You can find me at Myspace:
myspace.com/amythystraine
To receive a tarot reading from Amythyst, follow the url:
http://ladyamythyst.webs.com/tarotreadings.htm
I am a collector...of tarot cards, old books, sterling silver jewelry set with rough natural stones, knives and swords, old spells from various traditions, herbs and stones and feathers, husbands and lovers, children, and cats. I love dark misty rainy days and movies and reading-- ancient love stories that linger throughout time and are filled with passion beyond human measure and biographies that beguile and make believers out of anyone of impossible dreams and their fulfillment.
And I love studying the Craft: tarot…answers to questions not even asked out loud unfold before me and things that are hidden are revealed, and often what’s inside myself is revealed with it, the extraordinary feeling when the cards begin to speak to my soul and come alive before me eyes; alchemy…the Elixir of the Moon and the alchemical chant ringing through the centuries and the seekers and scientists and magicians and their teachings and their constant search for knowledge and answers to all the mysteries of the universe; astrology…the celestial bodies that constantly move through time and space, opening doors of understanding into the personalities of those around me and of myself to me, unlocking the mystery of why I am the way I am and why those I love fit into my existence; numerology… Pythagoras revealing the mysteries of numbers and the order they create within our universe; the Elements…the earth, air, fire, water, that touches every part of me and my daily life in every sense, and the ethereal beings connected to these elements, their presence felt always along the perimeters of my existence; the herbs…their scent and feel in my hands and their energy and magic just waiting to be unleashed.
I make my own oils and potions and brews and wonder at the shining bottles of elixirs and the magic and purpose instilled within. I naturally feel the waxing and waning of the moon and my own female cycle connected to it – it is mysticism from many paths that all seems to converge into one path for me.
I love good coffee and beer and black olives and chocolate. I love messy unmade beds and cats curled up on my sofa and the kitchen table...and I love brooms. I deeply love the wonderful man in my life and the love and light and pure joy that he brings to me. I love his passion and his quiet strength, his humor, his eyes and his touch; and when I look at him I know where my destiny lay.
I love our houseful of little girls and the uniquely feminine atmosphere that prevails, and our son's solid silent masculinity. I love dreams that startle you awake and stay with you for weeks or months-- vivid in detail and color. And I love moving through life aware of the fact that something elusive and powerful walks beside me...Blessings, Amythyst
Music
I love Celtic Music, New Age, ambient, light classical, and classic rock (Stevie Nicks and I are of the same generation--must mean we're aging at the same pace. ;) I prefer something relaxing as opposed to something ear splitting.
Movies
My favorite movie is The Mists of Avalon, from there...Practical Magic, The Witches of Eastwick, The Craft, What Lies Beneath, The Missing, The Gift, The Jacket, The Ring, Secret Window, all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Ninth Gate (and just about anything else with Johnny Depp in it), Elizabeth, The Quill, The Governess, Nanny MacPhee, Finding Neverland, The Postman, Merlin, The Illusionist, I’ve Been Waiting for You, An American Haunting, Ghost, The Kill Bill movies (smart beautiful woman kicking ass—who wouldn’t love that), all of the Harry Potter movies and Lord of the Rings, The Quiet Man (I’ve seen this one a zillion times and still get goosebumps when John Wayne comes to fetch Maureen O’hara.), It’s a Wonderful Life, First Knight, The Glass House, The Red Dragon, The Da Vinci Code, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Moonlight & Valentino, Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood, The Secret of Roan Innish, Something's Gotta Give...I love old movies, including silent films.
Books
I love to read almost as much as I enjoy movies. Most of my reading involves nonficiton books on occult topics by Silver Ravenwolf, Scott Cunningham, Ann Moura, Ly de Angeles, Raven Grimmasi, Laurie Cabot, Konstantinos, Raymond Buckland, etc. I love Anne Rice and when I'm in the mood, Poe. I adore Tennyson, had a crush on him when I was 18. Sir Thomas Mallory and all the tales of King Arthur, Charlotte Bronte and her sister Emily, Dan Brown, the diaries and letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, The Diary of a Witch by Sybil Leek, books by the late Betty McDonald: The Egg & I and Onions in the Stew. I like books on real life mysteries: The disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the Bermuda Triangle, etc. I love books about real life forbidden romance, such as King Edward VIII and Wallis Warfield Simpson. I use to love to read tawdry cheap love novels, but I no longer have the time or patience... Again, as with music-- I tend to gravitate toward work that touches me in some way.
Likes
Endless Possibilities.
My Friend, "Spike"
My parents had Spike when I was a teenager. He was a timberwolf with huge paws and an even bigger heart. I spent many a summer day, stretched out by his cage beneath a tree, reading a book, with Spike stretched out beside me.
Dislikes
Summer storms that build beautifully and evaporate before they unfold. Seafood. Putting on nylons when your fingers are rough and catchy. Hunting season on turtle doves. People afraid to believe in something they can't see. Afternoon sunshine. The dead of winter.
Hobbies
art, alchemy, absinthe art, astrology, antiquing, apple trees, Avalon (The Isle of Apples), aquariums, athames, autumn, blackbirds, banana splits, books, beer, black olives, black umbrellas, besoms (brooms), baking, baths, candles, crows, cotton candy, cemeteries, calamus root, cats, candle magic, chocolate, coffee, Celtic music, Cerridwen, dogs, dandelions, druidery, divination, dragons, elephant statuary and art, English ivy, early mornings, the Elements, epiphanies, feathers, fairies, flowers, friends, family, goldfish, guppies, ghosts/ghost hunting, gardening, green, hoodoo, Halloween, home schooling, horses, Hecate, Horus, haunted places, Herne, herbal oils, herbs,
My heroes are couples who find true and everlasting love, the kind you grow old with, couples who have developed the kind of stamina in their partnership to see each other through the trials of life.
My heroes are also women who are not afraid to discover the ancient mysteries within themselves and the strength that comes with that knowledge...and the men who are not afraid to love those women in spite of it.
This month is the most exciting for me. I love October and Samhain.
You will find oodles of family photos of 'Halloweens Past'. I've also posted photos taken on my birthday trek through the jungles of South America and Asia.
To enter this black and orange realm filled with animated pumpkins and shadows of what has been and what will be...
The right click option has been opened on this page. Feel free to copy/paste the ritual for your own use.
Blessings, Amythyst
Pagan Lore
Autumn Equinox is a ritual occasion marking the beginning of the fall season, a day when the periods of day and night are of equal length. In mainstream Wiccan mythology the Autumn Equinox marks the time of the Descent of the Goddess into the Underworld. With Her departure we see the decline of Nature and the coming of winter. This is a classic ancient mythos also reflected in the Sumerian myth of Inanna and in the ancient Greek and Roman legends of Demeter and Persephone.
In modern Celtic Wicca/Witchcraft, the Autumn Equinox also bids farewell to the Harvest Lord who is the mythos of some Traditions was slain at the time of Lughnasadh (a Festival marking the beginning of the Celtic harvest season.). Many modern Wiccans refer to the Autumn Equinox as Mabon, named for a legendary Celtic figure who was abducted and imprisoned in the basement dungeon of an enchanted castle. Through this mythos, modern Celtic Witches have established a connection to the traditional Underworld association connected with the Autumn Equinox.
In Italian Witchcraft, the Autumn Equinox marks the slaying of the Harvest Lord, and the resulting descent of the Goddess to find her lost love. The Eleusinian Mysteries, originating in Greece, involve themes of descent and ascent, loss and regain, light and darkness, and the cycles of life and death. Rites associated with these Mysteries were performed at midnight during the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes. This Mystery Tradition spread to Rome and to Britain where initiations into this mythos were given.
(From "Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft" by Raven Grimassi.)
If you wish to view/purchase "Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft", you will find a link at:
Intuition is that inner voice you almost don't hear. -- Lady A.R.
10/Pentacles (R)...The ten of coins (or pentacles) usually represents money that is somehow connected to family in some way, either through business ventures or inheritance, etc. Since the card is reversed, it points to a problem in this area-- something that is not fair, or perhaps someone is not being honest, or there is some sort of legal obstruction tying this money up.
What you read above is the general meaning of this card.
Now I'll look at it again. This time with the intention of an intuitive reading:
Upon this deck (the Universal Rider/Waite), at the bottom of the card, which is now the top of the card, there are two white hounds standing close together at their master's feet. The white-haired master's hand rests on the head of one of the hounds, telling me that whether this person is present or not, he still carries great influence in this matter.
There is a man and woman pictured on this card standing apart from the old man and his hounds. This group is divided, which tells me that there are divisions among family members, sides chosen with lines drawn in the sand, loyalties laid out, etc.
The image of the child hiding behind the couple leaps out at me in a blaring revelation. This 'child' is reaching out, from behind the couple, laying his hand on the rump of one of the white hounds. This 'child' represents a person who is orchestrating these events and manipulating the outcome of this legal matter from behind the scenes.
All in all, this seems to be a pretty sordid story derived from today's card. "Dysfunctional' probably does not begin to describe the family or group of people involved in this situation.
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