Full Moon In Libra Beckons You To Focus On Positive Relationships

Happy Full Moon everyone!  As usual, the full moon welcomes the closing of that door behind you against what did not serve you in the past,  to open the door to a new beginning filled with abundant possibilities that could set you on a journey towards a more positive life.  

It is not a coincidence that while we open our hearts and minds to transformation during this Full Moon, we are also in the the midst of Holy Week, preparing for Easter this weekend.  And we all know that at Easter, we celebrate rebirth and  renewal after a period of spiritual cleansing.   

During this Full Moon in Libra, you will make this your cause -  You will resolve to release, cleanse and declutter that entire emotional gunk to embrace new perspectives on love and interpersonal relationships.  Yes!  You will cut the cords to negative and toxic relationships that had weighed you down for a long time. Instead, you will focus on maintaining positive relationships.  As you attempt to unveil the sunshine behind the cloud of past relationship issues, remember that the way to do so is not through readjusting your thoughts about these relationships but to  approach it from the heart.  That means, whatever you need to say to people who had hurt you before, be prepared to seek emotional closure by saying what you need to say with feeling and from the heart so that you can move on.  Similarly, with whom you hope to manifest the type of positive relationship that you want, approach it with heart energy and express how you feel with authenticity.

Be conscious about using too much mind energy to analyze the ”why, when and what for” of a past relationship issue, wasting time rationalizing what needs to happen or should have happened.  Instead,  you should be guided by your heart, to muster courage and resolve to remove your ego, so that you can let it all go. 

Today is also governed numerologically by the  number 8. The energy of an 8 day will inspire you to make big and bold decisions.  So harness this energy to courageously make that bold decision to let go of the past so that you can embark on a new beginning towards better and more harmonious relationships in the future.

"Let go. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love?" ~ Leo Buscaglia

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

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Renewing Relationships On The Advice Of The King Of Cups

The Ostara 2014 Tarot Blog Hop

This blog post was written as my contribution to the Ostara 2014 Tarot Blog Hop.  Do click onto the following links to read the blog posts of my fellow Tarot bloggers.

Previous Blog      |     Master List     |    Next Blog 

Our wrangler Joanne Sprott had been kind enough to get out of the usual clichéd theme of balance which was often expected in any write-up about the festival of Ostara.  Ostara was often associated with balance because it was a festival that marked the vernal equinox where day and night were equal in duration.  Instead, she had asked us to focus on the theme of renewal.  This was apt simply because many of my friends across the world had been suffering from a protracted winter, and some had also experienced severe winter storms, floods and torrential rains.  Ostara, was truly about renewal, especially when it welcomes the first glimpse of Spring.  

As I am a Roman Catholic, I was in the Lenten period preparing for the celebration of Easter.  During mass last Sunday, the priest, in his sermon asked the congregation, "In preparation for Easter, what aspects of your life needs renewing?"  That had set me thinking, and I believed it was the Universe' way of guiding me as I wrote this blog post.

Ostara And Easter

My Pagan friends around the world celebrated the festival of Ostara by honoring the Goddess Eostre. She was the Goddess of fertility, Spring and renewal. I had discovered through my research that there were many myths surrounding Eostre.  One of them was that she travelled throughout the lands with a white rabbit as a companion, to bring life to dying plants and they put coloured eggs all over the fields in the process.  Anglo- Saxons during the festival offered coloured eggs to her.  This brought me then to the topic of Easter and it explained to me why children all over the world celebrated Easter with painted eggs and chocolates, and were either gifted with an Easter bunny made out of chocolates or dressed themselves up as Easter bunnies at Easter parties.

Ostara fell on 21 March when I would be mid way through my Lenten celebrations.  My Catholic friends, family and I, had been preparing for the coming Easter celebrations in April.  In many ways, whatever the co-relation I had read about Ostara and Easter in the past without getting into an argument reserved for kindergarten kids about which festival came first,  Easter, like Ostara was also the celebration of renewal and rebirth when Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  As I had been shaped through experience to be  extremely opened about different religious and cultural beliefs, Ostara to me, came as an early Easter celebration for me.  Hey, you know me, I am up for anything that called for a celebration.

More importantly, this particular Tarot Blog Hop had a special meaning for me because in preparation for Easter, I was in the process of letting go and forgiving past hurts, making up for my own faults and failures, and moving on to reconnect with those who had crossed me and whom I had crossed too. 

The topic of this Ostara Tarot Blog Hop -  RENEWAL -  was timely.  

The King Of Cups Reversed

As Ostara or Easter celebrated renewal and rebirth, I picked a Tarot card to look at what aspect of my life needed renewing most.  The King of Cups Reversed showed up to gently remind me about not one but several aspects of my life that were governed by the King.

The King of Cups in Tarot was a figure of emotional maturity, compassionate and nurturing leadership, and the balance of  mind and heart. He was the epitome of quiet strength. Honestly, I could not identify with this King.  What a softee!  Astrologically, my Sun sign was that of the fiery Leo, which was represented by the energetic, passionate, bold and confident King of Wands.  Nothing stood in my way of getting what I wanted, and nothing scared me.

The reversed King of Cups represented one who had allowed one’s emotions to control  one’s  life or had been responding in a “knee-jerk” fashion to how others might perceive him or her. Sometimes, this reversed King might fall into extreme mood swings, causing everyone around him or her to be confused, not knowing when he or she might blow up into an emotional volcanic eruption.

Renewing Relationships This Spring

I turned the reversed King of Cups card around, and started meditating on the card image.  I heard a soft whisper from the King and the touch of his gentle hand as he spoke.  He asked one question, “ As you grow your spirituality and start living a heart-centred life, how will you  manage life with the same heart-centredness in your capacity as mother, wife, daughter, manager to your team at work, direct report to your boss at work and business owner of Sun Goddess Tarot?”

The path before me that was filled with so many sharp bends and perilous bumps suddenly became quite clear.  I had been truly acting like the reversed King of Cups  recently with the stress of juggling multiple commitments in my multiple roles in recent months.  At home, I was an Ogre about to be dragged for his annual bath.  I often came home exhausted after a long day of work and several Tarot reading appointments or events.  At work, I was often on edge and growled at everyone whenever a project hit a snag or the boss questioned my decisions.  

With Sun Goddess Tarot, I often worry excessively about managing the mounting pressures on my time because of the numerous business commitments to my clients, and my business partners. I have got workshops, events, private and group classes and readings lined up for the next two months which from time to time, put me in a reversed 2 of Pentacles situation because I had over-stretched myself due to my inability to say no.  I often thought that as Tarot reader, mentor, and teacher, I had to always be there for my clients and proteges no matter the circumstance because I felt obligated to offer them help and support with my intuitive gifts.  However, at times, the back to back appointments and my inability to find time to ground myself in between would put a severe drain on my energy.  When I felt that I could not give 100% to my role as a light worker, I would get terribly upset and my confidence  level would take a nose-dive.

Turning The Reversed King Of Cups Around

Acknowledging the issues at hand, I resolved to turn the reversed King around.  With the multiple demands on my time and energy by my family, my colleagues and my clients, the one thing that they looked to me for was to manage these demands with a balanced heart and mind.  

Years ago, when I found my calling as a Tarot reader, Numerologist and Astrologer,  I had been channelling my inner Sun Goddess to help, guide and support everyone around me with positivity and genuine heart-centredness.  How can I aim to deliver positivity and genuine heart-centredness without having a balanced heart and mind? 

So this Spring, I am committed to renewing my relationships with my husband, my son, my colleagues, my boss and my clients.   Like the King of Cups, I promised to hold their hands through each and every challenge they might face by spending time with them to listen to their daily issues with a compassionate heart, and provide them with the right advice without judgement.

I was grateful for that reminder by the King of Cups, to always lead a heart-centred life.

Previous Blog      |     Master List     |    Next Blog 

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

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The King of Cups from the Golden Tarot deck by Kat Black

Yule 2013 Tarot Blog Hop Masterlist

YULE 2013 TAROT BLOG HOP

Welcome to the Yule 2013 Tarot Blog Hop.  

Below is the master list of Tarot bloggers who are participating in the Yule 2013 Tarot Blog Hop.  Come celebrate Yule with us on 21 December at 2pm GMT. 

The Masterlist:

 1.  Stella Tarot http://www.usgamesinc.com/tarotblog/2013-yule-tarot-blog-hop/ 

2.   Bettina for Ardor Fawkes http://ardorfawkes.com/the-intrepid-ride-of-the-yule-tide-knight/

3. Cassandra Santori -http://www.quickcardreading.com/yule/  

4.  Chloe for Celtic Lenormand http://www.celticlenormand.com/2013/12/yule-blog-hop-light-of-moon.html

5.  Arwen Lynch http://www.tarotbyarwen.com/?p=17472

6. Stacey Carroll http://thetarotoraclewitch.blogspot.com/2013/12/tbh-turning-darkness-into-light_21.html 

7.  Ania M http://aniam.co.uk/blog/illumination

8.  Louise Underhill http://www.priestesstarot.co.uk/2013/12/tarot-blog-hop-lighting-yule/

9. Joanna Ash http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com/2013/12/turning-darkness-into-light-this-yule.html

10. Olivia Destrades http://firstearthtarot.blogspot.com/2013/12/yule-blog-hop-2013-bringing-light-into.html 

11. Chloe McCracken http://innerwhisperscouk.blogspot.com/ 

12.  Shauna Aura Knight https://shaunaaura.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/the-devil-the-tower-and-the-star-tarot-blog-hop

13.  Christiana Gaudet http://tarottrends.com/content/yule-2013-tarot-blog-hop-turning-darkness-light

14.  Morgan Drake Eckstein http://gleamingsfromthedawn.blogspot.com/2013/12/lux-e-tenebris.html

15. Karen Sealey http://pureblessedtarot.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/yuletide-yammerings/ 

16. Machelle Earley with Earley Light http://earleylight.blogspot.com/2013/12/shining-light-on-your-shadows.html 

17.  Shari B Yetto http://shariyetto.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/what-cards-really-mean

18. Joy Vernon http://joyvernon.com/Blog/turning-darkness-into-light/

19. Shonna Hill http://aceofstarstarot.com/2013/12/darkness-into-light-tarot-spread-for.html

20. J Jordan Hoggard http://wp.me/p1u5kt-/Oq

21. Joanne Sprott http://cosmicwhisperstarot.com/2013/12/21/lighting-a-candle-yule-tarot-blog-hop-2013/  

22. Vivianne Kacal http://kismetscompanion.blogspot.com/2013/12/tarot-blog-hop-yule-2013-turning.html

23. Chloe for TABI http://tabitarot.blogspot.com/

24. Tierney Sadler http://www.tierneysadler.com/2013/12/122113turning-darkness-into-light.html

 About The Blog Hop:
In the Northern Hemisphere, Yule is known as the Winter Solstice while in the southern hemisphere Yule is known as the Summer Solstice.  No matter where you are located and whichever religion or traditions you follow, Yule is always a magical time filled with excitement and steeped in traditions.  Yule sees the triumph of light over darkness.  As Celtic Yule lore goes, Yule is celebrated as the rebirth of the Sun when the Oak King who ruled over the light part of the year, defeated the Holly King who ruled over the dark part of the year. So Yule brings with it the opportunity to be reborn with new light.

 The Blog Hop Theme:
 TURNING DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

 What Was Expected Of The Bloggers:
 Yule night or Winter Solstice sees the longest night of the year.  When the sun rises the next morning, we celebrate light with the rebirth of the sun as the dark half of the year makes way for the lighter half.  In the spirit of welcoming back the light, the bloggers were asked to unleash their creativity with this topic.  For example:

• Use their Tarot cards to guide them on how they could bring light to the people around them.
• Share their experiences on finding light at the end of a period of darkness
• Use their Tarot to guide them on re-charging themselves with strength
• Use their Tarot to guide them on how they are going to imbibe vitality to their endeavors
• Share how they celebrate light with Yuletide traditions
• In a nutshell, use this Yule Tarot Blog Hop to celebrate light together with me in their own way.

Whether or not you are a part of the Tarot Blog Hop community participating in the Yule 2013 Tarot Blog Hop, I hope you will enjoy these rich gifts in the form of knowledge, insights and experiences shared within these beautiful blogposts. 

For me personally, these Tarot bloggers have truly brought me light through the friendship, mentorship, support and advice they had given me along my journey with Tarot.  I know their blog posts will bring you the same light they have brought me. 

My Yule Candle - This particular candle was used at a service at church to
pray for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.  I have brought it back to grace
the altar at home for my Yule ritual

The Gift Of Light At Christmas

Year End Festivities

I am looking forward to the year-end holidays when I can finally enjoy some bonding time with the family.  I have had such an exciting year which seemed to be filled with a never ending list of new discoveries and learning. So, I am planning some quiet time with both my men.  My year-end celebrations always include lots of food, presents, and lots of time spent with the extended family and our closest friends.  This year, the air of cheeriness, and all that yuletide joy and laughter seemed to be dampened somewhat by my thoughts of those still suffering from the ravages of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.  So I had decided to do Tarot readings at a couple of corporate Christmas events and private parties closer to Christmas, to help raise funds for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.  I hope that those affected by the typhoon can find some light soon.

Celebrating Light

The year-end merry making is very special to me also because I love festivities that transcend racial, religious and geographical barriers.  While my Pagan friends from all over the world celebrate Yule or Winter Solstice on 21 December, as a Roman Catholic, I celebrate Christmas on 25 December together with my friends and family.  The greatest thing about these celebrations is that, the common thread that binds us all is actually the celebration of the rebirth of light, letting go of the past, the embrace of hope and the triumph of good.

This Christmas, I celebrate the gift of light.  With all that effort put into developing my intuitive skills, I hope to always use them to bring light to the people around me.  When I review the experiences I have been through all year, I say a prayer of gratitude for the light they have brought me because of how these experiences have shaped me.  When I read about the devastation that the typhoon had caused in the Philippines, and the tragedy that had befallen the thousands trapped when the roof of a Latvian mall collapsed, I prayed that those suffering may be touched by healing light soon.

The Christmas Tree Tarot Spread

So as I celebrate light, I created a Christmas Tree Tarot spread which I urge you to try this season if you are looking at how you could find your own gift of light.  I used this spread on a client Daniella yesterday, who is currently negotiating a job offer with a big company here in Singapore.  With her permission, I would like to demonstrate the spread in practice here, using the Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck updated by Virginijus Poshkus and published by US Games Systems.  I have deliberately captured the entire Tarot reading here for Daniella in verbatim.  That job opportunity is potentially Daniella’s new light at the end of a tunnel.  You see, she had spent the last 8 years as an entrepreneur.  Running her own company, while fulfilling, was an up and down experience.  Sometimes she made money, sometimes, she spent months “completely financially dry”.  She had never considered working for someone else, until recently, when a conversation with the hiring manager of this company had planted a seed of hope in her mind.  So this is a Tarot reading for Daniella to find new light.

1)    You, in your search for light
2)    Where can you find that glimpse of light?
3)    What is blocking that light?
4)    How can you illuminate your journey towards your goal?
5)    Lessons from the past
6)    Lessons from the present
7)    Advice for the future

The Christmas Tree Tarot Spread

You in your search for light  - The 4 of Cups Reversed

The 4 of a Cups Reversed suggests that while a job offer may have been presented to you, you are experiencing inner conflicts about whether it is the right opportunity for you.  You may be too focused on your own issues, like what you may need to sacrifice when you accept this job. In your case, as you have been running your own company for years, this job offer has posed a dilemma about whether you should give up on being an entrepreneur to join this new company as an employee.  You may also have doubts about the job itself, for example, whether you will have the necessary resources to do the job well, or whether the hiring manager will meet your salary expectations.

Where can you find that glimpse of light? - Ace of Pentacles

A new job opportunity has been presented to you.  This opportunity has the potential to help you to manifest your goals and provide you with the income that you need.

What's blocking that light? - Temperance Reversed

You are dealing with a hiring manager who is proving to be uncooperative or you may feel as though both your interests are in conflict.  Both yours and the hiring manager's expectations are not aligned, hence there is a feeling of disharmony every time you engage with each other in a conversation.

How can you illuminate your journey towards your goal? - 10 of Swords Reversed

The 10 of Swords reversed encourages you to let go of your attachment to the concept of "being your own boss".  You will need to accept that that period of running your own company will come to an end so that you can rechart a new journey for yourself, and embrace a new career ahead.   This is a period of difficult mental transformation that is necessary for your career growth. You have been avoiding the potential outcome of having to wind down your company, and hoping to keep it in some shape or form just in case this stint with the new company does not work out.  However, these are negative perceptions that reside in your mind which will only serve to restrict your own growth. The only way to attain your goal and embrace a better career ahead of you, is to let go, and have the conviction to turn this new job opportunity into a huge career success.


Lessons from the past - 6 of Pentacles Reversed  

Six of Pentacles reversed suggests that you have realized that by running your own company in the past, you had earned less than the amount of effort you had put into that company.  You felt discontented about this lack of balance and are now prepared to  ask for what you are worth in terms of salary, as you put across your remuneration package to the hiring manager on the negotiating table.

Lessons from the present - 9 of Pentacles

In your present circumstance, the 9 of Pentacles indicates that you have come to a realization that you can only enjoy the good life only when you have worked very hard to attain it.  You are hoping for the day you can afford to indulge or pamper yourself but you know that you will need to out in extra effort to be able to afford to do so.  The 9 of Pentacles may also indicate that you are aware that the fruits of your labour can only be reaped when you take that effort to plough the  field,  plant the seeds, nurture and tend to your plot as meticulously as possible.  And while you may be close to reaching your goal, you know you still have far to go to reach it.  So, you may want to stick to the plan and continue putting in that hard work to reach that goal. In this case, this card is advising you to keep up with the effort to engage the hiring manager, persuade him to see the value of your skills and experience, and convince him of the value that your direction can bring to the company.

Advice for the future - Knight of Cups

The Knight advises you to get ready to embark on this new job that has the potential to tap your creative talents. You need to embrace the new job with an ambition to make a positive difference to the company with your plans and new ideas.  The knight will inspire you in your new job to turn your big dreams into reality, if only you are brave enough to accept that invitation to embark on this new journey in your career. 

Gift Of New Light

My client is still negotiating her remuneration package with the hiring manager at the date this blog post was published.  So to help her along on her journey to find new light, I presented her with the gift of a green calcite pendant, lovingly created under my other brand that is focused on crystal gemstones for healing, Sun Goddess Gems.  Green calcite helps with emotional balance and stress relief.  It also helps one to release old energy patterns,  that could hold one back from his or her goals and supports one who is going through a mental transition.

I had another green calcite pendant made as a Christmas giveaway. It was hand-wired in gold-plated wire.  This one's larger and even more beautiful as it was hand-picked, cleansed and blessed at the recent Taurus Full Moon.  

This pendant will be given to the lucky one that I will be picking out of the hat on Christmas Eve.  All you will need to do, is to comment on this blog post and share the post on your Facebook wall by 24th December 2pm GMT.    I will be contacting the winner via email or Facebook message on Christmas Day, so watch out for it!

Until then, I hope that your Christmas celebrations will be filled with abundant blessings,  joy and laughter.

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

The Christmas Tree Tarot Spread Using The Radiant Rider Waite Tarot Deck Updated By Virginijus Poshkus

 Green Calcite Pendant Hand-Wrapped In Gold-Plated Wire From Sun Goddess Gems

Beltane - Celebrating Love In A Non-Traditional Way

Trying To Understand Beltane

This blog post themed around Beltane was written as my contribution to the 2^nd Tarot Blog hop of the year at which I participated, together with a community of Tarot bloggers from around the world.  I was quite excited to write about Beltane. I thought, "Finally!  A topic up my alley!”   My friend said Beltane was a festival that celebrated love and sex.  To quote what she wrote in her text message to me, ”Ooooh…it’s about union, love and sex, Jo.  An exciting time.  It’s a day you might want to go make love in the woods…”.  Wonderful!  It wasn’t that I had plenty to write about through experience, but after months of blogging about Tarot spreads, Tarot card interpretations and impact of Tarot on my life, I thought our Tarot Blog hop wrangler Arwen Lynch, was definitely on the roll with this topic!  Then I re-read the details of the topic outline again, and realized she had  asked us to write about “Traditions” because there were so many traditions surrounding Beltane. 

I am not familiar with traditions around Beltane.  So I had to ask my friends and searched the internet for some information about how Beltane was traditionally celebrated, while muttering something rude under my breath about Arwen making me excited for nothing. For the different perspectives from the blog hop participants about Beltane and the traditions surrounding the festival, please visit the Tarot Blog hop master list at http://tarotbyarwen.com/?p=10046.

Beltane - Traditionally A Celebration Of Love

From my understanding, Beltane is a fire festival widely celebrated to mark the midpoint of the vernal equinox and the Summer Solstice. Traditionally, it’s a time where people welcomed warmer weather, planted seeds, danced around Maypoles, made bon fires at open spaces and celebrated with plenty of fresh flowers and cheery Springtime activities…including <cough, cough> making love in the woods!  For my pagan friends, Beltane is a Sabbat that traditionally honored the union of the god and goddess, no wonder my friend texted me to say it’s a festival that celebrated love, fertility and renewal.  So I see it as a day blessed with lots of Love.  The Roman Catholics celebrated the feast of St Bertha of Kent on 1 May.  She was credited for introducing Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England.  It was interesting to note that she married the pagan King, Ethelberht of Kent.  That sounded to me like a wonderful celebration of love and union too. This is the month that David and I celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary.  So it does look like Love is certainly in the air.


Like all the traditions that surrounded Beltane and indeed like all the traditional demonstrations of love as in the example of hand-fasting,  it gave me a chance to think about Tarot and Traditions, the crux of the topic behind this Tarot Blog hop.  

Do I follow traditions religiously in my Tarot practice or have I become like that oddball errant kid in class?

Tarot And Traditions - If I Follow Them At All

When I first started out on my journey with Tarot, I was taught how to cleanse my cards by smudging it with sage, store my cards with a black silk cloth, shuffle my cards 7 times, do a reading only with an established Tarot spread like the Horseshoe spread or the Celtic Cross spread.


The fundamentals of tradition when it comes to Tarot, are indeed important. Cleansing the cards, grounding and protecting oneself before the reading, storing the cards properly and treating them with due respect, are all important parts of tradition surrounding tarot that I adhere to. However I am not pedantic. Let me tell you, I am the last person that would bend to convention rigidly.  

I do cleanse my cards by smudging it with sage regularly, but as someone who believed wholeheartedly in the power of crystal healing, I would, more often, run a blue Kyanite wand down each of my 78 cards after a reading. Sometimes, I cleansed the deck by putting it in my Himalayan singing bowl and let the vibrations do the job.  I store my Tarot cards in pretty hand-sewn bags, one of them was a hand-sewn bag made of Japanese kimono material which my Granny had given me. My favourite Morgan Greer Tarot deck was housed within that Japanese kimono bag.  That bag held a special meaning for me hence I wanted to store my favourite Tarot deck in there.  You see, I inherited Granny's gift of intuition.  Having my favourite Tarot deck stored in it was a reminder that Granny would want me to put my intuitive gifts to good use.

  I was traditionally taught to interpret cards through structured Tarot spreads that had been tried and tested for generations, but I don’t strictly do that as I leaned on my intuition to guide me to create my own Tarot spreads.  I designed up to 4 or 5 Tarot spreads in a Tarot reading session with each of my clients and these spreads always somehow provided the best perspectives to my clients.

There was no requisite number of times that I shuffled my cards with.  I just shuffled them and either spread them out faced down from which I picked the cards, or sometimes I just picked a card from the top of the pile for Situation, and I would pick a card from the middle of the pile for Outcome and then picked a card from the bottom of the pile for Advice. This again was dictated by my intuition at that time of the reading.

I might also choose to use a significator to symbolize my client.  If my client was a Leo, I picked a King of Wands to be the significator for example.  I would then shuffle the cards and cut them into 4 piles to represent Earth, Air, Water and Fire elements.  If I found the King of Wands in the Earth pile, I would know that my client had come to see me about his financial issues.  If I found the significator in the Water pile, I would then know that he had come to see me about relationship issues.  This was important because it helped me to connect with the energy of my client and then I would be able to design Tarot spreads thereafter to help him to uncover some choices that he could make.

So I am not too conventional when I read Tarot, I just go with the flow dictated by my intuition at that time, depending on the connections I have formed with my client then.

I know a lot of readers would shuffle their Tarot cards, spread them out and then pick the cards to a specific spread in response to a client's question.  I sometimes stay away from this because I tend to have deep conversations with the cards.  Like so...

Celebrating Beltane With An Unconventional Tarot Spread

As Beltane clearly was a festival that celebrated Love, I had decided to shuffle my Tarot cards to get some insights on how David and I could strengthen our relationship further. I decided to do something not very traditional to get some perspectives from my cards.


My first question was “What should David and I do to nurture our relationship and make it even stronger and better?”I picked the 2 of Cups as our significator to represent the both of us, naturally because the 2 of Cups was a card symbolizing true love based on mutual respect and opened communication.  I then put the card back into the stack and shuffled my cards, cut them into 4 piles each representing Earth, Air, Water and Fire.   I found my significator in the Fire pile.  The Fire element governed the realm of passion and creativity.  I saw it as an advice for us to rediscover passion in our relationship by being creative and spontaneous as much as we can.


I then asked the question “What’s the obstacle hindering each of us from adding that spontaneity and creativity back into our relationship?” I calculated our personal day numbers on 1 May and used the compound numbers in the Tarot readings that followed.

For David, when I calculated his personal day number, the compound number was 20, so I shuffled the deck, removed 20 cards from the top of the pile and opened the card after.  I got the 2 of Pentacles.  It was clear to me that the Tarot cards were telling me that the obstacle hindering David in our bid for a stronger relationship were his efforts to juggle multiple commitments from running his business, playing and practicing for his gigs with the band, the photography assignments as well as his involvement in helping a friend run her pub. 

As for myself, when I calculated my personal day number, the compound number was 21, so I shuffled the deck, removed 21 cards from the top of the pile and opened the card after.  I got the Devil.  This was interesting.  The Devil was a message to me about my obsession with my work.  I was chained to the perception that only the hours and efforts put into my work could garner me the recognition that I needed, to the point that I did neglect spending time with David.  Even when we did spend time together, our conversations were about my work.  Sometimes, when David wanted to take us on a nice vacation, I would entrap myself with a sense of negativity by thinking that if I went away for a week or 2, everything at work would just go awry, or worse, I would be seen as abandoning the team when they were already having problems coping with the work.  I felt guilty even when I had to take a day off to get a much needed surgery done because my mind saw my work standing still without me in the office.  Sometimes, this obsession with work irritated David.  He had to play second fiddle to my Tarot, and then be brushed away like an annoying child because I was too busy at work, No wonder, he too had decided to keep busy with multiple activities like his band and his photography.

What David And I Can Learn From Beltane

Because Beltane was traditionally a celebration of Love, I had decided that it would be a day of new beginnings and a celebration of renewal of our commitment...thanks to Tarot.

My Tarot cards are never wrong.  The messages were very clear.  Through a spread drawn in a very unconventional manner, I had gleaned so much to help us make the right choices about our relationship.  The 2 of Cups appearing in the pile symbolizing the Fire element was an encouragement for us to start renewing the passion in our relationship.  The 2 of Pentacles was an encouragement for David to create some balance amongst his commitments and to prioritise what’s most important to him. The Devil was an encouragement for me to release myself off that perception that my world was all about my work.  Work should not be defining me.


So, while I don’t intend to dance around the Maypole naked or go romping in the hay with David as per the age old traditions of celebrating Beltane, I had decided to honor the day with a little "fire" of our own. I lit a pink candle, placed the Empress card and the 10 of Cups Tarot card in front of it and held a Rose Quartz crystal in my hand as I whispered a prayer of gratitude to the Universe for an abundance of love surrounding us.  I then invited David to join me in this ritual.  Okay, so I had to deal with his attempts to dismiss it with a rude joke ("Cant we just have a shag, its easier."). However, I am glad he did join me within my sacred space although it was outside of his comfort zone. 

I think traditions exist to shape our values and form some principles to guide our paths. In this case, I used a very non-traditional way to get some advice from Tarot to better my relationship with David.  Yet,  I had used something so traditional, a simple prayer ritual, to get David involved in something so personal and meaningful to me, by joining me within my sacred space and having him walk even closer to my Tarot world. I think tradition had served yet another great purpose - education - Don't you think?

Before I end this blog post, I would like to invite you to read my fellow Tarot Blog hoppers’ perspectives about Beltane.  You may visit Aisling’s blog at www.tarotwitchery.blogspot.com/2013/05/tarot-blog-hop-for-belteine-tarot.html or you may hop on to the lovely Joanne Sprott’s blog at http://cosmicwhisperstarot.com/2013/05/01/in-the-traditions-tarot-blog-hop-for-beltane/


About The Writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She has a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and is also a certified numerologist based 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 Biddy Tarot as well as a mentor for the ATA.   She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

This is the pouch made from Japanese Kimono material 
that I used to store my Morgan Greer Tarot deck.

Created my sacred space with a pink candle, rose quartz, fresh flowers, dried flowers and herbs, the Empress Card and the 10 of Cups card from my favourite Morgan Greer Tarot deck.  David joined me in a prayer of gratitude to the Universe for all the blessings of abundance we have everyday.