YouandTheTarot

  "As long as Jones Day brands itself as MAGA’s chief counsel, those non-partisan books of business are going to suffer." - Joe Patrice,   Abovethelaw,   August 29, 2022. As the world knows, in  The New York Times Magazine , David Enrich published an article on the political influence law firm Jones Day has had on the judicial system. The statistic Enrich provides is this: There have been more than 100 conservative appointments Jones Day helped arrange for federal judgeships. That influence is bound to grow, Enrich predicts.  Patrice's point is now that Jones Day's role in conservative politics has gone quite high-profile, will that freak current clients? They may not want to be associated with a law firm branded as aligned with the far right. In addition, prospects might steer clear. The meltdown which occurred for the Boies Schiller brand/business because of David Boies' representation of Harvey Weinstein and Theranos could overtake Jones Day.  But Enrich...

 There can be situations in which the client information handled by public relations representatives can be treated as "privileged." That can occur when lawyers bring in the PR professional into a case. Here is a discussion of such possibilities on Westlaw. That got me thinking. Could what clients confide to me during a Tarot reading also be assessed as "privileged?" Suppose, for example, they "come clean" with me about a murder they committed. I encourage them to seek out a lawyer. That lawyer loops me into the defense strategy. Does my relationship with the client become privileged? Of course, as almost everything in law, the answer could be: That depends. In myriad ways, we Tarot readers have been the new (and more affordable) psychologists . People reveal to us such confidential material about their lives. So, it's not unthinkable that we will become involved in their legal matters. At that time their lawyers will advise us how we can protect both...

  "The brain, trapped in a black box, slowly, effortfully constructs a model of reality that over time gets better at predicting and explaining the regularities in its environment ..." - In 2022 book HOW MINDS CHANGE," by David McGraney. It's that programming which makes it so difficult to change when we need to. The majority of professionals come to me for a Tarot reading because they are caught up in some kind of disruption in their work. They recognize that they need a fresh game-plan for holding on to what they got or finding a new job if they have been laid off. It is sad to say but if the trauma has been intense it will be easier to shake off the earlier conditioning. McGraney also observes: "Posttraumatic growth is the rapid mind change that comes to a person after a sudden, far-reaching challenge to the accuracy of their assumptive world." One version of that has been the double whammy. There is the law associate who put total trust in extreme hard...

It was a surprise.  So much of my reading of the Tarot on career issues eventually wind up veering into matters of the heart.  A high-powered sales representative in an automotive dealership will put it in business terms - Should she or he continue to "invest" in such and such a relationship? But what is clear is the power of the undertow of romance on all aspects of that life.  The problem as I see it is this: That need for a trusting supportive love relationship can evolve into an obsession. In psychobabble that's called "co-dependency." That is, the hardened belief that one's identity and sense of worth can only be created through others. Therefore, growth is impossible. In addition, the abilty to put into a career what is a prerequisite for success can be eroded.  How to assess if romance is a career-threat? That should be obvious if it involves a compulsive preoccuption with the other. There's not adequate attention on the you and your career goals....

 " I am being asked to leave my firm after just a year at a V30ish due to work slowdown in California. I am a lower tier T14 grad from 2021. I asked where else is hiring and they suggested staff attorney is a viable option for now because other firms may not want to hire right now." - Posting onReddit Big Law, August 26, 2022. Here is the  thread .  " Big Law Will Likely 'Right-Size' Attorney Ranks Through Attrition, Performance Reviews " -  Law.com , August 26, 2022. It's palpable: A slowing down in the law firm sector. Associates should prepare for stealth layoffs and non-equity partners could be nudged out.  Meanwhile, who gets the work has become  the  story. That's why  Law.com  covered that, despite the recent dog days in dealmaking, Paul Weiss did pick up business for its M&A practice. Yeah, it got the work. On Reddit Big Law there is speculation that law firm niches such as M&A will pick up in September. But that could be...

According to  IBIS , the market size for psychic services in the US is about $2 billion, employing almost 91,000. But that’s the tip of the iceberg in the revenue and branding potential for business from what is being called “occultculture.” Essentially, that term indicates a reaching for access to non-rational, non-institutional, non-bureaucratic, individualized ways of consciousness, insight, and experience. Those range from the tarot to astrology to meditation. In April 2021, establishment  The New York Times  published an article on the tarot. It endorsed it as a tool for self-awareness.   Shutterstock’s 2020 Creative Tends Report  “identifies occultculture as a major emerging trend, based on yearly searches by … users … [That includes] a +525% rise in searches for magic and +289% for ‘spiritual.’”   Your just-right professional fit. You can bypass the usual pain points. That includes Tarot readings, both spreads and one-card pulls. Complimentary c...

 In the Three of Pentacles Tarot card three very different kinds come together for a project. They are a monk, sculptor, and an architect. The card signals achievement. So, the message is: Success comes through tapping into and leveraging what might not be a traditional fit among professionals. That meme mirrors the findings of the research of sociologist Mark Granovetter. In the early 1970s Granovetter documented that the power in networking more often comes from those outside our own sphere of influence than from cultivating the usual suspects. That concept has gone down in history as the "Strength of weak ties." For example, Peter the train conductor on the Connecticut Metro North commuter train probably knows a lot more about what goes on in hiring and firings in the advertising sector than most of those actually employed in it. On the train, he overhears conversations, catches what's being keyed in on laptops, observes who no longer is aboard/who has come aboard, and...

 Distraught professionals are coming for Tarot readings. Their "presenting" problem may be angst over going for a promotion or the possibility of a Reduction-in-Force. But soon enough what emerges is the subtext: They are experiencing extreme regret over decisions made in the past. That is exactly why the Five of Cups is being pulled so frequently in Tarot sessions. In that card there is the professional with the body language of despair. The preoccupation is with the three cups associated with the past. Label those "spilled milk." There is no connection with the two cups symbolizing present possibilities.  This professional has become the new Everyman and Everywoman. If he or she is willing to change (The Tower Card) then that professional will ask me how to find an exit ramp from the past. The first and most important step is to accept two fundaments of inner transformation: There are no re-dos of the past. It was what it was. That includes both what is perceived...

 " On TikTok, thousands of young people have posted videos of their travels with the phrase 'I will make my money back.'”  -  The Wall Street Journal,  August 19, 2022 They probably will. The professional world they enter has broad skill demand, opportunities for a Wall Street career investing in tourist-related industries, and entrepreneurship as a real option for earning a good living. As for the latter, they could invent the next Airbnb. Obviously, their travels can give them unique insights for all that, a network of contacts, and confidence.  This is a strong argument for valuing what goes on in one's life, not just what's embedded in the traditional ways of training for and pursuing a career. Actually, that shouldn't even be needed to be pointed out. There is the well-known anecdote of Steve Jobs' auditing for no credit a  calligraphy course  at Reed College. That was after he had dropped out of pursing an academic degree. The introduction to fon...

" Layoffs Are in the Works at Half of Companies, PwC Survey Shows " - Bloomberg , August 18, 2022. The media outlets, such as The Wall Street Journal, have made a big story about changing values of workers. The coverage ranges from the death of extreme ambition to the American version of "laying flat," that is, actually dropping out of the workforce.  But the story I am hearing as a Tarot reader is fear on Main Street about job security. Those contacting me keep asking, "Is my job safe?" Most want a detail such as how long will that particular job last. They anticipate a layoff or that even a firing could happen at any time. So, I have to ask if many journalists are getting it wrong. The mindset, as I experience it, is old-line angst about holding onto a job. That was the preoccupation of my parents' generation. They were the emotionally damaged from The Great Depression. Back then losing a job was not only loss of income. It imposed stigma. From the ...

Maybe it kicked off with the technology of air-conditioning. Remember how we commiserated together about the summer heat while we sat on our stoops in cities and porches in small towns. But, as the Netflix documentary "Social Dilemma" hammers it is the social network which is escalating the inability of human beings to connect. It is alleged that Big Tech has strategically engineered that disconnect from in-person interaction. The human condition is circumscribed to screen experiences. In the short book "In Emergency, Break Glass," tech journalist Nate Anderson sums that up as "moving indoors." Neighbors have no access to other neighbors. They are indoors, not jaw-jawing over the fence. The add-on I would make is that we have also moved into ourselves. Given the dominance of screen reality there seems to be no way out of ourselves. That blocks interaction with others.  So, it should not be a surprise that the Tarot reader like myself has become a version ...

 This morning for the meditation-discussion session at the Cochise Zen Center, Bisbee, Arizona, Dharma Master Barry Biggs discussed Thinking About Thinking.  Essentially, the dharma teacher was focusing on spiritual matters. But my ears perked up about how that was on the money - you bet, for career success.  Too many of clients for Career Tarot readings think obsessively and aren't even aware of it. If that compulsive thinking imposes "oughts" on how the workplace should be operating, the odds are that the career will be sidelined. Instead the reflection should be a reach to develop strategy for dealing with what is.  Thinking about thinking is the proactive way to pivot to a sustainable edge in professional life. It has a track record for unusual success.  Quarterback great Tom Brady thinks a lot about thinking. He indicated that the game of football plays out in his head. Prominent Wall Street lawyer and chairperson of law firm Paul Weiss Brad Karp explained...

 " Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. confirmed Friday that it's laying off some of its newsroom staff, part of a cost-cutting effort to lower expenses as its revenue crumbles amid a downturn in ad sales and customer subscriptions." -  Bloomberg,  August 12, 2022. This reduction-in-force which puts journalists on the street means this: Some of them will retrain for other niches in writing. And those in those niches, where I had been, will experience yet another hit of competition. Shifts like this have made the career path of writing increasingly difficult to navigate. However, career change is not easy. Also, for many of us it's a slow process we don't completely understand. In the book  "Tarot for Change,"  Jessica Dore captures the essence of change this way: " ... change often begins with precontemplation, which is before you know that change needs to be made, and moves from there to contemplation, preparation, action, and ultimately maintenance .....

  "I keep praying more and meditating more." Essentially that's what the owner of a trucking business frontloaded for our Tarot reading session (identity masked).  Then he said that his business was down. That focus on spirituality has been becoming a kind of standard magical thinking for those struggling with employment and sales issues. That seems to be distracting them from the tough focus on strategies and tactics in economic times that can't be figured out.  Yes, spirituality is supposed to help with self-awareness. It does.  But spirituality is no substitute for hard-nosed analysis in what is going on in a stalled job search or inability to close on selling pitches. I asked the owner one question: What he was doing concretely to get new business and attract back former clients. The business truth came out. It was this: He was unwilling to negotiate lower prices. That could be what was necessary for his geographic area and what the competition was up to in the p...

"We aren't really set up to fail well. Rather, we're indoctrinated with the value of persevering and refusing to take no for an answer." By Jessica Dore, in the 2021 book "Tarot for Change: Using the Cards for Self-Care, Acceptance, and Growth." The American ethos is to bombard what isn't working with determination. In 12-step programs the phrase applied to that kind of behavior is "self-will run riot."  Counter to that The Chariot card in the Tarot sends this message: Ease off, reflect. Soon enough will come that Ah-Ha Moment with a range of solutions. Yes, you will even have a choice about the Next. This kind of force field of calm is what is the signature of brandname business leaders. They range from former head of Disney Bob Iger to Brad Karp, chairperson of law firm Paul Weiss.  However, it is what clients for Tarot card readings are least able to accept. Soon enough they return for another reading, hoping for a very different message. Y...

  "Therapists use terms like 'radical acceptance' and 'post-traumatic growth' to describe the work of taking adverse experiences and using them to grow." Jessica Dore, in the 2021 book "Tarot for Change: Using the Cards for Self-Care, Acceptance, and Growth." Wisdom from the Tarot is optimistic. Essentially the messaging is about moving forward from the past, both its successes and failures, to potential. But, along the way, the subsconscious and the collective unconscious does a dump. It is frequently about some bit of adversity that remains unprocessed. That can pop up when you do your own Tarot reading or a professional reader such as myself pulls the Magician card. Initially, you might feel overjoyed. Then if you are open there is a flickering of signals from another dimension. Those you can't ignore. An example is a lawyer who didn't make partner in a large New York firm. For several years he went around picking up contract work practici...

  "Are clients getting their money's worth?"  That's what preoccupied me as I found more of a Tarot reading session consumed with clients' just-talkin'. Of course, it has long been a practice to dig beneath what clients were literally saying for the subtext of meaning.  This was different: Clients needed, really needed, to simply talk. And talk. Along the way, I would interject "prompts" such as requesting a bit more detail or what the feeling set was. However, during those minutes paid for clients would talk in a way that they would have with a close friend - that is, in an era when folks weren't so caught up in their own drama. They could focus on another human being. So, I have decided that in my mission has to be incorporated old-fashioned listening. The attentive kind. If that's what the current clients need, then we Tarot readers have to be there for them.  Your just-right professional fit. You can bypass the usual pain points. Tarot re...

  "Psychics Are the New Psychologists" That was the headline by NPR . And that was way back in 2008. Currently, with the economy so scary, social mores in flux, and politics getting ugly, even people who never considered reaching out to "talk with a 'professional.'" are reaching out to Tarot readers like myself.  Most of the career-oriented readings I give involve a therapeutic element.  Instead of an in-depth analysis of what the Tarot cards are messaging, clients are taking over the session by talking more. And I am listening more. If there is a major issue the tendency had been to pull another card or do another spread. Not currently. I stop. I listen. My responsibility is to pick up the subtext of what clients are saying.  For example, they may complain about how much work is being piled on. But, often I discern the real matter, as in therapy, goes back to the family of origin. I ask: Did your parents treat you unfairly? Then I do a one-card pull on tha...

 In the Tarot, the High Priestess card signals there may be a secret. That secret could be having negative effects in a career - which is my specialty.  All too frequently what needs to come into the light of human sharing is alcohol abuse. Therefore, Tarot readers have to be prepared to provide immediate guidance. The next drink could, as with celebrity Anne Heche, result in a near-fatal auto crash. Or, suicidal ideation can wind up as the actual attempt or worse.  Since I have been in a 12-step recovery program for a number of years, I am aware of the right questions to ask in order to motivate the client to take the situation seriously. Here are the 20 questions Alcoholics Anonymous has developed.  Answers to those may trigger the Ah-Ha Moment in clients. That opens the door to suggesting resources. That means Tarot readers should be aware of sources of immediate help, including detox centers. Abruptly stopping alcohol can trigger a seizure.  According to t...

  " ESG won’t disappear, having grown into an  estimated $35 trillion business . But as long as energy and commodity prices remain high, it has moved far lower in shareholders’ priorities. Most institutional investors will pay lip service to the fight against climate change." -  Bloomberg,  August 5, 2022  Now those who made ESG issues their one-dimensional business focus could find themselves out of business - or off a career path. The same for crypto. Also, with dealmaking down globally those on Wall Street and Big Law who specialize in that could take a hit in bonuses or even lose their jobs. As for SEO (search engine optimization), GenZ is shifting from Google to TikTok and Instagram for search.  TechCrunch  puts that at 40% of Zers. That is bound to increase. The trend also could extend to older generations. Yes, on the one hand, this is the era of specialization. The generalist essentially is an anachronism. You don’t put yourself out there ...

 I call it the Curse of Capitalism. That economic system is based on individualism. You are responsible for your success and you and only you are accountable for your failures. That, I am convinced, is the platform for the epidemic of self-blame in professional life. In all fields we learn the most from our clients. In doing Tarot readings what emerges from my clients' unconscious (and maybe the collective unconscious of the United States) is intense regret. No surprise, in one-card pulls what pops up too often is the Five of Cups. In the book "Kitchen Tarot," Melissa Cynova sums up that card as the "Maybe" one: If I had done this then that wouldn't have happened.  Lots is wrong with that thought process and we are our thoughts. To begin with, regret is nothing but a fantasy of what might have played out. It has no ccorrelation or cause-effect with reality. You don't know how your career would have turned out had you majored in business instead of polit...

  It melts our hearts. That is this new cause. And that cause is all over social networks such as LinkedIn. Those laid off, especially by tech-related corporations such as Robinhood and Oracle, are promoting their need to find work. What is so heart-warming is that others are paying attention and providing encouragement, advice, and leads.  For example, in the  LinkedIn newsfeed  about Robinhood's most recent Reduction-in-Force former employees present themselves for work. Essentially they are pitching themselves to recruiters. Also, they frequently praise the talents of their former colleagues who also got the boot.  Obviously the traditional shame associated with being out of work is so over. Also over is the tendency for others to distance themselves from those, as the saying goes, are "between jobs." Among the newly jobless broadcasting their plight is Abbie Lan. She had been a security site manager at Robinhood. About three months ago she agreed to relocate...

  "The Fool invites you to take risk, step outside of the box, and remove yourself from spaces where you intuitively know you are holding yourself back." -  Interpretation of the Fool card by Jessica Wiggan in the book  "How To Read Tarot." So many memes floatig around are pontificating not taking what happens personally. That's hammered, for example, in the popular enlightenment guide  "The Four Agreements"  by Don Miguel Ruiz. The title of Chapter 3 is "Don't Take Anything Personally." So, if the boss mistreats you you are supposed to see that through the lens of sizing him or her up as a wounded human being. No, don't put energy into analyzing your possible part in the bad treatment. Tarot takes a different stance. Many of the cards awaken you to exactly that: your part. One message is that you invite shabby treatment because of your own self-hate. So, love yourself.  The New York Times  published a feature in April 2021 explaining...