The Magic of Tarot

Welcome back to another segment of Tell Me About It Tuesday.

After reading Veronica's post about tarot yesterday I felt inspired to write about my own experiences with the tarot.

(Strength from the Paulina Tarot)

Magic has always interested me, especially when I was younger. I was drawn to it. I didn't get interested in tarot until I was about nine or ten years old. I'm almost a little embarrassed to admit this but it was from a T.V. show called The Vision of Escaflowne.

The show was a about an average high school girl named Hitomi. She was on the track team and she also told fortunes for her classmates via tarot. I just remember being so entranced by the cards and her ability to know their meaning just by looking at them. She ends up getting whisked away to another planet called Gaea and her psychic powers become even more powerful. It's a good show and I do recommend it to any anime lovers.

(A picture of some of Hitomi's cards)

I couldn't believe that someone could actually know your past, present, or future by using something as simple as cards. I wanted to have my fortune told by someone but being that I was a little kid and my parents frown upon something like this, I kept it my dream to myself. Then one day in my freshman year of high school my friend Amber brought her own tarot deck to class. I don't remember the name of it. All I can remember was that the cards had cartoon-ish looking dragons on them. She did a few card spreads for us and then asked if anyone of us wanted to have our own reading. I jumped at the chance. She told me to think of a question and only that question. So I closed my eyes and focused on my question while shuffling the cards in my hands. I gave her back her cards and she started the spread. I don't remember all the cards that were used. All I remember was the last card. The card that was supposed to be my answer.

I was about seventeen when I bought my first deck which was the Rider-Watie Deck. I thought that this would be a good one to start with since this was the deck I saw the most. I used this deck a lot in college because I had friends that wanted advice about something in their lives and I was more than happy to get the practice in. It wasn't until my friend Mark showed up for on of our plays that noticed his deck, the Revelations Deck.

I didn't know about the vast possibilities when it came to the cards. This is when my friend, Tanya, asked me if my deck spoke to me or if I ever felt drawn to it. I told her not really. I just got it because I thought it was a good one to start with. She told me when buying anything magical you need to feel something for it. It needs to speak to you. And it took me a while to find the right cards but after all this searching I finally did. 

(The Zerner Farber Deck aka The Enchanted Tarot)

This was the first card that I saw and I fell in love. I finally understood what my friends meant. I felt drawn to these cards. I could hear them calling out to me. And they have been very helpful in all my readings. 

If any of you are ever interested in tarot and want to see what kinds of decks are out there I recommend Aeclectic Tarot or Tarot.com  although you can find decks pretty much anywhere. Just remember when purchasing your deck 

1) have a connection with it. If you feel drawn to it or if it speaks to you or maybe you can already see a story when you look at the cards. You need to feel something for it.

2) Never haggle for the prices of magical items. Just my advice.

Or maybe you don't really feel like tarot is your thing and you want to try orcale cards. There are a huge selection of those are well. In fact May-May uses them. His cards are the Oracle of Shadows and Light.

Well that's all I have for you today. And if you ever want a reading from me all you have to do is ask ;)

Icing kisses,

J.S.

The Many Sides Of Who We Are Part 1: Burlesque

(Some of the videos in the links are not age appropriate. Please do not click on them if you are not 18 years old or older)

So this thought came to me earlier today. I was thinking of the blog and the other times I had blogged before and how in the past I totally crashed and burned. Nobody wanted to read it, no one ever commented on it, and I just felt like I was talking to an empty black void and the only person I was hearing was myself. And then I thought about the blog now and then I thought why am I doing this again? Why am I doing a blog again when before I just got burned out? What did I want to get out of this?

And the answer to that is I wanted to connect to people more through this blog and I also wanted to something different. I wanted to talk about positive things, for once, and I wanted to show all the sides of who we are. So I'm going to be doing a series of posts and sprinkle them throughout the weeks showing all of you the many sides of us.

So, what side am I going to show you first? I figure we probably should start with the obvious. The side that many of you already know.

If you were to ask me a few years ago if I would ever want to do burlesque I would have told you straight up no. I would have been too insecure to ever do anything like that. And this was an amazing, beautiful, magical surprise that came to me in the form of an amazing performer known as Veronica Varlow.

I consider Veronica my gatekeeper that opened the door to this magical world for me. I remember watching videos of  Veronica online (because at the time EA only toured in Europe and New York) and I was mesmerized by her. Instantly I was in love and when I love something I have to know more about it. So I went into research mode and I found the Danger Dame Diary. There I got to hear Veronica's story and see all these amazing things that she was doing like  working on her movie Revolver  or being an international burlesque bombshell . 

So what was burlesque? The best description I have ever heard was "burlesque is where a person goes out on stage, magic happens, and then the performer leaves with less clothes than before". More research lead me to different performers like Vivienne Vavoom, Miss Indigo Blue, or Dinah Mite. I'm a sucker for fan dancers, sue me. But as I went on I kept finding female performers but I didn't find a lot of men. So I turned my research to boylesque (but if you ask me personally I believe that burlesque and boylesque are the same thing). And I did find a lot of guys who do an amazing job and the guys that I really look up to are The Stagedoor Johnnies.

(From left to right Jett Adore, Bazuka Joe, and Ray Gunn)

These guys are a dancing burlesque group and God do I love them. Each of them have their own solo acts along with performing as a group. These men are fantastic and they gave me plenty of inspiration for ideas routines of my own. 

Another thing that really helped with my journey in burlesque was A Wink And A Smile which can be found on the movie's website or Netflix. It's an indie documentary of burlesque and a class of women from the Academy of Burlesque in Seattle and their journey to graduation. It shows burlesque, boylesque, drag queens, drag kings, androgyny, and a lot more. I recently rewatched this because of a little adventure I'll be starting in less than two weeks.

(Movie website)

Now a couple of months ago I was feeling depressed. May-May and I were discussing the future, which isn't really a favorite topic of mine, and what each of us would do when we were older and not doing C.C. I never worry about May. He is very talented and lovable and I know that he will always find work as performer. Me on the other hand? Yeah I do worry. I love burlesque but there just isn't any place in a small town that one can do it. So we Googled Texas Burlesque and found the Austin Burlesque Festival but there wasn't any way that we could attend or afford it. And then another thing caught my eye. Dallas was about to open an Academy of Burlesque. Not only that but it was offering a six week boylesque course. I was freaking out. 

This was a sign. 

I had to do this. 

So I did. 

I paid my money for the course and on the 26th of May I'll be starting my classes. I am very excited because I really hope that I improve on what I already know, make new friends, and own that stage when I graduate. 

Well this was just one of the many sides that is Jay Scarlet. I hope you enjoyed it. 

Till next week,

Icing kisses and love,

J.S. 

Mapping The Road To World Domination: A Class With Veronica Varlow

This is to make up for the very somber post from a few days ago. I hope you enjoy.

I have always been a fan of Veronica. Ever since I saw my very first video of her on Youtube I was determined to meet this woman. And thankfully I was able to do this, not once but, twice! Here at the college I go to I've been going to all these motivational speakings. It has been very inspirational and after I met a man, Mr. Criox Sather, who was running across America, from coast to coast, I realized that there was something that I had never done. Once in high school my amazing Theatre teacher told us to write to someone that inspired us or was a hero to us. She wanted us to see if we would do it and to see if we would get a response. I sent my to Dean Koontz and I did get a reply. He was a very nice guy to do so but he wasn't really a hero of mine. He was the hero of my then,one and only, girlfriend. But I started to think...who is a real hero to me? Who is someone that makes me feel inspired? That makes me feel alive? Someone that is my family or loved one or friend. And then it came to me. Veronica Varlow.

After that first video I went on to research more about this woman and her profession. All I knew was that she was apart of Emilie Autumn's Bloody Crumpets and that was it. So I got on the Danger Dame website and started to read her blog. She has been through a lot and it inspired me to do more with my life. I started researching more on burlesque and boylesque and practicing my ass off. I started watching more videos and writing down all the ideas of routines I wanted to do. Getting to meet her was amazing but after the speech I realized that I wanted to write to her, my hero. So I did and I got a reply. She was really sweet and she offered me to take her class (see the title) for free. She wanted a personal C.C. CDs for her birthday this upcoming Friday as an exchange and I eagerly agreed.

At first I thought the class would have been a dance class but I was wrong and boy I was happy to be wrong. It was another motivational class so this week has left me completely inspired. In the class we talked about parts of her life and questioned ourselves about what truly makes us happy. I had an amazing time with her and everyone else that was in the webinar. She gave a lot of good points. One of which is that you shouldn't let other people run your life. Don't follow their expectations of you or their "map". Tear that shit up and start drawing your own. And for this map you will need a check list. So let's begin our road trip.

1 Fuel tank of gas-You are the car and you most fuel yourself up with positive and inspirational things. Veronica talked about visual maps. They are very easy to make too. You take some poster board and decorated it with things that you want to have come into your life or things that you wish to see on your journey. I'm going to start making on very soon and I can't wait to start.

2 Maintenance for your vehicle-You are the car and you must be taken care of. This means eating right, exercising, staying healthy, and of course having fun every once in a while.  No one can be work and all play or else that makes you a dull person and in which case causes you to try and murder your family in a haunted hotel. But that's why we have fun so these things don't happen. Veronica talked about how she likes to put exotic scented oils on her bed sheets to help her relax.

3 TRAVEL COMPANIONS!-This was one of my favorite ones. Who is your travel companion? It can be a friend, a lover, a family member, whoever you want but as long as the person is enjoying the trip you are on. Meaning that people have to support you and what you do and if they don't you need to be around people that do. People that care about you and love you for who you are. This is what we all need. Great travel companions.

4 Baggage-It is always better to travel light. Whatever problems or issues that you're holding on to....Throw....Them....Out. You don't need it. It only weighs you down. Veronica had baggage from when she was a five-year-old and her ballet teacher told her that she was dancing "with clouds behind your eyeballs".  Being five, and having no idea what the woman was talking about, Veronica never liked dancing until five years ago. She was afraid to do it and no she's a better person for dumping the unneeded bags.

5 Proper Wardrobe-If you're going to be something you need to dress the part. Veronica is working on a book and when she writes she wear a beret because that is what she believes a writer should wear when they are writing. So she goes down to the cafe' and starts typing out her book and she watches people stop by and ask if she is a writer. Make other people see your dream when they see you. So start wondering what is that you want to be and how can you show it?

6 Stop For Scenic Lookouts-Every good road trip has little stops along the way. We have to be taking pictures of these things. There are several beautiful places on this earth and we should get to see them. Beauty is in everything and when you see it stop and get a good look. Smell the roses and enjoy yourself. Don't let the good things in life pass you by. You may regret it later.

7 Postcards-Whenever you're on vacation make sure that you send these. It shows that you are having a good time. No one writes a postcard saying "wow, this sucks. I wish I wasn't here". They talk about how they wish the person receiving the letter was with them. So Veronica gave us an assignment. Once a month we write a postcard to ourselves and reflect on the good things of that month.

She was a very inspirational teacher and I can't wait to take another one of her classes. I can't wait to go to New York someday and take an actual dance class with her. I also can't wait for the road trips I'm going to take this summer with my amazing boyfriend and of course my partners in crime, May and Roadie. And of course I'll be sending you tons of postcards, Sprinkles! I hope you guys can take some of the stuff I talked about an apply it to your lives. If not wait another month and sign up for Veronica's class. You'll see all the great stuff I got to see and I may even see you there.

Until next time, Sprinkles


Hugs and icing kisses,


Jay Scarlet