Beltane Tarot Blog Hop - A Union Of Opposites

Happy May Day or Happy Beltane everyone!  This blog post is written as my contribution to the Beltane 2014 Tarot Blog Hop.  The Blog Hop wrangler Maureen Aisling Duffy-Boose had asked that we focused our Beltane blog post on a theme inspired by the Lovers card in Tarot -  "A Union Of Opposites".  To read the blog posts of my fellow Tarot bloggers participating in this Beltane Tarot Blog Hop, please follow the links below:

The Blog Before    |        The Master List      |     The Blog After

What Is Beltane?
  
Beltane is a fire festival widely celebrated to mark the midpoint of the vernal equinox and the Summer Solstice. Traditionally, to welcome warmer weather, people during this time would indulge in cheery Springtime activities like planting seeds, dancing around Maypoles, starting bonfires.  They celebrated with plenty of fresh flowers and there was generally more fun, love and laughter in the air.   

The Lovers Card In Tarot

Beltane is one festival that celebrated love, fertility and union.  The Lovers Card aptly signifies this at a time when my Pagan friends traditionally honored the union of the god and goddess during Beltane.  As the theme of this blog hop was "A Union Of Opposites", I had to look for proof points to support this theme.  Of course I need not have strayed too far because during this time,  the Roman  Catholics celebrated the feast of St Bertha of Kent on 1 May.  She was credited for introducing Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England.  It was interesting to note that she married the pagan King, Ethelberht of Kent.  That sounded to me like a wonderful celebration of love and somewhat a union of opposites too. 

Inspired by St Bertha's story, I had decided to look for examples when I had created a "union of opposites" in my Tarot practice.  It struck me that I had been growing this "union of opposites" quite recently when I discovered my clairvoyant and clairsentient skills after attending a spiritual retreat organised by Danielle Dove and Karina Ladet.

A Spiritual Transformation

During the retreat, I went through a spiritual transformation that had evolved into a journey I am still currently awed by.  I was forced to step out of my comfort zone and temporarily remove my usual tools of the trade, Tarot, Numerology and Astrology.  I learnt then to trust my intuition completely without the use of these tools. I struggled with it and realised that I had to go through this learning process to come to terms with my ego, shed it completely, and then acceped the gifts of clairvoyance and clairsentience in a bid to better serve my purpose.  I spent weeks practising channeling without my Tarot cards and gradually came to terms with these gifts.  

Combining Tarot With Clairvoyance

In the weeks that followed, I began creating that union of opposites by using my Tarot cards with my clairvoyance.  This was the  reading that I had done, detailing my first experience of doing a channeling before creating a Tarot spread.  I am still in awe of it and so grateful that I got the chance to do this for a client.  

A Union Of Opposites

One evening,  a fellow psychic friend contacted me and expressed a lot of fear and anxiety.  Like me in the last month or so, she was going through a purging process.  She had to purge her ego too.  Although she was living half the world away, I was able to channel for her and felt a pain in my upper back on  the right. It felt like I was carrying a burden. It was a reflection of her fear as a burden, weighing down on her back.  It was a fear of not knowing where her skills would take her.  Her doubts driven by her rational mind was taking over her intuition.  That blocked her ability to channel clearly and caused her even more fear.   I felt a cord at my Solar Plexus chakra too. It was a reflection of a negative cord she was bearing that was causing her  a lot of anxiety.  This negative cord had to be cut.  It was put there by her ego.  At the same time I felt my crown and third eye chakra buzzing and I knew it was a reflection of how actively her upper chakras were opened.  So I proceeded to do some cord-cutting to help relieve her of her fears and anxieties.  I also told her that my spirit guides were guiding me to let her know that she needed to go to a hill near a home to meditate and make peace with herself.

She felt better at that point as I carefully explained what I was doing for her with my channeling. I was communicating to her midway via Facebook message when I accidentally rolled my mouse over a Facebook post by Tarot By Arwen.  The Guardian of Air card from the Gaian Tarot deck by Joanna P. Colbert popped up.   This was an excerpt from her post, "The Guardian of Air is the Queen of Swords.  Swords/Air is the mental suit.  I set my intention to be a guardian of my own mental processes.  I speak with love and kindness."  I thought that was so beautiful. Feeling inspired then, I emailed the image of the card to my friend and I visualised myself holding her hand through her journey of spiritual self discovery.  I explained the synchronicity of the appearance of the card with our discussion about her situation by saying, "This is the Guardian of Air from the Gaian Tarot deck.  She is likened to the Queen of Swords.  She asks that you not be too over-critical of yourself.  Do not always judge your capabilities and compare them vis-a-vis the others who are going through similar spiritual journeys.  We all walk our respective journeys at our own pace. So do not be too hard on yourself." This truly resonated with her as she had been managing a lot of anxiety and doubt about her own capabilities.

So you see, both sets of skills though quite different, can co-exist side by side.  Just as I had combined Tarot, Numerology and Astrology in my readings, I have now started to add another dimension to the readings by adding my clairvoyant and clairsentient skills as well.  I now channel for my clients before I meet them face to face.  The Tarot cards would then become my tools to affirm the messages and visions that I got from my channelling.  With renewed confidence, I revamped the way I did my client readings by creating a perfect union between my clairvoyance and Tarot moving forward.  The more I did this, the more I surprised myself with the clarity and accuracy my client and I got from the readings.  Here is another reading that exemplified this. 

I commend Maureen for coming up with a theme that had helped me process that guilt I felt when I dropped my cards for awhile to practice my channeling.  With this union of opposites, nothing had changed.  No, actually, the readings were better.  I felt I served my purpose better with my gifts.   Since then, I have been happily blending my clairvoyant and clairsentient skills with Tarot, and I will continue to do it with immense gratitude for the opportunities entrusted to me by the Universe.  

Again, do visit the blogposts of my fellow Tarot Blog Hop participants.  The links can be found here:

The Blog Before    |        The Master List      |     The Blog After

And if you have been enjoying some of these blog posts written by the Tarot Blog Hop community, do LIKE our Facebook page here.


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

Picture was taken off a Facebook post by Tarot By Arwen.  It depicts the image of the Guardian of Air from the Gaian Tarot deck by Joanna P. Colbert

Trust In The Message Behind Every Vision

I used to struggle with my visions as I developed my clairvoyant and clairsentient skills.  You see, I was brought up to assess a situation and provide a solution through a rational decisioning process.  Embracing the "alien" concept of  allowing my intuition to lead the way took a lot of time, persistence and patience.  However, I am so glad that I am not treading this journey alone. I found a safe space within which I could slowly open up to surrendering to my higher self and trusting  my intuition.

When I was guided by my intuition to look further into a situation beyond the actual questions that my clients had approached me with, I knew it would be the Universe’s way of telling me that I could do a lot more to help the client, and there were more messages that I was compelled to provide.

Last week, my client Ava, who lived in Frankfurt,  approached me for advice on an issue regarding whether or not to sell her home so that she could relocate to France, to work and live. It seemed to be a straight forward reading at first glance but when I started channeling for her, I was in for a surprise. 

So let me explain the process I took to do her reading.  

Piecing A Story Together Through Channeling

First I went into meditation to clear my mind and ground myself.  Then I channeled Ava and ran my hands across my chakra points to find where her blockages were. My crown and third eye chakras were buzzing which indicated to me that Ava’s crown and third eye chakras could be opened and she might be more intuitive than she was aware of or she had let on.  My heart chakra was burning and I felt a cord of negativity there which indicated to me that Ava might have had suffered an emotional trauma, heartbreak or disappointment.  She had been clinging to it for awhile.  I made a mental note to ask her for permission later to cut that cord once I did more channeling to find out the underlying cause for the presence of that cord.  So that was when I was overwhelmed by a huge wave of depression, sadness and claustrophobia.  It was almost choking me.  I knew then that it was a negative energy surrounding Ava that I was dealing with then.  The message I got then, was to look into that house and whomever lives or had lived in there.

 I then went into a process of "visioning".  As I had visions forming in my mind's eye, I wrote down everything I saw.  Every minute that I had spent writing out the words, I felt my heart weighed increasingly heavier with despair and anger.  I knew, as a psychic empath, that they were not mine but that belonging to the energy or Ava herself.  These are what I wrote:   1) Someone leaving through a door, some luggage was next to him. The man had a hat and an old fashioned leather luggage, much like one dressed in the 50s maybe? Or 60s? 2) A man in between 2 women.  There was a 3rd party conflict or a love affair? 3) Mental anguish over 2 people or dual personality?  A decision or choice must be made. 4) A dark room with a small window.  It looks like a room, hospital room or a room like in a prison cell?  5) I feel a lot of fear, anxiety, and depression. 6) A tall building that looks like a clock tower nearby., 7) A train? It looks like an old steam train.  My visions stopped at these but I believed these visions had to do with a previous occupier of the home, someone related to Ava, who was either parents or relatives of Ava.  

Ava confirmed that these visions were associated with her mother who had committed suicide many years ago in that home she now lives in.  Ava's mother had never forgiven her husband for an affair he had.  He fell in love with an English lady whom he had met during one of his travels. Ava's parents had big fights over the issue which affected a very young Ava then.  Her father finally left  home to live in England with his new love and never saw Ava or her mother again.  This explained my vision of the man with the luggage leaving through a door as well as another vision of the clock tower which I realized was actually the Big Ben. The  years of loneliness and resentment that Ava's mother had experienced after, took a toll on her mental well-being that she often called her home a "prison".  This explained my vision of the small room that looked like a prison cell.  Ava felt that her mother had suffered imprisonment within her own mind.   

I believed that this incident in the past, had imprisoned Ava from her bid to find a direction in her life where she could start afresh.  She was still living in that home, she had anxiety issues herself, she had just come out of a messy divorce and she was unclear what her goals were when I asked.

Connecting The Story With The Querant Through Numerology 

The next thing I did was to do a numerological assessment for her to help me piece that connection between her experience in the past and it's impact on her life now.

Ava had  a hidden emotional number 4.  This indicated that she was quite repressive.  She kept her true feelings within herself although she was highly sensitive.  She also disliked any kind of emotional situations that could potentially cause her a lot of stress and discomfort.  She was quite practical though and would mask her true feelings just to get things done.  This explained why Ava had never shared this background of her past with me, but instead wanted to soldier through her feelings of guilt to sell her home so that she could move on. Yet, she felt undecided if that was the right thing to do.

She had a hidden physical number 2.  She could be  very sensitive, and might suffer from lack of confidence.  She was very vulnerable and self conscious, and had the potential to suffer anxiety and depression. This connected very much to the cord of negativity that I had felt in her heart.

Ava had a hidden intuitive number  2.  This explained why her crown and third eye chakras were buzzing.  She was highly intuitive and extremely sensitive.  She had a tendency to direct her thoughts to spiritual and metaphysical matters.  I believed that Ava also had the traits of an empath, although she was not aware of it herself. Her sensitivity had led her to assume the same depression, anxiety and fear that her mother had suffered from.

Her character number was 4. This meant that Ava was a practical person who had a strong streak of determination in her.  She might have realized for awhile that she needed to sell her home and move on, hence her approaching me for advice about selling her home.  However, she was wrought with so much guilt about losing the home and fear about facing a new future of uncertainties. In spite of these feelings, her repressive 4 character found it difficult for her to give me a more in - depth background of her situation.


Using Tarot To Complete The Story And Provide Advice

I picked 3 cards to affirm my understanding of Ava's mother.  The High Priestess Reversed, 3 of Swords Reversed and Queen of Swords Reversed showed up.  These  were classic cards in Tarot that confirmed that Ava's mother suffered a broken heart from her husband's affair and spent the rest of her days living in bitterness.

I then picked 3 cards to connect Ava with her past and the 5 of Cups Reversed, 6 of Swords Reversed and King of Wands Reversed showed up.  These were interesting picks as I saw the indelible mark that the trauma of her mother's broken marriage and eventual suicide had caused Ava.  Ava suffered a lot of residual resentment, hurt, regret and guilt for her mother's suffering that Ava herself now suffered a low self esteem and tremendous lack of confidence. She had dreams of starting afresh in a new country but had no courage to act upon these dreams.

Her current situation with the house was manifested in the 2 of Swords Reversed and the 8 of Swords Reversed which told  me that she was actually ready to put the past behind her and embrace change.  However she was stuck with the indecision of what to do with the home and where her best options lie because of the associated guilt of giving up her childhood home.

To help provide her with the options to make the right decision I picked the World Reversed to ascertain if Ava should keep her home, rent it out and make best use of her life in Frankfurt. This card clearly indicated that this option would prevent her from getting the closure she needed from her past.

I then picked the Death card to ascertain if she should sell the home, and use the proceeds to relocate to France. This was a clear indicator that she should put that major aspect of her life behind her and look to embracing a new future ahead of her. Selling that home would kickstart that process.

I decided then to finish my reading by picking 2 cards to offer her  generic advice on how to manage her future direction.   The Page of Pentacles and the Star card showed up. These cards advised her to turn her desires into a tangible goal by putting together a viable action plan.  She had so much to do,  She had  to start the administrative process of putting the home up for sale, look for a job in France, find a new home there and the list of "to-do"s while daunting, just had to be systematically acted upon if she wanted to see some light at the end of the tunnel.  Her future was full of hope and positivity, but she needed to act on it now to turn her life around.

Telling The Story In A Compelling Manner

When I read for my clients, I am ultimately putting pieces of the puzzle together to write a compelling story for  them so that they could get a clearer picture  from which they could see beyond what they had originally wanted to see.  Ava's is one such story where she finally came to terms with the fact that her clinging on to her home was her way of keeping her mother in her memory out of guilt.  As a daughter, she felt helpless that she could not be of more help and support to her mother.  However, I told her that "Mum wants you to know that you will bring her much pride and put her spirit at rest if you could move on to build a more productive life for yourself  in another  home that promises to be better and happier."

I was so glad I had let my intuition take the lead and trusted the messages behind the vision that I got.

This is a true account of a reading for my client.  All names and locations have been changed to protect his or her privacy.

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
Blog: http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com

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Tarot Tip Tuesdays - Do Not Let Differences In Opinions Intimidate You

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.

So here goes your Tarot Tip for this Tuesday:

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post for Tarot Tip Tuesdays which touched on the topic of skepticism. In that post, I had asked that should you be faced with skepticism, either from someone else or your own, do not allow it to affect your confidence. You could be putting your energy to better use by tuning out skepticism and tuning into your intuition.

Now what is worse than managing skepticism is managing your own feelings of feeling intimidated. Yes that is right.  Nothing and nobody should intimidate you when you are in the throes of learning Tarot and discovering more about the cards, unless you had given him or her permission to do so. So, please don't allow that to happen, no matter how new you are to Tarot.

When I was at the beginning of my Tarot journey, I had decided to obtain my certifications then through the Tarot Certification Board of America.  It was, at that time a personal choice to get certified because it contributed to my growth as a Tarot reader.  I enjoyed the process, and I did learn a lot from the examiner assigned to me.   When I discussed my positive experience with the board within an online forum, a fellow Tarot professional responded, " Why would you need to get certified? Certifications are silly and cannot compare with the numerous years of experience I have under my belt."  I thanked her for her opinions and told her that  I respected her years of experience and I was sure she was truly super as a Tarot reader, but her opinions about the certifications were just that...her personal opinions.

It reminded me of a time when I cooked beef bourginion for some friends and was told by my French friend that "We French people will not cook beef bourginion in that way." Fabulous! So I had decided to ask her for her recipe, and gamely asked for an invitation to her place for dinner some day too.

The point I am making is that just as everyone's life experiences are each different and unique, there are so many different styles and techniques Tarot readers use in their reading. The rich fabric of experiences, skills and knowledge within the Tarot community is so useful to both newbies as well as experienced Tarot readers.  

However, wherever you go and whatever you do, you will meet someone who is equally, if not more passionate than you are about Tarot and he or she will be dying to put across an opinion about how right or wrong you are with your reading style, your techniques or your interpretations and what is "THE PROPER" way to do it just because he or she has gazillions of years of experience under his or her belt.   Accept that gift of knowledge and take it as a learning. Do not get intimidated by it.  It is okay to allow room for open discussions that serve to help, without the need to impose an opinion on someone else, no matter how experienced or skilled or knowledgeable one may be in any given subject.

This brings me to the 5 of Wands card.  The 5 of Wands is a card depicting a situation of conflict, tension, difference of opinions and challenges. While many people might view the card as a negative one, I see it as an opportunity to turn differences in opinions into constructive discussions that can effect truly positive outcomes.  

So go ahead and create room for open discussions, exchange of ideas and brainstorming.  Accept differing opinions with an open mind but do not get intimidated by those who impose an opinion on you.  It is your journey with your cards and only you are responsible for making that journey a fulfilling one for yourself.

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

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

Tarot Tip Tuesdays - Open And Honest Communication Is Necessary

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.

So here goes your Tarot Tip for this Tuesday:

I thought this topic would be an appropriate tip for the week because it happened to me just a couple of days ago.  I could kick myself sometimes and this just goes to show that even experienced Tarot readers do sometimes forget.  

My regular clients are very familiar with my reading style of combining Tarot, Numerology and Astrology.  Even new clients who engage me for a reading for the very first time, often are happy with my style of reading. I guess, these modalities are quite common and clients are generally comfortable with these. I would usually preface the reading anyhow by explaining my code of ethics and I would also explain how I would combine these modalities to create depth of advice to support my client's decisions.

So far, this had been happening swimmingly with great success and the readings would invariably involve a 2-way opened communication between the client and myself.  After a reading, I would know as much about my client as he or she would know about me.

However a few days ago, this did not happen as planned.  Yes I did open the reading in the usual way of prefacing it with my code of ethics and my reading style, but I forgot to explain that I added another dimension to the reading by channeling for her before she arrived for the appointment.  I had been doing this quite often in my readings these days as I have been developing my clairvoyant and clairsentient skills lately.

My client was clearly uncomfortable as she did not understand what channeling meant.  In her mind, I was talking to unknown entities in a realm she could not comprehend and she was completely freaked out by that. Part of her discomfort had to do with the fact that she erroneously thought it had violated her religious beliefs.  The "clairs" were big words for her and she told me flatly that she just wanted a simple Tarot reading and had not expected "the works". 

Of course we both left the table quite unhappy after the reading.  I turned the whole situation inside out within my mind all night and came to a conclusion that I should have been even more opened in my communication with her.  I should not have taken for granted that she understood what channeling meant.  I should not have taken for granted that she would be okay with it if I had not asked for her permission to do so before she arrived at our appointment.

Lesson learnt.  An open and honest communication is necessary between reader and querant.  Do not take for granted that he or she understands your reading style.  Always ask for permission to be part of your querant's journey to find a solution for his or her issues.

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

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

Tarot Tip Tuesdays - Creating Customized Tarot Spreads

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.

So here goes your Tarot Tip for this Tuesday:

When I first started my journey with Tarot, I was taught to use basic 1-card, 2-card and 3-card spreads.  The positions were fixed, for example, a 3-card spread had cards representing past, present and future,  Then as I got more comfortable, I expanded my repertoire to classic spreads involving 6 cards or more, for example, the Horseshoe spread and the Celtic cross spread.

I think that is well and good when you are still at the beginning of your tarot journey because it lends structure to your reading.  However, as you grow more confident as a tarot reader and indeed if or when you turn professional, do bear in mind that  unlike the fixed positions you see in a tarot spread, life generally is not experienced in a highly rigid, fixed and structured manner.  

So why use a "cookie-cutter" tarot spread?  What is stopping you from customizing a spread to your querant's needs?  

When you do a reading, go ahead and engage your querant.  The spread should always be structured out of a 2-way dialogue with your querant. With this dialogue, you will find that the spread can be layered on with more cards focused on a specific question about the issue to get closer to the root of it and hence provide a more focused advice later.  

You might want to consider 2 basic rules when customizing a tarot spread:

1) When you keep the question focused, the cards will provide a focused advice.  

It all starts with some basic line of questions and I encourage you to approach your querant's issue with as much curiosity as you can muster.  As you approach a friend when he or she shares a problem with you, you should approach the cards in the same way.  Start with finding out where your querant is at now with the situation? How did he or she respond to it? What would he or she like to see coming out of it? What is blocking him or her from achieving this outcome? How can he or she turn the situation around? What tools or resources does he or she need to effect the outcome that he or she wants? How would the situation pan out in the end?  

2) Layer the questions to provide greater depth to the reading.

An example of this is when you ask the question about what is blocking him or her from achieving this outcome, you may layer it after that with additional cards to find out what are the internal and external influences contributing to this blockage.   When you ask the question about what the outcome would be, you may layer it with more cards addressing the additional advice he or she needs to make a good outcome sustainable or the advice he or she needs to to move forward from an outcome that appears to be not in the querant's favourite.

I do not use a fixed spread for my clients.  I usually rely on my intuition to design one specific to their questions. A spread could use anywhere from 5 cards through to all 78 cards in the deck depending on how I layer the questions.  They also do not have to have a "shape" unless I intend to create a theme around it like during Christmas when I use a Christmas tree spread perhaps. I normally do not care whether it looks like a cross, a horseshoe, a star or the zodiac wheel even.  Usually, I would just pull the cards and put it on the table in a linear fashion, just so I can clearly see a story building around the situation.

However you design your spread, remember that it is your responsibility as a reader to provide as much "bandwidth" as possible to your querants to open their minds to the multitude of options available to them.  So go ahead and pile on the layers to the questions and keep the questions focused.  Most of all, have fun with your cards.

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 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

Tarot Tip Tuesdays - Reading With Reversed Or Upright Cards

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.

So here goes your Tarot Tip for this Tuesday:

One of the most frequent questions I have been getting from my protégés is whether or not I used reversed Tarot cards in my readings.  There really are no hard and fast rules with this.  If you feel comfortable using just upright cards, in your Tarot spreads, then go ahead.  What is important, is that each card picked for the spread is well-explained and interpreted with relevance to the situation of your querant.  And what is even more important, is that the the reading with or without reversed cards goes beyond cookie-cutter-straight-off-the-book interpretations, to be an advice-centric reading aimed to empower the querant to make the right decisions to move forward.

Often, my protégés who are at the beginning of their journey with Tarot, find reversed Tarot cards negative.  In fact, that is not the right approach to a Tarot card, reversed or otherwise.  Each card, reversed or not, is meant to provide an objective perspective to a situation and offer the multitude of options for the querant.  A reversed card may symbolize delays, blockages, resistance and sometimes it might reflect the opposite of what the upright card is.    So if you picked the "dreaded" Tower card for example, you could be experiencing an unexpected change in your life that threatens to rock your foundations of security.  If you picked it in the reversed, you might be looking at a situation whereby you are trying so hard to resist impending changes although you know it is necessary, or you might have been through an upheaval in your life from which you have not been able to move forward.  I am sure however you have interpreted this card to your querant's situation, as long as you understand the basic meanings of the card, you will not get far wrong.  

However, I feel that it is the responsibility of a Tarot reader, to turn this interpretation into an advice-centric one.  So whether or not that same "dreaded" Tower card was picked in the reversed or not, your advice to the querant could be that he or she should not be crippled by fear of the unexpected. The experience with these changes are meant to kick him or her out of the comfort zone, so that he or she can be opened to new opportunities critical to  personal growth.  In this way, the Tower card, whether picked in reversed or not, really should not be seen as a "dreaded" card.

I do not believe there are just 78 perspectives to the 78 cards in a deck.  Indeed, I do not even believe there are 156 perspectives to the deck if you choose to read reversed cards.  There are definitely more than 2 perspectives in a single card whether or not it is picked in the reversed.  The possibilities are in fact infinite.  

So do build a deeper relationship with your Tarot cards and gradually discover the multitude of facets that the cards may have.

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

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

A Word of Advice From The Magician

This morning, I meditated to the Magician card because it was the card that fell out by accident as I was cleansing my Tarot cards with sage incense and  "re-setting" them to prepare the deck as a working deck for next week's list of reading appointments.   Every time a card fell out like that, I would not want to ignore it but was of the opinion that there was a special message it had for me that day.

The first card of the major arcana, the Magician is a symbol of a new purpose, a new direction, a new beginning, a new experience, all manifested by one's own skills, intellect and will power. He is well-equipped to take on any challenges that come his way because he holds the symbols of all 4 suits, wand, cup, sword and pentacle within his reach. I believe though that while he may have the tools to support him, they mean nothing if he did not use his magician's juggling skills of balancing the 4 primordial elements of fire, water, air and earth as represented by each of the suits.

So why did I think this was significant to me?

Trying So Hard To Feel At  One With The Universe

I spent years working so hard to learn skills after skills, and practicing them to gain better experience.  I have stopped counting the number of metaphysical courses  I had taken,  books I had read and the wonderful teachers and mentors I had learnt from over the years.  Yet, somehow, I had never felt complete and perhaps there was even some measure of disharmony within myself.  I was happy that I could guide my clients with my Tarot, Numerology and Astrology readings, yet I often felt I that was not providing then with enough depth in the advice I gave.

With the intensity of my sensitivity as a psychic empath growing and my constantly working on developing my clairvoyant and clairsentient skills by practicing channeling , I approached my gifts with even more dissatisfaction because these skills only heightened awareness of my clients' issues but did not really help to resolve them fast enough.

The Magician's Advice

When I meditated to the Magician card, I heard his reassuring voice.  He pointed to his tools:

- his wand which governs the fire element and inspires passion and drive,

- his cup which governs the water element and inspires intuition and emotional maturity,

- his sword which governs the air element and inspires thoughts and rationale, and

- his pentacle which governs the earth element and inspires practical knowledge, material security, determination and hard work.

As a manifestation of the Magician, I was spiritually taking the skills and knowledge from the Universe to apply them to the material world, enthusiastically practicing my spiritual knowledge and hoping to make  it relevant to  my clients's situations.  It was great that I was lending so much passion to my work as a lightworker and tapping into the deep recesses of my intuition to support my clients with  advice.  However, the intuition and the passion amounted to nothing, if I did not balance it with a rational mind  to  accept and acknowledge my limitations and know when I needed to  step back, recuperate, and let the knowledge and information come to me instead of stressing incessantly about whether I was interpreting the information rightly.  I also felt that the Magician was also asking me to expand my knowledge with more conversations with other intuitives who had more experience than I had, so that I could arm myself not only with skills and knowledge but understand their journeys and experiences too.    It would also have been a wasted effort if I had not been more practical, by balancing the need to work smart through regular meditation and grounding with the need to work hard  through continuous practice and study. It persuaded me not to give up when I felt exhausted but to continue to focus on my purpose, and continuously develop my gifts with determination. 

A Story From A Tree

In the afternoon, I went for a walk at Gardens By The Bay Singapore. I stopped at a tree which I felt beckoned me to touch it.  So I did.  As I gently put my hand on its trunk and closed my eye.  I saw within my mind's eye a family of 5 sitting in a little boat with many others, but my concentration was only on that family of 5 - a father, a mother and 3 children, an older girl about 11 years old, a younger girl maybe about 4 or 5 years old and a young toddler boy. They were huddled together, looking miserable, frightened and exhausted.  I felt my back aching and my solar plexus tightened with fear and anxiety.  The tree seemed to be attempting to tell me a story, much like my teacher would when I was in school,   I was not sure what I needed to do with that vision and did not even understand why I had to touch that tree.  So instinctively, I decided to go into meditation mode and visualized myself sending a healing white light through the palm of my hand into that tree.  

When I got home, I started researching about the site where I stood this afternoon and found out that it was reclaimed land.  In the past, in early Singapore, boats of  immigrants arrived in those little boats called "sampans" that I saw in my vision and probably rowed past that area where I stood. I am not sure what to make of that family but felt that that was just that tree's way of trying to tell me a story of the area.  I felt suddenly worried about that family and at the same time wondered if they had managed to build a productive life for themselves here in Singapore.  

Compassion And Empathy

I then remembered this morning's meditation with the Magician card and realized that the real gifts, the knowledge, and the skills, were not all about what I had learnt, or even what I had been continuously practicing. Inherently, the real gifts were within me.  They were embodied in these words compassion and empathy.  My knowledge, experience, intuition, skills and indeed even determination to learn, really were nothing without compassion and empathy.  I acknowledged my feelings of compassion and empathy for the families of generations past that rowed into our shores  and whispered a silent prayer of thanks for their hand at building my country.  

Similarly, I think my clients did not just come to me because I could shuffle some cards, interpret them, calculate some numbers, assess the significance of their astrological signs and channel messages relevant to their situations.  They came to me because I approached their situations without judgement but with compassion and empathy.  I understood what they were going through particularly when they were at career crossroads or were in the middle of a bitter divorce, because I had been there.  More than anything, they just wanted an objective perspective and a hand to hold.

Much Happier With Myself

I felt much happier at this thought.  I felt less pressure "to perform". I felt I could appreciate myself once again, for what I truly am, and not what I had learnt and studied. I felt at one again with the universe.


"The magic begins in you. Feel your own energy and realize similar energy exists within the Earth, stones, plants, water, wind, fire, colours and animals." ~ Scott Cunningham 

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

Stonehenge by Trixie Hiscock - 
This Photo Inspired Me To Think That Magic Is Truly Within Me. 
It Is Not What I Have Learnt, But What Energy I Give Of Myself That Mattered

The Magician From Kat Black's Golden Tarot Deck

Sent healing light to the tree