I’m a creative, experienced, multi-purpose artist and art director
who can take projects start to finish in a variety of styles.

Good designs sell –
my designs sell out!

Friday, January 27, 2012

"Forward"

Maybe you’ve had this kind of thing happen – my boss’ brother’s wife’s mother had a project. The artist who moonlights tarot readings was out with the flu. “Hey! I’ve got something for you!” Oh sure. How was I to know that “something” was going to take a couple of years, a complete redo, and war threats with at least 3 far eastern countries? Thankfully, I really liked my boss’ brother’s wife’s mother, and it was fun to work on something out of the mainstream.

I don’t know how much more “forward” we can get than talking with a psychic. Sandy often came in with insights about what was going to happen next, with or without dropping stones on the latest layouts of her game. She was usually right. I can understand why she has her loyal patrons. Everyone in the office eventually got their fortunes told. It’s hard to say you don’t want to know the future, even if some people feel like it’s against the rules to play.

I don’t think there’s much of a line between intuition and psychics; it’s just that the psychics exercise a muscle most of us don’t bother to acknowledge in the first place. How many times have we gotten a feeling about something without really knowing why? Maybe Jung had it right when he talked about the collective unconscious, or maybe it’s God’s way of clueing us into important things, or maybe the universe is a whole lot bigger than any of us is really comfortable accepting? I know I’ve gotten those feelings, and life has definitely gone smoother for me when I paid attention to my stomach when it’s squirming. Of course sometimes maybe I should’ve eaten something different for lunch, but there are those other times I have to wonder about.

Of course there are charlatans too. If you give me $3,000, I’ll pray over some crystals. No, wait! Give me $5,000 and I’ll lift that curse off of you that will prevent you from every success or happiness for the rest of your life. Come to think of it, I see you having $10,000 in the bank that will really motivate your spirit guides and angels – once your $10,000 is in my loving care of course, which means the check has to clear before any real spirit action happens. Okay, yeah, those people exist too, and if you call the psychic hotline, they’ll keep you on the phone quite a while to tell you about how you should be careful with your money. We can exercise some common sense while keeping an open mind about some things.

I used to have a job where I scheduled events. This is a tricky thing when we consider various religious and government holidays, conflicting venue’s events, school schedules, Ohio weather… The first time I sat with my pile of conflicts, I felt overwhelmed. I jabbed a pencil at the calendar. The 20th! Okay, why not? The 20th was as good as the 27th, right? And for some reason the 20th felt better, so I filed the appropriate forms, sent out my PSA’s, etc. Blue sky on the 20th, blizzard on the 27th. Call me superstitious all you want, I scheduled the rest of my events according to my gut. Good weather for all of them. My method worked for more than 4 years when I quit scheduling those kinds of events. BTW, I told my ex-priest boss about my method, and he approved.

The game is fun and requires absolutely no skill to play. You drop the stones onto printed fabric, then consult the booklet to understand the meanings of the stone placements. You can buy it here, though I don’t get anything if you do. Sometimes I think I should make commission.

28 comments:

  1. I remember when you were doing this. What a lovely piece! You did seem to enjoy it, and I think not having a pressing deadline probably added to that enjoyment. I always liked this, and have had fun playing it at your house. I had no idea she had a website for it--You should catch some commission off of it! Anyway nice job, good write up!

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  2. Linda you never cease to amaze me with all the projects you have been involved with. Love the design for this. Can you advise me on the winning lotto ticket this week ;-) Have a great weekend .
    Jane x

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  3. What a gorgeous board! I bet it would also make a lovely silk scarf, though I wonder if I wore it around my head, whether people would throw stones at my face. But they do that even without the scarf, so....

    Psychic stones! That's so neat! I like your gut. It's filled with cookies. :)

    Have an excellent weekend!

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  4. Well, it's certainly beautiful. Amazingly beautiful, really....

    I totally believe in intuition too--though mostly I just think that we have such wonderfully complex brains and nerve endings, and the world is such a wonderfully complex place, that there is no way that our conscious mind can process even the tiniest fraction of what we perceive. And I agree that paying attention to those feelings and going with them is a really good idea.

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  5. My dog got confused when I laughed out loud at Bella's comment! And yes, my gut is filled with cookies :)

    Jane, I'm seeing a 1 or maybe a 4 for the Lotto. Does that help?

    Thanks for the testimonial Mary Lou! Sandy would be so pleased.

    On a more serious note, I think Coreopsis is probably right that we perceive more than we realize, but I like the idea of a little magic in life too :)

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  6. fun post - always enjoy popping by here. I agree with Bella - this would be a lovely scarf too

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  7. Hey Linda one of our lotto number is 41...it will be interesting to see if that comes out this week ;0) Jx
    Again on a serious note and speaking with my science hat on I totally agree with Coreopsis - we have very smart brains!

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    1. It's all good, and fun, and your art work is totally top notch. I believe in a grain of it, then probably the rest is coincidence. But I'm still open to a few cosmic possibilities.

      Hey, I got into some interesting stuff in the 70's.. so, I don't rule anything out!

      Congrats on the Blogger Award, you deserve it!

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  8. Does that mean I get a cut if you win Jane? :)

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  9. Hmmm I need to get back to you on that.........but lady luck is smiling on me..remember I won that card challenge last week? Well I came out of the hat and won the same one this week! Trouble now is that rather than coincidence I hear murmurs of «fix»! Jx

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  10. They say things come in 3's, so maybe the Lotto is next? :D

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  11. Update, Sunday pm. Linda I think we have something going on here....have a look at my blog post! How incredible or is it all just coincidence!??LOL Sadly no luck with the Lotto though!
    Jane x

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  12. Congratulations Jane! It's always nice when nice people get lucky :)

    Thanks for the comment Heidi! I'm repressing the '70s, so I'm admitting nothing that might've happened back then :)

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  13. And here I thought tarot readings only came in cards! How cool is this?! And a very interesting take on "forward" I might add.

    When I first saw it, I thought it would make an exotic wall hanging. I didn't realize it had a more lofty function! How does it feel to have a hand in the future?

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  14. I usually love the unknown in life. Although I'm waiting for my roughs to be approved for my current book contract. There is only one thing I want to hear. That everything is approved. So I guess I need some magic stones!

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  15. Sometimes I think I've got one foot in the past, one in the future, and no feet in the present :) This is based more on astrology than tarot cards Abby, but yeah, fun to have my hand in the future.

    Good luck with your book Sharon!

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  16. Very interesting interpretation of the topic! (I do think there might be some truth to the under-exercised muscle idea).

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  17. You're right, a psychic is about as forward thinking as one can get! Inventors are really more a product of the forefront of their time, by the psychic concept is about right.

    .

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  18. This is a great intuitive thoughts! I loved reading your posts, they always make me think and I always think, I would love to sit around, eat delicious food and chat with you! I do think we would have the best time! Wonderful illustration! :)

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  19. Great post, image grabs and words draw me along.

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  20. Thanks for the comments everyone! Anytime you're in Cleveland Indigene! Sounds like a blast :)

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  21. That is a beautiful board. I don't know if I believe in psychic stones, though, but I certainly believe there is more between heaven and earth than we know, called it intuition or psychic insight. Isn't that how artists has always come up with new ideas? From somewhere outside themselves. I think this is a very interesting theme you have brought to the table. Great post.

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  22. Hey I played the game! I am going to have a personality change, have an affair and become the boss of my company. I will have to ask my wife first of course :) Plus I guess my boss might want to know too :)

    But seriously, yes psychic intuition is often better than using logic. I have had many things happen to me that required me to be standing in the right spot not once - but on several different occasions. I spend a lot more time checking for trucks before I cross the road now....

    But seriously, when I was a kid I used to freak a friend out by picking the white pawn in his closed fist ten times in a row (it's how you start a game of chess)

    I also feel ghosts. :(

    It is a beautiful board. You've picked just the right style to use, not too ornate, just right.

    Sorry to be so late. I guess I am early for next week :) :)

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  23. Thanks everybody! I used to be able to do things like picking the white pawn every time too Andrew. Sometimes I wonder if it's because the other person clenches it a little harder or maybe because of that something extra floating around in the air? But like Otto says, artists do get ideas from outside of themselves somehow.

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  24. This looks like a lot of fun, love the print too. Always enjoy reading your posts Linda.

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  25. It was/is fun Amanda. I enjoy your posts too. Thanks!

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