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It’s Alive!! Err, I Mean She’s Alive!

Bethalynne Bajema I have returned… mostly. The post below details and sums up my last eight monthes so I’ll leave that there. It’s not something I like reliving. The thing that bothered me most of all was my loss of independence. When I was first completely bed bound and had to rely on others for everything, I hated it. I worked my ass off to get my limbs back and walk, move on my own, and try to be me again. And with my physical therapists encouraging me I did get back to normal. Then everything went to hell and I was right back to the ICU and to being bed bound. I did that three or four times. Now I’m home and finally taking on stairs again. The best thing was dropping 150lbs. I told you I’d gotten roomie there for awhile. Depression and comfort food are a bad combo. So that photo there is me as of now. Good to meet you. I’m feeling a lot better in my own skin.

This will be brief because it was a dialysis day and after getting home and getting back to work finally, I’m exhausted. I need a soft pillow, good bed, a back-rub and some serious sleep. I can’t believe all that is going on right now–a new virus and quarantine is not what I expected to come home to. I’m just thankful I’m not experiencing it still in the hospital. I hope each of you is taking care of yourself and those you love. And as I make to get in my jammies, check out my shoppe if you’ve been itching for one of my tarots. I’ve put up a few decks for sale to try and get myself back into the swing of things. More to come. Have a wonderful night and stay healthy and safe! <3

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Updates

It’s been awhile for updates. We almost lost Beth during that time. She’s finally home and healing quite well. Sadly we’re all now in the warming kettle with this pandemic and state of government aren’t we? While that is very much on our minds, we have to set that aside for the moment. –Part of Beth’s occupational therapy once home, was taking little steps to get back to her normal daily routine. So we will be opening up the shoppe again and getting caught up on inquiries. (Medical bills demand that really.) And now that we’re all quarantined within out houses, I’d say we have a little more time to devote to it. We won’t subject everyone to the details of the last many months, but should you be interested you can read about it beyond the more button below. Thank you all again for supporting Attic Cartomancy during one of its very low times. We hope to get back to semi normal.

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Temporary Closure

My shoppe will be closed while I’m in hospital. Quick sales when I get back home. Follow my instagram for sale postings.

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Card of the Day: The Lydia Tarot’s Seven of Wands

The Lydia Tarot WandsThis is me at the moment. This has been me for the past three months. I’m on uneven ground and I’m fighting back at all the attacking things coming up the hill at me. It’s frustrating and wearing me out. Plus there’s all that vertigo at the top of the hill! I’ve had small victories along the way. I replaced my useless doctor with one who is incredible. She has understood that I have a variety of different issues that conflict and agitate one another. So she’s aggressively taken each one on. This led to good and bad things. My wounded leg is blood clot free – which is awesome. One of them was in a seriously bad place. I saw a blood doctor who put me on iron infusions. Exhaustion has gone away. It helps I was taken off my blood thinner – no more alarming bruising. I see physical therapy these days for three different issues and they are mostly improving. I have torn ligaments in my knee though, which if the therapy doesn’t give me better results may lead to knee reconstruction. I’m not pumped about that. But hey, still got that semi charmed kind of life (without all the drug use found in that song, hahah.)

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The Dreary Squirrel Says Hello Deary

A very dreary squirrel dearySo (I insert here a long, somewhat sad, dramatic pause) the wonderful TheTarotParlor pointed out a typo in my Lydia deck on the Happy Squirrel card. So first! A wee background on this card – which you probably already know, but since I explained it to my friend Kate this past con (her having literally no time left in her life for things like pop culture) I realize not everyone knows the squirrel card.

Long and short – the Happy Squirrel card is a brief moment in an episode of the Simpsons when Lisa goes to a fortune teller tent and gets a tarot card reading. She gets all the bad cards and then the happy squirrel, to her delight, until the fortune teller drops back in horror. It’s one of those cards you will now find in some decks. Some people like it, some don’t. I put this card in mine where it fits. Isidore and Lydia decks both have happy squirrel cards with my own twist. The Isidore Tarot has a happy squirrelthulhu cuz… I don’t know, tentacles! Lydia has a dreary squirrel card because it is a darker deck that still keeps a pinch of humor. The problem? It was pointed out to me that I did not type dreary and no matter how I looked at that card I never saw the typo. I put deary squirrel. Ugh! Double ugh!

I have printed and adopted out so many of these decks at this point. I have an entry in both companion books where dreary is in the meaning literature while the card sits there all lacking an R. My proof reader didn’t catch it! So what to do??!! Accept it I decided. It almost seems like a small joke the woman who is Lydia Wilhelmina might play. She grew up in an era where there were many older woman who might refer to her as deary, and some of them might have voiced it with mischief quietly hidden behind it. She might have done the very same thing herself. So this deck is owning its boo boo and quietly dragging it into the mythos that is the Lydia deck.

And hey… maybe that dreary squirrel comes running out all full of mischief and dark mirth before suddenly pulling a nice tea pot from behind its back and saying “Oh hello there deary! I am a squirrel… I’m here to be naughty. Tuck in!” 😉 Yeah… I’m going with that. TOTALLY!!

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The Grimoire Are In!

The Lydia grimoires are finally in! It took some massive reformatting and a size change to get everything in the book right, but I finally did, it was proofed, and now the printers have let me know my first copies are on their way. I’m very excited. I made an abridged preview of it that you can flip through below. 🙂

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Strength I Do Not Have

When last I updated my blog with something other than new deck info, my dad was traveling to Ohio by way of a paid driver who drove her car here. Her belongings were tetris’d into a POD that was shipped to local storage. And finally my dad was going to be living in a hotel for at least two weeks while we tried to find her someplace to live. Cue the soap opera music.

I’ll be completely honest–I did not believe myself to be capable of doing all the things that needed to be done. I’ve barely had ten years of knowing (mostly) how to take care of myself as a responsible adult. A life as a career artist doesn’t always inspire rigid structure or discipline in anything other than being creative. How was I going to do all this stuff for my dad while he was not in a place to help? Thankfully I have a rather impressive husband who helped with some of the heavy lifting.

So now, mostly on the other side of things, my father is in a very nice senior living community. After I looked at so many apartments that just weren’t going to work, and doing this only after realizing we didn’t have the money to get her into assisted living, my husband stumbled upon an online ad for senior apartments just about to open up in our town. I called and while they didn’t have first floor apartments, they did have an elevator and emergency chords in all rooms. We went over and met Joletta, perhaps one of the sweetest people I have me to date. The rent included everything. Let me repeat that – EVERYTHING. Utilities, water and sewage, trash, even the freaking cable. No lengthy credit approval either. Just had to show we could pay that rent and she became a new tenant. When Joletta told “Just breath girl, it’s gonna be alright.” I nearly started bawling. Though not quite as badly as my dad started to bawl as she sat in her new apartment and very new life situation.

She moved in Feb 28th and is mostly settled now. I have been able to take a breath. A long, agonized, hoarse sounding one. There’s never a good time for a change of routines when you’re an anxious creature who relies on her routines to stay calm. But this was a rather bad time among bad times. Taking care of the IGG campaign, back orders, and juggling the variety of health issues that keep going away and coming back (presently very much back), it was just a suck time for this. But, here we are. It happened, it’s done, and for the first time in my life I can call my dad and then just drive over and see her. That boggles my mind still. So now, back to our previously scheduled programming. Above is two pages our of my grimoire for Strength.

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Happy Valentine’s Day! And a Lydia Restock

Madam Lydia Wilhelmina’s Tarot of Monsters, the Macabre and Autumn Scenes

Four boxes of black tins arrived a few months back to house Lydia decks. A couple of days ago I finally broke into the last box to find, much to my irritation, smaller tins were lurking within it. I contacted my wholesaler and we worked it out, but I was left with these slightly smaller black tins. So I found a way to use them as well as answer a request and the Lydia tarot birthed a bridge size version–perfectly sized between the standard and the mini. You can read the longer details to this strange birth on the deck’s listing page here. Basically, there is a new edition of the Lydia deck with a silly title that gave me a giggle. Available until decks run out, at a reduced rate until this coming Monday.

I’ve also restocked the shoppe with the other Lydia decks. (Although as I post this the few full packaging decks have already sold out.) Stop by the shoppe to order. I will be adding a few special sales throughout the day. (including art prints from my AHS fan deck!)

I also wanted to say just how humbled I’ve been with those of you who’ve reached out to me about my dad. It has meant so very much to me. She’ll be arriving here on Sunday with feline in tow. We’re still working on permanent housing with assistance. The feline Tucker will be coming to stay with us. Sometimes I feel like I sit upon the Wheel of Fortune card and wait to see what comes next when it finally settles. Now! All of you have a wonderful make a reason to get nice stuff holi- day. And eat lots of Valentine Reese for me!

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Updates

I’m about halfway through my IGG campaign perks list. Mingling a hundred plus backers along with my regular shoppe customers has been hectic. Throw into that my new turn as a wholesaler and I am now officially looking to hire part time help to keep up. The biggest issue for me has been physically getting all my packages to the post office. But away at it I keep chipping. Please note that I create labels as I’m packaging. I ask people to give up to two days for their tracking to update. This is because I’m not always able to drop the packages off the same day I get them labeled/packed. Thank you for understanding.

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Burn Witch Burn

I’m taking a little break from working on Lydia stuffs to add to my AHS fan deck. Queenie, Zoe, and Myrtle all need their own cards, I’m just trying to figure out what will fit them best. Then I have Nan, the creepy butler, and the new VooDoo Queen… and let me not forget those warlocks! Gonna be a big, fan-centric, obnoxious deck. 😉 Other cards here.

ttic Cartomancy - American Horror Story Fan Tarot by Bethalynne Bajema Attic Cartomancy - American Horror Story Fan Tarot by Bethalynne Bajema
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Card of the Day: The Tarot’s Three of Coins

Attic Cartomancy - Card of the Day - Three of Coins - From the Lydia TarotI tried to keep my Lydia minors within my deck’s theme and still follow the Rider Waite Smith’s design. That was not easy for every card and I think it was the hardest with the three of coins. I went with the idea of two people working in perfect unison with one another–in this instance a dance.

The reeling figures pass on by / Like ghosts in some forgotten play / Beneath the black and empty sky / Music plays and figures dance / With partners chosen by chance / And still some times remember / The masquerade’s forever – Berlin, The Masquerade

This is from one of my favorite Berlin songs and really one of my favs in general. As a kid it painted a very strange and ethereal picture for me. I have to admit that I was thinking of this when I made my bird masked dancers, moving and working in perfect harmony with one another. More the feeling the music gives me than the lyrical content. Which, on a side note, I once read were about the approaching twilight years for aging actors who have never found their fame. That actually originally gave me the idea for the deck’s Empress card The Immortal Masquerade.

In general, this card is about working in unison with someone towards a common goal, or the success of that goal. The main idea being collaboration or teamwork. I’m still a little on the newbie side when it comes to reading this card when it comes up.

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Card of the Day: The Tarot’s Four of Cups

Attic Cartomancy - Card of the Day - Four of Cups - From the Lydia TarotHey! A new card of the day of post! This one is from my Lydia Tarot and one of my favorite cards from this deck.

In the major arcana I offer a few classic movie monsters in a more romantic light. I only added one not-so-classic movie monster –who I would say counts as a classic now since it’s from my young days– courtesy of one of my favorite authors Clive Barker. The four of cups card is titled Cenobite Tea Party and gives a tip of the hat to those clanking chain wielding creepy (and slightly naughty) looking chaps.

The sub header for this card states They came and went, crippled by the boy’s indifference. The horrible gift they offered, unnoticed. I thought it appropriate given the card’s suggestion of being apathetic or just plain eh shoulder shrug. When passion is lacking it can be hard to motivate yourself to something more. I know that feeling all too well. Thankfully not at the moment, but in the past it has been a bugbear for me.

In the subtext of my card’s artwork the boy stands there in his meh state ambivalent to the three cups ahead of him. What he doesn’t realize is that his curious here and gone visitors left him, among the dangling dolls and strangeness, a fourth cup with the possibility of him finding something to help draw him from his current stagnant state. It becomes the boy’s choice to decide what he sees in that cup and the potential it offers to him.

Just as a note–I seriously never thought the opportunity to pair anything Hellraiser in nature with a tea party and the tarot would present itself to me. I think those very things keep me from falling into that stagnant rut. And while I may be getting a little lighter of heart as I get older, that old horror movie/book loving goth is still in there. Complete with black pointy nails and ankle torturing witchy boots.

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Notes from the Coughing Zone

I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, though I might propel myself into space with my coughing. What I thought was a lingering flu turned out to be a rather aggressive lung and inner ear infection. By the time I found this out it had also spread through my lymph nodes and offered some fabulous swelling. So I’ve been on bed rest and a mountain of medication for the past few weeks. Just another lovely perk of having a weakened immune system. I still feel rather blah, but at least my bone rattling cough has gotten much better.

In happier news, my mini decks and tea tins arrived this week so I am officially fully stocked to cover my Lydia campaign perks and my cyber Monday sales. I will be able to begin shipping smaller perks hopefully as soon as next week. I hope to be back to my regular posting then too. Now I’m going to go start tucking minis into their boxes before my body tells me its time to take a break again. 🙂

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Recommended Shopping

I spend way too much of my time on instagram, I cannot lie. During my idle time there I have found some wonderful shops that I think would appeal to those who follow me there and my blog here. So here are a few links for this biggest shopping weekend of the year and I will be adding to it as more shops tip toe across my screen.

Tarot n Tea is just what is sounds like – lots of tarot and some lovely tea to sip as you read. Babbo offers a variety of different gift boxes that come themed for the season and full of lots of lovely things. I’m also a deck contributor so you will see some of my cards in those boxes and in readings. 🙂 Get your box here.

The Bee and the Snake offers neat handmade things, especially drawstring tarot bags! Betsy has an etsy shop of goodness found here.

Spookys Geek Boutique is a fun place for a lil spooky and a lil sweet. They have their own holiday weekend sale going on at their site here.

The 8th House Tarot is in the process of making a tarot deck of the same name. The artwork is simple and straight to the point. Annabel has started a pantheon page to help aid the process of see her deck realized.

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Lil Witch Thalia and the Lydia Tarot

Lil Thalia says “please visit AtticCartomancy.com this weekend for the last deckapalooza this year!” 😊🖤 Starting midnight after Thanksgiving, for four days all my decks will be available, I’ll even have a few special editions. There will also be a shopping page up for other wonderful deck shops.

Now to set my shop-keep hat to the side, I found some clearance Bratz dolls years ago. The first one I attempted to work over was a miserable disaster. I made another attempt and modeled her after my Lydia mask. It went way better this time. I named her after @theacidpoptart ‘s (seen in the last photo playing the part of my witchy Lydia deck maker) daughter, who is a modeling mini-me of her mom. And crazy adorable. I’m not sure I will ever outgrow playing doll dress-up. Deck featured is the mini Madam Lydia Wilhelmina’s Tarot of Monsters, the Macabre and Autumn Scenes. 😉🖤

Attic Cartomancy - Lydia Mini Tarot

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Lydia Perk Update

Hello! I hope you are all having a wonderful Saturday evening.

I spent the day labeling deck tins and mini deck boxes. I also began packaging the mini decks. It’s going pretty smoothly -knock on wood- 😉 Reference books arrive on Monday. It was supposed to be today but UPS just let me know there’s a delay due to a minor address snafu. You know, one of those hiccups.

Still working away on the grimoire and getting closer to done.

That’s about all for now. Just wanted to let everyone know where things were at. Stay warm and have a lovely night! ~ Bethalynne