Like most people who read this website, I love tarot decks. Today I have a beautiful, whimsical, romantic deck to share, “The Enchanted Love Tarot: The Lover’s Guide to Dating, Mating, and Relating” by Amy Zerner and Monte Farber. There is a lot to unpack with this deck, so let’s dive in.
“The Enchanted Love Tarot” is based on a traditional tarot deck, except it has been shot by Cupid’s arrow. You have the major arcana, but the minor arcana are roses (as fire, action, batons, wands, or clubs), wings (as air, ideas, swords, or spades), shells (as water, emotions, cups, or hearts), and gems (as earth, resources, coins, or pentacles). The romance factor is amped way up by the beautiful collage art by Amy Zerner. As per usual, Red Feather Mind, Body Spirit has done a fantastic job packaging this deck. An attractive, oversized, cardboard box with a magnetic closure houses the accompanying book, a 163 full color pages in a trade paperback that fits into the box perfectly. My only picky complaint is that the card stock is rather flimsy. It does make the deck easier to shuffle, but I do worry about its durability.
The book that comes with the deck provides so much more than your usual card meanings and suggested card spreads (although it does have them). The author, Monte Farber, is the husband to the deck’s artist, Amy Zerner, and their marriage inspire the deck and book. So included in the book are love spells and “The ABCs of True Love”.
If you want to take a lovey dovey tarot journey, “The Enchanted Love Tarot” is THE deck for you!
You can learn more here.
Next up are memory palaces. You might have seen references to these in popular culture. It’s a mnemonic device that allowed speakers to remember key points for their talks by associating them with a different part of the building in which they’re speaking. When it was rediscovered, the process evolved, and the elements of these memory palaces were not intended to trigger the memory but would transform into talismanic objects with knowledge entirely new to the seeker.
Let’s get to what you really want to know, who did Inman write about? Here we go, starting at the top: Captain America, Gravedigger, Captain Marvel, War Machine, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Captain Atom, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Flash Thompson, Isaiah Bradley, Sgt. Rock, Batwoman, Beetle Bailey (that’s right, Beetle motherflarkin’ Bailey), Nuke, The Punisher, Deathstroke, and Nick Fury. 
Of course, the book is about rituals and “Grimoire of Aleister Crowley” is full of them. After all the background info and details, you get to the actual ritual. I love that at the beginning of each ritual the author lists the number of participants required, how long it will take to perform, how wordy the ritual is (how much text you’ll need to memorize or read aloud), and the list of equipment needed. He also provides diagrams of the way you’ll want the room set up for each ritual.
I’m writing today to tell you that you should read “Just Enough: Vegan Recipes and Stories from Japan’s Buddhist Temples” by Gesshin Claire Greenwood. Many of you have probably already clicked out thinking this in no way can apply to your life. Congratulations to those still reading these words, because “Just Enough” is a delightful read for anyone.
In the world of urban legends and cryptozoology it’s hard to proclaim anyone an “expert”, however if I was to try, Linda S. Godfrey would be one. Since 1991 Godfrey has been chronicling the stories of people who claim to have encountered the unusual. With Godfrey, nothing is off the table: goatmen, dire dogs, werewolves, big cats, creatures from other dimensions, and more are open to discussion. What sets her apart is that she does her best to attempt to fact check the stories and present mundane options for what occurs in them. Godfrey openly acknowledges that there is an obvious lack of scientific evidence for these things. The author isn’t a skeptic, she’s reasonable.
Today we’ll be talking about “The Little Book of Self-Care for Gemini: Simple Ways to Refresh and Restore – According to the Stars” by Constance Stellas. I’ve got to start by telling you how much I love books like this for gift giving, and this one works great. Nice compact hard cover, with beautiful cover art, and sharp looking interior. Although I read the Gemini version, because I’m a Gemini, there is a book for each astrological sign. In other words, there’s a book for everyone!
After reading the 144-page, paperback book that comes with the deck I almost feel like I understand astrology. The companion book shows the symbols for astrological signs and planets and qualities associated with the Houses, planets, and signs (an important chart in the book). Like most companion books for oracle/tarot decks each card is given its own section with detailed description and meaning.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one problem. In the past I have extolled upon the high quality of Schiffer Publishing/Red Feather Mind, Body, Spirit. The quality of their boxes and companion books have always been top notch. With the “Oracle of the Radiant Sun” however, the packaging is excellent, the companion book is wonderful, the cards, though beautiful, are printed on a noticeably flimsy card stock. I’m not sure of the reasoning for this, but it is noticeable, even to my non-tarot reading husband. 
The author’s biography is compelling. A freelance illustrator discovers meditation at the age of 24 years old. This leads him to Plum Village, a monastery in France founded by Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. He eventually received ordination and 3 years later returned to his home country of Italy where he works as an artist for Disney. Who wouldn’t want to see that book?
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