Today's Tarot - Ace of Swords

Swords are often associated with pirates & knights & all sorts of swash-buckling heros. The Ace of Swords is associated with spiritual awakening. It takes real courage to walk a spiritual path that is genuine, honest and authentic, especially if it is different from friends & family. More so if it is different from the path you have walked before. Be your own swash-buckling hero. Dare to awaken.

www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

www.rondasnow.com

Today's Tarot - Ace of Swords

Swords are often associated with pirates & knights & all sorts of swash-buckling heros. The Ace of Swords is associated with spiritual awakening. It takes real courage to walk a spiritual path that is genuine, honest and authentic, especially if it is different from friends & family. More so if it is different from the path you have walked before. Be your own swash-buckling hero. Dare to awaken.

www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

www.rondasnow.com

Today's Tarot - Ace of Swords

Socrates is credited with saying "The unexamined life is not worth living". I'm guessing it was sometime shortly before he said "I drank what?"

The Ace of Swords hints at this same idea, only in a less morbid way.

What is so great about the "examined" life that Socrates would rather order a vente hemlock-latte than leave well enough alone?

What is the down side of not thinking about life? Isn't ignorance supposed to be bliss?

In a way it is. But how many people in modern America can live a life of being "in the here-and-now", being content with things exactly as they are. Very few, is my guess. It just isn't in our can-do, inventive nature.

On the other hand, there is such a thing as 'knowing just enough to be dangerous'. The risk lies in the shallow waters, in a vapid, pale, thoughtless, existence somewhere in-between "here-and-now" and personal growth. Today's card cautions us against wandering through life with eyes wide shut.

Examining life, trying to be a better person, and looking for the kind of spiritual awakening that the Ace of Swords symbolizes is a gift to yourself and everyone around you. You get a deeper, more colorful, more meaningful life. Everyone around you benefits from your example and your general trail-blazing. You don't have to be all-knowing, super-wise, special or amazing, like a guru on a mountain somewhere. Like the TV ad for a mentoring program says...you just have to BE there. Just walk your talk, find what is meaningful to you. It doesn't matter so much what truth you find. What matters is that you look for it in the first place. Taking the journey of awakening raises the energy around you and makes the world a better place.

Ironically, once a person decides to to in the direction indicated by the Ace of Swords...once they allow the awakening...often they end up right back at that "here and now" sort of contentment. The Ace of Swords may send you in a circle, but it is a journey well worth taking.

Wishing you a wide awake, colorful, and content day.

www.rondasnow.com

www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

Never had a reading and wondering what to expect?

One of the most common questions (concerns, really) that I hear is from people who are looking for their first reading, but don't know what to expect.

The hardest part is putting into words. Most often the first question is "how accurate are you?" That's tough to answer when you believe in choices more than in predictions. It has cost me more readings than I can remember, but I always tell people right up front about my philosophy about advice and choices so they don't get all mad halfway through a reading because I can't predict exactly what their ex-lover is thinking or will do six months from now. But don't worry, I'm not going down that road again. The post about Alice, Twilight choices and more are still in the archives.

The truth is, there is no good representations about psychic readings out there in the general public. Seems like everyone expects the old tv commercials about the psychic friends network or miss cleo or something. Not all psychics work like that. We all have our own unique styles, our own specialties. Mine is email. I can do my best readings working from my computer keyboard. My teacher does voice recordings and written astrology reports.

Real-time contact IS nice, because it lets the person getting the reading ask questions, clarify things, give immediate feedback to help keep things on track...BUT the down side to that is the way it opens up the session to educated guessing, leading questions from the psychic, reading non-verbal cues and all sorts of things that can lead away from real intuitive work and make the reading more vulnerable to manipulation, be unintentional, or even intentional fraud.

So if you are wondering what to expect from your first ever reading, my best advice is to talk to the psychic, be it in person, on the phone or an e-mail exchange. You'll quickly get a sense of whether the psychic is a good personality match for you.

Most of us psychics want you to be comfortable...makes our job a lot easier, believe me. Nothing blurs intuition like fear and anger (it leads to the dark side, Luke ;)

There is a bit of buyer beware, certainly, but also there are many psychic readers who choose to do this kind of work out of a sincere desire to help people and to serve the good things they believe in. When you think of it that way, they are no different than any other clergy...with the same variety and human vulnerabilities. But I approach psychic work from this foundation. I'm not christian, but I do want to help and I do serve what I believe in. I follow the ethics of Reiki practice: honesty and respect...respect shown through privacy, and never doing readings on someone who does not give me permission to do so (that means I won't read about what other people think, feel, may possibly do, unless I have actual physical permission from them or a VERY very clear sense of permission on a spiritual/ethearic level.)

That's the philosophical part. On the physical level, my readings work this way:

We talk a little about what kind of reading you want...the number of cards, how long it will take, the cost...get all the business stuff done up front, clear as a bell and out of the way. The process is the same whether we use Tarot cards or playing cards (cartomancy)

Next we talk about your questions, concerns what you hope to learn from the reading. Then we set that aside to listen to what the reading has to say...

The cards are shuffled and put face up on the table. Even in e-mail readings, I shuffle the cards after reading your question, the shuffling ensures that you get a unique reading, just for you.

We go over the general patterns in the cards.

Then we go through each card, one by one, and how it relates to it's position in the spread..."past lessons", "advice" or what have you.

Finally we summarize the cards and move on to the 'cold reading' portion. In that part, I tell you any impressions that come through independent of the cards. That part might have to do with the question or the cards...or it may not. This gives the important ideas another chance to get through, no matter what our hopes and expectations are.

Then you ask questions in a reply e-mail, or, if we are working 'live', then you can ask questions at any point. I don't mind questions...it isn't a problem to get off on a tangent. I think those spontaneous tangents are most likely the whole point of the reading...if the direct route, logic, or looking at the problem directly was the best thing to do, we wouldn't need psychic readings, would we? The whole point of intuitive work is to look indirectly, to follow our, well, intuition.

And that's it! Easy. No drama. No dire predictions of doom. At most there is a heads up of a big choice, or a caution of things to take steps to avoid. Forewarned is forearmed, not a threat or a demand for you to get more readings.

In fact, it is totally up to you when and IF you ever get another reading, with me or anyone else.

Wishing you a day of comfort and confidence in those you work with...especially psychics.

Baihu

www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

The Moon - daily meditation

I think it is interesting to draw this card the morning after the peak of the Persied meteor shower. Not that a hauled myself out of bed to go watch it...

One traditional meaning for the card is "spiritual journey". Today I also want to connect it a bit with the Native American idea of the "vision quest".

I think too, there is a message of nature, connection with nature and our spiritual journey. Also a reminder of the cyclical, always-changing nature of life and spirit. We can't spend every day in a state of blissed-out spirituality. It doesn't seem right to go through life without those moments, or at least thinking or feeling those esoteric things.

What in nature inspires you today? What cycles and changes do you need to acknowledge as natural and normal?

The moon is small but growing now - perhaps something new but growing is coming along for you.

Wishing you the highest and best as the moon unfolds.

www.modernoracletarot.com

Ace of Swords

Awake and begin: life and opportunity may not wait as long as you think...or hope...it will

Baihu

www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

THE STAR

THE STAR -

If you could hitch your life to a star, which would it be? Beliefs are your connection to the universe, your star-hitch so to speak. Think of your spiritual beliefs. Which of them pull you to toward compassion and happiness? Do any pull you to fear, anger or judgment? Which beliefs help you now, and which are outdated? Should there be a change at all? What star-connections and beliefs should be strengthened and which should be severed, do you think?

Ace of Swords psychic tarot daily meditation

Ace of Swords:

No one can become enlightened for you. Spiritual awakening is a solitary experience that requires courage. Doors may open and close, but only you can walk through them or walk on to the next.