A Quantum Leap In My Understanding Of Tarot

This blog post was written as my contribution to the Mabon Tarot Blog Hop 2014.  Please follow the links below to read the contributions of my fellow Tarot bloggers who are part of this wonderful Tarot Blog Hop community.

 BLOG BEFORE    |     MASTER LIST     |    BLOG AFTER

Autumn

I like Autumn.  Although there isn't Autumn in tropical Singapore, the pictures of trees in their various hues of red, gold and brown, swaying in a wind-swept Autumn day just seem so poetic to me.   It is the changing colors of the leaves, the weather and the impending dwindling sunlight, that makes this a season of transformation.  Often, the word transformation sparks fear in many.  To me, transformation is the necessary pathway to growth.

Mabon

During this period, my Pagan friends around the world celebrate the Autumnal festival of Mabon on 23 September.  For some of my blog readers who are not familiar with Mabon, the name Mabon came from an age-old Celtic myth about the Welsh god, Mabon who was abducted when young, and found again by King Arthur so that he could be reborn into the light. For more on the story of Mabon, do read it here. 

The Quantum Leap In My Understanding Of Tarot

A festival borne from a myth about rebirth and transformation is an ideal basis for the theme for this Mabon Tarot Blog Hop, designed by the wrangler, Morgan Drake Eckstein. I swear, he comes up with such difficult topics to stress me out but I love Morgan for his wit so I took up the challenge to write this post hoping to see if the creativity could flow from my heart and mind through my pen  the way his did.  Morgan had asked us to write about the time our understanding of Tarot had taken a quantum leap.  That was when I got really stressed out with writer's block.  Doh...my understanding of Tarot took a quantum leap the day I entered that beginner's class, Morgan!

When Morgan challenged me to interpret this topic,  I started to think about the transformational aspects of Autumn, and mapped it against my life and the transformation I had gone through with Tarot.  There were actually 2 occasions when this "quantum leap" had happened.  

The Role Of My Tarot Cards Have Changed

One of these occasions was the time I had stopped being fearful and embarrassed about my gift of clairvoyance enough to use my clairvoyance as a "scenario-builder" and my Tarot cards as a "scenario -clarifier".  This allowed me to provide even more accurate and more focused advice to my clients.  In the past, my client readings were just a session of questions answered by a few shuffle of the cards.  Today, I spend a good amount of time tuning into my visions, talking my clients through them, sharing what I see in their situations, then I would spend the last 15 minutes of the session clarifying the advice with my Tarot cards.  I used to feel that my clairvoyance had "betrayed" my Tarot cards as the former had taken precedence in my readings.  I was called Sun Goddess Tarot and not Sun Goddess Clairvoyant remember?  However, as I slowly built my business and saw how satisfied my clients were, and the increasing fulfillment I felt about finally working my purpose to the fullest,  I realized that my own understanding of the role of my cards had changed.  The cards have not been less important to me.  Rather,  the process I took to do my readings have undergone a wee transformation as I had tweaked the role of each of my skills to better meet the needs of my clients.  An example of a reading that had undertaken this process can be found here, where I used channeling to navigate through my visions for my client, then validate the reading with with numerology and Tarot.  This is Ava's story which I had built through this process.

Avoiding Health Questions

The second occasion when I experienced that quantum leap with my Tarot cards had to do with my understanding of Tarot ethics.   In the past, I would never use my a Tarot cards to answer a Health question.  I often had clients who asked questions like, "Is that lump serious you think?", " Should I go for that surgery?", "How likely do you think that I can get pregnant?" and the classic, "I really feel so exhausted, and have been losing a lot of weight. Do you think there is something wrong with me?"   To each of these questions, I always responded with an encouragement to go visit a qualified medical practitioner.  These questions had no place on my Tarot table.  Even when Dad had suffered a stroke last year, Mum asked if I could do a reading to find out the outcome of his health. I refused to do it and assured her, "Pray Mum. Dad will be okay if you'd just pray."

I still stand by my code of ethics and refuse to read for a Health issue but that quantum leap happened just recently when I realized that in the least, if I had been promoting Tarot as a tool of guidance and advice, I should be able to use it for just that even when a client asks a question about his or her health.  I can't pretend to be a doctor, but I certainly could offer advice on how best to manage one's life as one journeys towards better health right? I will just have to tweak the question a little to get to a more advice -centric answer,  By doing so, I would be true to my purpose of using Tarot to guide and advice.  An example was a reading I did for myself some months ago when I felt extremely exhausted, stressed and was often down with the flu.  When my immune system seems consistently weak, I knew I had to do something about it.  I could have picked my cards to ask, "what's wrong with me?" Instead, I picked my cards to ask "how could I better take care of myself?".  It led to a "Self-Care Package" that I had designed for myself.  I have stopped flinching from health questions and have embraced these by seeing them as an opportunity to reframe the questions in a way that empower querants to do something proactive to manage their journey towards better health and well-being. 

Transformation

So I do dig the fact that Transformation is always a necessary step to growth and development.  My understanding of my Tarot cards certainly has grown leaps and bounds through the process of re-engineering my perceptions about what role Tarot should play and what questions it could be used to answer.  I don't think this learning process will ever stop.  And if one can embrace the season of Autumn as a season of harvest and beautiful colors, instead of griping about the windchill and raking a garden full of dried leaves, I embrace Tarot as a tool that evolves according to the relationship that I have built with it.

Don't forget to visit the blogs of my fellow Tarot bloggers!

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About The Writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and an intuitive reader by accident who deploys the combined modalities of a Tarot, Numerology and Astrology overlaid with her Clairvoyant and Clairsentient skills to deliver her readings with authenticity. 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 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 also 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
Instagram: @SunGoddessTarot

Photo credit:  Jason Colmer.  Photo taken at the turn of Autumn,
at the Japanese Garden,
at the Hobart Royal Botanical Gardens in Tasmania

Looking For Sparkles After Rain

Every first Monday of the month, my friend Andrea Hiltbrunner throws a Blog Challenge where bloggers around the world will blog about a given topic and then link the blogposts together into one big themed blog party.  This month's topic is on Sparkle.  To be honest, I very nearly gave it a miss because it did not sound like a topic that had anything I could write about from the perspective of one on a spiritual path. And I had dedicated my blog Sun Goddess Tarot to my spiritual path.

This weekend, I was proven wrong, and it was perfectly timed as if the Universe just knew.  So this is my contribution to Andrea's Blog Challenge.  You can read Andrea's blog here :  http://www.dreamheart-smartart.ch/2014/04/07/blogchallenge-sparkle/#permalink

GoingThrough A Major Spiritual Shift

In the last few years, when I had come out of the closet as a certified professional Tarot reader, Numerologist and Astrologer, I had made large strides with my spiritual path as I honed these skills and gained more experience.    However in the recent months, when I discovered the gift of mediumship and particularly in the last few weeks, when I learnt to tune into the energies of others, my spiritual path had moved at the speed of Usain Bolt and I could even see sparks flying at the heels of my soul.

In the past, I worked on my clients' issues by understanding their Numerological and Astrological influences then casting a Tarot spread to obtain advice from the cards to deal with these challenges.  Today, I could add a new dimension to these readings.  Before the appointed time I was supposed to meet my clients, I now would do my meditation and visualization work to tune into their energies to understand their issues better.   The Tarot readings were still necessary because they became an affirmation of what I saw through my visualization work prior, and they were a physical source of comfort to my clients.

I felt good that I could help my clients better.  However, I realized that while there were sparks at the heels of my soul, my body was still stranded way back at the starting line, trying it's best to catch up with the "Usain Bolt" of my soul.  As an Empath, I took on the energies of many people around me and involuntarily my mind saw visions of issues that mere strangers were going through.  My body was exhausted and my mind was always distracted.  I often felt the sadness, pain and anguish of others.  I could not control my visions.  I hollered for help to manage my intuitive gifts and help came from a fellow channeller.

My friend Andrea channelled for me last week and said, " You need to take care of yourself Jo, I can see you lack water.  You need to go for a swim, or be near water, drink plenty of water." So today, I took her advice and went down to the river wth my camera.  Guess what I saw?

Seeing Sparkles Everywhere

I saw sparkles.  I saw sparkles everywhere.  They were glistening in the water as the reflection of the sun bounced across the river when it peeked from behind the clouds after a rain. I saw sparkles across the grass. Sunlight was dancing with the raindrops caught in between the blades of grass.  I saw sparkles in the trees. They were birds fluttering in the branches, shaking the water off their feathers after a rain.   I remembered that the thunderstorm this morning added to my gloom and made me feel even more exhausted to the point of my wanting to head back to bed even after I had showered, changed  and was ready to get out and about.  However, when i took Andrea's advice to get out to a place with water and ended up walking along the river.  That was the best thing I had ever done for myself.

When it rained so heavily earlier, I saw the birds taking shelter in the trees, the grass just opened itself to the warm rains and the river just flowed nonchalantly as it usually did.  Nothing changed.  It was as if they all knew the sun was coming out quite soon.  Within me, I felt that the major shift happening to my spiritual path was like a big rainfall cleansing me from the residual resistance I had about my abilities.  It was cleaning away my preconceived notions about these abilities shaped by my rational mind. Most of all, it was washing away my ego.

When the rain stopped, the sunshine made everything looked cleaner, brighter, better and more beautiful.  It dawned on me that I needed to feel the "thunderstorm" within myself, to understand the "thunderstorm" in the lives of others. And I needed to understand the "thunderstorm" in the lives of others. so that I could add the sunshine back in their lives.  

I whispered my thanks to the Universe for this special message to me.  I knew deep in my heart that if I trusted and surrendered to the ways of the Universe, I would come out of this alright.

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
Blog: http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com

By the Singapore River

At the Kallang Riverside Park. The rain did not stop these tourists from enjoying the sights

At the Kallang Riverside Park.  Watching dragon boaters in action. Looks like hard work.

The Reluctant Empath

To Be Able To Feel So Deeply Is Both A Blessing And A Curse

I have been constantly feeling drained.  This had been happening for years, and I used to think that that was caused by a life of poor diet, insufficient sleep and work stress.  However, several years later, after fixing my health issues with a daily dose of balanced nutrition, some physical activity like yoga, brisk walk or sessions with the personal trainer at the gym, my health was back on the mend but my constant exhaustion seemed to get worse.

I also noticed that my  "gut feeings" got increasingly more sensitive.  I often accurately picked up sentiments, or issues that someone else was facing just after a few minutes of talking to him or her.  I sometimes picked up on a pain or an ailment that a friend living far away might be suffering from just because I thought about her at a particular moment or was communicating wth her via Facebook at that time,  When a friend told me that her uncle had passed away a few months ago, I suddenly felt that I was being choked and could not breathe,  I was told later that her uncle died of breathing complications.  When a client told me that her sister had passed away, I felt a sudden pain at the back of my head and found out later that her sister had died of brain tumor.  More importantly, in circumstances like these, I often felt a cord of bereavement and sadness tied between these friends and their loved ones who had passed on, and it was obvious that they had difficulty letting go.  I went into panic attacks when I felt the fear, anxiety or disappointment that my clients were going through.  These situations were often so intense that I did not need my Tarot cards to tell me more about them.

These, and many other observations I had gleaned about myself over the years became more intense this year and It was through conversations with similarly intuitive friends and  mentors that I found out that I was an Empath.   To read up more about an Empath, do read the article here : http://theknowing1.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/at-a-glance-30-traits-of-an-empath/

It became a curse when I found it difficult to control the negative energies that I took on from others. It drained me considerably when I felt the pain and sufferings of other people.  I felt like a hypochondriac, developing imaginary aches and pains that were not actually there in my body. Or I might feel low and depressed because I saw the anguish of a friend's brother for example, through her eyes although she lived in the US and I lived in Singapore.   I felt her pain of not knowing how to help him, while at the same time I felt her brother's anxiety and anger that he had been going through.  I gleaned all that without her providing me the details and I spent a day nursing a migraine and back pain because of this.

It became a bigger curse as my very close friends and colleagues were aware of my gift of clairvoyance and mediumship, and would diplomatically tell me, "keep it to yourself".  I have even got friends who were uncomfortable about having a nice quiet dinner with me just because they "don't want to know."

However, just as it was a curse, It became a blessing when I realized my empathy helped me understand my clients' life journeys enough for me to help support them along the way.  Being an Empath helped me feel what they felt within their situations and understand them better.  Being a psychic Empath helped me focus on the root cause of their situations and provide them with better advice to deal with them.

 Learning To Be Gentle With Myself

When I realized that I needed to quickly learn to control and manage my intuitive gifts positively, I began a search for answers.  Yesterday, the most important thing I had learnt was encapsulated in the words of Danielle Dove -  "the best way of getting rid of my feelings of insecurity, was to get on my path of serving my life purpose".  My feelings of insecurity had always been a stumbling block, a hurdle placed across my path by my ego.  My insecurity reared it's ugly head when I feared how others thought about me or worse, I was so worried that when I interpreted anything based on my gut feel, it could  be wrong because my rational mind started to analyze it and mentally build a business case for what could explain that gut feel in practical terms.

So this week, I learnt to be gentle on myself. I learnt to acknowledge my intuitive gifts, and more so, I learnt to acknowledge some of the pitfalls of my gifts like the insecurities, the constant drain on my energy and the pains or sadness I had absorbed from other people.  I asked myself then, "What were these experiences attempting to teach me and what purpose did they have for their existence before sending them some love and light for healing.  

I learnt to take care of myself better,  I rested when the body and mind told me it needed rest to recharge and recuperate.  I learnt to listen more intently to my clients and look beyond the Tarot Cards, Numerology and Astrology for more insights that could help offer them even better advice.  I learnt to meditate with better focusedness and clearer intent, visualizing what I had intended to manifest at the end of the meditation session.  I learnt to ask for help from the Universe for everything, shedding away my ego and my pride.   When I needed help to stay grounded when it got all too much for me, my mind and body automatically went on "rest" mode.  When I felt a calling to sink my feet deep within the grass, I would gather the dogs and go out for a walk by the beach.   

Guided By The Empress

Today, I meditated to the Empress card.  I picked the card from the Radiant Rider Waite deck.   The Empress depicted within the card wore a crown of stars which suggested her connection to the mystical realm of angels and spirit guides.  She had an intuitive connection to the divine which allowed her to tune in to the messages she needed to fill the earth with her love and abundance.  It was a message for me to tune into my higher self  and trust the messages it provided that was necessary for the healing of my clients and myself.   The Empress was full-bodied and pregnant, dressed in a rich robe with images of pomegranates printed on her robe.  This hinted to me that I had to be ready for the birth of a new aspect of myself, a new awareness of my capabilities and what it could do for my clients and myself.  The Empress sat amongst lush greenery.  She was an archetypal earth mother, very connected with nature.  She called to me to be grounded and renew my spirit by re-connecting with nature regularly.  I needed that. When it got all too much for me, I needed to go walk barefoot in the park and feel the wind in my face.

The Empress was governed by the planet Venus which was the planet of love and harmony.  She reminded me that I must always come from a place of pure intent, directing my gifts to serve only the highest good, in love, truth and light.  I must trust my instincts and my intuition, even without the use of my Tarot cards, my Numerological calculations or my Astrological assessments.  I had to learn to create harmony of body, mind and spirit within myself so that I could better help others. 

The Empress guided me  to learn to trust my own capabilities to manifest healing with my gifts as an Empath.

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
Blog: http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com

The Empress from the Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck updated by Virginijus Poshkus

Wading Into The Deeper End Of My Intuition

Being A Heart-Centered Intuitive Advisor

The best thing my mentors have taught me through the years, was not to be the best Tarotist, Numerologist and Astrologer, but to be a heart-centered intuitive advisor.   Armed with the necessary skills and  certifications in multiple metaphysical disciplines and years of experience as an intuitive reader, I thought that there was just so much that I can learn and I have already got the necessary "tools" to provide my clients with the help and advice that they needed. 

However, I was so wrong because I could never stop learning.  Even when I had been juggling so many commitments and had not had the time to  pursue more courses, the right courses just fell on my lap either by chance, or through recommendations from my peers.  One such course was Danielle Dove’s and Karina Ladet’s Spirit Guide And Angel Connection Virtual Retreat.

 Embarking On A Retreat To Feed My Intuition

I was introduced to this retreat through a fellow Tarotist.  When I read a high-level write-up about the course, I bristled immediately with fear.  As a Roman Catholic, I understood the concept of angels and archangels, but what on earth were spirit guides?  I had only learnt later that my guides were sent to me at specific moments of my life whenever I needed a special helping hand.   I am so convinced that one of my guides is my great grandmother who had passed on several years ago. I was very close to her when I was a child and I still feel very connected to her.   In the past, I had always read my Tarot cards in a way whereby I had not invoked any spirit guides or angels or anything that “crossed the line”  into realms that I might not be able to explain to my clients with conviction and clarity.  I remembered telling my clients that  “I just read my Tarot cards by making a connection between my intuition, your situation and my interpretation of the card images and symbolisms.”   On hindsight, I could not believe the egotistical arrogance I had carried myself with as an intuitive reader.   

That ego was the focal point of my negative cords I was forced to cut this weekend so that I could further hone my intuition to fully serve my soul purpose of supporting and healing the people who needed my help most.

Crossing The Line To Discover My “Clairs”

The most important lesson that I had learnt this weekend was to surrender to my higher self as I meditated.  I loved to meditate and did that everyday. However, following  a series of guided meditations was difficult for me this weekend.  I kept getting distracted and when I fell asleep, I had angry or confusing dreams.  This, was a way my body, mind and spirit was attempting to acknowledge the toxic cords of negativity within me and the experience urged me to expel it from my life forever before I could move on to recieve my gifts with openness.  Through my meditations, I learnt to communicate with my higher self more clearly, to ask for the help and messages from my guardian angels and my spirit guides, whenever I needed them to support me through the situations in my life.  Through the practice of channeling these messages, I felt gratified that I could help a couple of my fellow course mates too with situations that I was never privy too....and I managed to do it without the aid of my usual tools like  Tarot cards. Yay!   

When I went to work today, I practiced channeling all day and found that I could focus my mind's eye on a colleague's personal issue with more clarity and at a faster rate. I was able to draw the picture in my mind's eye on paper, albeit not very well, and used it to offer her the advice she needed to help her clear her path off anything that was making her feel unhappy, disengaged and uninspired.

So this brings me to the most amazing discovery. I never knew what the "clairs" were. The only "clair"  I  knew of was an eclair.  I have heard of clairvoyance and attached that moniker to people whom I had thought were just "woo-woo" crazy.   I was speechless when I discovered my clairvoyant and clairsentient gifts this weekend with the help of Karina Ladet and Danielle Dove.   Although I was half a world away, I discovered that I could manifest healing.  When a friend was hit with a personal crisis, I rubbed my hands together when I tuned into her, and ran my hands through my body.  I felt a lot of heat around my chest and felt an instant spark of anger.  I knew I was an empath, but I never knew I could do this and deduced that she was feeling a lot of anger and disappointment.  When I focused on her in my mind's eye, I saw a house amidst a snow-filled environment. It was covered in snow, as if in the height of winter.  I saw a quarrel ensued with someone walking away from that house.  So I wrote it down, and shared with her what I saw.  She confirmed that indeed that had happened. I was given the message for her to proactively make peace and not let the anger carry on indefinitely.   I also saw in my mind's eye that she was lying down as if attempting to recuperate from a sudden outburst.  She confirmed with me that she was indeed lying down at that time to listen to a guided meditation video.  I did all that without my usual tools, the Tarot cards.  How amazing! 

Waking Up To A New Learning Curve

Today, I am still "feeling" my way through this new discovery.  While I thank the Universe for entrusting me with these gifts, I am still filled with some in -confidence and self-doubts about how these gifts can develop and where it could take me.  

So, I had decided to draw on my tools of familiar comfort, my trusty Tarot cards.  I picked  the Fool card from the Morgan Greer Tarot deck created by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan.  I felt like I am suddenly back in college, pouring through my new set of books and reading lists for a new term, making new friends and discussing homework for a tutorial. Indeed, like the Fool, this is a new journey I have embarked on.  I am back on a learning curve and am truly loving it.   I can only surrender in trust to the love and light of the Universe and allow my hands to be used as a healing instrument only for the highest good.

If  you think I am now truly "woo-woo" crazy,....hey, it's not the first time I have been called that.   I was described as "woo-woo" crazy when I  became a certified professional Tarot reader, Numerologist and Astrologer.   Just like these skills, my clairvoyance and clairsentience are gifts meant for people who genuinely need my help and I will continue to wade into the deeper end of my intuition if it means I can help them better.


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
Blog: http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com

Awakening my Intuition

Spirit Guide and Angel Connection Virtual Retreat
conducted by Danielle Dove and Karina Ladet

The Fool from the Morgan Greer Tarot Deck by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan