YouandTheTarot

  The need for a human being to confide can be intense. Even if it's to an AI chat bot. But that can get you in all sorts of trouble, including being brought to the attention of the law. The Wall Street Journal discloses how automated reviewers at OpenAI monitor the content of ChatGPT accounts: "While using ChatGPT last June, [Jesse] Van Rootselaar described scenarios involving gun violence over the course of several days, according to people familiar with the matter ... Her posts ... alarmed employees at OpenAI. Internally, about a dozen staffers debated whether to take action ... Specifically that would be to refer the matter to law enforcement. Instead, OpenAI simply suspended the account. Would lives in Canada have been saved had law enforcement been brought into the loop? We'll never know. But now chat bot users know this: Their communications on those platforms are not entirely private. There can be legal consequences. The same applies to sharing at a meeting of 12-s...

  Whether the system is simply rigid - like the British monarchy - or toxic - like too many families - what's created are "spare parts." That is, those human beings not critical to the stability, functioning,  revenues or the branding. Very early those spare parts get the message that they aren't needed. Don't quite belong.  So it was predictable that spare Andrew would walk on the wild side, Harry would bolt to another culture and Margaret would embrace the global cool of the jet set. Maybe compassion is due, along with accountability in the system which allowed this to be standard. Anne was among the few who found a way around that fate. Such a state of being lost with no one seeming to look to find you is depicted in the tarot by the Nine of Wands. Recently I attended a lecture by an entrepreneur. Back when they were an addict. They ascribed that descent into compulsive whatevers to not being a real presence in a family of three children. Along with their young...

Bentley is 10 years old, has only 3 legs and, unlike the other canines in the shelter, wasn't doing anything to sell himself.  After 20 years away from animal rescue, I knew I had to spring into action. Bentley probably sensed the importance of the meet-and-greet and made the smart pawing/licking moves. Off he was to the sofa in his forever home on December 4, 2025. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush of getting sprung from the shelter. Whatever. He had no initial trouble with the 7 steps from my apartment to the outside. Then he did.  It was obvious that I would have to relocate to true ground floor housing. But there were 2 things. 1) I was not ready to pull up these just-planted rootlings and 2) I would have to pony up 2 months rent to exit the lease prematurely. That would be on the top of the purchase of a car, pricey dental work and just last week paying back the IRS for the $1,400 + interest that was sent to me in 2025 in error.  I did tarot card spreads on this keep-...

"What was he thinking?" That's the frequent question female clients ask me during a tarot session. The male in their romantic life has communicated something off-base - or at least what they can't understand. Gently I reframe the conversation to my concern what they think. Not what the other party might have on their minds, although we will get to that. Well, for a top professional like lawyer Kathy Ruemmler there would be concern when she received a peculiar email from Uncle Jeffrey. As the New York Post reports, Jeffrey Epstein transmitted this to Ruemmler:  “they say that men usually give a name to their penis, as it would be inappropriate to make love to a total stranger.” The Post goes on to note that Ruemmler replied in a sort of "let's ignore this" fashion: "Hard to believe that there is still an open question whether man are yth [sic] inferior gender." This is a sophisticated worldly-wise woman. At that point should she have gotten it t...

  It "feels" counterintuitive. That is not "hiding.  You experience the unexpected in your work life. It's negative. Maybe it's even career-threatening. The appropriate thing to do seems to be vanishing for a while. The classic example is the terminated C-Suiter who takes refuge in their Hampton getaway, away from the media, gossipy former colleagues and the hecklers back in Manhattan. Well, the odds for a solid professional next are strong for former chair of Paul, Weiss Brad Karp. That's partly because he's not hiding.  This weekend Karp was at the Super Bowl.  Click on his Paul, Weiss website profile and all his contact information is still there: V-card, phone number, email and more.  Those I communicate with who have been in touch with him tell me he responds promptly. No radio silence. Oh, I understand the compulsion to fold into yourself, like an abused dog. "I want to just die." That's what tarot-reading clients tell me after a rev...

  Suicide remains a controversial subject in America. As it should be. This is life and the possibility of death. Some moderators on social media might delete postings about it and/or transmit information about sources for help. In tarot readings, of course, I manage the issue with great care. I was honored to direct a man with a severe drinking problem and a plan for ending his life to a 12-step program.  Meanwhile, I resonate with Boomers - we were the generation to overthrow our mothers and liberate sexuality - talking about suicide for themselves. That's right down to the methodology. One told me about possibly drowning. I advised against that. When five years of age I kept going under before being rescued. The experience was horrific. The oldest of the Boomers is 80 years old.  For some, the issue has come to this: Not if but when. When there is "enough" cognitive and physical decline there's the hope that we're still in adequate control to pass over to the w...