Wooden Figures - Tarot for Kids by Theresa Reed & Kailey Whitman

Creating scenes with your tarot cards is a fun creative exercise. These Ostheimer wooden family figures hold meaning for me. The Tarot For Kids tarot deck by Theresa Reed and Kailey Whitman is the deck that you see here. You can find objects that hold resonance for you and use that in a way that works and is meaningful to you. Next, pick a tarot deck if you have one that is in the mood you are carrying today.

I often use the book Journaling the Tarot: Evolutions by Andy Matzner. This book holds many wonderful journaling questions for you to work with. This book offers prompts based upon each card in the tarot spiral. It is okay to be intentional with your questions in the book as well as picking something to work with that just is a random find in your browsing through the catalogue of ideas/prompts/questions/ponderings. I recommend getting this book for use in exploring your own personal biography.

One example is to work with The Fool card in the deck. Of course each deck is different in what it offers. Imagery is important here. If you are doing internal explorations - working with a deck that is gentle might work the best at some moments. If you are going deeper in with some harder places in your own interior - you may choose a more challenging deck. It is up to you to find a safe way to work with the tarot that is a support rather than a hard place to deal with. You might even ask a friend - support person - therapist - group - to allow you to explore some of these questions with you.

The Fool - Tarot for Kids by Theresa Reed & Kailey Whitman

From the Journaling the Tarot: Evolutions book - some questions to work with under the Fool is the following.
1. If your soul could speak to you, what would it want you to know? Where would it want you to go? What would it want you to do? What would it want you to have? What would it want you to be?

The gentle image of this particular Fool is very nice to work with around childhood memories. It also offers a soft and welcoming and somewhat playful image for creativity and adult explorations around new beginnings. If you work with these question as outlined above - you may find some unexpected gems in going over where you are in this moment.

This is also a useful set of questions regarding a new business exploration and what you might be feeling about this realm in your life. Any time that you are embarking upon a new adventure - this set of questions offers a window in to what might be important to you. A journal is your friend in exploring of course! If you keep a journal over time in working with the tarot as well as these profound exploratory questions - you will discover amazing things about yourself. Keep going.

After you have drawn a card to work with you might set up a creative display for the day or for a week - whatever time you need to sit with and ponder these questions. I will be offering up questions from this comprehensive book over time for you to work with. Of course please purchase the book to support Andy Matzner’s work if you would like to dive deeper in on your own timeframe.

Coming to your little altar of exploration will spark new thoughts and ideas in you each day. Record all of this in your journal. A living tableau to work with life questions makes the important work of self-discovery all that much more rich and enlivening. Discovery about the maps and charts of our Biography is a treasure waiting for you. Please reach out and share any insights you have found.

“If you look deeply enough into something - You will see everything.”

— anonymous

Ostheimer Wooden Figures - An Altar In My Home

In our home, altars are an important tableau to celebrate daily life as well as elevate holiday and important days that we would like to honor. Having a space to pause and contemplate the meaning of the day - as a seasonal table scape allows us to slow our pace and find a moment of reflection. Taking in the quiet space of a lovely altar is a ritual that offers a simple yet profound embrace of our days. It connects to our ancient ancestors as well, as they also arranged objects as symbols of importance.

A variety of materials of course may be used to create your own home altar or seasonal table corners. Items from nature are always beautiful to add to a scene. Simple materials of any kind that you find particularly relevant allows the making of the altar specific to you. As you go out on a nature walk perhaps you find abundance of sticks, leaves, bones, shells, tree back, moss, flowers and such. Of course do not take too much from a particular area and always be mindful of not harvesting anything that is on the species at risk list of plants. A list of these can be found at United Plant Savers. Creating a nature or seasonal altar that holds meaning should be ethically created.

Here is a simple altar in the photograph above that I created to honor and celebrate gratitude. Crystals provide the nature element to reflect purity of intention. Crystals can be found in many places. Find the colors and particular crystals that have resonance for you and your altar space. Ostheimer wooden figures are beloved pieces we have collected over many years that often find their way into a seasonal altar scene. The reminder and display of this lovely family creates connections in my mind of the long story of my own family. The mother and father stand in support of their young daughter. The simple and quiet posture of the figures brings an immediate sense of focus and calm.

Over time a collection of important items that are meaningful to you will begin to conjure up instant patterned memories and heart connections. This is good for your soul. A relevance of soul over the years provides an easy and comforting way into soul reflection as well as healing ways. As your eyes cast over a seasonal display that you have put time and energy into creating - all of this is taken in as you stand before your display. This can be for just a moment or for a little bit longer period of contemplation. A pause - a rest - a reassurance that life continues as you are a part of it - bringing strength and resilience to you.

You altar space is really a momentary and visually available meditation. It is a living picture of what your soul might need in that particular seasonal celebration. A gratitude altar can be this simple as I have shown. The meaning finding comes from what is important to you and your unique biography. A created altar cannot really be copied as it does not hold anything of importance to you and your own life path. It is so interesting to look at others creations of altars and corner celebrations - and many ideas can be gained in observing and researching altars. Examples and ideas can be found in art books, stories, shops, museums, Pinterest, album covers, botanical gardens and nature preserves. Here is a useful article for you to gain more ideas from - There Is Only One Rule For Creating Your Home Altar. There are so many creative ways to support yourself. Part of the fun in this creating is the contemplation, research, wandering, creation aspects of this unique form of meditation - art making - and meaning finding.

The subject of creating home altars is a large one. Books and articles have been written about this from a wide variety of viewpoints. An altar can be anything that you find as a focal point. A simple branch can be set upon a windowsill - done with intention this can become an altar space for you. A small vase of flowers will evoke feelings and thoughts that can be utilized as a focal point of meditation, enjoyment and pause. Photographs of a beautiful nature scene can provide dreaming and remembrance. Photos of loved ones or individuals that we admire can also sit on your altar space. The possibilities are infinite in this temporary art installation. I do not know of another form of creativity that can make manifest our inner lives as an outward reflection to have as a living picture of beauty.

Finally, altars are found everywhere already in your home. If you look at the items in your home as well as the arrangement of things - really everything can be seen with this intentionality. Your stove is a hearth and focal point of your kitchen - an altar to the sustenance that this object helps your prepare. The way you arrange your rooms is an altar - inside the container of that particular room. As you can see this wonderful way of looking at your surroundings offers creativity for our imagination each day. If we awaken to what is around us with wonder and curiosity - an offering of deep significance can be found reflected back to us from our living homes. If you decide to create intentional altars in your life, I believe it will offer you a rich and full palette of beauty as a helpful box of available medicine for your soul. I hope you will share your thoughts about altar making in your own life.

mary jo hoffman

Writing Desk Altar

Tasha Tudor Cookstove From Book by Richard Brown

Resources:
Branches and Wings - Making A Nature Altar
Devotions by Mary Oliver
A Woman’s Book of Altar by Nancy Brady Cunningham & Denise Geddes
Hagitude: Reimagining The Second Half of Life