Tarot News blog has news and information of interest to the tarot community.
The Ties That Bind
The more we understand the energetic cords that bind us together, the more we understand our relationship.;
The Ties That Bind
Understanding the Energy of Relationships
When I was a child attending church, we used to sing a hymn called, “Blessed Be the Ties That Bind.” It was all about the importance of spiritual fellowship, and it was one of my favorites.
I still believe that the fellowship we share with kindred minds is sacred and important.
As my understanding of energy grew, I learned about the way people connect, and are connected, with one another on an energetic level.
We call those energetic connections ‘cords’. We say that we are ‘corded’ to our family members. When we meet someone with whom we feel an instant kinship and connection, it may be we have karmic ties to them, or are corded to them.
There is a belief that we come into this lifetime with certain karmic connections to others. These connections can provide both the most profound relationships, and also sometimes the most bitter.
I often tell my clients that a karmic connection, or a family connection, does not necessitate or require our participation if that connection isn’t healthy.
Of all my thousands of blog posts written over the past ten years, one of the most popular is my post on how to perform a cord-cutting ceremony. Most of us have experienced the difficulty of needing to get away from an unhealthy relationship even though we feel a strong connection to that person.
There are also energetic ‘hooks’. This happens when people, either consciously or subconsciously, use their energy to keep us connected to them, even when we want or need to leave.
Of course, people do this on a verbal level as well, often using guilt and manipulation to cause us to do what they want us to do. When this happens on an energetic level as well it becomes even more difficult to have the right boundaries.
The energy that binds us to our loved ones is indeed blessed. Our healthy human connections provide the greatest joys in life.
Yet, our unhealthy connections provide us with some of the deepest traumas and pain in life.
In intuitive work such as healing and psychic reading, we consciously make energetic connections with each other to increase wellbeing and discover insight. At the end of the session, we remove those connections.
The more we become aware of how our energy works, and how we energetically connect with others, the more we can maximize the relationships that bring us joy and release the relationships that hurt us.
Magic with the Major Arcana Class in Palm City
Join us on Sunday, October 13, 4 pm to 6 pm, for Magic with the Major Arcana!
This will be the very last class in my conference room at 1025 SW Martin Downs Blvd, Suite 203, Palm City FL 34990 before I move to now new office on SW Corporate Parkway.
This magical, mystical journey through the Major Arcana of tarot is just in time for Halloween!
We can use tarot to gain insight and information. We can also use tarot to help us make changes in our lives and manifest our desires.
The twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana contain the “Greater Secrets” of tarot and can be used as a complete divination tool.
In this class, students will learn to interpret the Major Arcana cards in a reading, perform readings with the Major Arcana cards, and use the Major Arcana cards in meditation and manifestation.
This class is appropriate for beginning tarotists as it presents these important cards in an understandable way. Experienced readers will learn deeper meanings and uses for the Major Arcana to add to their tarot practice.
Bring your tarot deck to the class. New tarot decks will be available for purchase.
Class fee is $37.50. Tickets are limited. Get your ticket now!
Tarot for Relationship Readings
A good tarot reading can often let you know if you should keep trying to make a relationship work, or if it is time to cut the cord.
Making the decision to walk away can be difficult, especially if you feel corded to someone, or if it’s a family relationship where the cords have grown over a lifetime.
A good tarot reading can also give you strategies for communication and boundary-setting to make a relationship work better.
To try to figure out whether it’s time to stay and try or turn and run, I ask a series of questions of the cards. For each question I pull one card. Then, if I need more information, I pull a few more; as many as it takes to tell the story.
Here are some of the questions I ask.
Why is this person behaving the way they are?
Why do I feel so connected to this person?
What is the best this relationship can be?
Is there a way to be healthy and be in a relationship with this person?
How can I better communicate with this person?
What is the worst this relationship can be?
What will my life be like if I cut cords with this person?
What will my life be like if I try to make this work?
Obviously, some of these questions are appropriate for romantic relationships, some of them are better for familial relationships.
One thing I like to remember is this. If a relationship is really unhealthy, It’s often best to walk away. Even if you cut cords, if there is something there of value, you will have the opportunity to try again in the future. If you do a cord-cutting ceremony and still feel drawn to the person, you may need to do the ceremony numerous times. Make sure that your behaviors match your intentions of staying away from the person, even if that’s hard to do.
If it feels like the best path is to try to make something work, honor the cords that tie you together, and work on making the necessary improvements.
The Week in Review
This week I shared a sneak peek of an interesting new indie tarot deck.
Each Monday, wherever in the world I happen to be, I do a Three-Card Weekly Reading on Facebook Live, and share the archive on my Facebook business page and my YouTube channel. If you missed it this week, check out the archive.
From Around the Web
Have you ever wondered how to read a Marseille Tarot Deck? This blogpost offers some great information!
Lean how to use tarot to set a daily intention with Angelorum!
Many of you probably know that Carl Jung was a huge proponent of tarot. Here is a blogpost about the value he found there.
My New Palm City Office
On November 1, 2019, Card and Craft, Inc. will move to a lovely, larger office in Palm City. Our new address will be 3559 SW Corporate Parkway, Palm City, 34990. The new location is off Martin Downs Blvd., and a bit closer to both I-95 and Florida’s Turnpike.
We are located in the Parkway Plaza, near Coquina Cove.
This new location will offer greater comfort for readings and instruction, and more space for classes and events. Watch this newsletter to see a schedule of great events.
Remember, if you make an appointment to see me after November 1, you will be coming to my new location!
Cards for Your Consideration
There are so many cards that can speak of relationship issues and the need to cut cords. For example, the Four of Pentacles can express the need for boundaries. The Six of Cups can speak of how compelling a connection from the past is, be it family or friend, even if the connection can’t create a happy future.
The Two of Swords can speak of that brutal decision-making process that must be done with the head, rather than the heart.
The Seven of Wands may speak of a defense attitude. Perhaps you cannot communicate with someone because they are being defensive. Or, this card may suggest that you, yourself, should take a more defensive stance against another’s abusive energy.
So often, when thinking of relationships, we think only of the cards that obviously speak to romance or family. Truly, any card can describe energy or advice as related to a relationship.
We make a mistake when we think of only the obvious cards to describe a relationship. When we interpret each card in context, we can always receive information that helps us understand our relationships better.
Upcoming Tours and Events
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 40
October 2, 2019
Have a Light Heart in a Heavy World
I will be in the Tampa Bay Area this weekend. This week, the focus of our newsletter is finding joy in difficult times. Try a new tarot spread, and don't miss our meetup in Lutz!
Have a Light Heart in a Heavy World
Joy and Gratitude in the Face of Difficulty
Let’s face it. Life can be difficult. Whether we focus on what goes on in our immediate lives, our local communities, or the larger world, there are always many reasons we might worry or feel despair.
Yet, when we are weighed down with worry and despair, we can lose sight of the joys that life can offer. When we catastrophize the difficulties or stay focused on our victimhood, we become powerless to see the brighter side of things.
When we want to make a difference in the world around us, we need to be aware of the problems that need fixing. Yet, when we give those problems the power to weigh us down, we lose our power to create positive change.
Some people find solace in denying that problems exist. This tends to be an ineffective solution in the long run.
We need to find a way to acknowledge our problems, and not let that acknowledgement keep us from our joy. It’s a balancing act, for sure.
Whether we are confronting a personal problem or a planetary one, the steps for finding that balance are clear.
The first step is to acknowledge the problem, and authentically experience our emotions about it.
The second step is to decide if we have any immediate practical power to solve the problem or contribute to the solution. If we do, we must take those actions. If we don’t, we must recognize that when we have no practical action, we can always take a spiritual action.
Prayer, manifestation and magic are real energies that really make a difference. This means that we are never confronted with a situation where we are truly powerless.
Once we take whatever action is possible and necessary, it’s time to release our upset and anxiety, and get to the business of finding our joy.
Sometimes we feel guilty for feeling joyful in difficult times. Yet, I think we actually have a responsibility to access our joy and gratitude always, and especially in the face of difficulty.
My Tampa Tarot Tour Happens This Weekend
I am so excited to be headed back to the Tampa Bay Area this Friday! I will be there through Monday.
I still have a few openings if you would like to book me for a house call, psychic house party, or if you would like to schedule to see me at my AirBnB in Wesley Chapel.
You can call or text me at 561-655-1160 for more information, or to schedule.
I hope you will plan to join us for our tarot meetup at Panera Bread in Lutz on Sunday at 3 pm. You can get more information, and download your free ticket, on Eventbrite.
Joyful Problem-Solving Tarot Spread
Try this spread with your favorite tarot or oracle deck. Focus on a problem that is bothering you. It could be personal, community or planetary.
Lay the cards out in whatever pattern you like.
Card One will help you acknowledge the problem.
Card Two will help you process your emotions around the problem.
Card Three will offer practical solutions and actions you can take.
Card Four will give insight into spiritual solutions and actions for you to take.
Card Five will help you release your worries.
Card Six will help you to find your focus on joy and gratitude.
The efficacy of this spread will depend on your ability to interpret the cards that come up in the context of their positions.
Use this spread to help you find practical and spiritual solutions, and to help you keep your heart light, even when the world feels heavy.
The Week in Review
This week I shared a blogpost about one of the biggest burdens many of us carry – abusive families! If this is something you or someone you love deals with, the answer is always about having good boundaries.
Every Monday I do a Three-Card Weekly Reading on Facebook Live. If you missed it, you can find it in archive on my Facebook business page or my YouTube channel.
From Around the Web
It’s not too early to look toward 2020, and Theresa Reed, the Tarot Lady, is here to help! Check out her astrology guide for 2020.
Tarot is about divination and spirituality, but it is also an art form. Check out this artist’s new show featuring her take on tarot.
Katrina Wynne has found a correlation between tarot and the Chinese Five Elements!
Image from Universal Waite Tarot, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Copyright 1990, Used with permission.
Cards for Your Consideration
This week let’s consider a card that typically speaks of carrying a heavy burden. The Ten of Wands shown here is from the Universal Waite Tarot.
Very often, this card asks us to examine the burdens we are carrying, be they sorrow, worry, or responsibility. Do we need to carry these burdens? Is it time to release some of them, or to delegate some responsibility?
I like to look at the way the person is carrying the wands. No one could really carry a bundle of big sticks this way. Truly, it looks as if he is carrying a bunch of balloons! It is as if there is an invisible spiritual force helping him lift up his burden.
I also notice there is a town in the distance. Perhaps he will carry this bundle to town, and there he will be able to put it down.
Sometimes we have no choice but to carry a heavy weight for a while. Other times, we choose to weigh ourselves down when we needn’t.
This card asks us to consider whether our burden is appropriate. If it is, this card assures us of our ability to handle that burden for as long as we must, and promises us rewards in the end.
Upcoming Tours and Events
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 39
September 25, 2019
The Mundane and the Magical
This week we find the spiritual nature of hard work.
The Mundane and the Magical
This week we find the spiritual nature of hard work.
I do a lot of business coaching as part of my work as a tarot professional. I work with people to develop their entrepreneurial projects, just as I work with people to develop their happiest relationships, careers and home lives. I notice that often folks want spiritual solutions to their practical problems, when both the cards and logic clearly indicate the immediate importance of legwork and mundane tasks.
Meditation, prayer and energy work are appropriate and necessary to help us achieve our goals. Yet, as the expression says, God helps those who help themselves. Sometimes there is no replacement for grunt work, and sometimes there is little time and space for energy work.
I first learned this lesson when my son was an infant. Throughout my pregnancy I had done a great deal of ritual and ceremony to prepare myself for motherhood. I felt that I was in an elevated spiritual state, that is, highly attuned to my intuition and my connection to Spirit. I became dependent on quiet time for meditation and study, and for long walks in the woods and on the beach. I gathered with my friends to drum, chant, dance and raise energy.
When the baby was born, the demands on my time and energy changed radically. I wondered, had I lost my spiritual focus because going to the beach for ceremony was out of the question?
I then realized that doing the mundane taskings of motherhood were simply a different type of ceremony. Certainly, daily laundry wasn’t as much fun as dancing in the moonlight, but, when done with the right energy, it was just as meaningful.
There are times in life and in business when the only right thing to do is to chop wood and carry water. We need to make lists, set goals, network, brainstorm and work hard. To many, this seems the opposite of living a magical life filled with spiritual practice. The truth is, mundane tasks and magical practices are two sides of the same coin. Both are necessary for our success.
When we do our mundane tasks with a grateful heart and a spiritual focus, we maximize our likelihood for success and well-being.
A spiritual principle that is both Biblical and Hermetic is ‘As above, so below’. What happens in the spiritual, mystical, magical world also happens in the mundane, earthly, material world. Each affects, mirrors and influences the other.
This means that when we pray, burn candles and do mystical tasks, that energy has an effect on the mundane world. Likewise, when we do mundane tasks with the correct focus, we elevate our spiritual energy.
From there, we create a cycle of energy, flowing back and forth between the mundane and the magical. That cycle of energy lifts us up, and brings us well-being and prosperity, as long as we continue to nurture it.
See me in Tampa!
I will be returning to the greater Tampa Bay Area this month. From September 27 through 30 I will be available for house calls and psychic house parties throughout the Tampa Bay Area. You can also arrange to visit with me at my location in Wesley Chapel.
On Sunday, September 29, from 3 pm to 5pm we will have our Tarot Meetup at Panera Bread in Lutz. It’s fun, informative and free to attend, so please plan to join us there.
To schedule your session with me, and for more information, please call or text 561-655-1160.
A Workflow Tarot Reading
Tarot is a great tool to help us set priorities and achieve goals. Try this Workflow Tarot Spread to help you get a handle on what you need to do to get where you want to go.
First, set a goal in your mind. What is it you want to accomplish? Are you writing a book? Do you want a new job? Are you promoting a business? Are you committed to becoming more fit?
Once you have your goal in mind, shuffle your cards and perform this spread. You can arrange the cards in any pattern that makes sense to you.
Card One: What I need to know about my goal.
Does this card suggest your goal is appropriate? Does it give ideas for achieving your goal? Does it make you want to rework or reword your goal?
Card Two: The resources that will help me achieve my goal.
This card may give ideas of where to find your resources, or help you discover resources you didn’t know you had.
Cards Three, Four and Five: My Next Three Steps
Let these cards help you make a list of the tasks you need to do to help you reach your goal.
Card Six: Inspiration
Interpret this card to inspire you as you work to achieve your goal.
The Week in Review
There is a lot of information about non-tarot oracle card decks available from those who don’t love tarot. This week, I wrote some information about non-tarot oracles from the perspective of a hard-core tarotist!
Did you catch this week’s Three-Card Weekly Reading? If not, you can find it on my Facebook business page and my YouTube channel.
From Around the Web
This week, these links all honor hard-working tarot professionals.
My friend and South Florida neighbor, Frank at Tarot Awakenings, wrote an insightful article about tarot interpretation.
Here is one great tarotist interviewing another, about a publication I was happy to be featured in! Read Melissa Cynova’s interview with Ste McCabe.
Here is an interview with Robert Place, one of our great tarot scholars, about tarot as a spiritual path.
Image from Ancestral Path Tarot by Julie Cuccia-Watts, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Copyright 2013, Used with permission.
Cards for Your Consideration
The Eight of Pentacles offers a number of traditional interpretations, all of which can speak to the need to put one foot in front of the other and accomplish mundane tasks to achieve a goal.
For some readers, the Eight of Pentacles is an apprentice, for others, this character is a master craftsman. Some see this as a card that says, “time to make the doughnuts”, or, time to chop wood and carry water.
In Ancestral Path Tarot, the suit of Pentacles is Sacred Circles, and honors the traditions of North American indigenous cultures. Here, the character in the Eight of Sacred Circles is crafting drums.
There is a repetitive quality to this card that can refer to a task that must be done over and over, or the idea that we perfect our craft by doing it repeatedly.
This card can refer to manufacturing something, as well as having to do a task that might be boring.
I love the image of drum-making here, since drumming itself is a repetitive task. Sometimes repetition is what is needed to achieve our goals.
While repetition can be mind-numbingly boring, repetition is also a tool that brings us to a trancelike state of meditation; that place where magic happens.
Events and Tour Dates
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 38
September 18, 2019
The Mysteries of Faith and Prayer
This week we explore the difference between faith and fear.
The Mysteries of Faith and Prayer
Spirituality is about faith, not fear.
Nothing tests our faith more than misfortune. I often say that the funny thing about faith is that when you need it most, it’s hardest to have.
I’m writing this from my office in South Florida, where most of us are breathing a sigh of relief that Hurricane Dorian passed us by. Many people feel that the fact that we were spared this time was an answer to prayer, or the result of good weather magic.
Yet, just a few miles away from us, our neighbors in the Bahamas were devastated. Do we believe that their prayers were less effective than our own?
When we see the misfortune of others, it is easy to say that what happened to them could never happen to us. We count on our healthy lifestyle to keep us from getting sick, or our acts of charity to protect us from ill-fortune. Yet, bad things happen to good people all the time. Those who pray for protection from illness, accident and misfortune sometimes have their prayers answered, but not always.
When I was growing up in Sunday School, we were taught that God answers all prayers, but sometimes the answer is ‘no’. The Bible tells us that God works in mysterious ways.
This concept of mystery is central to most spiritual faiths. Truly, anyone who eschews spiritual mystery in favor of a more fundamental spiritual certainty is using religion to assuage fear rather than to cultivate faith.
Energy work, whether we call it prayer, magic, or the Law of Attraction, is real and effective. Yet, energy work is not a guarantee of protection or good fortune.
If there is no guarantee that our prayers will shield us from disaster, then what good are our prayers?
I think the energy work we do can put a thumb on the scale in our favor, even in difficult times. Energy work gives us our best chances of success, no matter what. Our prayers and rituals connect us with our Higher Power. Our spiritual focus gives us strength and helps us nurture healthy priorities.
When I was a teenager in Christian high school we would pray before each test we took. The teachers made it clear, though, that God couldn’t do our studying for us. We shouldn’t pray to pass the test. We should pray to remember what we studied. This distinction is important. It informs my spiritual practice to this day.
One of my favor poems, Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann, contains this wise line. “Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune”. Our prayers may or may not prevent disaster, but our prayers will most certainly give us strength in difficult times.
Why a higher power sees fit to allow suffering can be a spiritual mystery. Another spiritual mystery is the grace and gratitude we are able to cultivate in times of difficulty. Yet another is our ability to love one another with a love that seems greater than life itself.
We cannot have faith that things will always go the way we want them to. Yet, we can have faith in the power of love, in the cycles of nature, and it the spiritual mysteries that surround us all.
Your Journey Through the Minor Arcana: Numbers, Elements and Truth
Don’t miss this premium class to be held in my conference room in Palm City, Florida, on Sunday, September 15th from 4 to 6PM.
In this in-person class tarot enthusiasts of all levels of experience will learn simple-yet-profound techniques to remember, understand and interpret the Minor Arcana cards of the tarot.
This class is appropriate for all tarot enthusiasts. New readers will learn basic skills, while experienced readers will discover new ways to understand and interpret the forty numbered cards of the Minor Arcana.
Class size is limited. Class fee is $37.50. You must be registered in order to attend. Register online today with Eventbrite.
Using Tarot in Prayer
Whether you call it prayer, energy work, manifestation, or magic, tarot is a great tool to help us call to ourselves that which we need.
Each tarot card holds a particular focus and draws a particular energy. When we use tarot in divination, we can see what energies are currently at play in our lives. When we use the cards for prayer and energy work, we can cognitively choose cards that represent our hopes and requests. This process serves us in two ways. Choosing the cards helps us focus our energy. Once we have chosen the cards, we can think of them as drawing in to our lives the energy that they represent.
If you are praying for a specific person, you can choose a card to represent that person, and however many cards you want to represent your hopes for that person, or that person’s needs.
If you are making an energetic request for yourself, do the same thing by choosing a card to represent you, and other cards to represent your needs.
Place the cards on a table, or an altar. You can surround them with crystals, flowers, candles or other sacred objects if you like. As you place each card, say, either aloud or silently, what it is you want the card to represent, and why you need that energy in your life.
Praying does not always mean asking for something. Sometimes prayers are worshipful, or grateful. In that case, choose cards to represent the things for which you have gratitude.
You may leave the cards out overnight if you like, or just for the time that you are actively praying. When you are finished, shuffle them back into your deck.
See me in Tampa!
I will be returning to the greater Tampa Bay Area this month. From September 27 through 30 I will be available for house calls and psychic house parties throughout the Tampa Bay Area. You can also arrange to visit with me at my location in Wesley Chapel.
On Sunday, September 29, from 3 pm to 5pm we will have our Tarot Meetup at Panera Bread in Lutz. It’s fun, informative and free to attend, so please plan to join us there.
To schedule your session with me, and for more information, please call or text 561-655-1160.
The Week in Review
This week I did my Three-Card Weekly Reading using Tiny Tarot, and then wrote a blog post about my new-found love for this novelty deck.
If you missed either the Three-Card Weekly Reading or Global Tarot Circle last week, you can find both in archive on my Facebook Business Page and my YouTube channel.
From Around the Web
If you would like to help the Bahamas in their effort to recover from Hurricane Dorian, here are some great organizations to support.
Here is a deeply vulnerable and moving post from Maddy Elruna about her emotional experiences as a tarot reader.
Here is an older post from the late great Donald Michael Kraig about tarot magick.
Image from Tarot Grand Luxe by Ciro Marchetti, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Copyright 2019, Used with permission.
Cards for Your Consideration
When we speak of spiritual mysteries, Major Arcana 18, the Moon, is a card that often comes to mind.
The moon in the sky, as well as the Moon in tarot, is considered both a symbol of feminine spirituality and power, and a harbinger of insanity. In fact, the word ‘lunacy’ has as its root word ‘luna’, meaning related to the moon!
When we think of the Moon card in tarot, we sometimes see treachery and lunacy, and sometimes we see intuition and magic. Those can be widely divergent interpretations!
What is always true about this card is the concept of mystery. It may be a mundane mystery that needs to be solved. Why is a person behaving the way they are? What secrets are being kept? Or, it may be a spiritual mystery, asking us to have faith, to wait for answers, to trust the power of prayer and intuition. This card may ask us to use our own spiritual power to solve our problems.
When we see this card, we must remember that, in the moonlight, nothing looks the same as it does in the light of day. On the path to spiritual enlightenment we must tread cautiously, aware of the many pitfalls that could ensnare us if we don’t watch our steps carefully.
Anything with great power has great consequence, most especially the journey of spiritual mystery that the Moon invites us to take.
Upcoming Events and Tour Dates
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 37
September 11, 2019