Celebrating Transformation At Mabon

Another Celebration

I love Tarot Bloghops. It’s always about celebrations. My first was about the Mid Summer Solstice. For goodness sakes, I didn’t even know how to spell “solstice”  then let alone understood what it meant.  However celebrating the rising sun on the longest day of the year was enough reason for me to write about its significance to me. The second one was about Lammas.  I thought Lammas was a cute, white animal. My research uncovered that it was a celebration of the harvest.  Honestly, anything to do with abundance, particularly an abundance of food, sounded like a good enough reason for me to write, and read the blogs of my fellow tarot blogging friends!  I’m now armed with even more yummy recipes waiting for a day I feel experimental in the kitchen. 

Now this Tarot Bloghop topic today, is about Mabon. And yes! It’s another celebration! As explained by the witty Jordan Hoggard at http://jordanhoggard.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/tarotmabonbloghopmystereum-mead-made/ Mabon is the celebration of the Autumn Equinox. It took its name from the mythical Welsh God Mabon who was abducted at 3-days old, and was found again by King Arthur, allowing him to be reborn into the light. I hope I got the story right as I am writing this in between ciders.

What Is Mabon?

Mabon is a celebration of the “crops that we have reaped”, allowing us to enjoy the bounty from the fruits of our labor. To this, I took it to mean that we should be celebrating the richness accumulated from our experiences, and from the lessons we have learnt. As it marks the start of the autumn season, it’s a celebration of the equal division between day and night, when we see impending dwindling sunlight followed by the changing colors of the leaves from a lush green to a hue of rust red and golden brown. Autumn is a season that is traditionally associated with change and transformation. It is a celebration of life and abundance when the family is nourished with the vegetables in the garden, and it is also a reminder of the reality of death when crops die after being harvested. It also marks the transition from the fulfilling warmth and vitality of summer to the dormant and hibernating state of winter. It's a time we give thanks for the wonderful bounty, while we think of letting go of the past and being nurtured by the lessons learnt.

The Significance Of Mabon To Me As A Roman Catholic

Mabon is a pagan festival of seasonal transformation and thanksgiving celebrated on 21 September. There are reasons for me as a Roman Catholic to celebrate the same.

On this same day, we Catholics too celebrate transformation in the form of the feast day of St Matthew and St Thomas of Villanova. The former was celebrated for his transformation from an abhorred tax collector for King Herod, to a revered saint and one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ. The latter was famous for transforming the notion of charity when he sought to obtain definitive and structural solutions to the problem of poverty, for example, giving work to the poor, thereby making charity bear fruit. St Thomas said, “Charity is not just giving, rather removing the need of those who receive charity and liberating them from it when possible.”

The inspirational stories of St Matthew and St Thomas of Villanova have a lot of significance to me, as my mindset, goals and ambition as an over-ambitious, aggressive, high-strung and materialistic corporate careerist had completely been transformed, when I became a certified professional tarot reader and numerologist. I remembered upon graduating from my advance tarot class, I shuffled my cards to assess where I was heading with a skill that I had never originally intended to acquire. I drew the Judgement card from my tarot deck which incidentally, is a card in tarot that speaks about transformation and change.

Judgement

The Judgement card forced me to be honest with myself about my life goals and inspired me to “answer the higher calling” of turning my passion for tarot reading into my life-long commitment to help hold my clients’ hands through challenging times. That had reawaken me to rediscover myself as I journeyed with my tarot cards to find inner peace and presented me with a purpose to help my clients and protégés do the same.

Little did I know that the messages behind that Judgement card was preparing me for the way tarot would completely transform my outlook in life. Running my tarot consultancy this year had been a life-transforming experience in itself. I was always very clear that tarot should never be used as a “fortune telling” tool. It was a tool used to tap into our subconscious minds, to uncover options within the querant’s situation that can help him or her make a sound decision in tackling the situation. I felt so fulfilled when I realized that I was doing something wonderful for my querants. I was not handing them a solution. Instead, I was helping them uncover options. Like St Thomas of Villanova said, “…liberating them from it when possible,” I felt that I was liberating some of my querants from a “stand-still” position driven by their perception that they were trapped by their issues, suspended momentarily in an act of self-sacrifice and surrender. Really, they didn't have to do so.

Transformation Tarot Spread

In recognition of Mabon, I designed a tarot spread recently with the intention to help a client who is in the throes of transformation. Below is an example of the spread designed for the question “What can I do to move on?”

Card 1 Magician: Self in Situation - . Assess where you are now & what is influencing your actions in the current situation (You may choose an appropriate significator representing you in the situation)

Card 2 - Reversed 6 of Pentacles: Identify Cause - What is the root cause of the negativity surrounding the situation/

Card 3 - 2 of Pentacles: Response – How have you responded to the cause of negativity in your current situation?

Card 4 - Reversed Page of Wands: Hopes and Fears - What are your hopes and fears pertaining to the current situation?

Card 5 - Hermit: Response – How have you responded to your hopes and fears pertaining to the current situation?

Card 6 - Reversed 5 of Wands: Change - What can you change about the current situation?

Card 7 - Queen of Cups: Commitment – What can you do to commit to making these changes?
The cards were positioned as shown below:                                


                                 Card 6

Card 2                                                       Card 4
                                 Card 1
                            (Significator)

Card 3                                                       Card 5

                                Card 7


My client has given me the permission to reproduce the high-level summary of the reading I did for her below, without any mention of her name and the name of her partner.

To give you a brief background, my client was going through a turbulent relationship that had seen her suffering years of verbal and mental abuse, infidelity, and volatility.

Significator – The Magician

As her life path number is a 1, I had decided to choose the Magician as her significator. She was indeed a resourceful person, very capable at work and had the ability to meander the volatility of her relationship with maturity and perseverance. When anyone meets this beautiful woman, they wouldn’t have figured out that she was undergoing a terrible time with her partner.

Cause Of The Issue And Her Response – Reversed 6 Of Pentacles And 2 of Pentacles

The root cause of the issue was that her partner was self-employed. Often he would not be able to make enough money to sustain their lifestyle, depending on my client to provide. Her role as the sole breadwinner may have caused him to feel increasingly insecure, and she also felt unappreciated and was beginning to feel that her commitment to the relationship seemed to be one-sided. As money is tight, she had been juggling financial commitments while balancing her priorities between his needs and her career. She was doing everything she could to hold the job down because she needed the money, and in so doing, her late nights at work exacerbated her partner’s insecurities.

Hope and Fears And Her Response – Reversed Page Of Wands And Hermit

The reversed page of wands was a manifestation of her genuine attempts to resolve her issues with her partner through various means from attempting to get a relationship counselor into the picture, to going on short “reconciliation” holidays together, to even threatening to leave him. However, each time, she was confronted by obstacles in the form of his refusal to see the counselor, or his numerous broken promises to her. She wanted to make it work between them, but feared that she had come to the end of the rope with this vicious cycle and was thinking of leaving him. The past few months had been a time of introspection for her as she re-evaluated her relationship goals, and she had been quite withdrawn, quietly seeking some solace on her own. However, this had perpetuated her actions of staying away from home and keeping very late nights at the office, her only place of refuge.

Changes Needed And Her Commitment To Change – Reversed 5 Of Wands And Queen of Cups

In the end, she acknowledged that there were changes necessary between them if they chose to continue with the relationship. The reversed 5 of wands suggested the fundamental differences in opinions about roles and responsibilities between them. One example of these differences is his typical old-fashioned Asian mentality that he had to be provider, and head of the household while she played the subservient and servile Asian spouse, taking a back seat and minding the home. When she discussed her wish to do what she could to save the relationship, the Queen of Cups advised her to maintain emotional control and continue to nurture the relationship with maturity, patience and compassion. The fights between them had escalated to just noise and shouting, and no one’s giving way, no one understands each other’s needs. She needed to govern the relationship with a measure of intuitive listening and calmness. She had to start rebuilding the emotional connectivity between them.

Conclusion
You see, I like celebrations. At my first taste of Mabon this year, I am celebrating it as a thanksgiving for the opportunity to be a catalyst in the positive transformation of my clients’ lives through my tarot cards. And I hope, like me, you will be as inspired by the spirit of Mabon, as you continue to read the blogs of my friends on this amazing Tarot Bloghop topic of Mabon. So do visit the next blog by the lovely Claire-Marie Le Normand at http://beautyhistorymagic.com/2012/09/22/light-to-dark-transformation.aspx    Should you encounter a broken link, the master bloghop list can be found at http://tarotwitchery.blogspot.com/2012/09/tarot-blog-hop-mabon-master-list.html



About The Writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She was awarded a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and was recently certified as a numerologist in Singapore. A member of the American Tarot Association (ATA) and the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI), she is also a reader for the Free Tarot Network and is a mentor for the ATA.

She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

Musings On The Death Card In Tarot

A Repulsive Topic

Death – a frightening notion. It’s a morbid topic that is not particularly pleasant for most.  It’s repulsive even for some superstitious people who would wave away the word in disgust when uttered in an irreverent manner.  I know the older folks of my Chinese family would be doing just that if I had shown them the Hello Kitty Tarot card for Death.

Fear

A couple of months ago, the mother of a childhood friend discovered that I was a professional tarot reader and had bugged my friend to accompany her to my home for a Tarot reading.  The minute she stepped through my front door, I knew the topic of discussion that evening was going to be about Death.

The 70-odd year old lady was spunky and sprightly in her gait, fiery in her conversations and full of enthusiasm for life.  She clearly was not afraid of death.  She was ready for it as she had lived a full and happy life with her family. 

However, as much as I thought she was going to pick the death card at some point, it didn’t show up.  Each of the cards she picked that evening was indicative of her fear of the process just before her impending death.  She feared being ill, bed-ridden and  being a burden to the family she loved.  She was afraid of the pain she may suffer in the course of death, and she was even more afraid of the pain her family will suffer, seeing her in that state.  If death was to come to her, she wanted it swift and painless.  If only the universe worked like what they did in Star Trek, beaming people up to the heavens at the right time.

However, the cards advised her to not be afraid.  It’s a general progression within the cycle of life.  She has led a life of abundance, full of love from the family, complete with a fulfilling career as a teacher which gave her the opportunity to teach her students about life.  She has nothing to be afraid of, because the universe will hold her hands to walk that journey when the time comes.  She will never be alone.

 The Death Card

The Death card is possibly the most misunderstood card in a Tarot deck.  However, it’s one of my favorite and most meaningful cards because it symbolizes the necessity to let go of the past, and to leave that major phase of your life behind as you move on to embrace a new beginning full of opportunities and potential to lift you to greater heights. I have decided to attach the Death card images from 2 Tarot decks, the Hello Kitty Tarot deck and the Morgan Greer Tarot deck which looked less frightening and more colorful than usual.

Often, this card is picked when my querant has undergone major changes like a divorce, a job change, bereavement, or a break-up in his or her relationship.  They often come to see me in a state of confusion, depression and anxiety.  However, when I see this card, I would hold their hand as I tell them that the universe has just opened a new door for them, if only they would pick up the courage to let it go and walk through that door.

I picked the card for myself when I was undergoing a lot of changes within my work environment earlier in the year. Sure, I was gripped with fear and anxiety, and I wasn’t sure what to make of the changes and their impact to my role.  However, I had decided to work with the changes, adapt to them and instead of attempting to “change the changes”, I had decided to change the way I thought about the changes, and embraced them as another learning curve.

The Death Card Reminds Me Of Autumn

Yes, indeed the Death card does remind me of the season of Autumn.  We don't experience Autumn in Singapore.  However,  in other parts of the world, my friends are about to celebrate the start of Autumn.   It’s a time of changes, when the colors of the leaves turn from lush green to rust gold and red. It’s a time when the balmy heat of summer gives way to a slight chill in the air.  It’s a time when one commemorates life when the vegetables and fruits from their gardens are harvested and put on the dinner tables for their families. It’s also a time one commemorates death as the crops die in the fields to generate new ones.

So it is very apt that the topic for the upcoming Tarot Blog Hop, which I will be participating in, is about the pagan festival of Mabon.  Mabon is a festival commemorating change and transformation, life and death.  Do watch out for my next blog post about it on 22nd Septmebr, at http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com/2012/09/mabon.html

About the writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She was awarded a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and was recently certified as a numerologist in Singapore. A member of the American Tarot Association (ATA) and the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI), she is also a reader for the Free Tarot Network and is a mentor for the ATA.

She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

Between My God And Me

My Thoughts On Rituals

In my past blogpost http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.sg/2012/09/if-it-harms-none-do-what-you-will.html I grumbled about intolerance to different faiths, belief systems and practices.  So I thought to share some of my personal practices within my faith, that incorporates what I deemed as my gifts from the universe.  I can't find a better, "less frightening" word for it other than the word "rituals", because it is what it is, a ritual, and it is not different from what is practiced by every faith and belief system, although they differed in shape and form.  My Blue Moon ritual done recently as a form of thanksgiving and a prayer of intent to the universe was an example.

Customising My Rituals To My Faith

As a Roman Catholic, I had long not been going to church for reasons I had discussed in my last blogpost. However, I truly believe in my one God and have a very personal relationship with Him, like most Catholics.  Because I believe in the fact that He had a purpose in providing me with the gift of intuition to help people in need, I had decided that when I say my prayers, or perform a ritual, I was going to incorporate these gifts by selecting relevant and meaningful tarot cards for the ritual, burning my candles, and blessing a selected set of crystals that I will use on my clients.  These, are all tools that I use day to day anyway in my consultation sessions with my clients. So why not use them to glorify my God during my prayers?


A Glimpse Of My Rituals

So here's what I'd like to share about how I practice my rituals.  And to "nay-sayers", these are NOT in any shape or form, heathen.

Casting A Circle

I cast a circle to create a sacred space for me to have that private conversation with my God.  It's the same way I would pull a colleague quietly to a watercooler in a corner of the office to have a private conversation with her.  I cast the circle by blessing the space with a prayer as I literally trace a "mental" space around my tools and I.  I know my friends of different faiths do the same, albeit in a different manner perhaps. I cast my sacred space by saying a prayer to my guardian angel, Michael:

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend me from battle;
Be my safeguard
against the malice and snares
of the negative seen or unseen energy forces.

Protect me from the ill intentions,

jealousies and poisonous tongues

of negative people.

Enshroud me with your positive light

and empower me with confidence,

strength and wisdom to  trample

and destroy the negative forces around me.

I consecrate every step I take

towards positivity unto you,

and invoke you with my humble trust and belief

that you are my protector, my defender, and my archangel,

in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

One God who lives forever and ever, Amen

Calling On The Directions


Here again, my friends of different faiths do something similar, albeit differently by articulating different words.  So here's what I say to my guardian angels from all directions of the universe:

Guardian Angels from the East, I call upon you to guide me and watch over me today.
With the power of knowledge, intuition and wisdom, guided by Air, and carried to me by the winds,
I ask that you keep watch over me within this circle as I articulate my thanks and intent in my prayer to you
Let all whom I send blessings, assurance and clarity to, be able to accept them in perfect love and perfect trust of the universe

Guardian Angels from the South, I call upon you to guide me and watch over me today.
With the power of energy and will, guided by Fire, and carried to me by this wand,
I ask that you keep watch over me within this circle as I articulate my thanks and intent in my prayer to you
Let all whom I send blessings, assurance and clarity to, be able to accept them in perfect love and perfect trust of the universe

Guardian Angels from the West, I call upon you to guide me and watch over me today.
With the power of passion and emotion, guided by Water, and carried to me by this cup,
I ask that you keep watch over me within this circle as I articulate my thanks and intent in my prayer to you
Let all whom I send blessings, assurance and clarity to, be able to accept them in perfect love and perfect trust of the universe

Guardian Angels from the North, I call upon you to guide me and watch over me today.
With the power of abundance, wealth and strength, guided by Earth, and carried to me by this coin,
I ask that you keep watch over me within this circle as I articulate my thanks and intent in my prayer to you
Let all whom I send blessings, assurance and clarity to, be able to accept them in perfect love and perfect trust of the universe

 Blessing My Tools

I always select specific candles, crystals and relevant tarot cards which I will bless within this sacred space.  I would articulate my prayer of thanks and an intention or two, trusting that the universe will guide me along to manifest these intentions with the help of my tools.

After that, I will close my conversation with my God and my guardian angels, with a little prayer of thanks.   You see,  it's not too different from other faiths, and from what's being practised by my fellow Catholic friends isn't it?

About The Writer:
The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She was awarded a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and was recently certified as a numerologist in Singapore. A member of the American Tarot Association (ATA) and the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI), she is also a reader for the Free Tarot Network and is a mentor for the ATA.

She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

If It Harms None, Do What You Will

Why Did I Have To Explain My Blue Moon Ritual To A Friend?

The Blue Moon last month on 31^st August, was special to me.  Firstly, I never knew what a Blue Moon was.  I used the phrase “once in a blue moon” often enough and realized the phrase was taken from the fact that the Blue Moon did occur once every few years when there were 2 full moons in a month.  Happy that I had learnt something new that week, I had decided to do a Blue Moon ritual of thanksgiving.  If you knew me, I always looked for any opportunity to celebrate and that was definitely an appropriate opportunity to celebrate.  So I lit a couple of candles that night, picked out my favorite crystals and tarot cards that depicted abundance for which I was thanking the universe, and did a thanksgiving prayer as well as a prayer with a special intention. 

I felt a-washed with peace after that ritual and proceeded to take a photo of the paraphernalia used at my Blue Moon ritual so that I could add the photo to my blog post about my Blue Moon ritual.  The following week, a friend texted me after reading my blog and after a cryptic chat that bordered on her intent to provide some cautionary advice, she asked “I understand you are doing magical spells, is that true?”  So I replied, “I don’t think you know what that means.  And it is an interesting thought but no, I don’t know how to cast a spell.  However, if you are referring to my blog post about my Blue Moon ritual, it is absolutely magical that I had an opportunity to give thanks to the universe for the abundance I have received on a special occasion like this.”   

She did apologize for having that misconception but it left me with a bad taste in my mouth because I realized there are so many people out there who needed to be educated about the co-existence of faiths and belief systems.  It saddened me to see that because some people governed their perceptions with a strict notion that no other religions, faiths, belief systems, cultures and ways of life should be tolerated, they would close their minds to understanding and accepting that these different systems should co-exist harmoniously within our society.

Why Couldn’t We All Just Co-Exist?

My spiritual awakening with my tarot cards had taken me on a journey of continuous reading, learning, and opened doors to so many wonderful friends from different walks of life, different countries, cultures, religions and belief systems.  I am so thankful for that diversity as it added color to my life and knowledge to my mind.  

I am a Roman Catholic, born and bred as one, and completely proud of it.  Being one doesn’t make me the same as the rest of my Roman Catholic friends apart from our belief in one God.  For one, I practice my faith differently and don’t attend mass.  As a divorcee, who went on to remarry, I wasn’t allowed to partake in Holy Communion with the rest of the community during mass.  So I had decided at that point, that my relationship was only between my God and me.  And that was okay.

I have got friends who are practicing Hindus, Christians, Taoists, Muslims, Pagans and more.  I love them for enriching my life by teaching me so many things about their respective faiths.  I don’t profess to understand the tenets of each faith but to have a faith that helps guide your life in itself is beautiful.  During the journey that I had walked with my tarot cards, I had met with a lot of skepticism which I realized was just purely fear and misunderstanding of the unknown.   Throughout that same journey, I also had met people who view the different faiths and belief systems with a narrow lens. 

You Don’t Have To Understand To Accept

That friend who texted me possibly thought I was practicing witchcraft.  I read a lot about Wicca but am not an expert in its teachings.  However, I am aware of the misconception and fears around the faith and I am quite annoyed that such myopic perceptions have exacerbated a culture of intolerance in our otherwise colorful communities of wonderful people.

So, to these people, I would like to ask a question.  Underlining the Wiccan Rede is this very important but simple intent – “If it harms none, do what thou will.”   What is so wrong with this phrase, and how bad or harmful can this intent be, that you would view the faith in such a negative light?

I hope with all my heart that even if one does not understand a specific belief system, whatever religion you adhere to, whatever way of life you choose to live, you would choose to live in perfect love and perfect trust of the universe’s grand plans for peace and harmony.

With that said, I am preparing for my Mabon ritual whereby I will thank the universe for holding my hand through the last few months of transformation that I had experienced during my journey with my tarot cards.  I am inviting you to join me to do the same.
About the writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She was awarded a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and was recently certified as a numerologist in Singapore. A member of the American Tarot Association (ATA) and the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI), she is also a reader for the Free Tarot Network and is a mentor for the ATA.

She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

Lessons From The Fairy Tale Tarot

Having My Cards Read By Another Reader

Even though I am a professional tarot reader, I love getting my tarot cards read by another professional reader.  It lends some objectivity to the interpretation of the spread.  As a reader for the American Tarot Association, I sometimes get requests to read for other fellow professional tarot readers too. 

A few months ago, as I was faced with some challenges at work that affected my confidence, a fellow professional tarot reader from the Tarot Association of the British Isles, M, was kind enough to put some time and love into doing a tarot reading for me.   I thought to share it here within this blog post as my way of thanking her for the wonderful insights I got.  I needed that little nudge myself.  Sometimes, I am so focused on rendering the help and support to my clients, that I had often forgotten my own need for help and support from time to time. Sun Goddess or not, I am a frightened, lost and anxious Joanna in times of challenges.

My Tarot Spread

M selected the Fairy Tale Tarot to do my reading.  Initially my myopic pride looked upon the deck with a haughty “What? You picked a “cartoony” children’s deck to do a tarot reading for me? Are you for real?”  I think M made the best selection really, because the fairy tales on each of the cards she picked for me had given me such invaluable advice that it stuck in my mind to this day.

She picked 3 cards from the deck, the 7 of Swords Reversed, the Wheel of Fortune and the 9 of Wands.

The 7 of Swords card was depicted by an image of the 3 Billy Goats’ Gruff with a troll on the bridge which had dark and murky waters running beneath it and the goats could not get across to the other side.

The card was picked in the reversed position, reflecting my fear of the changes in my work environment.  However, these were fears that were purely conjured in my head. My perception of the challenges was manifested in the reversed card which saw the troll and the dark, murky waters on top of the card while the rest of the picture was at the bottom.  This fear that I had conjured in my mind was not allowing me to “cross that bridge”.  I was so fixated on that “troll” being a threat that I wasn’t thinking far enough to see the lush green grass across the bridge.  The card was advising me to re-evaluate my thoughts, defeat my fears of the “troll”, and have a long term view to embrace the changes with confidence so that I could get myself into a better mental space and constructively add value to my job and to the colleagues that I worked with.

The Wheel of Fortune depicted an image of the story about the12 Dancing Princesses. Even when they were locked in their bed chamber every night, it was a mystery to the King as to how the princesses’ dancing shoes got worn out each morning.  So the King offered a reward of marriage to anyone who could solve this mystery.  And if the suitor could not solve the mystery, he would lose his life.  In truth, the princesses traveled deep underground each night and rowed across to the shining castle to dance with their 12 princes.  They kept to this routine each night, fearing that they would be found out, so they had to drug and deceive these potential suitors sent by the King to ensure they could continue with the routine.

The interpretation of this amazing card was that the wheel of fortune is a reflection of the changes within the cycle of life.  Life is constantly moving.  Everything from opportunities to fortunes come and go, and sometimes we are on top and sometimes we are at the bottom.  The wheel of fortune card was advising me to go with the flow of the changes in my environment and not respond to it with fear and dread.  I could not stop changes and movement. So I needed to embrace them and treat everything within that cycle as an opportunity from which I can learn.  Don’t think about fighting the changes, but rather, change the way I think and look for a positive potential within these changes.

The 9 of Wands depicted an image of the story about the Ship of Fools.  In this story, there were 3 sons (2 wise and one foolish).  The Tsar offered the hand of his daughter in marriage to anyone who could build and navigate a flying ship. The 2 wise sons were encouraged by their mother to try for this, but the foolish one was discouraged.  The fool walked into the forest where a little old man gave him advice on where such a ship could be found.   Along the way this fool collected a motley crew of other fools and they arrived at the Tsar’s palace.  Looking at the ship of fools the Tsar decided that he could not possibly give his beloved daughter to these fools. So the Tsar had to set the fool some impossible tasks, but all the fools worked as a team to complete these tasks, and ultimately the Tsar recognized this and gave his daughter’s hand in marriage to the fool, who was not so foolish after all.

The important lessons gleaned from this beautiful card were that I should learn to listen to my higher self, and not let my ego get in the way of my progress.  The fool thankfully did not listen to his mother when she dissuaded him to try for the hand of the Tsar’s daughter.  Like him, I needed to have more confidence in myself.   He also was smart enough to take advice from the wise old ma to locate the flying ship.   Like him, I needed to be guided by my inner wisdom.  Also, the fool knew his limitations of working alone to achieve his goals, so he teamed up with the other fools in the ship to achieve these goals successfully.  Like him, instead of fearing the changes in my environment, I should instead be working cooperatively with my colleagues within these changes.  When I planned, organized and integrated my ideas with others as a team, these plans will take shape in a manner that will bring satisfaction.

My Thoughts On Her Interpretation

I am very thankful that M had chosen the Fairy Tale tarot deck.  I drew parallels between the stories within each of these cards and my situation.   Overall, I saw a lot of water within the images on all 3 cards.  This is a reflection of my emotions driven by my fear of change.  Indeed, stagnation imprisons me. The darkness of the murky waters underneath the troll’s bridge as well as the underground within which the 12 princesses went to find their 12 princes are all a reflection of the darkness of my thoughts about my situation which was governed by my fear of change.   After the reading from M, I knew what to do to move on from this stagnation.  I started on a journey of regaining my confidence, and looked for positive potential afforded by the opportunities within that situation.

How Did The Reading Help Me Today?

I am glad that today, my entire perspective of the changes in my work environment is so different.  I welcomed those changes.  Without them, I don’t think I would be able to manage challenges at work as calmly as I do today.  I chose not to get stuck in my fear of change.  I chose to embrace it fully and take every turn on the road as a learning curve, and maybe even gain a few more friends along the way.  My team and I got much closer because we banded together with the genuine desire to do the right things at the right time with the right people.

So M, if you read this, I wanted to say thank you for bringing me some light when I needed it.

About the writer:
The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She was awarded a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and was recently certified as a numerologist in Singapore. A member of the American Tarot Association (ATA) and the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI), she is also a reader for the Free Tarot Network and is a mentor for the ATA.

She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

My Hubby The King Of Cups

Not The Establishment Again

My blog followers at http://thecrazyangmoandhisangrywife.blogspot.com  will remember that I abhor the pedantic rules of any establishment.   This disdain for following the rulebooks and bowing to rigid regulations was borne from my experience as a child, seeing Dad being carted away in hand-cuffs as a political detainee right before my eyes.  More than 30 years ago, when Dad kept racks of books and papers from left-wing political leaders, and held discussions on political ideas not aligned to the establishment, he was incarcerated for “conspiracy” and our home got ransacked by burly, glove-clad, clipboard-toting establishment lackeys.

Don’t Touch My Bikes

Two days ago, I received a letter from the town council requesting that we remove our bicycles from the corridor outside our front door.  I have lived here for so long, and these bicycles had never posed a problem.  Moreover, all the neighbors on the same floor had big potted plants lined up outside their front doors too.  So, unless one is built like the A380, the bicycles and the potted plants definitely wouldn’t be a safety hazard as there was ample space along the corridor.

I went into a fit of rage when we were told to have our bicycles chained downstairs at the bicycle stands instead.  This is because, I have on numerous occasions, spotted a lonely bicycle wheel, or bicycle handle still chained to the bicycle stands without the rest of the bicycle attached to it. Theft of bicycles is very common here.  Because such incidences appear to be minor crimes, unimportant for anyone to bother about and too petty for the establishment lackeys to shorten their lunch hour to put some effort behind them, many stolen bicycles remain unrecovered.

The Hubby Doesn’t Understand

Throughout this entire episode, David had assumed an approach of resigned calmness.  He maintained his composure whilst reading out the notice to me.  He just looked at the letter cursorily and said “Oh well, we could find a corner within the living room to place our bikes.  When this blows over in a few months, they would forget about it and we’ll just reposition our bikes along the corridor again.”  That had absolutely no effect in calming me down.  Instead, I went into a ballistic frenzy thinking he was letting the establishment win.  I felt I had been oppressed!  I paid so much for a family pad and I can’t even park our bikes outside our front door!  Outrageous! And the only way he thought he could stop my torrent of expletives was to say “Stop raising your voice.  Just go play with your cards, talk to a crystal, or burn a candle. You will feel better after.”  Well, it’s been two days.  I haven’t felt any better and I haven’t thought any better about the establishment.

The King Of Cups

I spent the afternoon reflecting on David’s attitude to the entire episode and my anger slowly subsided making way for a little more calm in my heart.  David’s reaction to the matter, and indeed his reaction to most of the issues in our lives, reminds me of the King of Cups.

In my Radiant Rider Waite tarot deck, the King of Cups depicts an image of a King sitting calmly amidst a turbulent sea with a fish jumping wildly out of the water on his right, and a ship remains anchored on his left. 

The King of Cups is a manifestation of David in the way he deals with everything most of his life.  When times are rough, he accepts what’s been dealt and just manages it with emotional maturity.  He doesn’t let his emotions take control of himself, choosing instead to balance his heart and his head when he makes any major decisions.  He navigates challenges with a calm and nurturing approach, and leads the way by welding his quiet power to reassure the people around him that everything will be okay because he’s going to be taking care of it.  

I would love to adopt the energies of the King of Cups.  However, David thinks I am a fruitcake anyway and it doesn’t help that I am a complete control-freak at home, juggling my time between work, tarot reading and family commitments.  So I think, I am quite fortunate that at least one of us has good common sense and is very much in control.  He will always be my King of Cups.

About the writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She was awarded a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and was recently certified as a numerologist in Singapore. A member of the American Tarot Association (ATA) and the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI), she is also a reader for the Free Tarot Network and is a mentor for the ATA.

She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

I Am Learning To Be The Queen Of Cups

Making More Friends In The Course Of Tarot Reading

I love doing tarot readings at events.  I have been doing a few interesting ones in the last few weeks, ranging from birthday parties, bachelorette parties and corporate events.  One of the best things that I love about doing tarot readings at events is the amount of friends I have made along the way. 

Many, whom I have read for, at these events, have kept in close contact with me either via Facebook or email. And I have been blessed because virally by word of mouth, they would be sharing with their friends about their experiences with Sun Goddess Tarot.  That probably explains why I had also been receiving emails and phone calls from strangers asking to have their tarot cards read.  Initially, I thought I must have been quite good at digital search marketing but to give you a perspective of my prowess at digital marketing, my staff had once likened my knowledge of digital marketing to one reciting Shakespeare to a cow.

I think, the gratification for me, was that I have been regarded as a good friend and a great listener to the new friends I have made along the way.  Okay, perhaps to some, I have become their Aunt Agony. I don’t quite mind it much as long as they don’t call me at midnight for a chat because a girlfriend had packed and left the home with their beloved dog and they wanted me to do an online tarot card reading to locate the dog.

Some Funny Stories

That story with the dog was real.  It actually happened a few months ago when its owner learnt about my ability to read the tarot cards for pets from my blogpost (http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.sg/2012/06/pet-whisperer.html).  Let me share more humorous stories with you, all gathered from my journey with my tarot cards.

A few weeks ago, I had done a tarot reading at a birthday party.  As it was the 7^th month festival of the hungry ghost, the birthday girl and her friends asked if I could tell ghost stories.  I jokingly said “Yeah, sure.  But it will cost more. Also you will have to hang strings of garlic around the house, and you will need to clear the space with a sage smudge stick.” 

When I went to the party, I was so shocked by the sight of an entire house filled with strings of garlic hung in every corner of the living room and kitchen.  There was enough garlic to run an Italian restaurant.  Also, the entire house was so smoky that we had to open all the windows and doors, and switch off the air- conditioner because she had smoked the house with the smudge stick a few minutes earlier before I arrived.  When she was about to hand me extra cash for the “additional service”, I almost fell to pieces from laughing so hard.  I had to apologize for my poor sense of humor and admitted quite sheepishly that I was a good tarot reader but a lousy story-teller of ghost stories.

Another incident happened at a corporate event. As the guests of that event were specifically allowed only one question each in a bid to manage the queue in front of my tarot reading corner, my instructions from the host was also the same. “Please follow the names written on the tarot reading queue sheet closely, and only one consultation session per guest please,” he said.  One of the guests must have enjoyed her first reading so much that she managed to sneak in between the queue under different assumed names which she gleaned from the name list in front of me.  She had a bit more to drink than she could handle that night, so by the 3^rd reading, I said “You look familiar, what’s your name?”   She took a quick glance at my name list and said “Benjamin.”

Queen Of Cups

What I love most about doing tarot readings at these events, was the opportunity to be a confidante to the querant in the midst of a crowd.  It is difficult to describe the powerful connection between the querant and I in spite of the noise from the clinking of glasses, people talking and laughing, and music in the background during these events.  However, the minute the querant sat down in front of me and got his or her tarot cards read, the connection between us was simply magical. It felt like the entire room just stopped moving, and time at that point had also stopped.

Many of these querants have fostered a close friendship with me beyond and  after I have read their tarot cards at these events, I feel very humbled by the trust they have in me and am inspired to adopt the energies of the Queen of Cups in dealing with my new friends.

The Queen of Cups nurtures with compassion and deep sensitivity.  She holds the hands and warms the hearts of the people around her who may be in need.  She is so emotionally connected with her intuition and will render advice with honesty and empathy. She has a strong sense of commitment to guiding and mentoring people with the pure intent of providing comfort and support in times of need.

I am thankful to them for the opportunity to learn to be like the Queen of Cups.  The truth is, for every bit of healing that I have assisted them with through my tarot readings, I have actually helped heal myself from any past negativity and strengthened my soul purpose to do good with my intuitive skills.

About the writer:
The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She was awarded a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and was recently certified as a numerologist in Singapore. A member of the American Tarot Association (ATA) and the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI), she is also a reader for the Free Tarot Network and is a mentor for the ATA.

She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com