Happy Holidays

Each year around this time I write a little holiday message message. This year feels more poignant to me.  The sheer horror of what the community in Sandy Hook has had to endure and will continue to endure in years to come… how their loss is our loss.  It just makes me so sad and heavy inside.

I don’t want to go on a gun rant here.  I know why people want guns. They want to feel safe; to feel that they can protect themselves should need arise.  But it seems very clear to me that the more guns a society has, the less safe the society is as a whole. 

 

This Christmas I want us to know that there is much we can’t control in this universe, and while guns give the illusion of control, they don’t actually provide it.  I want us to cuddle our loved ones a little closer, laugh and play and read and engage with the people and beloved animals around us, and have a joyous, spiritual holiday…

I will be away for the next 2 weeks.  If you would like a reading with me I am booking for the second week in January.  I look forward to reading for you then…

What difference does a number make?

I’m Australian, and so 12.12.12 is already done there – which is why I am ambivalent around dates – what is one date here is already over there and has yet to arrive somewhere else.  All we can ever look at is right here, right now.  But memorable numbers have a function – I can say what did you do last December and unless it was your birthday, it might be hard to pull out any real details. 

But if the world gives you a strong number or strong event, you can remember what you were doing in your own life at that time.  I still remember my sister calling me from Australia to tell me that Princess Diana had died, it had been in the late night my time and I was asleep, but it was in the middle of the day in Australia and everyone watched it unfolding in real time. That otherwise random day is etched in my mind. 

So today is a date that people might well remember – what are you going to do to mark the time?  I’m going to write a letter to myself,   that I can reread in later years, to see where I was at, on 12.12.12.  Of course each day is a day you will only see once – so if we give every day that added gravitas, our time will be well spent.

tweeting

Just opened my twitter acount - @tribecatarot

Not 100% sure what I am doing.  Always nice to learn something new... follow me and see it improve!

I hope the cards are wrong…

One of my regulars who comes and sees me every 5 months or so, bounded in last time, so happy about this new boy that she had met.  I was so glad to see her happy and I wanted it to work, but when I looked at the cards, they were clearly not encouraging: 5 pentacles / 6 swords / 6 cups / 10pentacles.   The cards saw her feeling out in the cold, moving on with sorrow, needing to see things clearly and him having family issues or complications. 

And when she came this time I said, as I always do, don’t tell me anything let me see what the cards say. And the first card was the 10 of swords and I looked at her, and said, it didn’t work with him did it?  I had so hoped the cards would be wrong!  And she laughed at me and replied you know the cards are never wrong…

It turns out that this was a good learning relationship, she set clear boundaries, and she felt good about the breakup.  And we are hopeful for the next relationship (though that 6 of cups keeps popping up.  It’s so important to let go of the rose tinted glasses and see clearly…)  

I always differentiate between what I see and think/want and what the cards say.  If we ever disagree, the cards and I, I always give them more weight…

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving, it's my favorite festival - it's about food, friendship and family and being grateful for all that we have. How wonderful that we all take the same 2 days to think about these things!  I have to say I am distressed about the creeping impact that the Friday sales are now having. I wish they didn't start on Thursday night.

But I wish even more, that even if they did start earlier, we would know enough not to go to them. That we truly understood that what is already in the room is more valuable than any stuff you could put in it; that's it people not products that matter.

Lauren Alexander

Of course, if we don't like the people we are with, it's easy to give into our Hunter Gatherer cravings,  and go shopping!  I would strongly encourage people to do the harder work of a) either finding things to like more about the people already in our lives or b) finding new people who we do genuinely like and put them in our lives.

I wish everyone a delicious Thanksgiving and lots of laughter and happy traditions.  To understand that happiness is not getting everything you want, but being truly content with what you have – that is a lifelong blessing I wish for all of us.

The cards are accurate but they are not always clear

sample image

Sometimes people come to me with concrete and important questions.  Nearly a year ago a lovely woman came to me with a question about her green card application – will she get it?  The cards said yes, but with confusion in the middle.  Then she asked if she should change her lawyers, and the cards said yes, definitely. So she left her long time lawyers and went to someone she knew socially and who had been helpful to her. But he was awful!   He didn’t do anything he promised and she was very frustrated.

So she left him and found a third lawyer, and this lawyer solved the case for her.  He found that her original lawyers had made several procedural errors which was why she was in danger of losing the case, and his corrections made all the difference.

Afterwards we discussed it and she said she had been so loyal to her original lawyers, and she would never have taken the risk to simply leave them. But once she had, she could find the lawyer who could solve her problem.

Katya Horner,  chicken amongst the texas bluebells

The cards were right, she did need to leave her original lawyers, but not clear, the second lawyer was not the solution. But she needed to go through him, to find the professional who could help…   Had she stayed with the original lawyers, she would have lost her case.  I was so happy and relieved to hear things had worked out well for her!

Towering thoughts

Rider Waite Version

The tower is one of the most powerful cards in the tarot, and often when people draw it they are scared, something is going to break… change is coming.  

Valentina Plishchina version

 But recently I’ve seen people draw the tower reversed – something should break but it isn’t, people are clinging to relationships, jobs or situations that should have ended months if not years ago. And that always leads to unsatisfactory outcomes.  Sometimes we need things to break, for the new to grow, and if we hunker down in the tower, and refuse to leave, we start living in the rubble, without even noticing it.

Buffy Tarot version

There are lots of versions of the tower out there.  I like the one showing Buffy swaning diving out of her constaints. (I'm a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan)  but my favorite is still Rapunzel – through her story we can see that the woods are scary and there may indeed be wolves there, but that’s still better than the sterility of remaining in the tower. 

Inner child version
 

I do so love that there are so many beautiful versions/interpretations of all the tarot cards on line.

 

Powerless...

Well, what a week it’s been.

Firstly,  I need to apologize to clients who tried to get in touch with me,  but my phone reception was very iffy and I could not access any email/internet.   I realized I had to let go of any expectation of communication and let that stressor go.  

 

Once I decided I was not going to try and live a normal life,  a new kind of normality took place –  by the third day we had a new routine going – my son,  whose school was closed,  and I would go for a walk by the river in the morning (ironically,  the damage at Battery Park City seemed far less than damage further in…)  Day one there were pumps emptying garages and peculiar smells,  long lines for the single Deli serving coffee,  everyone looking a bit lost.  Day two,  we knew where the power was,  who was open and who was not,  and we had bagels for dinner.  Day Three we found that the World Financial Center had loads of powerpoints, we went in a recharged what we could. We started going to the movies (three films in one week,  I haven’t done that since college!)   Then we would bump into loads of people we knew, close friends and bare acquaintances, and have dinner with them wherever was open.  It was actually kind of charming.  And I got lovely texts from all sorts of people, including several clients, checking in that I was okay.  

We had gas and cold water all along, I started the mornings by heating up large pots of water, like an old pioneer woman, and we all were clean and shiny before leaving for brighter, warmer places.  

And then last night at 4 am we woke up because our bedside lamps were shining in our faces – power! 

Now,  4 loads of washing in,  I am showered with blown dry hair and we’ve emptied and partially restocked the fridge.  We are back on track and so is Tribeca Tarot Reader.  If you want a reading, please email me at tribecatarotreader@gmail.com (please don’t phone, reception is still very spotty)

Information

There are no secrets anymore… I can’t tell you how many people come in to me having found out about affairs via  smartphones - looking at texts or phone log history.  As a family we recently updated to the iphone 5, and unbeknownst to me, all the photos I took appeared in the photostream that my husband and son could automatically see, unedited by me (even if I deleted the photo on my phone, it will still be there on the photo stream)

Now it just so happens that my photos are either mundane or work related,  but still,  I felt a bit uneasy that so much was shared without my being aware of it. So this is my public service announcement – if you have a shared family plan, especially on iphones, then the paying party has access to all sorts of information.  And if you buy the new iphone and don’t want all your pictures shared with all the other plan members, then change your settings...

Change on Deck

 

There are many forms of divination but there is something special about tarot cards:- they are visually engaging, they work on a mythic level and they are also tactile, you feel them slip between your fingers, you feel the edges of them on your palms…   The feel of the cards is important and that’s one of the reasons people like old cards – the sense that other people have ruffled them; that they have stories to tell… 

But over a year or so, hundreds of people handle those cards and they start to look ratty, but of even more concern, they start to tear at the sides and I worry that they no longer shuffle cleanly. So that time of year has come again, where I have to change the deck.  I always use the same cards – Radiant Rider Waite, which is like the regular Rider Waite (the most popular deck in the US, and the one most referred to in books) but with brighter colors, so it looks prettier to me.  I’ve shuffled them thoroughly at home, and now a new crisp smooth deck waits for your reading…


If anyone wants the old deck - for collage or personal use - drop me a line and we'll figure out how to get them to you...

Synchronicities

Ruth Schembri,  Synchronicity

The cards are all about synchronicities, seeing the patterns and energies that are going on in your life. But I find odd synchronicity between the readings as well as within them.  In the past two days I saw a Lisa,  Elizabeth and a Liz.  Well, it’s a common name, but I find that names often clump together.  I saw two Heidis in the same day. Last week I got confused when a woman kept emailing the same question but then realized I was dealing with three different Erin’s making inquiries.

Barbara Takenaga,  Abstracts

And then the readings go in themes too.   I rarely hear about unplanned pregnancies and suddenly get 3 in a week.   Even jobs come in patterns, for a while there it seemed like everyone I was seeing was a teacher.  Lately everyone has been designing an ap.  It just fascinates me, seeing the connections everywhere…

Work questions

The New York Times has a column The Corner Office, where they ask business leaders about leadership and management. 

In an interview with Chris Barbin,  he mentioned “One of my favorite interview questions is, “What are you most proud of?” It’s a fascinating question if you just end it there. People will say, “Well, what do you mean, in business?” And I’ll just say, “No, what are you proud of?” You can always tell when people kind of make-up answers to impress you. Another one is, “What do you stink at?” Some people will say, “Oh, I take on too much and I work too hard.” Then I’ll say: “That’s a pretty common answer. Give me something better.”

I speak to a lot of people about work changes, and I think these are good things to think about before the interview, but they are also interesting things to think about life.

sculpture from Bondi to Bronte beach walk

Hearing from Lurkers

Recently I’ve had a few emails that start with ‘I’ve been reading you for years and I’ve just now contacted you…’

Firstly, I’m really thrilled that people have been reading this blog for years.  I put a lot of love and attention in it and am so pleased that people are returning to read it again and again.

 

Fall Flowers 2 by Karen Riehm

Secondly, there is no need to lurk.   If you read and have some thoughts, you can put them in the comments or write to me directly.

Listening to the Little Man in my Stomacy by Marisa

And finally – readings are not scary things!  Of course sometimes we hear things we don’t want to – one client recently said it was like looking in the mirror, and seeing things clearly.  There’s no hiding in the reading. But it’s not frightening or intimidating.  It’s a way of seeing where you are putting your energy right now, seeing what is blocked and what is flowing, and what you need to do to change or ensure that things keep going the way you want…

Morning Tea Tray by E Sharp

I’ve just opened some new time slots – I am now doing readings at 10 am two mornings a week, so my wait time has shortened and I’m seeing people in about 6 weeks – so drop me a line and we can meet in November.

Enjoy the coming fall and I look forward to hearing from other ‘lurkers’. 

Psychic Challenge

A while ago I stumbled across this show – America’s Psychic Challenge.   It’s the standard reality competition format, whittling down contestants, but the challenges were psychic ones.  I was immediately fascinated.  We watched, and one challenge was that the contestants (all working psychics) were brought to a car park and told that one of the cars had a living person in the trunk, could they take them to it.  My husband looked at me questioningly and I laughed and said no, I have no idea which car it was, that’s not my skill!  And indeed some of the contestants stumbled around but one woman just walked forward without hesitation and led them to the correct car.

In a later episode, the challenge was that they were taken to a hotel room – and asked what happened here.  Most people said someone died, some people said they didn’t die on the bed, but rather on the floor (the correct spot) but one woman said I see the letter J and the name Annie – and it was where Janis Joplin died.  I was amazed and delighted.  My husband the skeptic said, well, why didn’t she just say Janis?

Teo Alponso

I think everyone is psychic, like everyone can sing or everyone can draw. Some people are natural wild talents, some people can be trained to a certain level of competence and some people are tone deaf, but most people have some innate skill – but it’s not a precise skill, like finding the name Janis;  instead it’s a swirl of intuition,  like using music to describe a taste.  You get senses and feelings that often easier to explain in retrospect.   And in that way we teach ourselves to ignore our intuition, or to doubt it, and it gets quieter and rustier…    But if we the more we listen to our intuition, the more we honor it, the stronger and clearer it grows.

9/11

This is always a strange neighborhood on 9/11 – too many people, too much grief, excitement, rage, feelings - just too much energy. 

When I moved here 10 years ago, the streets had just been reopened, and you could walk down West Broadway in the middle of the day and not see a car for 10 minutes. There were so few people, that the people who were around paid a lot more attention to each other.  If I walked somewhere without my son (who was 4 at the time) people would ask me, ‘How are you?  Where’s your boy?’ 

Now there are so many people (and so many children!) no one can notice who goes where with whom… and that is a good thing;  the area has revitalized,  on any given day there is a good energy here, people on their way,  making good,  in their groove.   I want 9/11 not only to remind us of the tragedy, of the senselessness of terrorists actions, but also of connectivity, how communities came together, how New York held its own…

Empowering Yourself

There is a wise saying which is that you teach what you most need to learn…

So I’m here to confront my issues with technology.  The other day the wireless mouse simply stopped working.  I fiddled and faddled and it made no difference so I waited for either my son or my husband to come home and knew that they could fix it. My son took one look, took the mouse away and brought it back working.  He knew the battery had died because the blue light was off… Now why didn’t I know that?

The next week the computer did some weird frozen thing and I was impatient and angry and knew that when my son or husband came home,  they would fix it,  but really… why was I becoming so reliant on them,  why couldn’t I act for myself?  I talk about facing challenges and shifting energies, but I was becoming trapped in my technological incompetence.  So I said ‘imagine there is only you, you have to find the solution... now take a manageable risk’ - and so I did.  And I fixed it. 

When you force yourself to move out of your comfort zone,  your comfort zone starts to expand, and that can only be a good thing!

What the cards tell me...

Here is a sample of how I work.  A client asks me about a man she is seeing, I quickly tell her to give me no details, just tell me his name and shuffle the cards, thinking about him.

She draws:  9 wands / tower / ace pentacles / 5 swords / 10 wands

I said it was a struggle all along, but you were doing ok and then it was the tower, something terrible, destructive, he was unfaithful.  Now he is offering a fresh start, trying to make her buy in, but if she does, he will let her down again and eat her energy.  She looks at me, and said:  That’s exactly what’s happening. 

So the cynical amongst you could say, well everyone coming to you has that sort of problem.  So here are the cards for the next reading when a different woman asked about her relationship:-

 

She draws King of Pentacles / Sun / 10 cups reversed. 

And I said, he’s a good man,  a stable man, a good husband,  you are happy,  warm in the sun, but there is a pang at the end,  the happy ever after, you,  2 kids, the rainbow,  it’s upside down.  And she said, you are right, we are happy, he is good, but he doesn’t want kids.  If he wanted kids I’d have them, but I’m okay with his choice, I’m happy with him, but there is that twinge…

I didn’t know anything about either woman; I just read the cards they drew…

Away for a week...

I will not be around for this week,  we are going away to the beach! We are visiting Top Sail beach in the Carolinas.

So email contact will be sporadic...  I will be back on line properly on August 27th...  and then it's almost the end of summer....  hope you are having a good one!

I am currently taking bookings for mid to late October.

Warmly,

Liat

Unequal Loving

When people ask about love, the card they want to see is the Lovers card.  But the love card I like best is the 2 of cups.  Sometimes when we are young, to feel safe, we want the other person to love us more than we love them; or to feel that this is a grand experience, we want someone to adore. But a mature love is when both people put the same amount of energy into the relationship, which is what the 2 of cups symbolizes for me.

Recently I had a reading where a good man loved my client, but she didn’t love him back, and the more he loved her, the less she could breathe.  I said that just because someone has feelings for you, you are not obligated to return them. You don’t have to love someone back.  What you do have to do is be kind, and treat them gently, but their feelings don’t make them deserve you. 

I’ve given several readings for people who have told me it’s easier to be the unrequited lover, than be the one who doesn’t love back.  If you are offering something beautiful and they don’t take it… then that’s their problem.  But what if someone is offering you something beautiful but you don’t want it… it’s hard to say no without feeling guilty. It’s hard to say no when they want it so much, but just because they want it, doesn’t mean it is right for you…

That’s why I find the Two of Cups so beautiful – when both lovers are putting the same amount of energy into the relationship, creating a perfect balance.

Last picture,  Blooming Wisteria, by Aida Markiw

How to use this blog

Every so often, as new people come here, I detail again how to use this blog.

Aidia Markiw, Odd Tile Job

The Tarot describes what is going on for you right now. It can predict patterns and show you how current actions are going to shape the future. This blog answers many tarot questions. You can dip in and out of it, follow updates, or go looking for a specific card or fact. 

I have detailed every single tarot card, all 78 of them, as well as going through the numerical clusters.  If you want to know more about a specific card, just enter it in the upper left hand corner (near the B) and it will come up.  I’ve written about my beliefs in how to use tarot,   looked at issues like what reversals mean and a bit about the Celtic Cross (the layout I use) And I write up  anecdotes about various readings I’ve done.

Soraya Nulliah

This blog is also my chance to show people that I am serious and educated in the tarot. Our readings often have laughter in them, but the underlying intention is to use the tarot to see where you are putting your energy, and see if it is giving you the results that you want. That’s the entire hour reading in a nutshell.