My Six Of Cups Moment

Mum And Dad's 45th Wedding Anniversary

Mum and Dad will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary tomorrow.  Mum originally had a big party planned but cancelled it last week when Dad suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.  With Dad making a recovery more quickly than we had imagined, he was discharged earlier than expected and Mum had decided to cook a big feast to celebrate their wedding anniversary instead for just close family members.  I love going home to Mum and Dad's for a big meal. I always enjoyed getting pampered by them.  Even in my 40s they still think I am 14!

Happy Memories 

Over the last week, Dad and I shared  fond memories of the past when we regaled his antics as a political detainee incarcerated for off-center political views.  I used these memories to help him to cope with his dementia.  I questioned him about things we ate, places we went and names of his old friends just to "exercise" his memory.  The great bit was that these memories made Dad laugh a lot. This had probably helped with his recovery.

I too had fond memories over the last week of my younger days when Dad and Mum used to take me everywhere they went.  These memories helped me cope with my depression over Dad's stroke, his hospitalization and the uncertainty of when he might get discharged.   I remembered that we travelled to many places, went on culinary adventures all over Singapore in the middle of the night, went to dinner parties with Dad and his friends where we talked politics.  Even at the age of 4 or 5, his friends would sit up in surprise when I could talk about Marx, Engels and Lenin, and hum to the tune of The International.

Dad's hospitalization also taught me to find the child in me. I was trying to hold up my stoic appearance for awhile until I broke down and looked to David to hold my hands through this episode.  We  also found the child in us by encouraging Dad's hilarious antics in the hospital when he pressed the bedside buzzer just to annoy the nurses.  With the stress, we needed that laughter.

6 Of Cups In Tarot 

With these fond memories and as I enjoyed the familial environment afforded by the Yuletide season,  I meditated over the 6 of Cups card.  The 6 of Cups card helped me connect with happy memories of the past to cope with the stress of the present.  I also drew lessons from the past to help guide me to make choices for the future.  Below are some of my favourite 6 of cups Tarot cards that I had picked amongst my decks.

6 In Numerology

6 in numerology, is a symbol of domesticity and familial matters.  It promises lots of love, care and nurturing support from one influenced by the 6 energy.   6 also represents harmony, unconditional giving and generous support.  It was written in the bible that God created everything in 6 days and rested on the 7th day.  The Jewish holiday of Shavuot starts in the 6th day of the Hebrew month of Sivan.  There are 6 points to the Star of David.  And my rocker-want-to-be husband David, who happened to be the Master of useless information told me that #6 is the pseudonym for Shawn Crahan when he played with the band Slipknot!

VI - The Lovers Tarot Card

6 is also the number of the Lovers Tarot card.  The card represents not only love, union and partnerships but also personal choices.   The card is ruled by the planet Venus.  The Goddess of Love, Venus presides over relationships, marriage, union, harmony.   It is a number appropriate to mull on, particular during my parents' wedding anniversary.  The Lovers card also represents personal choices, and the balance between  values, principles, and ideals.  The card urges one to stay true to personal beliefs and reassess one's goals when confronted with having to make hard value choices.  You see, when I had to manage a difficult week coping with Dad's hospitalization and Mum's depression, I had to make that personal choice to drop everything to focus on the family.   Even when I had so many issues at work and my Tarot clients were calling me during this very busy month for readings to help them prepare for what was to come in the new year, I had to just drop everything to focus on Dad and Mum.  The family came first. They were my responsibility.  Nothing else mattered.  As J.K. Rowling said, "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Do enjoy meditating on the 6 of Cups Tarot card. In the words of Charlotte Davis Kasl, "Happy memories become treasures in the heart to pull out on the tough days of adulthood."

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

6 of Cups from the Morgan Greer Tarot deck created by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan

6 of Cups from the Gilded Tarot deck by Ciro Marchetti

6 of Cups from the Book of Shadows Vol. 2 - So Below Tarot deck by Barbara Moore

6 of Cups from the Wizards Tarot deck by Corrine Kenner

The Lovers from the Rider-Waite Tarot deck published by US Games System Inc

6 of Cups from the Aquarian Tarot deck by David Palladini

A Conversation With My Father-In-Law

My Father-In-Law

I never knew my late father-in-law, George.   I had only seen photographs of him.  In one of which, he was  looking all smiley next to my late  mother-in-law in a photograph taken when they went on a holiday in Belgium with a very young David then.

What I knew of my father-in-law was very little.  I heard snippets of him from David.  I understood that when he was alive, he used to take pride in the fact that people from near and far used to come by to his garden for a wee visit because he was quite the gardener.  I heard stories of how he would wash his hair in the kitchen sink with fairy liquid.  I almost fell off my chair when i heard about this rather "odd-ball" habit.  David also kept a box of his father's medals that the latter had earned from his efforts during the war.  David was very proud of this fact.

I Am Not A Medium

Knowing very little of him, I thought it was rather interesting that he chose to connect with me recently.  Now, here is where I get the shakes when I discuss my intuitive gifts.  I read Tarot cards and I can decode Numerology.. Period.  I learnt to do these over years.  I am not a psychic.  I am certainly not a medium.  I checked Wikipedia to find out what a Medium is.  Wikipedia described a medium as one gifted with the ability to connect with the dead.  While I am quite sensitive to the presence of anything paranormal, I do not consciously talk to them.  I had dreamt of talking to a couple of people who had passed on before but I do not as a rule, consciously make time to talk to the dead.  When I watched TV programs like The Haunting Of or Long Island Medium, i often thought that while they had a special gift, at the back of my head was an unwitting judgement that i had formed, that they were a little "woo-woo" crazy.

Connecting With George

In the last few days, I thought I sensed George's presence though.  I was not sure at first if it was George that I was sensing but I smelt an unmistakable smell of Old Spice aftershave mixed with tobacco smoke.  David did not smoke so there was no reason for that smell to be wafting around me.  The smell seemed to be lingering from just under my nose and David and Joel could not smell it.  I felt as if someone's face (stubble and all) hovered quite close to mine.  I also saw an older man's face in my mind's eye.  He was wearing glasses and he was peering up at me through his glasses.  His energy was reassuring, calm, and he was soft spoken and gentle.  I was not sure what he was trying to tell me. His reassurance seemed to gently pat me on the back to say that no matter what challenges I was facing sometimes, I had to keep my focus on what was important to me. Above all, I had to take care of David.  See?  It sounded "woo-woo" crazy to me already.

So I sought advice from a friend and a practising medium Olivia and asked her if what I was experiencing was bordering on what they called "mediumship".  She said that from some of the previous blog posts i had written detailing similar experiences of "connecting with people who had passed on",  it could be the beginnings of an ability which could be nurtured over time.   She had also advised me to use my Tarot cards as a tool to uncover the messages George was trying to tell me.  Good call, Olivia.  I was so glad I did just that.

I was always very confident in my Tarot readings.  The messages were always very clear when I read for my clients.  I always knew that my intuition would kick in at the right time as i formed a connection with my clients so that I could provide him or her with the messages needed to make the right choices that will help the client to move forward.   However, with this reading, I felt as if someone else was reading the cards for me.  It was surreal but it seemed as if someone else was  trying to reshape my interpretation of the cards before me.

Through my Tarot cards, here was what George had to say.

My Conversation With George

Knight of Wands reversed + King of Swords reversed

Me:  "Zowie!  All reversed cards.  George, these cards are telling me that David is filled with scattered thoughts and is pretty indecisive about his career directions. He should be stopped from making hasty business decisions. Correct?"

George:  "David is often frustrated by the constant need to manage your temper.  You are always prone to angry outbursts, and your daily communication with him is peppered by a lot of aggression and high expectations."

Knight of Cups + 7 of Cups reversed

Me:  *Now panicking a little* " This Knight is a messenger telling David that he is about to embark on a new creative venture but he is not sure where his best options lie and need to follow his heart to get to where his bliss is."

George: " David is extremely sentimental and intensely emotional. He desires a much deeper relationship with you filled with romance and perhaps the spontaneity of romance.  All he wants is to make you happy in every which way he can.  However, you are so busy with other things. You seem to be involved in so many other pursuits in a bid to find fulfilment when true fulfilment is really right in front of you, in the form of a husband who is utterly devoted to you."

Justice + Nine of Cups + Ace of Pentacles

Me: *Feeling like a lousy Tarot reader by now* "David will find a lot more fulfilment if I treated him more fairly and re-established a new perspective of our relationship to help us move forward to a better place."

George: " What you both could do with is an open and honest conversation about what each of you want out of each other.  This is a marriage.  You are both not room mates.  Establish where each of you stand in the relationship and affirm your love for each other.  Be fair to each other's needs.  The marriage needs a healthy dose of open communication to allow the relationship to deepen further and be more fulfilling for both of you.    With more opened communication, you both can look forward to a new beginning where you both will be able to manifests your goals together and maybe enjoy working together on projects jointly perhaps."

Me: " Interesting.  We both did think about combining forces using some of our respective talents as he had been getting increasingly bigger photography assignments. And that's just skimming the surface of all the things that we could do together because of our respective passions."

Devil reversed + 8 of Cups reversed + 3 of Swords

Me: " I give up.  What do these cards tell me?"

George: "Both of you need to recognise that each other do have faults  and be willing to accept changes and be more opened to new perspectives on your relationship.  You, especially know that you had been shackled by the bonds of your ambitions, trying to juggle the management of a high flying corporate career and build a business with your passions at the same time, leaving no room to reflect on what is more important to you in your life.  So when you get home, every little thing that David did which you considered annoying, would be framed in your mind as a big disappointment.  This then becomes a storm in a teacup, leading to your angry outbursts because you take your frustrations out on him.  You will need to learn to walk away from things that are not important, and focus on things that are."

6 of Wands + The World

Me: "We will have a successful retirement together, fuelled by a positive relationship as we walk our journey towards it."

George: "  Learn to appreciate each other.  Recognise each other's gifts, quirks, and positive traits.  Give positive feedback to each other as often as possible to assure each other.  David particularly, needs you to do this to help him regain his self confidence.  He needs to know that as a husband, he is always doing what is right as a husband and step-father.  He needs that assurance from you.  When you both surround each other with positive energy, you both will celebrate many more wedding anniversaries ahead of you.  And yes, as you walk towards your retirement together, you both will be retiring happy and successful not because of what you both have achieved financially but because you both have each other to turn your retirement into a fulfilling and even more productive stage of your life.

Mediumship

I still do not consider myself a medium.  Yes, I am extra sensitive, but I am not a medium.  I am not gifted as one.  However, I am extremely thankful to Olivia who opened my mind to using my Tarot cards to communicate with my father-in-law.

And more importantly, I need to thank my father-in-law.  George, I have never met you, but I can assure you that marrying David was a blessing.  That explained why I kept getting your message about taking care of him.   I can hear you say now, "Take care of my Davy boy.  He loves you very much."


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

My father-in-law looked so handsome in his Blackwatch uniform

My parents-in-law and Davy boy on a holiday in Belgium

What Tarot Taught Me About Loving Myself

This blog post is my contribution to the Samhain Tarot Blog Hop for 2013, themed LOVE.

The blog post lined up before mine is written by Jera-Babylon Rootweaver and can be found here   http://wp.me/p2iU80-oH and the blog post lined up after mine is written by Alison Coals and can be found here  http://alisonsalembic.blogspot.com/2013/10/tarot-blog-hop-samhain-2013.html
If you get lost somewhere between Rootweaver's, Alison's or my blog, please visit the Samhain Tarot Blog Hop 2013 master list to read the posts of the rest of the Tarot bloggers here:  http://tarot-thrones.blogspot.co.uk/p/samhain-2013-blog-hop-master-list.html

Thank you for visiting my blog whether you are a regular follower, a Facebook friend who has chanced upon my post, or you have  been linked to my blog post from any of my fellowTarot blog hop participants' posts.

We are almost coming to the end of the year.  Some of my friends from the Northern hemisphere are well-suited in their sweaters, coats, gloves and boots.  Thankfully in Singapore, I am still perspiring in the sweltering heat. However, cultural, religious and ethnic celebrations do transcend geographical and racial barriers.  So I am quite excited about celebrating Samhain or Halloween with my friends from all over the world by writing this blog post.

Why Love?
When Spring came, love was in the air.  When Summer came, love was in the air. When Autumn came, and the hint of wintry winds started to cut through the air, it did not seem like a right season to celebrate love. The malls and restaurants in Singapore had been decked out in Halloween decorations.  Did I see anything that remotely resembled Hearts and Flowers?  NO.  So when we were instructed by Alison Cross of the Games of Throne Tarot Blog fame, to write about the topic of Love in the Samhain Tarot Blog Hop, I had to admit that I was not enthused at all.  “Love!  What did Love have to do with anything during this season’s celebrations?” I muttered and shook my head in despair as I added my name to the bloggers’ participants’ list.  So I quote Jordan Hoggard here, “Wild horses can’t be broken, and with the thinner veil I'm looking forward to them galloping and traipsing around the hop in MORE places than normal. I am really enthused about this topic. And, with the thinner veil even more Lurve can come through.”  If you know Jordan, he is a little bit “Woo-Woo” crazy but oh so brilliant.  So I took his advice and cracked on with the topic as best as I could, with the aim of exploring how I could use LOVE to work on a rather difficult issue I was currently facing – Drawing Out My Shadow Self.

What Is Samhain?
Samhain is celebrated as a Celtic New Year. It marks the start of Winter, as we walked into the darker half of the year when the days get even shorter and the night gets much longer. As a Roman Catholic, I celebrate All Saints’ Day and All Soul’s Day. Like my friends who celebrate Samhain, it is a time I honour my ancestors who have long passed. As the topic for this Tarot Blog Hop celebrated Love at Samhain, I thought it appropriate to remember and honour my late Granddad.  He had been critical in teaching me the values of humility, grace, love and compassion when I was a child.  Granddad was that embodiment of love and compassion.  He was as patient as a saint and devoted his life to caring for and making his family happy.  My childhood with Granddad by my side was filled with so much love.  He taught me not to ask for more and to live in gratitude for what I had.  He taught me to deal with the differences amongst people around me with compassion.  He said we could not change people, but we could change ourselves. 

My Shadow Self
And this being the festival of Samhain, which casts a shadow upon my path as I walked into the darker half of the year, I thought it appropriate too, to explore how I could use Love as the perfect tool to deal with my shadow self which reared its ugly head when I had to deal with a personal issue recently. 

Last week, I had a run-in with someone who told me that I was not competent at a skill in spite of the fact that I had developed that skill for more than 17 years now. What upset me most was that she could not articulate her reasons why she thought I was incompetent and even “grasped at straws” to throw preposterous and unsubstantiated claims about what I had or had not done.  Upon analysis of that conversation, I realized that the only reason I was criticized and attacked specifically for those skills was that it was a response to her insecurities of not possessing the same skills and experience that I had.  Her shadow self was rearing its ugly head. However, what was even more interesting, was my assessment that when I had responded to her criticism with an aggressive defense, my own shadow self had also reared its ugly head because within me, there was a deep insecurity and fear of criticisms, alternative viewpoints and change.

After that showdown, I promptly packed up and left for a week’s vacation in the magical island of Bali and went through daily yoga studies and practice.  That was the best week ever because I came back with a rejuvenated mind and spirit to take on, not that person who criticized me, but my shadow self. 

Carl Jung said, “Whatever the form the shadow takes, the function of the shadow is to represent the opposite side of the ego and to embody those qualities that one dislikes most in other people.”
My shadow self reflected some vestiges of insecurity, intolerance to differing opinions and fear of change which I had hidden because I was taught to be strong, aggressive and formidable in the face of obstacles,

In my yoga studies, I learnt about Ahimsa, one of the Yamas or moral codes of Yoga which preached non-violence. Ahimsa opened my heart and mind to the fact that I was ultimately causing myself “violence” and hurting myself and others around me in the process because of my anger and disappointment.  I was also not practicing Ahimsa when I raved and ranted about what a stupid, short-sighted cow she was.

In my spiritual journey, I learnt the axiom “ As above, so below.  As within, so without.  So that the miracle of the one can be established.” I drew significance of this axiom to my situation, acknowledging that what appeared in outer situations, was a reflection of my inner consciousness.

 I was usually aggressive and ambitious and often approached issues with a hard-nosed, rigid and arrogant attitude as if I knew best because I was very experienced and highly skilled in what I did.  My shadow self however, embodied a very insecure person who hated criticisms, differing opinions and I was not prepared to accept changes that impacted my sense of security within my comfort zone.  When I was criticized, the first instincts was for my shadow self to respond to that criticism as I saw a negative me, being projected by the other person who had criticized me.  I responded to her by fighting back with tenacity to defend my turf because I recognized that sense of insecurity.

A Tarot Lesson In Love
With a new perspective and my openness to embrace change and the differing opinions of others, I remembered the lessons of love, compassion, humility and grace that Granddad had taught me when I was little.  So I created a Tarot spread with the intent to help provide advice on how I could use Love and Compassion to deal with my shadow.

For this purpose, I am using the Morgan Greer Tarot deck created by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan.

Managing My Shadow Self With Love And Compassion 
My Shadow Self - The Devil:
I was not surprised to pick this card as a symbol of my shadow self.  The Devil is a card reflecting fear, obsession, and the hidden forces of negativity to which I had bound myself to and hidden away in the closet.   My insecurities masked by an aggressive front had always been an issue that could potentially escalate to misunderstandings and miscommunication.

How can I show love and compassion to my external self? – Ace of Swords:

The Ace of Swords is a symbol of mental clarity, deep insights attained and a greater understanding of a situation or self.  In this case, if I had not been driven by my spiritual path, guided by the grace of my Catholic faith, wisdom of Tarot and the precepts of Yoga, I would not have been able to recognize how much my shadow self could leave me stuck in a perpetual pattern of approaching challenges with a passive-aggressive response.  However, recognition was not enough.  The pattern would continue if I did not take action to confront the issue. The Ace of Swords was a card advising me to cut through the problem by being more solution-centric than reactive, and not allow my responses to criticisms be dictated by my insecurities and fears.  Remembering the love, compassion, grace and humility which Granddad taught me, I am resolved to checking myself in the future when similar situations happen by calmly stepping back to re-evaluate the root-cause of these challenging situations.

If I loved myself enough, I deserved to treat myself better by ensuring that my external self could respond to future challenges with a level of dignity.

How can I show love and compassion to my shadow self? – 7 of Cups:

The 7 of Cups is a symbol of choices, some real and some illusionary.  This card had posed a question to me, “When my shadow self reared its ugly head as I responded to that criticism, were my fears and insecurities real or illusionary?”  I was blown away by the fact that my answer to that question was, ”Not sure.”  You see, when I was criticized for lacking competency in a certain skill, I responded without opening my heart and mind to the potential of learning new skills and knowledge.  With arrogance, I took it for granted that I was sufficiently skilled.  As a consequence, I did not give myself room to grow.  The 7 of Cups urged me to lend wisdom to my perspectives and discern the difference between what my real fears were and what were the illusionary ones.

If I loved myself enough, the only fear my shadow self should be having, was the fear of not giving myself a fair chance to learn more.

How can I manage my duality with Love and Compassion? – The Tower Reversed:

Recognizing that my shadow self and I would need to coexist, I had to look for a way to manage that uneasy relationship. The Tower reversed card was a reflection of my fear of change.  I viewed a criticism of me as another person’s intention to rock my boat and make changes that are driven by his or her personal agenda. That was the reason why I reacted so badly.  Instead of being opened to the idea that change or differing opinions could inspire new ideas, I resisted with my aggressive response.  I reacted with anger, disappointment and shock when I should have asked the question, “What could I do to make things better?  What could I do to learn more so that I could be of better help to you?”

If I loved myself enough, I should allow my duality to coexist in harmony by accepting changes and differing opinions with more confidence in myself.  I should see every potential change as an opportunity to learn and grow, hone my skills further, do more, and do better.

Love And Compassion

Granddad should be proud of me.  He had taught me well.  As a professional Tarot reader and Numerologist tasked to guide clients through their issues every day, how could I render love and compassion to them when I could not render myself the same?

“If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love others.  If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others” ~ Dalai Lama


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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Living A Life Filled With Love And Positivity

Living A Life Filled With Love And Positivity

A few days ago, a friend sent me a lovely note on my Facebook wall.  She posted a picture of an old couple walking hand in hand, and said, “I immediately thought of you when I saw this picture. You, David, Joel, your dog, your stories about your Mum, your Nan, your Dad and your fabulous team at work…I always love reading your Facebook post and blog.   I wish to live a life filled with love like yours.”

It was such a sweet note that brought tears to my eyes.  Indeed, it was a stage I never thought I could get to, considering that I had walked a rather rocky past tainted by divorce, single motherhood, being cut-off from my parents and the struggle to find myself.  I went through a period of healing after, which affirmed my belief that the Universe will never throw a challenge at you without providing you with the means to deal with it.  

This was the classic manifestation of the 5 of Cups card in Tarot.  When the 3 cups got knocked over, I found the 2 upstanding cups.  One came in the form of my best friend who helped me believe in the institution of marriage again – so I got remarried, to him.   The other came in the form of my answering the call of my higher consciousness to provide support and comfort to other women who had to survive divorce and single motherhood all on their own.  I did not realize that when I put in that effort to a divorcees support group that I had set up, I was actually sowing the seeds of my work as a lightworker.

So, in response to my friend’s note, I sent her a message taken from a quote by Ben Sweetland.  It said, “We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own.”  The day I had decided to turn professional as a Tarot reader, I had decided to embrace life with positivity and live  in joy and gratitude everyday for every blessing around me no matter how big or small.

Here was how I took control.  The only person that I allowed myself to do battle with, is myself.. The only choices impacting me, could only be made by myself.  The outcomes I wanted to effect in my life, could only be influenced by myself.

Ultimately, I was in control.  And I was determined to remain in control of my life.

Taking Control Of The Devil Then

I would like to explain the concept of Control with the Devil card in Tarot.  Unpleasant to some, it was the card which provided positive advice for me. 

The Devil card in my Radiant Rider Waite deck created by Virginijus Poshkus and published by US Games, portrayed an image of a half-man- half-goat creature sitting behind 2 human figures who are shackled to each other by chains.  The chains however are loosely fastened and their hands are not tied, suggesting that they are chained to each other out of their own free will. They are not even chained to the Devil himself! They seemed crippled in inertia for fear of him.

My life was previously reflected in this card, the Devil.  He was the scapegoat I blamed for all the negative moments in my life.  This scapegoat was represented by what I felt were the causes of my distress then – the negativity within my previous marriage, the breakdown in communication with my parents immediately after the divorce, the friends who chose to be on the side of my ex-husband, and the nature of the corporate environment which had shaped my very hard exterior as a corporate careerist. 

These restrictions had generally existed because I chose then, to let them rule my life and shape my perceptions of my future.   I was holding onto these chains of negativity that imprisoned me for years, leaving me to look down at my feet as I walked along the path, whilst missing the embrace of the Sunshine above me.

I started working on myself when I saw what I was missing around me – my son who was growing up and needed me, my husband who loved me and needed me to love him back, and my parents who just wanted to protect me but did not know how.  Then when I saw a group of women who were going through the same negativity I did because of their respective divorces, I had decided to take control then, and promptly removed the bonds of negativity tightly clasped around my neck.

Taking Control Of The Devil Now

Today I am happily married, the family is very close-knitted and my relationship with my parents is better than ever.  While the days of negativity are behind me, I am managing a different kind of “devil”.  I think the Devil card most apt in describing this would be the one in the Book of Shadows Volume 2 - So Below Tarot Deck by Barbara Moore.

The Devil is portrayed by an image of a delicious Sundae. I could not help but laugh out loud at this wonderful card because it really was a manifestation of me at this moment.

The Devil card represented all kinds of harmful bonds like temptations.  It was an accurate depiction of how I had been using my extremely busy schedules and multiple commitments as excuses to lead a sedentary life of poor diet, and almost lack of exercise.  I was constantly stressed at work, and viewed everything around me with negativity.  I blamed the workload for my poor health.  I blamed the family for their lack of understanding about why I was not spending more time with them.  I blamed people around me for creating the pressures of deadlines and last minute demands.

 My Judgement card moment came about when I was hit with repeated health issues which culminated in an angiogram done 2 months ago.  That was when the doctor said, “Shape up or else.”  

So I promptly took control.  I revamped my entire lifestyle with a balanced diet and some exercise with my personal trainer. I also knew when to take a break, so when the juggling of these multiple projects seemed all too much for me, I would step back for a bit to give myself a breather.  I have also made it a point to get home before sundown when possible. This allowed me to spend more time with my family and the dogs.  This new lifestyle reshaped my outlook in life into a more positive one.  I had more energy, and I definitely had more fun.

I went for my medical review with the cardiologist this morning and I was so pleased when he said that I had made marked improvements with my health.  The medical report indicated numbers that had put me within acceptable range in the respective field.  He promptly halfed my dosage of hypertension drugs and told me that he had a goal to remove them totally by mid next year if I continued to show improvements in my health. I was so pleased.

Staying Positive

I was also determined to set an example with what I was doing with my life health-wise.  I wanted to prove that being fit and healthy, positive and happy were not just concepts owned by fitness freaks, dieticians, health gurus, yoga practitioners, healers.  I wanted to prove that anyone, in whatever shape, form, or background can be fit, healthy, positive and happy.  

That is why I am really proud of being part of the team that launched Singapore's first science-backed wellness program called AIA Vitality that is committed to making real changes to Singaporeans' health with every little healthy choice that they make.  Do check the program out at www.aiavitality.com.sg.

You see, there is no secret formula to staying positive and filling your life full of love, if you believe with conviction that you need to be so, to bring some semblance of positivity into other people’s lives too.

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 currently runs her own Tarot consultancy called Sun Goddess Tarot which is based in Singapore.  A member of the American Tarot Association (ATA) and the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI), she is also endorsed as a reader for the Free Tarot Network and is a mentor for the ATA.   She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

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.