reading tarot

New Moon in Gemini – May 2020

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New Moon in Gemini May 2020

I have been putting these in my physical tarot journal, but after a few years of doing my tarot journal a certain way, I’m starting to feel it’s time to change things up.   As I’ve been using this blog to share my COTD (card of the day) pulls as well as my Self Care Saturday spreads, I thought maybe I would begin to transfer over to doing some of my other personal readings on here as well.    I still plan on keeping a physical tarot journal, I’m just starting to re-evaluate what I want to put the extra work into putting in it… vs placing here on this blog instead.

So… yesterday was the new moon, which is a time of new beginnings and looking forward with renewed energy.  The new moon’s placement in the sky puts the moon in the sun sign of Gemini for this new moon, which imbibes the new moon’s meaning and energies with that of the Gemini astrological sign.

This is the reading I did for the new moon yesterday. You will noticed that I have slightly rephrased a question or two in the spread.  This is to personalize the question to be clearer for my life or my personal understanding.

1. Where do I need to communicate more clearly?

This card is representative of my relationship with Gideon. I am his satellite… and he is mine. We are in a constant exchange of one trailing after the other, drawn by their gravity to constantly loop around and around… a constant companion. The Satellite card in this position is calling me out on the unnecessary silences that come when I am feeling vulnerable or out of sorts.

2. What truth needs to be recognized?

The appearance of the Pavo card in this position is also a nod to Gideon. It is about his watchful support and the depths of his protectiveness over me, the dedication he puts into my care and welfare.

Gideon… I hope that you know that I do recognize this and it is a part of you that I greatly cherish every day.  Over the past twelve years you have helped me to develop into the man that I am today, and your guidance and watchful protection has always been there for me to help me in feeling safe and secure as I move forward from each day to the next.

3. What drama do I need to step away from?

This has not manifested yet, but the Comet card indicates you will recognize the drama when it eventually comes into being through the synchronicity that surrounds it.   Pay attention to your what is going on around you in order to catch these moments of synchronicity and keep yourself from falling into drama that would be better avoided.

4. Where do I need to focus instead?

My mother.  Interesting for this to come up in relation to where to direct my focus instead of upon drama, as my mother is often right at the head of such dramas. Perhaps that is the point?

With the appearance of Aquila, the cards indicate my mother is the direction I need to look in.  Intuitively off of the imagery I see a need to look beneath the veil to find a truth.  This has to do to paying attention not to what she does or says, but to her underlying welfare and well-being.

This feels like a warning concerning drama that my mother will create in order to deflect my attention away from an underlying issue.

5. How can I put my inspiration into action?

Allow yourself room to feel safe and secure (Cirinus + Crux) even in the middle of moments when you need to lean into adaptation and adjustment (Chameleon).  Do what you can to connect with the earth (Cirinus + Crux), even when there is a possibility of adversity (Chameleon) and the responsibilities that you juggle feel like they are getting in the way (Sextans + Octans).

Note that there are tools for navigation here in both of the Earth cards.  The compass and the Sextans cards bracket the adaptability and adjustment of the Chameleon.  Ensure that you are remaining grounded and your plans are well thought out… do not just “wing it”.

DECK USED:  COSMOS TAROT AND ORACLE

What Kind of Reader Am I? #THEREADERIAM (non)VR to James Feeney

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So although this tag originally comes from James Feeney on YouTube, it was actually first brought to my attention by Casper the BoyDiviner.

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What is the primary system of divination you use (as specific as possible)?

Recently, I’ve been sticking mostly to tarot cards, and the occasional image-only cards or oracle cards, unless I have a client making a request for something else specifically.

Who do you read for?

Paying clients.  Myself.  Friends and loved ones. Random occasional strangers when I’m feeling the urge to offer a free reading here and there.

What types of readings do you normally do? (ie: topics, spreads, time, medium)

I specialize in intuitive reading that incorporates an element of predictive reading.  I do well with the present and the future, but I do not do past readings whether that be past lives or someone’s personal past.  I also rarely do predictive readings that span more than three months ahead.

I’m good with a variety of topics with the exception of mediumship, which I am not prepared to offer. I usually let my moral compass guide me on whether or not a question or topic is okay to do… and I avoid those topics that could put me in legal jeopardy.

I prefer free-form readings over spreads most of the time, but do spreads on request or when reading for myself as reading for myself requires a bit more structure sometimes.

What is your reading style? (ie: analytic, intuitive, spiritual/ predictive or fortune)

I think I pretty much covered this above when I mentioned the types of readings I do.  My reading style is intuitive interpretation of the imagery, which I then augment by including traditional meanings of the cards as a secondary contribution to the reading.

The exception to this is excessively pip decks, lenormand, and playing cards.  With these three systems it is the opposite.  Because these styles of decks are not imagery rich, they don’t provide enough input for me to allow my intuition free reign off of the imagery.  In these cases, I lean heavily on numerology and/or foundational meanings within those systems, and then incorporate a more “directional based” intuition into that foundational knowledge.

Although my readings are not secular, that is between me and my concept of divinity (and possibly also my spirit guides), and therefore rarely reflects in my delivery to others.

What types of readings do you conduct? (ie: evaluative, coaching, empowering, reflective)

All of the above.  It really just depends on what the client needs.  In the case of reading for myself, it is usually either evaluative or guidance towards self care, life balance, and a healthy well-being.

ReadingWhat is your ideal reading atmosphere?

Outside. A picnic table.  Bare feet to bare earth with weather warm enough to make that comfortable but not so hot as to feel uncomfortable. Overcast or bit of shade and a slight breeze but not windy.  Not raining. Lots of grass and trees.

Reversals? Jumpers? Shuffling style?

Reversals – Occasionally.  Only when it really calls to my intuition that the card was meant to land that way and looking at it upright just feels… wrong.  Otherwise I use my intuition to tell me what message the cards want to convey, no matter the orientation of the card on the table or if that message is a reversal meaning or an upright one.

Shuffling Style –  When I first add a deck into my collection (or after I have reorganized it back into its suits for some reason) I will then riffle shuffle a deck at least 7 or 8 times before using it.   This is because mathematically speaking, you need to riffle shuffle a deck of 52 cards at least 7 times to effectively randomize the deck.

After that, though?   When I do a reading, because the cards are already randomized I will usually riffle shuffle about three times before handing the cards to my client for them to shuffle them a few times.

Jumpers – I use jumpers to pull my cards.   So after I have done the riffle shuffling, I will then shift to a seesawing overhand and, with my question in mind, wait for a card (or two) to fall out, then repeat for the next question, and the next, etc.  So essentially, all of my card pulls are jumpers.  If I receive more than two cards at a time, I will put them back in the deck and ask for a more succinct answer.

What is your delivery tone? (ie: constructive, positive, reflective, action-oriented)

All of the above, but not at the same time?  That is to say that deep down in my psyche, I’m essentially a “fixer”.  Meaning, essentially, that I don’t want to know things just to know things. I want to know things so that I can move forward, improve, or somehow adjust and/or fix something.  I have no problem delivering the hard answers or even the harsh answers, but I do it with a little bit… more.

So even though the question might be “how am I physically at this time”, when I’m asking the question? I’m really looking for more than just a status update… so when the cards answer me, they are going to give me more than just a status update. They’re also going to provide me with a path to improvement/betterment.

This is the same whether I’m reading for myself or someone else.

What are some of your personal reading quirks? (ie: correspondences you tend to draw on, habits you have, little details that you alone use and have)

I’m not exactly sure how to answer this, because in my observation everyone reads the cards differently.  Especially when you start delving into those that read the cards intuitively.   Just as there are many different ways for intuition to speak to someone, there are even more ways for us to take and utilize that inner voice in our tarot readings.

I think I’ve outlined a few of the oddities above.  Possibly the most notable being my method for pulling cards. I also think that my need to teach others is somewhat unique.  To be honest I’ve been doing this so long that it’s hard for me to tell anymore what’s the “status quo” norm of the masses, and what’s unique to me and my personal style.

#IAmAFortuneTeller (non) VR to Mary-Grace Fahrun

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Okay, so the Pagan Perspective is definitely on a holiday break.  So, I decided to do one of my (non)VRs today in place of a response to their regular videos.

One of my favorite content creators, Mary-Grace Fahrun, did a video on YouTube at the end of November about how she uses tarot and about the stigma behind the use of cartomancy for predictive readings. She included a tag for responses, and I very much enjoyed her video and wanted to do a response.

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Like Mary-Grace, I grew up with cartomancy. In my case it was Lenormand cards, then playing cards, and then tarot. In my experience, Lenormand in particular is all about handing you a roadmap of potholes along your path.

I don’t know where the judgement against predictive readings stemmed from, or why it is so prevalent among modern day readers, but it is very prevalent and highly frowned upon by a large majority of card readers out there.

Somewhere in my teens was when I ran into this issue.  I was told that 3rd party readings and predictive readings are ethically wrong, and for a while I fought against using the cards in that way… but honestly? I gave up on that rather quickly.

Interestingly, I am not as strong at reading the past as I am at reading the present and future.

Intuition is intuition, and that information is going to come through whether I want it to or not. So I had a good look at my own moral compass and values and decided that for me? Both 3rd party and predictive aspects are a part of it, or I don’t read cards… because it just comes naturally. And I sure as hell am not hanging up my decks!!

I honestly do not understand why it is considered taboo or why people look down their noses at readers that do fortune telling (predictive readings, telling the future, etc).  I’ve had people say it’s about clients seeing the predictions as written in stone, or taking away choice, etc.  But the fact is?   That is in the presentation, NOT in the predictive aspect.

Doing predictive readings requires the responsibility and sensitivity to make sure those you read for are aware of the fluidity of the future, and how even just having the reading can have the possibility of changing the results, because knowledge is power.  It requires empowering people, so that they can build the future that they want, and be prepared for what is coming.

Any tarot reader, no matter the type of readings they do, has the ability to take away people’s choices and diminish their power.  Not just during predictive readings.  You are tapping into their needs and wants, desires, fears, and the depths of their psyche.  And that requires sensitivity and respect and a sense of responsibility.

So yes… I am a fortuneteller.  I am not ashamed of that.  It’s how my intuition works and fighting against my intuition or ignoring my intuition’s voice is just… not the path for me.