A Day Wasted On A Tarot Card

Hidden Agendas – 7 of Swords

 

Today, I picked the 7 of Swords from Maria Kurara’s Black Cats Tarot deck as my Card du Jour and that got me reeling in a sense of dread about coming to work after a restful weekend. The card warned me of the prospect of being embroiled in a situation that involved people with hidden agendas.  I truly had no time for corporate politics at this time, not especially, with the fact that after  recovering from the upheaval of a departmental restructuring, we now had to get on with a ton of work around projects that were marked “urgent”.  I had to steel myself to be wary of those whose goals were not aligned with mine or were not aimed at a higher good. This calls for an introspective approach to work issues.  I reminded myself that I should not be reacting to anything or anyone when challenged today.  It could be part of a hidden agenda to get me in trouble.

 

So I spent most of today keeping to myself, keeping my head down, and just reminding myself to be tactful and sensible at meetings.  The day passed with no incident apart from a missing avocado that I had asked and paid for, but did not get, at the sandwich shop nearby.

 

As I tucked into my sandwich at lunch behind my desk, I waited with my guard up for anyone that might pass by my desk whom I thought fell into that description of the 7 of Swords.  Every email that came in, was scanned in-between the lines for hidden meanings that I thought was meant to trap me into responding with one of my explosively sarcastic replies.  

 

The only indication of what the 7 of Swords card might have pointed to, was my time wasted in trying not to get into any trouble of sorts, my inability to contribute effectively at meetings for fear of being slapped at the back of my head for not being aligned to management, and my open expression of sheer joy when a member of the management team called of a conference call due to conflicting appointments, hence delaying the project deliverables for awhile.  I felt so guilty about making my work day so unproductive just because I built a “protective shell” around myself, more concerned with my own needs rather than that of the company.  

 

Own up now.  How many of you had fallen into the same trap when you pick a similar card to advise you on how best you should be managing your day?

 

So my day at work came and gone, and I hurried to my slew of back to back Tarot reading appointments in the evening.  Funnily, out of the 3 readings I had done, the common card that showed up in the Advice position was the Judgement Reversed.

 

So this brings me to the next topic of accountability.

 

Accountability – Judgement Reversed

 

The reversed Judgement card from the Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck updated by Virginijus Poshkus, was a poignant reminder to me that I could not be totally free of blame, for whatever could potentially happen to me, at work or at home.  Every time we collide head-on with the “negative train”, we blame it on everyone around us and the external environment that we are in, but we forget that we are the artist behind that canvas we call life.  We need to be accountable for our actions, knowing that every decision that we had made in the past, actually accounts for what we experience today.  Why would I need to lie in wait for people with hidden agendas, welding a knife behind their back when I should be confident about the amount of meticulous effort and thought that had gone into my work?  If there were changes within the department or the company, why would I need to build a barbwire fence around myself when I had made that decision to stay on with the company to deliver on its business objectives, aligned with the management team?  When I made that choice to spend a good number of years with the company, it is somewhat like a marriage.  I had chosen to commit my time and effort to co-creating a successful business with the rest of my colleagues.  There will be rough days, and there will be great days.  But most of all, these would be meaningful days built on my original decision to stick with it through thick and thin.  Ultimately, I am accountable for my own decisions.  If I choose to leave the organization in the future, then, I would need to ensure that I am accountable for the consequence as well. No complaints.

 

Ultimately, I needed to let go of my fear of changes and challenges that may come my way. I  needed to let go of my dislike for certain people whom I worked with and who were responsible for some of the more unpleasant days I had at work, because it did not serve me well at all.   I needed to let go of past perceptions of my role and my scope of work within my company when departmental reorganizations happened, because these perceptions only serve to limit the potential of what my team can do in the future.   I needed to deal with past disappointments from people at work who indeed had hidden agendas.  Clinging on to these  limited my growth in the company. The truth of the matter is, I cannot control what happens within the environment, but I can control how I react to whatever happens within my environment.  

 

One of my favourite cards is the Devil card from Judith McKay Stirt’s The Cook’s Tarot deck.  It reminded me that I can never be bonded to negativity unless I allowed it.    I had the power to break free from the chains of negativity in a tension-filled job, in the best way that made me most accountable to my family, my staff, my company and myself.

 

See how much Tarot can teach you with just 1 card in the morning?  Not wasted at all.

 

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

 

Instagram: @SunGoddessTarot

 

 

 

 

 

A Paradoxical Perspective At The First Signs Of Spring

Blog Before     |      Master List      |        Blog After

This blog post was written as my contribution to the Tarot Blog Hop to celebrate the Celtic festival of Imbolc on 2 February 2015.

Our wrangler Karen Sealey had asked that we explore the topic of “Oracular Anomalies” for this particular blog hop. That was initially deemed as an interesting feat  for me because I could not even pronounce the  words – oracular anomalies, let alone understand what that meant.  For someone who did not celebrate Imbolc, to finally understand what the festival meant after spending 2 years in the company of this wonderful Tarot blogging community,  this new phrase Oracular Anomalies had given me a month of worry. I remembered muttering to myself, “ Oh Karen, it finally dawned on me what Imbolc is. Now I have to try to find out what Oracular Anomaly means? Damn you, woman.”   

 So what I had decided to do was to break the phrase down the way I did with my Muay Thai and boxing training.  I broke the moves and combinations down during my training sessions so I could practice them each week in the hope of improving over time.  Often, a light bulb might switch on, on one of the combinations when I realized that it was created to simulate a situation when I am met with an aggressive opponent who might push me to the corner of the ring and leave me with no room to move.

The light bulb switched on for me about Imbolc too.  It made sense that my friends were lighting candles in every room to mark the day of Imbolc when it was a festival that celebrated the beginnings of Spring and the rebirth of the Sun.  It made sense to me that Karen had asked that we themed this blog post “Oracular Anomalies” so that we could share how our experience with Tarot had cracked a new dawn for us.

The Fool

So today, I want to write about the Fool card and the card I picked for this blog post was the Fool from the Radiant Rider Waite Tarot deck updated by Virginijus Poshkus.   I looked at the card in detail and started asking, “Why is this card marked 0?” It is the first card of the Major Arcana, so why could they not just mark it as 1.  Why did they have to label it as 0?  A journey had to start somewhere.  For numerologists like us, new beginnings, fresh new starts, a first step to a new journey is always marked by the number 1.  Yet, the Fool card which is a card of new beginnings, fresh new starts, a first step to a new journey, is labeled as 0. I had no answers to this ”anomaly” apart from the fact that we numerologists used to think that Tarotists were a complicated bunch that needed to just sit and chill for a bit.

In the card, the Fool had the image of a man about to step off  the cliff.  His head looked up to the sky as if trusting the Universe to guide his hand along his journey.  His dog beside him was like a companion assuring him that wherever he went, he will not be alone.  The card illuminated in bright orange, full of sunshine, hope and positivity, as one would feel when they embark on a new journey.  As a numerologist, my lifepath is 7 and I do not take unnecessary risks, often rendering a lot of thought and analysis to every move I make particularly when it comes to my career goals.  This Fool card however, seems to depict a man who is about to fall off a cliff and not giving two hoots if he did or not.  I do trust the Universe, and I am thankful for the support I get from my friends and family.  However, as a believer of this reality that I am a creator of my own circumstance, I find it difficult to let go in the belief that I would not fall off the cliff just because  I have got the Universe, my friends and my family holding my hands. I don’t mind taking risks, if they are indeed calculated ones.    So that brings me to how I saw the numerological significance of the Fool card evolving.

While The Fool is marked as the number 0 card in Tarot, it is also the 22^nd card of Tarot – the beginning and the end.  As a numerologist, 22 is the number of the master builder and when we reduce it, it becomes 4.  4 is the number of the Emperor card in Tarot. The master number of 22 may suggest the presence of an older soul coming into one’s lifetime to make an important contribution for mankind be it in the spiritual, medical, religious, educational, or creative field. The 22 number often suggests that one is endowed with gifts enabling him or her to lean towards leadership and inspiration and those who have this number in their birthdates often feel a heightened sense of obligation to the community, hence needing a greater measure of discipline, humility, control and awareness.  This speaks to me from the voice of the Emperor’s card.  The Emperor is an archetype that represents authority, structure, discipline and stability.  He is able to create order out of chaos because of his keen sense of structured and meticulous planning and he is able to provide and protect because of his wisdom, experience and authority.  As the Fool meets the Emperor along his journey, he gets offered guidance and direction.  With his strong leadership, the Emperor mentors, supports and advises the Fool as he navigates his journey towards his goals.  

The Emperor

This spoke to me a lot and cracked a new dawn for me as like the Fool, I had been meandering along my journey of discovery about my spiritual self. Beyond the work around tarot, numerology and astrology, I had been developing my clairvoyant and mediumship skills.   Along the way, I met a lot of teachers and mentors who were manifested by the Emperor card in tarot.  They have been critical to my spiritual growth, developing my knowledge and my skills and encouraging me along the way. Today, I take on the mantle as an advisor, teacher and mentor to my students, leveraging the same energies of the Emperor’s card, yet I am still on the Fool’s journey of making  new discoveries every day.

If you look at the Fool card closely, the terrain is rough, and there are mountains surrounding him.  Where the Fool steps next, could be a perilous road ahead.  In the same way,  I had been through a tumultuous journey of bad experiences ranging from health, career and familial issues.  However,   had also learnt that I cannot make new discoveries, learn new things, or make fresh starts if and when I cling on to vestiges of these negative issues.   This then brings me to another card  that had the numerological energies of the number 4  - the  Death card.  Death is numbered 13 in a Tarot deck, which when reduced, becomes a 4.  

Death

It made so much sense.  As the Death card suggests, one needs to let go of unhealthy aspects of life, and all vestiges of negativity that no longer serves in order to pave the way for a  fuller life of new learnings and experiences that the Fool needs to go through to enrich his life. My entire spiritual journey had been one big purging exercise of what I had previously thought as rational and explainable. I remembered how I had gasped at my clairvoyant experiences and dismissed it as over-thinking and a result of work stress.  I had to purge my ignorance, to open my heart, mind and soul to the messages that my spirit guides were trying to give me.   I remembered how I had brushed my intuitive gifts under the carpet because of the fear of being laughed at.  I learnt to purge my ego so I could help my clients through their own journeys.  I remembered how I had stayed away from books and tarot cards because they were not aligned with my religion as a Roman Catholic.  I learnt to purge my fear as I helped others through their lack of knowledge and ignorance and opened their heart and mind to the fact that my intuitive gifts were God-given.

Thanks Karen for suggesting such a difficult topic to celebrate Imbolc, the dawn of a new Spring.  In Singapore, we are celebrating Spring too with the coming Lunar New Year, so this topic is very apt for me as I visit my relatives over the Lunar New Year period.  You see, just a few years ago, these visits were a deft practice of how fast I could “eat and run” after visiting each home.   Now, many of them want me to stay longer so that I could do random Tarot and Numerology readings for their respective guests at their homes. 

Here’s hoping that everyone who reads this blog post be blessed with Springtime abundance.

Blog Before     |      Master List      |        Blog After

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

Instagram: @SunGoddessTarot

Happy New Year And Bring On 2015

Happy New Year!  2015 is finally here!  

What are your aspirations for 2015 and how are you empowering them?   When I thought about my aspirations for 2015, I dug deep at  my experiences in 2014 for lessons I could bring into the new year.   

Looking Back At 2014

I looked back at 2014 with a lot of gratitude for the blessings of new friendships made, new opportunities that came my way, the spiritual growth that I built through my experiences, important lessons learnt and an even stronger bond with the family.  The Tarot year card for 2014 was the Chariot, the 7th card in a Tarot deck, The Chariot is a card representing victory and success in achieving goals through sheer determination and focusedness.  The card urged me then to strive for success  through self discipline, determination and the courage to step up and assume accountability for my life and my passions.   2014 being  a year 7 in Numerology urged me not to act impulsively when confronted by issues but to galvanize my thoughts  with proper evaluation of the repercussions and impact of my actions.  I was so grateful for the times I was guided to step back and reassess the way I got to my goals.  In a year when I juggled my full time career in Marketing and Public Relations, with my business as an intuitive consultant and teacher, my training in boxing and Muay Thai and my hobby as a freelance fight journalist,  I was forced to look at where best to invest my time and energy, and make the right choices to ensure that I took care of the people around me as best as I took care of myself.

Looking Forward To 2015

So here are my perspectives about 2015:

Year Numerology

The year is governed by the number 8 in numerology.   8 is the number of executive power, ambition, opportunities, abundance.  8 is the number that urges one to dream big and turn these dreams into reality.  8 asks that you harness the right resources to create your own opportunities.  8 is about making astute financial plans and leveraging the  right financial opportunities. The number fans the flames of bold decision-making based on good judgement, confidence and the determination to attain one's goals.   Finally, the number 8 forces me to leave all negative aspects of my past so that I can be ready to tread on a journey of self -discovery, embrace new growth and approach every challenge with a can-do attitude.

Strength In  Tarot

In tandem with the numerological 8 influence, the Tarot year card for 2015 is the Strength card, which is the 8th card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck.  Strength is a card reminding us of the power of human will, determination and the tenacity of the inner spirit.  You are advised to harness the traits of this card as you approach 2015, and know that sometimes, soft persuasion in the face of challenges is more effective than brute force and aggressive confrontation.

Year Of The Goat

In about a month and the half, we will be welcoming the year of the goat. The 8th animal in the Chinese zodiac.  Goats are gentle creatures known to coexist very well with men and other animals.  They have a determined streak and their tenacity is second to none,  Have you seen  goats scaling treacherous mountains to hunt for food?  That's the tenacity you will need to leverage when you maneuver the challenges of 2015.

Full Moon In Cancer

The first full moon of the year appears around 5 January, in Cancer.  The full moon is a time of manifesting your goals and with this full moon, powerful energies are at work to support you on this quest.  The Cancer full moon urges you to tap your inner wisdom to make the right choices that could influence your desired outcomes.  You will find that you will need to dig deep and surface every sinew of insecurities, confront them and allow your intuitive sense to point you in the right direction to your goals.  

Sun In Capricorn

Until 20th January, the Sun is in Capricorn and it fuels your ambitions to turn your dreams into reality and attain your goals.  The 8 numerology will fan the flames of this ambitions during this period.  As long as you work towards your goals leveraging conventional wisdom, you should be on your way to getting what you have set your mind to achieve.

Mercury Retrograde

Mercury goes retrograde from 21st January to 31st January.   In case you do not know what Mercury retrograde mean, please refer to my previous blog post.  Do not hide in the closet in the face of mercury retrograde. See it as an opportunity to reassess everything you are doing to get to your goals. In fact, you might have to re-evaluate your goals and then re-chart your journey to get to your destination.  Do not allow your fear of Mercury Retrograde to cast doubts on what you can achieve. 

Day Numerology

Finally, 1 January 2015 is numerologically governed by 1.  A New Year always bodes a brand new start for you.  If you had spent time thinking about your New Year resolutions, it is time to put them into action. What's your resolution?  My resolution for this new year, is to focus on goals that bring me the greatest fulfillment and to power these goals with the courage to follow through on my passions.

So there you go, definitely a colossal amount of things to ponder on as you prepare to confront the new year.  I hope my perspectives are useful in helping you maneuver your 2015.

Here's wishing you many blessings of sunshine and laughter for the new year.

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

Do Not Take It Out On Mercury Retrograde

Bad Week

This week had not been particularly super for me.  I seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed.  My Ipad on which I used to do most of my work for Sun Goddess Tarot started to act up on me.  I could not get into my social media platforms from my Ipad.  So I decided to use my trusty Iphone to do my daily posts, and my writings instead.  However, even my trusty Iphone could not be trusted to deliver to my expectations of what an Apple product had promised to deliver.  I remembered barking at my husband, “It’s an Ipad Air you know? The very latest, isn't it?  Why can’t I do anything with it?”  He muttered something about my needing to download IOS 8, but I had to wait for the second version of IOS 8 because apparently the first one was useless.  As you can tell by now, I do not understand "tech-speak".  

At work, I was apparently taken to task for having a “volatile” personality.  I think what they meant was that my charmingly loud, brash, and straight-forward demeanor, was mistaken for being too loud, too brash and too straight-forward.  I was politely asked to be “softer and patient” with others.  My Mum rubbed it all in for me when I lamented to her about  the issue, “You see!  I told you! I raised you to be a girl! But you behave like boy!”  That ticked off the box on my list this month for that ultimate “One Fight A Month With Mum”.

Even my car acted up on me, with the sensor going off every 5 minutes indicating that I needed to change my brake pads.  Strange.  I changed my brake pads 6 months ago!  Unless the hubby had been using the car to practice for the Singapore F1 Grand Prix which had just ended last week,  I thought the brake pads should not need changing so soon.

At home, the situation did not get any better.  You would think home would have offered me some semblance of solace.  However, our son went into his occasional rabid mood swings,   the home became his hotel room, his antics at school got his wrists rapped by the school authorities, hence causing us excessive worry, and his girlfriend took precedence in priority to me, his beloved mother. 

Mercury Retrograde

I wished I could turn the clock back, go back to bed, and wake up on the right side of bed again, but the reality hit me that what seemed to be going backwards ( and that is not a reality by the way, it just seems to be so) is the planet Mercury.  About 3  times a year, Mercury apparently goes retrograde.  To find out what this means, please read all about it here. 

Mercury goes retrograde from 4^th October to 24^th October.  When Mercury goes retrograde, all hell breaks loose….particularly for some of us who are even more sensitive.  The planet Mercury governs communication,  thoughts, logic and intellect.  For a control-freak like me, I hate it when shit hits the fan, no matter the reason.  I was not going to allow a planet on one of its wonky moods to pull the rug from under me just because it has decided to slow down its orbit and appears to move backwards instead. 

Take Charge Of Your Choices

In our day-to-day lives, every time a hurdle gets thrown our way, it is an opportunity to re-assess how we think about it.  If we cannot change a situation, then we need to have the courage to change the way we think about a situation  When Mercury goes retrograde, it is not the planet’s fault that screws your life.  The choices that you make in response to the things happening around you are what could potentially screw your life.  

You see, the mercury retrograde presents a useful reminder for you to step back and re-evaluate your goals,  re-assess the direction you are taking to your goals,  re-calibrate your thoughts and  re-think your actions.  With or without the Mercury going into retrograde, isn’t that something one is advised to do from time to time anyway?

When these issues happened to me this week, I had decided to slow down….along with the planet Mercury, I guess.  I slowed down to re-think if I was over-working and juggling too many projects when my Ipad and Iphone decided to act up on me.  I started to re-think if it was necessary to write and post yet another blogpost.  So what if I took a wee break and not write another blogpost?  So I gamely handed my equipment over to my husband for him to perform that IOS  upgrade thingy on them while I took a break. He also took that time to transfer all my photos from the iPad and iPhone to the computer.  Apparently, like me, the equipment lacked memory space and I was reminded to clear space as regularly as I could.  Is that not what husbands are for?  They are good for clearing space in my iPad and iPhone, as well as the refrigerator. 

 My car  too was sent to the workshop just yesterday.  Apart from  my being a couple hundred of dollars poorer,  my family would possibly be safer now as the brakepads have been changed and the sensor has since been repaired. 

When my brashness was judged as “volatile”,  I stepped back after a day of spewing blood-curdling expletives at that “bias judgement”, and re-assessed how I had presented my arguments to the people around me from time to time.  Their perception of me, is often their reality isn’t it?  I was often domineering, and opinionated, sometimes not tolerant of others’ point of view.  I guess I had to manage perceptions by being more thoughtful about the way I put my points across to people.  I had to be more tactful when I expressed myself to the sensitive flowers out there.  

With my son, well, while he is my monkey, it really is not my circus.  He is at an age where he needs to be accountable for his actions and resolve his own issues.  We can be there to offer him advice and support but at the end of the day, he has to make the right choices to shape his own life.   So we spoke to him about shaping up his attitude, or shipping out of the house.  Yes, I do believe in tough love.  

Ultimately, you have choices you can make to take control of your life.  When shit hits the fan, no matter how unpleasant it is, you have the choice to roll up your sleeves and clean it all up or walk away.  It’s the same principle when I do a Tarot reading for my clients.  When a bunch of cards show up to offer advice about their situations, it would be their prerogative to make the right choices with the advice given.  Do not blame your woes on planetary movements.  Mercury retrograde, can only serve as a reminder that you are in control of your own choices.

Remember, you can let circumstances rule you, Mercury Retrograde or not, or you can take charge and rule your own life.


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

A Quantum Leap In My Understanding Of Tarot

This blog post was written as my contribution to the Mabon Tarot Blog Hop 2014.  Please follow the links below to read the contributions of my fellow Tarot bloggers who are part of this wonderful Tarot Blog Hop community.

 BLOG BEFORE    |     MASTER LIST     |    BLOG AFTER

Autumn

I like Autumn.  Although there isn't Autumn in tropical Singapore, the pictures of trees in their various hues of red, gold and brown, swaying in a wind-swept Autumn day just seem so poetic to me.   It is the changing colors of the leaves, the weather and the impending dwindling sunlight, that makes this a season of transformation.  Often, the word transformation sparks fear in many.  To me, transformation is the necessary pathway to growth.

Mabon

During this period, my Pagan friends around the world celebrate the Autumnal festival of Mabon on 23 September.  For some of my blog readers who are not familiar with Mabon, the name Mabon came from an age-old Celtic myth about the Welsh god, Mabon who was abducted when young, and found again by King Arthur so that he could be reborn into the light. For more on the story of Mabon, do read it here. 

The Quantum Leap In My Understanding Of Tarot

A festival borne from a myth about rebirth and transformation is an ideal basis for the theme for this Mabon Tarot Blog Hop, designed by the wrangler, Morgan Drake Eckstein. I swear, he comes up with such difficult topics to stress me out but I love Morgan for his wit so I took up the challenge to write this post hoping to see if the creativity could flow from my heart and mind through my pen  the way his did.  Morgan had asked us to write about the time our understanding of Tarot had taken a quantum leap.  That was when I got really stressed out with writer's block.  Doh...my understanding of Tarot took a quantum leap the day I entered that beginner's class, Morgan!

When Morgan challenged me to interpret this topic,  I started to think about the transformational aspects of Autumn, and mapped it against my life and the transformation I had gone through with Tarot.  There were actually 2 occasions when this "quantum leap" had happened.  

The Role Of My Tarot Cards Have Changed

One of these occasions was the time I had stopped being fearful and embarrassed about my gift of clairvoyance enough to use my clairvoyance as a "scenario-builder" and my Tarot cards as a "scenario -clarifier".  This allowed me to provide even more accurate and more focused advice to my clients.  In the past, my client readings were just a session of questions answered by a few shuffle of the cards.  Today, I spend a good amount of time tuning into my visions, talking my clients through them, sharing what I see in their situations, then I would spend the last 15 minutes of the session clarifying the advice with my Tarot cards.  I used to feel that my clairvoyance had "betrayed" my Tarot cards as the former had taken precedence in my readings.  I was called Sun Goddess Tarot and not Sun Goddess Clairvoyant remember?  However, as I slowly built my business and saw how satisfied my clients were, and the increasing fulfillment I felt about finally working my purpose to the fullest,  I realized that my own understanding of the role of my cards had changed.  The cards have not been less important to me.  Rather,  the process I took to do my readings have undergone a wee transformation as I had tweaked the role of each of my skills to better meet the needs of my clients.  An example of a reading that had undertaken this process can be found here, where I used channeling to navigate through my visions for my client, then validate the reading with with numerology and Tarot.  This is Ava's story which I had built through this process.

Avoiding Health Questions

The second occasion when I experienced that quantum leap with my Tarot cards had to do with my understanding of Tarot ethics.   In the past, I would never use my a Tarot cards to answer a Health question.  I often had clients who asked questions like, "Is that lump serious you think?", " Should I go for that surgery?", "How likely do you think that I can get pregnant?" and the classic, "I really feel so exhausted, and have been losing a lot of weight. Do you think there is something wrong with me?"   To each of these questions, I always responded with an encouragement to go visit a qualified medical practitioner.  These questions had no place on my Tarot table.  Even when Dad had suffered a stroke last year, Mum asked if I could do a reading to find out the outcome of his health. I refused to do it and assured her, "Pray Mum. Dad will be okay if you'd just pray."

I still stand by my code of ethics and refuse to read for a Health issue but that quantum leap happened just recently when I realized that in the least, if I had been promoting Tarot as a tool of guidance and advice, I should be able to use it for just that even when a client asks a question about his or her health.  I can't pretend to be a doctor, but I certainly could offer advice on how best to manage one's life as one journeys towards better health right? I will just have to tweak the question a little to get to a more advice -centric answer,  By doing so, I would be true to my purpose of using Tarot to guide and advice.  An example was a reading I did for myself some months ago when I felt extremely exhausted, stressed and was often down with the flu.  When my immune system seems consistently weak, I knew I had to do something about it.  I could have picked my cards to ask, "what's wrong with me?" Instead, I picked my cards to ask "how could I better take care of myself?".  It led to a "Self-Care Package" that I had designed for myself.  I have stopped flinching from health questions and have embraced these by seeing them as an opportunity to reframe the questions in a way that empower querants to do something proactive to manage their journey towards better health and well-being. 

Transformation

So I do dig the fact that Transformation is always a necessary step to growth and development.  My understanding of my Tarot cards certainly has grown leaps and bounds through the process of re-engineering my perceptions about what role Tarot should play and what questions it could be used to answer.  I don't think this learning process will ever stop.  And if one can embrace the season of Autumn as a season of harvest and beautiful colors, instead of griping about the windchill and raking a garden full of dried leaves, I embrace Tarot as a tool that evolves according to the relationship that I have built with it.

Don't forget to visit the blogs of my fellow Tarot bloggers!

BLOG BEFORE    |     MASTER LIST     |    BLOG AFTER

If you like this blogpost, do follow my blog at http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com and LIKE my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot

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
Instagram: @SunGoddessTarot

Photo credit:  Jason Colmer.  Photo taken at the turn of Autumn,
at the Japanese Garden,
at the Hobart Royal Botanical Gardens in Tasmania

Tarot Tip Tuesdays - Designing A Self Care Package

Whether you are new to Tarot and in the throes of building a connection with your Tarot cards or an advanced Tarot reader diligently honing your Tarot reading skills, I am putting out a Tarot tip a week to help you to consistently make Tarot a part of your everyday life. This Tuesday's tip is focused on using your cards for advice about designing that "Self-Care Package" that Tarot readers might find useful.

In the last few weeks, I decided to give myself a break from writing my weekly Tarot Tip Tuesday posts.   I made a little readjustment to some of my commitments to give myself permission to take a break in between.  This is the self care I kept writing about because I truly subscribed to the notion that psychic empaths like myself, who often take on the emotions and other energies of others within our environment, need to frequently recharge and surround ourselves with healing energy. I was terribly exhausted, trying to do so much with so little time, and the amount of readings that I was doing in the last few months suddenly spiked to an extent that I could sometimes take in 4-5 face to face readings in 1 night, then get home to continue with Skype or email readings. I definitely needed to take stock of how I was managing my time, and I needed to step back to take a breather for awhile.

Just before I took that break, I felt so guilty about leaving my Tarot cards for awhile.  it had always been a part of my life, almost an extension of my limb and I never left home without it.  If I truly relied on my cards to provide my clients clear advice and direction, then I should rely on my cards to do the same for me.   The following is a spread I had created to design my "Self-Care Package" that I sorely needed.  

If at anytime you feel that you need to recharge yourself but not sure when, how and what would be the best way to do it, I hope this Tarot Spread helps.  This spread is meant to provide advice on how best you can take care of yourself when it gets all too much.

Caring For My Physical Self - Queen Of Wands

The Queen bodes so much positivity around health. It is a card charged with vitality. Looking at the Queen of Wands from my Radiant Rider Waite deck, I saw passion, radiance, beauty, confidence, and energy.  It beckoned me to do what I can to revitalize myself, bring back the energy into my life with a rigorous fitness regime and a sound diet. So that was what I did.  I made a conscious choice to not just "go to the gym ever so often to do my thing" but instead,  to focus my time on Muay Thai (Thai boxing) training.   I made arrangements with 4 coaches specializing in their respective areas of expertise who could help increase the intensity of my Muay Thai training with the goal of competing in the ring perhaps next year when I am ready.    I spent 6 days a week in the gym going through rigorous training sessiojs of boxing drills, strength conditioning, pad work and heavy bag exercises.  The Queen of Wands approaches life with passion, so like the Queen, I developed my passion for Muay Thai and gave it 100% commitment.  I got fitter and stronger as a result.  Most importantly, because I was fitter and stronger, I had more energy everyday!

Just last week, I paid a visit to my cardiologist for my regular checkup that I did every 6 months.  He was amazed at the weight I had lost and how toned and fit I looked.  The results of my medical tests also improved so much that he reduced the dosage of my hypertension medication even more.

The Queen nudged me wth her wand to remind me that if I wanted to extract the full benefits of an activity I had chosen to support in my health and fitness goals, I had better  be passionate about doing it right.

Caring For My Mental Self - The Empress

The Empress was an interesting pick.  It threw me back a little because I often associated the Empress  as a card associated with fertility matters when it came to a health reading. However, this was not a health reading! I reminded myself that this was about the advice the Empress was trying to provide to help calm my mind.  I realized then that she was telling me to take some time off to spend time with myself, enjoy the great outdoors and get in touch with nature again.  So I did that with long walks along the riverside, not purely for physical fitness but to enjoy the lush greenery around me, the sights of dragon-boaters rowing their boats along the river, lying on the grass to decipher shapes from the clouds and sinking my feet into the earth to feel the healing earth energy coursing through my body.  

The Empress also represented creativity.  So I focused my time on writing.  This time, instead of writing about Tarot related topics, in tandem with my recent love for martial arts,  I chose to write about sports!  I started re-using my skills learnt from my University days when I took up English Applied Discourse as a minor subject, focusing on journalistic writing.  Due to my love for Muay Thai and martial arts in general, I had decided to focus my writing on mixed martial arts.  I enjoyed it so much that I started writing for various sports media and was also invited to cover mixed martial arts events as a sports writer.  I even got my own byline with Asia Sports Network! I was so chuffed  because I was doing something I love - writing, about another topic that I truly enjoyed over and on top of Tarot.

Now that certainly was the best care I could give myself to enhance my mental well-being.  I deployed creativity through my writing skills to stimulate my mind around a topic I never was an expert in but learnt so much about.  It brought me so much happiness when I could chat on end about a sport that I loved.

Caring For My Spiritual Self - Knight of Swords

 This was a classic manifestation of the issue I had been dealing with right from the start.  I had so much going on in my life, juggling between a full time career in a fast-paced industry of finance, heading up a marketing and PR team.  At the same time, I was managing a Tarot business that was growing beyond my capacity.  I was engaged in private readings, corporate events, workshops and talks.  I was not managing my schedule  and not pacing my activities well enough that I started to lose touch with my spiritual self.  As a psychic empath, not having time to meditate and offload the. Negative energies that I absorbed during my readings led to my being extremely exhausted  and swaying precariously through mood swings.  I was badly in need of some semblance of stillness and solitude so that I could reconnect with my spiritual self.  

The Knight prodded me with his sword to do something about it quickly.  So I made the conscious choice to limit my face to face readings to only a couple of days a week.  Email readings were allocated  only one night a week.  I taught Tarot and Numerology lessons only a weekend of a month and I accepted reading engagements at corporate events only once a month.  I also decided to write my blogposts when I am creatively guided to share a topic and not because I was pressured into delivering on a schedule I had set myself on. These activities alone were already plenty for me to work with but the way I paced them  gave me time to meditate and reconnect with my spiritual self.

As I started to unshackle myself off my own expectations of who I was as a marketing and PR professional and an owner of a Tarot business, I threw myself into a Devotion To Self  course conducted by Jen Saunders from Wild Sister Magazine and a 30 -day Chakra Bliss Challenge conductive by Danielle Dove.  As the weeks went on, there were times I could not follow the pace of the course of the challenge, but I forgave myself  because I wanted to take my time and let my spirit lead me to whatever I needed to do to get me to be more connected with my spiritual self.

Eventually, i felt so grounded and my intuition was switched on whenever I needed it to do so, even to the extent of tuning into my clairvoyance during a hectic business trip, and providing the right advice when a friend hollered for help.

 How Can I Unite My Body, Mind And Spirit? - Temperance 

So now that I knew what I needed to do to recharge my body, my mind and my spirit, how could I ensure that I supported these 3 pillars of my life to get me back to a happy place?  I picked the Temperance, and I was not surprised by the message from the card. The Universe was very clear about the fact that whatever I pursued to help myself physically, mentally and spiritually, I had tocreate balance and moderation in order to achieve a sense of purpose and fulfillment with everything I put an effort towards.

I revisited my interpretation of the Queen of Wands, the Empress and the Knight of Swords and saw what pulled the three together - my spiritual path as an intuitive. 

 My effort and commitment into Muay Thai would be critical in helping me "offload" all that negative energy I absorbed as a psychic empath.  At the same time, by building my fitness and my strength, I was able to have more energy to take on more challenges as I continued to serve my purpose.  

 My foray into sports journalism was an alternative outlet for creative self expression which revitalized my love for writing again. I had spent months before suffering frequent writers' block with both my Sun a Goddess Tarot blog and my personal blog.  Now that I had regained my energy and passion for writing, I started an unconscious ideation of topics in my head that I wanted to write about within my Sun Goddess Tarot blog.  

I also gave myself permission to slow down, turned down some reading requests, took a short 'vacation' from writing my Tarot Tip Tuesday posts and generally just 'took a chill pill'.  

Temperance reminded me that the ultimate way to caring for myself, was to balance all these elements as I juggled my priorities.  This Self-Care Tarot spread is very small, and quite simple, but it empowered me to make positive changes to my life.  When I can learn to love myself and take good care of myself, then I can take good care of my clients.

May your Tarot cards provide you with a full deck of possibilities throughout your day.

If you like this blogpost, do follow my blog at http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com and LIKE my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot

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 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

Muay Thai training with my Thai coach in Phuket, Thailand.
Photo courtesy of David Ash, www.singaporemaven.com

Meditating at the beach.  The ocean speaks to me.