Tarot by Christiana Weekly Newsletter 2/20/2013

Tarot by Christiana Newsletter February 20, 2013 Listen Our world seems to get noisier every day. There always seems to be something trying to grab our attention. After a while, it becomes hard to filter out what is important and what is not. No longer do we focus on developing our listening skills. Instead, we learn to block out all the noise so we can focus on the task at hand. We are well-served when we make a point of listening to what is important. We need to listen to our loved ones and really hear them. We need to listen to the sounds of nature; the birds, the wind in the trees, the ocean on the shore. We need to listen to our own creativity. We need to listen to intuition. We need to listen to the voice of Spirit. It is only from listening to the silence around us and within our own minds that we can hear these most important things. What Does the Truth Feel Like? The voice of anxiety screams, while the voice of intuition only whispers. We must quiet our mental chatter in order to hear our guidance and our intuition. That is one of the reasons meditation is so helpful. We call it listening to the heart, or to the gut, or to the voice of the angels. Whatever we call it, the fact is this. We are all able to receive psychic information and intuitive guidance. Often I ask my students this question. What does the truth feel like? When you hear truth, how does it resonate in your body? Some people feel it in their heart. Some people feel a tingling across their skin. If you can figure out what truth feels like for you, you will be able to discern the honest from the dishonest, and you will be able to know your own truth. You will be able to separate anxiety from intuition. When you hear something or think something that you know to be true, pay attention to how it feels in your body. That is what truth feels like to you. The next time you are trying to determine what is true and what is not, wait for that feeling to return. In quiet space release your anxiety and you will hear the small voice of big truth. What's up at the Psychic Café Last Sunday, February 17, everyone really enjoyed Kianga Jinaki in our Artist's Corner. Kianga was fun and inspirational as she shared her dolls, quilts and stories. I was also happy to feature String Band and some of my own stories from my youth. In our Tarot Talk section I presented some different tarot images and talked about a variety of tarot traditions. As a final homage to Valentine's Day we took a journey through the suit of Cups. If you missed the show or if you want to see it again you can find it in archive on the Tarot Topics news site. Coming up this Sunday, February 24, Marcy Currier will return to the Psychic Café. Marcy's enthusiasm, humor and spiritual wisdom are a delight to all. Marcy is designing a new tarot deck to be published by US Games. Her deck is called the Mystical Frog Tarot. She will stop by the Artist's Corner to show us some brand new artwork for the deck. We'll also talk about some controversial tarot topics, and I'll be ready to take your calls for your free psychic readings! Visit our Show Information Page for all the details! Tarot as a Listening Tool In a relationship between tarotists, tarot can help us communicate. We can cognitively choose cards to help us discuss our feelings. We can draw cards at random to give us insight into our relationship. Even if the person with whom we need to communicate is not a tarotist we can prepare ourselves for a productive conversation by pulling cards to answer questions such as: What do I really want to communicate? What do I really need to do to hear what my partner is saying? Tarot is inherently a tool that helps us communicate with our Higher Power and Higher Consciousness. We can make that connection even stronger by directly asking questions of Spirit and using tarot as the tool with which to receive the answer. When we are ready to hear what Spirit has to say we can address a particular loved one by saying something like, "Mom, what do you want me to know?"  We can call on a particular Saint, Archangel or Goddess in the same fashion. We can even ask more specific questions if we like. The technique is simple. Shuffle your cards and focus your mind. Think about the person in spirit or spiritual entity to whom you are addressing the question. Breathe, and ask your question. Pull a single card to receive your answer, or if you feel inclined pull a few. Interpret the cards as answers from the spirit with whom you are communicating. Listen in your heart for further messages from Spirit. You can ask your guides for guidance and you can ask your loved ones in spirit how they are doing and what they are up to. You can also use tarot to discover what is truly in your heart. Simply ask your Higher Self a question such as "Do I really want this new job?" or "Is it in my true best interest to continue this relationship?" and pull a card, or a few cards. Interpret these cards as a message from your Higher Self to your conscious mind. You can even use tarot to help you hear what your animal companions have to say. Simply focus on the particular four-legged friend and ask "What's going on with you?" and pull a card, or a few cards. First and foremost, tarot is a device of communication. There is no situation either spiritual or mundane where tarot cannot help you hear the information you need to hear. Your One-Card Weekly Reading Your one-card reading this week is the Five of Cups. Traditionally this card shows a person who is mourning that three cups have spilt while two cups remain standing, unnoticed. This card reflects loss and grief, but reminds us of something more important. So often we focus on our losses rather than our gains. We are pessimistic rather than optimistic. We need to focus on the two cups that are standing, rather than cry over the cups that are spilt. We need to acknowledge our sadness. But we cannot let our sadness blind us to the good things in life. The Week in Review On our Tarot Topics Community Blog Joanne Matthew imagines what would happen if the Major Arcana tarot characters had to choose the next Pope! Read The Search for a New Pope. Imagining how the character archetypes of tarot would react to situations and interact with one another is an important part of tarot study, and something Joanne does brilliantly. Also on the Community Blog Christiana discusses perceptions of tarot that don't make a distinction between the sacred symbols and the physical cards. Read Tarot is Cardboard. On Christiana's personal blog, Tarot Trends, Christiana discusses the occupational hazards of being a professional tarot reader. Read Occupational Hazards. On the Dark Forest Christiana shares an UrbanSpoon review of Cha Cha Japanese Café! Christiana has added a post to her blog "78 Magickal Tools" on PaganSquare. Read Better Homes and Gardens with Tarot. Upcoming Events Thursday, February 21, 7 pm EST Free Webinar Global Tarot Circle If you are interested in tarot this is the place for you! Join us for an informal tarot workshop and fellowship. Our topic for this month is Love and Tarot. Find out how the cards speak about love, and how to use tarot to read about relationships. For more information visit the event listing on the Tarot Circle website. Sunday, February 24 9 pm EST Christiana's Psychic Café We are excited to welcome back Marcy Currier to the Artist's Corner to see her ongoing progress on the Mystical Frog Tarot! ​The fanciful frogs in this deck-in-progress are already a huge hit in the tarot community. We will be privileged to be the first to see some new developments in the deck. For more information visit the Show Information page on Facebook. Sunday, March 3, 9 pm EST Christiana's Psychic Café In our Magick and Mayhem segment Aliandra Starre will be our guest. Aliandra practices Shamanic Astrology. She is also a tarot student, professional psychic and bellydancer! Find us on the Para Encounters Website. Sunday, March 10, 4 pm EST Free Webinar Magick with Symbols and Images For centuries, symbols and images have been used by many cultures in magick to create healing, prosperity and other positive results. Join us for an exploration of magickal symbols and images. You will learn to find magickal symbols and images around you, and use them to manifest wonderful things in your life. If you have tarot cards, runes or other symbolic tools, have them handy for this workshop. Some of the topics we will cover include tarot magick, bindrunes and creating your own magickal symbols. For log-in info visit the Event Listing on the Celebrate Spiritual Growth Website. Sunday March 10, 9 pm EST Christiana's Psychic Café Dax Carlisle, founder of the Tarot Guild and BTR Radio Host, will join us to discuss tarot in the 21st Century, building an international tarot organization, internet radio and the ups and downs of professional tarot. Join us on the Para Encounters Network. Tuesday, March 12, 7 pm EST Free Webinar The Four Elements and the Minor Arcana Please join us for a 75-minute-long webinar about the Four Elements (Earth, Air, Fire and Water) and the Minor Arcana of the Tarot. This class will cover the powers and properties of the four elements, and how they relate to the four suits in tarot. You will learn ways of interpreting the pip cards and the court cards based on their elemental association. You will learn ways of designing and performing tarot spreads based on the four elements. This class is appropriate for beginners, and readers of all levels. For log-in information please find the class information on the Continuing Education website. Tarot by Christiana Gaudet Toll Free: 866-99TAROT (866-998-2768) Phone or Text: 561-655-1160 Website: http://tarotbychristiana.com