02 August 2007

You'd think I'd learn by now.

One of the reasons that I like the Harry Potter books is, like all great story and myth, it shows some real truths about life and human nature.

One of those truths is that you can get burned by wanting to help people. Have a sincere concern about what is going on and a genuine desire to make it better will get a dark wizard after you.

Not literally, of course, but it is a good way to run up against the dark side of human nature sometimes.

For example:

I've done free volunteer psychic tarot readings on a website associated with about.com. That is where I learned (through the kind feedback and ratings of the people using the site) that yeah...this IS real, and yeah, I AM pretty good at it - good enough that I can do this professionally, and yeah...all the stuff I've been sensitive to all these years really wasn't just my imagination.

So I continue to volunteer there when I can...although time is limited these days...as way of showing gratitude for what I learned. "Paying it forward", if you will. I really need to do the paying work, and concentrate on my school work...

but along comes this e-mail through my website, with lots of flattery about how I seem to be genuine, and give sincere readings, but it is next to impossible to get through to me, how upset and difficult times are for her now, if I didn't want to do the reading outside of the volunteer site for free she'd totally understand...and so on.

I had a few minutes, so I agreed to do a short one card reading for her, AND I asked her to PLEASE review my philosophy about Tarot readings on my profile or website before submitting her question.

And wadda ya know...next thing to land in my inbox is a request for me to read her ex-boyfriends mind and predict when they would be getting back together.

So I do the reading as I promised, telling her in the first paragraph how my readings are about guidance and not predictions...

even thought the reading isn't what you KNOW she WANTS to hear...I put it as gently as possible...basically that she needed to learn some more important life lessons before there could be movement forward with a serious romance...

What do I get for giving her a FREE reading at HER request? She writes back in two seperate e-mails bitching me out because she didn't like what the reading said...that she didn't want ADVICE.

ARRRRARRRRRGHGGGHGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

No more. No more freebies outside of that one site.

You get what you give. You reap what you sow. What you give to the universe comes back to you threefold.

So what can I learn from this...what seeds have been given to me to plant here?

Obviously, it isn't about revenge, or being angry at this person. They have some serious maturity issues, and didn't like being told that. It is a tough lesson to learn...we all know that. But maybe this reading will lay the groundwork for later learning, even if she isn't at a place where she can hear it now.

That's old news..

I think the real lesson for me here, is that it is time to sow some protection. It is time to mindfully create a sacred space for my readings...even if it is just virtual, just a thought-form.

Boundries are important. In the "real" world, we all need boundries...the rules of playground that let us all learn, all know what is allowed and not...rules of play that keeps us safe and gives us 4 minute majors when we need it.

So it is for psychic tarot work. If the reading is to be genuine, and is to be respectful of its spiritual sources...then there has to be some sort of 'ground rules' to protect that reading process. For me, that boundry is a refusal to make predictions. I believe that Tarot and all Psychic work is about guidance. Another word for that is advice...in both cases, it is up to you to take it or leave it. It is about looking at our problems and upset emotions from a new direction, to see them in a different perspective that lets us learn and grow creatively.

That belief of course stems from the even more basic notion that our time on Earth is a time of learning.

Once in college. while talking about the early books by Richard Bach...a good friend of mine put it simply...

And ever since, this has been my life mantra, my epiphany...

And for that, I'm ever grateful Jeff....

He simply summed it up..."we are put here to learn how to love"

It doesn't matter what form that learning takes...whether it is tarot or kabbalah or christianity or islam or the school of hard knocks...

Learning to love, learning to live...

THAT is what it is all about....

NOT some hokey pokey nonsense about reading ex-boyfriend's minds to see if they really are thinking about you or predicting when the next great romance will come along or guessing tomorrows lottery numbers...

So to create a sacred space, to protect those who really want this kind of learning, to work together with THOSE fellow travelers...

No more freebies. No more readings for people asking for predictions. No my syncophantal attemps to win the hearts (and business) of those wanting this kind of reading. There are thousands of other psychics. The world doesn't need me to work that way. You want that kind of reading, take your fear and anger elsewhere. This is a place of fun and love and learning.

When I say that, I see my own fear...one of not earning, not helping to provide for my family that I love so much.

There is another lesson for ya...not only does this experience teach sowing the seeds of protection for love, creating a place for learning love...

This teaches the seeds of trust. Trust that if I am true to my purpose, the energy exchange will come. If I am lead to do this kind of work by the higher, wiser, kinder energies of the universe...then I must trust that essentials will come, and needs will be met in abundance. By giving love, trust, and protection to what I do, it will be returned to me, perhaps tenfold.

There you have it. The grand rant for the day. If this was to be summed up in a Tarot card, it would be the Page of Wands...the card of "reciprocity"...you get what you give, you reap what you sow, what you give to the universe is returned to you threefold.

May we all sow seeds of love and trust. And so be it.

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