Tarot News blog has news and information of interest to the tarot community.
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
We and Me
Self-love is the beginning of every relationship.
This past year may of us learned something about the importance of our communities, our families, and our close relationships.
In what may feel like a paradox, our lessons have also been about our individuality. We have had to recognize the importance of nurturing our relationship with self, and of honoring the personal journey.
Truly, these lessons are not new. As humans, we are social creatures. We are capable of great love, and able to do great works when we gather together.
Yet, we are also each unique, and naturally individualistic.
Here there is an important lesson of balance. We must be comfortable in our own skin, and able to love our own company and walk our own path.
Yet, no one is an island. We are part of families, and communities.
When we collaborate, we can create things that we could not do on our own.
Sometimes, we must sacrifice of ourselves for the greater good of the family, or the community.
Sometimes, we must make our own wellbeing the priority, and have good boundaries that make our individual needs more important.
There is no one right answer that covers all people, and all situations.
Every relationship is different in its needs and its dynamic.
There are, though, three things we all have in common.
We all need self-love.
We all need to have relationships will people we love.
We all need to be able to work together within a community.
How that balances out can be different for everyone, and for each situation.
The starting place must always be self-understanding, and self-love.
Once we understand our own needs and desires, we can build the relationships that sustain us.
These can be personal relationships, as well as relationships with our healers, our teachers, and others who tend to our needs, and those whose needs we tend.
From there, we can figure out how we best function within our communities.
We also have other important relationships. These relationships can be with animals, with nature, with creativity, and with spirit.
When we are conscious creators of our relationships with self, with others, and with the world around us, we are better, and the world is better.
The StaarCorner
We will hold the second annual StaarCon on January 21 through 23, 2022. We are planning a hybrid conference. We will meet in person at the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. We will also stream the entire conference online and enjoy participation with our online friends around the world.
Tickets will be available soon.
Our podcast, StaarCast, will resume in April with a series of episodes that focus on teaching the skills of divination, meditation, and other topics which we feature at StaarCon.
Check out StaarCast in video on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Sign up for the StaarCon Newsletter so you can stay up-to-date about this exciting event!
Join us For Class Tomorrow!
On Thursday, March 25, at 7 pm EDT, I am teaching an exciting class on Zoom. The video of this class will be available for replay on Teachable.
Clarity in Every Tarot Card will teach you to combine keywords, context, and intuition to find deep meaning in every reading you perform, whether for self or others.
The class fee is $37.50. Get your ticket and join us!
My Favorite Relationship Tarot Spread
I am going to share my very favorite relationship tarot spread with you.
You can do this reading about any type of relationship, whether romantic, professional, familial, or friendship. You can even do this about your relationship with your pet, or with someone you have yet to meet.
Focus on the relationship in question and break the deck into three piles. Turn the top cards over. If you are reading for yourself, the first card to the left will represent you within the relationship. The card to the right will represent the other person.
If you are reading for someone else, the first card to the left will represent the querent, and the card to the right will represent the other person.
The middle card represents the relationship itself.
Look at the two outside cards. What do they have in common, or how are they different? How do they represent the needs, desires, personality, or issues of each person?
If the cards feature pictures of people, are they looking at each other, in the same direction, or away from each other?
What can you see in the interaction between these two cards about this relationship?
Now look at the card in the center. How can you combine this card with what you have already seen in the first two cards?
Does this middle card offer a solution? Does is suggest a problem? Does it show a way this relationship works well?
If you need more information about what lies at the bottom of the situation, or how the history comes into play, pull out the bottom card from each pile and perform the same reading process.
See, too, how the bottom card relates to the top card of each pile. What information does this give you about each person, and about the relationship?
For further information, perform the same process with the card that lies directly below the original card.
Now you have three cards for each person, and for the relationship itself. As you read these card in combination, how do this help you understand the complexities of the relationship?
Three Tarot Tours, and an Open Palm City Office
After more than a year, I am getting ready to do a bit of traveling and would love to see you for an in-person tarot reading.
I will be in Connecticut for a short visit May 21 through 26. I am available for house calls, small parties, and a limited number of private appointments at True Bikram Yoga in Madison.
In June, I will travel to the Tampa area. I will be available for house calls, private readings at my Airbnb in Wesley Chapel, and small parties June 11 through 14.
In July I will return to Connecticut for a longer stay, and will be available to visit surrounding states, such as Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts. I will also be available in Connecticut, and happy to do house calls, small parties, and private session at True Bikram in Madison.
As always when I travel, I remain available for readings by phone, Skype, FaceTime and Zoom as well.
Please call or text 561-655-1160, or email me, to get on the schedule for one of my tarot tours!
While I am getting ready to travel, I am also getting ready to re-open my Palm City office to in-person clients by appointment.
We are making some changes to the office to assure that your in-person reading is safe, as well as enjoyable and enlightening. Our tentative date to open to in-person sessions is June 4. We will keep you informed as we get closer to that time.
In the meantime, do not hesitate to reach out to work with me by phone or online. You can schedule your appointment directly on my website.
The Week in Review
This week I wrote a blogpost about an important tarot reading technique. Whether we are reading for ourselves or others, casually or professionally, we need to learn how to pivot from the anxious question to healing.
Join me on my YouTube channel for live reading sessions, tarot meetups, and free tarot classes!
I’ve been keeping a blog for a long time now. Here are two past posts that are pertinent to our topic this week.
From 2012, here is Tarot and the Search for Identity: Five Ways Tarot Can Help You Discover Yourself.
From 2011, here is The Community Sandbox. It is interesting to see how much the problems I talk about in the post have progressed over the past decade.
From Around the Web
From Allure magazine, an article about tarot and the search for gender identity.
One way we think about identity and tarot is the process of working with significators. From Lisa Boswell, here is a piece on selecting a tarot significator.
From Labryinthos, here is a piece about finding your significator in the tarot Court.
Cards for Your Consideration
Major Arcana Six, the Lovers, is a card we often think about in terms of romantic relationships. Yet, this card can serve to teach us, and speak to us, about any sort of relationship.
In a reading, the Lovers can discuss self-esteem. Are you treating yourself in a loving way?
The Lovers can ask you what you want to integrate into your life. Are you ready to join the gym? How will school fit in with your life?
When you see the Lovers in a reading, remember that this card can speak of things beyond romance. A good key word for this card is “integration”. Others are “decisions” and “communication”.
These are not the most romantic terms, but they do illustrate the range of this card, and the important lessons Major Arcana Six has for us.
Upcoming Events and Tours
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 4 Issue 12
March 24, 2021
The Bridges We Build
We have to create the pathways that allow us to connect with others, and to grow.
I was taking a yoga class the other day (on video, of course) and something the teacher said stuck in my mind. She said, “The breath is the bridge between mind and body”.
I was struck by this for two reasons. First, it’s a simple yet powerful truth. Second, I often say in my own teaching that the breath is the bridge between the mundane world and the magickal world, and between our mundane mindset and our meditative mindset.
This got me thinking about the power of breath, which is something I write about often. It also got me thinking about the idea of bridges.
A bridge is a platform that helps us get from one place to another. It is also a device that helps us make connections. In the world of personal growth, spiritual understanding and divination, bridges are an important concept.
We think about heaven and earth being connected by a rainbow bridge. We speak about making a bridge between two people who have had a hard time communicating, or who have had a falling out.
In a tarot reading we build bridges between the cards to see the story unfold. We make an energetic bridge in order to connect with the person for whom we are reading.
In mediumship we make a bridge to the other side, in order to have communication with our loved ones in spirit.
We build other kinds of bridges, too. Education can be a bridge to get to a new career. A difficult job can be a bridge to get to a better opportunity.
Our divination tools are bridges as well. We can use tarot as a bridge between our Higher Selves and our conscious mind, or between the subconscious and the conscious.
During these difficult times, many people feel inclined to reach out to folks with whom they have not spoken in a long time, building bridges of reconnection.
In our divided society, it is important for us to build bridges of understanding and compromise with those with whom we disagree.
Every day, in ways both spiritual and mundane, healing and practical, we are building bridges.
The StaarCorner
When you visit the StaarCon website, you can see some of the presenters who are planning to be with us for our first conference.
StaarCon will also feature an exhibition hall that we are calling ‘StaarMart” which will be open to the public. If you are an artisan or reader, you can now purchase your ticket to vend in StaarMart, and to attend StaarCon. Please reach out to me to discuss you plans to be a vendor at our conference.
The Doubletree Hotel has reserved a block of rooms for our guests at a special confernence rate! To reserve your room please call 561-622-2260 and press option 1. When calling please identify that you are with STAAR CON- Group Code SAC. You can also book on our STAAR CON website on doubletree.hilton.com.
StaarCon Presenter Toni Puhle
The Card Geek, Master Teacher, Author, Deck Creator
Bridge-Building Tarot Spread
Here is an easy tarot method to help you build the bridge in a relationship, or in your life as you are striving toward a goal.
Pull one card to represent you. Pull another card to represent the person with whom you are trying to connect, or the goal you are trying to achieve.
Now pull a card, or a few cards, to represent the bridge. Pull as many cards as you need to give you the information. This will tell you what you need to do, or the steps you need to take, to build the bridge.
The Major Arcana, Magical and Mundane Live on Zoom
Get your ticket now to join us for our next Zoom class!
On Thursday, April 23 at 7 pm EDT I will be presenting this interactive class which takes a deep dive into the twenty-two Major Arcana cards.
Whether you are a tarot beginner, professional, or somewhere in between, you will find this class enlightening and entertaining.
The twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana are considered to hold the “Greater Secrets” of tarot. In this class you will learn their spiritual lessons as well as the information they may reveal in a reading. You will also learn which Major Arcana cards to use to manifest your desires.
The Major Arcana cards are here to assist in our spiritual growth and our divination. They can also be powerful tools in creating our future.
Register now for this exciting live class. Class fee is $37.50.
The Week in Review
This week I shared a fun tarot exercise on my Community Blog. Whether you are a new or experienced tarotist, you will enjoy Venn Diagrams for Tarot Understanding.
Each week I share live videos on my Facebook business page and archive them on my YouTube channel. I also do occasional free tarot classes on my YouTube channel, such as the one scheduled for this Sunday!
From Around the Web
During these times, self-care and an attention to wellness is so important. Check out some of the great ideas had by Janet Meredith.
I loved this article from The Atlantic, The Perks of Being a Weirdo.
I found this communication tarot spread. It seems to fit in with this week’s theme and might be helpful for those confined in smalls spaces with their loved ones during this time of quarantine.
Cards for Your Consideration
There are many tarot cards that could speak of bridge-building. Both Temperance and the Six of Swords come to mind. Each offers not only the concept of bridge-building, but also ideas on how bridges could be built.
The card I want to dive into as a card of bridge-building is the Lovers. While so often seen only as a card about romantic relationships, the Lovers is associated with Gemini, and the element of Air.
That means that decisions and communication are important aspects of this card.
The Lovers can speak of how we build bridges to one another. It can also speak of how we need to integrate disparate things into our lives.
Whenever we must find balance, we must first find a way to build a bridge. The Lovers can speak of this concept.
Upcoming Events and Tours
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 16
April 15, 2020
You Don't Have to Fit in to Be Comfortable
Being different isn't always easy.
Something that I often see at the tarot table is that many people feel that they just don’t fit in with the people around them. This can happen in the workplace, the neighborhood, or even amongst folks who gather around a shared interest or concern. Some people even feel that they don’t fit in with their own family of origin.
People often describe this feeling of not fitting as uncomfortable and awkward. Many of us remember being teenagers and trying to fit in with a particular group of kids, sometimes to the point of doing things we knew we shouldn’t do. Never did that work out very well!
There is only one solution to this problem of feeling different than the people who are around you. That solution is deceptively simple.
Just be okay with who you are, and the fact that you are different. Find ways to appreciate the people around you, even though they are different than you. Hold appreciation for the things about you that make you unique.
The more you can appreciate your own differences, as well as those who are different from you, the more comfortable you will be with those around you.
Remember that being different isn’t bad. Own and celebrate the things that make you different and unique. The space that you hold within your workplace, or family, or friend group, is even more important because of your uniqueness. It means that you can’t be easily replaced.
Sometimes we are made to feel uncomfortable because our differences cause others to be uncomfortable with us. As hard as that it, the solution is to lean in a bit more, and let people get to know us. It is in that process that we become able to find common ground, even with those who aren’t very much like us at all.
I had an aunt who used to say something very wise. “It would be a pretty boring world if everyone were all the same,” she would tell me. Those words have always been a key to being comfortable being myself, especially around people who are different from me.
Mark Your Calendar for StaarCon!
On January 22 through January 24, 2021, there is no place in the world you would rather be than at our new and exciting tarot conference, StaarCon!
We are holding StaarCon at the Doubletree Executive Meeting Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, just minutes from Palm Beach International Airport.
Already confirmed is headline presenter Benebell Wen, along with many other favorites like Ciro Marchetti, Mitchell Osborn and Mary Ellen Collins.
StaarCon stands for Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers Conference. While tarot reading and tarot art will be a main focus, we will also have educational and experiential workshops on many forms of divination and mysticism.
If you are interested in presenting or vending at StaarCon, please let me know!
We will be opening registration to attend StaarCon in a few months. Watch our website for exciting information!
Holding and Sharing Your Space Tarot Spread
When you find yourself in a group with which you don’t always feel affinity, here is a tarot spread to help you figure out how to hold your space and be comfortable.
You can arrange the cards in any shape you prefer.
Card One: The value I bring to this group.
Card Two: How I can better express that value in this group.
Card Three: How this group feels about my differences.
Card Four: How I can hold space for my identity in this group.
Card Five: How being in this group can help me grow.
There is Still Time to See Me in Tampa!
It’s not too late to book your private session with me while I am in the Tampa Bay area January 24 through January 27. I can come to your home, or you can see me at my private location in Wesley Chapel.
Call or text 561-655-1160 to reserve your session with me!
The Week in Review
This week I shared some important tarot reading techniques in a blog post, and then demonstrated those techniques in a video.
If you missed my live webinar on YouTube, you can watch it in archive.
Each week you can catch Your Three-Card Weekly Reading on Facebook and YouTube.
From Around the Web
Here is a tarot spread for self-love.
Here are some dos and don’ts for using tarot to read for yourself.
Try this tarot spread for unconditional self-love.
Cards for Your Consideration
There are a few cards in tarot that speak of integration and fitting together. Sometimes these cards can describe a process of making something work. Sometimes they can talk about that awkward feeling of finding ways to fit in with people who are different from you.
Of course, the Fool advises each of us to simply be who we are on our journey through life. Here are three other Major Arcana cards that can speak of the ways we integrate with others.
The Lovers
The Lovers is, very often, not about romantic love. Rather, it can speak to the process of integrating opposites, and seeing the difference between one thing (or person) and another.
The Chariot
If you look at the steeds on most Chariot images you will see a reference to opposites pulling together in unison in order to move forward. This reminds us of the importance of working together with different people.
Temperance
Temperance speaks of blending ingredients in order to make something bigger and better than the sum of its parts.
In moments when you feel that you are not fitting in, look to these cards to see the value of bringing your unique qualities to a group.
Upcoming Events and Tours
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 4
January 22, 2020