Searching for Justice

For the past four years I've been doing the majority of my readings on line.  The way I read,  you have to shuffle the cards,  so people use their own decks.   In my recent readings,  with everyone using a separate deck,  so it's not a issue of shuffling,  the Justice card (or Justice Reversed,  even more pertinent) has show up disproportionately. 


The Justice card is often about a sense of fairness.  of things working out justly.  Pulling Justice into today's world  I interpreted as a sense of desiring fairness or justice,  or of things being not fair. Which is completely accurate.  Things are not fair.  Good work is not necessarily being rewarded,  chance encounters can lead to contagion,  life is strange.

In ordinary days when people are searching for fairness,  I warn them that life is not fair.  In fact,  living in the first world,  with running water and electricity,  we are so far ahead in the fairness stakes we are already on the wrong side of that ledger.  So instead of wanting fairness,  I tell people to seek balance.  If life isn't fair,  and you feel powerless,  then the next day you wake up and life is still unfair and what can you do?  But if your life is not balanced - then there you have some power.  You can redress the balances,  give more energy to one section,  take it away from another,  You have the power to allocate how to balance your time and energy and then the burning sense of requiring Justice can ease a little.

One client had three separate readings using three different decks over a three year period. .  As I was looking over his notes,  I realized that in each reading,  he had pulled the Justice card.  So then we had another conversation about what that card means to him personally,  as well as being part of the ether now.  Tarot is both general and deeply personal.  And if you do readings over time,  you can get to deeper insights too.

The Cards know best

Every so often people say to me,  it's not the cards,  it's just you - your judgement, your opinion,  your insight.  And I say no.  Because I'm reading all the time,  I can see it more clearly,  but the cards definitely know more than me about any given situation.  

I can think of hundreds of examples.  The woman who said what's going on in my relationship and the cards said,  he's a good person,  but he's just not there for you. And she said,  I knew it,  on paper he's the one but we're just not connecting and it's a relief to say that after everyone else tells me it should work.  Or the woman who drew the Devil card when discussing her relationship and we both looked at it and she sighed and said he really is the devil for me!  Or the guy who gave me three job options and the cards chose job B,  the secure job with benefits rather than Job A,  the start up (and I'm glad I didn't know which was which,  so he couldn't accuse me of being too conservative!) 

If you ask a question and me and the cards disagree,  I'll always give the cards opinion.  After all,  I'm just a person,  but the cards are reading you,  and if you look clearly,  you do always know best. 

Good days and Bad days

So I've been having good days and bad days.  Good days I genuinely count my blessings of which there are plenty.  But the bad days - they creep up. For five days I needed to buy groceries and couldn't make myself leave the house.   I actually opened the shelf long life milk I had bought early in the pandemic  to tide us over.  (It's weirdly creamy)  

And then,  yesterday,  I got out of bed,  did 3 loads of washing and went shopping for food. There is now milk and eggs in the fridge.  And to my huge relief,  the supermarkets in Sydney are edging back towards normal.  The price of fresh produce has gone up enormously - but that's because of the bush fires late last year impacting us. One thing this year has brought home to me is how connected we are to the land,  and how when we lose connection,  when we disregard the land,  that's when devastation can arise.

So if you are having a bad day,  be kind to yourself,  and if you are having a good day,  do your washing.  I am still writing lists, as I find myself more forgetful than usual,  when the fog as I call it, comes and sits on my head.  

But yesterday I played scrabble with a friend (appropriately socially distanced)  and life felt more ordinary and thus so much better (and she put down an 8 letter word! Hamsters!  84 points!!) 

Same storm, different boats

I didn't write this. I don't usually put up things I haven't written myself, but this really spoke to me and I thought I would share... I found it on the internet, God only knows where from!

We are not in the same boat.....

I heard that we are all in the same boat, but it's not like that. We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat. Your ship could be shipwrecked and mine might not be. Or vice versa.

For some, quarantine is optimal. A moment of reflection, of re-connection, a time to relax with a cocktail or coffee. For others, this is a desperate financial & family crisis.

For some that live alone, they're facing endless loneliness. While for others it is peace, rest & time with their immediate family.

With the $600 weekly increase in unemployment some are bringing in more money to their households than when they were working. Others are working more hours for less money, due to pay cuts or loss in sales.

Some families of 4 just received $3400 from the stimulus, while other families of 4 saw $0.

Some were concerned about their favorite restaurant closing, while others were concerned if there would be enough bread, milk and eggs for the weekend.

Some want to go back to work because they don't qualify for unemployment, and are running out of money. Others want to enforce the quarantine until a cure is found.

Some are home spending 2-3 hours/day helping their child with online schooling, while others are spending 10-12 hours working from home.

Some have experienced the near death of the virus, some have already lost someone from it, and some are not sure if their loved ones are going to make it. Others don't believe the response matches the threat.

So, friends, we are NOT in the same boat. We are going through a time when our perceptions and needs are completely different.

Each of us will emerge, in our own way, from this storm. It is very important to see beyond what is seen at first glance. Not just looking, actually seeing.

We are all on different ships experiencing this storm as a very different journey.

This feels so true to me! Wishing you all calm waters.

Dreaming in a time of Corona

I've been having strange anxiety dreams lately.  I was desperately trying to get a train ticket to Bath (in the UK.)  I was lucky because when the ticket seller told me I'd have to bribe him to get the information I needed,  I said this just doesn't happen! Then in the dream I realized I was dreaming and woke myself up.  Yay for expectations of incorruptibility of British Rail.

But all joking aside,  even if your own life is going well enough,  these are trying times and anxiety can manifest in sneaky ways.  Everyone I speak to is overeating (me too!) Many are stress baking (me too!)  Some of us are exercising with YouTube videos (me occasionally.) 

But I am also consciously listing what I am grateful for.  We were watching the news and the some people devastated by the Australian bush fires late last year don't have a home to shelter in.  Of course,  knowing that people are genuinely worse off than you doesn't always help,  hence dreaming of trying to get to civilized Bath and finding that you can't there for love or money...  

If you are stressing,  remember to be kind to yourself.  And please try to walk outside (maintaining strict distance from others!) to let some wind blow through your hair.  Read, find ways to move,  nurture yourself and those around you.  Be kind and this too shall pass... 

Virtual Readings

I lived in Tribeca for 14 years.  I started Tribeca Tarot Reader in 2008 and this blog in 2009.  When we returned to Sydney 3 years ago,  I switched to virtual readings.  I would skype or facetime you and read for you that way.  But because of the way I read,  I find the magic is in the shuffling - you have to handle the cards,  you have to move and select them,  your energy shifting them one way or the other.  

So most of my readings are for established clients who know the way I work,  and are willing to buy or borrow a deck and shuffle and do the layout for me,  and then we do the reading,  in the quiet and privacy of where you chose. 

It's actually worked out very well,  and my regulars,  who have readings once or twice a year,  or once every two years or so,  find me,  buy a deck - usually the Rider Waite,  but any deck with 78 cards will do,  and have a reading.  And continue being my regulars.

If you are looking for me in these uncertain times,  I'm happy to do a reading for you.  Just get your hands on a deck and we'll find a time and start.  And you don't have to have read with me before - just browse though the blog and you'll get a feel for how I read. 

Also,  to simplify matters,  I start all my readings with a cold reading - where I don't know what's going on in your life,  and just tell you what the cards tell me - in the shape of a Celtic Cross.  I find it helpful to remind people of what that looks like - 

We lay out the 10 cards together and then I start to talk... 

Email me or text me if you like a reading.

Wishing you warmth and safety and health,

Liat

Keeping yourself well

In these difficult times,  it's easy to get agitated and upset.  I've found myself feeling claustrophobic. My own irritation/anxiety levels were rising and deep breathing and chocolate were not enough to bring them down.   I've put on 4 pounds in two weeks.  Always a bad sign!

So I've made a more concerted effort to connect with friends,  both of us drinking coffee and chatting over zoom or skype or facetime.  So many options! 

My gym closed two weeks ago today and I hadn't done any exercise other than walk the dog since then.  I always say in my readings that feelings are energy,  and if you are angry or irritated or worried,  that's also energy.  If you can't defuse it at the source (you can't always shout at your boss/mother/lover/financial worries/ pandemic) you should still try to get rid of it.  I suggest high energy exercise - kick boxing,  running,  zumba.  I can't kick box or run to save my life (or my knees) but I can dance.

So today I went through the internet and found that to create a good zumba class is no simple matter.   There were lots of them that just didn't work for me - too hard,  too easy,  too complicated,  didn't like the music. It's easy to give up.   But after half an hour and a few missteps,  I found a great zumba teacher that I really liked - Ines Araonos.   



So this morning is already better.  I'm sweaty and bouncy and can feel that irritated edgy feeling relax .   I think tomorrow I'll do a barre class.