Tarot News blog has news and information of interest to the tarot community.
Dream Big!
It's important to have a vision for your life.
Dream Big!
Believe in yourself and visualize your success!
I know a lot of people who like to keep their expectations for life small, so as to avoid disappointment. Yet, many spiritual people believe that in order to achieve something you have to first conceive of it, and then, believe in it. I think there is value in having big dreams.
Not every dream comes true, but many do. The question is, what are the things we can do to be proactive in achieving our greatest desires?
The first thing is to have a clear vision of what you want. Make it be something big, but also make it be something that fits within your skillset. Don’t try to become a great singer if you can’t carry a tune, for example.
The second is to make sure that what you think you want is actually what you want. Many young girls dream of marrying a wealthy man. Yet, if he isn’t kind, and if you aren’t attracted to him, that sort of marriage could become a prison.
The third thing is to do the work you need to do to make your dreams happen. This is where the spiritual truth of “as above, so below” matters. What we do on the mundane level is reflected on the spiritual level and vice versa. So, pray for what you want, but also do the work to get there.
The more that you can see your dreams as real and possible in your mind, the more likely they are to happen. This is where vision boards, treasure maps and other visualization exercises become very helpful.
So often we are afraid to dream big because we don’t feel worthy enough, or good enough. It is important to know our value and our skills. We need to believe in ourselves in order to believe in our dreams. We need to believe in ourselves so that others will believe in us, too.
Wonderful things happen to people all the time. Every day people make great friends, meet good partners, get great jobs and build amazing businesses. If other people’s dreams can come true, why not yours?
There’s a great quote from Les Brown that says, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you will land among the stars”. What a great justification for dreaming big! Rather than keeping our goals small and manageable, why not shoot for the moon, and then be happy wherever we land?
Another quote about big dreams that I love is from the musical “South Pacific”. The song, “Happy Talk,” was also an Ella Fitzgerald hit. The quote is probably familiar to you. “You got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?”
Introducing Community Nights
We are in the new office at 3559 SW Corporate Parkway, Palm City, ahead of schedule! I am so excited to share this space with you.
Some of you know that in the office in the Westbridge Building I occasionally had free classes. The problem was that the room was small and could only accommodate a few people.
The new office has a much larger conference room. Therefore, I am going to institute monthly Community Nights. These will be free events. You can bring a snack to share and come enjoy fellowship and learning. Some community nights will be classes taught by me. Others will be taught by guest teachers. We will have an occasional movie night, or other fun event.
Let me know your ideas for Community Night. If you have something you would like to teach or facilitate, let me know!
Big Dreams Tarot Spread
Wherever you are on your journey, you can use this spread to help you get to the next level of success, whatever that means to you. You can try this spread with tarot cards, oracle cards, or both!
Arrange the cards in any pattern you like.
Card One: Let this card tell you something about your goal.
Card Two: Let this card show you something you need to do or avoid in order to achieve your goal.
Card Three: Let this card show you something you need to develop or work on in order to achieve your goal.
Card Four: Let this card show you something unexpected that can help you along the way.
Card Five: Let this card show you something you need to keep in mind on your journey.
The Week in Review
Did you see my post on my 78 Magickal Tools blog? In keeping with the season, I shared a post about using tarot on your ancestor altar.
Every Monday I do a Three-Card Weekly Reading on Facebook Live. You can catch it in archive on my YouTube channel, my Facebook business page or my Instagram, @christianatarot.
From Around the Web
Here are some Halloween-themed tarot spreads for you to try!
Daily Tarot Girl’s spread has a card for each of Halloween’s most popular traditions.
New Age Hipster’s spread connects you with your ancestors.
From Luna Luna magazine, here is a Scary Cat Halloween Spread.
Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain, everyone!
Tarot Tells the Story: A Tarot Class
On Sunday, November 24,from 4 to 6 pm, join me in the new office at 3559 SW Corporate Parkway, Palm City Florida 34990 for an exciting and insightful tarot class appropriate for readers of all levels of experience.
Tarot Tells the Story will cover the nuances necessary to give a great reading. Topics included will be Court cards, reversals, card combinations, trends and blends and tarot spreads.
You will learn to weave the card meanings together to create a cohesive story.
Bring a tarot deck or purchase one at the class.
Class fee is $37.50. You must pre-register on Eventbrite or by calling 561-655-1160.
Cards for Your Consideration
This week I want to consider a very interesting tarot deck. The Art of Life Tarot Deck by Charlene Livingstone uses famous works of art and quotations to illustrate each of the seventy-eight cards. This deck is a great tool for understanding the archetypes of tarot. It’s also a particularly good deck for one-card draws.
A card from this deck that particularly illustrates the idea of dreaming big is Major Arcana One, The Magician.
Typically, keywords for the Magician are tools, skills, abilities, learning and new beginnings. These are all things that are required if we want to achieve big things.
The quote associated with this card is from William Henley. It reads, “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”
This is a great affirmation for dreamers who also want to be achievers.
Upcoming Tours and Events
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 44
October 30, 2019
Making the Connection
In divination, as in life, the connections we make matter.
Making the Connection
In divination, as in life, the connections we make matter.
Spiritual work is full of all sorts of connections. That’s why many healers and diviners are very sensitive to the energies of Mercury retrograde. Mercury, of course, is all about connections. In retrograde, those connections need extra attention and care. (The next Mercury retrograde begins March 6.)
Effective divination, whether with tarot or any other tool, requires us to make connections. Let’s use tarot as an example to explore the different connections we make to deliver meaningful messages.
First, we must make a connection with Spirit, Higher Power, or our own higher consciousness. Diviners vary widely in their spiritual beliefs but tend to agree that there is a higher energy we connect with in divination, whether than energy emanates from within us our outside of us.
If we are reading for another person, we must make an energetic connection with that person.
We must connect with the cards we’ve pulled in a number of different ways. We connect with the images; we see how the images make us feel and the things of which we are reminded when we look at the pictures.
Readers who value the wisdom of classic tarot knowledge know that we learn the cards by making connections. Each card has a number of classic keywords that often feel widely divergent. Consider the Ten of Pentacles. The Ten of Pentacles can predict love. The Ten of Pentacles can indicate wealth. This same card can also speak of heritage and legacy. It is also the card of real estate, predicting buying or selling property, home renovations or a career in real estate. The Ten of Pentacles can suggest you love your home and are happy there.
The way we get a handle on the essence of a card’s energy is by finding the thing that connects all those keywords. In the case of the Ten of Pentacles, the connecting point is family. In the Waite-Smith image, the connecting point is the grandfather.
Try this process with each tarot card to stretch and solidify your understanding of the card.
The trickiest connection, and the one that separates mediocre readers from truly talented ones, is the ability to make the connection between classic keywords and card interpretations and what is happening in the querent’s life. There is an intuitive process that allows the reader to extrapolate the card meanings in a way that applies and resonates.
Even in our mundane lives, the connections we make are important. That is especially true of our social connections, our professional networks and our intimate partners. We need to connect with one another.
Often, our points of view and opinions can be a huge disconnect when we don’t see eye to eye. When we look past our differences and focus on our human commonalities, it becomes easier to make important connections with everyone.
What is true in human interaction is also true in divination. When things seem misaligned, the key is in finding where the connection truly is.
Make Your Plans to See Me During My Northeastern Tour!
I will be in Connecticut March 27 through April 8. I am available for parties, groups and house calls in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York City.
I am also offering private readings by appointment at True Bikram Yoga in Madison.
To make your appointment, please call or text 561-655-1160.
I will be teaching two workshops while I am there.
In Madison, on Sunday, March 31 at 7 pm I am teaching ‘The Journey of Life: The Major Arcana of Tarot.
In New Haven, on Sunday, April 7 at 7 pm I am teaching ‘Oils, Intuition and Manifestation’. Learn more about these workshops, and register in advance!
Two Tarot Exercises to Help Make Connections
The key to a good tarot reading is flow. Intuition must flow, and the story must flow. Flow is fostered, in part, by the connections we make. Here are two exercises to help you find those connections and find your flow.
Dig into the Cards
Look at each card and speak aloud about it for as long as you can. What are all the things you know about this card? How does this card make you feel? What can this card mean in a reading?
As you are speaking of the card you will notice that your own understanding of it expands and deepens.
The Seventy-Eight-Card Story
Shuffle the cards. Turn over the top card and use it to begin a story. Move quickly on to the next card, letting that card continue the story. Let your story grow as you look at all seventy-eight cards. Let the story be fanciful, silly or outrageous; just let the cards inspire your imagination and your words as the story flows from one card to the next.
The Week in Review
This week I shared a post on my Community Blog called “Group Readings: The Performance Aspect of Tarot”. One of the amazing things about tarot reading is that there are so many different ways we can do it!
From Around the Web
Here’s a new post from Jamie Morris, one of my favorite tarotist writers. If you are also a tarotist writer, you will enjoy this writing prompt.
As I mentioned earlier, Mercury Retrograde is on its way. From Astrostyle, here is a guide on how to survive it!
From Maddy Elruna, some thoughts on when tarot does not work out as expected.
King of Cups from Art of Life Tarot by Charlene Livingstone, Copyright 2012, U.S. Games Systems, Inc.
Cards for Your Consideration
Let’s contemplate the King of Cups. Here we see this image from the Art of Life Tarot, which pairs a work of art with a quotation to illustrate the energy of each card.
I chose this particular illustration because it echoes my own take of the King of Cups.
The King of Cups is often somewhat maligned in a way that almost feels misandrist to me. It’s easy to see him as one who drinks too much, or as a whiner.
Yes, each Court card, when representing a person, can represent one who is demonstrating either positive behaviors or negative ones. There is an up and a down to every card at any moment.
Tarotists so often describe the King of Cups as alcoholic or wussy. Yet, if we break it down to the barest of elements, the King of Cups, as the King of Water, is a man who understands and communicates love; one who makes emotions a priority.
Can the King of Cups represent an undesirable guy? Of course, but for me that is not the baseline interpretation.
I think that all people need to be able to understand and communicate their emotions, and all people need to understand the paramount importance of love in all its forms. That a man is in touch with his emotions should not automatically cause us to think of him as weak. This should be true in life, as well as in the cards.
For me, Kings in tarot are the highest expression of their element. As the king of water, the King of Cups can be one who is a master of understanding love.
We can all embrace our inner King of Cups by working to stay in the high vibration of unconditional love as we interact with the people around us.
When the King of Cups does not represent a person, this card may instruct us to take the lead in a situation in a way that is loving and considerate of the feelings of others.
Psychic Gallery at ZeroPointe in Fort Lauderdale
Join me for an exciting event in Fort Lauderdale on the first day of Spring!
On Wednesday, March 20, 7 pm to 9 pm, I will present a psychic gallery at ZeroPointe Healing Foundation, formerly Center for Inner Wisdom, located at 4849 N Dixie Hwy, Suite 2, Oakland Park, FL 33334.
I love doing psychic galleries, because the energy of sacred space, and the energy of a group united for a single purpose, can create the perfect environment in which to receive powerful messages from Spirit.
In a psychic gallery with me, each person receives pertinent information and insight. Group members hold space and support each other, and benefit from hearing and witnessing every message.
The energy of the vernal equinox will add a powerful dimension to the readings on this special evening, bringing the opportunity for each of us to find balance and initiate new beginnings.
Tickets are $30, and seating is limited. Register now!
Join us for Global Tarot Circle on Facebook Live
On Wednesday, February 20 from7 pm to 8 pm you have the opportunity to join tarot friends from around the world on my free monthly webinar, Global Tarot Circle on Facebook Live.
Each month we gather on Facebook to share readings, conversation and tarot study. You can join in on your smartphone, computer or tablet.
To join, simply like my business page and look for the live feed.
Tarot Topics Newsletter Volume 2 Issue 8
February 20, 2019
The Fine Art of Living Life: A Review of Art of Life Tarot
Art of Life Tarot
Charlene Livingstone
Published by US Games
Review by Christiana Gaudet
With her new Art of Life tarot deck, Charlene Livingstone is not the first to use existing works of art to illustrate a tarot deck. Kat Black’s Golden Tarot used digital collage of medieval art to create a tarot deck very true to the Rider Waite Smith images.
Neither is Charlene Livingstone the first deck creator to ascribe famous quotations to each card of divination; Ciro Marchetti’s Oracle of Visions companion book includes a quotation for each card.
Nevertheless, Art of Life Tarot from U.S. Games is a truly unique and valuable deck. It easily teaches two important concepts with which tarot students often struggle. First is the concept of archetypes. That the deck creator illustrates each card with a famous work of art and famous quotation drives home the concept of archetypes; the idea that each tarot card portrays a universal theme that is repeated many times over in art, music and literature.
The second concept is that tarot is more than a simple device for fortune telling. Tarot cards offer inspiration and bear spiritual wisdom, just as art and literature can. The box in which the oversized cards are packaged actually turns into a standing frame wherein we are encouraged to place one card each day for inspiration.
The accompanying Little White Book is written in the first person by the deck creator, and tells the poignant story of her own tarot journey. The card descriptions are based on key words for suits, numbers and rank. No mention is made of elemental associations.
The cards themselves are large, with a white background. The traditional name of the card is at the top. The top half of the card is a reproduction of a work of art. Under that, in small italics, is the name of the work and the artist. Under that, in large italics, is a quotation. The works of art and quotations are classic. They span several centuries and come from many cultures, although many will be familiar to those of even modest education. There are no ultra-modern works – no album art or wise quotations from Bart Simpson.
I identify Lisa Hunt and Kris Waldherr as the primary innovators of this kind of archetypal assignment tarot deck. What is true for their decks is also true for Art of Life. At the end of the day, artists’ choices are their own, and completely subjective. It is very easy for an experienced tarotist to go through this deck and say, “Why did she choose this painting for that card?” or “I could think of several quotations that would illustrate this card much better!”
The important point is that even if we don’t agree with every choice, this deck gets us thinking about the archetypes of tarot, and how they are expressed in art and words. In this way, Art of Life is engaging and educational.
Some of the cards are particular apt, or at least they speak to me very personally. For instance, the Wheel of Fortune is Mucha’s Zodiac accompanied by the famous passage from Ecclesiastes, “To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”
Another I really like is The Moon, which is Rousseau’s The Sleeping Gypsy. Its quotation is from Thoreau. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
Art of Life is a wonderful teaching deck, and a wonderful deck to inspire us about tarot, and about life. As a workable reading deck, some may see it more as an oracle than a standard tarot. Because of the quotations, a novice could easily pull cards at random, or lay them in the simple Creativity Spread included in the LWB, and get a meaningful reading.
I took Art of Life Tarot on a test drive with a simple two-card “This or That” decision making spread, and was shocked by the clarity of the answer. As an experienced reader, I could read blank cards with only the card names on them. But the quotations and the images were particularly striking, and added depth to the standard interpretation of each card.
Art of Life Tarot will serve well as a companion for the tarot journey, rather than as a primary learning or reading deck. Those who are not tarot-centric can use this deck simply as cards of inspiration, divination and meditation. Art of Life Tarot will be especially appealing to lovers of art and literature.
On a side note, this deck is good news for those of us who don’t want to draw but might want to design a tarot deck someday. There are many ways to be creative with tarot, and many ways to illustrate a deck. Charlene Livingstone has done an exemplary job illustrating a tarot deck with the art and words of the masters.
Art of Life Tarot by Charlene Livingstone is a welcome addition to the body of tarot, and will be a welcome addition to most tarotists’ collections. Its title is more descriptive than we might first realize. In meditation and divination, it will most certainly inspire us with counsel from the ages in the fine art of living life.