Showing posts with label Tarot Mentor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tarot Mentor. Show all posts

Monday, 3 March 2014

Tarot Tip Tuesdays

Whether you are new to Tarot and in the throes of building a connection with your Tarot cards or an advanced Tarot reader diligently honing your Tarot reading skills, I am putting out a Tarot tip a week to help you to consistently make Tarot a part of your everyday life.

So here goes your Tarot Tip for this Tuesday:


Pick a Tarot card each morning.  Write down in your journal, your first impressions, from the description of the card image and your interpretation of the significance of the colors, symbols, and other aspects of the images to your personal thoughts about the way the card resonates with you.

Watch events unfold throughout the day and be cognizant of the advice  from that card you had picked  and connect that advice to your experiences with these events.

Before you go to bed, revisit what you wrote about the card and jot down the advice it had provided you in connection to the events that had unfolded in the day.

May your Tarot cards deal you with a full deck of possibilities throughout your day.

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.



Friday, 27 September 2013

Building A Relationship With Your Tarot Cards In 3 Simple Ways


Building A Relationship With Your Tarot Cards In 3 Simple Ways


As a Tarot mentor, I always enjoy seeing the excitement registered on the faces of my protégés when they start to learn how to read the Tarot cards. During the mentoring sessions, we would be swapping notes, highlighting observations and sharing insights.  However sometimes, when they get home and attempt to practice a reading on their own, I might get a couple of frantic calls from some of them asking why they had not been able to do an accurate reading or might in some way not feel connected with the cards.

I believe that each Tarot reader has a special relationship with his or her cards.  I have 26 Tarot decks and my relationship with each of them are different.  My working decks ( the decks that I would use to read professionally with clients, are the Radiant Rider Waite updated by Virginisijus Poshkus and the Morgan Greer deck created by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan.  Somehow, I get the most insights from these 2 decks and they seem to be “gentler” on my clients because the images are quite easily relatable.  My Tarot of the Holy Light deck is a difficult one to use with my clients because the images though vivid, are not as friendly and the symbols are often more profound for non-Tarot readers to comprehend.  However, the deck is perfect when it comes to readings that I do for myself because I often find different and deeper insights with the symbolisms within each card, every time I use that deck.  

So start a relationship with your Tarot deck the very minute you own one.  Here are 3 very basic ways that you could easily use to build a relationship with your cards.

1. Explore Your Brand New Tarot Deck

When you purchase a new deck or are gifted one, examine the deck from box to cards.  Scrutinize the packaging in detail and take note of how the deck creator had decided to package the deck.  Examine the colours, the texture and the imagery on the box. Which card is featured on the box?  This will help stage an introduction between you and the deck creator. Then explore the imagery, not in too much detail yet, but assess the brush strokes, creative treatment, overall use of colours and fonts used to write the words and numbers on each card. Read the little white book that comes with it and correspond the written card description with what you personally glean with the imagery.  Treat this as your way of saying hello to the deck creator and your desire to get to know him or her better.

2. Pick A Card Du Jour And Meditate On It

Meditate with your Tarot cards each morning.  Start your meditation by breathing in 7 counts and breathing out 7 counts, imagining a white light going from the top of your head, through your forehead,  throat, torso, legs and feet.  Feel the white light pushing the stress and negativity into the ground.   When you are sufficiently calmed and relaxed, shuffle and randomly pick a card.  That would be your ‘card du jour’.  Examine the image within the card, the colours, the characters, the symbols, and imagine the card becoming gradually bigger, till it looks like a doorway.  Visualize yourself walking through that doorway into the card.  When you are “in the presence” of the imagery, notice how it interacts with you, listen to what the image says to you,  talk to it freely and even describe verbally what you are feeling at that point when you see the image and what each symbol, colours and the imagery itself means to you. 

You are strongly advised to note your thoughts down in a journal.  When you think you have already gleaned enough from the cards, turn to “walk out of the card” and ground yourself by being aware of your own surroundings.   

Read the notes in your journal and make a mental note of your observations.  At the end of the day, pick that card again and re-examine it, cross referencing it with the notes in your journal.  Ask yourself at that point, how had events of your day co-relate with the observations you have made of that card earlier in the morning.  What are the lessons learn?  What opportunities did you have which you became more aware of because of your observations about the card.

3.  Write Down Your Tarot-Related Thoughts In A Journal

I am a strong believer of keeping a journal.  I have a hard-copy leather-bound journal custom-made for me as a gift.  However, you can journal your thoughts anywhere that you feel most comfortable with.  Some of my friends do it as blog posts and one of them update his notes in his IPhone daily.  So what do you write in your journal now that you have gotten one?  You are advised to note down everything you see and feel about your Tarot card daily.  This is the best opportunity to write down your reflections when you pick a card a day.  Your reflections are your own, there are no rules to developing these reflections, but here are some tips to watch out for besides the colour, imagery and symbols within the cards:

i)              If you have picked a court card, note the personality and characteristics of the card and reference it to someone you already know, a family, a friend, or even a celebrity.  I used to call the King of Wands “Donald Trump”.
ii)            If you have picked a Major Arcana card, note down your observations about the card and reference it to someone or an event in your life that you are familiar with.  I saw the Empress as Mum and her generous nature of nurturing, loving and giving her family members the best of everything.  I likened the Tower to the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11.

Constant Practice Helps

Different Tarot readers build their relationship with their Tarot cards in different ways.  There are no hard and fast rules.  Ultimately, they are your Tarot cards, your reading style and your personal relationship with them.  As with most relationships, yours with your Tarot cards can only be built over time.   You should solder that relationship by using your Tarot cards for regular practice readings.  Practice your readings with your family, friends and self.  Start with a 1- card pick, then move on to a 3-card spread and when you become even more confident, you can expand the reading to a 5-10 card spread.  By that time, you would already have that strong relationship with your Tarot cards that will allow you to gain even better insights with each reading.

Below this post is a picture of my Tarot journal and sitting on it are some cards picked from the Goddess Tarot deck by Kris Waldherr.


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


Saturday, 29 June 2013

I Am Not A Channeler, I Am A Tarot Reader

  Difficult Questions

In my experience as a professional Tarot reader, I have had my fair share of difficult questions.  Examples of questions like these were “What do the cards reveal about my spirit guide?”, “Should I get a sex change?”, “How can the cards help me win my court case?”.”What can the cards tell me about getting rid of my lover’s wife?”
My rational mind often urged me to compartmentalize these questions. If the questions fell within one of the following categories, I would either attempt at rephrasing the question or might even decline answering that question.  These were 1) questions that violated my code of ethics, 2) questions that required my using Tarot cards to read the thoughts of a 3rd party who had not given me the permission to do so, 3) questions that required my using Tarot cards to channel messages from the dead.
I do get a lot of questions from clients asking me to use Tarot cards to provide them with messages from a relative or friend who had passed on. Now, I know of friends who were gifted with the ability to channel messages this way.  However, I certainly did not think that  I had  that gift.  That is why I am a Tarot reader, not a medium or a “channeler”.
Crossing The Line
Last week, a new client , Sarah (not her real name to protect her privacy) emailed me her question, “ What messages can your Tarot cards uncover from my son, Tommy ( also not his real name)?”  I could sense from the tonality of that question, that Sarah’s son had passed on and perhaps she was having problems dealing with the grief.  So I told her quite simply that perhaps she should be contacting a medium or an expert in his or her field who could better provide an answer that could help her.
We exchanged more emails with each other for awhile with my repeated assertions that I was not a medium and  only a medium could answer her question.  In between the email exchanges, I was drawn to this woman’s desperation for some light and comfort and I immediately picked up my Tarot deck, shuffled it and pulled out one card – the Knight of Pentacles from my Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck.
Knight of Pentacles
The Knight of Pentacles from the Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck had an image of a Knight seated on a plough horse, holding on to a Pentacle, looking intently at it as if in the midst of deliberating long term plans. He is set on diligently putting in that extra effort to work the land with a solid focus of achieving his goal.
I had a “conversation’ with the Knight of Pentacles when I meditated on the card.  in the card, I had a vision of Tommy as the Knight of Pentacles, in his 20s, getting on the horse and was about to embark on his task of “farming his land”.  He was not able to finish the job before he passed on so through this card,  he was asking Sarah to continue with the effort, encouraging her to keep her head down, and be conscientious about doing what she needed to complete the job and to do it well. He wanted Sarah to be focused on that goal – his goal that he had before he passed on.  He hoped Sarah would not give up and encouraged her to be religious about meeting all expectations of what she needed to do to accomplish the task.
The Knight Urged Her To Follow Through To Attain Her Goals
When I shared my interpretation with Sarah, I was so nervous because I did not want her to think that I was possibly on drugs, or perhaps a charlatan hoping to earn a quick buck with a short reading. However, her response to me brought tears to my eyes.  I am sharing  her response to my one-card reading here because this experience taught me to trust in the Universe that when the Universe presents me with an opportunity to bring light to someone, it would not leave me without the means to carry out my purpose.
Sarah said that my interpretation touched her deeply and she strongly felt that her son, Tommy had indeed brought us both together in this odd way so that he could encourage her to doggedly pursue her dreams no matter what happened.  You see, Tommy died in his 20s of a drug-related issue.  He had been suffering from a chronic illness that caused him to be unemployed for quite a long time.  Due to his unemployment, he did not have insurance that could help cover his medical bills, hence he could not take care of his own health better.  Sarah got him some counselling help which had provided him with much needed support, and he was finally accepted for a job.  However, he was asked to take a drug test before he could be finally accepted for the role.  So the week before, he tried to get off the drugs and that was what had impacted his health and caused his death. It was really sad because he was ready to start afresh with a new job and diligently get his life back on the right track.
Sarah felt that through the Knight of Pentacles, Tommy was urging her to be dogged about pursuing her dreams.  Sarah was at that time learning to read the Tarot cards, and her concentration was affected by the period of grief she had suffered from the death of Tommy.  To add to the issue, Sarah too had the same chronic illness Tommy had.  So he was trying to reach out to his mother to encourage her to be rigorous about taking care of herself and her future, and that she should be conscientiously working towards her goal of being a proficient Tarot reader, never ever giving up her faith in herself.  Tommy wanted her to follow through with what she had already started with her Tarot reading skills and she asked me if I could be her mentor.
I Am So Grateful
This was only a one-card reading, but it was one of my most gratifying.  I felt so happy that the card that I picked had provided Sarah with so much comfort and hope to carry on with her life in the way that she had planned.  Frankly, in bringing Sarah and I together, Tommy did not just help Sarah, he had helped me too, 
You see, I often doubted my skills and restricted my potential as a professional Tarot reader because I had confined myself to the rigidity of what my mind thought I was capable of.  This experience reminded me that my skills was a gift from the Universe and it was a gift given for a specific purpose to bring hope and light to people who needed it.
It was also interesting to note that when Tommy brought Sarah and I together , there was another reason  too.  You see, my husband suffered from the same chronic illness that both Sarah and Tommy had suffered from.  Sarah became visually impaired because of that illness and our meeting had given her the opportunity to urge me to put that pressure on my husband to be proactive about taking care of his health. David was never good at following the doctor's orders and had always been carefree and footloose about his diet and sedentary lifestyle. With Sarah sharing her experience with the illness, I was even more determined to help support his journey to better health.
Finally, Tommy had possibly reached out to me as a Tarot mentor to play a role in helping Sarah with her journey of learning Tarot.  I was glad to do so.  The thing I enjoyed most about Tarot, was mentoring my protégés.  Having mentored on behalf of the American Tarot Association, the Free Tarot Network as well as having run my Tarot mentoring sessions here in Singapore, I can testify to the fact that when I see a protégé growing in his or her proficiency and love for Tarot, it feels like bliss.
So thank you Tommy, for being  my Knight of Pentacles, encouraging me to keep on doing what I love to do most..
About The Writer:
The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident.  She is currently running her Tarot consultancy called Sun Goddess Tarot based in Singapore. She is a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualified by the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and is also a certified numerologist. 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 American Tarot Association.   She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com