Moving

This is a bit of practical advice from someone who has moved countries several times and houses/apartments even more.

Last time we moved, we were changing countries, so it was a major move!  I booked an airbnb for 3 nights,  so we could pack furiously all day and then go sleep somewhere clean and organized at night.  That made all the difference!  I could pack the kitchen without worrying if we needed it for the next day.  I also cleaned the apartment myself afterwards and frankly,  next time I'm really going to get that professionally done. 

And then we shut the door and flew all the way to Australia.   

I tell people I loved New York passionately, until I didn't.  I was walking the dog at 11 pm just to have some empty space to walk through.  There is no doubt it is more exciting than Sydney,  with better culture and restaurants.  But Sydney is a softer,  saner place to live,  and as I grow older,  that matters more for me than the magnetism of New York.  Everything has it's season. 

Future you

I often say that we should live a life where future you will be grateful to present you.  This can be for huge things - future you is so gratified that you slogged through working fulltime and studying and that degree has really changed your life for the better. 

But it can also be for smaller things - future you is delighted that past you cleaned the kitchen! 

Today,  present me is so happy with past me,  who tidied her bedroom and changed her sheets.  I love having a clean bedroom so much.  So I'm grateful to myself for the efforts of this morning and looking forward to sleeping well tonight. 

Live in a way so that future you is happy with your contributions to your life.  

What to do with rage

I did a reading recently for a woman who just had some severe betrayals in her life - her husband slept with her sister.  But she didn't want to talk about him or even her.  She wanted to talk about what to do with her feelings of rage, which feel all consuming to her. 

Of course she is right to be enraged.  Anyone would be in her circumstances.  But it is also right that she sees that being consumed by rage is not helpful to her.  So in the first instance I said she has to stop focusing on them,  and on their actions, and just focus on her,  on what she is going to do.  

But the second thing I said to her was far more helpful (as she said to me.)  I said that anger/rage is just energy and as she knows what caused it,  it's like an alarm shrieking, making her unable to think clearly,  so now it's time to turn off the alarm and deal with the issue.  

But how to do that?  If  anger/rage is energy,  she has to dissipate that energy.  Go to the gym,  do some kickboxing,  do some anger workshops (beating a pillow with a soft bat,  I've run those workshops,  it really does help)  Don't try to calm yourself without letting go of the energy.  Do furious dancing,  leaping,  running.  Let the energy out.  And then,  only then,  can you think of the next steps. 

She said I was the only one who gave her something she can use.   So I'm happy for that.  I told her to come again in 6 months and we'll see what the future will bring.  In the meantime,  we have to deal with the present,  and get that energy out, so she can fight for herself cleanly and sanely.  

Intuition

What is intuition? 

A knowing without knowing how you know.  A sense about something without being able to qualify it.  

When I was a university we learnt about something called the Cocktail party Effect.  Basically if you are in a noisy environment,  and can't make out individual conversations,  you can still turn when someone says your name.  You are cued to hear your name and can make it out even though you would have said you couldn't hear what people were saying. Also, once you hear your name, you can zero in on that conversation and then hear what they are saying.

Essentially,  it's about filtration.  There is too much stimuli in this world,  especially in New York City,  and you can't pay attention to all of it,  so you filter.  But all it means is that you are listening to everything and then sweeping it away as not important, not worth giving energy to. But you are listening,  to see if it is important.  This actually works with all your senses. For example, this works with visual cues as well,  you are driving and can't look at everything, but you are still seeing things to assess if they are important or not,  and then letting go of what isn't important right now.  

And Intuition is when all the stimuli you swept away still gives you information. And when something else comes up,  all of a sudden that information that had been heard but not given attention, can be drawn up again.  

So the information/stimuli that was observed but not acted on,  is still there.  And you call it intuition when you get that stimuli says,  wait, this was important,  listen now.  And you don't know what it was, but if you listen to yourself,  you can start to tease it out.  And really, more often than not,  you are right.  It was worth listening to and you did need to pay attention. 

A tarot session gives you a moment of stillness,  to see the information and to make intuitive leaps. 

Different energy levels

Did a tarot reading for a woman who had just had a holiday weekend with her brother and his kids,  and it was relentless.  No naps,  no breaks,  just non stop fun/activities/ action for two days.  At the end,  she and her husband and two kids were wrecked.  She said to me,  she felt like she is failing.  She would never do that many activities on a normal break.  And she could tell,  by her nephews actions,  that this was all regular for them. 

I said people and families really do have different energy levels.  And maybe a family with 3 boys,  8 - 12,  just knows that if they don't run them ragged,  there will be tears before bedtime. (that strikes me as a very Australian phrase,  though I'm sure you know what I mean.)

Anyways,  people,  families,  groups have different energy levels and the trick is to make sure your family, person,  group is running at its optimum level and not comparing it to other groups.  This is from someone who when I have people over for Sunday brunch,  I am very grateful to nap in the afternoon and no way will I go out that night for dinner.  

How I do my tarot readings

Every so often I put up a blog piece like this,  explaining how I do my readings.

I've been writing this blog since 2009,  and had been reading tarot cards for many years before then. So I'm very familiar with the cards.

Tarot doesn't so much predict the future as describe the present.  So the cards say,  here's what going on,  and here's what going to happen if you keep doing what you are doing.   I recently said to someone it's pointing out the ingredients before you.  Don't like what it's cooking? Well, you can get different ingredients but that takes time and energy and planning.  And some patterns are very deep and hard to shift.  Sometimes I say to people,  your work energy is very strong,  let's focus on that for the time being,  let the other stuff go.  Or I'll see that your love energy is all consuming,  let's focus on that.  

But first,  you have to shuffle the cards.  For me,  all the magic is in the shuffling.  As I do most of my readings online, that means you need to access a deck.  You can buy or borrow one , but it has to be a proper tarot deck with 78 cards.  You move the cards,  you draw them out,  your fingers decide what's going to happen. If you are buying a deck,  I recommend the Rider Waite Radiant,  as a clear,  easy to read tarot deck.  But there are thousands of decks out there,  get one that speaks to you and I'll work with it. 

After you get your deck I recommend you shuffle every day for 3 or so days,  before the reading,  getting your energy into it.  Then when we skype/zoom/facetime or however we get to see each other,  the cards are warm and ready to be read. 

Firstly we lay out 10 cards,  into a spread called the Celtic Cross - like this picture.  Once we have all 10 cards out,  I do what I call a cold reading,  where I don't know what's going on for you and just tell you what I see.  That takes about 5-10 minutes.  Only after that do we begin discussing what you drew and what feels right,  and what needs more explanation.  We do this in the privacy and quiet of your home,  and I encourage people to record the readings, it's a lot of information and this gives you a chance to listen again and mull over it. 

The reading takes about an hour and costs $150.  Or I can do a shorter reading,  about thirty minutes,  for $80. 

Want to know more?  Explore the blog,  there's a lot to read here!  And then drop me a line - tribecatarotreader@gmail.com and we can set up an appointment.