"A-Ha Moments"

In the course of a typical tarot reading, clients have "A-ha" moments where their faces lights up with the realization that we hit it right on the head. Their expression is like the TV detective's face when he's found the last clue and is ready to solve the mystery. "I get it!"

It is a feeling of connection...as though something that has been puzzling you now makes perfect sense.

"A-ha" moments also happen in my Intuition Through Tarot classes when students have learned the technical information about the cards -- the suits, numerology, Major Arcana, etc. -- and yet they step beyond their book knowledge and tune in to their intuitive voices. That's when great readings begin to happen!

Today I read a great quote, "Read your cards and trust yourself." It reminded me that the tarot cards are a great tool to tap in and discover intuitive messages. The symbolism of the pictures, the sound of the shuffling deck, the meanings that have been passed down through the ages, all become catalysts to what's really important and that is to TRUST YOUR INTUITION.

About 95% of all tarot card readings end with the client saying, "I knew it..." and if I could finish their sentence, it would be, "but I didn't trust my intuition."

If I had the opportunity to teach a student just one thing, it would be to tune in and listen to the voice in your soul that guides you forward and gives you all of the answers you need...any time you take the time to ask, listen AND trust.

Take a moment to tune in and listen. What's there for you right now?

Intuitive Tuesday -- Three of Pentacles

Every Tuesday, I'll select one tarot card and give you my interpretation of it. See how it applies to your life. What messages are here for you? Please add comments to enhance the messages for other people in the Wild Women Community and to share how this applies to you.

Each week, I'll choose one reader's comment and pull an additional card for more clarity...so check back to see what cards come up.

The Three of Pentacles is about applying your gifts, talents and creativity to projects and to work that expresses who you are and what's important to you. Your creative success flows when you do something that you love. Do you love what you do and are you able to be creative in your work?

If you've been bored by the same old same old at work, now is the time to add more of YOU into what you do. Is there something about yourself that you've been holding back?

The Three of Pentacles energy invites you to be creative and tap into your natural talents. Let the real you come through. Not only will this energy re-ignite your interest in work, but it will also help you to do a better job, be recognized and succeed.

The Three of Pentacles may also indicate new employment, the ability to earn money, learning, applying your talents, job satisfaction and advancement. This may be a time to ask, "Would I feel more fulfilled at work if I were doing something else?" But don't jump ship too quickly! It might seem like finding new employment is the answer, but perhaps what you really need is a new approach to the job you already have.

Use the Three of Pentacles energy to help you enrich the job you have or seek something more suited to you. Remember -- you CAN love what you do AND get paid to do it.

Should you stay or should you go? Only you can truly answer that question.

Perfect Moment Monday -- World Tarot Day

I never knew there was a "World Tarot Day," but there is...and it's today! What a great topic for Perfect Moment Monday!

As stated on the http://www.worldtarotday.org/Web site, the purpose of this day is:

To promote Tarot use as a tool for self-examination, spirituality, and other self-aide methods of guidance. And to have at least one day to celebrate, share, and stimulate our love of the Tarot tool with each other, and to think about what we can 'give to' instead of what we can 'take from', the Tarot Community.

I have been reading tarot cards for almost ten years. When I first had my cards read, I had mixed emotions because I somehow felt it was not in line with my Christian upbringing. I didn't know that much about tarot cards and worried that they may be dark, somehow.

What I learned is that ignorance can be deceiving. What I didn't know about using tarot cards, I was making up. Once I had my cards read, I realized that it wasn't dark, evil or un-Christian. Having my cards read was a way to help me tap into what I already knew, ground myself and find my own answers. It wasn't fortune telling, but more a way to tap into an emotional slice of what was happening in my life.

Since then I have learned more about tarot cards and know that they are simply a tool to help people tap into their intuition and gain insight.

The important thing for me to remember is that it's the intention behind how the tool is used that is most important.

So here's to World Tarot Day! May you find a way to tap into your intuitive voice and find peace.

Adoption Blessing

This week my husband is adopted my three sons (ages 13 and twin 12 year olds). Last year the boys' father passed away unexpectedly and the past eight months has been a time of grieving, growing, loving and learning.

I have selected tarot cards and created a layout to not only tell the story of the adoptions, but also calls on the Divine to bless these adoptions and our family.

Here's the interpretation of this tarot blessing:

When I read tarot cards, the left is the past; center is the present and the right is the future.

Strength (in the past position) -- Over the past eight months, we have been going through a time of healing and growing.

The Sun (covering our family) -- The Sun is a card of opportunity, success, fulfillment, happiness, prosperity, marriage and children.

King of Cups, Queen of Cups, Page of Cups, Page of Pentacles and Page of Wands (represents our family) -- each card represents one of the people in our family. The King and Queen of Cups are the nurturing, loving parents. Each of the pages represent one of the boys.

10 of Cups (in the center) -- This symbolizes harmony in personal relationships, love, contentment, a joyful family life, relationship of hope and a celebration to give thanks. This feeling draws our family closer, through difficult times and in times of celebration.

The World (in the future position) -- This is a card of fulfillment, attainment, culmination, harmony and peace. The journey may have been difficult, but you have come so far. As you end one cycle and move onto the next, know that you have everything you need and the love surrounding you to move you forward.

Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, Friend, Beloved God -- Please bless this newly born family as we draw our bonds ever closer. We surround each other with love and know that our family and friends gather around us to support this very important step of adoption.

By going through the legal process of adoption, my husband is declaring to the world not only his obligation to these boys, but his love for them as well. Let him be a loving, guiding role model to these boys as they continue to grow into fine young gentlemen. His influence is already seen in each of the boys and will continue to grow stronger.

Bless the father of these children who has passed away. Let the boys always feel in their hearts his enduring love. Before leaving this world, he specifically stated his respect, admiration and appreciation for my husband. Allow his words to bring peace into the boys' hearts, knowing that their father was at peace with and calmed by their relationship to their adoptive father.

As each of the boys welcomes this adoption, let them always feel that there is enough love for both of their fathers...the one who created them and the one who chose to include them in his heart and in his life.

Intuitive Tuesday -- King of Swords

Every Tuesday, I'll select one tarot card and give you my interpretation of it. See how it applies to your life. What messages are here for you? Please add comments to enhance the messages for other people in the Wild Women Community and to share how this applies to you.

Each week, I'll choose one reader's comment and pull an additional card for more clarity...so check back to see what cards come up.

The King of Swords can indicate a strong, intelligent man in your life who puts his head over his heart. For this person, thinking is much more comfortable than feeling, and words are safer than emotions. This is a man who loves knowledge and order. He organizes his world through planning and takes a logical approach to things.

If it symbolizes a person it could be a boss, a person in the court system, military people, and possibly a doctor, politician or government official. These people are more successful if they think their way through their work rather than letting messy emotions cloud things.

If the King of Swords does not refer to a person, it can be expressed in situations surrounding business or legal affairs. Is there a decision you have been hesitant to make because you are thinking too much? Possibly it's a situation where you can't find a way to justify your actions or make sense of your potential decision.

Sometimes the "best" answer may not be able to be described or defended by logic. It is something you just "know."

Perhaps the best thing for you to do is to balance both your logic and your intuition to help you make your decision. Think about what you want and all of the logical reasons behind it and then tune into your emotions (which would be symbolized as Cups). What rings true for you? As you look at each logical option, what feels right?

The balance of both your logic and your emotions will give you the peace of believing with your head and knowing with your heart.

Perfect Moment Monday -- JUMP

My oldest son participated in an Air Band contest last week. He and his 5-member band performed the song, "JUMP." Mine was the lead singer.

Earlier in the week we had purchased the materials to make his microphone and create his costume. I could tell other parents had spent several hours on making drums, painting the keyboard, buying a wig and creating a cardboard guitar.

As I watched the "warm-up" bands, I realized how important this performance was in the life of a 7th grader.

They announced Van Halen as the five boys took the stage. I felt tears in my eyes watching mine perfectly lip sync the words, "Might as well JUMP"...and all of the boys would jump up in the air and twist around as the crowd screamed and clapped (the groupies).

My tears were out of pride. They were out of memories of winning a lip sync contest (as Dolly Parton -- complete with big ones) when I was in college, and because these kind of events remind me of how cool it is to raise teenagers. This is certainly the frosting of the parenting cake.

Are We Huge or Are We Small?

On Mother's Day I got the pleasure of reading with my 13-year old son. His quarterly book summary is due today, so we were trying to finish the last one-hundred pages of the book, Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher.

As I began to read to him, he warned me, "Mom, there are a lot of bad words in this book." The book is told from a high school teenager's point of view and there were a lot of cuss words, but it still seemed like a good book.

I wanted to share a quote with you that I really liked from Whale Talk, found on pages 133 - 134. The main character, T.J. Jones, is talking about his father's comment about the first pictures of the earth as seen from the moon...and how finite things are here on earth. As T.J. looks out of a bus window on the way home from a swimming meet, he thinks to himself:

Are we huge or are we small? The distance between the protons and neutrons of a given atom, relative to their size, are as great as the distance between stars. If you were to look at each atom as a universe unto itself, think of the number of universes within each of us; at the same time, look at any one of us in the vast space I am seeing out the window of this bus, which is a molecule on a cell on a flea on a hair on a wart of the known universe. And I think of the power, the electricity, that dances between me and Carly, how the emotional part of that, the connection, sometimes seems so big it can't be contained. How does that compare with the power of a lightning bolt, or of the nearly silent whispter of a breeze? Are we big or are we small?

What do you think? Are we big or are we small?

In case you are interested in this book, I've included a link below. Enjoy!

Intuitive Tuesday -- The Moon

Every Tuesday, I'll select one tarot card and give you my interpretation of it. See how it applies to your life. What messages are here for you? Please add comments to enhance the messages for other people in the Wild Women Community and to share how this applies to you.

Each week, I'll choose one reader's comment and pull an additional card for more clarity...so check back to see what cards come up.

The Moon deals with those things that lie beneath the surface -- your instincts, your subconscious and the collective unconscious. The Moon indicates that you have something just beneath the surface that is waiting to emerge. You feel it there, but for some reason have not invited it to "center stage."

You may feel the urgent need to know what it is, and at the same time, feel that it is just as important not to know...because once you know, then you may need to do something about it.

The Moon card may indicate a period of uncertainty and possibly self-deception. Some days you feel confident and KNOW, and other days you are unsure and shaky. There may be a temptation to "figure it out" using your logic, but realize that The Moon is encouraging you to tap into your intuitive voice.

This is a card of imagination and fantasy. If you can't quite figure it out, possibly make up a story and see how the leading character figures out how to handle it. Sometimes it's easier to see things clearly when you step out of the leading role. From this vantage point, what is there for you now?

Perfect Moment Monday

I am training for the Bolder Boulder 10K that will happen on Memorial Day. We did it last year and had such a great time! What a feeling of accomplishment!

As I was on my long run last Monday, I was on the last two miles and ran past a beautiful Blue Heron sitting at the side of a pond near a golf course close to our home. I had seen another heron not a week before flying over our house...but now it was SO close and SO beautiful and peaceful.

When I got home, I immediately grabbed my camera to go get a photo, but when I got there, the bird was gone.

I looked up the Blue Heron in my reference book, "Animal Speaks," (link and information below). The Heron means, "Aggressive Self-Determination and Self-Reliance." Both of these are traits I need when I am running -- and in my life overall. A Perfect Moment to note this Monday.

Friday Inspiration -- The Star

Yesterday I read cards for an old friend. It was good to re-connect with her and the reading felt "right on," as though the cards were selected specifically for her and her situation.

After she left, I got a strong sense to pull one additional card for her...so I did - the Star card. I emailed her to tell her about the card and its message. She responded back with gratitude and said it will be helpful for her as she moves forward in her life.

I got an intuitive hit this morning to post it on the Wild Women blog because other readers would find value in its message. Here is the message I received with The Star card. I have a feeling it will land with you as well.

There is an energy around you that is finding faith in understanding, accepting and walking your path. You may feel timid at first, but as you begin to take steps forward, your momentum will increase. Each step will get easier and will take you noticeably closer to your goal. So even if you are not completely sure what your next step is, know that if you tune into your heart and have faith, you will clearly know which step to take and which energy to apply to the situation at hand.

The Star card indicates a special talent that you possess and harmony (coming your way). Wouldn’t it be great to feel the harmony not only in your world, but in your heart as well? This is a time of creativity, charisma, beauty and grace. Tap into your gifts to bring what you truly want into fruition. You have the power to manifest whatever you want…if you open your heart and allow it to come in.

I'm curious as to what your reaction is to The Star energy and what message it has for you.

Intuitive Tuesday -- The Chariot

Every Tuesday, I'll select one tarot card and give you my interpretation of it. See how it applies to your life. What messages are here for you? Please add comments to enhance the messages for other people in the Wild Women Community and to share how this applies to you.

Each week, I'll choose one reader's comment and pull an additional card for more clarity...so check back to see what cards come up.

The meaning of the Chariot card was best explained to me like this: Imagine that you are driving a chariot being pulled by two powerful horses. You have one of the lead ropes in each hand and each rope symbolizes a powerful force in your life. Feel the energy and power in each of your hands. The more you pull one way, the more you go that direction...and vice versa.

When this card comes up, you may feel you are in the process of balancing opposing forces. What are these forces in your life? At times it may feel as though you are being pulled in two different directions -- a human tug-of-war.

Remember, to drive the Chariot in the right direction, you must balance the energy and steer a middle course. This is your task at hand (pun intended).

Instead of getting focused on either of the reins, keep your sights set on the goal. Let your body respond to the force of the ropes as your mind engages on where you are going. If you put too much emphasis on either rope, you may steer off course.

Harness the power, stay on course and move forward with determination and a clear sense of purpose. Instead of being frustrated or exhausted by the powerful forces in your life, take advantage of the energy that is pulling you forward.

Perfect Moment Monday -- Natural Meditation

This is me after my morning run...a perfect time to sit, connect with nature, relax and remember all of the things I am grateful for.

My husband just added this new water feature to our front lawn. I love the relaxing, meditative sound of water...a Perfect Moment to celebrate this Monday.

Whooooo Goes There? An Owl In My Path

The other day I was walking along a trail by the river. Two people were stopped, pointing cameras up into the trees. When I looked up, I saw a nest with a large owl and a baby owl in it. The baby was a lighter color and looked so fluffy. I wondered what it meant for me.

When I returned home, I got out my book, "Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small," by Ted Andrews. Here are some of the things I read about the owl coming into my life:

Owl: Silent wisdom and nocturnal vision, healing powers, magical. (page 81)

Owl people have a unique ability to see into the darkness of others' souls and life. This vision and hearing capabilities has metaphysical links to the gifts of clairvoyance and clairaudience as well. (pp 175 - 176)

I believe that when we see animals, they are delivering a message. So what is my message?

I believe everyone has the gift of intuition...and some people tap into it and trust it more than others. Building intuition can be likened to building muscles. The more you use them, the stronger they get. Intuition can be such a healing quality. It helps me to feel what is right for me and for others.

I heard a quote the other day about how people cannot pick up on anything that you don't want them to tap into. That is, if I am doing a reading for you, I will not be able to access information inside of you unless you or your higher self gives me permission. That provides a safety for both of us.

As I tap into my intuition more often and get more comfortable with what I intuitively feel, it's much easier to ground myself and trust. I've been studying tarot cards for almost ten years and have found that when I am actively and regularly touching my cards and tapping into my intuition, it gets stronger and more accurate.

Perhaps seeing the owl was to remind me of this and to encourage me to continue to tap in. What are your thoughts? Have any great animals crossed your path?

I've included a link to the Animal Speak book below in case you'd like to get one for yourself. It has great information about the animals and what their spiritual meanings are. It is a great reference book. I wish I would have had it when my kids were in 5th grade and were studying "Birds of Prey." Check it out!