It’s Getting Hot in Here
A student copes with a hot day of studying.
Labor Day Weekend happens this week. Labor Day is considered the unofficial end of the summer season. Growing up in the Northeast, summer was always my favorite time of year. That is largely why I moved to the Sunshine State.
It’s no secret that this summer has been the hottest on record in many parts of the country. Individuals, families, and communities have been compelled to devise new strategies to cope with the increasing temperatures.
We use the word ‘heat’ to describe any pressure or conflict. I had a friend who was a circus clown. He said that the gossip and shifting alliances in the traveling circus community were referred to as ‘heat.’ For him, the heat was so unbearable that he left the circus.
Sometimes, walking away from something is the only way to cope with it. Sometimes, when pressure intensifies, we have to find new strategies to help us cope. When we are feeling frazzled and pressed, we do not always make the best decisions, and we often lack the inspiration to find creative solutions. Yet, those are precisely the times that innovative solutions are required.
‘Heat’ comes from fire, which is the element associated with creativity and motivation. Heat is as often a good thing as it is a problem. What would happen if, when we feel pressure, we tried to find the energy that was pressuring us and instead enlist it to help with solutions? If we could feel more empowered to create reasonable solutions, would we feel less pressed overall?
The StaarCon 5 Imagining of Pixie Arcana. Art and composition by Stacey Williams-Ng, backgrounds by Animix.
The StaarCorner
We had a record number of events in the Accelevents lounge this month! What were your favorites?
We will start September strong on Tuesday, September 2, at 6 pm ET with Frank’s Rock and Roll Lounge.
The StaarCon community is celebrating the publication of Kristine Gorman’s Visionary Woman Tarot this month. I first met Kristine in 2018 at the Northwest Tarot Symposium, where she showed me her now-famous painting of Rachel Pollack as Major Arcana 21, the World. She told me she was creating a full seventy-eight-card deck. On August 5, 2025, that deck became a reality, published by Weiser Books.
Weiser is a fabulous StaarCon sponsor, and Kristine is a past and future StaarCon presenter. We look forward to her sharing wisdom from her deck creation process with us. Right now, you can get your copy of the long-awaited Visionary Woman Tarot (with a foreword from Benebell Wen) directly from Weiser Books.
Our StaarCon community includes some of the best artists, writers, publishers, healers, and creators on the planet. Congratulations, Kristine Gorman and Weiser Books, on this achievement!
Christiana Gaudet with Kristine Gorman at the bar at StaarCon 5.
A woman receives a tarot reading that disturbs her.
When Tarot Brings the Heat
Tarot is a valuable tool for acknowledging and understanding our emotions, and helping us develop effective strategies to cope with challenges. Sometimes, though, a tarot reading can reveal something heating up in your life before you have seen or recognized the problem.
Tarot reveals both problems and solutions when we ask the right questions.
One huge ethical point that many professional tarot readers differ on is this. If the cards reveal a difficult situation that the client is not ready to discuss, do you press it, even gently? If the cards show an unfortunate prediction that you believe will not help your client, do you share, or do you keep it to yourself?
How important is it to give every message that you see, even if a message feels too hot to handle? Do you have ways of phrasing the message that make it more palatable?
There is no right or wrong way to handle this, but every tarot reader must have a sense of how they handle the heat when it happens.
Oracle Card Exploration Members-Only Livestream on YouTube Wednesday, August 27 @ 7 pm.
The Week in Review
Members of my YouTube channel are invited to join us tonight on YouTube at 7 pm ET for a members-only livestream. I will be sharing some of my new and old oracle decks, doing readings, and discussing techniques for working with oracle cards.
Members can watch the unedited TarotScopes for September.
From Around the Web
Tarot as a socio-emotional learning tool for kids? Yes, please!
Nancy Hendrickson, author of Ancestral Tarot and Ancestral Grimoire, has published a third book of Ancestral Magic with La Panthere Studios. Get your copy of Ancestral Séance now!
Emerald Lotus has a tarot spread to help you cope with burnout and fatigue.
People waiting in an emergency shelter.
Communities
It is only in the past few years that I have become aware of the existence of ‘cooling shelters’. That is, emergency shelters run by municipalities during heatwaves to provide residents with a safe place to be if their homes become too hot. It’s the same idea as warming shelters in cooler climates and hurricane shelters in storm areas.
I have been fortunate in my life so far that I have never had to utilize one of these shelters. Yet, whenever I hear about them, I often find myself imagining what it would be like. It would become a temporary community of sorts. I would bring my tarot cards and try to entertain people with them, and maybe make some new friends.
The communities that gather to help one another when things get hard are literally life-saving and also hope-restoring.
Unseen hands leafing through a calendar.
Upcoming Events
Christiana Gaudet reading at Teachers' Night Out in Groton, CT, circa 2005.
About Christiana Gaudet
Card and Craft, Inc.
Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers, LLC.
Christiana Gaudet
770 SE Indian Street Suite 10
Stuart, Florida 34997-5604
Locations in Port Saint Lucie, West Palm Beach, and Stuart, Florida!
Email cgaudet@cardandcraft.com
On the web www.christianagaudet.com
Online classes www.cardandcraftacademy.com
StaarCon information www.staarcon.com
YouTube @YourTarotFairyGodmother
Instagram @christianatarot @staarcon
TikTok @christianagaudettarot
Private telephone, Skype, FaceTime, Zoom, and in-person readings and instruction are available by appointment.
Tarot parties at your home or office are available throughout Florida.
Zoom parties and group instruction are available almost everywhere!
Call toll free 866-99TAROT (866-998-2768)
For business or agent inquiries, call 772-301-0232
For appointments, call or text 561-655-1160
Schedule Appointments, Mentoring Sessions, or Purchase Gift Certificates Online!
Schedule your private reading or mentorship session, or purchase gift certificates at https://christiana-gaudet.as.me.
Agent inquiries are welcome.
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 8 Issue 35
August 27, 2025
Christiana Gaudet Your Tarot Fairy Godmother banner.
Join us for "Autumn Arcana Class Three: Spread the Word!" on December 16, 7-8:30 pm at W Executive Suites, Stuart, FL. Discover ways to perform a tarot reading.