Tarot News blog has news and information of interest to the tarot community.
Nurturing Strength of Spirit
Spirituality is not transactional. There is no way to immunize ourselves from potential misfortune. Yet, spirituality can help us get through the most difficult times.
Those who know me are aware of my sincere appreciation for the prose poem Desiderata, written by Max Ehrmann in 1927.
My grandmother found so much strength and grace in Desiderata that she always kept printed copies to give to people whom she felt might benefit from it. This poem was a kind of sacred text for my family, and it remains so for me.
That’s the thing about sacred text. Sacred text can be a work that is universally heralded as a holy book, but it can also be any book, poem, song, or story that gives you strength, wisdom, and inspiration.
The passage I have been focused on this week is the first sentence of the eighth paragraph. The line is “Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.” Though only ten words, there is so much to unpack in this one sentence.
People often want their spiritually (no matter their tradition or belief system) to be transactional and reciprocal. They want to think that if they perform certain rituals, believe certain things, or say certain prayers, they will immunize themselves against misfortune.
Then, when misfortune inevitably strikes, they feel abandoned. They wonder what they have done wrong, or if their faith was misplaced.
The purpose of spiritual faith is not to shield us against misfortune. As I see it, Ehrmann said it perfectly when he said that our strength of spirit is to shield in the face of misfortune.
Spiritually doesn’t prevent bad things. Spiritually can give us comfort, meaning, solace, purpose, and understanding when bad things happen.
How, then, can we nurture strength of spirit?
This is a very personal thing. It is a question we can all meditate upon and ask in our divinations. Many of us nurture strength of spirit by reading sacred texts, by honoring spiritual traditions and practices, and by enjoying the natural world and creativity.
What does strength of spirit look like? I think strength of spirit can be the ability to hold space for sorrow and joy in the same moment. Strength of spirit can be resilience, and the ability to have hope even in difficult times. Strength of spirit can help us find beauty and gratitude even in the smallest things. Strength of spirit can urge us to find meaning in suffering. Strength of spirit allows us to have compassion for others even when we ourselves are in difficulty. Strength of spirit helps us to know that tomorrow can always be a better day.
The StaarCorner
The AfterGlow closes on February 21 at 7 pm ET. If you have a StaarCon 2023 ticket, make sure you enjoy as many replays and lounge events as you can before then.
After that, remember to join us all year on Facebook in our private community group.
Mark your calendar now for StaarCon 2024, January 19-21. Plan to join us in person in West Palm Beach or online!
Helpful Questions for Difficult Times
When we are going through difficulty, we often read for ourselves, or ask others to read for us. There is great comfort and wisdom to be found in divination. So often, though, we focus on the outcome, wanting to know how things will turn out. Sometimes divination can give us answers that give us hope. Sometimes, though, the outcome is not what we most need to know.
When we are doing a reading, either for self or for someone else, sometimes the best questions are about what is happening now, rather than what will happen. Sometimes the best questions are worded to allow our divination to help us find our strength of spirit.
What do I need to know about this situation?
What is the best thing for me to do right now?
What can help me during this difficult time?
What can I learn from this?
How can I recover from this?
How can I ask for help at this time?
How can I help others at this time?
What does spirit want me to know about this difficulty?
The Week in Review
This week I shared a blogpost that offers an insightful tarot reading technique. Read “Backing into a Delicate Reading”.
Tonight on my YouTube channel we have a members-only livestream at 7 pm ET. If you are a member, please plan to join us. If you are not a member, please consider joining!
From Around the Web
Read the original text of Desiderata. Read it several times. Think about it. See what wisdom it evokes within you.
Ethony has some advice on how to use tarot to get through hard times.
We are half-way through the month of February. Let’s see what Theresa Reed had to say about the astrology of this month, and see how things are evolving for you!
Creation and Divination
There are so many ways to combine creativity with divination. If you have a favorite way, or if you have created something you want to share, please email me. I would love to share your ideas and creations in this column!
When I think about nurturing strength of spirit, I think immediately of Major Arcana 8, Strength. One of the things I love about this card is that it clearly illustrates that physical force is not the greatest strength. The woman tames the lion with love, with gentleness, and with patience.
The Smith-Waite image shows the woman’s hand in the lion’s mouth. I think about this often. It seems a dangerous place to put your hand. To me this illustrates the basic nature of life; that there is nothing of value that doesn’t incur risk.
Here is a poem I wrote about the Strength card.
Strength
As water with patience carves into stone
So do hearts carve one on the other.
And when nature battles civility
New friends are drawn together.
Each has more reason to fear than to love
The dangers beckon, not understated.
This war is waged not with bullets but blooms
And fine compassion, communicated.
The gentle maiden must be of mind fierce.
She has enraptured a fierce jungle king.
The beast submits not by violence but choice
To a union of forces opposing.
Strength then is found not in warfare or blood
Nor in doctrine nor laws to rely on.
True strength is found in faith and control
With your hand in the mouth of a lion.
Upcoming Events
Card and Craft Academy
Classes presented by Christiana are available right now at Card and Craft Academy!
Christiana’s Candle Magick
Christiana’s Eleven-Card Celtic Cross
Finding Meaning in the Minor Arcana
The Major Arcana, Magical and Mundane
Practical Tarot Techniques
Psychic Tarot
Personal Tarot: Reading for Yourself
Sharing Wisdom: Reading for Others
The Meaning and Magic of Tarot Reversals
Journey Through the Major Arcana
Your Journey Through the Minor Arcana: Numbers, Elements and Truth
Tarot Beyond the Veil
Your Journey Through the Tarot Court
Tarot Stories, Trends, and Blends
Tarot Readings for Personalities and Relationships
Clarity in Every Tarot Card
Tarot Flow Workshop
Making Magick with Tarot
Fearless Wisdom Tarot Workshop
Tarot Keywords and Interpretations Workshop
Tarot Spreads Tools and Techniques Workshop
Tarot for Magic and Mediumship
Tarot Communication for Clarity and Depth
Weaving the Tarot Reading Story
The Elemental Major Arcana
Minor Arcana Numbers, Elements, and Truth
Personal Healing with Tarot
Create and Interpret Custom Tarot Spreads
What the Court Cards Want You to Know
How Spirit Speaks Through Tarot
Catch up on your missed Zoom webinars and more!
About Christiana Gaudet
Card and Craft, Inc.
Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers, LLC.
Christiana Gaudet
3559 SW Corporate Parkway
Palm City, Florida 34990-8152
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
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 available almost everywhere!
Call toll free 866-99TAROT (866-998-2768)
Palm City 772-301-0232 x102
or call or text 561-655-1160
for more information or to schedule your event.
Schedule online at cardandcraft.10to8.com.
Agent inquiries are welcome.
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 6 Issue 7
February 15, 2023
Six is the First Perfect Number
This week we take a deep dive into the power and meaning of the number Six.
Welcome to Volume 6, Issue 6 of the Tarot Topics Weekly Newsletter. Given the sixes this week, I thought it would be fun to do a deep dive into the number Six, and its meaning in different traditions, as well as in tarot.
To be honest, whenever I think of the number Six, I think first of the poem, Now We Are Six, from the book of the same name by A.A. Milne, the creator of Winnie the Pooh. I still have that poem memorized. While I doubt the author had the divinatory study of numbers in mind when he wrote it, the poem does a good job giving some possible basic meanings for the six numerals, ending with, “But now I am six, I'm as clever as clever. So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.”
The Pythagoreans felt that Six symbolized high ideals.
They also pointed out that Six is the first perfect number. Mathematically, a perfect number is a positive integer that equals the sum of its proper divisors, excluding the number itself. Six is the lowest of these perfect numbers, and therefore the first.
Perhaps there are metaphysical ways in which Six is also the first perfect number. When I was first learning tarot, I learned Three as the number of first fruits, Four as the number of comfort and safety, Five as the number of expansion, and Six as the number of victory. From this perspective, Six would be the first number to express complete success.
In Kabbalah, Six is Tiphereth, or Beauty. The Chaldeans heralded the number Six as caring and giving.
When we dig into the meanings of the number Six in different traditions, we find some common themes emerge. Those themes include family, nurturance, connections, and reciprocity.
This, along with the concept of victory as I first learned, is helpful to consider when we look at the Six cards in tarot.
The Lovers, of course, is a card about relationships. The Six of Cups is about our childhood, and our relationship with the past. The Six of Pentacles is about sharing, the Six of Swords is about forward motion, and the Six of Wands is about victory after battle.
Within each of these cards we can find beauty, connections, family, victory, and, in each, a certain kind of perfection.
If Six is your birth number, or life path number, you are likely to be a nurturing and caring person, and one who works to build connections to friends, family, and community.
In all systems of divination, I am fascinated by the unlikely but perfect marriage of science and myth, logic and intuition, systems and random. We can see the relationships of diviner and tool, human and spirit, and reader and querent in the number Six as well, and in all the Six tarot cards.
The StaarCorner
This week there are lounge events on February 11, 12, 13, and 14. If you are a StaarCon 2023 ticketholder you have access to the lounge events. Don’t miss this chance to spend some time with your StaarCon friends, and learn from your StaarCon presenters!
If you have a ticket and have not yet logged into Accelevents, log in now, watch replays of classes, and enjoy the lounge events. If you have any trouble logging in, please reach out to me at 561-655-1160 and I will help you get started.
The AfterGlow ends February 21 at 7 pm. Please get as much as you can out of this time of learning, shopping, and interaction.
Tarot Exercise with the Tarot Sixes
Here is a way to get to know the tarot Sixes a bit better. There are six (no kidding) tarot cards associated with the number Six. Take them out of your deck. They are The Lovers, The Devil, the Six of Swords, the Six of Wands, the Six of Cups, and the Six of Pentacles.
In the lead article in this newsletter, we learned a few keywords associated with the divinatory meaning of the number Six. Look at each of these cards and determine the ways in which the following keywords describe each of these cards.
Relationships
Connections
Beauty
Victory
Can you find each of these keywords in each of these cards?
The Week in Review
This week I uploaded two new recorded videos to my YouTube channel, one for everyone and one for members only. The all-access video is a collective reading and tarot spread for the coming spring. The members-only video is about ways to use tarot for personal healing.
Tonight, Wednesday, February 8, join us at 7 pm ET for a live class on using tarot cards with oracle cards.
Did you get your February TarotScopes yet?
From Around the Web
StaarCon presenter Marion Kirk has shared a great new blogpost about saying ‘no’ as a tarot reader. If you read for others, either casually or professionally, you need to see this!
The first Tarot Blog Hop of 2023 is out! It’s wrangled by Kimberly Essex. You can check out the theme, and then follow the master list to see what five tarot bloggers had to say about the topic of beginning again.
Of course, it had to happen, and Teen Vogue has the story. There is a new tarot deck inspired by Taylor Swift called The Taylor Tarot!
Creation and Divination
Do you have a way of expressing your creativity that involves divination? Send me your poems, your art, your stories, and your crowdfunding links!
This week I will share poems that I wrote for two of the four Minor Arcana Six cards. Where or not one is a good poet, the act of writing about each card strengthens our understanding of the card, and our connection to the energy of the card.
Six of Cups
The journey back home before journey’s end
Memories shared, a reunion of friends.
Honored history and those who have passed
Looking with longing at what didn’t last.
When the sweetness of youth joins the great march of time
Some things will decay, but some things still shine.
Six of Swords
Silent on the waters slipping into the black night
An angel guides this journey toward the distant shore's true light.
Rising above turbulence with intent both calm and clear
Higher thought commands this boat, and the stars by which to steer.
Navigation born of science, and logic points the way
Leaving stormy seas behind as you sail toward the new day.
Upcoming Events
Card and Craft Academy
Classes presented by Christiana are available right now at Card and Craft Academy!
Christiana’s Candle Magick
Christiana’s Eleven-Card Celtic Cross
Finding Meaning in the Minor Arcana
The Major Arcana, Magical and Mundane
Practical Tarot Techniques
Psychic Tarot
Personal Tarot: Reading for Yourself
Sharing Wisdom: Reading for Others
The Meaning and Magic of Tarot Reversals
Journey Through the Major Arcana
Your Journey Through the Minor Arcana: Numbers, Elements and Truth
Tarot Beyond the Veil
Your Journey Through the Tarot Court
Tarot Stories, Trends, and Blends
Tarot Readings for Personalities and Relationships
Clarity in Every Tarot Card
Tarot Flow Workshop
Making Magick with Tarot
Fearless Wisdom Tarot Workshop
Tarot Keywords and Interpretations Workshop
Tarot Spreads Tools and Techniques Workshop
Tarot for Magic and Mediumship
Tarot Communication for Clarity and Depth
Weaving the Tarot Reading Story
The Elemental Major Arcana
Minor Arcana Numbers, Elements, and Truth
Personal Healing with Tarot
Create and Interpret Custom Tarot Spreads
What the Court Cards Want You to Know
How Spirit Speaks Through Tarot
Catch up on your missed Zoom webinars and more!
About Christiana Gaudet
Card and Craft, Inc.
Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers, LLC.
Christiana Gaudet
3559 SW Corporate Parkway
Palm City, Florida 34990-8152
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
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 available almost everywhere!
Call toll free 866-99TAROT (866-998-2768)
Palm City 772-301-0232 x102
or call or text 561-655-1160
for more information or to schedule your event.
Schedule online at cardandcraft.10to8.com.
Agent inquiries are welcome.
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 6 Issue 6
February 8, 2023
The Power of Creativity
Creativity is borne of the element of Fire, as is spirituality, and motivation. Creativity is as essential to human life as is air, and water.
I believe that creativity is innate to all humans, and as essential as air and water.
We so often relegate the concept of creativity to the visual arts, or to music, or design. Yet, creativity expresses itself in so many ways.
In metaphysics we associate creativity with the element of Fire. We also associate spirituality with Fire. This makes sense to me. I believe that our prayers, our ceremonies, our understanding of sacred text and mythologies, and our divinations, are all based in and enhanced by our creative energies. In a way, creativity and spirituality are similar. Each supports the other.
One of the reasons I love tarot is that it is, although structured, creative from beginning to end. Tarot decks are created by artists. What we do with them is a process of creativity as well.
When people tell me that they are not creative, I refuse to believe them. Basically, if you think you are not creative, the truth is this. You just have not discovered how your creativity expresses itself.
There is power and energy in creativity. Our creativity inspires others, often in ways we did not anticipate. We are inspired by creativity, even when we do not recognize it for what it is.
The StaarCorner
The StaarCon 2023 AfterGlow is in full swing, even as we begin planning StaarCon 2024. Here is a full list of the planned StaarCon lounge activities for February. If you are a StaarCon 2023 ticketholder, please join as many lounge activities as you can!
The AfterGlow lasts until February 21 at 7 pm ET.
The Hippie Game of Hope
Brenda Elizabeth and Michelle Barrie
February 6, 7:30 pm ET
Understanding Your Dreams
Gita Rash
February 7, 6 pm ET
Virtual Auras: Explained and Enjoyed
Hattie Parker
February 11, 12:00 pm ET
A Modern Celtic Cross
Christiana Gaudet
February 12, 7 pm ET
Picking Up Where We Left Off: Divining with Nature Using Ancient Divination Practices
Beverly Frable
February 13, 7pm ET
Lenormand Practice Session
Brenda Elizabeth
February 14, 7:30 pm ET
Creating Healing with Tarot Chat
Amie Emberharte
February 16, 7 pm ET
Tarot as Entertainment: Parties, Live Events, & Working with Agents
Amy Forman
February 18, 1 pm ET
Creating a Tarot Spread
One way that we use creativity in tarot reading is creating a tarot spread. We can create a spread for a specific situation. We can create a spread in honor of a particular theme, like a holiday or even a television series. We can create a spread to use during a specific moon or astrological cycle.
To create a spread, decision what sort of spread you want to create, or what your inspiration is.
Think about what question you want each position to address, and how you want to word each position. Think about how many positions you want to have in your tarot spread.
Think about how you want the cards to be laid out graphically.
You can use a free graphics program like Canva to help you make a pretty spread. Or you can draw it out with a pen and paper.
The inspired energy that you use to create a spread enhances, and is enhanced by, your intuition.
The reading that you do with the spread you create can be extra powerful and insightful.
The Week in Review
If you are a member of my YouTube channel, I hope you had the chance to join us for our members-only livestream, Healing with Tarot. The replay remains available to all members.
It is a new month, so make sure to check out my Tarotscopes on my YouTube channel.
From Around the Web
Maria Alviz Hernando wrote a review of StaarCon 2023. It was such a joy to meet her in person, and to spend some time with her at StaarCon.
From the First Person section of The Globe and Mail, I was happy to find “I’m a Tarot Reader, My Job is Definitely Weirder Than Your Job”.
Have you read The Cloisters, by Katy Hays? I am always on the lookout for novels that feature tarot. Here’s a review from The Nerd Daily.
Creation and Divination
This new weekly column will focus on creativity. Very often I will share the creative offerings of our community members. If you have a poem to share, or an indie publication you are kickstarting, or a tarot deck you are designing, please reach out to me. I would love to highlight as many creative people, and as much creativity, as I can!
To start us off, I am excited to share this lovely poem by P.C. Bain.
Hypnagogic – 12/5/22
In the dim-lit room creative forces engulf
Her like an embryo in the womb
Poised for inception into light
She hopes to birth the newly found information
As she lies between sleep and wake.
If she slumbers now would the euphonious
Whispers drown leaving only but a memory.
Compelled to stay awake
She grabs the microphone and speaks into its casing.
Tomorrow’s coming will enlighten her
Encouraging effervescent presence
When echoed words pierce the innermost
Part of her being
By P.C. Bain
Upcoming Events
Card and Craft Academy
Classes presented by Christiana are available right now at Card and Craft Academy!
Christiana’s Candle Magick
Christiana’s Eleven-Card Celtic Cross
Finding Meaning in the Minor Arcana
The Major Arcana, Magical and Mundane
Practical Tarot Techniques
Psychic Tarot
Personal Tarot: Reading for Yourself
Sharing Wisdom: Reading for Others
The Meaning and Magic of Tarot Reversals
Journey Through the Major Arcana
Your Journey Through the Minor Arcana: Numbers, Elements and Truth
Tarot Beyond the Veil
Your Journey Through the Tarot Court
Tarot Stories, Trends, and Blends
Tarot Readings for Personalities and Relationships
Clarity in Every Tarot Card
Tarot Flow Workshop
Making Magick with Tarot
Fearless Wisdom Tarot Workshop
Tarot Keywords and Interpretations Workshop
Tarot Spreads Tools and Techniques Workshop
Tarot for Magic and Mediumship
Tarot Communication for Clarity and Depth
Weaving the Tarot Reading Story
The Elemental Major Arcana
Minor Arcana Numbers, Elements, and Truth
Personal Healing with Tarot
Create and Interpret Custom Tarot Spreads
What the Court Cards Want You to Know
How Spirit Speaks Through Tarot
Catch up on your missed Zoom webinars and more!
About Christiana Gaudet
Card and Craft, Inc.
Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers, LLC.
Christiana Gaudet
3559 SW Corporate Parkway
Palm City, Florida 34990-8152
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
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 available almost everywhere!
Call toll free 866-99TAROT (866-998-2768)
Palm City 772-301-0232 x102
or call or text 561-655-1160
for more information or to schedule your event.
Schedule online at cardandcraft.10to8.com.
Agent inquiries are welcome.
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 6 Issue 5
February 1, 2023
Tarot by Christiana Weekly Newsletter 10/31/2012
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