At the Crossroads - Using the Majors to Create a Path

Crossroads. This word provides me with a richness of images. The first image that comes to mind is when Dorothy reaches the end of The Yellow Brick Road and she must choose a direction so she can get to the Emerald City to meet The Wizard of Oz. Many of us are finding ourselves at a crossroads right now. We have a decision to make about one or more aspects of our lives and we are running out of time and/or financial resources. I wish I was blessed with the ability to provide people with the right answer. Unfortunately, that would go against my ethics. I cannot take away someone's right to choose--their free will must prevail. What I enjoy doing is providing enough information to individuals so they can see their options. It is up to them to sort through this information and make a decision. Once they make their decision, they will need to find some way to go forward and follow through. Should someone go left, right or continue on the path that they are currently traversing? Once a choice is made, only time will tell if the right path was chosen.

Are you at a crossroads?The important thing about choosing a direction is to take the time and combine all of your available resources so you have a wide range of information to sift through that will assist you in making your decision. Using the Tarot to illustrate the process for moving ahead I would hand pick the following cards to help you.

The first card I would choose is The Fool. He reminds us that anything is possible and we will be just fine--we are on a journey. We are taking a chance on life...on a path...we are willing to embrace life. All of life is a journey. His backpack contains all of the information and tools he needs to make a decision. He can deal with anything that comes along, and so can we. Now, we must decide where we want to go. We need to use the information we have available to us. Do we have a plan or a map in place? We may have difficulty moving forward if we don't have structure and organization?

Why not choose The Hierophant next. He has the keys to knowledge and information. With our computers, we can obftain tons of information. Google whatever you need to know. Talk to people. Sometimes someone else's point of view can provide input or feedback that could be very valuable. Ultimately, we may end up with just one plan, or we may have several plans to choose from. The Hierophant can help us streamline our thinking. With him on our side, we may be able to save time once we are ready to move forward. Keep it simple.

Once we have a plan or several in place, why not choose The Hermit to help us next. He represents the need to go within and tap into our inner wisdom. Introspection allows us to see the many different roads that are available to us and where those roads may take us. By using intelligence and logic, we can determine the pros and cons of each possible choice. Once we have refined our list of possible options, the next card we might want to choose would be The Wheel of Fortune. This card allow us to see what karma we may create or resolve in addition to determining the time frame for manifestation. This brings us to the the following questions that we want answered. How long will it take us to get to our destination? How can we deal with the limitations or road blocks that may show up? Sometimes we may decide that a particular option is not worth pursuing. Using the Wheel of Fortune, we may be able to hone in on one or two opportunities that we can happily pursue in a time frame that we can embrace comfortably.

Once we have a few possibilities that may work for us, why not choose The Lovers card. Normally, this card is not a typical choice for this situation. If we have people who love us and have our best interests at heart, we can go to them for love, support, and get their feedback--and perhaps, their advice. In other words, this is our support network. If we have some sort of self-esteem issue, we need to "love ourselves" enough to check in with our emotions to see how we feel about the options that are front and center. We are responsible for our choice(s)--not our loved ones. Depending on our decision(s), we may make them happy or we may make them angry. We need to live for ourselves, so we need to keep that in mind when we make our final decision.

Why not choose The High Priestess to help us at the next checkpoint. She symbolizes our ability to get in touch with our intuition. While she may not represent logic, she is a logical choice for this stage of our journey. She can help us to see between the lines. She will connect us to our intuition. I often refer to our intuition as the director of our lives. She reminds us that we need to balance our intellect, emotions and intuition to make a sound, choice that will resonate with us.

Once we make our choice, we might want to connect to The Magician. He is the master creator--the alchemist. Through his mind he can create anything. Our destiny depends on him being able to use his will to create magic. We can also call him a miracle worker. By utilizing his powers, we know we can manifest what we want.

Choosing The Star next would be important because it is the card of hope and optimism. This is where prayer and meditation can provide comfort and allow the angels, archangels, Gods, Goddesses, and the Creator to assist The Magician. At this point, the divine is really in charge. There is only so much we can do without their assistance. While we are waiting for divine help, more than likely we will need to apply a little Temperance. Why? Because most of the time, things do not generally happen when we want them to; they happen in their own, perfect time. When we tend to get a little impatient, we need to exercise a little temperance. Choosing our words carefully might be helpful here, too.

If we discover that our plans are not quite working for us, we can always recycle back to The Hierophant in order to re-structure. Perhaps we may need to make our plan of action a bit more flexible..or not.

At this point, why not revisit The Star before we take a ride on The Chariot. The Star will reconnect us to the divine and that may be just what we need if things take a bit longer to manifest than we anticipate. While The Chariot leads us to our destination and a new phase of life, it also provides us with courage and protection, too. Extra protection. Love it! Why shouldn't we head into a successful phase of our lives? What card would you choose to have after The Chariot? What card feels appropriate to you?

Would you choose The Empress for giving birth to a new project and/or staying grounded? Would you consider her as the harvest card? Would you reach out to someone in order for them to nurture you? Would you nurture yourself?

Would you choose The Sun for a new beginning?

Would you choose Judgment for a rebirth and a different type of new beginning--one that will allow you to re-invent yourself and/or leave your past behind you? Could this be a new beginning where you get a second chance to do something you always wanted to do? Could this be an opportunity to revisit something that you stopped doing because of some type of family obligation?

Or, would you choose The World for unlimited opportunities and a chance to embrace _______ (fill in the blank)?

Whatever card you choose, add a companion card of your choice for guidance. Tell me what cards you would choose with/without a companion card and why. I want to know!

The Tower

In Tarot, I find many different interpretations for The Tower. While this has not been a card that has appeared in many of the readings I have performed over the past few years, it has been coming up frequently in the readings I have done for my friends, clients and at events. Since this card has been on my mind a lot lately, I decided I would present a few ideas regarding its interpretation.

When 911 occurred, many Tarotists saw The Tower as representing the airplanes striking the twin towers in New York City. While I seldom interpret this card as an actual physical event, I generally see it as the emotional and internal struggles one experiences when an event occurs or is about to occur--anxiety and stress. Many Little White Books ("LWBs") or books on Tarot see it as a chaotic, possibly catastrophic event. Because I read intuitively, I am never locked into any LWB or reference interpretation with The Tower.

As I teacher, I notice that the cards will present themselves, in whatever layout is selected, in manner that supports someone's individual style of interpretation. Over time, everyone's way of interpreting should continue to expand, change and evolve. I know my ability to interpret has changed quite a bit since I first picked up a deck when I was 15 years old. I love to tease my students after they interpret a reading. I swoop in and show them another perspective on how to interpret the cards--an overlay sometimes, and who knows what. When they pick their jaws up off the floor, I tell them, "that's why I'm the professional." To me, interpreting Tarot is like a puzzle. How many accurate pieces of information can we mine from the cards selected? It varies. That's what I find so exciting about Tarot.

I performed a reading for someone, recently, in connection with a possible home foreclosure. Interestingly enough, The Tower showed up front and center. This indicated to me that there would, indeed, be a foreclosure on her home. Why did The Tower appear instead of the Three of Swords, the Death card, or the Ten of Swords--all loss cards? For me, this was not just a termination of her residence and a fresh start or just a plain termination--at least at this point in time. Using practical knowledge, a foreclosure doesn't just happen out of the blue. It is a process, starting with a preforeclosure notice. It follows a legal time frame, and depending upon the bank's ability to sell the home, may or may not give someone additional time to vacate the premises and find a place to live, etc. Since this was a chaotic situation The Tower was perfect. It showed strong emotional, mental and physical consequences related to an action or event.

The individual called me back to inform me that The Tower moment for the day was the fact that her trash bag broke and the trash men left it and its spewed contents--several pounds of used kitty litter (ewww) in the driveway for her to clean up. While this could be considered a good explanation of The Tower, I was dumbfounded. Her interpretation seems valid to me, however, using Tarot to explain something mundane as a trash mishap is not something I consider Tarot worthy. OK, so I am a Tarot snob and proud of it.

For me, interpreting The Tower and its surrounding cards is about providing an accurate interpretation that can help someone when they are dealing with a chaotic situation or the emotional "stuff" related to that situation or event.

In terms of the above-referenced individual's reading with The Tower as the focal point, she did receive a feel-good moment as an outcome. It was paired beautifully it with the Six of Wands. With the Six, she will be able overcome whatever catastrophe The Tower represents in terms of her foreclosure and make the outcome a positive experience. Of course, if she had received some other feel-good card instead of the Six, there would have been more information for her to use. However, she's pretty much a cut-and-dried type of person who favors yes/no answers. Most people know that I do not really do those types of readings. However, this was the closest I came to giving her a yes/no. What other cards that represents growth or happiness, or any positive Major Arcana card such as The Sun or the World would you pull to pair with The Tower and how would you interpret it? I'd like to know.

Resonance

Today’s word is resonance. When I say a word or statement resonates, I imply that it not only makes sense, but it strikes a chord within. It “feels” right. It belongs. We are connecting to words, ideas, and more—in a powerful way. There is a vibration taking place that transports us somewhere for a moment—deep within our soul. We “know” that something fits—that it is right for us. Resonance—a powerful feeling!

My mother used to talk to me about how difficult her life was during the Great Depression and World War II. She explained how she and her parents had to do without things because they barely had two nickels to rub together. She hoped her children would not have to experience what she did during those times. Because she lived through difficult financial times, she learned how to stretch her money and meals. She was thrifty, not cheap. She had to be. She taught me the value of a dollar, and if I wanted something, I waited…and waited to get it. However, whenever we needed something, she managed to find a way for us to get it. She frequently said. “All comes to he who waits.” In some cases, that is what planting seeds for the future is all about. Realistically speaking, sometimes we need to go out and grab what we want because it doesn’t always come to us if we wait. In this case, waiting is known as a missed opportunity.

An example of taking action was when I looked for my current apartment. I did my homework first. I called the resident manager and found out what I needed to bring with me in case I wanted the apartment—it resonated with me. Well, I found the one I wanted. I swooped in and grabbed it. I had my money order for a credit check, all of the necessary financial paperwork with me, and I filled out the application on the spot. That’s where the expression “Time and tide waits for no man” resonated for me. I learned when to wait and when to move—nay, swoop.

Why am I talking about my mother, lack of money, apartment hunting, and planting seeds? It is very simple. History repeats itself. Sooner or later, things and situations occur and it feels like déjà vu. I see how the wheel of life moves, how cycles repeat, and how the law of karma works. The lessons my mother taught me does resonate…on a practical level. Then there is resonance on a spiritual level—for me, it is Tarot.

My Tarot class last night was full of surprises. I am always amazed how each group starts out now knowing one another and ends up bonding beautifully over the course of six weeks. It is rewarding to see how the material I present resonates with a diverse group of individuals. I am truly blessed because I am able to enlighten people and show them the joy of Tarot.

More resonance! I worked several events over the past few weeks—a few grad nights, a Birthday party, and two corporate events. Each group of individuals I read for (Tarot and/or palms) was unique. My job was to interpret the information I received and make it fit each individual in a manner that resonated with them. I did. This is what I do.

Someone once asked me how I felt about using my intuitive gifts for money. My reply was simple. My gifts have been given to me and to not use them would be a waste. I do not abuse my gifts. I use them to entertain people and provide information that can help them—information that resonates with them. My mother often told me that people do not readily accept or listen to advice unless they pay for it. People must value the work you do. If not, why would someone consult us or stand in line for an hour at a party to have us read for them? The answer is simple—we perform a service. When I pick up a Tarot deck or hold someone’s hand and look at their palm, I am offering to share my gifts in a positive manner to help them—with love and understanding. If what I tell someone resonates with them, then I have done an excellent job. I know my mother would be proud of how I use my gifts.

Dreamtime and Healing

I was not sure if I was going to write a blog entry this week as I have been a little bit under the weather. When I am not feeling well, I sleep...a lot. Sleeping gives my body a chance to heal and my mind gets uninterrupted time in which to work through a lot of things. Dreamtime.

Last week, I took a big hit emotionally and mentally. I allowed myself to experience things that I could have, should have, and would have walked away from, but did not. Because of my professionalism and ethics, I stayed and "took it," ignoring my intuitive gifts. I let my human side and not my intuitive side make the decisions.

My friend Katie, the caricaturist, turned me on to Jo Dunning, founder of the The Pulse Technique. The Pulse Technique is an energy healing modality. I participated in her free teleconference workshop yesterday. Whether or not you believe various types of alternative healing techniques can work, I know that The Pulse Technique did something for me.

There are many layers and to our personalities. When we heal, we do not have control over which wound gets attention first. Some injuries take longer to heal because they are older or we have ignored them. This morning, I remembered several dreams that I had last night. While the situations, people and actions were illogical--nothing made sense in a linear way, there was a lot of information in those dreams that I am able to work with to resolve some old issues.

When I read for people, I can "feel or see" issues, blockage, fear, change, and transformation for them. This is what I do best. Why am I an issue-oriented intuitive? That's because I am always working on my issues, etc. I am a work in progress and I respect, value, and embrace dream work. Dreams can be the keys that open our eyes to what was, what can never be, and what is possible. Dreams are a gift.

The message I am sharing with you today is the following: If you jot down your dreams when you awaken from sleep, you may find valuable information contained in them. Whether or not they are prophetic, insightful or healing, your dreams are important. Embrace them, respect them and use the information you glean from them.

You may want to check out Jo Dunning's website at www.jodunning.com for more information about Jo and her Pulse Technique.

Spontaneity, Creativity and Courage

Today my guides reminded me that I did not post anything on my blog yesterday. I decided to ask them for a topic. As usual, they responded instantaneously and said, "Davida, why don't you pick three angel cards and channel a message." I looked into my little black box, which has a hand-painted angel on it, opened it, and there were two cards staring at me--Creativity and Courage.

My Tarot students and friends know that I always want more information than may be contained in one card. With Tarot, I like to have at least five or six cards. My philosophy is "the more, the merrier." I reached in blindly and pulled one more card. The angels presented me with the word Spontaneity.

Many of us are at a point in our lives where we need to take a good look at how we live on a day-to-day basis. I tend to be practical as well as intuitive, so while I am blessed with the ability to provide insight for others, these cards also contain a personal message for me, too. Spontaneity reminds me of the improv classes I took at Players Workshop and Second City. One of my teachers, the late, great, Martin de Maat had a Zen-like attitude toward improvisational acting. He taught us, reminded us, and held our hands while we learned and played. Being present is one of the tidbits I walked away from his class. It helped me in my life and the work I do immeasurably. If we live in the moment and not in our heads, our actions will be organic. If we focus on others or the task at hand, the right words will come and our actions will be honest. Everything will happen spontaneously. Martin was a gift to his students and he shared his gifts from a very loving place.

Creativity? I love to tell people that being creative is not about art, music, drama, writing, etc. It is about imagination. It is about going beyond the limits of practicality. Better yet, it is about being open in order to let your mind take you where you need to go. Could this be what a form of meditation? I think so. With spontaneity and creativity, magic can happen.

Courage? At this point in time we all need to be courageous. It is about finding our center and connecting to it deeply. Bert Lahr portrayed the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz" magnificently. I will always remember how he found the strength and courage when it was needed. He found courage within himself. We need to do that too. I believe being courageous means following through and not being discouraged before we attain what it is we set out to accomplish.

By putting these cards together, today's message tells me that spontaneity is the key to allowing creativity to blossom into something wonderful. It is not about censoring your ideas. It is about letting them come through you spontaneously, and finding the courage to let that spark glow and burn brightly. Today's gift from the angels is profound. Live spontaneously and creatively with the courage to make your life what you want it to be. If you can do that, opportunities will present themselves and all you need to do is be present, get out of your head and make magic happen. Did the angels give you a message with these words too?

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the day when we remember the men and women in uniform who have died while serving our country—the United States. Both my father and his brother, Nathan aka Nick, were in the Army during World War II. Uncle Nick was stationed in Africa and Italy (and possibly a few other places). He found himself in the kitchen when someone discovered he could cook. He was no longer on the front lines. An angel smiled down upon him and brought him safely home when the war was over. Unfortunately, many of his friends were not as fortunate as he.

My father was an actor. When he learned that Maurice Evans was coming to Honolulu to bring Shakespeare to the troops, he desperately wanted to be transferred to his unit—the one that would become the Entertainment Section—Special Services. When he first arrived, along with many other actors, musicians, artists, craftsmen, directors, etc., someone gave him the following advice: “Actors may come and go, but a good supply sergeant will stay.” Needless to say, that’s what my dad became—Rapp, the Supply Sarge! He saw many entertainers come and go. Again, several men from his unit were not as fortunate as he.

Mr. Lussenhop, my seventh grade history teacher, showed us slides of Korea from his time in the Army during the Korean War. Most of the girls thought he was quite handsome with his flashing white smile, crew cut and dazzling blue eyes. I found this picture I took of him with Mrs. Siegel from our 7th grade field trip to Hannibal Missouri.


I did not fully understand why we were fighting in Korea until nearly six years later, when the movie M.A.S.H. burst onto the scene. During the Vietnam war, I remember sending books and playing cards to soldiers, but I truly had no idea what was going on over there until a few people I knew were sent there to fight and wrote letters home.

When I look at my high school website, I see the names of men and women who have died defending our country printed in gold. I feel blessed to have known some of them and their siblings. I still find the reality of a life cut short devastating. I know there is a greater plan here, but no one bothered to tell me what it is.

To paraphrase my late astrology teacher, Jan McLevitch, “It is a privilege to be born on the planet earth. We pick the hour of our birth for the lessons, skills, talents and personality that will serve us in our lifetime. We choose our parents for the start in life we need—the education. We also choose our exit—how and when.” Jan felt that our natal charts show everything about us. Personally, that is more information than most of us can/want to handle.

To all of the soldiers who have given their lives, so we can sleep peacefully in our beds at night, I salute you. I am grateful for you having done your job well, so that our country can stay free. May the angels watch over you and your loved ones forever.

Trust Issues and the Tarot

Trust is a major issue for most of us. What we trust (or believe), who we trust, and what information we are willing to entrust to someone can be a source of frustration, joy or pain. When someone betrays our trust, we experience inner turmoil. When we trust our intuition, we can always make the right decision.

We need to learn how our intuition works, and then we can learn how to trust it. Generally, experience aka 20/20 hindsight is our best teacher. We need to be gentle with ourselves and know that things take time. What I love about Tarot is that we can use it illustrate trust issues, too. There are countless cards that scream trust in varying degrees. I am going to focus on a few Minor Arcana cards—that I feel illustrate this well—the Swords: 2 of Swords, 3 of Swords, 7 of Swords, 8 of Swords and 10 of Swords. I chose these cards because they deal with trusting people and/or intuition.

The 2 of Swords is about trusting your intuition. Sometimes I see the 2 as the minor equivalent of the Priestess, but with a difference. The 2 shows that someone needs to trust his/her intuition and make a choice. Sometimes when a person is at a crossroads in life, the only way to create movement is to make a choice about direction. Dorothy had to choose a path when the “Yellow Brick Road” ended. With the help of the Scarecrow, she made a choice. That choice was an adventure that involved making friends from strangers and learning who to trust. Eventually she found her way home. No matter what choice someone makes, they will eventually end up on the right path and find their way home.

The 3 of Swords can be about stagnation, love triangles and betrayals. I often see it as a “brick wall” or a “dead end.” It is about accepting that things have changed or have not come to fruition. You can no longer have what you once had, or you cannot have what you want because it is not meant to be. If you prefer the betrayal interpretation, that’s fine with me. I seldom use it because I prefer to use the Tarot for empowerment and a brick wall works best for me.

The 7 of Swords aka the “Thief of Swords” can be about trust issues in general. It may indicate that someone has betrayed your trust or misrepresented themselves.

The 8 of Swords is about fear. Fear can often paralyze us. Sometimes we find it hard to move forward because we don’t know what the future may hold for us, and we are programmed to expect the worst. When fear overtakes us, we may have a problem trusting our intuition. I think the 8 is about using the knowledge we have and slowly trusting our intuition so we can move forward.

The 10 of Swords can literally represent “being stabbed in the back.” When I interpret this card, most of the time, I see it as the Minor Arcana equivalent of the Death card. It is about starting over--regeneration. It can also be about having learned our lessons and surrendering to a higher power. Surrendering allows us to move forward. Of course, it can also be about being betrayed by someone.

To sum things up, let your intuition be your guide and use the Tarot to guide you on your journey. Let it show you where you need to use your intuition and where you need to be careful when trusting others.