The Joy Of Gifting At Yule

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This blog post was written as my contribution to the Yule 2014 Tarot Blog Hop which was wrangled by none other than the joy seeker herself,  Arwen Lynch.

Yule, on 21 December,  is a celebration of the Winter Solstice when we experience the longest night of the year, in anticipation of the start of  the cycle when the day gets longer. In the darkest of hours, I began to turn inward to ask myself, what truly fulfills me, what have I given of myself and what have I recieved that had given me joy.   

Many do honour the balance between light and darkness at Yule, so I would like to look at Yule as a representation of the need for balance in my life.   This year has seen me attempting to balance time and energy amongst the many commitments I have on my plate. Most of these commitments involve my giving a lot of time and energy to the people around me who matter, but I had to also learn to balance these efforts by giving myself time and space, and taking care of my own needs.

So Arwen did have foresight when she asked that we focused on one Tarot  spread for our Yule blog post.  This was a spread about the joy of gifting.  When I approached the topic of what had been giving me lots of joy, it really came down to the passion that had driven me to put 100% into each and every commitment that I had been involved in throughout the year.  

When I shuffled my cards to  Arwen’s Tarot spread the one message that I took out of it was that the biggest gift the universe had given me, was the courage which saw me through my passions.  

Using the Morgan Greer Tarot Deck by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan, below is my interpretation of the cards picked to Arwen’s Joy of Gifting Tarot spread.


What gift would I give the world if I could? - Queen of Pentacles


The Queen of Pentacles is an embodiment of balance.  She balances her life well with her capability of sustaining a productive career whilst using her sense of selfless love and compassion to generously spend time on nurturing and caring for people who matter.   This is a great card to pick for what I would love to be able to give the world.  My life has been inundated with multiple commitments all of which seem to rank equal in terms of priority.  I have been juggling my full time career as a marketing and PR professional, while running my consultancy Sun Goddess Tarot, my  assignments as a freelance sports writer, my family and my kickboxing training.  I do admit that the multiple activities on my plate have been overwhelming.  I hardly have time for friends and family.   There are days I even connect with my own husband and mum on facebook.  So yes, the gift I would like to give the world, particular to the people who matter, is my time and my energy, yet be able to efficiently balance this with my  other priorities.  


What gift would I want from the world? - The Hermit


 The Hermit reminded me of my role as someone who should be using my skills, experience and passion to guide and inspire. However, to do this best, I needed to be able to take care of myself.  The only way I could take care of myself, was to give myself some space and time for introspection and surround myself with positivity.   So I saw 2  interpretations with the appearance of the Hermit.  As a gift, what I would love most from the world, would be the gift of space.  Just as I put a lot of demands on myself, I sometimes feel that there are a lot of expectations from me coming from multiple sources.  I am expected to perform at my peak at work, as an intuitive reader, as a mentor and guide to my team and my clients.  I am expected to deliver on projects and assignments as quickly as I can before the next assignment comes in.  I am expected to make vast progress in my kickboxing training because of the commitment of time and resource that I put into it.  So I think the best gift would be space.  I need space to be alone, tap into my inner self, recalibrate my thoughts and my spiritual energy.  While I appreciate being surrounded by so many wonderful people, I do appreciate some alone time, free from expectations.  I need space.   The second interpretation of the Hermit is in terms of a spiritual guide and mentor.    I do have a spiritual guide and mentor but she is so far away from me, in France.  One of the  best gifts I could have is the ability to spend some time with her in person and surround myself with her strength and positivity.  We are oceans apart but I am so glad that we are so spiritually connected enough for me to learn so much from her.  


What gift have I gotten that brought me joy? - 3 of Pentacles Reversed + King of Wands


The reversed 3 of Pentacles threw me off and I had to think long and hard about this.  So I picked a second card to clarify the reversed 3 of Pentacles and the King of Wands appeared.   I finally saw the light when I realized that for years, I had been leading a life of mediocrity.  Life was wrought with the mundanity of the usual rigmarole of work and home and that triggered my restlessness.  The King was a reflection of how I had decided to inject passion back into my life by getting involved in activities outside my comfort zone.  I started to lift my consultancy Sun Goddess Tarot to a new level by investing in a newly developed website, better content and a search optimization strategy.  I got more than I bargained for when I was asked to conduct more workshops and do a lot more consultancy work for corporates who valued my intuitive gifts enough to obtain my help as they navigated their businesses, both start-ups and established ones.  Another niche area had just opened up with parents of newborns who had been asking me to use numerology to select names for their babies.   I started paying attention to my health and fitness but got  more than I bargained for when I fell in love with kickboxing.  When I fell in love with kickboxing and gave it 100% of my commitment to be a competitive kickboxer, I got more than I bargained for when I became a freelance sports writer specializing in mixed martial arts.


What gift have I given that brought me joy? - King of Pentacles


Another King!  The King of Pentacles is an embodiment of one who nurtures, guides, advice and mentors others.  He provides much security and stability to others through his skills, experience, and maturity.  I do like to think of myself as the King of Pentacles. I feel much gratitude that I am able to financially provide for the family, so that they can all live comfortably and have a wee bit extra to enjoy a little luxury from time to time.  However, I think as I harness the strengths of the King, I am more than a financial provider.  As a daughter,  I have been a listening ear to Mum as she dedicates all her time and energy to taking care of my Dad who had been recovering from a stroke.  As a wife and mother, I have been holding the hands of my husband and son everyday, supporting them in everything that they do.   At work, as a manager, I am more friend and sister to my team than I am a boss as I guide and mentor them through their work.  As an intuitive reader, I support and advice my clients when they meander their way through difficult situations.  In truth, I am grateful that my gift to the world is my ability to harness the strengths of the King of Pentacles.


What is one last thing that I would like to share this season? –  9 of Wands

The 9 of Wands is a message of courage and persistence.  It is definitely an apt message for me to share with everyone this season, with the hope of inspiring others with the same.  You see, juggling multiple commitments on my plate is not easy.   I have had a tough time with a balancing act between all these commitments, which are of almost equal importance to me. And I consider them so because I am passionate about everyone one of them.   However, what keeps me going everyday, is that my persistence and courage are what sees me through these passions as I manage them each day.  When I can follow through with my passions, then the juggling act would gradually become effortless.  Today, I consider my marketing career, my intuitive consultancy, Sun Goddess Tarot, my hobby as a freelance sports writer, my kickboxing training and my family as my passions.  That courage and persistence I leverage to help me manage these passions, are the universe's gifts to me.

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 About The Writer:

The writer of this blog post is a marketeer by trade, and an intuitive reader by accident who deploys the combined modalities of a Tarot, Numerology and Astrology overlaid with her Clairvoyant and Clairsentient skills to deliver her readings with authenticity. 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 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 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

This was created by Morgan Drake Eckstein

A present from my sister-in-law, Cal, all the way from Scotland to Singapore, with love

The Joy Of Gifting Tarot Spread Using The Morgan Greer Tarot Deck

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
.

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

Nurturing Light This Spring

The First Tarot Blog Hop of 2013

Having had so much fun with a few Tarot Blog Hops last year, I had very quickly put my name down for the first Tarot Blog Hop of 2013, themed to celebrate Imbolc.  The topic conceived by Maureen Aisling Duffy-Boose is titled "In The Belly" and we were tasked to explore the ideas we were nurturing during a season that celebrated new beginnings.  I am grateful that you are reading this post to get my perspective on what Imbolc means to me.  I would urge you to visit the blogs of my fellow Tarot Blog Hoppers whose blog links can be found here http://tarotwitchery.blogspot.com/2013/02/tarot-blog-hop-master-list.html.    If you have hopped onto my blogpost from USGames's blog at http://usgs.typepad.com/blog/2013/02/imboc-tarot-blog-hop.html welcome. 

Imbolc

Imbolc is also known as Candlemas and Groundhog's Day.  As a Roman Catholic, I celebrate this day as the feast day of St Brigid of Kildare.  It's also called Candlemas when referenced to the commemoration of the presentation of Jesus at the temple as a baby when he was proclaimed as the one true hope and light.    In Celtic celebrations, Brigid is revered as the Goddess of healing, writing, poetry and prosperity.  As a solar goddess, she represents the fire and light that burns within us.  When we nurture this light, it  creates inner healing and revitalizes one with energy.  Coincidentally, Chinese New Year, the festive season that celebrates Spring is just around the corner too.  So my friends and family are in the throes of cleaning out the old and welcoming the new, with every effort focused on creating a more prosperous Chinese New Year.

Celebrating New Beginnings

Imbolc, Candlemas or St Brigid's Feast day occurs on February 2nd. It marks the mid way mark between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Traditionally regarded as the beginning of Spring, this is the time the first stirrings  of Spring can be seen.  Seeds that were planted a few months earlier will start to see signs of life. Farmers celebrate the return of fresh milk with the birth of the first lambs.  Daylight starts to get longer.  The warmth of the Sun is being welcomed back again.  For some of us, we celebrate it as a rebirth and a new beginning.  It is a period we nurture new creative ideas as we make concrete plans to achieve our goals. 

As we nurture new ideas, the thing I had asked myself was, "Just like the changing of the season from Winter to Spring, what changes did I want to make moving forward?"

Finding Light

Last year, due to my love for writing, I had decided to start writing a book to mark a milestone in my journey with Sun Goddess Tarot.  However, with distractions, I never got to finish that project and my scripts were left filed away in a folder called "Stuff".   As a New Year's resolution, one of my goals was to finish that book.  I also wanted to enhance my skills as a Tarot reader to provide even more depth to the readings that I did for my clients. Last year, as I was fueled with enthusiasm for Tarot, I attended so many courses and was constantly studying.  Juggling these courses, studies, my work as a volunteer reader, my mentoring programs and undertaking professional readings at the same time, all started to cause a burn-out in me. Taking on the book project was just all too much that I started getting writer's block.  I literally could not face my scripts mid way through that project.  Moreover, as I was exhausted, my creativity in doing the business development work for my Tarot consultancy started waning.  In truth, the light within me was threatening to snuff itself out. 

That needed to change.  I needed more focus.

The Imbolc Tarot Spread To Nurture Light

Imbolc presented a perfect time for me to rethink how I wanted to approach my Tarot business and what other creative ideas I could nurture to make this year even more meaningful to my clients.  Being a festival of light, I decided to create a Tarot Spread in the formation of a Candle Wheel or Sun Wheel, to get some insights to help me start the "birthing" process critical to re-charting my plans for the year.   I used the Tarot of the Pagan Cats for this spread.

1)  What can I do best to bring light to my clients? – Lovers

2) What can I do best to bring light to myself? - Ace of Cup

3) What can I do best to fan that light to keep my creativity burning as I work on rolling out my plans? - King of Pentacles Reversed

4) What must I do to prevent that light from waning so that I can carry my plans through to full term? - The Hanged Man

5) What final advice can the cards offer to ensure the successful delivery of my plans? - Queen of Swords

What can I do best to bring light to my clients? - The Lovers

The Lovers card represents mutual attraction, trust, passion and harmony.  For me, it was an affirmation to continue bringing light to my clients who trusted me and my work leveraging something I am most passionate about - Tarot.   It is also a card  that represents the process by which I establish what's important  and what's not in my life, because of Tarot, and sharing that personal belief system with my clients so that they can let go of what no longer serve and continue to pursue the goals that they are meant to pursue. 

Through Tarot, I have helped them to make important decisions in their lives and will continue to do so this year. That's how I can best bring light to my clients.

What can I do best to bring light to myself? - Ace of Cups

The Ace of Cups offered me an opportunity to do something that fulfilled me.  Tarot did and it still does.  The reason why I started getting exhausted was that I lost sight of something that fulfilled me even more, and that was using Tarot to do even more and better projects that could help my clients.  The Ace of Cups sees me starting a new creative venture. And it asked me to have faith, follow my heart and listen to my intuition. My intuition told me to go back to the scripts of that book, tear them up and restart my book again, taking the topic in a different direction.  My intuition also told me that while I had nurtured a business idea to take my business into the corporate space last year, I should start making plans to see the idea to fruition this year.   The Ace of Cups is a dare to me to drink from the cup of opportunities that will fulfill me this year. 

 I have a strange feeling, that book and the efforts around corporate coaching are actually a single project that will come together to build something even bigger.

What can I do best to fan that light to keep my creativity burning as I roll out my plans? - King of Pentacles Reversed

The King of Pentacles upright, represents financial security, commitment, diligence and an enterprising disposition.  In the reversed, this King warns me that it is not enough just to work hard, but I had to work smart too.  Working smart means being practical and flexible about the way my Tarot business is run.  

In order to keep the light of passion for the business burning brightly, it was essential to not just come out with creative  ideas to take the business up another level.  It pays to cooperate with fellow light workers too who have skill-sets in which I have gaps.  In that way, I can create even more interesting yet relevant opportunities leveraging the different strengths of my fellow colleagues.  With this card, I got suddenly inspired with so many great ideas to organize events, workshops and coaching sessions with fellow light workers.

What must I do to prevent that light from waning so that I can carry my plans through to full term? - The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man was an interesting pick for this question.  I gleaned 2 interpretations with the card.  A few weeks ago, I fell out with someone who termed my work around Tarot as "Mambo Jambo".  I was extremely upset by that prejudicial assault on my spiritual pursuits that I spent a week driven to depression and bound by anger that wasted away my energies which could have been better used for the purpose of helping a client.  

The Hanged Man reminded me that sometimes, I still grapple with worries about the skepticism of people who don't know me well.  As such, I don't actively market Sun Goddess Tarot beyond my circle of friends and behind the safety net of facelessness afforded me by my social network platforms.  The Hanged Man is an advice to give birth to my creative ideas freely and without worries about how others see me. I needed to have more self confidence and not allow skeptics contribute to my being "suspended" and not being able to move beyond my creative boundaries.

As a second interpretation, the Hanged Man also warned me that I needed to be willing to invest time and energy to pursue my spiritual and personal goals with Tarot.  While I was devoted to the cause I would need to consider how I should be planning my time and efforts and juggling them with my other priorities.  Last year, I was exhausted beyond words because I wanted to do everything at the same time out of enthusiasm to devour more knowledge and pursue exciting projects.  This year, I planned to take a step back and focus on just a few but bigger projects in a bid to prevent the light within me from waning.  As I write this, I am starting to feel the stirrings of a new theme for that book within my heart and my mind.

What final advice can the cards offer to ensure the successful delivery of my plans? - Queen of Swords

The Queen of Swords advised me that the seeds of the projects that I had aimed to plant this Spring would require my making business decisions not with my heart only but also with my head.  I also needed to carry my projects through with clarity of purpose and a sound, logical plan. The Queen also assured me that as long as I maintained my honest and upfront disposition, I should never worry what the skeptics have to say about my love for Tarot and I should never allow them to curb my creativity and my passion.

Nurturing Light This Spring

The one big take away from the interpretation of my Imbolc Tarot Spread above is that the light of creativity and passion within me, can only be nurtured by me and me alone.  It gave me a clear direction to be more focused with my pursuits and to let my intuition guide me to do only what will eventually fulfill me.  It taught me that it’s okay to step back and re-evaluate and re-chart my goals when I am “not feeling it”.   It taught me never to fear skepticism because only I can determine the positive outcomes I want to influence.  It gave me hope and assurance that I can continue to keep the fire of creativity within me burning to warm the hearts and lives of my clients and myself through Tarot.

On that note, may I take this opportunity to invite you to read my Tarot Blog Hop neighbour, Christiana's perspective on the significance of Imbolc at http://tarottrends.com/content/divining-brigid

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 a Tarosophy Tarot Diploma from Tarot Professionals Ltd.  She is also a certified numerologist; hence her reading style blends numerological significance with Tarot card interpretations. 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 as well as the FTN.
She can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot or www.sungoddesstarot.com