Deck Review- HazelMoon's Hawaiian Tarot

A'ohe lokamaik'i i nele i ke pan'i. It is: A’ohe lokomaika’i i nele i ke pan’i..

 *No kind deed has ever lacked it's reward. To live with Aloha is to have a giving nature*

HazelMoon's Hawaiian Tarot is a wonderful deck by Katalin E. Csikos, that

 blends Hawaiian spirituality, the power of ancient and modern beliefs and the love of nature in all it's glory. This is a wonderful deck that shows us the importance of living happy, contented lives and the rewards of living in harmony with one's self and the glorious beauty of Mother Nature in all her majestic forms.

This is a traditional 78 card deck, with Strength numbered 8 and Justice at number 11. The card stock is fabulous to shuffle and the cards have a glossy lamination that just makes the imagery pop. When going through the deck, I noticed that many of the cards depict landscapes, and according to Katalin, in Hawaii the land or "aina" is very sacred to it's peoples and thus protected closely.

The Major Arcana each have a Roman numeral at the top and name of each card at the bottom and I just love the choices of coloring and situations portrayed that give me a complete "sense" of the message of  each card. All of the Major Arcana have the traditional names with the exception of the Devil, which has been renamed The Evil, in which the Hawaiian belief is that nothing is more evil than the disrespect of the land, nature or the animals that inhabit it.

The Minor Arcana are arranged by suit, starting with Sticks, representing Wands in most decks, followed by Swords, Cups and Lava Stones equivalent to Pentacles or Coins. The Courts are represented by Boy (Page) Warrior (Knight) Queen and King. I absolutely love the way Katalin has used color and scenes that depict all the different aspects of each suit perfectly.

This is a wonderful deck that not only pays homage to nature in all her glory but the healing and teaching aspects that we can all learn from to use as guidance, healing and understanding of ourselves and the world we live in. I would quite happily recommend this deck to anyone both novice and experienced alike!

Author/creator: Katalin E. Csiskos

Self Published

images used with permission from Katalin E. Csiskos

Morgan's Tarot Monday

And there I was...SURROUNDED

Surrounded by the various and sometimes bizarre creatures of nature, I received a message. It said: "You and the earth are one".


In the center of this card is a large flower surrounded by other smaller flowers, how often as we go about our busy days do we stop and take notice or appreciate the sheer beauty of nature whether intricate in design or even a bit on the bizarre side ( duck billed platypus, I rest my case). Every living thing is a part of the Universe and therefor divine, the spirit moves through us all...plant, tree, flower, stone and human. 

Take time out and notice all that is in nature, how complete and perfect it is.

Celtic Tree Calendar

Because my roots are Celtic in origin, I thought it would be fun to do some research on the Celtic Tree Calendar, which fascinates me to no end. I've always loved history and it's so cool when learning about the past leads you to realize that the past and present are not so removed from each other. Family's hand down stories and traditions from generation to generation and I just love seeing where a particular belief or custom originates from. I can still remember my grandfather teaching me all about the trees, he was a fire marshal for the local forest service in the town I grew up in and passed his love of nature to me.

The Celtic Tree Calendar calendar has thirteen lunar divisions. Most modern pagans use fixed dates for each month, rather than following the waxing and waning lunar cycle. Otherwise, eventually the calendar would fall out of sync with the Gregorian year that we all use today because some calendar years have 12 full moons and others have 13. The modern tree calendar is based on an idea that each letter in the ancient Celtic alphabet corresponded to a tree. Today marks the end of the tree month Rowan and tomorrow begins Ash.

The tree month of Ash (Feb. 18th -Mar 17) was a sacred chieftain tree and said to "court the flash" as it was prone to lightning strikes. Its wood was thought to be enchanted and was used for Druid wands and spears. Ash people are quick witted, spontaneous and gregarious. They have a lively curiosity and are intelligent, persuasive speakers, enthusiastic, curious and communicative. In Celtic mythology the ash is known as the tree of enchantment and it is said the Welsh magician Gwydion fashioned his wands from ash wood.

The Ogham (oh-wahm) or sacred Druidic alphabet contained hidden secrets for magic and divination and only the initiated could understand these meanings. The ancient Celts had a close bond with trees and we can see in their magical alphabet and in the tree calendar.They had a deep respect for their trees and it is reflected in the old Celtic word for oak (Duir), the word Derwydd or Duirwydd (oak-seer) was probably the origin of the word Druid.