Lisa Chamberlain

Like a lot of readers of Lisa Chamberlain’s books, I am a beginner, although to be fair Lisa only writes about magic, Wicca, and related topics, so she is in that sense a specialist, although certainly a beginner-centric specialist. Her books are also available free with a KindleUnlimited subscription, so you also ‘have to’ look at it from a value-for-money perspective, and not a ‘perfectionist’ one. God knows they don’t have many books like this at the library, you know.

Anyway, Lisa is mostly a writer about Wicca, although the runes could be used in more than one religion, Wicca or related paths, or Asatru, or I assume there are other traditional Heathen paths as well, so I guess it’s witchy psychology. Anyway.

I’m a universalist; I don’t think the gods are offended by cultural innovation, only blatant disrespect and actual misdeeds, so after I finished reading this book I decided to create a rune script to honor Athena to tape to a blue LED candle I have. (I will also write her name on it in Theban letters.) I don’t know as much Norse mythology now as I will in the future, and actually the fiction I’m reading now is largely normie fiction (although I mostly read nonfiction), and when I get back to mythology I think I’m going to finally tackle that big book of African mythology. Balance in more ways than one…. But yeah, anyway, for Athena I created the rune script ELHAZ KENAZ PERTHRO. I also did a Tarot reading to make sure it would be okay for the purposes I had in mind, (basically calming/contemplative), and although it’s kinda subtle and I’m not going to go over the whole thing, (I did a Tree of Life/Kabbalah Tarot reading, and it was interesting or whatever, I’d say), basically I would say it gives you Enneagram Five energies. It’s not something you’d use to get a date, lol. (chuckles) Blue candle, like I said. Drives away all the gossip girls….

So yeah, maybe you’ll find the above interesting or whatever, or perhaps mysterious/unclear; or maybe you think I’m a nut! 😸👍… (plus d'informations)

This is just a basic book on the Moon, obviously, which is what it sets out to be—it’s an overview; it’s available on KindleUnlimited; I really don’t think we need to get all uptight about the entry-level books. I know I can learn a lot more…. But anyway, this is maybe the first explicitly Wicca-centric book I’ve read this time around—there are so many different paths; Wicca itself is a vague term like most religion names; a lot of things are sorta vaguely Wiccan or adaptable-to-Wicca without being Wicca per se, (ie books on deities), not that it matters, but I do consider myself a Wiccan—a sorta witch-in-training…. But anyway, the first time I was Wicca-y I was unwilling to read many books because I was 19 or something and couldn’t sit still, and then over the better part of a decade I wasn’t a Wiccan but occasionally I would grow curious—and by then I read books, but I was unable to attune myself to the witchy ones…. Anyway, now it’s different. Inspiring story, though. 🤪Perhaps a little boring, lol.

Anyway, I just want to talk about the why of it a little bit. Magic is very similar to the law of attraction; especially if you compare the more philosophical law of attraction (ie not witchcraft—actually sometimes it’s quite biblical) with psy magic, which I guess is kinda a subset of visualization. I mean, visualization is slightly more—I hate to use the word normal; it’s such a slur 😹—but you just imagine what you want, whereas in psy magic you’d imagine yourself doing a ritual—say burning a candle, if you can’t actually do that at the moment…. But anyway, Neville Goddard, Esther Hicks, all these people said that “feeling is the secret” (the phrase is Neville’s, and he came first, but, hey), but sometimes with very abstract teachings…. I just know WHY I should feel, but I have trouble really Feeling it, you know. Sometimes with these primitive stories from the dawn of time, and the little (LED!) candles and other aids-to-feeling…. I mean, all of a sudden, I feel more attuned with my emotions, and then I remember, Oh yeah…. That was a good thing….… (plus d'informations)

This isn’t groundbreaking research or whatever, but I found that I learned more than I once would have assumed that I would learn. There’s actually a lot more to it—fully half the book, and space well used—than JUST the meanings of the individual cards, and not just the history and famous historical writers, either, although there are a few of those. There are just a lot of little peripheral things to a reading, ways not to let the dust of materiality cloud your psychic sense, you know. And the whole book is good—I don’t want to be a bookish Tarot reader, but other people’s intuitions matter, too, and I no longer want to assume that I don’t need to at least know what some of the things written in the books are, at least.

…. We live in an age where most humanities are seen in a history-heavy way, and where academic philosophers put in a feather in their cap every time they act as gatekeepers and put people off, (they are men of many feathers), but the simple philosophy she gives in a very small space of Tarot readings is very good. It’s more about reflection, than merely/only predicting.

…. Many of the Tarot readers I’ve gone to—not often, but occasionally, I’ll go for a reading—are much more careful I guess with their psychic energy, and/or more detached about my life than I am, and say wise things, but on the other hand, I feel like they do tend to fall into that merely/only predicting, “spill the goods” thing, whereas I want to kinda know the whole thing, “sometimes when we get the Lovers card it means that we have to make a choice”, not just (to pretend for humorous effect that they’re not guarded AF), “you’re indecisive as fuck, you know that, right?”

…. In a lot of ways technology gives you more options in Tarot, although it can be a trick knowing how to use that power sometimes. Your phone can do Tarot readings for you online now, for free and unbeknownst to random passersby. (Since Tarot isn’t a crime but it can be seen as gossip-worthy, Aunt Crane and Mr Billy are much more of a threat than the federal government or DataAdNumbers, Inc., you know.) But if you can get a paper deck, that can give you more options (different decks, spreads) in a lot of ways, if you can “keep it secret, keep it safe”, you know. Just as much, at least, if you have to pay twenty or thirty dollars and/or inconvenience someone and/or (in the old days) have them look at you funny and say, ‘I answered that question already’—not that any of those things should be things you HAVE TO go through, and especially the last one, right, but there is a danger, you know. Like I did a reading for myself this morning and it was like, “You don’t have to get too creative/inspired; you just have to be patient even if you feel stuck and let wisdom/life come to you in the end; be the kid, today God is your Parent, your Nurse….” And it’s like, I’m so tired from the stress and the eclipse season panic manifesting as labyrinthine inscrutable bureaucratic hurdles (around parking, of all things! That is not a Limerick name! Only people from Limerick Village, County Dumbass, get to….), and it lasted just long enough to sap most of my unusual task energy for the day, and it’s like…. That’s what it meant. But my pattern is: I want to go back and do a reading like—So if I get less than 10,000 steps today…. I mean, I’m sure eventually I’ll be able to exercise even after road fiascos, you know. (God, that valet was unprofessional!) But really, for today, I know the answer: whatever your best is, that’s your best. You don’t need permission, and if you needed it, it’s been granted. But knowledge is only part of it; the rest is a feeling. Otherwise, we are all just endlessly repeating that child’s question Why that has no end, and in immature hands Tarot can’t satisfy that question….

…. I still end up asking multiple questions, since a vague question can lead to a less vague one, and I’m glad tech makes it easier. But I guess the two main things I’m learning are: don’t ask the question again just because you still feel bad—you’re using the wrong tool; and: letting yourself look at the relative/non-absolute world-as-it-appears, and allowing that some appearances are “bad”. It’s all a lesson, for my good, and it can’t hurt me…. But it is, “bad”, sometimes.

…. That, and just having more respect for the typical Tarot person’s outlook on life, you know. Think of the ads: I used to think that health, wealth, and relationships were like the Three Banes of the Philosopher, you know.

…. And: other people’s intuitions matter. I did not invent the Tarot.… (plus d'informations)

I was hoping for something more grounded in historical references and linguistic studies. In fairness, I could have noted the subtitle: "A Guide to Reading Runes in Divination, Rune Magic, and the Meanings of Elder Futhark Runes." Even though I'm not into such mysticism, I rated it based on that purpose. The book reviews the origins of the runes and "rune casting," describes how to interpret runes and then explores the meaning of each of the runes in the Elder Futhark. Compared to several more scholarly sources I've encountered recently, I found the basic rune meanings provided here to be very similar. The author takes it a step further by providing "magical uses" for each. If, like me, you don't believe in magic, you could still use runes as a lens for thinking about situations in different ways.… (plus d'informations)