I Chose To Walk Two Paths

Blessed With 2 Passions

I believe I am indeed very blessed.  I am not sure how many people can boast of having 2 wonderful “jobs” that they are very passionate about.  I certainly do.  They are not even considered jobs.  I feel fortunate that I get to wake up every day to a life that allows me the opportunities to make use of my skills within these 2 passions.  Together with the support of my family, they create my 10 of Cups moment when I live in joy and gratitude for these gifts as a marketer and a Tarot reader.

I am a marketing professional in my day job, helping to develop end to end demand-led marketing and communication strategies to support my company’s profitable growth.  My other job is a Tarot reader, helping my clients uncover options within their respective situations, so that they could make the right choices to influence the outcomes that they want.

While often, I experience this 2 of Pentacles situation of having to juggle multiple appointments, priorities, projects and commitments, on the whole, I love both with all my heart. 

And here’s where I found similarities in both passions the day I went professional as a Tarot reader, whilst continuing my career as a marketer.

Combining Skills As A Marketing Professional With My Passion As A Tarot Reader

Insights
A marketing communication plan always starts with consumer research.  I am a strong believer of insights-driven marketing plans.  The most important bunch of people involved in the marketing communications process are not the media planners or the creative agencies, but the customers, their needs, their purchase behaviors,  their pain points and any information that could help influence their purchase.

In Tarot, I am involved in research in a few ways.  One is my continuous study of Tarot, examining different aspects of exoteric teachings.  The other, is my “research” about my client.  I often connected with them through an initial numerological assessment that will ascertain some information about their personalities, decisions that they had taken, lessons that they had learnt, the energies surrounding their situation and the response to these energies.  This usually created a more meaningful conversation between my client and I, and the interpretations of their Tarot spread become even more meaningful.

The Brief
Before we got started on the marketing communications planning, we would always create a marketing campaign brief.  This is important as it puts together all information that is necessary for the planning process.  Other than the insights about the campaign target audience, the brief would include the marketing objectives, the media objectives, the business objectives, key messages we want to communicate, as well as the campaign evaluation metrics.

In Tarot, that “brief” is created with that conversation between my client and I.  He or she would provide me with a background of the situation, information about key parties involved in the situation, the past decisions that he or she had made, the outcome or goals that he or she desired.  With this background information, I would overlay her numerological and astrological information before I designed a Tarot spread for the client.

The Plan
The marketing plan always involved the inputs of multiple parties from my internal and external customers when I put ideas through consumer focus groups,  the creative agency, the media agency, the social media agency and the public relations agency.  The plan would  consist of  the full marketing strategy which included, the communications roll out plan, the field marketing plan, the channel marketing plan,  the creative idea and the rationale, the social media campaign ideas and the through-the-line media plan.  This plan allowed the management to make an informed decision about how we sold our products, which target audience to focus on at which stage, how we talked to them in the process and the right time to talk to them.

As a Tarot reader, my plan involved my Tarot spread designed to get insights about the client’s past decisions, current situation, developments around the situation in the next few months, outcome, external and internal influences, fears and hopes and advice.   The interpretation to the spread would provide my client the ability to make informed choices to influence his or her outcome.

Not Too Different

You see, there are very little differences between the two paths that I had chosen to tread.  When my friends asked me if I had to eventually choose a single path, or if both passions conflicted with each other, I always told them that they complemented each other.  With these two paths, there was only 1 single goal -  the goal of doing what is right to cater to the needs of the clients by holding the hands of these clients through each milestone of their lives.

An example of such a milestone is marriage.  As a marketing professional, I sometimes created a marketing plan to sell a product aimed at newly-weds.  As a Tarot reader, I sometimes provided advice with my Tarot cards to a newly married couple hoping to find a positive direction to manage their marital relationship moving forward.

As both a marketing professional and a Tarot reader, I am very humbled that I have the ability to use the skills that the Universe had blessed me with to do something good for my community.  Both these passions provided me with a sense of fulfillment that no money could ever buy.

Note:  The Tarot card image used within this blog post is from the Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck by Virginijus Poshkus, published by US Games 2003

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

Walk Away From A Reversed King

Have You Dated A Jerk In Your Younger Days?

I have.  Plenty of my ex-boyfriends were jerks.  When it comes to romance, I think I have got quite a lot of experience, having been twice married, dated several “imbecilic knobs” and got the t-shirt to show for it.  Many years after and honed by maturity, I thank the universe for presenting me with the world’s best husband who helped me believe in romance again.

So with memories of my past relationships still at the back of my head, ready for me to recount when it’s Joel’s turn to meet his special someone, some day (I told him “women are “money grubbing pigs, please stay with me till you’re 59 years old!”), I have decided to use the Reversed Kings in my Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck to describe some of the men in my life – Lucky escape for me, I thought.

King of Cups Reversed

The image on the King of Cups card depicts a King sitting on a throne amidst a turbulent sea.  He is a picture of calm and control.  On his right, a fish jumps out of the water and on his neck he wears a pendant in the shape of a fish.  The fish is symbolic of his higher consciousness with which he is attuned to.  When picked upright, the card is a manifestation of one who is emotionally in control, highly intuitive, and has a kind and compassionate character. 

However, the bloke I dated back in Year 1 of my university days, by the name of YL, is completely the opposite.  YL was a moody, sulky and silent type.  He reminded me of a male version of Kirsten Stewart from Twilight, and often brandished a broody look not unlike what you see on a poster advertising a branded aftershave.  I think I fell for him because I thought he was the strong and silent type and contrasted markedly to my vibrant, child-like and bubbly personality. YL did not have many friends and came from a very traditional Asian family.  His Dad was a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and one day YL was supposed to take over his Dad’s little traditional Chinese medicine shop.  As an eldest boy, the weight of the family’s business was on his shoulders.  YL often struggled between that filial Chinese son and the man he really wanted to be.  He wanted to be an artist – a profession his dad thought was useless and couldn’t make enough income to sustain a respectable lifestyle. 

I think part of YL’s mood swings was due to his unhappiness at being repressed at home.  What’s funny though, is he expected me to be similarly repressed.  He didn’t like my gregarious nature.  When I laughed loudly, or giggled uncontrollably, he would bellow, “Behave yourself.”  I was often treated like a child when he would just walk away from me in a huff in a public place like the university library, just because he didn’t like me smiling at another bloke, or talking to my friends.  In fact, he hated my friends.  In the few months that we dated, we never socialized with my friends because he thought “they were a bad influence”.  Come to think of it, he didn’t have friends either. 

One day, while we were studying at the library, YL had a tiff with me about how short my skirt was and was about to walk out on me for the umpteenth time.  So I put my hand on his shoulder and said, “No, you sit.  It’s my turn to walk away.”  And I never looked back since.

King of Pentacles Reversed

The image on the King of Pentacles card depicts a King sitting on a throne carved with bulls, a symbol of hard work and he brandished a scepter in his right hand, a symbol of power and a coin in his left hand, a symbol of wealth.  His robe is covered with fruits, flowers and leaves and laid at his feet are also fruits, flowers and leaves, all are symbols of abundance and prosperity.  This King in reversed would be a manifestation of one who is obsessive about material things in life. 

My King of Pentacles Reversed, is a manifestation of the character of an ex-boyfriend HY.  HY is a very hardworking man, but that’s the problem.  He knows only work, talks about work, met me at a work function and only socializes when work is concerned.  He was the CEO of a mutual funds company which meant he was well-to-do and enjoyed the good things in life.  We went to the best restaurants and I had the best prezzies.  However, he wouldn’t be seen dead beside me if I wore no makeup and wasn’t dressed in one of the designer frocks he bought me. 

His circle of friends were all CEOs, MDs, and Chairmen of companies. I was so bored whenever these friends came around to his home for a drink and was even more bored when we went out to the restaurants for expensive dinners.  Perhaps I wasn’t as clever and couldn’t hold intelligent conversations about the fluctuating price of commodities and the wisdom of investing in BRIC markets.  I was only a heart-lander lass hoping to find true love. I enjoyed walking around in flip flop and eating at public food centres.  His idea of a meal was at a 3-star Michelin restaurant. 

HY was obsessed about money.  In his mind, his only objective in life was to make more money. He told me that the reason he worked so hard, was to ensure he led a comfortable life.  I didn’t see that comfortable life because he didn’t have weekends. I on the other hand, enjoyed picnics at the beach with my little son on weekends, or shopping with my girlfriends on weekends, or going for a nice cup of tea and a scone at the latest coffee shop with my friends on weekends.   He thought hanging out with my friends were a waste of time because they lent nothing valuable to him. 
Our relationship ended when he told me openly that he was embarrassed when I drove that 30 year old hand-me-down mercedez benz to his home on weekends in full view of his neighbors.  I wasn’t sure if he was ashamed of me, or of my beaten up car.  So I was glad to wave goodbye as I drove my beloved merc away from his house.

King of Wands Reversed

The image on the King of Wands card depicts a King sitting on a throne brandishing a rod with leaves growing from it which represents him nurturing life and encouraging creativity. He wears a bright orange robe and on the ground is a salamander looking up at him, all of which are symbols of fire.  This King represents passion, will and enthusiasm.  He is the King that will take creativity to new heights and has the drive to turn everything he does into a success.  However, in the reversed, this King represents one who makes impulsive decisions, and is highly aggressive and overbearing.

This is representative of my ex-boyfriend MD.  MD owns a vineyard in the little Australian town of Mildura. He is quite short for a guy, and I often think that part of his aggressiveness was due to what I termed as a “small dick syndrome”.  He was a businessman and thought of himself as Donald Trump because of the vast hectares of land that he owned.  Frankly in a little town of Mildura which possibly is home to 2000 and your Mildurian Mum is your sister, is your cousin, is your Aunt, and they make a living playing the banjo in a tree, this Donald Trump want-to-be was nothing more than a small-time grape farmer.   The reason I am unfairly scathing here, and I apologize to friends who are from Mildura or who know people from Mildura, is that of all the boyfriends who had hurt me, MD had hurt me the most.

I met MD through an Australian trade event here in Singapore that was aimed at fostering Australia-Singapore trade ties.  We fell madly in love, and that whirlwind romance led to MD setting up a little business for me here in Singapore, dealing with Australian desert art.  I was big on charity then, and I had my mind set on doing a business that pays it forward to an Australian aboriginal tribe who created the art pieces.  However, he wanted me to make loads of money from it, and kept badgering me about setting up meetings with other companies and private homeowners to sell commissioned art pieces.

MD was a bully.  He dominated me and treated me more like his staff than a girlfriend.  When my son was very little, and was crying for attention while we were both watching TV, MD said, “Give the boy a fag to shut him up.” I was really upset with that.  Our relationship ended shortly after, and the art business went along with it.  He went home to Mildura to be with his banjo-playing folks.   Then just about 6 months later, MD phoned me to say, ” I got a Polish girl named Paulana pregnant and am marrying her next week. I just wanted you to know that.” I thought for a moment, that intelligent businessman I once knew must have died.  He had just hastily rushed into one relationship after acrimoniously splitting with me and worse, made a grave decision to marry a woman he hardly knew!  I was quite hurt, but nonetheless relieved that I got rid of that stupid bugger.

King of Swords Reversed

The image on the King of Swords card depict a King sitting on a throne brandishing an upward pointing sword.  He is in command and makes sure everyone knows it.  Behind him emblazoned on his throne are butterfly motifs, a symbol of transformation and above him, the skies are clear, a symbol of mental clarity. In the reversed, this King represents one who is brutal, cunning, and cutting with his words, abusive and tyrannical.

My reversed King of Swords was one of my ex-bosses.  No I didn’t date him. I didn’t have a boyfriend that was like the King of Swords Reversed, thank goodness.  If I had dated anyone like this jerk, I would have run him over with my car twice.  I tried to find someone in my mind that took on the character traits of the reversed King of Swords, and the only person I could think of that fitted the description was EK, an ex-boss from the bank that I worked in. 

When I was working at that company, EK had originally hired me for a regional role in that company that covered 5 countries.  On my first day at the job, he told me that he had carved the role into 2 and given me charge of Singapore and Thailand only.  I was unhappy, but had decided to just roll with the punches.  Over the next 2 years, EK had often singled me out for anything that went wrong.  He would ply me with hurtful accusations like “you were not strategic enough as a marketeer”, “you did not think of this idea earlier”, “you are not good with numbers, what use are you?”, and “you are not cut out to be a marketeer”.  Now, EK is a salesman at best, while I was a technically trained marketeer with more than 10 years of experience then.  His words had begun to cut into me, destroying my confidence completely and made me return home from work every day feeling like I was truly useless.  He would manipulate the rest of the staff in the department to ostracize me and would publicly rebuke me with offensive phrases in the Chinese dialect of Hokkien.  To translate, he said to me “If you can’t swim, please don’t blame it on the size and weight of your balls.”  I was totally offended by that comment.  Having worked in blue chip MNCs that prided themselves for treating employees respectfully, this was a complete culture shock for me.

Needless to say, I left that company within 2 years and went on to join another company that knew how to treat their staff with respect.  The wounds of those 2 years working with EK still sits deeply in my heart but I have turned those wounds around to be my tool of learning.  I have learnt to be the best boss, mentor and friend to my team members in my present company.

Walk Away When A Reversed King Crosses Your Path

At this stage of my life, thankfully, I haven’t come across a reversed King.  I believe that I am mature enough to be able to manage a reversed King and if all else fails, I would just swing my handbag at the jerk that takes on the character traits of any of the reversed King.

So if you’re a new tarot reader or a client had encountered a reversed King in your tarot spread, don’t panic.  Just ask this one simple question “Is this person worth investing my energy and resources in?”  If the answer is no, please walk away.

About the writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She obtained a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and is also a certified numerologist.  She currently runs a Tarot consultancy called Sun Goddess Tarot 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 is a mentor for the ATA.

She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com

What You Should Know Before Becoming A Tarot Reader

The Road To Becoming A Tarot Reader

These few years, Tarot took me on a journey that involved immersing myself in various courses related to Tarot, Numerology and Astrology.  I had also the privilege of learning from some of the most experienced in their field and amongst them, some have become my mentors who were and still are critical to my growth as a Tarot reader.  

As my journey evolved and I ventured into doing more Tarot coaching work, my Tarot world opened another dimension of new knowledge that I never got in my Tarot books and courses.  While I had so much rich information about Tarot interpretations, Tarot spreads, numerological and astrological correspondences with Tarot, the one thing that I never quite got from my Tarot mentors, books and courses was what I needed to know before I became a Tarot reader.

So this blog post is dedicated to my protégés who had put that question to me recently.

What You Should Know Before Becoming A Professional Tarot Reader

1)  There Will Be Skepticism From Others:

“Where did you park your broom?’, “Is it black magic?” I was often asked these questions which might be offensive at first but I had become accustomed to them.  Just remember, skepticism is often a result of lack of understanding of what you do.   It happens in every career choice one might make.  When I was managing digital marketing, someone asked me if I was in IT.  As a Tarot reader, you will face the same questions.  The one I hated most was, “Are you a Fortune Teller?”  No we are not.  It did not help that the lack of professionalism of some “quack” Tarot readers in the past had given genuine Tarot readers like us, a bad name.

After months of emotional turmoil when people questioned what I did, true to my Public Relations training, I crafted a “holding statement” to explain my passion to them by saying “ Like the many talents and unique gifts the Universe might have given you, I was given a gift to help people who are opened to asking for my help.”

Like me, in time, you would no longer be bothered by the skepticism, particularly because you would have built a lot more confidence in your skills through the years.

2)  You Will Be Skeptical About Yourself:

What is worse than facing skepticism from others, is facing skepticism from within you.  Have you had moments when your rational mind come in the way of your intuition and you ask, “What science is this?”  I used to ask myself this question quite often at the start of my journey.  You would need to remember that a healthy dose of skepticism is really okay. As you spend more time practicing your readings, you will be more confident with your skills.  Do not let anyone talk you out of the fact that you can grow the depth of your intuition.  Really, you can.  It is through a good mix of consistent practice, calming your mind and focusedness that you tune better to your inner consciousness.

3)  You Will Encounter  Different And Sometimes Extreme Opinions:

Different Tarot readers have different styles of reading.  Some might use a Significator card, some might not.  Some might combine it with astrological or numerological significance, some might not.  Along with the different styles of reading Tarot, there are also different interpretations to a single card.  It all depends on the question, the client you connect with and what your intuition tells you.  My advice is to go with your gut and be prepared that one day, with the same Tarot spread, to the same question, another reader, might interpret it differently.  Ultimately Tarot offers the client options with which he or she makes choices to influence his or her own outcome.  There is no right or wrong interpretation to a card.

I remembered that when I contributed an article about a Tarot Spread I created for a reading, a reader of that article started a string of comments beneath that article arrogantly pushing his point that I might be off the mark with my reading and that it should have been interpreted in a different way.  That behavior does not bother me now, and I hope it should not bother you if you encountered the same.  You will definitely meet Tarot Nazis along your path from time to time.  Personally, I feel that these Tarot Nazis lack the humility and grace of a true Tarot reader. 

However, in a normal day to day life, I am sure you do come across different types of people.  I had personally encountered a “Beef Bourguignon Nazi” who claimed my Beef Bourguignon was not authentically French enough.  Honestly, it was only a bloody beef stew.  How difficult can it be to whip up a beef stew?!  I comforted myself then in the knowledge that extreme views come from one with an empty soul.

4)  You Might Need To Make A Stand About Getting Certified Or Not:

Closely tied to the last point, you might be thinking of raising the bar on your Tarot reading skills by getting yourself certified.  I got myself certified with the Tarot Certification Board of America.  However that was a choice I made to treat it as a personal challenge.  Whether you get yourself certified or not, that is not important.  Your purpose as a Tarot reader, your experience, and the practice you put into sharpening your skills do matter. 

A few months ago, as I was actively involved in a Tarot community forum, a fellow Tarot reader took issue with me about certification.  She said, “Who cares about certification?  I have got 30 years of Tarot reading experience under my belt, it is better than any certification one might have.”  I defended my certification as a personal choice.

You see, it takes all sorts to make this world.  So when you do make a stand about whether or not you want to get certified, please ensure you approach it with humility and grace.

5)  You Will Need To Be Generous With Your Time:

As a Tarot student, be prepared to put in the hours to improve your Tarot reading skills and to build your confidence level.  It is no use sitting at home just learning to interpret Tarot cards on your own without anyone to practice it on.  I would strongly recommend that you volunteer as a Free Tarot Reader within a Tarot community as it offers you the opportunity to practice your reading skills in exchange for feedback.  To volunteer your time and skills, do visit Tarot websites like www.biddytarot.com or www.freetarot.us

6)  You Might Need To Learn To Say No When Necessary:

As a Tarot reader, you will often encounter friends and family who might ask you for a reading.  That would be a good opportunity to practice your skills.  So be generous with your time when it allows you more opportunities to practice your reading. 

However, where you might want to draw the line is when you are faced with a needy querant, who might call you at odd hours to ask for an “urgent” reading.  Perhaps a querant might insist that you provide a reading that could unwittingly cross the line of professionalism and code of ethics, like a reading on legal issues, or a reading about the thoughts of a third party. 

You might also meet querants who could bring a lot of negative energy into your space and provide you with nasty feedback because they did not like the messages that the Tarot cards had unveiled at that time.   Sometimes, these querants might ask you to do additional readings in the hope of forcing the cards to unveil more positive messages.  We all know, Tarot cards do not work that way.

For such scenarios, do learn to say no.  You should not do a reading for a querant who pushes you beyond your level of comfort.

7) You Might Feel Uncomfortable About Charging For A Reading Even When You Are Ready:

When you have finally decided to “go pro”, do decide on a reasonable amount you would want to charge for your readings and go ahead to do it.  Like any professional skill, you might want to charge for a reading because you have put in so much time and effort into serving your client. 

When you have made a decision to do so, I would urge you to not feel uncomfortable about charging for a reading.  I was uncomfortable for a long time and kept offering free face-to-face readings to strangers who had heard about my Tarot reading skills via word of mouth.  In time, I learnt that when they paid me for  a Tarot reading session, it was like a fair exchange of energy because I had put in a tremendous amount of spiritual and emotional energy into each readings.

8)  You Might Feel Exhausted From Time To Time

Be realistic.  When you work in a regular corporate job, you could get burnt out from time to time due to the corporate stress and work load.  Tarot reading is no different because of the amount of spiritual and emotional energy spent on each reading. 

When you do get exhausted, take a step back from all the readings you are currently doing and spend some time meditating and grounding yourself.  I do that before and after every Tarot reading now, so that I can recharge myself for the next client.  I can attest to the difference it makes to my readings.

A Message From A Muse

This list of things you should know before becoming a Tarot reader is by no means exhaustive.  I am sure fellow professional Tarot readers could add even more useful insights.  However, I thought the most useful insight might come from Tarot itself, so I shuffled and picked one card to find out what additional advice I could offer to aspiring Tarot readers.

I picked the Page of Cups from my Morgan Greer Tarot deck created by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan. 

Typically, the Page of Cups represents the beginning of a creative project.  The image on this deck depicts a boy holding a cup and talking to a fish inside it.  The fish is a symbol of his inner consciousness and it’s appearance depicts the flash of inspiration the Page got from his inner consciousness.

The Page of Cups is an advice to aspiring Tarot readers to listen to your inner consciousness and give free reign to your creative spirit.  It encourages you to be creative in your spiritual journey.  Just as there are many styles of reading the Tarot, there are also many ways to bring Tarot to the people who matter – the querants who come to you for your help and support.

The Page of Cups represents youthful pursuit of spiritual knowledge.  You will find that there is so much more out there to learn, even when you have 30 years of Tarot reading experience under your belt.
The Page of Cups encourages you to trust your intuition.  You are given the gift of intuition for a purpose, so nurture it and use it well. 

Most of all, like the Page of Cups, do enjoy your spiritual journey and be enriched by the lifetime of bountiful experiences it will bring.

About The Writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She obtained a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from the Tarot Certification Board of America (TCBA) and is also a certified numerologist.  She currently runs a Tarot consultancy called Sun Goddess Tarot, 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

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 3^rd 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

Searching For Faeries This Summer

Celebrating The Summer Solstice With Faeries

When fellow Tarot blogger, Sharon Cummings volunteered to wrangle the 3^rd Tarot Blog Hop of the Year to coincide with the Summer Solstice or Litha, she helped me grapple with the topic of faeries. During Litha the earth tilts closest to the Sun, flowers are in full bloom, skies are blue, birds are singing, days are warm. She also said,” The Summer Solstice is for the faeries to come out and play, to give and receive gifts and to create mischief.”  This painted a picture of the stories told by Enid Blyton when I was younger. These stories were magical.  Many of these stories had faeries hopping from flower to flower written into the storylines.  Some of my friends, who connected with the fae folk, swore that they actually did.

While I understood that Litha was a celebration of the Summer Solstice, harking longer and warmer days, I still had difficulty grappling with the concept of faeries prancing about the garden on a hot summer’s day. 

Some of my fellow Tarot bloggers might enlighten you better on the topic, so I strongly encourage you to visit the blog posts of fellow Tarot bloggers lined up before or after me:  TABI’s (Tarot Association of the British Isles) post on the topic is at http://tabitarot.blogspot.com/2013/06/summer-solstice-blog-hop.html  and  Alison Cross’  is at http://tarot-thrones.blogspot.com/2013/06/litha-blog-hop-spread-embracing-your.html  

What Faeries?

I was brought up in a strict Asian household where I was made to understand that Santa Claus was a concept conjured by adults to enforce good behavior in kids throughout the year. I also believed that faeries were creatures conjured by Mum to prevent me from plucking her flowers in her garden that she had painstakingly nurtured over the months. 

 I had done some research about Litha and learnt that Litha was celebrated as a faery festival that honoured the arrival of longer days and the blazing sun.  It celebrated abundance, nature, revelry, fertility, healing, beauty and creativity.

My Midsummer Search For Faeries

So as my friends around the world revelled in the warmth of the Litha sunshine today, I went in search of faeries.  I felt like a deprived child combing the internet to ascertain what they looked like.  I re-read Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream to get inspired; I lighted candles the night before to illuminate my home so that the faeries could find a safe haven for rest.  I even left some honey chamomile tea and a bit of my famous Asian spiced pineapple compote on half a scone, out on my dining table the night before Litha, in the hope that faeries might enjoy a midsummer night’s snack (I did wonder if the faeries would appreciate my Asian culinary skills but figured that at least they were spared from my curry).  I was obsessed about looking for the magic these faeries purportedly brought.

By this time, David and Joel were ready to call the men in white coats to take me away, fearing that I had absolutely lost my mind.  Well, the faeries did not eat my compote and scone.  David did.  The candles were blown out by Joel, amidst his grumbles that I could accidentally burn the house down.  I still did not see any faeries.

What The Fool Card In Tarot Taught Me

Disappointed, I began to shuffle my Tarot cards and just randomly picked a card to the question "Where can I find my faery?".  The card that showed up was The Fool from my Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck.

Upon further meditation, I heard what the Fool had to say to me.  Like the Fool, I should be giving free reign to this journey of exploring my creativity.  My eyes were transfixed on the rising sun within the image of the Fool’s card, encouraging me to look further and beyond my basic comprehension of the significance of Litha.  

The Fool took on a youthful perspective of the world and explored his surroundings in childlike wonder. He held a white flower, a symbol of purity and innocence, and he held it out as if to ask me to take a whiff of that flower. I knew he was encouraging me to step back and smell the roses some time.  

He was happy being led by the Universe to his destiny, with just a wee pack strapped across his back and his little mutt Toto beside him.  The Fool and Toto looked so happy traipsing along the path that I could almost hear him whistling while Toto barked in sheer joy. They seemed to be soaking in the abundance that surrounded them and just walking their journey in gratitude for every little thing that they have experienced along the way.  He was urging me to live my life with joy and gratitude every single day.

I realized then that I missed the point about Litha.  Litha was a magical festival. It honored the magic of summer and the life-giving energy that the Sun provided.  While my friends were celebrating Litha in all that fun, warmth and revelry, I was busy looking for faeries under the cushions.  Litha was about creative self expression afforded by a beautiful, flower-filled and lush environment with warmer and longer days.  This provided inspiration for my creative self expression. I was inspired to share a bit of creativity with my friends and family, in whatever form that creativity took.

Summer was also a time of fun, and I needed that after being hit by a period of stress-related health issues.  I needed to get out more to enjoy some sunshine with the family.  I wanted to start doing what I used to enjoy doing when I had more time, like cooking and baking.


A Bit Of Summer Creativity

So, like the Fool taking a leap into the unknown, I had decided to experiment with a bit of poetry.  Please don’t laugh at it. I have many talents but writing poetry definitely was not one of them.  So this was my first attempt at writing poetry.

Like a Queen, she glows with radiance

Adorned in robes of emerald, gold and ruby,

Her scepter casts light in all its brilliance

Ruling the summer in all her glory

Shrubs and flowers, a-blooming

Covering fields in rainbow hues

Birds embrace the winds while singing

As the clouds part to reveal the skies so blue

Flowers sway gently in the breeze

As faeries dance hand in hand

Watching the unfurling of the leaves

While the Sun warms our land

I have also decided to share some of my “faery” food – my Asian spiced pineapple compote, which would make a wonderful tea-time snack when served on toast, biscuits or scone. As I wrote this, I planned to pack some compote into a picnic basket tomorrow morning so that the family and I could enjoy some sandwiches by the beach.  It was indeed time for some sunshine.  The recipe is appended below:

Asian Spiced Pineapple Compote

Ingredients:
·         2 pineapples - peeled and shredded manually ( do not use a blender)
·         1 1/2cups water  - scented with juice of 2 oranges and a tablespoon of orange zest)
·         1 cup brown sugar
·         2 sticks cinnamon, 4 cloves and 2 star anise

Directions:
1.After shredding the pineapple, put the pineapple, water and spices in a pot and cook over low to medium heat until the pineapple mixture is soft.  This takes about half an hour with intermittent stirring.
2.Stir the sugar into the pineapple mixture and continue cooking till the mixture thickens over slightly higher heat for another half an hour. Once the mixture has thickened, remove spices and leave mixture to cool in pot. 
3.When sufficiently cooled, spoon the compote into sterilized jars with tight fitting lid and store in the refrigerator. 

 May this compote add a touch of sweetness to this bountiful summer.  And while enjoying my compote, do explore other Tarot bloggers' perspectives on Litha. The link to the other participating bloggers is at http://sharoncumming.blogspot.com/2013/06/tarot-blog-hop-litha-2013-master-list.html 

About The Writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and a tarot card reader by accident. She currently runs a Tarot consultancy called Sun Goddess Tarot, based in Singapore.  She has obtained a Certified Professional Tarot Reader qualification from 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 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

The Fool from the Radiant Rider Waite deck was my Fae taking me up that path of Summer creativity and fun.

My Asian Spiced Pineapple Compote made a perfect tea-time snack in the Summer
that even the faeries would approve.

Not to be outdone, the hubby joined in the culinary fun by baking these
 raisin scones to complement my pineapple compote.

Nail That Important Meeting With Tarot

The Stress Of Corporate Performance Reviews

In most companies, the month of June would be a period when mid-year performance reviews would be conducted to assess an employee’s performance against his goals that had been set for him or her at the beginning of the year.

This period would generally be stressful for most managers rushing to complete their one-on-one performance review meetings with their staff within the month, amidst their mounting workload  However, it would also be equally stressful for the employees who were forced to have conversations about  what they had or had not achieved, obstacles put in front of them that had prevented them from achieving their targets perhaps, and resources needed to assist the employees to get their jobs done on time and on target. 

Guidance From Tarot To Navigate A Performance Review Session

My client Allen (name has been changed to protect his privacy) called me last week to get some guidance on how he could manage his mid year performance review session with his boss. He was an extremely busy and high-flying executive, assuming a mid to senior level position at a financial MNC.  He told me he had no time to do a detailed face to face reading with me as he was juggling business travels, mid-year targets whilst managing his team,  However, he was clearly worried about his upcoming performance review with his Global Director of Sales.  Apparently, while he managed to meet his sales targets for the first half of the financial year, he was having problems getting along with his peers and some of his staff.  He was worried that the in-office conflicts and politics would affect his boss’ perception of him, thus impacting his performance review.

So, using my Morgan Greer Tarot deck created by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan,  I did a customized Tarot spread and provided a birds eye view of the situation, using one-word meanings per card.  I called this the Nail That Difficult Meeting Tarot Spread.  It can be used for any difficult meetings with anyone, not just bosses.  The one I did here was done over the phone for Allen in 15 minutes…yes I think  you can now address me as “Quick Draw McGraw”.   You might notice that the spread was interpreted like a mathematical equation.  That was half the fun.

Nail That Difficult Meeting Tarot Spread

1) What can Allen expect out of the meeting?

Hierophant +7 of Wands + Hermit reversed =

Conservative + Perseverance + Withdrawn

Interpretation:  Allen’s boss would expect him to be respectful of him as the manager attempting to coach him, while allowing Allen to defend his point of view.  Allen should ensure there is some respectful distance and he should craft his words carefully so that his boss can fully appreciate his stand.   There might be moments that Allen would be required to try to reflect upon the advice of his boss and acknowledge that the discussion might serve to better his work.

2) How should Allen manage the session?

 Knight of Swords Reversed + King of Cups Reversed + Tower Reversed = Reckless + Emotional + Resistance

Interpretation:  Whoa!  All the cards that showed up were reversed cards!  Allen needed to approach the session with composure and moderation.  He should not flare up at the heat of the moment and he should not be impulsive or hostile during the conversation.  Most importantly Allen must be open-minded about his boss’ suggestions or advice.  If his boss effected any changes to the way Allen worked, he should not be resistant to these changes, but adapt to these changes as an opportunity to make improvements.

  

3) What did Allen’s boss thought of him and his work?

 2 of Cups + Page of Swords + 2 of Pentacles =

Passionate + Energetic + Prioritization

Interpretation:  These are relatively positive cards.  Allen’s boss acknowledged that Allen was a passionate worker who loved his job and always did his best to manage his projects with enthusiasm.  Being passionate, he was also a communicative and assertive worker, who had no qualms articulating what he wanted out of his staff, while extracting the best out of them through his well-thought-through plans.  He might be too assertive though.  However, Allen was given a very wide portfolio and had to learn to prioritize his tasks as he had increasingly become quite bogged down with multiple projects.  In doing so, Allen had to learn not to assume every responsibility but to delegate better.

4) What could Allen hope to take away from this review?

 Magician + 3 of Pentacles + 2 of Wands =

Potential + Teamwork + Planning

Interpretation:  Allen could be assured that the review would be a constructive one.  With a boss that clearly appreciated Allen’s skills and who was genuinely concerned for his career growth, Allen could come out of the review session with even more fervor to maximize his skills and potential to work towards his goals.  Also, Allen would need to learn to cooperate with his peers better.  By leveraging on their skills to fill his gaps, he could definitely make even more progress with his plans to succeed in the company.

 Feedback

I called Allen this morning to ask him how his meeting with his boss went yesterday.  Allen happily gave me a run-down of what had transpired. He said that I was accurate about how it all panned out and was even amazed that his boss took the advice-centric approach to managing his issues with his peers.  This gave Allen an opportunity to make some changes to how he would deal with them in the future and perhaps by “winning” them over, he was hopeful that his year-end targets would be met.

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