So what’s the difference between an oracle deck and a tarot deck?

Both are used to answer questions, make decisions, and show us where we need work. So why use one over the other?

Tarot decks follow a system that is agreed upon by most users and deck designers. There are 78 cards in a deck. Twenty-two of them are called “major arcana.” They represent the most important lessons and events in our lives.

The other 56 cards are called “minor arcana.” They are divided into suits, Cups, Swords, Wands, and Pentacles (coins), and run ace through king, like a deck of playing cards (where they have their roots) except there are four face cards instead of three.

As I said, most users and designers agree on the names and meanings of the cards. Sometimes Death is called “Rebirth”, or the pages are “daughters” and knights “sons.” Or, as I discussed a few weeks ago, (click here to read) the Hanged Man might mean a new perspective or it could mean a pause, but for the most part there is concurrence.

Oracle cards, on the other hand, are unique to each designer. They can be based on crystals, goddesses, the moon, affirmations, the myth of Avalon, Wiccan sabbats—almost anything.

There can be parallels and overlaps. For instance, the Quantum Oracle deck has a card called the Loving Woman which is similar to the Queen of Cups. Both represent nurturing female energy. In that same deck there is a card called Victim Mentality that relates to tarot’s 8 of Swords’ self-imposed restriction and negative thinking.

And, because the Universe loves synchronicities, here is mine from this week. I pulled the Page of Cups, which has a young man holding a cup with a fish in it (surprise!) from a tarot deck. The next day I got Archangel Raphael from an oracle deck, Raphael who is sometimes depicted holding a fish.

And, just for shiggles, a friend randomly emailed me a photo where he’s holding a fish. You know, as a way for my guides to get my attention and nail down the message.

Again I say, Hey, Universe, you got something you want to say to me? Like maybe I’m feeling like a fish out of water lately and I need some self-care?

So how do we know when to use which?

That’s personal choice. I like oracle cards because their message seems straight-forward and clear. I like tarot cards because their themes are universal. Some readers use one system exclusively, others, like me, mix them together. Both offer a means for Spirit to communicate using energy and synchronicity.

Whether we choose tarot or oracle, we open ourselves up to the messages available to us to make decisions, to discover patterns and behaviors that help and hinder, and to get advice.

If you’d like to learn to read cards, I encourage you to seek out one of the many free classes online. Or if you’d like a reading on either a specific question or your life in general, contact me. I’d love to show you how tarot and oracle cards can change your life.

This week I’ve had two synchronicities that I am struggling to understand. Artemis has come up four times in the last five days, which is enough to make my eyes bug out. And the song Higher Love has come up twice. And I don’t mean I heard it twice. Two people mentioned it to me as synchronicities THEY had.

Hey, Universe, you got something you want to say to me?

I’ve written before about coincidences and synchronicities (see Plate o’ Shrimp), about how we’re all connected and it’s all a part of the cosmic unconsciousness. Sometimes the meaning for us is obvious and sometimes… not so much.

Many years ago, when this was all quite new to me, I was working through Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. This book is life-changing. Whether you’re looking to be more creative, heal from trauma or heartbreak, or start a journaling practice, you will be transformed by this book.

The basis of Julia Cameron’s method is what she calls “morning pages.” You write first thing in the morning before your inner critic wakes up.

One morning I was doing my pages and “Unitarian” jumped out and wrote itself down. I’m sure I had heard it mentioned before, but I knew literally nothing about it. That afternoon I called the closest Unitarian Universalist congregation and spoke with the minister. I connected immediately and deeply with UUism and never looked back.

Shortly after that, I was looking in the phone book (Remember phone books? Giant things with everyone’s names, addresses, and phone numbers delivered right to your door?). I don’t recall what I was looking for, but I do remember that I was at my desk at work. I saw a listing for the Himalayan Institute. Whatever it was I was originally looking for I set aside and called to see what the Himalayan Institute was. They held yoga classes among other things, and I signed up on the spot.

When the Universe sends a me call, I like to answer.

But what do we do when we have no idea what the Universe is trying to tell us?

We can start with a little research. For example, who is Artemis? What do the lyrics of Higher Love mean?

If nothing stands out when reading what others have to say on the subject, do a little journaling, that written, stream-of-consciousness brainstorming.

Or pull a card or two. We can ask our guides for a symbol of clarity. Or talk to a friend who understands synchronicity.

If meaning is still elusive, it may simply be the Universes telling us we’re on the right path.

So, what do I think Artemis is telling me? I’d love to believe that it’s a sign that my son and daughter-in-law are pregnant. But since Artemis is a goddess for childbirth rather than pregnancy, I doubt that’s the message. I think it’s that I should be fiercely independent, make my own way and, at the same time, gather like-minded people together.

And I asked my mastermind partner to pull a card from her new Herbology deck for me about Higher Love. She drew Passionflower, which is also a study in contrasts. Passionflower bursts out wildly, pushing past barriers, and yet its essence soothes inflammation especially in the digestive tract. It has blood-pressure lowering qualities. And it has long been used as a treatment for insomnia.

Go your own way while bringing people together. Live in enthusiastic stillness.

Have you had any synchronicities lately? Share them in the comments.

When clearing someone’s energy, I receive impressions different ways. I see images or feel pain or smell or even taste things. When it’s taste, I typically feel like an idiot voicing it. “I’m tasting Fritos” seems so random.

Yesterday I was working with a client and I tasted black licorice. We had been working on something so far from black licorice that I was reluctant to bring it up.

Me: Do you like black licorice?

Client: I do.

Me: I’m getting black jellybeans.

Client: Every year I buy a bag of black jellybeans. You know, the Brach’s ones? Last week I bought a bag and they don’t taste the same. They must have changed the formula.

Those bastards.

Which brings me to the card the Hanged Man.

The Hanged man has a couple of meanings. That it’s time for a pause. Take a break before the break takes you. That you need to get a new perspective. When you’re hanging upside down, the world looks different and that topsy-turvy view is what you need. It also means that you’re putting your focus on the wrong problem, thinking that if you solve one thing it will take care of another, or that if you get angry at this you won’t have to deal with the real issue.

We all do it. We misplace our emotions by crying at a Coke commercial weeks after our dog died (because how could we still be sad after weeks have gone by?). Or yelling at our significant other after our jerk of a boss pisses us off (because we can’t tell our boss how we feel without risking being shown the door). Or thinking that if we move we’ll like the people in our new neighborhood more (rather than doing some shadow work to see if maybe we’re the problem).

Or getting the Hanged Man in four separate readings in one week and thinking the card is meant for someone else. Guilty. Not that the card didn’t have meaning for the people I was reading for. It absolutely did. But four times in five days? My tarot deck is trying to tell me something. And is it a mere coincidence that it keeps popping up the week I attended a webinar on shadow work? Uh, probably not.

Of course, being able to do this work takes self-awareness, a willingness to explore, a desire to heal. But if you are here reading this, I am confident you do. If you suspect you’re misplacing your focus or emotions when things seem to be going wrong in your life, pulling tarot or oracle cards can help.

Try a reading asking these questions:

1. Why am I experiencing negative thoughts?
2. What am I not seeing clearly?
3. What am I holding onto that is hindering me?
4. What is my first step toward healing?

If you don’t read cards and would like some answers, head over to the scheduling page and set up an appointment with me.

How do you fall asleep? How do you meditate? How do you find love?

There is no how. Falling asleep, meditating, finding love—they’re magic. And there is no “how” in magic. There is no thought required. There is no thought allowed. The harder you try to find sleep or someone to love, the more they will elude you. The harder you try to create magic, the further it is from your grasp.

We’ve all heard the stories of mothers pulling cars off their infants, cancer that completely disappears without treatment, and pets who find their way across the country back to the owners. We marvel at the miracles, having no idea who they happen. Which is exactly what makes them miracles.

You won the lottery when you were born. Out of all the sperm racing toward the egg, the one that created you won. Then the cells miraculously divided to become every sort of tissue your body required—connective, muscle, nervous—and your organs and your hair and everything else. You went from floating around to breathing air at just the right moment. This magic happened without conscious thought.

Is it possible to create magic in our lives? I think so. Although sometimes when we shake the apple tree we get oranges falling around us.

Just as we should practice good sleep hygiene to get a good night’s rest, we need to set ourselves up for magic. Meditation is a good place to start. Guided meditation has its place but it’s not the fast track to miraculous change.

Using a mantra keeps us focused. The mind wants to chatter—and it will. A mantra is a vibration, one that mimics a vibration in the universe. Om is the sound of the universe itself, the vibration from which the manifest universe emanates. So-hum is the sound of breath, “so” is the inhalation, “hum” the exhalation.

A sutra is a mantra that has meaning coded into it. It embeds a particular meaning into your consciousness even if you don’t understand the words or the concept. For example, aham brahmasmi (ah-HUM brah-MAHS-mee) means “the core of my being is the ultimate reality, the root and ground of the universe, the source of all that exists.” This is a sutra that puts you on the bullet train to magic.

Affirmations are wonderful tools, I use them extensively, but they are not the well-worn path that a sutra is. Millions of people over hundreds of years have used sutras, increasing their effectiveness. There is also a good amount of letting go in repeating something you don’t understand but trust, similar to a parent singing too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra knowing it will put a child to sleep.

Another way to let the universe know you want magic to happen is to notice coincidences and synchronicities. Each one is a miniature miracle. Say, Thank you. More please! Then ask for their meaning and listen for the answer. Keep a list of them. Everyone and everything is joined in the interconnected web of being. There is sense in the seemingly random.

Meditate and notice synchronicities for the next two weeks and let me know if your life changes in any way. I’ll bet it does.

Get ready for this month’s full moon in Leo with this spread. It’s all about balance–challenge yourself, shake what your mama gave you, but don’t let your ego run wild. Express yourself without creating drama. Embrace your inner Lady Gaga.

Energy clearings and tarot readings both rely on an energetic connection between two (or more) people and being able to listen to your intuition.

We’re all connected energetically. Scientists have proven many times what spiritual leaders have always known. Deepak Chopra (check out Synchrodestiny : Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles), Dr. Larry Dossey (Prayer Is Good Medicine), and Barbara Brennen (Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field) to name just a few all say we can harness the human energy field for healing. Adding tarot brings another tool and another layer of synchronicity to it.

We all have access to the interconnected energies. When we make a first impression of someone, when we know a loved one is hurting even from a distance, when we think of a friend and they later call, we have all had experiences of connection. Some of us are more attuned to it, but it is something we are all capable of.

Similarly, we all experience coincidences or synchronicity. In the old movie Repo Man, the character Miller says,

“A lot o’ people don’t realize what’s really going on. They view life as a bunch o’ unconnected incidents ‘n things. They don’t realize that there’s this, like, lattice o’ coincidence that lays on top o’ everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you’re thinkin’ about a plate o’ shrimp. Suddenly someone’ll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o’ shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin’ for one, either. It’s all part of a cosmic unconciousness.”

And he’s right. You know if you think of some musician from the ‘90s like Alanis Morissette before the end of the day you’ll hear Hand In My Pocket.

This is exactly how tarot works. A person asks a tarot reader a question, the reader pulls cards from her deck, and through synchronicity the answer is revealed. Many tarot readers use intuition as well, but it’s not necessary.

How do I do energy work and tarot readings? First I center myself. I affirm my spirit and the source of spirit. I affirm the spirit of the person I’m working with. Then I call in my guides and angels and the other person’s guides and angels. I ask them to give me clear impressions, always for the highest good. I request that healing be done through me. And then off we go.

In both energy clearings and tarot readings, there is a conversation that takes place. I receive impressions—feelings, pictures, names, even tastes—and I relay those to the person I’m working with. For energy work it might sound like this: “Who has a tattoo on his forearm?” “I’m tasting Fritos—what do they mean to you?” “Whose name is Wanda?” In a tarot reading, the conversation is based on the images and meanings of the cards.

The main reason it’s a conversation is that spirit guides don’t always communicate clearly. Sometimes it’s because they speak their own language, but more often than not it’s to validate the information. I could get the impression of a grandmother, but everyone has at least two, so a client might think I’m making it up. If I see violets and smell sugar, that let’s us know which grandmother is coming through. It’s so much more meaningful to hear that the angel, spirit guide, or dead person who has a message is clearly identifying his or herself.

Tarot cards provide the next steps to fulfill our desires in love, business, health, and spirituality. Energy clearing opens us up to allow these dreams to come true. I have witnessed my clients move to nicer homes, have their dream job offered to them out of the blue, open up emotionally, and even quit addiction.

Give it a try! Book a mini-session with me to see what energy work coupled with card reading can do for you.

Yesterday on Facebook, a friend posted

The #1 song on your 12th birthday is the official theme for your life

That makes my “official theme” is Oh, Girl by the Chi-Lites. It’s a great song, I don’t know that it sums up my life, although my ego would like to think my husband would be in trouble if he left me.

What was your favorite song when you were younger? What was it you liked about it? The words? The melody? Your favorite band wrote and performed it? Is it still your favorite?

Different songs appeal to us at various times in our lives. A love song when romance is new, a sad song when our hearts are breaking, perhaps a song that expresses a feeling in a way we had never considered before. They define us in that moment, but they don’t sum up our lives.

Similarly, our past doesn’t define us, it informs us. It tells us where we’ve been, not who we are. The tapestry of our lives is woven from the threads our families of origin, our friends, our education, which interests and hobbies we’ve pursued.

There are also unseen elements such as synchronicity, who the Universe has put in our path. And our ancestors, people who ensured that we made it to earth, sometimes at great personal peril—the grandmother who gave her baby up for adoption or the great-grandfather who emigrated from a war-torn or impoverished country.

We can lean into the support of our ancestors and recognize that our success has as much to do with them as ourselves. Without them, without the legacy of our families, without the lessons we carry in our DNA, we wouldn’t be who we are, wouldn’t, in fact, exist. When we celebrate where we came from, ancient energy surges through us. Are we willing to recognize, with gratitude, the sacrifices made by our ancestors?

The legacies passed down to us are not all infinite light and love. Alcoholism, suicide, divorce, joblessness are also inherited. But a tapestry woven from one color thread isn’t rich and interesting. Can we to look at the legacy our families left us, regardless of how we feel about them?

This week take a moment to sit in quiet introspection. What legacy are you leaving for your children’s children’s children? Is there family karma that needs to be cleared? Invite your ancestors to join you. Ask them what lessons you need to learn and which you came here to teach.

You might also want to ask which song is your official theme. You may find that they have quite a sense of humor!

A friend in high school, Maureen, used to say that “divine coincidence” was an oxymoron. If God had a hand in it, it couldn’t be a mere coincidence, it was preordained, not random.

I keep a coincidence journal where I write down the synchronicities I’ve noted each day, from the mundane to the magnificent. Most times I can’t make sense of them, like the word “roundabout” coming up twice in one day. Why? What is the message?

Sometimes I know there’s a message, I just need the secret decoder ring, like three cards coming up today with women wearing blindfolds. Kinky sex in my future? Or is there something I’m refusing to see?

I’m taking a class with Brigit Esselmont from Biddy Tarot. In the introduction to one of her lessons, she used a quote from Deepak Chopra from his book The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire Harnessing the Infinite Power of coincidence. I’ve enjoyed Chopra’s books in the past, so I ordered it.

It arrived the other day and I started reading it yesterday. In the introduction he talks about each of us being “immersed in a network of coincidences that inspire us and help direct our lives,” a “conspiracy of coincidences.” Yes, I thought. That’s why I’m here.

The next paragraph made me sit up. “Just the fact that you are reading these words now… is one of those potentially life-altering coincidences.”

And then this morning, the Universe hammered it home for me as I opened Nancy Rush’s blog (Nancy also clears energy) and found she had started her post with a quote… by Deepak Chopra.

Intention is the starting point of every dream. It is the creative power that fulfills all of our needs, whether for money, relationships, spiritual awakening, or love. – Deepak Chopra

So, as I say, from the mundane to the magnificent.

Similarly, Spirit tapped me on the shoulder and suggested I watch the Netflix series on meditation, Headspace. A friend mentioned it to me, he knows I meditate and thought I might enjoy it. I’ve been meditating since I was twelve, so I thanked him for thinking of me, but didn’t plan to watch some watered-down, made-for-the-masses, simplistic show. Ahem, said the Universe, and showed me an article about it in my newsfeed. I asked my friend if that’s where he found out about Headspace, in his newsfeed. Nope, it was in a Tim Ferris podcast.

It gets better. I had just bought Tim Ferris’s The 4-Hour Workweek.

Okay, okay, I’m watching the series already. And it’s quite good. I’ve picked up some useful reminders and even new ideas to deepen my meditation practice.

I’m only four episodes into the eight that were made. If one of them mentions Deepak Chopra, my mind will be completely blown.

This week I’m working with this affirmation: I notice the synchronicities around me, the mundane and the magnificent.