It’s no secret I love music – all kinds of music.  It’s also no secret that I draw on both likely and unlikely sources for accessible wisdom to help my clients through difficult times.

I encourage my students to do the same – to keep a ready arsenal of wisdom from sacred and secular texts to help bring the tarot cards to life and offer guidance for their clients.

I automatically associate many tarot cards with particular pearls of wisdom.  For instance, the Hanged Man reminds me of the Serenity Prayer.  The Moon reminds me of the last part of the Charge of the Goddess: “If that which you seek you find not within yourself, you will never find it without.” 

Other times, a particular snippet just comes to me when I look at a card.  These snippets seem to be a subconscious part of my psychic vocabulary.

Sometimes a song, a prayer or a passage can be like a mantra.  The words can help a client stay strong.  After the tarot reading is over and they go back to their difficult situation, they can hum a song or recite a passage.  Sometimes it gives them the courage to get through their tough spot.

In a reading, I may use examples from the Bible, the Charge of the Goddess, the 12 Step Program, the Four Agreements, Desiderata or the Grateful Dead.

Recently, and to my surprise, I’m quoting Beyonce quite often.

She is certainly not the first R&B lady to sing about feminine empowerment.  Aretha wanted R-E-S-P-E-C-T; Ella’s classic “Undecided” still tells it like it is today.

I had the pleasure of seeing the first incarnation of Destiny’s Child open for TLC.  That was back when Destiny’s Child was four young girls, and no one knew who Beyonce was.  Even then, she stood out.  Mariah had better watch out, I thought, as I watched the one of the four who sang the best and shone the brightest.

Now, there are few who don’t know who Beyonce is.

At least once a week, I see a situation in a client’s reading that calls for a Beyonce quote.  To the woman who has been waiting for a proposal for seven years I paraphrase Beyonce and say, “You gotta tell him ‘If he likes it then he better put a ring on it’.”

To the woman who is kicking out her live-in boyfriend, it’s “to the left, to the left, everything you own in a box to the left.”

The woman who is waiting for Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet can find wisdom in “Independent Woman,” while the woman lending her car to her chronically unemployed boyfriend might need to hear “Bills, Bills, Bills.”

Some people think scantily clad women strutting in heels on stage are anything but empowered.  To me, Beyonce is a powerful inspiration to smart, modern women. 

That the ancient tarot could inspire this middle-aged tarot reader to quote Beyonce in an effort to drive a message home is testament to tarot’s versatility, and its ability to stay fresh in every generation.