Celebrate Joy This Summer Solstice

Summer solstice blessings everyone!  Welcome to our Summer Solstice or Litha 2014 celebrations.    Please follow the links below to read the contributions of my fellow Tarot blogging friends on the topic of Litha:

Blog Before   |       Master List    |         Blog After

This blog post was written as my contribution to the Litha 2014 Tarot Blog Hop.  I was delighted that Olivia Destrades from First Earth Tarot who was our Litha Blog Hop wrangler,  picked such a fun and wonderful topic - JOY -  to kickstart our celebration of the longest day of the year.  And I would be telling you why quite shortly after I had explained what Litha was all about.

Summer Solstice / Litha

On June 21, my Pagan friends all over the world celebrate the Summer Solstice at a festival called Litha.  It is a day which marks the longest day of the year and it is about this time that farmers reap their first harvest.  At this time,  vegetables, plant and flowers are growing everywhere, fuelled by the life-giving energy of the sun.  With growth, there is abundance and so much joy.  So there is no better festival to celebrate joy than at Litha.

Discovering Mediumship

I had been on a spiritual growth path myself so this topic was significant to me. I felt the joy in the hearts of the people I had touched just because my intuitive readings had opened them to options they had not initially  thought about.  Now, this happened to myself once, and that was why I saw the significance when Olivia picked JOY as the theme for this blog hop. Last year, when I discovered  that I had the ability to converse with loved ones who had passed on,  I went into panic mode, not knowing what to do.  As I knew Olivia was developing her mediumship skills, I felt quite safe to talk to her about it without being judged as a flake.  I remembered when my late father-in-law came through to me, I contacted Olivia and asked, "What do I do? I don't know what he wants from me. Why must he present himself to me? I am not ready for this."   Olivia answered quite reassuringly, " Use your Tarot cards Jo."  Doh. Why have I not thought about that.  So I did, and it opened my eyes from then on, to a world of experiences I never knew could be possible."  Olivia gave me the fishing line to help spread joy.

The Process Begins With Letting Go

A few months ago when I attended a friend's wedding, I bumped into another friend whom I had not seen for years.  We crossed the room to give each other a hug and that was when I noticed within my third eye vision, a man in yellow-tinted glasses coming through. His image stuck in my mind's eye throughout the entire wedding celebration.  I told David about it but he whispered, "Please do not discuss this at a wedding. It is not appropriate."   So I had decided to keep quiet about that image.  I also felt a lot of depression, I felt lost and lonely.  I knew, as a psychic empath that I was picking up on my friend's emotions.  At the end of the dinner, she confessed that she very nearly did not want to attend the wedding celebrations because her husband had passed on a year ago and she had not taken his death well at all, preferring to stay home instead.  However, she was persuaded to put on her best dress and turn up for the event out of respect for the wedding couple whom she was close to. When she found out that I ran a Tarot and Numerology reading consultancy, she invited me over to her home for tea so that I could read for her.

When I went to her home a week later, I put my cards away and told her that I was not going to do a straight forward reading, and explained that I had been developing my mediumship skills and felt that there was a purpose for us to bump into each other the week before.  I then continued, "I have never met your husband but I wanted to verify if he wore yellow-tinted glasses." She nodded.  Encouraged by that I tried to string a story or message from some images I got in my mind's eye and I also followed the direction of the emotions I was getting then.  I said, "I think your husband is trying to come through and he wants me to give you a message.  He said that you will need to move on, focus on your business and take care of the kids. You had been leaving your business to pretty much run on its own but you need to look after it. Your kids need you and they are grieving as much as you are but they will grief even more seeing you in this state. You are still holding on to things that should not be held on to."   She nodded at everything I said and through her tears, brought me up to the stairs to her bedroom. I was shocked to see her husband's clothes still hung in the wardrobe, his personal belongings including 2 golf bags still in that room beside her bed, and his photos was hung everywhere. It was as if he had not left, and she was waiting for him to come home.  So I told my friend that she needed to remove them as soon as she could because when she clung onto him and his memories so tightly that it had affected  her present life and possibly her future, her husband will not be able to rest in peace and cross over.

I Celebrated Joy With My Friend

One month after that visit, my friend called me to say that meeting me at the wedding reception was a godsend because after my visit, she had decided to turn her life around and bravely acknowledge that while she let go of that pain and allowed the grief to ride it's course, she was now ready to move on. Her husband was gone but his memory would always be in her heart.  As I write this, she had just bought another office unit next to her current one, with the intention to expand her business.  She had also involved her son and daughters in it and was committed to seeing the family grow that business together.  JOY.

I have been widening my experiences with my intuitive skills in the last few months.  As I gradually embraced my claircognitive skills, I had been blending them with my Tarot, Numerology and Astrology readings that I currently do for my clients.  My greatest gratification is the joy that these clients have experienced when I opened their hearts and minds to options and the advice that they had needed , and the promise that they would never be alone in their journey.

If  this Tarot community, or Olivia or my intuitive coaches were not there  to hold my hand for a bit, I would not have that safe space to develop my skills.  I believed that you could never seek joy on your own.  You will always need the help and support of people whom you can trust to hold your hand through that journey as you seek joy.    So I leave you with my Celebrate Joy Tarot spread and this request, in the inspiring words of my friend Arwen from Tarot By Arwen,  "Seek joy, y'all!"

 Celebrate Joy Tarot Spread

1) What in your current circumstance is blocking your ability to celebrate joy in your life?

2) What additional help, tools or resource do you need to bring back joy in your life?

3) How can the joy you have attained remain sustainable?

Please follow the links below to read the other contributions to the Litha 2014 Tarot Blog Hop:

Blog Before         |        Master List               |                  Blog After

And if you have been enjoying some of these blog posts written by the Tarot Blog Hop community, do LIKE our Facebook page here.

If you like this blogpost, do follow my blog at http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com and LIKE my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot

About The Writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade and an intuitive reader by accident. She was awarded a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and is also a certified numerologist.  She is currently running a consultancy based in Singapore called Sun Goddess Tarot,  which provides confidential intuitive readings combining the metaphysical disciplines of Tarot, Numerology and Astrology overlaid with her Clairvoyant and Clairsentient skills via face to face and emails as well as readings at corporate and private events and workshops.  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 mentors Tarot protégés on behalf of the American Tarot Association.

Website: www.sungoddesstarot.com
Email:  Joanna@sungoddesstarot.com
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot

Twitter: www.twitter.com/SunGoddessTarot 

Photo credit: Photo taken in Lombok, Indonesia by David Ash, www.singaporemaven.com

What Does The Empress Card Convey About Being Your Own Brand?

My Skills As A Marketing Professional

I do not have 20 to 30 years of Tarot reading experience and I have not had many years of experience running a Tarot business.  However, I had spanned a career of almost 20 years managing brand development, marketing strategy and communications, with more than half of these spent at multi national corporations honing these skills and contributing to the growth of these organizations.

So what I could speak most comfortably and confidently about at the upcoming American Tarot Association's first Online Tarot Conference this weekend, was about marketing.  I agreed to do a presentation on Strategic Marketing Techniques For Tarot Businesses, because along my amazing journey with Tarot, I had the privilege and the opportunity to help support the growth of some of my fellow Tarotists' businesses alongside my own, with tried and tested tips that I had picked up along the way as a marketing and communications professional.

Using My Skills To Market My Tarot Business

When I mentioned numerous times before that I loved welding my skills as a marketeer with Tarot, I finally understood why and how the Universe had conspired to make me the conduit of learning to help some of my fellow Tarotists who are either starting, or in the midst of growing their Tarot businesses.

Building Brand Authenticity No Matter The Brand Or The Business

One thing I had always been guided by in every decision I had made as a marketing and communications professional, was the goal of building brand authenticity.  When I was working at an insurance company Aviva,  I was adamant about constantly communicating proof points that affirmed Aviva's brand positioning then, of Nobody Recognizes You Like Aviva.   We did so when we managed the Aviva Ironman 90.3 sponsorship to imprint in consumers' minds that the company was always in every life-stage of each and every one of its customers, perseveringly holding the hands of its customers to meet their evolving needs.  We also did so when we sold targeted health products aimed at young families because we knew that a birth in the family meant joy, elation as well as anxiety amongst parents about how best to protect their children and themselves. We recognised the needs within that segment and wasted no time developing products and communicating their benefits to this segment of new families.

Just like that experience of managing Aviva's brand, the same principle applies to one's Tarot business.  When I established Sun Goddess Tarot off the back of a period of negativity in my life, I was determined to stay true to my expansive zodiac sign of a Leo which was ruled by the Sun.  I wanted to bring positivity, light and optimism to my clients with my Tarot and Numerology skills.  My brand, my reading style, my advice-centric Tarot techniques and even the way I engaged my clients ( what I call here, my brand voice) all had to be driven by my brand intent.  I wanted to stay true to myself.  What I lacked in-depth experience as a Tarot reader, I made up for it with every intent to genuinely bring sunshine to my clients when they needed it most as I slowly and steadily grew my skills and experience.

The Empress Card's Message About Brand Authenticity

I am going to use the Empress card as my muse when I talk about brand authenticity at my presentation.  I see the Empress as the Earth Mother, deeply nurturing and very much in-tune with herself.  She creates abundance in everything she touches.  She is highly intuitive and very connected to the spiritual realm yet maintains grounded-ness in the material plane.  She is highly creative because she is so in touch with her feminine side, lending beauty to everything that she creates.

I urge fellow Tarotists particularly those who are in the beginning stages of building their Tarot businesses, to leverage the energies of the Empress. Nurture and grow your brand by keeping it authentic. Your brand reflects you.  While there are many great Tarotists we can learn and emulate from, they have their own unique ways of communicating their brand intent to their customers, and so do you.  Learn from them, but not copy them because you would want your clients to know and trust your brand only because you are the one behind that steering wheel.  Unleash your creativity and know that creativity knows no boundaries. Try and try again different marketing techniques and never be afraid to learn along the way and finally deploy the best technique that fits your business best. Follow your intuition.  You know what is best for your clients and how best to build that affinity between your brand and your clients.

When My Job As A Marketeer And A Tarot Reader Became One

I can clearly define how long I have been a marketing professional.  My involvement with tarot is less clearly defined.  From the time I was a young girl causing trouble at the neighbourhood playground, till the time I was involved in helping large multinational companies build and manage their brands,  I knew I was good at reading people intuitively.  For years i wrote this off as being "good at my job'.  Once I had the confidence to start Sun Goddess Tarot as a business, I took a leap of faith and allowed my two selves - financial marketeer and tarot reader - to become one.

ENROL FOR THE ATA ONLINE TAROT CONFERENCE HERE

What I have touched on within this blog post is just a highlight of what I will be covering at my presentation on Strategic Marketing Techniques For Tarot Businesses at the American Tarot Association Online Tarot Conference 2013 held on 26 October 12pm EST or 27 October 12am Singapore time.  Do enrol by clicking onto this link http://www.wiziq.com/course/32291-ata-online-tarot-conference-2013

Acknowledgement:  I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the fantastic creative work of a friend, Nadim Van der Ros, who supported me through this nerve-wrecking experience of getting me ready for this upcoming presentation.

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 is also a certified numerologist.  She is currently running a Tarot consultancy based in Singapore called Sun Goddess Tarot,  which provides confidential intuitive readings combining the metaphysical disciplines of Tarot, Numerology and Astrology via face to face and emails as well as readings at corporate and private events and workshops.  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 mentors Tarot protégés on behalf of the American Tarot Association.

Website:www.sungoddesstarot.com
Email: Joanna@sungoddesstarot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot
Twitter:www.twitter.com/SunGoddessTarot

Add caption

The Empress Card  - the beginnings of my very own Tarot deck.

A work in progress and a labour of love developed 

from the visions of a friend and I