posted June 01, 2004 02:57 PM         

Mighty A!!! Long time, no see. Hoping all is well!

YES, YES, YES!! Color your own deck. It's a great way to learn the card from the inside out. It's kind of like casting a chart and inserting the planets into the wheel by hand.

But.. when you DO color your own deck... keep that deck aside for personal work, meditation, and study only! That way, your cards will literally be a part of you and your creativity. If you choose to read for others, I'd stick with a commercial deck.

I'm still coloring my B.O.T.A. cards, and I've been doing B.O.T.A. studies for 6 - 7 years now... I credit my lack of artistic ability there. But an artist friend of mine recently turned me on to Prisma-Color colored pencils, and I'm much happier with the results now than before!

Best wishes and Bright Light in learning and coloring...

A

posted June 01, 2004 05:16 PM         

Greetings and I hope all is well with you too.

The tarot deck was purchased from an occult bookstore that has been in business since the 1930s, here in San Francisco. For a first visit, I was mesmerized.

There is a book I think you might like to read one of these days: Math and the Mona Lisa Ever heard of it?

Well, Mighty A. is a fitting name these days. How was your holiday weekend? I went kayaking in the open ocean, swimming, and rode a 20-mile bike trail across the Golden Gate Bridge, to and from Sausalito during the weekend.

Love

posted January 05, 2007 11:15 PM         

Any thoughts either way?

My thought was that I might actually finish them if there were only 22, lol also, that it might somehow give me a base to work from since I am just learning.

posted January 07, 2007 08:04 PM         

The idea of coloring your own deck is so that you internalize the symbolism as you color the cards. The activity of coloring also helps to put your own "energy" into the cards.

Such cards are best used for your own study and contemplation, and should probably NOT be used for readings for others, unless you feel a strong connection to that individual.

BOTA does not teach divination as such, but teaches the mysteries behind the Tarot. They see the Tarot as a book designed to teach Eternal Truths, a tool for meditation and Spiritual growth.

I would personally recommend the 22 card large set to color and use in your own studies. Personally I don't have the skill to try to do 78 cards. And BOTA does not have individual pictures for the Minor Arcana. The court Cards of course are illustrated, just not the "pips".

Hope that helps.

Blessings...

A

posted January 07, 2007 09:11 PM         

I like your username; I've been wanting to ask you...I'm curious, Aselzion means angel correct?

------------------
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

posted January 08, 2007 08:05 PM         

Aselzion is a name I picked from Marie Corelli's book The Life Everlasting. I am not aware that it means anything outside of that context.

Basically when I was choosing a username for one of my early internet providers, I didn't want to use my own name, and several of the other ones I wanted were already taken, so I pulled Aselzion from the recesses of my mind as a name that might be unknown to many, and here I am!

It would be interesting to find out if it did mean 'angel' as I do feel strongly attracted to these beings.

Aselzion was a character that I resonated strongly with when I read Corelli's book; I hope that some day I can attain to a fraction of his knowledge and skill.

In the Light...

A

posted March 18, 2008 09:53 AM         

I wanted to ask you about B.O.T.A

I visited their site and requested for the brochures, etc and also sent them an e-mail.
And since I am from India, i was wondering if there are any classes here..
I am aware about the distance learning thing, but would really appreciate it if someone could give me a brief about it, i am very intrigued and attracted to it for some reason.

Please help..

posted March 19, 2008 05:49 AM         

B.O.T.A. was formed by Paul Foster Case as a new outer vehicle for the Teachings of the Western Mysteries, namely Tarot, Qabalah, Spiritual Alchemy, uses of Sound and Color and Esoteric Astrology.

If you are interested in B.O.T.A. you should read any book by Paul Foster Case to get a sense for the teachings, as he did author most of the course material.

It can be quite dense, as the coursework for me has spanned approximately 20 years of monthly "lessons". Granted I took a bit of time off here and there to "catch up" and during that time, Life threw in a series of "curve balls" that detracted from my time devotion to the studies.

It is sort of like PhD. work in Western occultism... and the lessons include some of the best material I have come across in regard to the Spiritual applications of Tarot. Every day, I learn something new that sort of "blows my mind" about different things that can be explored by use of Tarot.

I highly recommend B.O.T.A. As to classes in India, I think you can find out about local study groups or Pronai from the bota.org home page.

If you have other questions please feel free to ask.

Blessings...

A