YouandTheTarot

  The first card in the Tarot deck is The Fool's card.  The symbolizes the very human need to take the risks of finding your own way. For so many reasons those who come to me for tarot readings even require "permission" to start on that journey of authentic self-discovery.  Essentially they feel that they "ought" to be putting all their attention and energy into traditional activities such as building a career, chasing after a love interest, being a caretaker and/or hitting the gym in a wellness program. Anything but an exploration of the self. So, in guiding them the next key card is the pause one. No surprise, that also means they are looking to me again to give permission for them to take the time to reflect. I trace this inability to invest in finding yourself to the curse of ambition. In working with lawyers, for example, I uncover that they were afraid to veer off from what they considered the path to financial security, influence and power. So they put of...

  "If  'that' went on at my company, the CEO would be out." That's what a client for a tarot reading veered off on a tangent to say about the film released today "Baby Girl."  The plot focuses on a masochistic office romance between tech founder and CEO Romy and an intern Samuel who torments her. The cruelty extends to his bringing to her party a date from the office. Romy falls apart.  Many reviewers stick with the meme of the age difference. But the romance is simply a vehicle about what it is to be human.  Enter Sigmund Freud, whom few critics mention. It was Freud who made explicit the fundamental self-destructiveness of humans.  Romy represents just the tip of the iceberg. Samuel could have been murdered by the husband Jacob. He is playing with fire. The daughter Isabel risks her committed relationship with lover Mary by a kissy flirtation with another women. Esme, Romy's assistant, risks being offed by attempting to blackmail the boss, which h...

"All he wants to do is play soccer and hang out with his friends. He needs to get a better job."  Versions of that is what I am hearing more and more in tarot readings from one party in a relationship about the other. The "other" is usually a male. But they can be a female. In addition, I'm hearing this sort of thing from parents of teenage children who can't attach to goals such as succeeding in academics or music or sports.   None of these are even trying.  This week The Wall Street Journal refers to that as the inability to grow up. And it assesses it as a generational problem.  Young people aren't taking on the traditional responsibilities of adulthood: building a career, settling into a stable relationship, becoming a respected citizen in a community. Essentially they have big ideas about what the American Dream should be and they have little or no hope of reaching it. Specifically, notes WSJ: "A sizable share of this generation is worse-off t...