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.

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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.

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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

Ostara - Dancing Between Light And Darkness

My Limited Understanding Of Ostara

Today, some of my friends around the world celebrate the major Sabbat of Ostara, or the Spring Equinox. This is the time where the length of day and night is equal.  It’s an appropriate topic for the 2^nd Tarot Blog Hop for 2013.  However, I hadn’t the faintest clue what Ostara meant.  I had a good laugh when I remembered asking the Ostara Bloghop wrangler, Morgan Drake Eckstein http://gleamingsfromthedawn.blogspot.com/2013/03/between-light-and-darkness.html to be clearer with the topic although he tried very hard to explain that in the Northern hemisphere, people celebrated Spring and in the Southern hemisphere people celebrated Autumn.  I was thinking at that moment, “Oh dear, I am in Singapore, where we never have Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter, it was just hot, hotter and hottest.” 

So one of my friends very kindly sent me a text to share how she celebrated Ostara with fresh spring flowers, hot cross buns and painted eggs.  The light bulb came on in my head immediately, “Oh! Like Easter!”  So for my lack of understanding about Ostara, please forgive me and do visit the blogpost of my fellow Tarot bloghop neighbour, Alison Cross at http://tarot-thrones.blogspot.com/2013/03/tarot-blog-hop-ostara-2013-snowdrop.html whose blog post on the same topic, was posted before mine.

From my limited knowledge about Ostara, I will share my perspectives about the significance of Ostara as a festival that celebrates the balance between light and darkness.  If you get even more confused about Ostara after this blog post, please visit the blogs of the rest of the wonderful Tarot bloggers in the master list at http://gleamingsfromthedawn.blogspot.com/2013/03/ostara-2013-tarot-blog-hop-master-list.html  for a clearer view on the topic

Dancing Between Darkness And Light

When Morgan themed this Tarot Blog Hop topic as “Dancing between Darkness and Light”, I thought immediately of how I had begun to understand the conflicts within me and the balance I have been attempting to create to harness the right energies of my light side while embracing the opportunities to learn from the negative energies of the dark side of my character.  I had discovered more about myself through an Astrology course I had signed up for with Christiane Hayes at www.cosmictarot.co.uk .  The course was possibly the most rewarding one I had ever done because I discovered how I could turn my challenges into opportunities, and my negative traits into a positive learning experience.  The course uncovered my internal struggles between the mix of fire and water elements governing my Sun and Moon signs.  

Interestingly, I have begun to make my Tarot readings with clients more robust with what I had learnt at this course, providing more advice-centric readings to them, with the aim of turning their challenges into opportunities too.

Sun Sign Zodiac And Persona Cards

As I was born on 1^st August 1969, my Sun sign zodiac card is Leo/Strength.  The character traits of my Sun sign are not unfamiliar to me.  I am self-confident, bold and have a big personality.  However, I can be aggressive, opinionated (I can’t help being right all the time) and arrogant at times (Like I said, I can't help being right all the time!) and quite persevering.

The Sun Sign persona card is the King of Wands.  I do like the bloke.  He’s charismatic, full of energy, a born leader but can be opinionated.  I need to harness the positive energies of this King more.

Moon Sign Zodiac And Persona Cards

My Moon sign zodiac card is Pisces/Moon, which uncovers my highly sensitive personality prone to displays of overly dramatic emotions (Should I go slit my wrist now?).  As a perfectionist, I always worry that everything around me isn’t perfect enough.  That usually motivates me to push myself to work harder, but it drives everyone around me crazy as well.  I do repress my true feelings, often showing my hard exterior but am actually a big, soft teddy bear inside. Christiane added that this trait helped with nurturing my intuitive nature which in turn, helped in my Tarot reading, I guess.

My Moon Sign persona card is the Knight of Cups.  I don’t like this bloke.  He’s such a lame softie. So here’s where it gets interesting when I assessed the fine balance I needed to create within myself. 

As the Knight of Cups, I am a dreamer; I am highly sensitive, sometimes insecure and often crave attention or recognition.  How could I have not seen that coming!  This was an eye-opener for me because I found bits of my shadow self creeping up on me.  I worked extremely hard, and put every passion into what I did.  However, I get thrown into the deep abyss of dejection that impacted my motivation, when I don’t get that requisite “pat on the back”.  The conflict of the fire elements in my Sun persona card of King of Wands and the Moon persona card of Knight of Cups have actually been a major issue plaguing my life. 

I always thought that I am a self-confident go-getter who was hard as nails.  However, I had never accepted my insecurities as a Tarot reader. Every Tarot reader out there seemed so much better, more knowledgeable and more experienced.  I often wore a hard exterior of stoicism but within me, I sometimes fill myself with doubt, questioning the science of Tarot and questioning my skills as a proficient Tarot reader.   When I re-read past postings of my blogs, I saw a trend with most of the postings spent wincing about not being taken seriously as a Tarot reader, or about arrogant Tarot readers who slapped me in the face with "So what you've got a CPTR from the TCBA? I've got 30 years of tarot reading experience under my belt." Yet within the same breath, I talked with great passion about my undying love for Tarot, the fulfilling mentoring work I do with my protégés and the relationship I have built with my clients.

Man, am I mixed up!

Charting My Shadow Cards

Interestingly, I then decided to chart the opposing sign on the zodiac wheel, opposite my Sun sign zodiac card of Leo/Strength/King of Wands and I encountered the Aquarius/Star/King of Swords cards.

Now I am intrigued.

When I tried to look at the negative influences of the Aquarius/Star/King of Swords combination of cards to learn something from it, these cards alluded to the fact that I am unbending, not willing to change, impractical, emotionally repressive and quite detached.

How true. With my insecurities, I am quite repressive and would never reveal how I truly felt when I am hurt, disappointed or afraid, yet I would be upfront and honest about most things.  I had an opinion about almost everything in fact.  I am also averse to changes, and tend to cling to my comfort zone, although my King of Wands personality meant that I am a dynamic person unafraid of challenges. 

I was very proud of how I have helped to make a positive impact to the lives of my clients through Tarot, yet often, I catch myself biting my lip when I am faced with skepticism from friends and acquaintances.  I then end up not giving Sun Goddess Tarot the full marketing effort it deserved.  Recognizing this helped stop me in my tracks when I unwittingly allowed the negative energy to get the better of me.

When I charted the opposing sign opposite the zodiac wheel from my Moon sign of Pisces/Moon/Knight of Cups, the Virgo/Hermit/Knight of Pentacles showed up.  Cool!  I see the opportunities of turning the negative influence of these cards around.  The pragmatic, cautious and diligent energies of the Virgo/Hermit/Knight of Pentacles cards are balancing the dreamy, highly sensitive and emotional traits of my Moon sign.

Getting To Know Myself Better

I would like to think that when this Tarot Astrology course fell on my lap, it was the Universe’s way of trying to tell me that I could help my clients better only when I knew myself better. 

Life, like Ostara, is a celebration of balance between yin and yang, positive and negative, light and darkness.  The universe throws us the mega challenge of this balancing act so that we can hone our skills to turn every challenge into an opportunity, and turn every opportunity into a reason to live life with joy and gratitude for the abundance that surrounds us.

If you don't already think that I am schizophrenic, I am grateful that you're interested in reading my perspective on Ostara.  Don't forget to visit the blogposts of my fellow Tarot blogging friends. The master list to their blogs was appended earlier within this blog post..

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 was recently certified as a numerologist 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 is a mentor for the ATA.   She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com