal life – experiences, interests, philosophy and spirituality.

Think about the theme and framework of your deck, and choose your images accordingly.

For example, for a deck reflecting your personal life, you could include snapshots of family members as court cards (or the people cards of the Major Arcana), you could use a photo of your local church/mosque/temple/synagogue as the Hierophant card, etc.

Next, you can add a specific atmosphere to the cards, such as a Gothic or whimsical feel by choosing the relevant location for your shot and/or adding effects with your photo-editor.

3. Getting Started

Set a realistic goal. Unless you are a prolific creator, focus on completing the Major Arcana first.

This makes your project seem less overwhelming, and it is very achievable.

Choose the image for each card carefully, but don’t spend too much time on each image either.

You can always adjust or change it later. That’s the beauty of digital work.

Make sure you save all your images (originals and edited) not only on your computer but also separately on a memory stick or in cloud storage!

4. Sizing and Printing Your Images

When you start creating your images, make sure you size them correctly from the start, otherwise you will have to resize your images later.

You can download Tarot card templates from GameCrafter, where you can also have your deck printed, once it’s finished.

5. Designing Your Images

As you begin to use a photo-editor, you will learn to add effects and overlays to your images.

The first images I created were only cropped, resized and the titles and quotes added, but by the time I reached the World, I have learned to fuse various photos into one image.

It takes some experimenting, but you can do this too!

6. Copyright

If you are thinking of using images found on the internet as overlays for your own photo, then you need to be careful about copyright.

For example, avoid using celebrity photos for your deck, if you want to publish and sell it (this doesn’t apply, if you print your deck as a one-off for strictly personal use only).

Marilyn Monroe might be a great Queen of Cups, but her photos are still under copyright unless otherwise stated with individual images.

Use public domain images or stock images that you can buy or are offered free:

http://www.istockphoto.com/ (pay per image)

http://morguefile.com/ (free images)

Wikimedia Commons (public domain images)

7. Have Fun

Don’t put yourself under pressure by setting crazy deadlines. I don’t know when my deck will be complete, but my target of creating four cards a month is realistic for me. So, if all goes well, May 2014 is my big goal.

Enjoy the process of designing each card and find the right image. It has prompted me to visit new places just to capture a specific image. Creating my own Tarot deck has certainly made me go out there!

8. Turn Your Images into Posters and Art Prints

The completion of your deck might still be light years away, but that shouldn’t stop you from turning the ones already created into hard copies or even merchandise.

Check out places like Photobox, where you can turn your creations into all sorts of goodies – from simple prints and greeting cards to canvas wall art.

The process of creating my own Tarot deck has been so enjoyable.

I have gained confidence in creating artwork without the need to paint, and it has also been a kind of spiritual experience, because it has made me think about how the image of each card is reflected in my life.

With today’s technology, it has never been so easy to create your own Tarot deck. If you are inspired, go for it and make a start today.

Warmest wishes,

Christiane

Personalised Tarot Cards Competition – The Winners

Queen Of Wands, personalised Tarot card — Eva, Queen of Wands (c) 2013
Image used with permission

A few weeks ago I came up with the idea to create personalised Tarot cards and decided to run a competition.

I’ve been turning my own photography into Tarot cards for ages, so I wanted to offer three lucky winners the opportunity to have their favourite photo turned into a magickal Tarot image.

And here are the winners:

1. Eva

2. Angela

3. Sibylle

Congratulations, ladies!

One photo has already been transformed (see image), and I will be working on the other two this week.

I am so delighted with the response I received to my first ever competition, and grateful to everyone, who posted their entries and supported me this way.

Thank you so much!

Warmest wishes,

Christiane

PS: You can take a look at Sibylle’s card on her blog the Hag’s Den

Category: Divination DIYs

19 Solstice Journaling Prompts To Light You Up

Let’s play the Solstice Divination Game

**You can also download my Solstice Divination Game Kit on Patreon, which includes an extended list of 29 journaling prompts and cards already prepared ready to be printed.**

Christiane

Like this:

How To Create Your Own Oracle Deck

Tip

Try this…

Christiane

Like this:

Tarot Guidance In 4 Words

Christiane

Like this:

How To Make Your Own Rune Set

Christiane

Like this:

FREE Desktop Wallpaper

Christiane

Like this:

How to Create Your Own Tarot Deck

Christiane

Like this:

Personalised Tarot Cards Competition – The Winners

Christiane

Like this:

Let’s play the Solstice Divination Game

You can also download my Solstice Divination Game Kit on Patreon, which includes an extended list of 29 journaling prompts and cards already prepared ready to be printed.

Christiane

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Tip

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Christiane

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Christiane

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Christiane

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**You can also download my Solstice Divination Game Kit on Patreon, which includes an extended list of 29 journaling prompts and cards already prepared ready to be printed.**