Moving Blogs!

I've transferred my Tarot Recommendations to a WordPress version of this blog, and I plan to post there from now on.

So...I'm not dead. Just over at WordPress.

Link:

http://sarahrhyn.wordpress.com

Books by Tarot Series: The Magician

Okay, I love this card.

The Magician is card number 1 in the Major Arcana, with The Fool being number 0. This card can represent control over your own life as well as the magic and wonder of the world around you.

For this reason, I have very carefully selected two books to go along with this card. They happen to be two of my very favorite books, so I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do.

Book 1: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.
Following the story of a grown man's memories upon his return to a childhood friend's home, The Ocean at the End of the Lane takes you back to his life as a seven-year-old, small, awkward, and in love with quiet things such as Batman comics and kittens. His seven-year-old life is bliss, as all childhood memories are, until a series of events occurs that catapults him into the world of Faerie.
Interestingly, the book never uses the words Faerie or depression, although both are certainly present in the novel. Gaiman also avoids the character's name, perhaps implying that this character could be anyone, or perhaps implying that the character is Gaiman himself. He has admitted to this novel being one of his most autobiographical novels.
This book appealed to me, not only because Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, but because it tends to be a book that is very relatable. I identified with the themes of depression and became entranced by the use of faerie magic. Others have reported feelings of dream-like states, being swept away in a metaphorical rush of water, and being completely and utterly disgusted and seduced by the way the plot twists and turns as the main character matures.

Book 2: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
As you may imagine, a circus is involved. However, the Night Circus is not a typical circus. It only opens at night, true, but the entire circus is black and white. Dancers, jugglers, illusionists, tents, performers whose job it is to perform the art of being a statue, even intricate clockwork displays, are all black and white. The only color in the novel comes from visitors to the mysterious circus, as well as a group called the Reveurs, who wear a splash of red with otherwise black and white costumes to show their support for the Night Circus.
Within this intricate setting, two characters are locked in a silent battle. Unable to know who their opponents are, they must produce the most intricate and impressive magic over the course of the Circus' existence. One character, Celia Bowen, was born with magic running through her veins. The other, Marco Alisdair, has been taught magic from textbooks from a very young age. The two of them are pitted against each other, but soon find that entering a competition blindly has some rather complicated consequences.

I highly recommend both of these books, you see. If you're interested, they are both available as eBooks as well as print books, so definitely be sure to check them out. :)

They truly are two of my favorites.

Valentine's Day: Love Yourself First.

Hello everyone!

I meant to share this video on Valentine's Day, but I've been very busy and so I apologize for that. Anyway.

I have always believed that self-love is the most important kind of love. You cannot love someone else, not selflessly, unless you first love yourself. It's similar to the idea that you can't take care of anyone unless you take care of yourself first. Unfortunately, self-love is often overlooked because people tend to think of it as selfish or as something they shouldn't indulge in when other people must be more important than them.

Please don't ever think that.

It's important to love yourself, to get to know yourself, so that you can function as the best possible version of you.

Often, this starts with learning to be alone.

Be alone with yourself, dears.

Just be alone sometimes.

Tarot Series: The Fool

I thought I might try something that would challenge me to come up with literary recommendations and to tell some stories about myself that would match the theme of each of the tarot cards. All 78 of them. This could prove to be challenging, but if I work at it over time, I am hoping to complete them within the next year or so.

So. Tarot cards.

I should probably preface this series by saying that yes, I do read tarot cards, and yes, I do love them. I don't think believing in tarot cards should be a controversial subject. They're not very creepy or scary, and they actually match up with many theories such as the archetypal theory of Carl Jung. If a person were to work their way through each of the tarot cards in order (particularly the major arcana), then that person would have gone through the process of individuation. They would have completed one of many cycles of becoming a whole, autonomous individual on a mental and spiritual level. Etc.

I have two decks. The Shadowscapes deck is a rather traditional deck with absolutely gorgeous art, and it is pictured above. The Osho Zen Tarot deck, which I haven't photographed yet, is a Buddhist-themed deck with emotions rather than traditional names. If you remove the Master card, though, you are left with the traditional structure of a tarot deck and can read the cards as you would any other deck. It's really rather nice. I tend to go to the Shadowscapes deck when I want an unbiased reading and to the Osho Zen deck when I want a more spiritual, how-to-calm-down reading.

The Fool is the very first card in a typical tarot deck. If you have ever looked at a tarot deck, you will probably know that each deck gives a slightly different description of the individual cards. We're not going to worry about that very much. I'm going to focus on the meaning that I have derived from the cards over time, and to me The Fool is a person stepping out on a journey. The card radiates potential. Everything that is, was, and will be is unknown. The Fool is a card of beginnings, of new journeys, and of new life stages.

With this in mind, I shall recommend some books that I think match this card. Feel free to add any others in the comments!

1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book is about a woman's recovery from her divorce. While the movie takes on the typical "finding yourself to find romance" storyline, the book is about breaking away from what society tells you happiness is and instead finding your own happiness. It's a great book to read when you want to feel like you're making big changes in your life.
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. While that may sound strange, The Lord of the Rings is soaked through with archetypes. I read this book in elementary school (sorry I don't mean to sound pretentious I just liked the movies and so it happened), but I didn't understand the themes until I went to college. I was a bit depressed because I was going through so many changes, and then I picked up this book again and found all of the themes in the first book to be very comforting for what I was going through. There's a lot of road imagery, for a start. I'll have to break this book down another time, but seriously, go check it out if you're in a Fool mood. It's filled with fresh starts.
3. Tangled (Yes, the Disney movie). Tangled is filled with new beginnings! The entire movie is about a young woman breaking away from a lifetime of emotional abuse. If you watch carefully, you'll even notice that Flynn isn't even in the scenes where she's growing into a person who won't be abused until the very, very end. I know it's a movie, but movies have plots, and plots are literary. Shhh.

Mornings.

The snow has subsided, and Thursdays are my lazy days.

My cat seems to agree.

I recommend tea and either a good book or a laptop for this morning.

Have a good day, everyone.

Neil Hilborn, Poet.

Neil Hilborn is one of my very favorite poets.

He is a performance poet who writes words that burst in my head.

But you know what? Neil Hilborn is particularly interesting because he writes about mental illness. He writes about his own experiences with the disorder, as he has been diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

His poetry is incredibly real and raw.

For example, "The Future" is a poem written about Bipolar Disorder.

And "OCD," well...it's a bit self-explanatory.

I can't watch this one without crying.

I will return to Neil Hilborn soon, but for now I would like my readers to think about the impact of poetry written to express illnesses that are often stigmatized in our society.

Does it require courage to write and perform these pieces?

How would you define this courage?

Does listening to these poems show you things you didn't previously know about either disorder?

How does this affect the way you view these illnesses?

How does self expression help you to cope with your own problems?

The Fault in Our Stars

If you're anything like me, then you are a fan of John Green's work. His book, The Fault in Our Stars, is currently being made into a movie, and the official trailer was released today!

For those of you who have yet to read the book, The Fault in Our Stars tells the story of cancer patient Hazel Grace and her relationship with Augustus Waters, a cancer patient in remission. The book is both beautiful and heartbreaking. 

Oh, and the ending sneaks up on you. Be sure to have your tissues ready.