Physical and emotional pain are part of our human experience. We all deal with pain. Some of us experience it chronically. Sometimes past trauma leaves pain that is present every day.

Some of us are able to find relief and healing over time. Some aren’t able to be healed. Some can’t even find a way to try, or to hope for relief.

Pain, whether physical, emotional, or both, often causes secondary trauma. People who are in pain often behave badly. They say things they don’t mean. They act out of character in ways that harm themselves, and others.

Very often, pain is the root cause of abuse. No matter how compassionately we might feel toward an abuser’s pain history, or how well we may understand this root cause, we need to set boundaries to protect ourselves from their behavior.

We need to remember there is a difference between an excuse and a reason. An excuse holds the abuser without responsibility. A reason helps us, and the abuser, understand their process and, perhaps, to find healing.

Very often pain causes people to behave in unfortunate ways that stop short of abuse but are still unpleasant. Sometimes those we love will show us their pain in clumsy ways when they really just need a hug, a shoulder or an ear. When this happens, we need to see their pain and respond to it, rather than to judge their behavior.

Sometimes we behave badly because of the pain we are feeling. It’s important to be able to acknowledge our behavior without trying to excuse it. We must ask for forgiveness and understanding and show gratitude to those who are able to bring us comfort.

The ability to seek the comfort of others, and to find comfort for ourselves, is a skill that not everyone has. Self-comforting is a skill that can be hard to develop. Very often, poor self-comforting skills lead to addictions and other difficulties. This is another way that pain manifests in harmful behaviors.

Pain can be a teacher. Pain can force us to heal and to grow. When we are able to find ways to control our pain, through meditation, medication, or other methods, we take away pain’s ability to control us. When we can find joy in spite of pain, we discover our strength.

Pain provides us with an opportunity to find, develop, and employ our compassion, for others and for ourselves.

The StaarCorner

Our conference will officially begin with an opening ceremony on Friday evening, January 22. During the day of Friday, January 22, I will offer a Pre-conference Tarot Intensive. It’s called Operational Tarot. Over the course of our day together we will explore the nuts and bolts of giving a professional-quality tarot reading. Our topics will include the psychic and energetic aspects of tarot reading, card interpretations, and the techniques we use to give amazing readings.

This intensive is designed for anyone with a basic or advanced knowledge of tarot who wants to hone their skills, dive deeper, and deliver a reading that is truly informative and inspirational.

You’ll have an opportunity to sign up for this intensive as soon as registration becomes available on the StaarCon website.

Unravelling Pain and Behavior with Tarot

Sometimes we need to figure out why someone is behaving in a certain way. Sometimes we need to question our own behavior. In either case, we can go to the cards to get some insight and direction.

Here are some questions you might ask of the cards, or use to create a spread, to help understand the root cause of behavior, and find the pain that may be at the bottom of it.

What is the root cause of this behavior?

What can be done to encourage different behavior?

What is the conscious goal of the behavior?

What is the negative risk of this behavior?

What is revealed by this behavior?

What can be done to bring healing?

Tarot Readings for Personalities and Relationships

Join me in my Palm City office on February 19, from 7 to 9 pm, for an exciting tarot class.

How do tarot cards speak of people, their personalities and their relationships? How can we use tarot to better understand ourselves and each other?

In this class you will learn how to give helpful relationship readings and couples readings, and how to determine the nature and needs of an individual simply by understanding the cards that appear for them.

This special Valentine’s Day inspired tarot class is appropriate for readers of all levels of experience. Bring your tarot deck or buy or borrow one in class.

Class size is limited. Class fee is $37.50. Get your tickets now on Eventbrite!

The Week in Review

What’s one of the most difficult questions to work with in a professional tarot reading? Here’s a blogpost I wrote this week called, “Are They Cheating? Handling the Tarot Reader’s Dilemma”.

Were you able to join us for Global Tarot Circle this past week? If you missed it, you can watch the archive on my Facebook Business Page and my YouTube Channel. You can also catch my other livestreams, like Your Three-Card Weekly Reading and the Friday Weekly Wrap-up.

From Around the Web

Here’s a tarot spread to help you heal the emotions that cause pain.

It’s great to help our friends when they are in pain. Yet, it is important to have good boundaries, too! Here is an article about that.

I always like it when mainstream magazines publish articles about spirituality. Here’s one from The Atlantic about using meditation to help with chronic pain.

Cards for Your Consideration

Let’s consider the Nine of Wands from the Smith-Waite Tarot to help us contemplate pain and its effects.

In this image, we see a warrior who has fought, been wounded, and stands ready to fight again. Very often this card shows up in a reading to describe a defensive attitude. That defensive attitude is very often caused by past injury.

Sometimes this card counsels us to defend ourselves. Sometimes this card acknowledges our pain, and orders us to take time to heal. Sometimes this card reminds us that we are able to bear our pain for as long as we need to.

There is an attitude of patience in the Nine of Wands. One of the things that pain can teach us, if we let it, is to be patient.

The next time this card appears in a reading, consider whether pain and defensiveness may be significant in the situation you are addressing.

Upcoming Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 7
February 12, 2020