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. 

Quote of the week

 

I read this on threads - I hope someone loves you so well,  you'll never have to go to another tarot reading again.

Which is a sweet blessing,  to be that sure,  that you don't have to ask any questions about love.  

I frequently do readings for people who don't ask me anything about their spouse - that's all good.  They want to know about work,  or about if they can conceive,  or if they are on the right path.  

So even with the love stuff sorted,  you may still want to go to a tarot reader.  But I also hope that someone loves you so well,  that you don't need to ask questions about it.  

KPop Demon Hunters

Finding a film that my husband and I and our adult son want to see,  not so simple!  So when my son suggested Kpop Demon Hunters,  we all kind of shrugged and agreed.

It wasn't high art,  but it was a really excellent piece of entertainment. 

And the last song,  where our three heroines got together and sang their truth?  It was wonderful and moving.  I'm humming it now!

What it sounds Like 

Nothing but the truth now

Nothing but the proof of what I am

The worst of what I came from, patterns I'm ashamed of

Things that even I don't understand

I tried to fix it, I tried to fight it

My head was twisted, my heart divided

My lies all collided

I don't know why I didn't trust you to be on my side

I broke into a million pieces, and I can't go back

But now I'm seeing all the beauty in the broken glass

The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony

My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like

Why did I cover up the colors stuck inside my head?

I should've let the jagged edges meet the light instead

Show me what's underneath, I'll find your harmony

The song we couldn't write, this is what it sounds like

We're shattering the silence, we're rising, defiant

Shouting in the quiet, "You're not alone"

We listened to the demons, we let them get between us

But none of us are out here on our own

So we were cowards, so we were liars

So we're not heroes, we're still survivors

The dreamers, the fighters, no lying, I'm tired

But dive in the fire, and I'll be right here by your side

We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back

But now we're seeing all the beauty in the broken glass

The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony

My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like (ah)

Why did we cover up the colors stuck inside our head?

Get up and let the jagged edges meet the light instead

Show me what's underneath, I'll find your harmony

Fearless and undefined, this is what it sounds like

This is what it sounds like

Hey! (Oh-oh, oh-oh), hey! (Oh-oh)

This is what it sounds like

Hey! (Oh-oh, oh-oh), hey! (Oh-oh)

This is what it sounds like

Hey! (Oh-oh), hey! (Oh-oh)

This is what it (sounds like), this is what it

This is what it sounds like

We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back

But now I'm seeing all the beauty in the broken glass

The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony

My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like

Why did we cover up the colors stuck inside our head?

Get up and let the jagged edges meet the light instead

Show me what's underneath, I'll find your harmony

Fearless and undefined, this is what it sounds like

My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like (between, ah)

Fearless and undefined, this is what it sounds like

Truth after all this time, our voices all combined

When darkness meets the light, this is what it sounds like

Why are Men struggling?

I read both the New York Times and the Washington Post most days and I'm astonished at how many articles I see about men,  and their struggles.  A  recent one,  by Shadi Hamid,  talked about how difficult it is to find a partner when religion actually matters to you and you want to raise your kids as Muslims,  which I found interesting. 

But in these articles,  and in threads,  it all seems that men have suddenly become overwhelmed.  Too many choices and yet they feel they are not chosen often enough; unwillingness to commit with an unwillingness to narrow their lives to this one choice.  It's like they can only draw  the seven of cups,  too many options leading to paralysis.  

What I tell everyone is that you can one cup, or I'll be super generous and give you two,  but you cannot have all the cups - and it's not personal,  it's not only you -  no one can have all the cups.  And to chose one means that others start to become less available. And we,  as a culture,  have to be okay with that.  I tell people you cannot be both a professional athlete and a brain surgeon.  The time constraints don't work.  So you have to chose one or the other. And yes,  you may always feel a twinge when you come into contact with the one you didn't chose,  but you can't have both.  

I think men,  who had the illusion of power for so long,  and now feel it ripped away by a myriad of cultural shifts,  can't chose.  And so they are struggling.

I guess I'm telling them to chose one,  commit to one,  cherish one and see what happens.  At least it's not paralysis,  at the very least it's a learning experience, and at the most,  it's a life changing/progressing one. 

Bad energy weeks

Some weeks nothing goes right.  Some weeks you always get out on the wrong side of bed,  everything that can go wrong does,  your computer doesn't work and you keep missing the bus.  It's almost like you've caught a bad luck virus.  You start to feel raw and vulnerable.

When this happens to me, I do two things - 1) be kind to myself.  Even if I am part of everything going wrong,  even it was specifically my fault,  I need to be gentle.  Being mean to myself really doesn't help.  And 2) go slow.  Maybe I'm rushing through things,  maybe I'm tripping over my own feet.  Maybe I just need some quiet time to let myself slow down and heal. 

So if you are having a bad week,  know that this sometimes happens,  and it too shall pass.  Be the hanged man,  be kind to yourself and others.  Slow down,  do soft and gentle things.  And the energy will pass.  It always does. 

Cat Tarot cards by Thiago Correa

Life Skills

Everyone has something that they find easy,  that other people find hard.  But skills are transferable.  

I was dreadful with food for many years,  eating my feelings and under exercising.  But I was always great with money,  feeling satisfied with staying within my budget and smug when I got things on sale.  There were years where the only things I bought full price were groceries. 

And I met these gorgeous,  thin,  smart young women coming for Tarot Readings,  who were really dreadful with money.  They could control and motivate themselves effortlessly around food and exercise,  but they had no self control around expenditures. 

And I said,  these are the same skills.  The skills that make you not eat a full bar of chocolate,  you can transfer that attitude to shopping.  It was so eye opening for me (sometimes I actually take my own advice!)   It really helped me with food. I began saying to myself, it's costs too much,  thinking about how many calories were in a dessert.

And I'd encourage the girls to look at the shoes and work out much they were paying on interest to get them, and declare them too fattening!  I made a lot of girls laugh with that line,  and then stop and think.  I still get feedback to this day from some of my clients that that idea really helped them.