Inside The Tarot: Hidden Gifts

It's worry. Okay, it's big-time concern. But it's not an incident, it's not necessarily because something has happened. The 9 of Swords can come from our inner demons as well as from fears of the outside world. Worry about our loved ones. You name it, we can worry about it.

The picture in the Rider Waite deck says it all. I've been there - have you? You're sitting up in bed in the middle of the night, overwhelmed, freaked-out, despairing. It's a terribly uncomfortable place to be.

Two ideas to remember about the 9 of Swords:

1. It's more worry than actual problem.

2. Getting this card reminds us that we have the power to stop this darkness, these fears. And we must. Because what we dwell on, we draw to us. And if we constantly dwell on our fears, we could draw those very fears into our lives.

Remember: The power is within you to let the 9 of Swords go.

Having a visual in front of us, helps us to focus. If you're working on a particular issue, say, financial problems, you can choose a Tarot card of financial success - the 6 of Pentacles is a great one - and focus on it for a few minutes each day.

In older decks, and decks that represent centuries past, the picture on the Strength card was often brutal. Old think = strength requires physical domination; brute force; killing a lion.

New think = Strength is inner courage. It's knowing how to use that courage in everyday life. And it's aware that courage has a different meaning for each person.

Often the newer decks picture the woman cradling the lion, befriending the lion. That means she's drawing courage into herself through love, and showing it to the world as compassion. She's taming her inner lion through love and acceptance. (It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman who gets this card - the meaning is the same.)

Courage can be as dramatic as jumping into a fast-moving river to save someone. It can be as impulsive as finding a stray dog and just adopting it. If you're depresssed, it can take true courage just to get out of bed. None of these are more or less awesome than the other.

When we get the Strength card, we are reminded that all we need do is our best. It doesn't have to be Xena Warrior Princess's best - just our own.

Though it's the most troublesome card in the deck for me, the 10 of Swords still bears gifts.

Yes, The Tower, The Devil, and the Death card can be unsettling, and you certainly wouldn't want to get them all in the same reading. But in all my years of reading Tarot, I've seldom seem a reading that gloomy. And each of these cards by themselves are do-able.

If you get the 10 of Swords - let's say you just wanted one card for that reading - you already know what it means. You've hit bottom.

Here's the gift: The 10s in general are cards of completion. This means that whatever situation put you down there on the ground with the life-blood dripping out of you, has come to an end. You're about to turn around and start the journey back to well-being. Notice the glimmer of light on the picture, just beneath the dark clouds.

Here's the other gift: The suit of Swords represents intellectual, clear thinking. However you got into your current mess, you can get out of it using the power of your mind.

The psychic Edgar Cayce always said "Thoughts are things." I believe it. I've seen it in action, as I know most of you have. We can frame our situations with any thought-bouquet we choose. (Well, mostly - there are still things on this planet that don't mesh with this way of thinking, but that's for another module.)

The 10 of Swords tells us that although we have a situation here (I just had to use that phrase, I love it), it's difficult enough that the only way out is up. And through the power of our thoughts we can turn it around.

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Yes, she's wealthy and beautiful. But her beauty comes from deep inner rivers of compassion for others, her love of nature, and her respect for herself.

AKA the Nine of Pentacles, this lovely lady's tendency is to be alone. She delights in walks, loves animals, and when she needs to get centered, all she has to do is feel the gentle summer breeze and inhale the scent of the trees.

Her financial stability is usually a result of hard work and intelligence - perhaps a successful career as an entrepreneur. Or it could be the result of an inheritance that she has carefully invested. In either case, she is educated, poised, and gently determined. She reads up on issues she doesn't understand. Her life is stable and successful because she's made it that way through disciplined hard work, and carefully planned and visualized goals.

Not only does the Suit of Coins generally represent some aspect of money, it also indicates health. Coins are of the earth. And, unless she's surrounded by cards to the contrary, Lady Nine is blessed with good fortune in all ways physical.

Why is she alone? Perhaps she chooses long hours at work and doesn't have time to develop relationships. Perhaps she is happiest being with animals. But she is intelligent and confident. If she decides she wants friends, or a romantic relationship, she has no trouble attracting them. And she may be on the verge of extending her relationships with people. Perhaps she's even considering getting married one day and starting a family.

But all in good time, and without rush or disorder.

It's so different than going into the psychic's office and chatting for a few minutes before the reading; observing each other in person; getting a close-up feel for their energy.

Getting an online reading may seem quick and cold by comparison. But it's not. It's just different. It takes a little getting-used-to.

The basic system works the same, whether you get a live reading, an on-line or telephone reading, or a computer generated reading.

1. Before beginning the process, take a moment to calm yourself. A few deep breaths or a quick yoga pose perhaps. A minute to gaze out the window at the birds.

2. As you're preparing, setting up, or going to a psychic website, open your energy (you can do that simply by relaxing your body and mind and trusting the process that is about to happen).

3. Now focus on the issue you need information about. If you're on an on-line psychic site like the Psychic Tea Shoppe, don't be in a hurry to get your reading. Go slowly; look over the choices leisurely.

When you make your choice - say you choose a Tarot reading - keep your question in mind as you decide which Tarot spread you want.

4. The computer generated readings come up quickly, once you click on them. That's why moving slowly beforehand is important. Your energy gets focused, your issues get pinpointed and put into question form, and the Universe can pick up on your needs.

May you be happy.
May you feel peace.
May you be filled with lovingkindness.

The Aces. 1's always represent a new beginning. This is not positive or negative in itself - a new beginning is what you choose to do with it. Still, it's exciting. The promise of a new relationship, a new love, a new job or career, a new environment, a new part of yourself emerging. If you get an Ace, and you've got a plan, go for it!

The 2's. Not all 2's are created equal. The 2 of Cups we've talked about - it's about love (or relationship of any kind, even relationship with self). But the other 2's indicate a decision that must be made.

The 3's indicate that you have a plan in action, and depending on which 3 you get, it will tell you where you are in your plan.

The 4's are cards of pulling things together, getting organized and being grateful for foundations already built. There is a feeling of stability and rest in the 4's. It's a strong card for taking a deep breathe and counting your blessings.

The 5's. Ah yes, the much maligned 5's. All they're really saying, despite some of the unnerving pictures, is that change is inevitable. It's up to us to decide to embrace change and channel it in ways that will help us.

If stability is your thing, you'll love to get 6's. You can't get a "bad" 6. A 6 means that you're going in the right direction.

7's are kind of fun if you're a lover of life and adventure. Yes, the 7's say, there may be obstacles. But you can overcome them. You CAN do this!

8's are cards of strength. Yes, the 8 of Cups looks devastating, and the 8 of Swords looks impossible, but that's not the case (unless you have surrounding cards supporting these Cups). The 8 of Cups is merely saying, You have the strength it takes to leave this toxic situation, even though you've invested so much into it. And the 8 of Swords is saying, You only feel trapped. You CAN find a way out.

9. Reflection. Stop and listen to your heart before completing your project. (More on the 9 of Swords in a later post.)

The 10's are lessons completed. The outcome may seem sunny or terrifying, but they're simply lessons learned.

Are you writing a novel? A poem? Are you turning your love of flowers into a business? Are you going to audition for a part in a play?

The Star is the card to meditate on to give your creative project that extra boost. The Star facilitates artistic skills and almost guarantees success.

To meditate on it, simply take the card from the deck, place it where you can see it, and look at it for a few minutes. Breathing deeply, focus on the details of the picture and imagine yourself feeling so good as your new venture brings you joy.

If your mind wanders, which it will, because minds do that, gently focus it back onto The Star.

Sally K. liked to party. She was young, beautiful, and adored by her many friends. But over the course of about 6 years, she started to feel bad. First came chronic exhaustion, and then depression. Blackouts became common.


One night she became very sick and couldn't sit up without fainting. At the E.R., she spoke with a Nurse Practitioner who suggested that although she was drinking just as much as her healthy friends, it was too much alcohol for her particular system. The N.P. suggested that Sally give up alcohol completely and forever.

Sally still drank, because at this point she discovered that she couldn't stop.

This is when The Tower card came up in her Tarot reading. It said: Stop all alcohol intake and you will regain your health. Keep drinking, and you will get sicker, and eventually experience a life-threatening illness.

Sally took the reading seriously, thank goodness, and joined Women for Sobriety - or www.womenforsobriety.org. Her health is great, her energy is back, and she's made a ton of new friends through the WFS Members' Board (groups.msn.com/WomenforSobriety).

Many Tarot cards sense love around you. The 3 of Cups indicates a happy celebration, perhaps a wedding party. The Ace of Cups, if it appears in the spread near other relationship cards, could mean the beginning of new romance. The 9 of Cups, the 4 of Wands, The Sun - so many cards, in the right place at the right spread, predict love.

But nothing signals the blossoming of a relationship as clearly and simply as the 2 of Cups.

"What about The Lovers"? you might ask.

Yes, The Lovers can indicate a relationship, but it's not necessarily an easy one. The Lovers is more about making a decision regarding a relationship. It's not saying "Here comes your It person."

Now remember, we're talking basic single card meanings here. As you Tarot lovers know, the more accurate reading will come with a spread of cards, and the answers will come through the cards' relationships with one another. If you put out 3 cards, and one's The Devil, one's The Tower, and the third one is the 2 of Cups, I'd say ... um ... call off the wedding and move to the other side of town.

But if you're just drawing one card to answer one romance question, and it's the 2 of Cups, be assured the card is saying 'Yes. Go for it. Good call!'

You're welcome to join the cozy group at Psychic Tea Shoppe. Get a free reading and see if the 2 of Cups comes up for you!

Place a hand on your heart and say "I care about this suffering. May I be free from suffering."

Or say "I care about ________'s suffering. May s/he be free from suffering."

Okay, usually the Death Card is not what we want cropping up in our readings. But that was the old way of looking at it.

The new - and I believe true - meaning of the Death Card is new life.

When I used to read Tarot cards for clients, I noticed that the Death Card would turn up when someone has just let go of a part of their life that no longer served them.

Similar to The Tower, the Death Card indicates the release of a toxic part of your life. But while The Tower is more about a release-in-progress, the Death Card is more final. It's more about a release that's just happened. You get it when you're still feeling the loss of what you just gave up. It's there to validate your feeling of loss, and to remind you that death always brings new life.

Like The Tower, though, the Death Card indicates a major loss - however positive this loss will be in the long run. If you've just broken up with your Significant Other, you might get the Death Card. If you've moved, you could get the Death Card. It just means that you've experienced the loss of your old home and can now start a new life in your new home.

On rare occasions, the Death Card could mean physical death. But it will simply be validating a death that has already occurred - it never predicts a physical death.

Welcome the Death Card if it turns up in your reading. It means a new part of your life has been born. There's hope, creativity, and excitement to come.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
      Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
      Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
      where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
      Don't go back to sleep.

Actually, there are a lot of pet psychics out there who are indeed real. One of my friends is a gifted pet psychic, and she's able to talk to my pets, ask questions (like "Where does it hurt?", which is very helpful), and explain things (to my bird, she said, "When you shriek so loudly, it hurts your mom's ears."). Yes, she helps a lot.

Like communication with anyone, talking with an animal is not always succesful. Let's face it, talking to a spouse doesn't necessarily mean any information will be exchanged.

So when you call an animal psychic to help with a pet situation, have patience with her. Know that she's doing her best.

How To Find An Animal Psychic

1)Word of mouth is always the most reliable.


2)Join a spiritual group and become part of their community. You'll meet people with all kinds of gifts, including animal whispering.

3)If you've been impressed by a psychic you've seen on television, go to their website and contact them. This may be expensive, though.

4)Become your own pet psychic. It's not that hard to tune in to your pet's needs or worries. Many of you, I'm sure, already do this.

As with any profession, there are whiz kids, sincere people without talent, and scam artists. To make sure your pet psychic is a whiz kid, get references before the reading. And check each reference carefully.

You are getting a Tarot reading. You're asking about your love life. Up comes a card which clearly says The Lovers. You're ready to pay and go home, elated that love is on the way.

Wait. The Lovers is a complicated card.

If you want a single card that's telling you love is here, you want to get the 2 of Cups. If you get The Lovers, you've got more going on.

Notice in the Rider-Waite deck, the picture contains a man and woman - but they're on either side of the card. They're not together. And by the way - who is that third party, right in the middle?

The Lovers card represents choice. The angel in the middle is saying Listen to your heart, your inner voice. Don't rush.

On a romantic level, the choice is often whether or not you and a previous lover will get back together.

On a Jungian level, the card is saying that you can choose to integrate the male and female essences within yourself. What does that mean? Look at the card again. The man is looking to the woman, perhaps for nurturing or regrouping.

But the woman is looking up at the angel - her spiritual side. The angel is joining the male and female together with its wings and its arms spread open over both, like a protective umbrella.

All is one. Use your masculine side, even if you're a woman. Make a choice based on your feminine side, even if you're a man.

Some Tarot readers interpret The Lovers as a message for the client to move forward in an aspect of their life. It may be a green light for a blossoming career, or a new relationship.

The Lovers is a thinking person's card. It indicates a positive outcome - as long as you weigh all your choices carefully.

"The mind quiets down because we observe it instead of getting lost in it." (p. 34)

"We 'rid ourselves of conceptual thought' when, by persistent observation, we recognize the unreality of our self-centered thoughts. Then we can remain dispassionate and fundamentally unaffected by them. That does not mean to be a cold person. Rather, it means not to be caught and dragged around by circumstances." (p. 32)

"...the culprit [to our emotional well-being] is always our emotional attachment to the circumstance." (p.33)

"When we label thoughts precisely and carefully, what happens to them? They begin to quiet down." (p. 27)

from Everyday Zen by Charlotte Joko Beck


We've got hundreds of helpful ideas on our Angel Cards module at Psychic Tea Shoppe. Curl up with a cup of hot tea, get a free reading, and enjoy.

Say:

"I am One with all that I desire.

I am One with _______(name your desire)_______."

If, for instance, it's a relationship you want, know that it's just around the corner, because you are one with it already. Be grateful for its impending presence in your life. Know it with your heart.

More than 25% of the American public believes in astrology, and 18% is not sure.

Half the public - at least - believes in ESP.

Between 25% and 50% of people believe in ghosts and the possibility that a house can be haunted.

Many people believe in psychics, but we're aware that there are all kinds of psychics out there: good psychics, untalented psychics, and phony psychics. Unfortunately the latter two have given honest, gifted psychics a bad name.

The best way to choose a gifted, caring psychic is by word-of-mouth.

(Figures are from the National Science Foundation)

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The Devil has grown spiritually over time. The contemporary Devil may look dismal, but in fact he can turn your life around and give you a new beginning.

The Devil indicates an attachment to something or someone that is not helping you meet your life's goals. It could be as serious as an addiction or a toxic relationship, or it could be a head-trip, like an attachment to worry, or an attachment to negative self-talk. Often the Devil represents fears that plague us - we're afraid of love because we've had a bad experience in the past; we're afraid to change jobs because the economy is so scary.




His gift? Letting go of denial.

The Devil is telling us (in no subtle way!) to face the issue, realize that we are in bondage to it, and take the steps to break those bonds.

If you're in an abusive relationship, the Devil card will come up. It will show itself if you drink too much or stay cooped up in your apartment with social anxiety.

Be glad when you get the Devil. Eliminating the bondage of toxins in your life is huge!

Absolutely.

One of my favorite oracles at the Psychic Tea Shoppe is called the Animal Spirits Oracle.

I do the Daily Animal Spirit reading every day. You relax, perhaps over coffee or maybe you're just daydreaming, and you click on Animal Spirits from the Psychic Tea Shoppe's home page menu. Up pops a beautiful white cat, and below her are a 10 different types of readings from which to choose.

The Daily Animal Spirit gives me a spiritual or practical focus for the day.

For instance, this morning I got the Squirrel. The Squirrel's message cautioned me to be more careful about needless spending today. (Squirrels hoard things.)

Feel free to try one yourself and see what you get!

The 5 of Coins (aka 5 of Pentacles) gives us an easy and sure way through our problems. In fact, the card is saying that our situation is already healed, we're just not seeing it.

How do we see it? We drop the storyline. We let go of the negative loop of self-talk that has taken over our minds. We drop the need to re-hash our stuff.

The mind is one tricky, stubborn, willful, strong databank. But its strength can work for us or against us. To change our thinking from negative obsessing to constructive problem-solving, we can't just let go of the toxins that have been our lifeblood for so long. We must substitute new thoughts for the old ones.

What does that mean? It means we must be aware of our thoughts. We can't just let them meander any old which way, or we'll get stuck in the snow again, as the 5 of Coins depicts.

There's a part of us some call the observer; the watcher; the theatre critic sitting in the back row. We call upon that part of us to keep an eye on the drama traipsing through our minds.

Here's what you do when you observe a negative thought-loop:

1. See it.

2. Name it. ("I'm thinking about what L. said yesterday." or "I'm feeling anger toward my ex.")

3. Substitute another thought, something more helpful, more healing. ("L. must have been having a bad day yesterday. I heard her mother got sick." or "My ex is the past. I choose to let go, so I can be open for a new love.")

Despite the picture of despair on the 5 of Coins, can you see how getting this card can be a gift?

Everything you need is within your reach. Just look up and you'll see it.

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If you are looking for advice on a specific issue, look around you. The answer you need might be the title of the book that just fell to the floor; it could be the sudden appearance of a rainbow; or in the lyrics of a song, just as you turn on your car radio.

Other places to look for answers:

The shape of a cloud;

The sign on the truck next to you at a red light;

A symbol or thought that just pops into your head for no apparent reason;

An item you trip over in your garage;

Something someone says at the next table over, in the coffee shop;

A certain number that keeps cropping up during your day;

An animal or creature that crosses your path;

A recurring dream image.

If you're starting a new business, meditating on the Ace of Coins (aka Ace of Pentacles) will help direct your thoughts toward financial success.

You've started the new business, but it's still in the growth stage? The 3 of Coins is a card indicating a potentially succesful work-in-progress. It reminds us that our foundations must be solid so they can bear the weight when the business gets larger.

Meditate on the 8 of Coins if you still need to learn more about your business (and who doesn't?); or if you're hiring and training new people.

To keep a global picture in your mind of a desirable outcome, keep the 6 of Coins in your pocket and take it out to look at it every once in a while. Focusing on the 6 of Coins keeps your mind thinking about the positive outcome of a successful project. Not only can you pay off debts, you can lavish money on your favorite causes and charities.