Showing posts with label Healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healing. Show all posts

Thursday, 21 July 2016

Holding The Hand Of My Inner Child


A Moment Of Rest


I have not been updating my Sun Goddess Tarot blog for a long while.  It had been almost 8 months.  I needed a moment of rest.  That moment lasted longer than I thought, and it was a period when I seemed to be in conflict with myself.
 

Reading For The Right Clients

 
I was always excited about meeting new clients, doing readings anytime and anywhere.  Yet, I grew increasingly exhausted and started making excuses for taking long breaks from readings. It reminded me of the time when I was very young and was forced to complete my homework before I could go out to play with my friends.  Some of my client appointments started to become a chore.

 
I proceeded to cut down on my list of client appointments, and was discerning about whom I wanted to read for, and what type of readings I wanted to do.   I was no longer interested in doing readings on a fly, or for clients who just wanted to have a casual read about issues that had little or no material impact on their lives.  By the same reason, I was not interested in reading at events like hen parties, birthdays and themed corporate dinners where more often than not, the questions that I got seemed so frivolous that I felt I was not adding much value to the client.   Questions that come from clients in such circumstances could border on topics like winning the next show-jumping championships or dumping a boyfriend who was not making enough money.  I remembered a question that I got at one of these events was, “Would my boss eventually leave his wife for me?”  I really had enough.  If I was not adding value to my clients, it was not exciting for me anymore.  It was very clear to me, months down the road, that if I had an intuitive gift, it was meant to serve a more meaningful purpose.    

 
Playing With The Fun People

 
I started to crave for my own space even more.  It was not about needing to be alone. It was more about needing my space to do what I wanted to do on my own terms.  I just wanted to have a little more fun with whatever time I had, with whomever I chose.   I was not anti-social.   I did enjoy social gatherings, I looked for every opportunity to have some fun, from impromptu travel, to casual dinner and drinks sessions and even organizing relaxing off-site meetings with my team so that we got a chance to bond over meals and road trips.  

 
Writing The Fun Stuff

 
It was a period when I could not write a single post for my Sun Goddess Tarot blog.  Yet, I was happily updating my personal blog with fun observations about my personal life, writing reviews  within my food blog as I ate up a storm across the nation and happily posted pictures and updates multiple times a day across my social media platforms.

 
Learning What I Wanted To Learn


It was a period when I could not pick up a book to read about any metaphysical subjects.  I used to voraciously devour every knowledge that could support my growth and development as a Tarot Reader, Numerologist and Astrologer through books and courses.  However, I could not bear to read anything complex and theoretical.  I had purchased a few books on Soul Mapping, Psychic Development and Clairvoyance but they had been sitting on the shelf gathering dust for over a year. However, I would sit for hours listening to my mentor, talking about her experiences, telling me stories about her own personal journey as she honed her intuitive skills.  I was fascinated with the blog posts of my friends from all over the world who were professional Tarot Readers, Numerologists, Astrologers, Psychics, and Mediums. They shared snippets of their experiences, their views of the world, and provided opinions about any subject that touched their hearts.  I even had a lot of fun conversations with them over Facebook or Instagram and felt that I was learning more than I could have ever picked up from any books or formal courses.

 
Playing On My Own

 
Increasingly, I wanted to take off on my own to do quirky stuff. I enjoyed taking photographs of wall reliefs and intricate carvings of roof tops at old buildings.  I would never have even noticed them in the past.  I enjoyed walking barefoot across the manicured lawn in front of the Victoria Concert Hall.   And while others would make “Snow Angels” during winter by lying in the snow, I made “Grass Angels” by lying on the grass.  In the past, I would have been worried about getting grass stains on my skirt or pick up some bacteria from the dirt that will get onto my feet.   

 
In short, this strange behavior outlined above seemed to be like that of a child crying out for help and attention.

 
Rationalizing My Internal Conflict

 
Being a rational being that was typical of my Lifepath number 7, I analyzed and explained this strange behavior by labelling it simply as grief.  I felt I was grieving for my Dad who had passed on last year and this internal conflict I was going through, was my way of manifesting grief.  Over the months, I realized that this proved to be partly true.  However, it took me a while to realize that there was something that went beyond the grief, and I set out to find out what it was.  I knew deep within my heart that this even darker cause of my internal conflict could destroy me and my efforts in serving my purpose over the long term if I did not manage it.  At the same time, I knew that if I learnt more about it, and harnessed it better, it could support my goals in the way that my higher self was guiding me to do so.

 I had discovered over the next few months that the strange behavior, and the grief I felt were actually just symptomatic of a deeper, and darker cause. 

 
Stepping Into A Journey Of Self-Discovery

 
With the first few steps taken rather uneasily, like a toddler, I began a journey of self-discovery with my mentor Alixe K.Tracey.  I started the journey as part of her course called Freedom Party which saw me releasing aspects of myself that did not serve me positively.   I went through fear, anger, tears, pain, and then release as I learnt to acknowledge these negative emotions, treated them with compassion and then let them all go.  Within the last few months, I confronted my fear of lack of control, my fear of lack of approval, and my fear of lack of security.  These fears had a debilitating impact on my relationships at home, at work and with my business.

 
 I needed to always be in control, and disliked any form of change.  When changes happened at work, I was thrown into a tailspin of defensive behavior in a bid to protect my turf.  This explained why I was so angry when my boss had decided to transfer a few staff from my team out to another department as part of an exercise to restructure the organization. I was so upset when my son went against my wishes to date a girl I did not approve of.  I was disappointed when my husband took on some projects on pro-bono basis at a time when what the family needed most was money.  These circumstances that grated on me, became a stage at which I played out my fears of lack of control, approval and security.

 
Recalibrating My Body, Mind And Spirit

 
My body, mind and spirit then went through a period of recalibration, as I dug even deeper to reconnect with my higher self. I was determined to get to the “cause” of the issue.   There were dark corners that I had to come face to face with but instead of running away like I used to do, I acknowledged it, honor it and found that the person hiding within these dark corners, was my inner child. 


 

Searching For My Inner Child

 
I searched for the first memory of my inner child when she experienced her fears of lack of control, approval and security.   I saw her as an 8 year old, seated at the dining table with her Chinese language tutor, learning how to write some Chinese words.  Suddenly, a gang of men barged into our home and declared, “We are from the Internal Security Department and we have a warrant to search your house.”  My Mom protested, telling them to wait for Dad to get home first.  A leader of that gang of men said, “Don’t worry.  Your husband is coming. He’s in the next car.”  True enough, Dad and yet another gang of men came through the door.  Dad’s face was ash-white and he seemed to have aged overnight.  I gasped suddenly when I spotted that Dad was led into the house in handcuffs and proceeded to dash across to him to want to save him.  However, one of the men pulled me roughly aside, not allowing me to be with Dad. 

 
Amidst the flurry of activities and with my Mom sobbing at the side, I learnt that my Dad was going to be detained without trial under the Internal Security Act for alternative political views that were deemed “subversive”.   Over the next few months, the situation escalated with my family being dragged through national press.  I was labelled the daughter of a “political dissident” who could be dangerous to the establishment’s nation-building efforts. This 8 year old was quoted in the press, as having said, “Daddy is so naughty”.  I would not have remembered that, let alone understood what being a political dissident was.  Mom and I visited Dad at the Detention Centre every week, communicating with him through a telephone with a glass window separating us.   Friends at school pointed fingers at me, whispering at each other.  Mom held my hand and took me to Dad’s company to meet his boss, appealing to his sense of compassion to allow Dad’s salary to continue to be paid into the bank account so that she could feed the both of us. 

 
I felt anger.  I could not do anything to help the family.  I could not save Dad.  My Dad was forcibly taken from me. My Mom had to find ways to feed us both.  I wanted to be a normal 8 year old who enjoyed school, friends and everything an 8 year old would do.  However I was judged by the perceptions of others whom did not even know my Dad, Mom and I.

 
That had sown the seed of my fears of lack of control, approval and security and I grew up always needing to be in control of everything.  I needed to get validation for everything I did.  I felt so insecure that I had to hide behind a passive-aggressive exterior, trying to be emotionally detached to everything around me.  I even despised any outward display of love and affection which I had considered a weakness.  My heart chakra was partially closed, as I struggled to love and accept love.  My throat chakra was partially closed, as I struggled to express my true feelings.

My favourite picture of Dad and I at my birthday party.  I was always the apple in my father's eye and we always had such a special bond. This picture has a lot of happy energy and was the basis of the intuitive painting which Rozanne did.


 
The Transformation

 
When I finally confronted my inner child, cowering in the dark, alone, afraid, angry and sad, Alixe and I set out to support her with a lot of prayers and meditation which helped to cleanse the chakras and release the pain she felt.   Alixe put a specialized program together to help me as I identified the real cause of all the negative emotions that were triggered by any situation no matter how big or small.   I learnt to communicate with my inner child, to find out what she needed, how I could help her, and what thoughts and emotions were coursing through her.

 
I learnt to open my heart chakra a lot more, so that I could, with compassion, acknowledgd all the fears, let them come up, understand where they had come from, and then offered them up to the divine light, to be eventually dissolved.   From time to time, my ego would grip tightly to the feelings of fear because it was, in a way, a comfort zone.  However, as I was committed to healing my inner child and listening to her with compassion, my ego never got a chance to win in this struggle.  In the end, I knew that my inner child just needed to be embraced with a little more compassion than I was prepared to offer in the past.
 

This had helped me so much that at every juncture, when I am aware a situation had triggered a feeling of fear, I went back to talk to my inner child and assured her that I would always be beside her.

A picture of me at my Kindergarten graduation.

 
Honoring My Inner Child

 
One day, I spotted a  beautiful painting posted on Facebook  by one of my friends, Rozanne Henry.  It was a painting of herself and it seemed to have exuded a sense of creative personal power reclaimed after having been through a period of healing herself.  Rozanne  is an Intuitive Artist who created paintings from intuitively channeled guidance.    I was guided immediately to commission her to do a painting of my inner child as my way of honoring the 8 year old me, and giving her a special place of her own in my home.  I shared my story with her and explained what I wanted to achieve.   Having received a photograph of Dad and I, Rozanne was able to draw upon that energy within the photograph to connect with what had happened when I was a child and she was able to communicate the messages that Dad wanted me to receive as she drew the 8 year old me.   Rozanne worked on it throughout the week, supporting that piece of artwork with lots of meditation and prayers.  Through that painting, she created a bridge between Dad and I where I could feel him put his arms around me, to cradle me with a lot of love and assurance.  I will share snippets of what my Dad’s messages were, throughout Rozanne’s work on this painting.

 
He said, “Go and be free.  Free to be happy. Release yourself.  I am here always for you no matter what. 

Trust in yourself.  You are doing well.  You are going to be free. 

Just trust. I am guiding you.   

Pray more. 

Stay close. 

Connect. 

I am so proud of you.  Be free to be yourself.  To be whom you were meant to be. 

Go and find your truth.  It will save you. 

Don’t be afraid. 

We will always support you.”

 
She was guided to draw my inner child with her legs tucked to the side as she sat on the ground, and her arms outreached as if in the act of receiving.  She was also guided to draw 3 doves flying towards my inner child.  That, was for me, an affirmation that Dad was sending me love, peace and healing.  At the same time, I saw clearly that within these gifts, he was also opening my heart and mind to my own gifts to heal others. 

 
I felt that that was Dad’s way of endorsing my taking Sun Goddess Tarot to the next level of where it ought to be, and that is to use my intuitive skills to be a healing coach for others as Alixe was with me.   No wonder, the last few months had seen me choosing my clients, reading only for those whom I thought I could genuinely add value to. Coincidentally, I have also noticed that the clients that got blown my way were highly intuitive souls, who had their respective inner child issues that created blocks along their own paths.

This is a print of Rozanne's painting of my inner child set against the automatic writing she did with the channeling. The exact painting on canvas is now sitting beside my Dad's photo on top of my piano at home.


 
Holding The Hand Of My Inner Child

 
The painting now takes pride of place on top of a piano my parents had given me when I was 3 years old.  It sits right beside a photo of my Dad.    I am very grateful I can finally move on, and genuinely feel that I have been healed and the past cords of negativity had been cut.  With the healing process over the past few months, I have become even more spiritually aware.  I became more sensitive to everything around me.  My intuition seemed sharpened to the point that I realized I was indeed reading more with my clairsentient skills.  This inner child work we did, taught me to open my heart chakra more so that I could listen with more compassion.  It taught me to open my throat chakra more so that I could fully express myself and my creativity.  It taught me to have courage to open my wounds, so that I could allow healing light to enter. 

 
I was now ready to hold the hand of my inner child and ride the stars with her, onward and upward. 



  

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 also mentors Tarot  protégés and actively coaches fellow intuitives who are in the midst of honing their psychic development whilst managing a full time job.

 

Website: www.sungoddesstarot.com

Email:  Joanna@sungoddesstarot.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot

Twitter: www.twitter.com/SunGoddessTarot

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Monday, 26 May 2014

Clear Cancel And Delete

Have you had the experience when you had just completed writing a long report for your boss filled with well-thought through plans and recommendations, or wrote a beautiful blog post charged with powerful heart-felt emotional energy, or wrote a long complaint letter to the authorities about what you would like to see improved within the community, then reviewed what you had written with the intention of sending the document through, only to go back to the paper to clear, cancel and delete, and start writing all over again?

That was what I did with the help of one of my intuitive coaches, Danielle Dove.  I did it with past energies that no longer served me.



I Shared The Same Issues With My Clients

Over the years, the intuitive readings that I had done for my clients were focused on uncovering the root cause of their present issues and helping them let go of past energies that had significant impact on these issues. I was always filled with a mega sense of gratitude that the Universe had guided them my way so that I could serve my purpose when I worked with these clients.

However,   I forgot that from time to time, even though we deployed every ounce of our positive energies to  help others as lightworkers, we might have our own residual negative energies from the past that we might need to take care of.  And that can only happen if and when we were made aware of it by someone slightly further removed from our day-to-day lives enough to lend an objective view to our issues.

I was filled with a mega sense of gratitude when the Universe blew Danielle my way, to do the same.  She managed to help me uncover the root cause of my present issues, my blockages, fears and anxieties.   I believed that when I managed to identify the root cause of these issues with her help, confront them with a measure of love and compassion,  and then let them go with all the courage that I could muster, it made me a better lightworker.  I saw myself in my clients with that extra dose of empathy so that  I could better walk that journey along with them.


How My Past Energies Affected The Present

You see, I spent years helping others, and was oblivious to the signs of my own issues.  I enjoyed channeling for others.  It felt great when I could obtain the visions and the messages to help them.  When it came to channeling for myself though, I was left with a complete blank in my mind’s eye.  It frustrated me greatly when I felt that I could not connect clearly with my guides for myself.

Sometimes, I went through mood swings and blamed it on the fact that as a psychic empath, I was picking up on the energies of others around me.  On good days, my readings for my clients were so easy.  On days when I went into these odd mood swings, these reading sessions seemed to look like a 8th grade concert performance.  I would be hit with the anxiety to “perform” in front of my clients.   I knew I needed help, but I was not sure how or what help I needed so Danielle came to the rescue.

She took me through a very emotionally-draining but much -needed exercise of going back to when I last felt angriest, saddest, anxious and lost.  Then we went in deeper to look at myself  then in that situation, through the eyes of my present self.  I had to  confront the situation, acknowledged how I felt then, embraced it with love and compassion and then I had to willingly let it all go.
After that exercise, I woke up to several facts that I did not realize were affecting me:

  • My past issues with my Mum after my divorce, though resolved on a physical plane, had actually left a residual sense of rejection within me.  I was not aware of it because my current relationship with Mum is fabulous and we are very close.  However, every time I came face to face with a challenge, a blockage or a delay in my work or personal life, I viewed it as a rejection of me.

  • That sense of rejection from that past incident, dictated how I conducted my relationship with my son presently.  So the anger, sadness and sense of rejection surfaced whenever my son did or said something that reminded me of how it felt like to be rejected.  Even something as simple as taking his dinner into his bedroom and shutting his door behind him, so that he could have his dinner in privacy and in front of his computer games, filled me with a sense of his rejecting for not wanting to have dinner with me.

  • Similarly, when I meditated and attempted to get into the zone enough to connect with my guides, I kept getting fuzzy images, sometimes nothing at all, or when I did meet my guides, I felt as if I was being questioned, “What are you doing here?”  I viewed these blockages as a rejection from my guides.

  • When I met a difficult client who was close-minded and skeptical about my intuitive abilities, I would usually do more grounding to protect myself from his or her energy.  However, the session might end up with my being left with a bitter taste in my mouth because I felt as if I was being rejected by the client.

I feared rejection.  My fear of rejection, if left unchecked could have been the biggest obstacle to my ability to serve my purpose with 100% commitment.


Opening Myself To Change And Letting Go


I often tell my clients, “Be open to change and let go of whatever that no longer serves you.”  With Danielle’s help, today I am able to tell myself that.  When I visited Mom over the weekend, my heart rushed out to embrace her with love.  I was more conscious of every effort she put into cooking my lunch, and twirling my hair into a little chignon so that stray strands of my long hair would not get in the way of my food.  I celebrated her laughter at my jokes as if she was the only member of my audience.  I was so grateful for the affection she showered on me when she turned my upturned t-shirt label at the nape of my neck inward and patted it back in place.  

When Joel was busy with his homework, I hugged him and told him how much I loved him. I held him close at church during mass as if to say how much I appreciated him being there.  

When I channeled my guides last night, I saw so clearly their faces in my mind’s eye.  I saw the glow around their features, even to the detail of the glasses on one of my guides.  I rejoiced and whispered my gratitude for their patience with me.     


Last week, when I spoke to Danielle, she had asked me this question, “On the scale of 1-10, 10 representing the deepest feeling of rejection, how did you feel when you visited that place in the past when you felt rejected by your family?”  My answer was a firm 8.   Today, I asked myself the same question and my answer is a firm 0. 


I have successfully cleared, cancelled and deleted what no longer served me and was committed to leaving behind that old Jo who had spent years fearing rejection, so that I could look forward to building a better relationship with my guides, and serving my soul purpose better.


10 of Swords


This evening, I picked up the 10 of Swords from my Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck and meditated on it.  I was so glad that my eyes went straight for the rising sun beyond the horizon, and took in the calmness of the clear blue sea within the card image.  The card seemed to assure me that the darkness would soon be dispelled, once I had stopped focusing on the 10 swords left stuck behind the man’s back.  However, like the exercise Danielle did with me earlier, I acknowledged the presence of the 10 swords and embraced them with love and gratitude for the lessons they taught me.  I imagined myself lying there with these swords in my back and began to pull them out one by one: 

  1. My divorce 15 years ago after an unhappy marriage,
  2. The friends who took sides against me after the divorce,
  3. My family’s rejection of me because divorce was “uncatholic”,
  4. My inability to spend more time with a sickly granddad because the family did not welcome me into their home,
  5. My struggles as a single mother,
  6. Years of financial uncertainty,
  7. Years of emotional instability, moving from home to home, bad boyfriends to worse boyfriends,
  8. Discovering the infidelities of my fiancé,
  9. The incessant fights with an ex-boss who did not respect me or my work
  10. The skepticism of my friends and some clients in my intuitive gifts when I first set up my consultancy Sun Goddess Tarot

The swords came out clean, and I visualized clean, green earth energy healing the wounds the swords had left behind my back.  I was able to get on my feet, and walk towards the sunshine in the horizon without the weight of these burdens on my back.

I believed that my guides were always there with me but they were just waiting for me to be ready to approach them from a space of love.  I saw them clearly for the first time last night when I channeled and acknowledged their glowing presence with my prayers of gratitude. 

 I am now ready to work closely with my guides to get my clients through their past issues.  So are you ready and willing to let go of your past that no longer serve you positively?



About The Writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade and an intuitive 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 consultancy based in Singapore called Sun Goddess Tarot,  which provides confidential intuitive readings combining the metaphysical disciplines of Tarot, Numerology and Astrology overlaid with her Clairvoyant and Clairsentient skills 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

10 of Swords from the Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck updated by Virginijus Poshkus

Saturday, 1 February 2014

Welcome Spring Through Tarot, Healing And Creativity

THE IMBOLC TAROT BLOG HOP

This blog post was written as my contribution to the Imbolc Tarot Blog Hop which incidentally, would be the first Tarot blog Hop for 2014!  Christiana Gaudet, the wrangler for this particular blog hop had decided on this topic "Tarot, Healing And Creativity".  To visit the blog posts on the same topic written by my fellow Tarot bloggers, please visit the links below:


Blog Before     |     Master List     |      Blog After 


IMBOLC WELCOMES SPRING


Imbolc, was celebrated as an ancient Celtic fire festival that marked the mid point in between the seasons of Winter and Summer.  The festival was a celebration of the renewal of the earth when prayers were focused on welcoming Spring. Bonfires and candles were lit to hark back light, longer and warmer days.  Hopes were placed on creating abundance, from planting seeds that could reap crops in a few months, to the birthing of  cattle, lamb and other farm animals.   At Imbolc, Brigid was celebrated by my Pagan friends as the Goddess of fire, healing, creativity and fertility.  


The Christians celebrated  the feast day of St Brigit of Kildare. St Brigit was honoured for her devout faith and support of creativity.  A testament to this was when she founded a school of art and nurtured skills like metal work and illumination.   Another testament to her creativity was when she approached King Leinster for a piece of land upon which she could build a convent.  The King laughed at her and promised her that she could have a piece of land as big as her cloak could cover.  When Brigit spread her cloak on the ground, it grew miraculously to cover acres of grounds.  The King,  having experienced this miracle, gave her the land as promised and became a Christian soon after.  In more ways than one, she should be honoured for the new beginnings she had established through her creativity.


TAROT, HEALING AND CREATIVITY

I saw Imbolc as a period that celebrated new beginnings.  Most people would have come off the year-end festivities with renewed vision of what they wanted the new year to hold for them.  It was a time when farmers started to plant new seeds, and people started to plan for the for the rest of the year.  As they prayed for light and warmer days, they wanted to embrace the future with optimism and looked forward to manifesting their goals with all the past experiences they had garnered.  It was exactly the same with my clients, who kept me extremely busy these few weeks because they were in the throes of 2014 planning and wanted guidance on career and relationship so that they could navigate challenges through the year.

 I have always believed that my purpose was to use my intuitive skills to support the journey of healing that my clients took through the creative Tarot spreads that I enjoyed designing when I read for them.    However,  beyond the creative Tarot spreads that one could design, I wanted to explore the nifty idea of telling a story through Tarot.   I worked in Public Relations, and in that profession, it was all about story-telling for a purpose, and I see that same synergistic skill I had been using to do my Tarot readings.

I was quite inspired by Arwen Lynch's work when I attended one of her presentations at an international tarot conference a couple of months ago.  She spoke about Tarot for writers, and that was where I got the idea.  She also wrote a book called "Mapping The Hero's Journey" which aimed to help aspiring writers  finish writing that book within 33 days.  I would not attempt to tell a story here using my Tarot cards.  I would  instead be writing a poem guided by the Tarot cards that I had picked as I wrote this blog post.  I also had the  immense help of a few glasses of wine. 


This poem is called A New Beginning because the focus of my work this month, was to help my clients heal from their negative experiences in the last year, so that they could move on to embrace a better and more positive 2014.  Bear with me as this was my first time writing poetry by randomly picking my Tarot cards.


A NEW BEGINNING



STRENGTH


A laboured walk through darkness

I leave painful footsteps within the snow
With my last vestige of strength
I fight my weary way through the cold

KING OF CUPS


Where am I going

I don't quite know
Perhaps to find a place of calm
Or a clear path for me to run

KNIGHT OF PENTACLES


But I know that soon dawn will break

This journey is one I have to take
Even when the burden weighs heavy on my lap
As I struggle to take my next step

TEN OF SWORDS


With eyes fixed upon the horizon

I shall release all disappointments

ACE OF WANDS


To a new beginning I approach

When I am guided to find the right road

 ~ Joanna Ash,  Sun Goddess Tarot



Thanks to Christiana and Arwen, I learnt to be slightly more experimental with my Tarot cards and took them beyond my client readings.  I managed to write poetry with them too!  However, that book has to wait though, I now have a headache from the wine. 

Again, here are the links to the wonderful posts written by my fellow Tarot bloggers. 

Blog Before     |     Master List     |      Blog After 



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









I picked these cards randomly to help me craft this poetry called A New Beginning.
These cards were taken from the Morgan Greer Tarot deck
created by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan.
The cards were laid out deosil around a candle used for my Imbolc prayer.

Saturday, 21 December 2013

Turning Darkness Into Light This Yuletide Season


This blog post was written as my contribution to the Yule Tarot Blog Hop. Welcome to the last Tarot blog hop of 2013.  If at any point you are daunted by the length of my blog post below, you can visit the blog before mine,  the blog after mine, or comb through the Master List for the rest of the participating blogs by following the links here:

The Blog Before      |       Master List       |      The Blog After

Rebirth At Yule

This Tarot blog hop is Yule-themed and focused on understanding how each member of our Tarot Blog Hop community had  “Turned Darkness Into Light”.   


Yule night or Winter Solstice sees the longest night of the year.  When the sun rises the next morning, we celebrate light with the rebirth of the sun as the dark half of the year makes way for the lighter half.   In the Northern Hemisphere, Yule was known as the Winter Solstice while in the southern hemisphere Yule was known as the Summer Solstice.  No matter where one was located and whichever religion or traditions one followed, Yule was always a magical time filled with excitement and steeped in traditions.  Yule saw the triumph of light over darkness.  As Celtic Yule lore went, Yule was celebrated as the rebirth of the Sun when the Oak King who ruled over the light part of the year, defeated the Holly King who ruled over the dark part of the year. So Yule brought with it the opportunity to be reborn with new light.
As the wrangler for this Yule 2013 Blog Hop, the season offered me a time to think about rebirth.  You see, it's been just over a year that I had been part of this Tarot Blog Hop community.  When I joined the community, I got more than the chance to share my thoughts about Tarot.  I gained so much more.
Gaining New Friends
Throughout the year, as part of this Tarot blog hop community, I built new friendships that transcended race, religious beliefs and geographical barriers.  Through them, I gained so much knowledge about how the Sabbats along the Wheel of the Year were celebrated. Besides gaining new friends, amongst them, I had found wonderful Tarot professionals who had become mentors, teachers, and confidantes so critical to my growth as a Tarot reader.
Indeed, the members of this Tarot blog hop community were my light along this journey of growth.  One cannot possibly fathom the number of reading techniques, Tarot spreads, astrological and numerological correspondences, as well as spiritual practices that I had learnt from this group of Tarot professionals. Because of their openness, I realized, I need not be bothered with an “ism” to feel belonged.  I need not be a Pagan to be celebrating the Sabbats together with my Pagan friends, just as one need not be a Tarot enthusiast, to be opened to the advice and guidance I could provide with my Tarot cards.  Through the darkness of ignorance, my fellow Tarot pals held my hand towards the light of knowledge.
Gaining New Perspective On My Faith
I finally went back to church.  Raised as a Roman Catholic, I made peace with myself and with my God over the course of the year.  You see, I grew up realizing that my spiritual journey was a matter between Him and I, so I welded magical systems and rituals within my Catholic framework to create what was uniquely a path of my own.  As Monte Farber said, "Rituals help build a spiritual connection in our daily lives by acknowledging the existence of a Higher Power."  

In a way, this experience became my rebirth.  Comfortable with my relationship with my God, no longer ashamed of my intuitive gifts and believing that He accepted my eccentricities and loved me as I was, I finally went back to church to attend mass every Sunday.  That period of "darkness" had indeed turned into light because I accepted that I was given a gift for a purpose.  My full moon ritual every month, was always dedicated to thanking Him for the abundance that surrounds me.  This Yule, as I held the energy within my sacred space, I thought of the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines who do not have heat, clean water, shelter and food.  My ritual  was dedicated to bringing warmth, light and comfort to those who are not as fortunate as we are during this yuletide season.
I would like to take this opportunity to share my prayer specially written for my Yule ritual:


"Poinsettias, mistletoe and holly bright.  
We welcome Yule and the return of light.
Angels guard and guide me as I cast my circle tonight.
 The sun returns, with His birth, the Lord of Light.  
As I light this candle to dispel darkness, doubt and disappointments,
I thank God for blessings of love, hope and abundance. 
I pray that I bring light , healing and love as I go forth,
To touch the world from East to South to West to North.”


Gaining A New Spiritual Awakening - The Judgement Card
Perhaps, the most important thing I had gained just recently, was my spiritual reawakening.

As Yule for me was like a rebirth, I had decided to meditate on the Judgement card.  For this purpose, I used the Judgement card from my Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck updated by Virginijus Poshkus and published by US Games.
The Judgement card depicts a  man, woman and child rising from the dead on judgment day, to the sounds of the trumpet being played by an angel.  Mountains and turbulent sea in the background represent  life’s challenges that they had been through and are being called to be judged on their response to each of these challenges.
I meditated on how my spiritual journey had evolved and this card was so appropriate.  My new spiritual awakening saw me walking into a new discovery with my Tarot cards.  As I grew my intuitive skills, I had become more opened to receiving spiritual messages in whatever shape and form. I have recently learnt to use the cards to connect with those who had passed.  

I had a conversation with my late father-in-law a few weeks ago.  You can read about it here: http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-conversation-with-my-father-in-law.html    The conversation I had with him through my cards had made me conscious of what I needed to do more to solder my relationship with David. 

Also, because my conversation with my father-in-law opened an opportunity for me to convince David about the reality of the afterlife, I was 'urged' to describe an incident whereby David had a huge fight with his brother, Rob when he was quite young.  Now, David is much younger than Rob, so with that age gap, it was quite out of character for them to be in an intense fight like that.  I described to him about the vision of how he pinned Rob down in an attempt to rain some punches at him when his usually docile Dad stepped in to break the fight. His Dad was a gentle, quiet soul who was never known to be angry but he was terribly angry and disappointed then.  When I related this incident to David, he said, " How did you know this?  I have never told you about this incident before. It was so long ago".   I calmly replied, " Your Dad told me, so you can believe me enough to have a proper conversation with him. And you have to do so soon before he goes back into the light."  I encouraged David to spend a moment to talk to his Dad, and he did, so that he could 'close the loop' on the conversations he should have had with him but never could.  

I am not sure where this new discovery will lead me.  However, I am still awed by how much more depth I could build with my cards, and what else I could do with them.  As long as my heart and mind remains open to spiritual messages, I could help clients  beyond the usual career, family and relationship issues. Perhaps, with practice, I could hold the hands of some clients through their period of grief and bereavement. After all, true to my purpose, my intuitive skills were meant to help them turn darkness into light.

Thanks for allowing me to share what Yule means to me.  Do visit Louise's blog lined up before mine or Olivia's blog lined up after mine.  And do not miss out on the rest of the wonderful blogs.  The respective links are below:


The Blog Before      |       Master List       |      The Blog After


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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Judgement card from the Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck updated 
by Virginijus Poshkus and published by US Games.
My Yule Candle - This particular candle was used at a service at church to
pray for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.  I have brought it back to grace
the altar at home for my Yule ritual