The Balance of Faith and Uncertainty

The Balance of Faith and Uncertainty

Nothing is certain, but we must have faith that all is well.

We all know the expression, “tomorrow is not promised”. We know that nothing is secure. Yet, we humans only seem to function well when we feel secure.

I think one of the fundamental secrets of life is to both acknowledge the uncertainty and temporal nature of life, and yet maintain faith that good things will happen, and that we will have the future we are working toward.

I believe in the power of positive thinking. Yet, I think some people confuse positivity with denial. Prayers and manifestation can sometimes work miracles and can often bring us the good fortune we desire. But not always.

My mother used to say that God answers all prayers, but sometimes the answer is no.

To be truly emotionally healthy we must accept that terrible things could happen, yet we must constantly work toward the best.

In all things we must trust that, whatever happens, we will have the ability to push through, bear what we must, and do what we have to do.

One of my favorite poems, Desiderata by Max Erhmann, includes these lines.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

These two lines exemplify the healthy balance between uncertainty and faith. We must be prepared for sudden misfortune, yet we must not dwell on the possibilities.

There are spiritual and religious schools of thought that suggest that goods things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people. There are very few philosophies more dangerous and untrue.

The truth is, anything can happen to anyone. We must find a way to make peace with uncertainty, and to be as positive and proactive as we possibly can be.

It is in that balance that we find true faith in ourselves, in the future, and in whatever force we believe drives the universe.

Divination with tarot and other tools can often offer us a sense of what is likely to happen. Even better, divination can give us clues on how to best create the circumstances we prefer. Yet, when things don’t go our way, divination can help us process, heal, and move forward.

Divination can be a great tool to help us function as secure people in an insecure world.

The StaarCorner

We have added two new presenters to our roster of talented individuals ready to share their knowledge with you at StaarCon 2021!

Kristine Gorman is an artist and tarot reader coming to us from California. Roxie Zwicker will be joining us from New England to teach a class on tarot magic.

Every week our list of talented professionals is growing. Soon it will be time to get your ticket for StaarCon 2021. We can’t wait to see you in Palm Beach Gardens in January, 2021.

When Tarot Predictions are Unfavorable

Not every tarot reading is predictive, and not every tarot reader foretells the future. Yet, many of us do use tarot and other methods of divination to gain a glimpse of what’s to come.

One reason people are sometimes hesitant to have a reading is they mistakenly believe that their reading will reveal that something terrible is about to happen.

Good tarot readers don’t tend to focus on predicting misfortune. Instead, we focus on healing from the past and working to manifest our desires for the future. A good tarot reading makes us aware of our options. That is, the things we can do to create the future we want.

Yet, once in a while it will happen that the cards will reveal a potential outcome that is different than what you would prefer. When that happens, there are several ways to handle it.

The first is to ask a question such as, “What can I do to create a better outcome?”

Sometimes, once forearmed with knowledge, we can find ways to make changes that create a better future.

If the prediction we saw shows up as unchangeable, we can then ask questions about how to mitigate, lessen or prepare.

We might also ask questions such as, “How can this serve me?”

There are two important things to remember. One is that the future is very rarely set. What we do today influences what happens tomorrow. The second is that tarot is not a doomsday device. We don’t use tarot to create fear and dread, we use it to create hope, goals and solutions. This is true even when the cards don’t come out exactly the way we would prefer.

The Week in Review

Did you see my webinar, Working with the Tarot Court, on YouTube? You can always watch it in archive!

This week I wrote a piece on using tarot to help ease the suffering of Mercury Retrograde. Read it on my 78 Magickal Tools blog.

Here is a short clip from Ciro Marchetti’s presentation at our Grand Opening Celebration in my Palm City office. It’s on my Facebook Business Page, where you can find some other live videos that I share every week.

From Around the Web

Did you know Beyonce featured tarot cards in a song? Here’s the video!

Here’s the story of Pamela Colman Smith, the artist of the world’s most popular tarot.

There is so much wisdom in ancient stories. Here are twelve interesting Greek myths.

Cards for Your Consideration

I think many readers would consider Major Arcana 10, the Wheel of Fortune, a card of both hopeful positivity as well as uncertainty.

The thing about the Wheel is that it is always turning. When you are up, you’re up. Then the Wheel turns, and you are once again at the bottom. But, hang on, because the Wheel will turn again. Change always comes, whether for better or worse.

When favorably aspected, the Wheel of Fortune can speak of luck, and of the Wheel turning in a positive direction. Yet, very often the Wheel presents in a way that says we just can’t be certain what will happen next.

There is a spiritual lesson here. We hope that the wind will be at our back and the Wheel will turn in our favor. Yet, we must accept that anything could happen.

Upcoming Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 9
February 26, 2020

The Difference Between Love and Relationship

In a conversation about unconditional love recently, a friend said an interesting thing. She said she didn’t really believe in unconditional love, because, in a relationship, there are always expectations. She wasn’t wrong, and she got me thinking about an important distinction that we don’t always remember to make. That is the distinction between love and relationship.

First, let’s clarify that there are many kinds of love, and many kinds of relationships. There is a stereotype that suggests that we tarot readers are constantly talking about romantic love. The truth is, at my table I spend as much time untangling the intricacies of parent-child relationships, friendships, and boss-employee relationships as I do romantic ones.

It’s also true that love is an energy that exists outside of relationships. In other words, we must be able to feel the energy of love within and around us, in the form of self-love and spiritual love, even when we are all alone.

Another truth is that not every relationship is based on love. Some relationships, like work relationships and even some family relationships, are based on necessity rather than affection.

Relationships do and must have expectations, communication, boundaries, respect and common goals. Not all relationships need love in order to prosper. Yet, the more love we have in our hearts, the more we prosper.

Unconditional love in childhood is critical to our healthy development. All our relationships are enhanced when we cultivate within us the high vibration of unconditional love. We can do that in a number of ways.

One effective way is with heart chakra meditation. When we breathe into the heart center, and open and clear the heart, we breathe in the energy of unconditional love in a way that is palpable, and that radiates through us and around us.

Another way is to consider our memories and think about times when we felt truly loved. When we capture that memory and revel in it, we bring love into our hearts.

 It’s sad to say that not every person has memories of feeling loved. If you can’t access such memories, it will be even more vital for you to do work such as heart chakra meditation.

You can also do a guided meditation where you visualize Higher Power as a large human, either male or female, who can hug you, or rock you like a baby. The peace and sense of love that can come from such a visualization is tremendous.

It’s important to work to cultivate self-love. So often the path to self-love begins simply with ceasing self-deprecation, self-loathing and self-criticism. Do you speak to yourself more harshly than you speak to those you care about? If so, you need to change the way you talk to yourself and think about yourself.

Another way to cultivate the energy of love is to practice radical non-judgment. Be discerning about your own choices but refrain from thinking judgmental statements toward yourself and others. You will notice a tremendous change in your own energy when you are able to shift your thinking in this way.

Unconditional love is real and vital. Unconditional love has no expectation other than to exist and be experienced. Relationships are real and vital, too. Relationships have conditions, expectations and specific needs. When we nurture love independent of relationships, we are able to experience all aspects of life, including relationships, in a more satisfying way.

We are getting so excited for our first-ever international tarot conference, StaarCon, to be held in Palm Beach Gardens January 22-24, 2021!

Registration will be open soon. In the meanwhile, we are pleased and grateful with the number of presenters who have already agreed to participate.

If you check the StaarCon website, you will see we added three new presenters this week, Anne Stern Walner, Brenda Elizabeth and Zuri Eberhart. Our goal is to give every person who attends StaarCon the opportunity to learn and grow, no matter their specific area of metaphysical interest nor their current level of expertise. I know that the addition of these three teachers brings us closer to achieving that goal.

Two-Card Spreads for Relationship Understanding

You can find many different spreads for relationships if you look online and in books. What I am presenting here is the very simplest form of relationship spread. That is, spreads that are only two cards – one card for each person in a two-person relationship.

You can use these spreads to quickly shed light and offer advice for any type of relationship.

The way to perform these is to think of the question, then think of one person, pull a card, and then think of the next person and pull a card. In other words, you might say, ‘What do we each need from each other right now?’ and then say, ‘This is me’ and pull a card, and, ‘This is Mary’ and pull a card.

If the person you are in relationship with also works with the cards this is an exercise you can do together. You can decide together on your question, and then each pull a card to represent yourselves in the relationship. The discussion this can engender is profound and healing.

When interpreting these cards pay attention to the characters in each card and how they might be interacting with each other. Are they looking away from each other, at each other or in the same direction? Are these cards that easily go together or are they in conflict?

Use whichever question(s) make the most sense in the situation. You can also make up questions of your own.

How are we communicating with each other right now?

What do we need from each other right now?

What can we each do to make our relationship better?

Who are we in this relationship?

What do we each need to understand about each other?

Three Special Events This Week

Tonight, Wednesday, February 19, at 7 pm is our class, Tarot Readings for Personalities and Relationships. Tickets are $37.50 and are still available online, or by calling 561-655-1160. The class will be held in my Palm City office.

On Saturday, February 22 at 10:30 am EST I will give a free live webinar on my YouTube channel called Working with the Tarot Court. Grab your cards and let’s work together to understand these versatile cards!

On Sunday, February 23 from 3 pm to 6 pm will be the Grand Opening Celebration for the new Palm City office. This celebration features a presentation with Ciro Marchetti and a psychic gallery with me.

It’s free to attend. As of now, there are no seats left for the event. If you would like to be on the wait list, please call or text me at 561-655-1160. If you have reserved a seat that you will not be using, please let me know!

If you have your reservation and are planning on attending, please bring a snack to share if you can. This promises to be a very exciting event!

The Week in Review

This week I shared a tarot exercise which can help you learn new ways of understanding your cards in a reading.

Each week I do at least three live broadcasts on my Facebook business page, Christiana Gaudet. I archive these on my YouTube channel. I also do a monthly hour-long webinar on each platform. On Facebook I do Global Tarot Circle, and on YouTube I do an informational tarot webinar. This month’s YouTube webinar will be held this Saturday morning!

From Around the Web

I was thrilled to get a mention on The Tarot Lady’s Hit List this month!

Here are some techniques to open the heart chakra.

Here’s what Psychology Today has to say about unconditional love.

Cards for Your Consideration

While many tarot cards speak of relationships, there is no one tarot card that speaks more clearly of unconditional love than the Ace of Cups.

In a reading, the Ace of Cups can indicate a new relationship or a new romance. Yet, this card also has a deep spiritual significance.

Archetypally, the Ace of Cups is both the Heart Chakra and the Holy Grail.

In this card we see all aspects of love. We see the spiritual nature of love as the energy that heals us, binds us together, and demonstrates something that is more powerful than ourselves.

The Ace of Cups can encourage us in the practice of heart healing and heart chakra meditation.

The Ace of Cups invites us to partake in developing an understanding and experience of unconditional love.

Upcoming Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 8
February 19, 2020

How Pain Behaves

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.

Image from Smith-Waite Tarot, copyright 2015 by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Used with permission.

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

The Process of Allowing

The Process of Allowing

When we were children, our parents, teachers and caregivers were the gatekeepers of what was allowed, and what was not.

As spiritual adults, the word ‘allow’ can take on a different meaning.

Rather than whether we are allowed to eat a certain thing, or go to a particular place, the process of allowing is an exercise of acceptance.

So often we judge ourselves harshly, rather than simply allowing ourselves to be human. Sometimes we set up stumbling blocks for ourselves, rather than allowing ourselves the possibility of success.

Very often we want to know if something will work out, such as a relationship or a job, long before enough time has passed to properly answer that question. Then, it is so helpful to simply allow the situation to unfold in its own time.

Sometimes allowing is about holding space for our grief, or our disappointment.

Sometimes allowing is about leaving behind ways of thinking that don’t serve us, and welcoming new perspectives.

In the age of toxic positivity culture, we can allow ourselves a bad mood once in a while.

When we allow ourselves space to be human, it becomes easier to be patient with others, and to accept their human failings as well. When a relationship seems unhealthy, it becomes easier to allow the opportunity to exit.

There are many religions that require people to believe without question things for which there are neither evidence nor reason. As spiritual people, we can allow ourselves the opportunity to question what might feel true for us. We can allow ourselves to have faith without certainty. It is a powerful thing to allow that we do not know anything for sure, yet we find comfort and guidance in the things we believe.

By allowing for our own uncertainty, we can allow those around us to think and behave differently than we do.

When we don’t understand someone, we can simply have boundaries around what is healthy for us, and what isn’t. Whatever behaviors cause us harm we can avoid. Everything else is allowable, even if it isn’t understandable.

When we allow ourselves to be ourselves, our experience of life becomes genuine, and full of potential.

The StaarCorner

As we get ready to open registration for StaarCon, we have added a few new presenters to our growing list.

As you may know, one of our goals for StaarCon is to offer opportunities to learn about many aspects of divination, as well as tarot. To that end, Toni Puhle, the Card Geek, will be traveling from Europe to lead a class on Kipper cards! I am also excited to announce that author and deck designer Jaymi Elford will be sharing techniques for using oracle cards in a tarot reading!

Florida’ s own Kim Danbert will be leading an exciting interactive workshop on the tarot Court cards.

Another goal we have is to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community. To that end, author, teach and reader Maria Luisa Salazar will be traveling from Lima, Peru to join us, and will be presenting in both English and Spanish.

You can keep up-to-date on our list of talented and well-known authors artists and card designers who will be sharing their knowledge and skill with us by visiting the StaarCon website regularly.

Tarot Creates Space

Very often tarot cards will appear in order to help us accept something, or to allow space for something to exist or heal. Similarly, cards will sometimes tell us what we cannot or should not allow in our lives.

In any reading, we need to be open to the idea that the cards can give us permission for something. The cards can also suggest that an action, a relationship, or a way of thinking does not serve us.

We can formalize this process by pulling cards in response to specific questions. It’s always a good idea to ask questions about what we should and should not allow in our lives.

The cards can also give us ideas about how we can shift our perspective in order to accept things that are difficult to accept, as well as to allow hope for our best possible outcomes.

Come Solve a Mystery with Us!

On February 6, at 7 pm, we will gather in the conference room in my Palm City office to solve a mystery! Join us for Valentine’s Day Death: A Murder Mystery Party!

We will have coffee, tea, hot chocolate and snacks for you to enjoy as we work together to figure out who killed the town’s playboy heartthrob, Noah Fection.

This original murder mystery is written by Miranda Lial. Expect plenty of laughs, twists and turns, as we step into our characters and enjoy this unique event together.

The Week in Review

Tarot is popular these days. Many people are studying tarot, many people are having readings, and some people are stepping up to begin their own tarot businesses.

This week I shared a blog post called So You Want to Be an Online Tarot Reader. Check it out if you think professional tarot might be in the cards for you!

You can catch my weekly live events on my Facebook business page, Christiana Gaudet. On Monday join me for Your Three-Card Weekly Reading, and on Friday for The Friday Weekly Wrap-up! Of course, if you miss me live you can watch both in archive on Facebook and YouTube.

Remember that tonight, Wednesday, February 5, is Global Tarot Circle on Facebook LIve at 7 pm EST!

From Around the Web

South Florida friends, please check out this amazing local arts festival, Women Crossing the Line. Join them for free workshops and a day of exciting performances!

Here is a great article about making space for, and allowing, your less-than-positive feelings.

On February 1 the seasonal Tarot Blog Hop happened. Start with the Master List, and read what seven tarotists had to say on the topic of Earned Success.

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!

Cards for Your Consideration

Let’s consider the Four of Swords as a card that tells us to create space for ourselves in order to allow a process, or to sit with a feeling or situation.

Typically, the Four of Swords can be about rest, retreat, recovery and meditation. I often see this card as having an empty quality. Sometimes this card appears to tell us that something is, or will be, absent from our lives.

When it comes to the process of allowing, absence is a quality we might be seeking.

The Four of Swords can speak to the space we create when we refrain from reacting to something. The Four of Swords can tell us to ‘give it a rest’ rather than ruminating or fretting about something.

In the Four of Swords, we see the pause that allows us time to heal. Sometimes that pause in enforced upon us. Sometimes we must choose it. Always, we must allow it.

Upcoming Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 6
February 5, 2020