I Read Tarot

Tarot Rebel Blog Hop time! It's being a while since I participated to this blog hop. It's also being a while since I've blogged on here. But that doesn't mean I've packed away my cards. In fact over the summer my boys and I spent three week in my home town in New Brunswick. I took my cards with me and ended doing dozens of readings. This was the first time my extended family learned that I read tarot cards.

I have read for a lot of people. Most are new acquaintance, and with them it seems easy to be in the role of a tarot reader. When in New Brunswick, with my Catholic family, it was a little more intimidating to say "I am a tarot reader". 

There was an uncle who is very deeply involve in the Catholic religion to whom I kept that fact hidden from him. I know he would not understand or accept. Opening yourself to family, puts you in a more vulnerable position then opening to strangers or acquaintances. Deep down we care more about the acceptance of our family members because they will always be our family members.

When she found out I read tarot card, my grand mother said to me "I have never had my cards read, if you want to can read mine". I started with a general three card spread for her. The first card represents "You Now", 2nd "What to embraces", and last card "What to let go". Her cards in the what to let go position was "Mediumship" card. So I looked at her and said: "Mamie, you are very religious." to which she agreed. "Tarot card reading goes against your core beliefs. The cards are telling you, don't get your cards read. It doesn't feel right to you." My grand mother, how I love her, asked for a reading in order to support me regardless of the fact that in her religious beliefs, tarots are wrong. I love the fact that the cards responded to that.

Tarot is something I will always do. I do not believe it is evil or wrong, but I also choose not to push my choice on others. There are people in my life that I know based on their religious belief would not accept me for reading tarot. To those people I don't tell them I read tarot. I do this in respect for their belief choices.

Be sure to take a moment and look at the other post for this blog hop.

Oh Foolish One

Well, Blog Hop time again. For January the rebels have selected The Fool for our topic. The first card of the major arcana, number 0. 

Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor. A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

Oh, The Fool, what an interesting card to come up in a reading. I have read many tarot books in my studies of the tarot. There is a consensus that The Fool indicates the start of a new path. Starting something new and different. Being guided by the heart, following our passions. One description appealed to me the most because I felt it best described the sentiment of The Fool. It was in the book "The Smart Girl's Guide To Tarot" by Emmi Fredericks (pstt, it's available on Scribd if you have that app) . Here is an exert from the book describing the fool

...This mindset talks you into marrying someone you've known for six weeks. Or quitting a decent job because you feel stifled and must be true to your art. Or dropping out of college to see the world. There's a great YEE-HAW! feeling to it, the exhilaration that comes with saying SCREW IT! I GOTTA BE ME! Your goal is reasonable but are you going about it in a way that will actually achieve that goal...

Isn't it the perfect description of the sentiment for The Fool?

Rider-Waite-Smith

Witches Tarot

Archangel Power Tarot

Guilded Tarot

Green Witch Tarot

Although the traditional name for this card is The Fool some decks have renamed it, but the sentiment is the same. It is normally represented by someone, walking along a cliff with a satchel on a staff, rose in hand and a little dog along for the adventure.

Upright: Trust, Innocence, Open mind, Beginning, Follow your bliss, Adventure, A leap of faith.

Reversed: Foolish, Naive, Reckless, Close minded, Distrust, Irresponsibility, The need to be cautious and plan ahead.

Be sure to read my fellow rebel bloggers posts here.

The Wheels Go Round

Tarot Rebel Blog Hop time! Yay just in time for Christmas. Click on the badge to see the other blogs entered for this hop.

This month the topic is on the Wheel Of Fortune card, the tenth of the Major Arcana cards.

I recently attended a local tarot group, well it was a month or so ago. Recent in the grand scheme of things. We were a group of readers, all gathered together and talking about our tarot readings experiences. That evening we ended up doing a "Fool's Journey" looked at each Major Arcana cards in order and discussed it's meaning.

The Wheel Of Fortune card represents cycle and change. Life is a series of ups and downs and this card indicates that such a change is coming. What was, will be again, and what is will once again come around. Like a wheel, going round and round.

Key words: Inevitability, Luck, Timing, Turning point, Destiny

I think this is a great card for the winter solstice. To me this time of year definitely signifies a change. Our days have been getting shorter and shorter (mostly here in Canada) but the wheel is changing and we are heading toward longer and longer days. It's a time of hopes and dreams.

I came across a Winter Solstice Spread I thought I would share with you. I cannot take credit for this spread as I did not create it. You can find the original link here.

Bodhran's/BodhiSeed's Winter Solstice Spread:

1. The Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year. Sometimes our lives feel so "dark" we forget to look up and see the stars (blessings) in our life. What do I need to be grateful for that I've taken for granted?
2. "Solstice" comes from the Latin "sol" and "sistere" which roughly translates to "sun stands still." If our ancestors stood still, and failed to prepare for the hardest part of winter yet to come, they would die. What do I need to take action on? What plans or preparations do I need to make?
3. Winter, like the other seasons, occurs because of the tilt of the earth. In what direction is my intuition "tilting" or leading me in a situation where a decision needs to be made?
4. After the Winter Solstice, the nights become shorter and the days become longer. What is growing stronger (perhaps something I had given up on) in my life?
***NOTE***You can use an orange stone, a sphere, etc. in the center of the spread so you don't have to take out the Sun card if you prefer.

For my own reading I ended up using an Orange Calcite crystal for the center of my spread. This stone is related to the sacral chakra.

Let me know how this spread worked out for you.

Death.... Oh No

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The thirteenth card in the major arcana of a tarot deck is the DEATH card. This is a pretty ominous sounding card. DEATH.... of course when I say this I use my spookiest most ominous voice. Try it... DEATH... So spooky.

This card as made many new readers nervous. How do I explain the death card to my querent?

When I do a reading, I ask my angels and guides to provide a positive reading, this being said I do not expect for every cards to be positive, I want my querent to get the proper information for them to get the best results for their reading. I find it is important to read the negative of a reading so that the querent is fully equiped to positively impact their life. If I have strayed from my path, I want to know so that I may realign myself or prep myself for what may be coming.

The death card is the most feared card in the tarot deck because it is the most misunderstood. Traditionally the Death card shows a skeleton in armor riding a white horse with a black banner with a white flower on the center.

The Gilded Tarot shows many of the same symbols but in a more zoomed in view.

The Green Witch Tarot has renamed the Death card, as with most of the major arcana cards in that deck and changed the imagery but it still captures the same ominous feeling.

Doreen Virtue in her Archangel Power Tarot deck decided to remove the Death card altogether and replaced it by Peace. That is one way of dealing with avoiding a negative feeling for this card.

I know some tarot readers that opted to simply remove that card from their deck but I do not think this is necessary. I encourage you do not in fact. If you learn to interpret the Death card properly, there really is no reason to fear it.

Right side up: 

The death card represents big changes, a period of ending and new beginning. A cleansing and purifying time. A significant transformation is taking place.

Reversed:

I still interpret this card as a period of change and transformation when this card is shown in a reverse position but there is resistance. The querent is holding on to what was and is not letting this change happen as it should.

I read with the basic card meaning and then let intuition lead the way so in some reading, the Death card may take on new nuance but generally this is how I see this card.

In one of my latest reading, I was doing a Mystic Seven Spread regarding the start of a new business. The Death card showed up in a reversed position for the obstacle card. For this lady, the obstacle with her new business will be to do the changes that her new business would require for her to be successful. She's resisting these changes and isn't fully sold on the concept that have been presented to her. No actual death here.

This post was created for the purpose of a blog hop I joined with the Tarot Rebel group. Be sure to check out the post of my fellow bloggers regarding the Death card.