May 2nd, 2013
Consulting The Oracle: Priestess Way
The Priestess symbolizes that aspect of yourself that intuitively knows the truth. You are a repository of knowledge accumulated over eons of time and experience. Like stone from which the Priestess’ face is carved, this knowledge is enduring. As a sensitive bio-computer, like the dolphin, you are capable of quickly sounding out the truth of a situation. You are intuitive by nature.
Use cards as mirrors
When you read the tarot, the card-symbols will tell you what you intuitively already know. The cards, like the reflecting pool in which the Priestess dwells, mirror yourself. The tarot clarifies what you have already perceived, but which you have not fully recognized in your conscious thinking mind.
Be like water
In reading the cards, be open and receptive, like water. You are like a dolphin with a sonar intelligence capable of swiftly detecting the most minute and distant vibrations. How with what the card-symbol tells you. To be water, you cannot be defensive, judgmental, up-tight. Insecurity, which comes from a lack of self-confidence in your perceptions, makes you like rock. It is difficult to perceive anything in this state of hardness.
Hear the truth
After a card is selected in a reading, sit passively and wait. Wait until you hear a voice that tells you what it means. Notice in the Priestess Card how the Dolphin is next to the Priestess’ ear. Listen for the message. Be patient. Wait until all the static has dissipated. Communicate that message once it has come through. Tell the truth as your inner voice tells you.
Forget the literal meaning of the cards
Symbols trigger intuition. Intuition is Queen and King in the tarot. If the cards selected are “terrible” for example, your personal intuition about the person or situation may be vastly different. In this case you may want to ignore the literal meaning of the cards and go with your own sense. The cards are only points of departure for intuition. They can be read in any way, even in a totally reverse way. Cards do not have to appear upside down to be read in a reverse manner.
Be truthful
Always read the cards as truthfully as possible. Respect for yourself as a person and as a reader of tarot comes from your truthfulness. Even if the cards are bleak and your intuition can only see darkness, in truth there is always a way out. Truthfully explore the path to light. That path may not be easy. Truthfully state that it will not be easy. Only in truth can you be of service to others and to yourself.
Be pure
The Priestess is as pure as snow and clean as the mountain spring. She is as detached and distant from worldly life as the mountain snows. Never use the reading for your own personal gain, in the sense of trying to gain personal power over another or to get something from another outside of the reading.
A reading is potentially a powerful tool for manipulation of others. It can corrupt your integrity. Like the Priestess, be detached and truthful. Give the reading and then let the person go. Never compromise your integrity to make a dollar or to gain approval.
May 2nd, 2013
From my “BE YOUR OWN ORACLE” Series of Articles
I came across a most interesting article about how doctors constantly mis-diagnose a person’s illness. Even though docs are supposed to gather evidence and make an empirical “scientific” evaluation, in truth, many of their assessments are intuitive, of course.
THIS APPLIES TO ALL READERS, COUNSELORS, THERAPISTS, HEALERS, INTUITIVES!
The article I am referring to was in Time Magazine March 26, 2007 and entitled “Where Doctors Go Wrong.” It simply illustrates how we are all on occasion intuitively misled by our projections. We are all human and thus far from perfect in our “reads” of situations.
WATCH OUT FOR THE FOLLOWING INTUITIVE BIASES AND PROJECTIONS:
“We See What We Saw Before”
Perhaps the single most important thing to be aware of regarding our intuition is to be very cognizant of our projections. Before we make any kind of judgments, evaluations and “reads” of a person, a decision, or a situation, be aware of your projections from your past!
The Time article states that “Doctors, like most of us, are often led astray by stereotypes that are based on someone’s appearance, emotional state or circumstances. Thus a homeless man’s disorientation might be quickly attributed to alcoholism when the real culprit is diabetes.” Wow. Indeed, we project from our own remembered history, which might be true, but often not.
“We See What We Just Saw”
I agree with the assertion that we tend to be influenced by our last experience or something that made a deep impression on us, all of which can distort our intuition and the truth. As the Time article says, “So, if it’s January, your doctor has just seen 14 patients with the flu and you show up with muscles aches and a fever, the doctor is more likely to say you have the flu, which is fine unless it’s really meningitis or reaction to a tetanus shot that you forgot to mention.” Wow again.
The moral of these lessons is to look at everything with a fresh eye, beginner’s mind, blank slate, no preconceptions, no prejudgments. Maintain an open mind, simply look and feel without thinking and see what comes up for you.
“We See What We Want to See”
Another form of projection that we are all familiar with is “seeing what we want to see.” Again the Time Magazine article offers that “Doctors who are particularly fond of a patient have been known to miss the diagnosis of a life-threatening cancer because they just didn’t want it to be true. But negative emotions can be just as blinding, sometimes stopping a doctor from going the extra mile.”
Emotional balance is the key. Go into a Priestess-like detached state of emotional neutrality and centeredness to discern the truth.
“We See How We Are”
Not only do we see what we want to see, but “we see according to how we are.” If we are not feeling well, or under stress, or fatigued, or cranky, our perceptions of the truth are skewed and distorted. When I do personal Readings for others, I seek a “professional” position of not letting my own personal situation seep into the Reading.
“We See Who We Are”
Another form of projection is to introduce our own values into readings of people and situations. “We see by who we are.” I, for example, am biased towards taking risks, taking action, making changes, perhaps making mistakes, but most of all deciding and doing. Knowing who you are and being mindful of that is the sine qua non for intuitives. Understanding this gives us some semblance of objectivity and clarity, though at some level everything we see is subjective.
Having said all this, what hope do we have for knowing the real truth? It’s just so important to realize that everyone and everything is interconnected and one. I know that anyone who gets a Reading from me is there to get me, to receive what I believe in. Synchronicity rules!
I am including an email from a client and professional Reader whose name is Denise. I just think it is so well and clearly stated about our subjectivity and connectedness.
“I used to think that I preferred to do cold readings because knowing less about someone would increase my objectivity. Now I understand that objectivity is not even possible in a reality in which everything is a mirror reflection of our inner psychological landscape. Like it or not, we have something fundamentally in common with anyone who gravitates towards us for a reading or otherwise. In the case of readings, the commonality is the issue(s) the client brings to the table. Their issues, whether we recognize it or not, are ours on some level.
If we are self aware and have a sense of what our own issues are developmentally, only then are we really in a position to know something about the other person and hopefully increase the clarity of both people. If we are not self-aware and still under the widely accepted false impression that the client is separate from us and has a problem that we don’t, then our ability to really empathize, which is critical to intuition, is compromised as is our capacity to really help.
So cold reading or context reading, if we don’t come away from an encounter with a deepened understanding of ourselves then we’ve missed the point entirely. It’s disturbing at first to realize that life is basically nothing but a prolonged look in a 360 degree mirror. If you can accept that and yourself without judgment, it is very, very powerful because the simple act of self-acceptance constitutes forgiveness, and forgiveness heals.
We are all connected to each other at the level of mind and when someone “gets” something, the people around them “get” it through osmosis. This subtle principle of connectivity constitutes the psychological basis of so-called ‘miraculous’ healing.”
So, it’s ok to be yourself, knowing that you are attracting what you need to see and what needs to be said, though I would not want to be a Doctor. We can all relax and yet keep an eye open for outrageous self-projections.
“Know Yourself” is the key to being your own oracle.
May 2nd, 2013
Intuition is the key to navigating your life and the tarot is an excellent tool for sharpening it. The Major Arcana Archetypes give us the instruction for how to be more discerning and trusting of this inner feeling.
Your own inner Priestess is the guiding force in your life. Whenever you want to know something, whether it’s reading a card, reading a person, or reading a situation, call upon your inner Priestess. Imagine her and ask her your question, and wait for an answer, trust it and act on it.
The tarot, through the Majors, tell you how to be an effective Priestess in life and with the cards. First, your general attitude is most important. Like the Empress, assume the feminine disposition of being open and receptive. Do not strive for answers; let them come to you. The Universe card tells you that anything under the sun is possible, for there is a universe of possibilities. As in Balance, give any idea a fair hearing; do not censor. The Tower counsels to not confine your perception to one set way of seeing.
Any perception will have validity. The lesson of the Universe is that the entire universe is interconnected. So, no idea is out of order. Synchronism guarantees appropriateness. The Lovers suggests that you are inextricably connected to others, automatically tuned in to them.
The Fool-Child, who possesses universal consciousness, indicates to you that no perception is too foolish. Like the risk-taking Fool and Fortune archetype, dare to be foolish, risk entertaining any idea. Like the Devil, dare to be irreverent, and like the Star, dare to be far-out.
Everyone is most acutely intuitive in their own style, time, place and midium. You, for instance, may be a Hermit type who need solitude in order to clearly receive intuitive messages. Priestess types need to be centered, meditative and quiet. Death suggests fasting or the releasing of mental-emotional burdens as a means of heightening receptivity. The Chariot flourishes in rhythmic movement. (My greatest insights come when I am driving easy long distances). Art, the creative play involving your hands enhances intuition and that’s why handling and shuffling the cards is so effective ; Devil’s Play, an altered state of consciousness through music and mind-expanding intoxicants works but unfortunately you can’t remember what you said or thought; the Sun, a sunny attitude of feeling up and bright fires up your receptive neurons. Any of these styles is effective. Find which works best for you.
Time-Space asserts that intuitive sensitivity is keenest at certain times. For some, this is when they are most energetic and alert. Sun types are most receptive during the day and Moon types at night.
The Hierophant, like the Priestess, is a “receiver.” He instructs you to find the spot where your reception is clear. As a Hierophant, your intuitive faculties may be most aware when you are in an enclosure ‚Äì a certain room, a cave, office. The Priestess type finds clarity by or in the water and in a ritual space. The Star person is most receptive on mountain tops and in open spaces.
Like the Magician, you are a channel. You have your own medium for discerning important intuitions. The Magician might say some ritual words or prayer to activate the reception process. Responses may come as swiftly as bolts of light for the Magician type. For the Hanged Man type, answers may come only with patience and perseverance. By relinquishing the ego-idea that you are solely responsible for your life like the Hanged Man, your intuitiveness increases.
If you are a Moon personality type, your dreams may carry the information you need. Like the Priestess, you can incubate dream message, so before falling asleep, ask that the answer to your question be revealed in your dreams.
The various senses often carry intuitive messages. Emperor types see the message, either through their inner vision or while witnessing an occurrence in the material daily world. Hierophants hear the word, as if spoken. Lovers, symbolizing the sense of smell, smell out the truth. Strength types taste the truth. Ask yourself what this or that smells or tastes like – fishy, sweet, rancid, spicy? The Hermit personality feels out the situation. What it feels like – hard, soft, fuzzy, heavy, prickly, smooth.
If you are a religious type, as the Hierophant can be, you may elect to turn to God for guidance. If physical, like Strength, ask your instincts or body sensations. If you are a mental type like the Libra Balance, think out the answers logically and ask your reason to tell you what makes sense. If an emotional type like the Empress, ask your heart for answers for your heart is your eye. Star types should consult their aesthetic sense as their best guide will turn out to be what is beautiful to them.
Ultimately, as a universal being, be open to any and all perceptions coming from anywhere, in any form, at any time, at an place. With Priestess inner stillness and emotional balance, you naturally sort out the most important messages that are not an ego-projection of what you want to see.
May 2nd, 2013
Tarot is popularly viewed as a set of cards that predict the future. The truth is that it’s impossible to futurize with any absolute certainty. In fact the future is uncertain – that’s the law of physics. And in fact, there is no objective future. The future is determined by your perception of it, which is the law of relativity. Also, once we have seen the future according our our subjective viewpoint, we have already begun to change it through our very awareness of it, which is another law of physics knows as the Heisenberg Principle. If you are using the cards to divine that some event will happen in such a way on such a date, you are only speculating what might possibly occur. Why such speculations may come true is that we want them to, and so we fulfill the prophecy by our own belief in them.
Keep in mind, if you pick a card to foresee the future, you are only looking at the “possible future.” It maybe be the “probable future” if it is in line with one’s habit patterns. If you know your habitual patterns, you can predict more accurately what might probably happen (this is the essence of the Time-Space Card). However, there is always the possibility for change at any one moment, hence the ever-present uncertainty.
To foresee the future accurately, go ahead and create the future you want to see for yourself. Let the cards suggest the possibilities. If you like the cards you select, use them to suggest action – doable actions – to make the cards and the future you desire come true. We call this “FORTUNE CREATION TAROT,” not Fortune Telling Tarot.
If you don’t like your cards, since you have previewed the future, you can preempt them by taking preventive action.
By proactively creating the future, you are taking responsibility for your life. This is the true essence of an oracle, a way of knowing yourself to empower yourself to become all you are meant to be and do.
Remember, the Deck is only a map. You have to travel the map by your actions. The cards themselves are not the answer, you are! Move from a voyeur of life to a voyager, from a passive observer of life to a proactive participant in the future, now. The future does belong to those who create it. See it and Be it ‚Äì the way of the Magician “manifester.”
May 2nd, 2013
People always ask, “When? When will it happen?” This is the most difficult aspect of a Reading. I often say, “When you do this and that (pick cards for this and that), there is the possibility that it could happen then.
I always use the caveat about time‚… “Yes, we can ask about timing but only for ‘entertainment purposes.’ ”
The cards do, however, give indications about timing, but it is always your intuitive call.
Numbers on the Cards are the basis for timing. For example, a number Seven Card could signify seven days, seven weeks, seven years, seven lifetimes. It’s your intuitive judgment.
Times are indicated by the subject matter of the Cards. A worldly work Card could indicate weekdays, nine to five. A pregnancy Card, nine months. A Moon Card, in the night or during full moon or no moon. A Change Card, sunrise or sunset. A Play Card, after work, after school, after hours.
Times are indicated by the season pictured in the Card (Two of Worlds Reflection is Winter time) or by the zodiac month of the Card (Hierophant is Taurus).
Child Cards indicate early times; and Sages late in the day, late in life, for they take time.
Earthy World Cards move slower and have longer time frames than Wands or Crystal Cards for fire and air move more quickly than earth and stone.
Check out “Timing” featured in WAY OF THE GREAT ORACLE book on page 40.
