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