I'm so excited to announce we have a new contributor our blog. Cathy and I met years ago here in Salem through our love of tarot - and then I learned she's a knitter too! You can book a tarot reading with Cathy here.
xo, Ana
I'm a research librarian by day. I love a good story and a provocative question. I ask too many questions, and I'm always looking for the "why." I'm also a poet. My poetry is lyrical, magical realism, and I take my inspiration from the everyday world and also from mythology, and tarot. You can read my poetry at www.magpiepoems.com.
I'm such a skeptic and agnostic. I don't know that tarot works, but I also can't prove that it doesn't. Like Fox Mulder, "I want to believe" but I'm not sure that I do. I'm incredibly curious and don't take anything at face value. I need to question, dig deeper, interrogate everything. But I love tarot, and I want it to work!
How did you end up in Salem?
I've lived in Massachusetts my whole life, and I've been coming to Salem for as long as I can remember. First it was family trips to the Peabody Museum and the Witch Dungeon (I'm still creeped out by the animatronic Giles Corey croaking "more weight"), going to the Willows and playing skee ball, and boat cruises around the harbor. Then it was school field trips to the House of the Seven Gables. As a teen I started sneaking out and taking the train up to Salem on my own and visiting the witch shops: Crow Haven Corner and The Broom Closet are the two I remember most. I'd buy moonstone rings and candles and fill my pockets with rocks and crystals, all things that could be easily explained by a love of jewelry and geology, and not suspicious at all!
When I was job hunting, I was applying to every academic library job in the Northeast, if not the entire US and Canada (because that's the academic job market). Luckily, I got a job at Salem State University, and I've been living in Salem since 2007.
So, what came first, knitting or tarot? How did you start your fiber and tarot journeys?
Knitting definitely came first, because my grandmother tried to teach me when I was 5 or 6. I didn't have the coordination then, so I failed. I did a lot of sewing and embroidery (one of my aunts made all her own clothes and she taught me how to measure and fit sewing patterns), and once I went to Girl Scout camp, I made so many friendship bracelets. I've always loved having string and thread around me. Actually, I got into crochet and spinning before knitting, because I was always taught English knitting, and it wasn't until I took a knitting lesson from Lucy of Mind's Eye Yarns in Cambridge in about 2004 that I learned Continental and realized I could knit! I haven't stopped knitting. I love that it's portable, and I can take it with me everywhere. I always have knitting with me, usually a pair of socks.
I didn't discover tarot until I was a rebellious teen and a baby witch, when I would sneak up to Salem or Cambridge and hang out with goths. I couldn't have a deck until I moved out to go to college, when I got a Rider-Waite deck from probably Barnes and Noble, and I didn't really care for it. The images didn't speak to me, and I could never figure out how to do the Celtic Cross spread properly! Still can't do a Celtic Cross. The first deck I liked was the Robin Wood Tarot, because it was a very pagan/Wiccan reimagining of the cards, and I loved the art style. I did a few readings for friends in college, but mostly, I read for myself, and read up on the history and imagery of the tarot, doing a deep dive into European mysticism, paganism, history, archaeology, mythology, folklore...My day job as a research librarian comes in handy when falling down esoteric rabbit holes. After 20 years of practice and research, I finally feel that I know enough to do something with it, and I love discovering new decks or writings and learning something more every time I work with the cards.
How do you use tarot in your life?
Right now, I use tarot in 2 ways.
First, I'm a poet, and I'm writing a collection of sonnets about the tarot, one for each card, so that will be 78 individual poems. I started this as a grad school project in 2017, and I'm about 1/3 done. I'm not an artist, but this way I can make my own deck. It will take a long time to finish, but I'm not forcing a deadline on myself. I'm enjoying the challenge and the process.
I also use tarot as an intention setting and meditation tool. I pick a card I want to focus on, and set up a little altar to it. For example, here's my Imbolc setup honoring Brigid (who's the Irish goddess/saint of crafts and poetry). I picked cards that resonated: Three of Pentacles, Queen of Wands, 6 of Pentacles. I light a candle and think about how I want these cards/attributes to be present in my life right now.