The Triple Oracle

[thetripleoracle]

"People say now the Victorian authors rely too much on coincidence, but it's because they grew up in a world where magic hadn't quite faded. Long-lost relations springing out of the woodwork, mysterious doubles, that sort of thing happened when the cracks in the world were open. It wasn't that things were better, exactly. Terrible things happened all the time. But there was always a chance of better."

-- The Magician's Daughter, H.G. Parry

[unhelpfultarot]

Two of Wands and Page of Pentacles

A man, a plan, a coin—in a panini? O, canal panama!

[upthewitchypunx]

I saw this wizard looking shit on a utility pole yesterday. At least I want it to be wizard shit. Turns out it's lineman shit, which, if you think about it, taming and directing electricity is pretty wizard.

Apparently this one means don't climb the pole. The osmofume tag means it was fumigated for fungus or something.

[thetripleoracle]

'Sarah took a deep breath and set off along the passageway again. A clump of lichen on the gatepost opened its eyes and watched her go. The eyes, on tendrils, had an anxious look, and when she had gone some distance away the clump, swiveling its eyes toward each other, commenced to gossip among itself. Most of it disapproved of the direction she had taken. You could tell that from the way the eyes looked meaningfully into each other. Lichen knows about directions.'

--Labyrinth, the novelization, A.C.H. Smith

[christiannegg]

Happy Winter Solstice!

I was inspired by Moon, the black cat that appeared at Stonehenge during solstice celebrations this year.

[thetripleoracle]

"He accepted everything that came into his mind, without thought or question, as if he were moving through a dream. But a deeper part of him knew that he was not dreaming. He was crystal-clear awake, in a Midwinter Day that had been waiting for him to wake into it since the day he had been born, and, he somehow knew, for centuries before that."

-- The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper

[thetripleoracle]

“In the early days, the wall of thorns had been distressingly obvious. There was simply no way to hide a hedge with thorns like sword blades and stems as thick as a man’s thigh. A wall like that invited curiosity and with curiosity came axes, and it was all the fairy could do to keep some of the curious folk from gaining entrance to the tower.” -- Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher

[thetripleoracle]

“As she crossed the threshold, she hummed a melody older than the mountain they stood on. Like all the Tufa tunes, it was part prayer, part story, and part statement of intent. It signaled to the universe that Bronwyn was once again home, under the protection of the night wind and its riders.”

-- The Hum and the Shiver, Alex Bledsoe

[thetripleoracle]

“Sonny walked back to his apartment from the Avalon, head down, shoulders hunched. Along the way, he spotted several Lost Fae: a dryad in an empty lot offering encouragement to a sickly-looking juniper bush; a winged boy crouched atop a fire hydrant who watched him pass with big, glistening eyes; the fruit seller at a corner market who hid his taloned, feathered feet beneath an impressive glamour and a long white apron."

-- Wondrous Strange, Lesley Livingston

[thetripleoracle]

"He accepted everything that came into his mind, without thought or question, as if he were moving through a dream. But a deeper part of him knew that he was not dreaming. He was crystal-clear awake, in a Midwinter Day that had been waiting for him to wake into it since the day he had been born, and, he somehow knew, for centuries before that."

-- The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper

[natasailincic]

Four of Pentacles. Tarot of the Witch’s Garden. Watercolour on hot pressed paper. Behind the scenes up on Patreon.

[thetripleoracle]

“Up. She had been climbing forever; she would be climbing forever. She would be a new god: the God That Climbs. It was no more improbable than some of the other gods: the God That Isn’t There, for example (more often known as the God That Follows or The God That Goes Before), which was the shadow-god at midday.”

-- The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley

[elbenherzart]

✨ Preston, the Vanisher  ✨ Painted for Magic: The Gathering - Jumpstart 2022 AD: Kieran Yanner