This is the perfect place to slowly wander through all of my decks of tarot cards, share the imagery with everyone that is interested, and we can share our personal interpretations.

So, I might as well start right now, and start as close to the beginning as I can.  I can’t share my first deck, they were lost in an unfortunate swimming pool incident.

After their untimely death, my grandmother gave me a deck for Christmas, with three different books on their meanings.  It was the classic Rider-Waite deck.

Everything begins at the beginning, and the beginning in a Tarot deck is the Fool.

The first card of the Major Arcana, which represent milestones in your life, positive and seemingly negative.

A peaceful sanctuary
within a busy city.
Abbortsford Covent Melbourne

I lie beside the water’s edge.

My eyes are closed

but like one sightless,

I feel the touch

of sand beneath my body…

the taste of salt upon my lips…

the sound of surf,

music within my ears.

Then, in motion,

Lady
Sea draws me

into her embrace.

She caresses my naked body

with fingers soft and gentle…

she kisses my lips,

my breasts—

I am swimming now,

begging Sea to take me

as I lie quivering in her arms.

I grasp her with my thighs

but she slips away…

returns to kiss my throat,

my breasts—

She is a teasing lover,

laughing all the while

until she has me arching with delight

like a dolphin in mid flight.

Of all the women I have loved,

Sea is the playful one.

She toys with me

and teases me

until I spin

in rapturous delight.

Let me feel again your urging,

let me come to thee once more.

Vi Jones

October 9, 2006

She drifts in from the sea

to wrap herself around me,

a soft cool shroud concealing me

from the world I shun.

She loses me in silver haze

but keeps me safe

from prying eyes

of those who seek to do me harm.

There are times

when she is cruel

as when she caused my ship to founder

upon the rocky shore,

then let me wander aimlessly

into places I should not go.

She can be cold and unforgiving

of the mistakes I might have made.

Will I ever find my way

back to the light of day?

Will I ever lift her veil

and walk into the future

where the sun doth shine

brightly and hopefully?

Alas, like a fly caught in a spider’s web,

I cannot leave her,

my Lady Fog so dear.

I have not the courage

to return from whence I came.

I live instead within her shroud

forever as a ghost

drifting slowly from the sea.

Vi Jones

©October 25, 2006

No sooner had I begun musing with Aurora, than everything changed in the Abbey Cloister. The earth began to transform itself, bringing forth new ideas and themes.

Questions arose, rules of nature, and questions long taken for granted, were being re-examined. Was the Cosmos really what I had thought it was?

During Winter, I had been spending time at Riversleigh, talking to the other residents there, walking and thinking through the magical Murmuring Woods there, and taking solitude and observing the stars at the Lemurian Hermitage. There were some interesting discussions in the Tavern and insights learned at the City of Ladies in Cyberia.

Fortunately the Abbess is always very encouraging, discarding the old strict views of cloisters of ancient times. All visitors to Lemuria must explore the regions, and have inquiring minds, she insisted. She also told me Madame L’Enchanteur had been spending a great deal of time with Dream Seed Enchanteur lately, and did not know what magic it would bring.

Now, on the first of Spring, with Winter done its work, what was the Cosmos really about? It was the new question that constantly occupied my thoughts…

(copyright Imogen Crest 2007.)

I’ve come to the Abbey

Looking for some quiet

Looking for some peace

Away from the thoughts galloping through my head

The green goddess of Spring

Slips through the woodland,

Leaves bright splashes of colour

Where her feet have trod

Of new leaves and fronds unfurling.

Petals and buds uncurling of

Bluebells, pale windflowers and golden celandines, pink apple blossom,

Yellow deadnettle, wood sorrel, primroses and violets.

As she weaves her way ‘twixt bush and tree

The birds follow her

In riotous assembly of song

And flashes of colour from breast and wing

As they feast

On caterpillars in the new-burst foliage.

The brook gurgles happily over its bed of stones

Where temple maidens come to gaze in its watery mirrors,

Their long hair trailing in the current.

They listen to the babble of the brook

as it whispers and chatters its tales of things seen and yet to pass.

Shy animals make their way to the edge to drink:

A silent doe with huge, liquid eyes with its nervous fawn.

A quick squirrel, frightened by the sound of a raucous jay

dips in a timid paw and turns to race up a nearby tree.

Easter is as good a time as any to be welcomed back by the Abbess into the bustling halls of the Abbey. With the energy of alchemy in the air, she directs the travellers here, some who will stay on.

My room this time has been left by an ancient wise scholar, Aurora von Morgen, who studied the laws of nature. The walls of the space are lined with books of every kind on this subject, which it’s learned occupant worked on for years.

What secrets would she tell? I wondered, as I unpacked my things, the Easter sunlight shining through the gauze curtain. Birds sang around the Abbey Fountain, and in the courtyard below, constant footsteps could be heard over the cobblestones, of travellers coming and going.

The path leading to the upstairs cloister was lined with large white hibiscus, with pink shadings. I took a photograph of them to capture their beauty, and study them later on.

(copyright Imogen Crest 2007.)

Hello to all of you who have stopped by to check out my new residence here at the Abbey. I am getting moved in and settled. I really love my hideaway here at the cloister. It seems Imogene has really been working on the gardens as you can see from the view. It is beautiful. It also seems I have someone who has made its way to my hideaway as well. I am calling her Abby for now. It seems like a fitting name. If Abby belongs to one of you, just know I have been taking care of her until she finds her way back. She keeps eyeballing CJ, my bird.
I hope to have a parley here at the Abbey in the near future and hope you all are able to stop by. It will give you a chance to meet the new residents and catch up with some of the ones who have been here at the Abbey for a while. It will be respectful since the Abbey is a place for solitude, but I am hoping that a little bit of a party atmosphere one day will lighten spirits and bring smiles upon everyones hearts. It will be in the main courtyard. Food and your favorite passion is welcome. This is a place where you passions desires can be seen and enjoyed by many. So be checking for an announcement soon and hope we can bring more beauty and spirit to the Abbey. *~Em~*

If I am not in when you drop by, please feel welcome and come on in and pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy.

This is a picture I took a few days ago during a storm. The energy from storms electrify me.  It was a bit scary, but called me into its swell. Lost and wandering, my spirit took flight and embraced its wrath.