Tarot News blog has news and information of interest to the tarot community.
Welcome December
This week we welcome the winter festival season, the end of the year, and a new decade!
It’s the first week of the last month of the decade. That’s not something we get to say very often. I believe there is power in rarity. The change of a year is special, but the change of the decade is even more special, because we will only witness a handful of them in our lives.
Yes, it is true that, technically, the new decade doesn’t start until 2021, but most of us will be celebrating the turn of the decade when the numbers turn from 19 to 20.
December, itself, is a special month. There are actually sixteen Christian holidays in December, many of which are associated with Christmas. December is also the time of the Winter Solstice and Hanukkah. Our Hindu friends have a five-day celebration of Ganesha called Pancha Ganapati, which is celebrated between the Winter Solstice and Christmas Day, December 21 through 25.
Although we may be celebrating different things, it’s fun and thought-provoking to consider that people all around the world are celebrating something this month. Then, at the end of the month, we will all celebrate the new year and the new decade.
It’s true that we live in uncertain times. There is social unrest and political upheaval around the world. Many people have concerns for the future of the planet, just as many people have concerns for their own future, and the future of their loved ones. Yet, at this time of year, and as we prepare to welcome a new decade, it seems a bit easier to be hopeful.
When the calendar changes, we welcome positive change into our lives. When the decade changes, that change feels even more possible.
The winter festival season has an energy all its own. There are parties, lights, special songs, and decorations. It’s hard not to feel a sense of hope and joy during this season.
For some, though, this season is a reminder of grief, or an added burden to an already stressful situation.
Whatever we are celebrating, and whatever our situation may be, we all have the opportunity to join together in welcoming a hopeful new year, and a bright decade. We can all recognize the power and possibility inherent in this moment.
Christiana’s Annual Holiday Open House
Make plans to attend the annual holiday psychic food-raiser! On Sunday, December 15, 12 noon to 6 pm, Join us at my new office, 3559 SW Corporate Parkway, Palm City, Florida 34990,
for an afternoon of metaphysical holiday cheer for a good cause.
I am so excited to be able to host this event at my office. This is something I have not been able to do since I was based in the Harvey Building in West Palm Beach!
As we do every year, tarot readers, astrologers, psychics and healers will be on hand to provide free mini-sessions on a first-come, first-served basis in exchange for your donation of non-perishable food items to be given to the Treasure Coast Food Bank.
Bring food to donate and work with our staff of talented professionals and students! Bring a holiday treat for the snack table! Card and Craft, Inc. will provide beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate and water).
Are you a reader or healer? Volunteer your time and skills for this exciting event! Call or text Christiana at 561-655-1160 to get on the volunteer list. Readers and healers will volunteer in two shifts, 12-3pm and 3-6 pm. Sign up for the shift that is best for you. Bring your business cards to promote your business! Students are welcome to volunteer and practice their skills.
Three Things to Do with Tarot in December
Of course, it is great to work with tarot all year long. Yet, there are some fun seasonal tarot exercises and activities. Here are three that are helpful and exciting to try this time of year.
Use Tarot to Make Your Gift List
Do you have someone on your gift list who is hard to shop for? Why not let tarot help you find the perfect gift?
Simply think about the person and pull a few cards. You can use keywords, images, associations and intuition to help you think of a great present.
Forecast your New Year
Pull one card for each month of 2020, twelve in all, to give you a sense of the energies that will surround you in the coming year.
Focus on Gratitude
Just as I did in my Week of Tarot Gratitude on Facebook Live, pull a single card to give you a focus for your gratitude. We all know the things we are obviously grateful for. But what does the universe want you to consider and hold gratitude for? Let tarot tell you!
The Week in Review
This week I finished my Seven Days of Tarot Gratitude Series on Facebook Live. You can review these videos, and see Your Three-Card Weekly Reading, on my YouTube Channel.
I teamed up with Amie Mouser to write an important blogpost about the many metaphysical scams that we seekers need to avoid. Make sure you read this, and take heed!
From Around the Web
Are you looking for some interesting fiction to read this holiday season? Check out young writer Jonathan Scott Griffin. His writings are reserved for those who are age eighteen and older because some of his stories are a bit scary and thought-provoking. If you enjoy science fiction, check him out!
You can always count on The Tarot Lady, Theresa Reed, for your monthly forecast! Here is what you can expect in the month of December.
The final Mercury retrograde of 2019 is over. How did it treat you? Here are some thoughts from Rogue Heart Tarot.
The Four Elements: Healing, Manifestation and Divination
Please plan to join us for the final class of 2019, this Sunday, December 8, 4 to 6 pm.
The class will be held at my new office, 3559 SW Corporate Parkway, Palm City, FL 34990
In this special class I will teach you to work with the Four Elements.
The energy of the Four Elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water, has long been used in healing, divination and magic.
When we connect with the Four Elements, we can harness their powers for our benefit.
In this class you will learn how to work with the energies of Earth, Air, Fire and Water to bring healing, facilitate intuition, and manifest your best future.
No prior experience is necessary to take this class.
Seating for this class is limited. To register and reserve your seat, visit Eventbrite to pay your $37.50 class fee and receive your ticket.
Cards for Your Consideration
The Wheel of Fortune in Spiral Tarot shows us the Three Fates at work weaving our fortunes. This card reminds us that there are some things that truly are not within our control. No matter how much we hope, pray or visualize, we cannot dictate the forces of nature or the passage of time.
In a reading, the Wheel of Fortune often predicts good luck, and often represents the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. This is a great card to consider as we close out one year and open up to another.
We can also think of this card as we prepare to honor our holiday traditions. Some annual cycles are things we look forward to, others are things we dread. Yet, this card reminds us that the holiday season will come every year, no matter what else changes or surprises us.
Then, just as quickly as it came, it will be gone, only to return again next year.
The Wheel of Fortune offers us that dichotomy. Everything changes, yet everything cycles around again.
Upcoming Events and Tours
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 49
December 4, 2019
We Gather
At Thanksgiving, we explore the ins and outs of social gathering.
Whether we identify as introverts or extraverts, we all end up gathering with other people for a variety of reasons.
We may gather with friends and family to celebrate holidays. We may be part of a spiritual community. We may attend concerts, classes, conferences or meetings. One way or the other, we can’t help but gather with people. Sometimes this can be enjoyable, informative and healing. Other times our interactions within groups can be very trying.
The power of humans gathered together can’t be underestimated. Together, we can create change, uplift each other and bring healing to one another. Or, we can fall into a mob mentality that becomes destructive and hurtful.
Something that is very important to remember when we gather with others is to maintain our own sense of self, even when we identify with the larger group. When we are in a group where we feel we don’t fit in, we need to appreciate the differences between people, and stay strong in our own self-worth.
Many sacred texts speak about the power of people who are gathered together. We all know the strength we feel when we are in numbers, and the joy of finding like-minded individuals to spend time with.
The trick is to not lose our individuality to a group mindset, and to not let any group make us feel excluded or lesser.
The holidays can be a particularly tricky time because there are so many obligatory gatherings. For lonely people, the holidays can remind us of how alone we are.
Yet, when we are comfortable in our own skin, and in our own company, we are free to enjoy the season in whatever way suits us best, or whatever way is possible.
At any time of year, seeking out the company of people who enjoy the things we enjoy is a wonderful recipe to relieve loneliness.
No matter how self-contained one might be, everyone needs people to gather with once in a while.
Although it often seems the internet and social media serve to divide us and separate us, we can also use the internet to bring us together. There are always groups of people meeting to discuss, play, dance or pray. Whatever activity interests you is likely to be available if you look for it.
The people around us can make our lives happier, or more difficult, depending on who they are and how we interact with them. The joy that comes from gathering with the people we love, and enjoying the activities we love together, is something that gives value to life, and something for which to be thankful.
Christiana’s Annual Holiday Open House
Make plans to attend the annual holiday psychic food-raiser! On Sunday, December 15, 12 noon to 6 pm, Join us at my new office, 3559 SW Corporate Parkway, Palm City, Florida 34990,
for an afternoon of metaphysical holiday cheer for a good cause.
I am so excited to be able to host this event at my office. This is something I have not been able to do since I was based in the Harvey Building in West Palm Beach!
As we do every year, tarot readers, astrologers, psychics and healers will be on hand to provide free mini-sessions on a first-come, first-served basis in exchange for your donation of non-perishable food items to be given to the Treasure Coast Food Bank.
Bring food to donate and work with our staff of talented professionals and students! Bring a holiday treat for the snack table! Card and Craft, Inc. will provide beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate and water).
Are you a reader or healer? Volunteer your time and skills for this exciting event! Call or text Christiana at 561-655-1160 to get on the volunteer list. Readers and healers will volunteer in two shifts, 12-3pm and 3-6 pm. Sign up for the shift that is best for you. Bring your business cards to promote your business! Students are welcome to volunteer and practice their skills.
Tarot Fellowship and Group Dynamics
I once had a tarot student tell me that she felt that our tarot friends are our best friends, because we speak the same language. Tarot meetup groups and study groups are popular all over the world, for this reason.
Tarot is also an interesting tool to help us understand group dynamics. Whether you are looking at a family, a church group, a work or school cohort or a group of friends, you can use tarot to help understand how the group can function best, and how the group can support all its members.
You can begin a group dynamics reading simply by pulling one card to represent each member of the group. See how each card describes each member. Then, look at how the cards interact with each other, and see how those interactions mirror the interactions of the actual people.
You can learn a lot from this by seeing who is working well together, and who isn’t.
Once you have gotten as much information as you can from these cards, you can ask specific questions based on what you have learned.
For example, look at the group members who don’t seem happy or don’t seem to be functioning well. Ask questions such as, “What can we do for this person?” or “How can we help this person function better within this group?”
If you are part of a difficult family group, doing a reading like this can help you understand the best ways to navigate your family.
If you are lucky enough to share tarot with your friends, you can involve your entire friend group in an exercise such as this to help everyone in your group feel supported.
The Week in Review
This week I shared a post about creating your own tarot card spreads. Wherever you are in your tarot journey, the practice of creating your own spreads can be a fascinating way to deepen your skills.
Your Three-Card Weekly Reading was very interesting this week. If you missed it, you can find it in archive on my YouTube channel and Facebook business page. You can also find in on my Instagram, @christianatarot.
On my YouTube channel you will also see my contribution to #NewBeginning2020, a day-long ‘tarotthon’ that took place on YouTube on November 24.
From Around the Web
Here are some Thanksgiving tarot spreads for you to try.
Cher Green asks you to divide the deck into its suits and pull one card from each. The result is a profound Thanksgiving exploration.
Tarotingie has created two spread, one that focuses on gratitude, and the other, on wishes.
The U.S. Games Blog offers us The Path to Thanksgiving.
The Four Elements: Healing, Manifestation and Divination
Please plan to join us for the final class of 2019, on Sunday, December 8, 4 to 6 pm.
The class will be held at my new office, 3559 SW Corporate Parkway, Palm City, FL 34990
In this special class I will teach you to work with the Four Elements.
The energy of the Four Elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water, has long been used in healing, divination and magic.
When we connect with the Four Elements, we can harness their powers for our benefit.
In this class you will learn how to work with the energies of Earth, Air, Fire and Water to bring healing, facilitate intuition, and manifest your best future.
No prior experience is necessary to take this class.
Seating for this class is limited. To register and reserve your seat, visit Eventbrite to pay your $37.50 class fee and receive your ticket.
Cards for Your Consideration
No one tarot card speaks more of parties and social gatherings than does the Three of Cups. The Three of Cups can address alcohol consumption and communities of women, specifically. Yet, this card can also apply to any happy gathering, party or celebration.
It would be a wonderful world if this card described every family’s holiday gathering!
The Three of Cups often appears in a reading to invite you to a party, or to encourage your attendance at a celebratory gathering.
May your holidays include plenty of Three of Cups moments!
Upcoming Events and Tours
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 48
November 27, 2019
What Numbers Mean
This week we explore the spiritual value of numbers.
Numbers have always had a significance to us that is more that quantitative.
Consider the golden ratio, the number thirteen, or the meaning of the universe in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe (It’s 42 if you didn’t read the book).
For some, numbers hold prophetic value. Some folks have a ‘lucky number’. Many people see the appearance of specific numbers as a sign of the presence of their angels, or those in spirit. Many esoteric systems include the power of numbers, including, of course, numerology. In numerology, important numbers in our lives are broken down into single digits which both give us information and attune us to specific energies.
In mystical Judaism the practice of gematria assigns numbers to Hebrew scriptures, giving special power to those numbers.
In some schools of belief, numbers have power that can be utilized in manifestation. For example, if you want to attract a new partner, surround yourself with pairs of things. If you want good luck for your children, surround yourself with items in the same number as the number of kids you have.
It is virtually impossible to find a school of belief that doesn’t in some way employ numbers in a spiritual way. Maybe that is because numbers are such an indisputable constant in the universe.
Numbers are assigned to tarot cards, Kabalistic sephira, Bible verses, astrological houses and the letters of the alphabet. Numbers are assigned to us individually based on our birthdate, our name, our phone number, our age and our address.
Take a moment to think about the ways that you think of numbers in a mystical way.
Have you studied any form of numerology, or any spiritual system that includes numbers?
Many people have special numbers that they notice on clocks, street signs, and license plates. People often tell me that they see a certain number over and over again. Some people feel that number means something but aren’t sure what it means. Others have looked up traditional associations for it. Others ask me to interpret it. The thing that remains true is that folks seem to naturally feel that numbers relay a special message.
Perhaps numbers are a sacred language of the universe, and therefore a way for the universe to communicate with us.
Certainly, numbers carry meaning that directly affects our lives. Grades, wealth and health data are all communicated via numbers. It would make sense that spiritual information would be communicated that way was well.
Christiana’s Annual Holiday Open House
Make plans to attend the annual holiday psychic food-raiser! On Sunday, December 15, 12 noon to 6 pm, Join us at my new office, 3559 SW Corporate Parkway, Palm City, Florida 34990,
for an afternoon of metaphysical holiday cheer for a good cause.
I am so excited to be able to host this event at my office. This is something I have not been able to do since I was based in the Harvey Building in West Palm Beach!
As we do every year, tarot readers, astrologers, psychics and healers will be on hand to provide free mini-sessions on a first-come, first-served basis in exchange for your donation of non-perishable food items to be given to the Treasure Coast Food Bank.
Bring food to donate and work with our staff of talented professionals and students! Bring a holiday treat for the snack table! Card and Craft, Inc. will provide beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate and water).
Are you a reader or healer? Volunteer your time and skills for this exciting event! Call or text Christiana at 561-655-1160 to get on the volunteer list. Readers and healers will volunteer in two shifts, 12-3pm and 3-6 pm. Sign up for the shift that is best for you. Bring your business cards to promote your business! Students are welcome to volunteer and practice their skills.
Numbers in Tarot Study Exercises
Numbers and numerology play a very strong role in tarot. Numbers, along with the four suits, create structure in tarot. Numbers can help us learn the cards. Numbers also add to the interpretive value of cards and tarot spreads.
It is very important to understand the value of each number in tarot. It is also a good idea to treat the ranks of the Court in the same way that you would a number. That is, assigning keywords and an interpretive value to each rank.
In traditional numerology, interpretive value is assigned to each numeral one through nine. Multiple-digit numbers are reduced to become single-digit numbers. Reduction is done by adding the digits together. The number ten, for example, is reduced to one plus zero, which equals one.
The Minor Arcana of tarot, however, contains cards One (Ace) through Ten. The Tens don’t mean the same thing as the Aces. Therefore, in tarot, Tens have their own meaning. That is one way that tarot numerology is different from traditional numerology.
The Major Arcana is numbered as well. That is, all except the Fool. Some tarotists assign the number twenty-two to the Fool. Others, me included, prefer to leave the Fool as the sole unnumbered card in the deck.
When considering the numbers of the Major Arcana, consider cards one through nine, that is, Magician through Hermit, as the primary cards. Cards ten through twenty-one, that is, Wheel of Fortune Through World, can be reduced to single numbers. This is a way of grouping and associating Major Arcana cards by number. For example, as we mentioned before, ten becomes one. Therefore, the Wheel of Fortune is associated with the Magician. Card Nineteen, the Sun, becomes a one a well.
Larger-numbered Major Arcana cards will only have two cards in their number grouping, such as Strength and Star, or Lovers and Devil. Earlier ones in the group will have three, such as Magician, Wheel of Fortune and Sun, and Empress, Hanged Man and World.
A great tarot exercise is to create nine groups of Major Arcana cards according to their numbers and decide how the cards in each number group relate to each other, and how they each express the energy of their number.
You can do the same thing with the Minor Arcana cards. This will help you understand the keywords and meanings for each number and rank.
Then, you can look at Major and Minor cards by number together, to see how the energy of each number is communicated throughout all of the tarot cards associated with that number.
The Week in Review
This week I shared a blogpost, complete with YouTube video, that inspired this newsletter topic. It’s called “When Numbers Repeat in a Tarot Spread.”
Each week I perform a three-card reading for the week ahead to assess the general energy that will be available to us all. This has become a very popular weekly feature. I do it live on Facebook every Monday. You can watch it in archive on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
From Around the Web
Find your birth number and see what it means in numerology.
What does your birth number mean in tarot? Find out from The Tarot School.
Have you heard of ‘Angel Numbers’?
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
I asked members of one of my favorite Facebook tarot groups, Tarot Nerds, which specific tarot card they associated with counting, or quantifying something. There were enough votes for different cards to suggest that there is no one card that is universally associated with numbers, counting or quantifying.
Yet, the card that received the most votes was the Seven of Pentacles.
The Seven of Pentacles is typically shown as a tired gardener. In the Crowley-Harris-Thoth Tarot the Seven of Disks is called “Failure”. In this version of tarot, it seems that the garden has withered and there is nothing left to count.
I prefer a more optimistic view of this card. I believe that with hard work, and pushing through fatigue, there will be a time of success, and a bounty that can be quantified.
What is being counted in this card? It is the fruit on the vines as it emerges and ripens? Is it the hours of toil, or the weeks until harvest? Are we counting the time until we can rest?
We might see a suggestion in this card to avoid counting our harvest until it is ready.
Many times, I have seen the Seven of Pentacles as a card of hard work and fatigue. Now I will add to that the idea of quantifying the investment into the harvest, as well as the harvest itself.
Upcoming Events and Tours
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 46
November 13, 2019
We Are Always Evolving
We are always enrolled in the school of life.
When my son came home from his first day of kindergarten, he told us that he had a good day at school but was glad that he was finished. Finished? We laughed and told him that he had only just begun. Somehow, in the excitement of that first day of school we had not communicated to him that his education would be a daily and ongoing process. More than twenty years later, he is still in school now!
I think sometimes we adults forget that we must always be learning and evolving. Whether we are studying something in a formal way, learning a new hobby, or simply evolving the way we operate on the planet, we are enrolled in the school of life for our entire lives.
So much of this process of personal evolution is self-reflection. This is not about becoming self-absorbed, it’s about coming to a place of self-understanding and self-acceptance. This can be a very difficult process, because so often we have spent our lives trying to become the person that other people want us to be, rather than discovering who we really are!
It’s natural, too, that as we grow, we change. We change our goals, and even, to some extent, our values and our beliefs. There can be a bit of a cultural disconnect here. Some people seem to feel that there is honor in hanging on to outmoded beliefs or disproven ideas. They even couch this unwillingness to grow and change as some sort of spiritual virtue.
I believe that, in many ways, our emotional and spiritual wellbeing depends on our ability to think critically and shed the old beliefs that no longer work for us. We must adopt new ways of finding our enlightenment. Without growth and change, we become stuck and stagnant.
There should be no shame in changing one’s mind. There should be no resistance to evolving one’s views. There should only be joy in embracing something new and releasing something that has stopped working.
The question is, how can we find time in our busy lives to embrace constant growth, learning and evolution? When we can, finding time to take classes, read a book, meditate and make new friends is helpful. When we can’t, simply observing our feelings and reactions without shame and judgement is a good start. If we can truly see ourselves and be honest with ourselves, and be loving toward ourselves, we will always be open to personal change. We will always be evolving into the next best version of who we are.
New Office Opening November 1!
Please plan to have a reading with me in my new office, anytime November 1 or after. Card and Craft, Inc.’s new headquarters will have a larger conference room, a lovely lounge area, some retail space, and, of course, a private and comfortable reading room. Get your friends together for an in-office psychic party!
I am in the process of planning some wonderful events for our community to enjoy in this new space that will be more than simply an office, it will be a spiritual community center!
The new office, in Parkway Plaza, is just a few miles away from the Westbridge Building where we have happily worked for the past three years. It’s closer to I-95 and Florida’s Turnpike, and closer to Panera Bread where we hold our monthly meetups!
Of course, if you would like to see me in October, I will be happy to accommodate you in my current office, right up until moving day!
Self-Reflection Divination
Self-reflection is one of the most noble and helpful goals of divination. Whether working with oracle cards, tarot cards or other sorts of random token divination, when we set self-reflection as the goal, our tools can act as a mirror to help us see ourselves more clearly.
The question becomes, how can we use our tools in this way?
Here are two exercises to try. The first is a single-card reading, the second is a four-card spread.
Who Am I Right Now?
Simply ask the question, “Who am I right now?” and pull a card. Spend some time meditating on the card and working to see how this card reflects you. Try to make a spoken or written sentence with the card by saying, “Right now I am a person who is…” and complete the sentence using what you see in the card.
Four Cards for Personal Evolution
Try this four-card spread for self-reflection and creating a focus for positive personal change.
Card One: Who I am now.
Card Two: Who I am becoming.
Card Three: What I need to release in order to evolve.
Card Four: What I need to embrace in order to evolve.
The Week in Review
I am so happy that the brand-new magazine, The Esotoracle, has published its first issue, which includes an article from me! You can order a print copy or read it online.
Check out my new blogpost on shifting your perspective on tarot and life, published on my community blog.
Monday’s Three-Card Weekly Reading was very interesting. You can check it out in archive on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.
By now, you probably know that I am moving my Palm City office to a new, larger building. You can read the announcement blog on my website for more information.
From Around the Web
Here are some great tarot games from James Ricklef. We will have to try some of these at our tarot meetups!
From Backpackerverse, here is “How to Use Tarot as a Tool for Self-Reflection and Meditative Therapy”.
Here is another self-reflection tarot spread for you to try.
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 let’s consider Major Arcana 15, The Devil, from Spiral Tarot by Kay Steventon.
The Devil is certainly a challenging card. In a reading this card can indicate addiction and unhealthy behavior.
Yet, the Devil is also the gatekeeper on the journey toward spiritual enlightenment. The Devil asks us to see ourselves as we are, to acknowledge our shadow selves. That’s why I particularly like this image.
Here, we see that the Devil is holding a mirror. The person looking into the mirror doesn’t want to see herself, but she must.
Without honest self-reflection, there can never be growth or enlightenment.
Perhaps the most egregious flaw the Devil can show us is our unwillingness to face and embrace our flaws.
Upcoming Events and Tours
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 43
October 23, 2019