Tarot 101 by Kristy

Often when I am doing a reading people will ask me, what does this card, or that card mean? It’s not really as simple as that. Tarot is a symbolic language. The cards can mean a number of different things depending on where they fall, the surrounding cards,  and, more importantly, what it represents to the reader. This is where the art of reading tarot and true “psychic” abilities comes in. 

The cards tell a story in many different ways. A good reader uses the cards in a way that allows the freedom to draw their own conclusions; like cue cards to help them “tune in” to their own divine source.  Once those channels are open the information just flows. 

A common scenario I experience in my readings is people who are fascinated by and interested in working with tarot themselves. If learning tarot is something you wish to do there are classes offered and a multitude of how to books. There are many tarot decks on the market today. For a beginner this can be very confusing. It is best to just go with what you feel drawn to and take it from there. My best advice is to find a deck and work with it. Books are helpful but working with the text too much can hinder the process.

We all have an intuition and psychic abilities, however, just like any other talent in life some individuals have abilities that are stronger than others. Learning to trust the messages and information can be very tricky at first.

Develop your psychic muscles by doing frequent meditation and finding a form of spirituality that works for you. Meditate on each card. The next step is to practice, practice, practice. Get to know your cards and the images. Practice on friends and family. Journaling your results is extremely helpful.  

We all process information in different ways, so please try different things, and do what works best for you. As a final thought, my favorite approach to accomplishing anything is to BELIEVE you CAN and you WILL. Many people don’t think they are capable and that holds them back. Many blessings and best of luck to you on your journey.

Post by Sue; Wyandotte Shop

     As a reader here at Boston Tea room, I often find myself helping clients deal with difficult situations.  I always try to keep them thinking positive, and help them understand that "Everything happens for a reason."  The reason may be too obscure at first to recognize, but still, it's a TRUTH I believe with all my soul.
     It might be easy to say that, but living and maintaining that attitude is far from easy! Things don't always go as planned, or there's delays, or things might eventually go the total opposite of original intention, yet, it's exactly as the universe intended in the first place. 
      So, find humor in every day life, think positive and know in your heart that everything truly happens as it's supposed to, even though it may not be how we wanted  it.  (It may have been how you needed it.)

~Sue

(Wyandotte)

Getting in Touch With the Divine

Last night I was sitting by the pool here at a resort in Ixtapa, Mexico, with my good friend, Prashant, a hedge fund researcher from Connecticut. Earlier in the evening we'd had a great meal with good friends on the terrace of the main dining room, overlooking the ocean and the waves crashing on the beach below us. Afterward, I had the honor of doing a few Tarot readings at a table on the beach for some lovely people, while the rest of our group danced and mingled, and a few enjoyed some Cuban cigars. Now, though, most everyone had gone to bed, and the conversation had turned to spirituality, as it often does when Prashant and I get to talking. He was telling me a story about some situation he'd recently faced that presented a spiritual challenge. The details aren't important, but what stuck with me was when he described how he had pushed his Higher Power, or god-awareness, away:

"...at that point," he said, describing how he had become immersed in self-will over this issue, "god was no longer in the building, let alone the room with me". Then he paused, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and amended, "Let me re-phrase that: god had never left. Of course he was there, but I had ceased to acknowledge his presence or direction." It is statements like that one that make me so truly grateful for the gift of Prashant's friendship. And that was when I had my own little "god moment".

I had to take my own centering breath, and say a quiet "thank you" to all the people in my life whom Providence uses as vessels to deliver a message of divine grace and love. Because it is not the waves crashing on the beach that reminds me of this. It is not the gorgeous sunset descending behind the coral island in the middle of the bay. These things are lovely, to be sure, but it is the voice of the person sitting next to me and witnessing these natural beauties, leaning over and whispering in my ear "How blessed we are!", that truly reminds me. My god speaks to me through the people I love, and who love me, and there more of both of those groups than I ever knew was possible. So thank you, to all you messengers of hope, love, and grace, for being present in my life. 

Heatherleigh

"This is going to sound wierd, but...."

It is the phone call intro that I hear every day, usually multiple times a day - "this is gonna sound weird, but........"

What follows that intro varies from day to day, but none of it sounds weird to me anymore. For nine years now, I've been managing the family business, which just happens to be a psychic tea room, so after about 20 calls a day for six days a week, 52 weeks a year, by now I've heard just about everything.

What makes the following list interesting, to me at least, is that in the vast majority of cases, these are sincere requests for information, not prank calls. (We did once have a brief spate of heavy breather calls, but that only lasted about a week.) These calls are from people who have real questions about what may or may not be real situations in their lives, looking for an honest answer that will help them make sense of something they can't quite explain.

Here are some of the phrases that have followed the quotidian "this is gonna sound weird, but........" call:

"....are you guys for real?"

"....do you make house calls?"

"....do you worship the devil?"

"....I need an emergency exorcism performed, can you do that over the phone?"

".....I think my house (insert garage, potting shed, cabin, or sailboat...I've heard them all) is haunted".

"....seriously, can you tell me where I left my car keys (insert engagement ring, plane tickets, deed to the house)?"

".....my son (insert daughter, husband, wife, or dog) is seeing ghosts (spirits, poltergeists, demons, entities, fairies, leprechauns)

"....I think someone (insert my boss, my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend/wife, my mother, a co-worker, a gypsy, or my personal favorite 'a woman from my church') put a curse on me, and I need you to remove it."

Taking each call one on one, it's easy for me to be sincere and try my best to help my clients figure out how to proceed. But when I look at the list as a group, I admit it seems kinda odd, and maybe a even a little silly. I'm definitely not curing cancer, here, am I? What I am doing is trying to help people, including myself, find meaning and connection and joy in their lives, whatever form that may take.

This work is not what I thought I'd be doing when I was little; it's not even what I thought I'd be doing 10 years ago, but it is surprisingly gratifying, always challenging, and makes for great conversation at cocktail parties. I've been invited into my clients lives, met amazing people (both living and dead), performed weddings, blessed homes, channeled spirits, and these days when someone someone asks me what I do, my answer starts like those daily calls: "This is gonna sound weird, but I'm a professional psychic." And proud of it.

Heatherleigh

A few tips on how to live your best life. - From Charise

*Start each day with an affirmation, such as...  My purpose is________ today!

*Choose your battles, train yourself to when feeling defensive ask yourself "is
this really important? is this worth my energy?" If the answer is no, (and you
will find it most often to be)  LET IT GO!

*Don't start each new experience concerned about when it will end.  You surely
don't do that when you are boarding your favorite roller coaster. Instead enjoy
the experience, whether it be a new love, a new job or just a day off. Make the
best of it.

*Know that it is VERY difficult to actually do some thing wrong if you have good
intentions.


 

Halloween

October is big for people in my line of work. The weeks leading up to Halloween are, for psychics, like the weeks between Thanksgiving an Christmas for more traditional retail businesses. Suddenly, we're the most popular folks in town, getting invited to every party (as long as we bring our Tarot cards), and being asked to weigh in on all manner of Halloween haunted-ness on every local radio and TV station. People who would never normally see a psychic call us weeks in advance to make sure they can book one of our Readers for their event. In short, my usually oddball career becomes the singular quality that makes me the belle of the ball for a few short weeks.

How do I reconcile that month-long celebrity status to the other eleven months of being the oddball outsider? It's easy, really. I love what I do. here are some of the reasons why:

• Sure, it's a very niche industry, but we have our celebrities: Mary K. Greer, Rachel Pollack, Robert Place, Ciro Marchetti, and many more. And when your field is as small as ours, you get to not only meet, but even get chummy with, your professional heroes. That's one bonus.
• I meet the nicest people! Every day someone new walks in the door of my shop, some by accident, and some looking for something; a particular herb, a book on meditation, a gift for a friend's birthday. Each of these individuals offers me chance to see the interconnectedness of all life, and they all offer a little bit of themselves through conversation.
• I get to work with my mom and my sister. Granted, this one is also one of the drawbacks of the job sometimes, but 90% of the time it's a blessing. It's nice to be surrounded by family and know that when it comes to work, they've got your back just like at home.
• I'm always learning something new. What I know about metaphysics, world religions, the benefits of meditation, the academic studies of psychic phenomena and much more, is vastly greater than when I began, yet doesn't even scratch the surface of what I still have to learn, all of it fascinating.

In short, I'll take the all the kooky over-the-top Halloweeny-ness this October, knowing that after November first I'll go back to being the oddball psychic down the block, quietly doing what I do a little bit under the radar, and getting ready for our second biggest holiday, New Year's Eve (because everyone wants to know what the new year has in store for them).

Heatherleigh

What the heck happened to my sense of humor?!

Well, I get it, kind of. My default humor setting is, well, a bit harsh. I have a tendency, I've been told, to be overly sarcastic, not very diplomatic, borderline judgemental, and quite frankly, kind of insensitive. I can most accurately compare my sense of humor to women like Kathy Griffin and Janeane Garofalo. No, I'm not nearly that funny, but that's my style, the sword-like skewering of others for the quick laugh.

So it's no wonder, I suppose, that I tone it down when I come to work. Let's face it, when you show up for a psychic reading, the last thing you want is to feel like you're at a bad Carrottop performance. In my work environment, I want to be kind, loving, helpful, open, and completely present for my clients. Sarcasm has no place in an intuitive counseling session. Neither does judgement. But there is, or should be, room for humor. Humor is a balm for the soul, and can help an individual in pain or turmoil diffuse the discomfort in their life and find the balance again. It can help remind us of the positives in our life, decrease physical discomfort, release endorphins and seratonin, and contribute to a sense of overall wellbeing, and when we feel better, we are more productive. It's a win-win. And for the record, spirit is funny! When I have a session where I'm communicating with a client's deceased family or friend, most often that person's spirit chooses to connect with us by using humor....they crack jokes with their loved ones (often private jokes that I don't get at all, but which my client finds hilarious). It seems to be their way of showing their personality, and connecting at a deeper level.

So here's my challenge: as a psychic, my job is be of maximum service to my clients; to help them find comfort and a way to move beyond whatever is limiting them, and to do that in a way that is positive and upbeat. To try to completely put a lid on humor in a session isn't a good way to do this, but neither is channeling Kathy and Janeane. Ahh, finding balance is always key with me. Any ideas on how to "find my funny" with love and compassion will be appreciated.

Heatherleigh