YouandTheTarot

  No, coming to a Tarot readings doesn't mean you have to present yourself for a solution. That particular day you might just need to vent in a confidential context.  Through email, for example, you discovered your significant other may have been involved with someone else. You have to dump the shock. But you are not ready to review your options. And then you wrap up the session with the emotional uplift of having been heard, with no possibility of what you disclosed becoming gossip. This is America, the land of extreme pragmatism, dating back to the Puritans. The assumption is that we should be always moving towards solutions. Often such activity is premature. We might have to work through the initial confusion and pain. We might not have much data. We have yet to research options. And we might have vent. Meanwhile talk itself can be a "starter" process for evenually making decisions. With my own Zen Master teacher I talked for 18 months about the decline of demand/compe

The Standard  labels the Democratic Party's rapid response to Joe Biden's dropping out and Kamela Harris' emerging as a strong possible replacement as a "blitz." And it's on two fronts. One is in visibility. Check your email and it's Harris everything. She skipped the Benjamin Netanyahu address to share her vision with college students. There are also the above-the-fold endorsements in the media from power players such as Hillary Clinton.  On another front is the fundraising. Hollywood is back. Wall Street is back. And deep-pocketed elite law firms have mobilized.  Law.com  reports, for example: "Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp said he's 'working with many business leaders to raise money for the Harris campaign to enable her to fund what will inevitably be the most expensive election battle ever.'" Today, Karp was working the phones, docouments  Bloomberg Law.  Like Bill Clinton, Karp is a master networker. So far, so promising. The Reuter

  Along with being the first generation who en masse work well beyond 65, we boomers are juggling the reality that we are going to die - and maybe soon.  Both have been overwhelm. Yes, we push to keep up with how much change there is in our industries as we blow up the traditional concept of retirement. But also, as we scroll the internet, we are bunking into the obituaries of our peers. There was the memorial about Gary Francis Pastorius, a colleague who was my age. He was in the policy division of Chevron. I was in executive communications. We had kept in touch until we lost touch. I scrambled to get contact information for his wife. I wanted to express my sympathy. Oh, no. She too had died.  The same evening I discovered that a college acquaintance - Kathleen Huebner - had passed over. Someone from college? That sort of thing seemed to have happend way too early in my journey toward acceptance of my own death. In doing Tarot readers with other boomers who simultaneously have profess

From Vogue  to The New York Times , there is plenty of advice on becoming your own Tarot reader. But there has been very little about the mediumship – that is, connecting with those, ranging from humans to animals, who have passed over. Yet, as with interpreting the 78 cards in the Tarot deck, everyone can be a Medium. Medium Ally Prefontaine, who is also a Tarot Reader, provides workshops titled “Discovering Mediumship.” After I attended one of those amazing presentations at Strega , Sierra Vista, Arizona, I had the Ah-Ha moment: Ally is  the  perfect interview to open the door to everyone about participating in this kind of mystical connection. Ally’s practices her healing arts in-person throughout southeastern Arizona and globally via the blessings of technology. _________________________________________________________________  Jane: Ally, thank you for being with us. Let’s begin at the beginning. What is “mediumship” and how did you become involved? Ally: It’s my pleasur

"Fandango founder [J. Michael Cline] left heartbreaking suicide note before jumping from NYC luxury hotel: ‘I can’t explain the pain’" -  New York Post , July 18, 2024  Cline, a very successful serial entrepreneur, was not alone in being unable to articulate his pain. So many suffering human beings decide to have a Tarot reading because they are unable to tell even themselves 1) What hurts and 2) How overwhelming that pain is. Our society demands that its members always be in complete control. That's the face you have to present to the world. The Tarot reader and the client work together to bring the distress to the surface. The New York Times explained how the Tarot is a tool for awareness.  Sometimes the pain is rooted in the unreal, such as the ruminations of the clinically depressed. They experience themselves as failures, on every level.  It could be temporary. There are those setbacks such the loss of the job.  Or it could be long-term as with chronic health proble

Now it's glam Vogue which is introducing the mystical art of the Tarot to anyone determined to achieve self-awareness, insight and a handle on decision-making. Back in 2021, it was the respected The New York Times which had been a pioneer in bringing the Tarot to the mainstream. Not so long ago, though, the Tarot was bunched in with other "woo-woo" practices as, well, way out there. Next Tuesday, at Cochise Toastmasters in Sierra Vista, Arizona, I am going to go retro: Explain how it had been in making the career shift four years ago from primarily business communications to Tarot reading. Essentially I was taking on as tough a rite of passage as going from being a protected student to the combat of the workplace. Or, so I thought. I had assumed as I reset my brand in social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook I would encounter disbelief and smirks. That only happened once. On a podcast interview the host edited out my discussion about my Tarot reading practice.  See,

  Traditional thinking in much of America had been family-first. Estrangement was to be avoided. When it did happen, reconciliation was the goal. After all, major holidays in America had the aura of family togetherness and deepening ties. No surprise, those experiencing their parents as not-good-for-them usually had sought out "permission" to break the ties. Sometimes that had been on a temporary basis. But it could have turned out to be a permanent arrangement.  In Tarot readings frequently the dynamic had been that the person was convinced that the relationship was and is toxic. But conventional mores had held them back from taking action. So, they had come for permission. They need the Tarot reader to walk them through that option. Then, for the reader to agree that might be a wise path. However, that permission ritual might become less and less required to move on with a life. A major article in The New York Times features adults who are taking that once-radical step on

  More and more professionals are coming for Tarot readings to find out how they should be regrouping for the emerging world of work. Even those who seem to be thriving are in anxiety what they need to do or not do to remain marketable - and promotable. That concern should be trickling down to the youngest of Generation Z. The issues range from should they go to college to how to apply for the first few jobs. CNBC warns that so much has changed in not only what's in demand but also about how employers screen during hiring. Meanwhile, those concerned about making a good living are essentially juggling what they assume is necessary to create value and what they also assume they should be learning to anticipate the future. The name of the new game is: being pro-active. In order to be more helpful to my clients I am asking experts in a number of fields about issues related to acquiring a skill, applying for work, holding on to work and moving on to better opportunities.  This morning

  "Let's look at this card together. Let me know what you really 'see.' Remember that in the Tarot there are no right or wrong answers."  That's what I say to those who come to a Tarot reading. In this instance the client was struggling with relationship decisions. No surprise, The Lovers card came up. The key here to arrive at insight is for both the Tarot reader and the client to open up totally to what they interpret in the card. Not what they had been told is the "right" way of seeing the card. Yes, the Tarot card can function as a type of Rorschach Test. That is, the photo serves as a net to catch feelings and reveal perceptions.  For example, a person in a good relationship which is riding out some temporary bumps in the road might see the two in the card as being able to connect, despite the innate separatness of human beings. That's the "curse" on humanity, as soon as we exit the connectness of the womb. Throughout life, most

  " St. Theresa of Avila is quoted as saying, 'More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.'" - Quote provided in Google Search As a Tarot reader I bear witness to this tragedy of answered prayers too often. A common saga is featured by the Eight of Cups, called the "Walking Away" card.    The unhappy spouse has the courage to leave the marriage. The stressed out lawyer finds the financial resources to leave that career path. The struggling mother of two inherits money when her father dies.  All had focused in a one-dimensional way on what they assumed was their source of pain. Then, the source was removed. But extreme pain remained.  At first they were disappointed. Then what was shaken loose was their whole belief system. They came to me for guidance on how to halt the unraveling.  Part of the enlightenment is the acceptance that life is difficult. That's the game we get into at birth.  We are forced out of the cozy womb. From then o

  Your workplace is toxic.  Your workplace is a sweatshop. Your workplace is dominated by nepo babies. That's your perception and you are probably right. But a preoccupation with that raw cluster of undigested thought gets you nowhere, except miserable and blocked.  Instead, what about even a bit of perspective about the situation?  For example, right now you likely need the job. So, why make yourself more and more eaten up with turmoil by focusing on a much-less-than-perfect work setting?  Incidentally, no one is paying you for your critical analysis about the macro management issues at your employer. Also, the underbelly of discontent often finds its way to the surface.  The essence of the Tarot cards is that we have no secrets. Who we are is there in plain sight. What's so obvious is this: Positive people get unique access to the good things in life. Late US President Ronald Reagan, who had a difficult childhood, neutralized the bad by the genial perspective that, for instan