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.
January 1st has that odometer feeling to it as the date resets to 01/01. But today is rarely much different than yesterday.
And we all have high hopes for 2021. We long to meet with friends, dine out, go to a movie or a concert. Get our hair cut without wearing a mask. Send the kids back to school (please, in the name of all that is holy, let them go back to school). And probably more than anything else, live without the fear of getting sick and passing it on.
Here it is, January 4th and things are pretty much the same was they were on December 31st. True, there is now a vaccine. But it will be quite a while before the majority of the population is vaccinated. In the meantime, there is a new strain of the virus that spreads more quickly.
How do we hang on to hope when we are so very weary?
As part of my New Year ritual, I listed the highs and lows of 2020. I was happy to find that the highs far outnumbered the lows. My Plus Side included making new friends online, starting a new business, renewing an old friendship, my daughter’s engagement, we took our granddaughters to Universal Orlando before the pandemic hit, I started a Facebook group, and I lost over twenty pounds.
On the Minus Side we had some true lows. My father-in-law died. We put down our old sweet dog, Lulu. My wedding business all but dried up. And, of course, COVID-19.
But tragedy can hit in any year. People and pets die. California has wildfires. If it’s not murder hornets, it’s zika-carrying mosquitos.
Saturday I was feeling sad, almost depressed. I posted an oracle card I had pulled that seemed to speak directly to that sadness and a couple of people commented that they felt the same way. Yesterday I video-chatted with my friend in Manhattan and she sad she’d had about all she could take. I think most of us have. And I have to wonder if it’s because even though we knew that no miracle was going to take place on New Year’s Eve, we still held out hope that somehow one would.
So how do we find our way out of disappointment? How do we avoid having disappointment turn into despair?
First, find a spiritual practice, if you don’t already have one. Yoga, breath or energy work, prayer, whatever connects you to Spirit.
Second, connect with people. Join my Facebook group. Find a pen pal or write a letter to an old friend. Facetime, Zoom, Skype. Set weekly or bi-weekly appointments to chat.
Third, work with this affirmation, “I choose optimism and joy throughout each day. I look to the future with hope and excitement.”
Lastly, do the things you know you’re supposed to. Eat properly. Practice good sleep hygiene. Count your blessings. Exercise. Read. Get outside. Learn something new.
New moons, full moons, solstices, equinoxes, birthdays, endings, and beginnings offer us the opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learned and set our aspirations for moving forward.
We all know what a rotten egg of a year 2020 was—the memes abound, and it was in almost every holiday greeting. The second week of January may be a shock when we find out that not much is different from the second week of December.
During this quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, take stock of the past year. You can find lots of good tarot spreads for this. I used one from Biddy Tarot, eight cards for reflection. As usual, my cards spoke the truth with a sense of humor.
Here’s what came up for me.
What were my biggest achievements for 2020? The Ace of Pentacles highlights my new website, new Facebook group, new logo, and my budding new business. I also started a dream group. It was a year of saying yes to opportunities, making new friends, renewing old friendships, manifestation, and abundance.
What was my biggest challenge? The Temperance card shows that remaining calm when life was stressful was difficult, as was maintaining and even temperament and managing my emotions.
How have I developed as a person? I was able to follow my heart and take a leap of faith, trusting where the Universe was taking me. The Fool shows that I was able to acknowledge fear and do what scared me anyway.
What did I learn in 2020? The King of Wands came up for this question. I learned to lead my life with intent, vision, and a long-term view. I’m learning that I can create any outcome I wish.
How would I describe 2020 in just three words? The 5 of Wands says conflict, disagreement, tension. With my husband working from home and my granddaughters doing remote learning here at least three times a week, I can’t argue with that.
What aspects of 2020 can I leave behind? The Tower! This card made me laugh. Yes, please, let’s leave the sudden change, the upheaval, the chaos behind.
What aspects of 2020 can I bring with me into 2021? The Ace of Cups—love, new relationships, compassion, and creativity. I should strive to continue to give love, receive love, be love, to allow Divine compassion and unconditional love to flow through me.
I’d love to see what the cards have to say to you. Pull your own cards (or let me know if you’d like a year-end or new year reading with me) and leave their message to you in the comments.
Happy New Year. May 2021 bring you health, prosperity, passion, purpose, and above all, joy!
Yesterday was not only the winter solstice, but also what is called a great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn.
The conjunction brought the two planets closer together than they have been in eight hundred years and an event that won’t happen again until 2080. In the Northern Hemisphere their alignment made them look like a double planet., a bright spot on the longest night of the year.
Intentions can be set at any time, of course. If you follow the lunar cycles, then you probably set them with the new moon, planting seeds in the dark that will grow as the light of the moon does. The solstice gives us the opportunity to lay the foundation for a desire to manifest as the sun shines brighter and the days grow longer.
Here in midwinter, in these cold dark days, we have time for introspection, contemplation and meditation. We don’t feel the urgency that we do in summer to fill every hour with activity.
To set your intention, center or ground yourself. If you’re not sure what you would like to create energetically, go within. Meditate. Invite your guides and angels to join you. As them for inspiration. When you know what you would like to manifest, write it down on a small piece of paper. As you do, create a feeling of joy, the happiness you will have when you have your desire. Writing the intention down helps to cement it; decorating the paper helps bring the happy feelings out.
Then light a candle while saying (or thinking loudly) what you wrote on the paper. I use a tall candle in glass, the kind you find in the Latinx section of grocery stores. You can use color to emphasize your intention—green for financial desires, red, for love, etc. Place the slip of paper under the candle. Let the candle burn all the way out over the next couple of days. Obviously, ensure that it is not near anything flammable. I usually it in a shallow bowl as well.
Here in northern Illinois, we will have just over nine hours of light today. The light of the candles bring cheer to the darkness as the flame sends your message to the energetic realm to be transformed.
Wishing you infinite light and love this season!
I’ve been working with the affirmation “I choose to accept myself as I am.” I found that my brain likes to sneak words onto the end of that like “…even though I’m old.” Or “…in spite of needing to lose about fifty pounds.”
As you’re probably aware, Louise Hay, the founder of Hay House, took affirmations to a new level with her book You Can Heal Your Life. She believed that in order to heal the body, we must change our mental patterns. We have to love ourselves a great deal more than we do.
For example, high blood pressure is caused by long-standing unresolved emotional problems. The new thought pattern is I joyously release the past. I am at peace.
It can be hard enough to repeat something like that. Louise recommended taking it further—saying it into the mirror. Or even better, singing it to yourself.
Yikes. I don’t know about you, but I feel like an idiot looking myself in eyes and singing.
And yet I gladly did it with my children and grandchildren.
Do you remember being sung to as a child? Did it matter if your mother, father, grandmother, aunt, whoever it was had a beautiful singing voice? Of course not. So don’t even start with “But I can’t sing.”
It turns out there’s a big difference between singing by yourself in the car and singing to yourself in the mirror. Or maybe I should speak for myself.
One of the songs I used to sing to my children and grandchildren was from summer camp. It was covered by a number of groups in the 1960s; John Denver even covered it in the mid 70s.
“Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine,
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine.
A million tomorrows shall all pass away, ‘ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today.”
So, I have no problem singing that to a child. As an experiment, as the prelude to singing an affirmation to myself, I tried singing it in the mirror. Just those three lines. Awkward, but not painful.
I’ll probably never reach Louise Hay status with affirmations. But I find that working with affirmations has brought change to my life. Last year I used “My life is an adventure, taking me new places inside and out” and found myself in Las Vegas, Orlando, and Kohler, Wisconsin, within two months.
As to “I choose to accept myself as I am”, I add something positive and true to the end before my brain sneaks in a negative thought. I choose to accept myself as I am–I am intelligent. I choose to accept myself as I am—I have a great sense of humor. I choose to accept myself as I am—I am a powerful manifester.
We all long to hear that we’re, if not perfect, than at least good enough as we are.
I usually close my sessions with my clients by telling them to remember that they are so loved. Even if their husbands are jerks or their parents abused them or they can’t think of anyone who thinks they’re perfect, Spirit does. And I do because Spirit does and I’m not about to second guess the Source of All.
But hearing someone say “You be you, I won’t run” is more meaningful and concrete. Source is love, loves every thing equally; that’s its job, so to speak. Hearing that even in your uniqueness, even because of that uniqueness, you are worthy of love from someone whose job it isn’t, opens the (small-s) spirit, lifts it up, allows it to blossom again. Hearing that is something that we can carry with us throughout the day, or longer.
I don’t discount the importance of the words “I love you”. Why do we hesitate to tell people we love them? We may show them every day in different ways—making a cup of tea, picking up a stone or flower from a walk, squeezing their hand, eating a meal together–but using the words “I love you” can stick in our throats.
I’m not talking about the people who say “I love you” each time they say goodbye, in person and on the phone. I think these rote words become diluted, if not meaningless over time. I’m talking about family members, siblings and parents, who have annoyed us for decades. They have also amused us, taught us, probably been there once or twice when we needed them.
And friends. How often do we take time out to tell them we love them? I try to every year at Christmas. Is that enough? What about friends of the opposite gender? The ones we worry will think we’re saying something more? If we dare, we make sure we clarify by saying, “Not in a Let’s Change the Course of Our Lives way, but in an I Appreciate Who You Are way.“
We can be hurt when they are also reluctant to reply in kind, forgetting that they may also worry about being misunderstood or feeling exposed.
Is our saying those words dependent on it being reciprocated? Are we brave enough to put ourselves out there? Is it easier to tell someone that we like who they are, as they are, or easier to say “I love you”?
I challenge you this season to tell three people you love them—one family member, one close friend, and someone you’ve never told before. Make them all people you wouldn’t normally express love to even though you do indeed love them. I’ll do the same.
Let me know how it went in the comments section. I’m interested to hear how they reacted and how you felt.
