YouandTheTarot

Knowledge workers are dropping like flies. They are being laid off or fired. And those jobs and contract assignments are probably not coming back. Too many have nowhere to go.  Those who come to me for tarot readings or intuitive career coaching  tend to be full of regret about the decisions they had made. In the tarot that is symbolized by the Five of Cups, the card of spilled milk. Typical is the lament: I made the wrong move. They "confess" that: They should have done their graduate studies in something more marketable. Instead of leaving Big Law for a government job they might have just sucked up the lack of WLB. It was a mistake to ask for a raise in this environment.  They saw "it" - that is, downszing - coming and so they should have begun a job search before the glut of those with similar skills built up in the labor market. Maybe they are right. Perhaps they did screw up. But as the Five of Cups manifests that's irrevelant.  What is relevant is this: Th...

 Abrupt. That's been the shift from just bump-in-the-road problems to the realization that the life you've put together has fallen apart. You might not only have lost your job but what's obvious is that you might have to create another approach to making a living.  You're "only in your late 40s or 50s" but you sense your career has peaked.  That relationship with your long-term partner never bounced back, did it.  The golden years you've been enjoying - well, you no longer can afford them. Yet, don't only folks who didn't plan well have to unretire? OMG, you wonder: Have I become a loser? That's what you have been telling me during the last 18 months. When the tarot or intuitive coaching session starts you're hoping all this can be fixed.  Well, there are situations in which life can circle back to what had been. This is just a setback.  Also, yes, parts can be repaired. For instance, to remain in your current career path you become willin...

  Maybe it's because the workplace is increasingly stressful. Maybe it's a sign of our lonely times. In tarot readings what I'm hearing more and more about are the toil and trouble of being an office spouse.  Essentially the work husband or the work wife provides support on many levels.  Unfortunately, lines often get blurred. There's the mental distraction of wondering: What does he/she really think of me? That preoccupation could trigger distance in the primary relationship at home.  There's also the resentment when the work spouse is perceived as not being there when needed. On Reddit is this posting:  " ... overhear that same girl telling her coworker how her Valentine’s Day plans got ruined because her work husband got slammed with some urgent “deliverable.” It's posted because - and that's yet another problem with office spouses - the grapevine is buzzing about what could be "going on" between the two. Here is my article published on O...

"I didn't go to college." That's the poignant "confession" made so often during tarot readings. Those sharing what should be a snippet of their background emotionally have embedded it as a major human flaw.  It's almost as if not earning a college degree assigned them to a low tier in society. Yes, there's a kind of kind of caste system operating. That's prevalent in HCOL (high cost of living) areas such as Manhattan and Los Angeles. The feeling of being less-than is even among those without college degrees in the trades who are probably enjoying more employment security than knowledge workers with advanced degrees. On professional anonymous networks Blind, Glassdoor, Fishbowl and Reddit, the postings scream fear about the possibility of losing a white collar job, the reality of not finding a comparable one after a layoff and the disappointment of not receiving a promotion.  It's also despite the cost of a college degree. According to US News...

Work as vocation. Not just a job. From the days when the Puritans were creating the most powerful economy in the world, we have approached what we do to earn a living as almost a sacred ritual. In Leaders Magazine , the head of Paul Weiss Brad Karp describes the law firm as "purpose driven." Karp's approach to leadership has a reverential quality.  That's why in tarot readings I'm hearing the pain of those who no longer can find purpose in their work. Capitalism has mutated - and this is global - into a cost-efficient machine hell-bent on maxing profits. It's aggressively grabbing on to the advantages made possible through generative AI. Meanwhile knowledge, which we white-collars got highly educated for, has become a commodity. Remember that meme: A mind is a terrible thing to waste? That can be reset as: The mind is a lot less marketable.  In essence, the current workforce has become the First Lost Generation in America about the spiritual value and the emot...

"What a mistake. I had just been laid off. I called my best friend. All they talked about was when they were laid off. And, get this, they signed off with the offer to 'listen any time.'"  That's what a client, still reeling from the termination, told me during the tarot reading. Before we could enter the force field of how to mobilize for a job search we first had to cleanse the hurt.  What positions and packages itself as empathy but really is all about you inflicts deep wounding. You're encountering a human being in their extreme vulnerability, then failing to be fully present for them. Instead, you take the conversational center stage and grab the role of star. So, how to be there for those you care about? Here are the 7 critical steps: Have no agenda, no scripting. Enter the situation with no list of must-says. Start the conversation with an appropriate cliche such as "I am so sorry this happened." Ask questions. That strategy to establish a con...