Listening to your old readings

I always encourage people to record their readings.  If later they find that they don't want it,  they can delete it.  But if they do want it,  and they haven't done it, it's a disappointment... 

A regular client of mine said she realized it had been six months since her last reading and she felt like another one.  So she listened to her previous reading. She very sweetly told me she was amazed by how accurate it was in retrospect, the cards had picked every shift and had clearly seen what was going on at work long before she had.  

We did our first skype reading and that worked very well.  If you are looking to explore your current situation,  try the skype readings,  they work far better than people expect.  You need to have your own tarot deck, and then I get you to lay out the cards and we talk...  

Looking forward to reading for you,

Liat

So many tarot cards!

A friend just told me about the new Ikea Tarot Deck.  I love their blurb:  “Ikea is a place of transition, a journey, a source of light and comfort, but also strife. Ikea contains the universe. Harness that power to understand your own life with these cleanly designed Ikea themed tarot cards."   I may even get a deck.  

I love how many tarot designs there are.  I have a pintrest page full of designs that have caught my eye.  I own a few decks but do my readings with the traditional Rider Waite deck - it's the one I know best and easiest for me to read. 

Breaking in a new deck

In the past,  people have asked me to do skype readings for them,  and asked me to shuffle the cards,  while they look on,  a world away.  And all I got was mud.  I really need you to shuffle the cards,  that's where the magic lies for me.  So in order to do a reading with me,  you need to have access to a tarot deck.  You can use one you already own,  borrow one from a friend or buy one.  Often people get a new deck solely to have a reading with me.  

I ask that if you get a new deck,  break it out on the day you get it and start shuffling immediately.  It will feel strange. The cards are new and sticky and they are also weirdly large (nearly twice the size of a normal playing card) and it's not easy or smooth to move them around.  

That's why I ask that you shuffle them and rearrange them for about 5 - 10  minutes a day,  three to four days before our reading,  so you get the mechanical order out of the cards,  and get your own energy into them.  

Any way you want to shuffle is fine - some people crack them like card sharks,  some people smoosh them around,  some people are painstakingly thorough,  some people spill them out and pick them up again.  All of these are as good as each other. 

If you are borrowing a deck from a friend, just make sure you shuffle them frequently,  so that they become yours.  And then get your friend to reshuffle them when you return them. 

First reading

If this is your first reading with me - Welcome!  I'm currently in Sydney Australia.  Most of my clients are in New York City.  I now do most of my readings via Skype or FaceTime.  

For me,  the magic of the cards comes through the energy of you shuffling.  So in order to have a reading with me,  you need your own deck of tarot cards.  Any deck will do,  as long as it is a full 78 cards (some of the more decorative decks have fewer cards,  and that doesn't work for me.)  If you are buying a deck in order to have a reading with me,  I recommend you get the Rider Waite Radiant Deck 

My readings usually cost $120 for about an hour.  If you are getting a deck for a reading with me,  I'll buy it for you,  and the reading will only be $100 

Once you have the cards,  we set up an appointment.  Usually after 6 pm for you,  after 9 am the following day for me. (I find time differences weird!)  

You shuffle the cards we start the reading with the Celtic Cross.  I talk you through it,  but essentially you lay out the cards in this shape:

I start with what I call the cold reading,  knowing as little as possible about your current situation,  I go through what the cards tell me.  It usually takes about 5 - 10 minutes.  

Then you get to tell me if you what you thought of it - if you agree/disagree/have questions/have comments and the reading progresses...

I can usually answer about 3 questions during the reading as well. 

I encourage people to record the readings,  as we go through a lot of information, very quickly.  

If any of the cards are especially significant,  I will encourage you to look them up online but especially on my blog.  There is a wealth of information here and every card is gone through in detail. 

After the reading you pay me via paypal. 

I'm so grateful to my repeat clients who have bought their own decks and keep coming back to me for readings, so that even though I am far away,  we feel close. 

Absorbed by Light

I read this article the other day - about phone addiction and it's something I've been struggling with myself - I found myself getting headaches at the end of the day,  and realizing that a day without my phone games and voila,  the headaches are gone!  So my pastime is now causing me pain,  quitting should be easy,  right?  Well, not so much.  That's why this resonated with me.  

One of the reasons I love tarot is that it is a dedicated hour with no interruptions.  You have a conversation about yourself and what matters to you,  and it's focused and clear and all yours. 

I am now living in Sydney,  Australia.  I've been giving readings to all my regulars via FaceTime or Skype.  It's worked very well.    My tarot readings are dense - we cover a lot of information and get to clarity.  If you are considering having a reading,  drop me a line and we'll sort out a time,  you can have the reading from the privacy of your own space.

Lost Possible Selves

A favorite client of mine told me about this idea in psychology called ‘Lost Possible Selves’. 

Those are the selves you could have been but weren’t. The lives you could have led but didn’t — the people you didn’t marry, the jobs you didn’t take, the children you didn’t have. 

The idea is that as you age, your happiness and sense of serenity comes down to your relationship to these selves you might have been. Are you at peace with your choices and the places those choices took you? Are you grieving over the possible selves you lost? Coming to a resolution is a big part of what it means to not only be emotionally mature, but also to feel free.

I so agree with all of this.  Time to read more Tracy McMillan!

Tarot Fashion

I was reading one of my favorite blogs - Tom and Lorenzo -  and they had a page all about Christian Dior's Tarot Resort bags.  (Judgement is pictured above.)

When I googled it,  I came across Christian Dior's very pretty Tarot Pouches (which I liked better than the resort bags.)  Not that I will ever own any of these,  but I like how tarot is inspiring fashion...