Ah, lovelies, we have hit the halfway point! Thank you for following along with me so far, and for sharing my thoughts with your own dear ones. Please feel free to communicate your reflections with me at any time!
9: The Hermit
Sometimes, in our journey, we will need to let go of our past and move solo. Our Windswept Questant here was once the White Queen; indeed, I can still recall her beautiful, flowery, regal words resonating through my mind as I walked around my land. Due to a series of machinations far beyond her control, she was in essence forced to abdicate her role.
At the same time, though, this was a choice she consciously made. She could have very well said No, and create a doomed timeline where the Parcel Mistress was not able to fulfill her quest to deliver John’s package; indeed, I highly doubt the needs of timelines to be doomed or not doomed is not really her concern. However, she was able to see the larger picture, and chose a peaceful way to abdicate - no bloodshed, no trauma - knowing full well that it would enable her main quest of getting her carapacians to new land post-Reckoning.
The Hermit is not a perpetual loner; eventually WQ reunites with her other exiles (before sadly losing her life, but that would be a topic for another card I suppose). But she needed to trek alone for a while, steady in her conviction. Which part of your journeys require you to walk alone? Can you hold onto the faith that you will rejoin others at the end? How comfortable are you with your own self for company?
10: Wheel of Fortune
Skaia, the crucible of all creation! Flanked by Prospit, the moon of the dreamers who see the future as it will be. Even then, Jade, my sweetheart Kanaya, and all others who awaken early on Prospit’s satellite do not necessarily see every step: it is up to them to determine how the future they forsee comes about.
The Wheel of Fortune holds a myriad of destinies; anything truly can happen. However, it also contains a large amount of free will - your journey to your destiny is your own, and you even have the power to overthrow the wheel and create your own destiny. Even in our games where doomed timelines are aplenty (I suppose mine counts as a “doomed timeline”), bits and pieces of those timelines become instrumental in making the Alpha Timeline work. So while Skaia may have its own ideas of what needs to happen, you still have a powerful say in its direction.
What potential lies for you, and how would you get there? How can you foretell what will happen, and how do you plot your own journey? Use your will to spin the wheel - but can you control where the wheel stops?
11: Strength
Oh, my sweet beautiful Kanaya. Hard femme extraordinaire, protective mother bear who would do anything and everything for those she cares for. Even when her life is at risk, she bounces back to avenge those that harm others. I am told that one version of my counterpart had to see her incinerated, and risked her life in revenge…oh this may be as hard to manage as learning about the death of my counterpart’s mother! But thankfully Kanaya is still alive and strong, and even my dead counterpart managed to reunite (even if she was in that abomination of a sprite - goodness, I still shiver when I think about it).
It is highly interesting to me that in this card, Kanaya is seen comforting Gamzee, who had been running rampant murdering the rest of their team. In the main timeline, she announces her intent to go “clown hunting”, and at one point actually manages to slice the damn clown in half (in my world, he is not pleasant either). It is Karkat who normally fills in the role of shoosh-papping moirail, the only way to calm the clown down.
What does this say about Strength? Is it the potential to reign in the instinct for revenge? Is it the ability to see the person behind the rage, and connect to them on that level? Is it the possibility of rising up from doom and persevering? All of these are valid interpretations of Strength, and it is so fitting that Kanaya is the embodiment of the card (and no, not just because my heart belongs to her, across timelines).
Summary:
At first glance, these three cards may not seem like they have a theme in common, unlike all the other cards we have explored. However, with some digging, one can see that they all relate to the conduct of the self during their journey: working alone, taking hold of destiny, holding strength. How will you manage your self as you proceed on your adventure?
Hello lovelies! I hope you all are doing grand at the end of this week! Though in Skaia who can really say where one day ends and another beings. We may be able to see where Prospit rises and sets, but the destruction of the dream moons happened in more than one timeline, I am told. But anyway! Let us proceed!
12: The Hanged Man
Wow, what an interesting - and, to quote my brother, ironic - choice for this card. The Hanged Man usually represents surrender and indecisiveness, and some interpretations talk about having to stall on certain important decisions so that you really have the time to think this through.
Yet here we have John, possibly asleep, right next to his ancestral tome of Colonel Sassacre’s japery. This is quite possibly before the Game starts - he is rested and probably does not yet know what he is getting himself (and the rest of us) into. I can imagine this as being his last day of peace, before hell breaks loose - oh how sweetly he dreams! (Though I hear that he didn’t awaken on Prospit until long after the Game was played, the poor dear. Well, at least he was never suspect to the - ّ؛ـة؟إ.كوًًٌاُِساُ ًٌِسرُمِ َجّرّمًًًًٌٌٌُّّْْ؛.ـ.ء؟ - oh goodness. Not again. Um, excuse me.) He was waiting so long for that game…you could say, he was in suspense.
What are you in suspense for? What do you have to wait for? Indeed, since this is the moment that marks the moment between Pre-Sburb John (perhaps he is yet to be named) and Sburb John, I wonder if this also indicates a threshold. What hangs in between your life before and your life forward?
13: Death
Death is a really complicated and complex matter in SBurb and its offshoots. You need to die to ascend to GodTierhood, where you death suddenly become a matter of just vs heroic; dream bubbles mean that even in death you can still live; dead people play critical parts in the Game’s success that can only be done when dead; and there’s all the people you sacrifice once you play the Game and set off the Reckoning, and who mourns for them?
Lord English is the Lord of Time, and Time players in particular seem to be very attuned to death - whether as the Harbinger of Souls, or being the recipient of doomed wisdom. He, though, seems to have an extra power of further annihilating the already-dead, by destroying dream bubbles. Notice, though, the cover of the ~.ATH book behind him as a flag: Paradox Space accounts for his existence. He is already here, in a sense, just like death and endings are: inevitable and powerful.
Many people get fearful at the presence of the Death card in their readings, and it is completely understandable, hardly anyone enjoys death! (Well, unless you’re Aradia I guess.) But it does not have to be a literal death: it can be the death of a journey, the death of a self, the death of old notions. Creation comes from destruction comes from creation - just like how the destruction of the Green Sun paradoxically leads to its own creation.
14: Temperance
Temperance is about balance and keeping things in moderation - though it is interesting that our Troll of the Scales, Terezi, is not the face of this card. Instead, we have Sollux, whose entire existence is based around duality. Two dream selves, two lusii (as one), two sets of horns, so on and so forth. Behind him are the two universes, his and ours, seeming separate and yet interlinked. Even their session matches the theme: two supposedly distinct teams linked together as one.
The Temperance card traditionally denotes calm and patience, and Sollux did seem to be one of the calmer members of his team: he was not as frazzled when dealing with the difficulties of Sgrub or what came after. Temperance also tends to indicate focus on a larger vision, just like The Chariot from before: however, notice that Sollux tends to get visions of doom, or what is the least fortunate action (compared to us Light players seeing the way of fortune).
Perhaps Sollux’s presence in this card, especially next to the Hanged Man and Death, indicates that our journey is not balanced without considering endings and possible downfalls. We can’t overdose on happiness alone - just like Sollux has to be careful about ingesting the mind honey he feeds his lusus. Knowing that things may fail, and knowing how they may fail, does not need to be a drawback - you can still use that information to guide your journey away from doom, towards light.
Summary:
Wow, these cards were hard to scry! Partly because their very nature is deep and dark and sometimes inscrutable, and partly because the choice of iconography is unexpected.
It seems these these cards all touch death and doom in some way: impending doom, doom that already exists, or doom that may be coming. They also call for a lot of patience and calm: no use flailing about worrying about things you cannot control! Radical acceptance is the term that comes to mind - recognizing all the ways things may gone wrong (or have already gone wrong), recognizing when things have ended or are due to end, and accepting that as a given so that you can move on and move forward.
To borrow a line from another story, death is but the next great adventure. How can you use endings to help your beginnings?
Hello again dear ones! I hope that you are enjoying our journey through the cards dealt by my parallel world named “Homestuck”. I am also starting to seed content made by other brilliant, beautiful minds that could aid you in further exploration, such as spreads or discussion - if you know of any other resources please give me a ring!
6: The Lovers
Ah, Mother. Or, at least, my counterpart’s mother. Who knew that such a passive-aggressive person could have such a loving heart? (Or at least, that is what my counterpart, Rose Without A Sun Sari, tells me: I have a feeling she is muddying up her perception of her mother, but that may be true of many people at the cusp of life stages.) Here she is, in the company of her true love across dimensions and lifetimes, one whose existence is still a mystery in some ways. Too bad we do not get to explore this mystery further, since I am told that they have been killed.
…killed. oh my. Um. Give me a moment please…
…
…I sincerely apologize. I know the woman in the picture is not specifically my mother, but I have such a connection to any of my counterparts across Paradox Space, and their pain always touches mine. Regardless, she is immortalized in such a beautiful card, so let’s honour her memory.
The pair here have been together through thick and thin, even in situations that seem impossible to survive, such as apocalyptic meteor showers. It would take them years before they are reunited, however briefly, and yet they find each other again. Such love is not always easy to come by, and may not always last long, but when it does, it is passionate and committed and united, a partnership of equals: Mother and John’s Dad are not weaklings! They are not two halves; they are their own person, choosing to be with another.
Often when The Lovers come up in readings, it is assumed that the relationship is romantic in nature. However, I have found that sometimes the most committed and powerful of relationships are not with literal conventional lovers, but with dear friends and chosen family. Indeed, the troll variations on romance can serve as guides: moirails are just as important as matesprits, even if the former is not for reproductive purposes. Consider the people you have created bonds of the heart with, and consider how you can be mutual support for each other, even through adversity.
7: The Chariot
The Chariot is focused and determined: on his faithful seahorse steed, Eridan would stop at nothing to fulfill his goals. Indeed, he is fuelled so much by his drive that he manages to power a wand purely by belief alone - a manifestation of his Hope powers. This is not a card for a meanderer!
However, the specific choice of Eridan for this card is also a cautionary tale against the kind of direction we commit ourselves to. Eridan’s driven by his hate for “landdwellers”, going so far as to lie to friends and destroying the hope of his universe (my darling Kanaya’s matriob, and then Kanaya herself, but she got better). At no point does he stop to consider whether his goal is actually beneficial to anyone beyond himself.
What sort of goals are you striving towards, and have you considered the implications of your goals? If you are sure that your goals are worthy of being followed, how can you channel all your energy towards it, and how does your dedication open up possibilities from the seemingly impossible?
8: Justice
Justice is blind, they say, and who better than my fellow Seer Terezi? The justice system seems to be in her blood in more ways than one. She prides herself on her impartiality, with her coin toss deciding all - but then also consider how she ignores the coin toss anyway in favor of her predetermined decisions.
On the one hand, the Justice card is one of great power. Justice and fairness will be served, consequences will be followed, and objectivity will prevail. But at the same time, does blindness hinder the passage of justice? Is there evidence to the contrary that you are willfully ignoring because you have already decided what is right?
At one point, a version of Terezi laments that she is unable to see a different way when faced with a difficult life-or-death decision. She then grows to regret the decision, and her life spirals down. It is not until things become especially dire that she finally considers a different, third path - one that can only be fulfilled by a reluctant ally. Are there third paths to your quandary that you have yet considered? Could you enlist unlikely people to support you, given the greater good? What other possibilities are there besides black and white?
Summary:
All of these cards deal with highly powerful and potent forces: love, determination, justice. However, it is also easy to see how these forces can be used for corrupt ends: star-crossed passions, unsavoury goals, preconceived notions.
The last three cards talked about different ways to harness power, and here we get more specific on the types of power wieldable, especially those that carry consequence on others. No decision is made in a vacuum. How will your choices affect others, and what is your grander vision? Working together and seeing how everyone & everything connects to each other will serve you all well, even if at the end you are working alone.
Ah, lovelies, we have hit the halfway point! Thank you for following along with me so far, and for sharing my thoughts with your own dear ones. Please feel free to communicate your reflections with me at any time!
9: The Hermit
Sometimes, in our journey, we will need to let go of our past and move solo. Our Windswept Questant here was once the White Queen; indeed, I can still recall her beautiful, flowery, regal words resonating through my mind as I walked around my land. Due to a series of machinations far beyond her control, she was in essence forced to abdicate her role.
At the same time, though, this was a choice she consciously made. She could have very well said No, and create a doomed timeline where the Parcel Mistress was not able to fulfill her quest to deliver John’s package; indeed, I highly doubt the needs of timelines to be doomed or not doomed is not really her concern. However, she was able to see the larger picture, and chose a peaceful way to abdicate - no bloodshed, no trauma - knowing full well that it would enable her main quest of getting her carapacians to new land post-Reckoning.
The Hermit is not a perpetual loner; eventually WQ reunites with her other exiles (before sadly losing her life, but that would be a topic for another card I suppose). But she needed to trek alone for a while, steady in her conviction. Which part of your journeys require you to walk alone? Can you hold onto the faith that you will rejoin others at the end? How comfortable are you with your own self for company?
10: Wheel of Fortune
Skaia, the crucible of all creation! Flanked by Prospit, the moon of the dreamers who see the future as it will be. Even then, Jade, my sweetheart Kanaya, and all others who awaken early on Prospit’s satellite do not necessarily see every step: it is up to them to determine how the future they forsee comes about.
The Wheel of Fortune holds a myriad of destinies; anything truly can happen. However, it also contains a large amount of free will - your journey to your destiny is your own, and you even have the power to overthrow the wheel and create your own destiny. Even in our games where doomed timelines are aplenty (I suppose mine counts as a “doomed timeline”), bits and pieces of those timelines become instrumental in making the Alpha Timeline work. So while Skaia may have its own ideas of what needs to happen, you still have a powerful say in its direction.
What potential lies for you, and how would you get there? How can you foretell what will happen, and how do you plot your own journey? Use your will to spin the wheel - but can you control where the wheel stops?
11: Strength
Oh, my sweet beautiful Kanaya. Hard femme extraordinaire, protective mother bear who would do anything and everything for those she cares for. Even when her life is at risk, she bounces back to avenge those that harm others. I am told that one version of my counterpart had to see her incinerated, and risked her life in revenge…oh this may be as hard to manage as learning about the death of my counterpart’s mother! But thankfully Kanaya is still alive and strong, and even my dead counterpart managed to reunite (even if she was in that abomination of a sprite - goodness, I still shiver when I think about it).
It is highly interesting to me that in this card, Kanaya is seen comforting Gamzee, who had been running rampant murdering the rest of their team. In the main timeline, she announces her intent to go “clown hunting”, and at one point actually manages to slice the damn clown in half (in my world, he is not pleasant either). It is Karkat who normally fills in the role of shoosh-papping moirail, the only way to calm the clown down.
What does this say about Strength? Is it the potential to reign in the instinct for revenge? Is it the ability to see the person behind the rage, and connect to them on that level? Is it the possibility of rising up from doom and persevering? All of these are valid interpretations of Strength, and it is so fitting that Kanaya is the embodiment of the card (and no, not just because my heart belongs to her, across timelines).
Summary:
At first glance, these three cards may not seem like they have a theme in common, unlike all the other cards we have explored. However, with some digging, one can see that they all relate to the conduct of the self during their journey: working alone, taking hold of destiny, holding strength. How will you manage your self as you proceed on your adventure?
This is my attempt at collecting all the information about Homestuck Pagan Celebrations into a single post for easy reference. I will add more to this post as it becomes relevant. Last Edited: 8/12/2015
Homestuck Pagan Celebrations are dates that are of importance to Homestuck Pagans and Witches. Some, like 4/13 and 11/11, are taken from the canon of Homestuck itself. Other dates were designated by some Homestuck Pagans to give a celebration to certain characters or concepts. Celebrations reflect important events, such as the beginning of Sburb/Sgrub sessions, or character’s birthdays.
At the end of this post is a list of all the current Homestuck Pagan Celebrations and what they are about.
While the kid’s all have canonically known birthdays, the only troll with a known wriggling (birth) day is Karkat (on June 12th.) Karkat is associated with the Cancer zodiac sign, which becomes the star sign of birthdays starting on June 23rd (approximately), 11 days after Karkat’s wriggling day. To follow suit, observed wriggling days of the other beta trolls were placed 11 days before the change of the zodiac sign into the sign related to a character. The earlier date is the observed wriggling day for the beta trolls, while the date of the change of the zodiac sign is a larger celebration for all the trolls that share that sign. So, for example, February 9th is Feferi’s Wriggling Day (Observed), and 11 days later on February 20th is the Festival of Peixes.
(The actual date of the change of the zodiac changes every year, due to astronomical forces. The date of the change is within a 3-day range every year. For consistency’s sake, an arbitrary date within this 3 day range has been chosen to host the Festivals.)
The Troll Festivals are a more important, larger celebration than the wriggling days which are more reserved and character specific. Wriggling Days could be considered days of interests, while the Troll Festival is more of a holiday.
You can choose which Homestuck Pagan Celebrations you choose to include in your practice, and how you celebrate or other wise incorporate them. There is no absolute way to be a Homestuck Pagan, and taking part in these celebrations is not required to be a “real” Homestuck Pagan! Your practice is your own!
Some of the things you can do on these dates include reblogging images and other posts to an online shrine or blog, offering thoughts or prayers for the relevant character(s), or converse with other Homestuck Pagans using the “#homestuck pagan” tag. You can create new spells or crafts with the character in mind, or share parts of your practice if you’d like. At this time, there is not any “standardized” way of celebrating.
For all of the Troll festivals, I have created a public Spotify playlist of songs that remind us of the characters. If you have Spotify, you can listen to these playlists and add your own songs. There will be links to these playlists below.
If you have any more questions about Homestuck Pagan Celebrations, you can send me an ask and I will do my best to answer and update this post.
For the dates and associated characters and concepts of each Celebration, see the list below.
So this is
the first deck that I bought and the one that got me started in this whole
divination business. It is themed around the character and event of the web
comic homestuck and can be found on their official merchandise store.
The box
This deck
is kept into a box that is the same size the card are and is a little bit
larger than my hand. I personally love small box because they are easy to bring
everywhere and do not take too much place. But on the other hand the cardboard
is fragile and if you do like me and use this deck a lot, the box will
eventually start to rip.
The cardstock
Even after month of use that included careless shuffling
and being shoved in the box, the cards are still in very good shape. None of
them are rip and the edge are still clean.
So for the
quality of the product, I would say that it is safe to expect this deck to be
long lasting and easy to carry around, but you might need to buy another box or
a pouch to keep them.
The art
The art of
this deck is tricky because instead of having one or two artist making the
whole thing, this tarot is a collaboration between twenty-five artists, each of
them making two or three card individually. So you get a big melting pot of art
style and different interpretation. Some card will follow closely the symbolism
that is usually on the card and other will go with a more abstract view. All of
the pip are fully illustrated, which is always nice, the color are vibrant and
every drawing is unique.
Another
thing that can make this deck not worth it for some, is that it is made especially
for fans of the comics, if you do not recognize the different characters; you
might lose a part of the deck. It is still a nice deck that I often use to give
reading and you can still use it if you never laid eyes of the web comic, but
then it will lose a part of its charm.
So to
conclude, the homestuck tarot is a quality item and if you are a fan of the
comic, it is perfect for your collection, but if you never heard of homestuck
or if you put great value in traditional symbolism, you might want to get
something else.
However, the spread didn’t feel entirely “done” to me. Like, it was essentially a fun form of “past present future” kinda thing. Which, to be fair, is kinda what happens with card readings a lot of the time. You create something new and interesting-looking, based on some kinda theme… but in the end, it’s the same old schtick, because the Tarot have a system to them, and the old-school seeps in.
Anyway. I liked it, and I noticed seedsofanxiety said they were gonna make an Sgrub and Sburb Alpha spread.
