Left Side, Strong Side,Tarot Terrific and Other Unmentionables...

It has long been the belief that the left hand is evil or bad,eg. sinistra, gauche, left-handed compliment, sitting on the left side of God. This as I am learning (courtesy of Stanley Coren ) has more to do with long held prejudices as old as the bible than any sort of legitimate common sense. As a lefty myself I can tell you I do not ascribe to the notion that I am evil or uncouth in any way. I have walked many a dining halls with soup in my hand and nary a drop was spilt. (yes spilt is a word auto-correct, it's archaic but it exists okay!) However given my somewhat strict Christian upbringing one can thank (insert whichever deity you praise here) that my tender right-brained mind did not internalize this absolutely distressing and erroneous rhetoric. I'm also incredibly grateful that my parents didn't take the distressing and erroneous rhetoric to heart and train or smack the left-handedness out of me, that would have sucked. And most especially (yes I started a sentence with 'and' I tried not to) it would distress me because then I never would have started learning Tarot, not to say that Tarot and Left-handedness have any correlation but sometimes you just gotta lean into stereotypes. With that in mind, here we are at the Tarot/Oracle blog post. I know what you're thinking, actually I don't, but you should be thinking how cool Tarot is and how excited you are to hear about this interesting and somewhat bizarre little tradition. There's a lot more to it than I imagined as well, which I learned when I completed a 10 week long course on the subject. So let's start at the top.

There are 78 cards. 7-freaking-8 can you imagine. What the hell could the people upstairs have to say in 78 cards. I mean they seem so incommunicative most of the time that I honestly thought they could handle it in about 10 to 15 tops. Anyway, no, these motherfuckers  absolute angels, have shit to say and they want to say it for 78 freaking cards. It's split into two decks ostensibly, the Major Arcana, comprised of 22 cards and the Minor Arcana comprised of 56 cards. Originally it was the Major Arcana that mattered (so you see I was close) later on the Minor Arcana became a thing (as if the Major Arcana wasn't scary enough on it's own). well 78 cards later it became a well known deck based on the Rider-Waite creation. Rider and Waite were two different people who came together to form the now universally known and acknowledged tarot deck.

Okay, let's wrap this up,  there are 4 suits inn the Minor Arcana- Cups, Wands, Swords, Pentacles, so Water, Fire, Air, Earth respectively or if you will Summer, Spring, Winter, Fall. Now stay with me here, Cups-Emotions, Wands-Energy/Manifestation, Swords-Thoughts, Pentacles-Career, Money, Earthbound necessities anyway all these cards can have specific or particular meanings alone or  when paired with other cards. There are courses offered in your local Metaphysical stores that can go in-depth on this or you can follow Rachel True (of The Craft fame) on insta, amusingly enough she teaches tarot reading.

Anyhow I've been at this since the Spring (Wands for those of you paying attention) and it's definitely made my life more interesting. Youtube is full of tarot readers/twin flame readers, witches, kitchen witch spell tips and all sorts of interesting stuff to make your heart a comfy winter home. You can always start with a singing bowl and an Oracle deck, which is a kinder, gentler more loving version of tarot with about two thirds the amount of cards and a softer touch that won't leave you rocking back and forth in a corner afterwards.

To be honest though, even more than that I suggest a Himalayan salt lamp, they're all soft lighting and pretty and they have a crazy amount of benefits including: cleansing and deodorizing, balancing electro-magnetic radiation, calming allergies and reducing asthma, enhancing mood, boosting blood flow and alleviating coughing and other symptoms from the common cold!! The COMMON COLD!!!!!! I know right?!

Anyway human's, I hope you found this helpful or informative or something because if you didn't, it's too bad you read the whole thing anyway. Better luck next time! Happy November guys (*crickets chirping*).

I SING, I WRITE, I REGRET

Okay Full Disclosure Here,

Real talk time, and none of the Willy Wonka sugar-coating that goes with it either. Being an independent musician or artist in this day and age sucks. It absolutely sucks, and if I had it to do again, to be honest I probably wouldn't. It's a very difficult task in this crappy day and age to attempt to punch through a dark, culturally murky planet and keep the positivity required to create. To write, to sing, to draw, to paint, to create, to manifest, all of these things take a ton of courage, optimism and energy that is hard to manifest and it's difficult to keep that kind of momentum up with everything going on today. 

I recorded an album over a period of 5 years when I wanted nothing more than to give people (and myself) some happiness, and to share the happiness that music gives me with my fellow musician friends and the world. The response of course didn't turn out quite how I would have liked. It's a difficult task to garner an audience in a major city when you're an unknown singing upbeat, hoppy melodies with extensive saxophone solos. 

It's my music, and I truly love it I'm just not convinced that others share my opinion. There's long been a conversation since the beginning of the craft (any craft surely) as to whether art exists without an audience. There is always the strongly held opinion that you make art for yourself and if anyone else enjoys it than that's icing on the cake, however in today's economy I find that take rather classist and myopic. 

Of course you want and need people to enjoy your art, otherwise why not just pluck your little guitar in your bedroom or hang your coloured canvases in your painting in your sacred spaces and never share them with anyone? Art is yours until you share it, then it has a chance to belong to everyone. So YES, every artist wants an audience. I just hope one day I find mine.

Essy the Emo Esoteric...

The Music, The Mood, The Morose....

It's that time again, when the leaves fall from the trees with reckless abandon, when disturbing people blab on about a rather gross beverage from Starbucks and when those who honour Halloween as their favourite holiday, kvell and prepare in exaltation. 

Unfortunately it's also the start of SAD. It's literally called SAD, guys. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder is perfectly acronymed (that's not a word) to describe what we most dread, the end of summer. Those halcyon days of staying up too late watching some outdoor movie and crawling to work the next day on sunshine and a double latte are over. We've come to the end of the sunny run. Also, (and not unrelatedly) we have an Election coming due here in Canada and a few of the choices are quite grim. 

In light of these unpleasant concerns there are a multitude of reasons to want to a) hibernate b) cry c) hibernate and cry. (ASIDE: Definitely vote before you succumb to either of these things). For myself I'm choosing the more optimistic of the voting options that aligns with my values which is the New Democratic Party (NDP) and Jagmeet Singh, but in the interest of things going absolutely toe-up with the creepy, Mr.Sandman looking opposition, I have made this moody and emotive playlist for you to sip your tea  (wine) and stare out the miserable window to. 

Do not distress dear hearts, or if you must, distress along to this playlist and the following movies: Dirty Dancing Hairspray To All The Boys I've Loved Before Peace, Love and Misunderstanding Invincible. Sometimes it's important (after taking considerable action) to simply wallow in things to sit in miserable mire and meditation and really feeeeeel the pain and suffering. so enjoy the curated playlist chock full of Portishead, Jeff Buckley, Ben Harper, Charlotte Church, Amos Lee and some equally mercurial lovelies that may be new to you. Wallow my darlings wallow, then rise again and conquer!!

SOCAN, Stones and Untrustworthy Drones

It can be hard to feel like you're making progress in today's incredibly uncertain emotional and financial climate. Things seem to have a way of spiralling out of control to the point where you wonder if the spiralling ever stopped. Mercury really seems like it's been in Retrograde for about 3 years now so I'm trying to find hope in the little things. Just the other day I received my first check from SOCAN and another person bought my album Doo-Wop Days The EP. So although things seem like they could not possibly be moving any slower, they are at least moving (if even in an infinitesimal way).

Two things I've learned to lean on in times like these are the library and stones. When as a teenager I hit my first (and worst) bout of depression I would (amongst other aides including therapy and medication) plop myself down on the library floor in the Self-Help section and fill my void with Robin Norwood, Iyanla Vanzant, M Scott Peck and Neale Donald Walsh.

These writers helped me immeasurably, they first let me know I was not alone and secondly they let me know why it was happening and what I could do about it. These are 3 of the most useful ways to support someone going through depression or anxiety and these are 3 of the most useful ways to support yourself.

The other trick (which is really less of a trick and more like a little bit of magic on earth) I learned was the value of gemstones. I'm a Taurus, we are the first Earth Sign in the zodiac and Venus is our ruling planet and goddess so Rose Quartz was kind of a no-brainer. I also developed an early appreciation for Hematite, what I love most about it is that it does not pick up other people's negative energy. It is particularly adept at keeping energy suckers and untrustworthy drones away due to its ability to protect and thwart dark energy and negativity, likewise it is one of the only stones that doesn't need to be cleansed when it passes hands. It's also a very grounding stone so sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming or dizzying for Taureans who are already fairly grounded already.

Those two are quite often my go-to stones but there are so many wonderful stones out there with so many wonderful attributes that it's worth it to head out and find the rock store in your city and have a look. I'm headed off to my stone store today since there's unfortunately been a few energy sucking people lurking in my life that could use a good banishing.

May your first week of March be ever in your favour! (are we still using that expression? Probably not) Well I bid you adieu with it anyhow! ❤️

P. S Here's a few pictures of me with an extraordinary Pyrite skull and some Tektite. 

The Dumbest Timeline

There are several working theories on the incredibly dumb timeline/ parallel universe we seem to have haphazardly slipped into. Some involve ripping a whole in the universe. Some involve Trump "winning" the 2016 election (highly possible) or the Cubs winning the World Series.  Even more disturbingly some venture into the Idiocracy territory and question humanity's overall intelligence from the get-go (can't argue with that). I myself, haven't the foggiest idea but I know this timeline is dumb as hell and/or possibly is hell or purgatory or something similar.

How does one deal with such things you ask? If I knew the answer to that then capitalism would at long last be my friend. No dear ones, I have no clue. So I've just been trying to keep my agitated head down and focus on music. My first offering in this vein was released on Valentine's Day of last year. It is called Doo-Wop Days, it is an EP and it is as happy as it is short. So if by chance you are losing your ever-loving (now hating) mind then give it a listen. 

I also wrangled up a fancy, schmancy website for your perusal. Okay it's not that fancy, but it's kinda schmancy and kitschy and cute and I like it so get off my back okay? I wish you the dearest of starts to your March and hope for a swift exit from this seemingly incessant long, dark tea-time of the soul for us all.

P. S I'm tea-totaling this month so all this liquor in the background is just wishful thinking, frankly. 

Always bet on Black.... and a nice matte lip

There's a lot of bad going on in the world right now, narrowing it down to North America there is more than enough orange evil to go around. I can't help my brothers and sisters in the States on the ground (a) because I'm Canadian and (b) because I'm not touching the States with a ten foot Canadian flagpole, so I decided to help in another way that is mutually beneficial. Buying Black. This means increasing my purchases within the Black community by buying from Black owned businesses and supporting Black artists and this is actually a lot of fun. It means picking up an Essence magazine with Ava Duvernay on the cover, or scooping up a copy of Ebony with Jurnee Smollett-Bell featured. It also means checking out Canada's only all Black Burlesque Troupe on March 23th in Toronto, lead and founded by Dainty Smith, picking up my peppy single Doo-Wop Days (see what I did there (didn't really do much just plugged myself) see! see!) or purchasing some lovely teas from a socially conscious tea shoppe out of Manitoulin Island. There's so many ways to support the community and one of my current favourites is of course...lipstick (the word is in the blog name people!) Some thrilling, relatively new Black run and founded lip companies that I'm over the moon about include:

The Lip Bar  founded by Melissa Butler after being erroneously shut down on Shark Tank, these lippies are now being worn by the likes of Taraji P Henson and featured in Essence magazine. I, myself can attest to the power of their #BawseLady shade (as seen below) and look forward to trying more shades from them in the future.

ColouredRaine founded by Loraine Roberts Dowdy is an electric brand filled with bright (and dark) colours to ensure you're dropping jaws in every room. My personal favourites are Tootsie and Cherry Blossom. Check out an online vlog review here.

For those with a lusty appetite for the finer things in life (and an obsession with the 90's cult classic 'The Craft'")   Gold Label Cosmetics is here to satisfy your every designer lip need. Lipsticks and Lip Pens even come in bundles according to shades and dark (or light) urges. As well, after my first purchase I was sent a personalized thank you email from the founder Kristen Elise Brown, herself, if that isn't customer service! Check out her story and some lovely lip swatches here.  I'll have more of an update on this once I receive my order of Dark Children and the Bogota Bundle....

Last but certainly not least, Beauty Bakerie a tasty confection of dessert named lippies and highlighters founded by the unsinkable Cashmere Nicole (who is more than a few success stories in her own right). I've yet to purchase any lippies from them but I have my eye on Raspberry Tiramisu, Cranberry Stiletto and She's Just Jelly and I'll let you know when I get my sticky, matte addicted puckers on them. In the meantime here's an online lip swatch to peruse.

Excitingly, along with being Black-Owned and founded, all the brands I've mentioned are cruelty free and/or vegan so no cute little fuzzies were harmed to achieve a higher level of lip-loving existence. If you give any of these brands a try (which I strongly encourage you to) drop me a note and let me know how it goes.

Kisses and Wishes to you,
2017 Me

P.S Click on the links to check out the cosmetics companies and events!

Have no fear, it's Suuuuuupermoon!!!

Well friends, kitten and magical, mystical ones, tonight is the night to get your witches brew out, read your tarot, dust off your spellbooks and make dreams come true. Not much to do but enjoy the magical moon. Watch a few magical movies like The Craft, Peace, Love and Misunderstanding or catch a few episodes of the now defunct Witches of East End.  If you really want to get kinky (and cheesy frankly)  try some Dante's Cove. Tonight is the night that mysteries unfurl as hallowe'en approaches and a Super-Hunter's Moon drops in for a spell. Have a magical, mystical, miraculous week!

KOMAKINO

This is the hour when the mysteries emerge. A strangeness so hard to reflect. A moment so moving, goes straight to your heart, The vision has never been met. The attraction is held like a weight deep inside, Something I'll never forget.

The pattern is set, her reaction will start, Complete but rejected too soon. Looking ahead in the grip of each fear, Recalls the life that we knew. The shadow that stood by the side of the road, Always reminds me of you.

How can I find the right way to control, All the conflict inside, all the problems beside, As the questions arise, and the answers don't fit, Into my way of things, Into my way of things.

JOY DIVISION 

P.S Here's some more weird vibey music for the Super, Hunter's moon. Hope you find what you're looking for!