It is Fine to Be the Tie-Dyed Sheep

Very often people at my tarot table, and in tarot classes, tell me that they are the ‘black sheep’ of their family. Usually this is not because of any terrible wrongdoing they have committed. Most people I meet seem to earn their family’s ire simply by being different.

Those differences might include spiritual exploration, an interest in personal healing, creativity, and thinking outside the box.

A long time ago I decided that such people aren’t the black sheep in the family, they are the tie-dyed sheep.

I’m a tie-dyed sheep, too.

The feeling of not fitting in with our families of origin, or not meeting their expectations, can cause a lot of unhappiness. Our upset at not fitting in can hurt our ability to fully enjoy our unique qualities, and to follow our individual calling.

I was lucky in that my family accepted my differences. There are many others whose paths are more difficult.

Even when we have acceptance from our family members, we may feel socially out of place at work. Our performance may be exceptional, but we still may notice that we aren’t like our co-workers in many ways.

The thing we have to remember is this.

Being different isn’t bad.

The more we embrace our unique talents, the more others will appreciate our contributions. The more we live our colorful lives out loud, the more others will embrace us for who we are.

The more we commit to walking our unique path, the more confident we will be.

Another important thing to remember is that we always have the ability to find our chosen family. The communities we build with like-minded folk become our support systems and bring joy to our lives. Our meetups, circles and online groups provide us with a sense of belonging and fellowship. We discover that there are people who love us for who we are, rather than in spite of who we are.

The StaarCorner

At StaarCon, we are happy to be featuring workshops about many types of cartomancy. Of course, there will be plenty of tarot. We will also have workshops on Lenormand, Kipper and oracle cards.

I am pleased to announce that the publisher of the Cartomancer will be one of our vendors. Did you happen to see that the cover of the most recent issue of the Cartomancer features art by Kristine Gorman? Her portrait of Rachel Pollack serves as the World card in her tarot deck.

Kristine will be one of our presenters at StaarCon.

Visit our website to see all of the amazing people who are planning to share their wisdom with us at StaarCon.

StaarCon Presenter Kristine Gorman
Tarot Intuitive & Artist

Join me on Zoom for Personal Tarot: Reading for Yourself

On Wednesday, July 29, 7 pm to 9 pm EDT, I will be teaching a live webinar on Zoom.

Would you like to develop a more personal relationship with your tarot cards? Would you like to learn to find special meanings in the readings you do for yourself?

Personal Tarot: Reading for Yourself is a class designed to help you get the most out or your self-readings.

Class fee is $37.50. Register now on Zoom.

Find Your Unique Qualities with Tarot

Being diviners, cartomancers, and tarotists is usually enough to have many people think we are a bit unusual. Sometimes it is hard to tell people about our passion for divination because we worry about their judgment of us.

Yet, being card readers probably is not the only wonderfully unique thing about us!

Why not ask tarot to tell you something that is unique about you?

Here are three great questions you can ask the cards.

What are my hidden talents?

What is something unique and special about me?

What is something about myself that I hide from others, yet would do better to share with the world?

The Week in Review

I have been enjoying doing a lot of live presentations on Facebook and YouTube. Did you catch my class on Tarot Reversals?

Please make sure to join us tonight, Wednesday, at 7 pm EDT for Global Tarot Circle on Facebook Live.

This week I shared a blogpost which compares and contrasts the Eight of Cups and the Six of Swords.

From Around the Web

Even Forbes magazine has something to say about being different.

Divination is an ancient and natural behavior. Nancy Hendrickson of Sage and Shadow Tarot shared a fun blog post about how our ancestors interpreted omens.

Try this Compass Spread from Theresa Reed if you are feeling lost on your path.

Cards for Your Consideration

The Fool, card 0 of the Major Arcana, is the star of the story told by tarot. The Fool reminds us to be the star of our own story; the hero of the personal epic adventure that is our life.

Associated with the planet Neptune, the Fool is inherently deviant from the rest of society. The Fool encourages us to do our own thing, and to be who we are.

The Fool encourages us to learn by exploring, and to walk our own path.

Upcoming Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 28
July 8, 2020

How Much Should I Tolerate?

There is no doubt that life on planet Earth requires a great deal of patience. We must be patient with ourselves, with others, and with time itself.

But, how patient is too patient?

How much bad behavior should we tolerate from an employee? How patient should we be with a disrespectful child? How much hurtful behavior should we tolerate from a spouse, or a boss?

How much slack should we cut ourselves when we cheat on the diet, or don’t finish the novel we want to writ3?

Every person falls short sometimes. We are all deserving of understanding and forgiveness.

During difficult times, we all need some extra room.

Yet, there comes a time when enough is enough. The trick is in knowing when that time is.

The nature of the relationship, and the relationship history, is important to take into consideration. Likewise, the nature of the problem.

It doesn’t make sense to destroy a good relationship, or to quit a good job, simply because someone is having a bad day.

Yet, many who were raised in seriously dysfunctional households have been inadvertently trained to overlook bad behavior. Sometimes, after years and years of tolerance, something inside them screams ‘Enough’, and begins to demand change.

Sometimes the key is simply to firmly and politely express our feelings. That is, to explain why a certain behavior is hurtful, and can no longer be tolerated.

Sometimes we need to re-evaluate our sensitively to a behavior. Maybe the problem isn’t the specific behavior, but rather our perception of it.

Every situation is different. What each situation has in common is this. We all have a right to express our feelings. We all have a right to feel comfortable in our relationships. And, we all make mistakes.

The more we understand the things we can and cannot tolerate, and the more we can be clear about our needs and expectations, the better our relationships will be.

The more willing we are to make changes for ourselves and for the people around us, the less we will need to do the painful soul-searching as we try to determine the things we should and should not tolerate within a difficult situation.

The StaarCorner

Tickets for StaarCon are now available on the StaarCon website and on Eventbrite. You can choose from a number of packages, depending on your needs and your availability.

If you are interested in a weekend of art, mysticism, divination, cartomancy, fellowship and education, please make plans to join us at StaarCon!

Some of the exciting highlights of StaarCon will include presentations by Mary K. Greer and Benebell Wen, as well as a day-long preconference intensive with me, Christiana Gaudet.

If you have questions about StaarCon, please don’t hesitate to call or text me at 561-655-1160.

StaarCon Presenter Amie Mouser
Tarot, Oracle, Numerology, Life Coach, Vocal & Energy Healer

Weigh Things Out with Tarot

So often we find ourselves needing to pick and choose our battles. We wonder how much we should take. Should we make a change? What would be the best way to approach a difficult conversation? What is our partner’s capacity to hear us and understand our frustration?

When these are our challenges, tarot can be our best friend, our comfort, and a great tool for creating strategy.

The best technique I have discovered for using tarot in these situations isn’t a specific spread.

Rather, it is often better to make a list of your questions, and pull a single card, or a small group of cards, to answer each question.

If you are deciding whether or not to have a difficult conversation, you can ask questions about the person’s ability to have that conversation, their likely reactions, and the best way to approach the conversation. You can also look at the possible outcomes if you have the conversation, or if you simply wait and keep your mouth shut.

If you are feeling upset about a situation, you can use the cards to check in with yourself to see if you are over-reacting or over-personalizing something. Sometimes interpersonal problems come from within.

You can also use the cards to discover the lessons and opportunities for personal growth that are being presented to you by the difficult situation at hand.

The Week in Review

This week I shared a blogpost on things to do when a tarot card doesn’t seem to make sense.

As always, I shared many live broadcasts on both Facebook and YouTube. Please remember to Like and Subscribe!

Don’t miss my free YouTube class on tarot reversals coming up this Sunday!

You can find all my live YouTube classes and tarot meetups, archived and upcoming, in a single playlist on my YouTube channel. Take the classes you have missed and set a remind for those that are scheduled.

From Around the Web

Here are three tarot spreads to help you check in with your relationships.

Starcana has your July tarotscopes!

From Instyle, here are your July horoscopes.

Cards for Your Consideration

There are many tarot cards that can speak of patience, communication, boundaries, and how we get along with each other. In fact, most tarot readings will give core messages and advice on these very topics.

This week let us consider the message of the Seven of Wands, in the context of considering our tolerance levels.

The Seven of Wands can speak of deftly handling numerous tasks or deflecting numerous assaults. The character is this card is able to deal with everything that he is facing.

This can be a card of multi-tasking. This card can also suggest a person with an overly defensive attitude.

Is it possible that the card might say that, even though the person is able to tolerate all of these attacks, he shouldn’t have to? Does the Seven of Wands ever appear to say that enough is enough?

I think that, within the context of the question, and of the surround cards, this might occasionally be the case.

Just because one is capable of handling something, doesn’t mean they have to, or that they should continue to.

The next time you see the Seven of Wands, consider whether this card is simply confirming your ability to handle your situation, or gently suggesting that enough is enough.

Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 27
July 1, 2020

Feeling Stuck?

It is part of the human experience to feel stuck sometimes. We might be stuck in a job we don’t love, or a housing situation that doesn’t suit us. Sometimes it is hard to find a way out and on to the next thing.

Sometimes we are stuck in a more internal way. We have goals but can’t seem to get out of our own way to do what we think we need to do to achieve them.

Sometimes we are stuck in a way of thinking, or a pattern of behavior, that doesn’t serve us.

Often, when our feelings of being stuck are more internal, and related to our own behaviors, we refer to our stuck state as being ‘blocked’.

We might say that we have a block that keeps us from moving forward, or that something is blocking us.

Sometimes we may think that what is blocking us in an energy that comes from outside ourselves. Sometimes we know it is of our own creation.

Very often, creative people feel blocked from moving forward on their projects. We have all heard of ‘writer’s block’, for example.

If we are stuck in a logistical situation, very often we may feel blocked from finding our solutions.

Sometimes the only way out of a difficult situation is to get through it, patiently and diligently, until the situation changes.

When dealing with internal and creative blocks, very often the solution is to change the way we think.

When considering a stuck situation, it is important to neither catastrophize nor minimize the predicament.

Sometimes it feels easier to stay in a stuck situation because we can blame that situation for our lack of progress or success. We know that, once we are free, we will have no excuse not to work toward success.

Feeling stuck is frustrating. The solutions may be practical, spiritual or emotional. The solution may require us to make a change, release a fear, or step outside of our comfort zone.

It’s never easy. Yet, it is doable, and definitely worth doing.

Divination, either for ourselves, with a friend, or with a professional, is often the first step toward making that needed change. We can commune with the Universe to discover the root of our problems and embrace possible solutions. Then, breaking free becomes our most likely outcome.

The StaarCorner

If you are interested in metaphysics, divination, and tarot, you will want to consider attending StaarCon! StaarCon will be an annual event, featuring some the best tarot artists, writers, and readers in the world. We will also include rune readers, oracle creators and other practitioners of divination and healing.

Connect with us on our Facebook page, join our Facebook group, and visit our website!

StaarCon Presenter V.
Intuitive Mistress, Tarot BFF

Getting Unstuck with Tarot

Tarot is a great tool for any sort of problem-solving. The key is to ask the right questions.

Here are some helpful questions to ask your cards when you are in a stuck situation.

What is the root cause of this stuck feeling?

What is the best way to handle this situation?

What must I do to remove myself from this situation?

How can I change my thinking to bring change to this situation?

What is this situation teaching me?

Psychic Tarot: Live Webinar on Zoom

Join us on Tuesday, June 30, 7 pm to 9 pm EDT for an exciting and unique tarot webinar live on Zoom.

We all know that a great tarot reading is more than a series of card interpretations. In this class you will learn ways to access wisdom and intuition to bring your tarot readings to life.

Students will experience a series of psychic development exercises, and learn some of the many ways to bring intuition into a tarot reading.

Tarot students of all levels of experience, from beginner to adept, will find this class helpful and informative.

Class fee is $37.50. Register now!

Did you miss a premium Zoom webinar event?
Do you want to watch a premium Zoom webinar event again?

Visit Card and Craft Academy to register and take a workshop you missed.
Everyone who attends a premium Zoom Webinar event will receive a complimentary pass to Card and Craft Academy to view the workshop again.
Each course includes the workshop materials you can download and save!

The Week in Review

Did you catch my free class on YouTube, The High Priestess, the Hierophant and the Hermit? If you missed it, you can watch it in archive.

I do at least four live broadcasts each week on my Facebook business page. Watch them live or view the videos after the fact.

I am happy to welcome a guest blogger to my Community Blog. Nancy Hendrickson has shared a fascinating post about using tarot to connect with your ancestors who experienced the pandemic of 1918.

From Around the Web

It’s not often that we find a new, original, helpful product in the metaphysical world. Christine Leiser’s new planner is definitely worth checking out.

I hope you don’t ever need this article in Tiny Buddha. But, if you have been dealing with gaslighting and abuse, you should read this.

Mercury is currently in retrograde. Here are some thoughts on how to use that energy effectively from Tarot.com.

Cards for Your Consideration

There are only a few tarot cards that speak specifically of being stuck. The Eight of Swords is one card that clearly and poignantly expresses this energy. We may see this energy in the Hanged Man as well.

Yet, sometimes when I do a reading, the energy of being stuck is very clearly expressed by a group of cards.

Which cards, other than the Eight of Swords, are most likely to work together to express that stuck energy?

Often present are the Four and Five of Cups, and the Nine and Ten of Swords. The Devil, of course, can indicate a situation in which we have willingly chosen to be stuck.

I also often see the stuck energy expressed in certain reversals. Reversed Aces and Knights can indicate being stuck and stagnant. So can Death reversed, as well as the Six of Swords reversed and the Eight of Wands reversed. When I see Temperance reversed, I think that a solution has yet to be found.

What is interesting is that the feeling of being stuck, stagnant and frustrated is one that can be overwhelming in a reading. It usually takes a number of cards to fully express this energy.

When we see cards working together to tell us about a stuck or blocked situation, we can very often find the solution within those same cards if we look hard enough.

Upcoming Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 26
June 24, 2020

Offer Yourself Some Grace

It’s important to be self-aware. It is good to set goals and work to meet them. It is good to strive to be the best version of ourselves we can be each day.

Yet, so often I find myself working with people at the tarot table who are sure that they just aren’t measuring up, aren’t doing enough, and aren’t good enough.

Why do I procrastinate so much?

Why am I so bad?

Why aren’t I doing what I am supposed to be doing?

When I hear questions like these or suspect that someone’s internal dialogue is peppered with these sorts of thoughts, my first step is not to try to read on those questions.

My first step, instead, is to try to ascertain whether my client’s beliefs about themselves and their behaviors is accurate. Sometimes it is. Most times, it’s not.

Very often, our perception of ourselves and our behaviors is much more negative than it should be. Many of us have harsh inner critics. The irony is that the inner criticism is often the exact thing that is keeping us from achieving our goals.

How can we defeat the inner critic?

Make an agreement with yourself that you will not speak to or about yourself in any way that you would not speak to or about a friend. Offer yourself the same grace you would offer any of your friends.

Be gentle with yourself.

My grandmother had a great trick that helped her in this department. Instead of making a to-do this in the morning, she would make a list in the evening of everything she had accomplished that day. That way she felt proud of what she did do, rather than regretful about what she didn’t do. The end result was that she got more done.

The energy we spend beating ourselves up about what we haven’t accomplished is often the primary reason we don’t have energy to accomplish what we set out to do.

Sometimes, too, we are held back by fear. That can be both fear of success and fear of failure.

Often that fear is increased by our own self-criticism.

Sometimes it helps just to give ourselves permission to indulge in the things we perceive as time-wasting activities. Perhaps we need some down time. Perhaps leaning into those mindless activities will lead us to the place where we can ultimately be truly creative and productive.

No one works best when they are shamed and ridiculed. We don’t like it when others do this to us. Let’s stop doing it to ourselves.

The StaarCorner

We are excited to announce that Fast Horse will be presenting at StaarCon. Some of you were lucky enough to have a reading with Fast Horse when he traveled from Pennsylvania to Palm City to volunteer to give readings at our Holiday Open House.

Fast Horse has read Tarot Cards for clients all over the world, at fairs, expos, and corporate affairs across the United States. At a very young age, Fast Horse was drawn to study and practice the Oglala Lakota culture and has spent time on the Pine Ridge Reservation where he received his spirit name of Fast Horse. He still honors and practices these traditions.

Fast Horse’s gifts of insight have been with him from an early age when we realized he could see auras and spirit guides. He uses tarot cards as a tool to help people find peace in their lives.

For more information about StaarCon, visit our website!

StaarCon Presenter Fast Horse
Tarot Reader and Teacher

Let Tarot be a Loving Mirror

Here is a next-level tarot skill. Do not start a reading with questions that make negative assumptions.

For example, don’t begin a reading with a question such as, “Why does my boss hate me?”

This assumes that something negative is true. Instead, do a reading on your relationship with your boss and how you can make it better.

You can use this same technique in creating questions for tarot readings that help you to understand yourself in a gentle, loving, nurturing way. Don’t ask, “Why can’t I lose weight?” Instead ask about your relationship with food, and about things you can do to improve your well-being.

Don’t ask, “Why am I such a procrastinator?” Instead, ask what you can do to facilitate your own productivity.

If you are truly interested in finding out more about your flaws, you can use tarot to help you understand them. Again, don’t ask, “Why I am so sensitive?” Instead, ask, “What is true about my sensitivities?”

When we approach the cards with these kinds of questions, we allow tarot to give us messages that are healing and helpful.

Psychic Tarot: Live Webinar on Zoom

Join us on Tuesday, June 30, 7 pm to 9 pm EDT for an exciting and unique tarot webinar live on Zoom.

We all know that a great tarot reading is more than a series of card interpretations. In this class you will learn ways to access wisdom and intuition to bring your tarot readings to life.

Students will experience a series of psychic development exercises, and learn some of the many ways to bring intuition into a tarot reading.

Tarot students of all levels of experience, from beginner to adept, will find this class helpful and informative.

Class fee is $37.50. Register now!

The Week in Review

Did you catch the Tarot Meetup on YouTube live this week?
This upcoming Saturday is the Summer Solstice. You can celebrate with me by taking the free tarot class on YouTube Live at 10:30 am EDT.

Saturday evening at 5 pm I will be live in the Global Tarot Circle group on Facebook to celebrate the changing season.

I am usually live on my Facebook business page, Christiana Gaudet, at least four times a week. You can watch the videos in archive there, or on my YouTube channel.

You can ready this week’s blogpost about the tarot Aces on my website.

From Around the Web

Nancy Hendrickson of Sage and Shadow is now blogging on Medium.com! I especially loved this piece about the Queen of Cups. We are looking forward to Nancy’s presentation at StaarCon.

Inner Goddess Tarot has a tarot spread for the Summer Solstice!

Eva Yaa Asantewaa is a beloved member of the tarot community, and a lifelong professional dancer and dance instructor. Here is a recent interview with her, in honor of Pride Month.

Cards for Your Consideration

When we think about self-love, self-acceptance and positive self-talk, there are many cards that come to mind. Arguably the whole of tarot is a tool for positive personal growth.

This week I would like to consider the Star in this context.

Traditional keywords for the Star include ‘hope’ and ‘wishes granted’. Yet, there are deeper meanings to be had in this card.

In the Waite-Smith Star we see the Aquarian Water-Bearer. The Star is associated with the sign of Aquarius. Aquarius, and therefore the Star, are associated with the element of Air.

What the Water-Bearer is pouring is not water, it is the healing light of heaven.

The Star gives us permission to avail ourselves of that healing.

The Star encourages a certain sort of personal indulgence. Sometimes, of course, this can go too far, and the Star can become a diva.

Yet, in the context of offering yourself some grace, the Star serves to remind us to be kind and gentle with ourselves. The Star asks us to experience abundant and unlimited fulfillment.

Upcoming Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 25
June 17, 2020