Category Archives: Tarot

You Are “The One”

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As I write this, it’s about a week before Valentine’s Day, and many people are thinking about love right now. Those with partners may be planning something they could do for their special someone to celebrate – maybe take them out for a meal, buy a gift, etc. But those without a partner may be, quite frankly, sick of the whole thing, as Valentine’s Day seems to just be there to rub their noses in the fact that they are single and would rather not be.

L'Amoureux

Detail from L’Amoureux from the Jean Noblet Tarot de Marseille

It will probably be no surprise to you that quite a large number of people who come to me for tarot card readings want to know about matters of the heart. They may want to know whether they will find love soon, or if the person they are currently with is “The One.” When I do a reading for someone, I’m reading them – I can’t really predict random things from some random place in the universe, or tell you about someone you nor I have ever met. Unless there’s something you can do to influence the situation, I probably can’t help you. What I can do, however, is help put you in a better position to find that person, or help you see whether you’ve found “The One.”

A very good friend of mine recently shared an article about relationships on Facebook, and it prompted a very interesting discussion. Like many people – indeed many people who were involved in that discussion – my friend has become disillusioned with dating, especially online dating, following a disappointing run of bad dates, no-shows, etc. She has decided that she’s “retiring” from that scene. I don’t blame her – in fact, I think that’s the best thing she can do right now. She’s an amazing woman and one day, the right person will realize that.

A couple of comments in the discussion really resonated with me. One woman talked about how she had heard many stories of women who had stopped looking for “The One” and decided to focus on themselves and their own happiness and suddenly found themselves in love. What she said next was really profound, and I use her exact words here (with permission) since I couldn’t put it better myself:

Sometimes, I just think we try too hard to find The One, forgetting that really, WE ourselves are The One.

The reason these words resonated with me was that they completely echoed my own experience. I wasted way too many years “looking for love in all the wrong places.” I spent time in bars, clubs, trying to date women at work, etc., and while I had some dates and even some short relationships, they were not satisfying. When I say “wasted” perhaps that’s a poor choice of word, because I always try to stress that there’s no such thing as a bad experience, it’s just experience and it goes to shape the person you are today.

It was only when I decided to stop the nonsense and concentrate on me that things happened. Almost magically. Once you start working on you, on your personal growth, you pretty much are guaranteed to become a more interesting person. And interesting people are very attractive!

In my case, I was fortunate to stumble upon someone who was in almost exactly the same phase at the same point in life as I was. And this March, we’ll be celebrating 16 years of marriage.

Testimonials Page Added

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Testimonials Tarot Readings by Graham

I’m feeling particularly blessed right now. It was pointed out to me that I might have been hiding my light under a bushel somewhat by not including a “Testimonials” page on my website, highlighting some of the lovely things that my clients have said about my readings. When I’m shopping for services myself, I know I like to see things that real people have said about them. So, I started going through some of my reviews for my readings on Fiverr.com. In addition, when I mentioned on my Facebook page that I was working on a Testimonials page, some of my clients came forward and volunteered to write something about my services. To be honest, it was difficult to pick out which ones to include and which to omit. Which is why I’m feeling blessed. I’ve added the page, so please see for yourself.

Time For a Tarot Reading?

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watch imageSometimes when I’m looking for ideas or inspiration for a new blog post or business direction, I’ll turn to social media to see what’s being said about tarot. It can be time-consuming and sometimes frustrating, but occasionally a gem will appear. Doing such a search on Twitter a little while back, I found a post from someone who said she thought she was going to go get a tarot reading the following week because “it felt like it was about time.” I’ve been on Twitter a long time and I’m guessing she was probably bombarded very soon after with messages from tarot readers offering to do her reading. I was not one of them. I just felt like reaching out to her and saying that I would hope any decent reader would likely tell her that she’s wasting her time and energy getting readings under those circumstances and to go out and make her own destiny!

In my experience, treating tarot like a game to play when you’re bored, rather than using it as a tool when you have important decisions to make, usually results in frivolous answers… which will probably bore you even more. Don’t get me wrong – you’re not going to somehow wear out the tarot deck by getting readings like this, but you could become disillusioned with tarot, which would be a great shame. That’s one reason I’m not keen on reading tarot at parties or similar events. At a lot of parties, the presence of a tarot reader is quite exciting, and many people will want a reading. The trouble is that a lot of those people won’t really know what questions to ask because they’re not at a stage in their lives where they need to make a big decision (which is, in my opinion, the best time to get a reading).

When someone is first learning tarot, it’s common to want to do many readings. The temptation to read for oneself, for all one’s friends, for celebrities or even for fictional characters (it happens!) is huge. And in itself, it’s not a terrible thing. But some people take it to extremes, especially when reading for themselves, and a dependency on tarot can be the result; a situation where someone can’t make their own decisions without asking tarot, almost like asking permission to do the smallest things. And that’s not a good thing.

Thankfully, and largely because of the way I present my reading style, most of the people who come to me for readings do so when they have big life-decisions to make. It probably costs me clients, but I don’t regret taking my approach at all. Come to me for a reading when you’re ready, not when I’m ready.

 

(Image courtesy of Aleksa D at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Some Changes For the New Year

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ID-100178821Here we are at the beginning of a new year, a time when people often make changes in their lives. Sometimes though, we start out with good intentions but we don’t follow through. Often that’s because we haven’t chosen the best ways to achieve our goals. A tarot reading is a great way to help choose the best things we can do to reach our goals more effectively. If you want help coming up with a game-plan, just ask.

I’ve made some changes to the ways you can order a reading on my website. Starting immediately, rather than being redirected to the Fiverr.com website to place your orders, you can order directly from my Order a Reading page, and pay via PayPal. While I’ve appreciated the business I’ve received via the Fiverr platform, they also take a large cut of every order. By handling the orders myself, I get a little more in my pocket, at no extra cost to you.

I’m still offering my readings through Fiverr.com, so it will continue to supply me with new clients, and if you prefer to order via that platform, you may do so.

 

(Image courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/)

More Music For Tarot Readings

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You may remember my post to this blog, Music To Read Tarot By, recommending some sources of ambient/new age music for use when reading tarot, meditating, etc. This is an update of that post, since I’ve discovered a couple more excellent sources.

As I mentioned on the earlier post, I like to have background music playing when I read tarot. It helps me focus and keep odd external noises from distracting me. I prefer to have fairly neutral music playing, since I worry that anything too emotional might “color” the reading too much. I also prefer music without a beat for this purpose. Recently, I’ve also been playing these stations when napping and sleeping.

Ambient Sleeping PillAmbient Sleeping Pill Logo bills itself as “Internet Radio pouring out uninterrupted music for sleeping, taking Naps and other more wakeful tranquil moments” and that’s a very fair description. It streams 24/7 with “No ads, no beats, no new-age-cheese.” Most of the music it plays is free for downloading also, although one of the ways the station has been funding itself is by selling CD and downloadable compilations of some of the best music it plays. I applaud this station for keeping the ads out of the stream; there’s nothing more jarring than an upbeat advertisement when you’re in the moment!

Drone Zone LogoDrone Zone is a streaming station from the SomaFM family of Internet radio stations; in fact, it was the first SomaFM station. It bills itself as, “Served best chilled, safe with most medications. Atmospheric textures with minimal beats.” It goes on to say, “Droning atmospheric space music and ambient textures with minimal beats. Music on Drone Zone is all about sonic textures and environments.” You’re likely to hear music by such artists as Steve Roach, Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Robert Davies, etc. The music is scheduled and programmed by Rusty Hodge, the founder of SomaFM and the General Manager and Music Director. SomaFM is listener-supported, mostly by donations. There are occasional channel IDs, but they’re in keeping with the sound of the station, and not intrusive.

tunein logoBoth of these stations can be listened to directly by going to the websites linked to above, or by using an application like TuneIn. TuneIn’s mobile apps have a sleep timer, which turns a channel off after a given time period, which is handy! SomaFM also has its own app. available.

I’ll make the same request that I did at the end of my previous post about music; do you know of any other sources of this kind of music? If so, please do share in a comment below.

UPDATE: Somebody on Facebook saw this post and commented, including a link to another resource that’s too good not to share here: Ambient Chillout Music Mixes by JaBig. It’s a collection of music by Brian Eno.

The Death Card – Will I Die?

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One night, I stayed up all night playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. – Steven Wright

I love Steven Wright, but I always cringe just a little when someone repeats his joke on Twitter – and it happens a lot! It plays into the hands (excuse the pun) of those who are a little afraid of tarot cards. As I have been known to say: There’s nothing magic about tarot cards; they are simply paper, paste, and some pretty pictures in ink. The magic is in our heads.

La Mort - DeathA little while back, a potential client was enquiring about a reading, and made a bit of a joke about avoiding the “Death” card, because (and I’m paraphrasing here) while he knew that having the “Death” card come up in a reading didn’t always actually mean death, presumably it could mean death, right?

The way that my readings work is to give you information to empower you. My aim is always to enable you to write your own story. This means that really the only way that the card we call “Death” would represent physical death is if you were engaged in risky behavior that might lead to your demise if you didn’t do something about it. I would assume you’d want to know about that! The truth is that this card, depending on the context, can have many meanings. Sometimes it means making a “clean sweep” and discarding something from the past and moving on into the future. Sometimes it can mean divesting yourself of toxic “friends.” Just the other day, I had “Death” come up at the conclusion of a reading about a relationship; knowing that it would worry the client, I pointed out that in this context, my interpretation was that if something did not change, the likely result would be that the relationship would end. I was delighted when my client got back to me and said they had already done something about it, and the situation was much better.

So, my recommendation would be to stop seeing the “Death” card as a “bad card” and maybe start seeing it as a wake-up call or a card of opportunity.

Gift Certificates For Tarot Card Readings Now Available

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Sample Gift Card ImageI’m very excited to announce that, just in time for the holiday season, I am now offering gift certificates for readings. If you have friends, colleagues or family members who you think might benefit from my readings, these would make a great gift. While you can purchase a certificate for a single reading for $5, you can save money by purchasing more readings. So a certificate for a three-question reading is $12 and a five-question reading is $20. Recipients don’t have to ask all their questions at the same time, either, so a five-question certificate could provide some great guidance for an entire year (the gift certificates never expire, by the way)! Payment processing is by PayPal (although you don’t have to have a PayPal account to purchase via credit or debit card), so these can be purchased internationally.

The certificates can be ordered directly from this site and the printable certificate can be emailed to you to include with a physical gift or card, or can be emailed directly to the recipient.

For more details and to purchase gift certificates, see my Gift Certificates page.

How Can a Tarot Reading Be “Empowering?”

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Directly underneath my website’s title “Tarot Readings by Graham,” I make the following bold statement:

“No-Nonsense, EMPOWERING Tarot Card Readings”

Empowering

I have discussed the “No-Nonsense” part of this statement elsewhere within my “Musings” section. But how about the “EMPOWERING” part? Can a tarot reading be empowering? If you are a believer in fate, then a tarot reading will surely just predict what’s going to happen, right?

Well I for one do not believe in a fate that’s set in stone. I do believe that some things are meant to be, for sure; but I think that for the most part we can shape our own fate. Which is a very good thing – life would be very boring if everything was completely mapped out for us.

One way that tarot can help with the future is by showing you what is likely to be the result if you continue to take the path you are currently on. That way, if you don’t like where you’re headed, you can do something about it.

When you come to me with a question, no matter how “fuzzy” the concept is, I will always try to phrase it in the form “What’s the best way for (your name goes here!) to achieve (insert goal here)?” or similar. No beating around the bush with vagueries. By asking questions in this direct way, what I will come up with during our reading is something that you can actually do.

And that is empowering!

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Questions, Questions… and the BIG Question!

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Having returned from a vacation at the beginning of last month feeling refreshed and enthusiastic to get back into the swing of doing more readings, I decided a challenge was in order. On both my Facebook tarot page and on my personal Facebook timeline, I asked friends, clients and potential clients the following:

Is there anything you’d like to know about tarot, about the way I read tarot, or anything like that? Do you have any reservations or even fears about tarot? Don’t be afraid of asking “stupid” questions. I don’t want you to be embarrassed about asking me anything, but if you don’t feel comfortable about sharing it here, please feel free to send me a private message instead.

Question Mark ImageI didn’t know what to expect, really. My main goal was to find out whether there was anyone out there who was wondering whether they should ask me for a reading, but was hesitating for some reason.

Little did I know that an old school friend was going to try to turn the challenge around, by asking the following question:

Go on then: “how does it work?”

To be quite honest, I don’t think he expected me to give a serious answer. But I think he (and anyone else reading the post) deserved one. This is how I responded:

My “flip” answer: Very well! 😉

I think that if you ask 20 different tarot card readers this question, you’ll get at least 10 different answers. I can only tell you how I *believe* it works. At least this is how I reason to myself it works, because it fits into my belief system:

I believe that when you communicate with someone, your subconscious automatically collects a whole bunch of information from that person’s subconscious. But that information is often very difficult for most of us to access in any meaningful way.

Here’s where tarot cards come in. To me, the images on the cards act as a focusing tool. They prompt me to access certain elements from all the information my subconscious has collected, that are relevant to the question a client has asked me.

It’s a little more complex than that, because I not only look at an image on an individual card, but also what I see as interactions between images on different cards, but I’m sure you get the idea.

I personally do not claim to be psychic and I don’t believe there to be anything “magical” about the cards, although the results often make it seem that way. Beyond that, these days I try not to think too much about how it all works, because that distracts from the readings themselves. Which work “Very well!” 🙂

What matters the most to me is getting meaningful advice for the people who come to me for readings. It really doesn’t matter whether or not they agree with me about how tarot works, as long as they find what I reveal to them to be helpful. Having said that, and as I brought the subject up here, I would love to hear back from you on this subject. How do you believe tarot works?

A Bit of Decorating, and A Forthcoming Freebie

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I wanted to give the site a little personal touch, so, prompted by the WordPress “Zero to Hero” series, I created the header image you’ll see at the top of each page. Simple and straightforward, in keeping with my tarot philosophy, the background is adapted from the pattern on the back of my tarot deck of choice, the Jean Noblet Tarot de Marseille. Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Header screenshot

I’m starting to write a little e-book that I’m planning to offer for free in exchange for signing up for my e-mail newsletter. It’s designed to simply show how tarot can be an powerful tool to change your life for the better and to help you get the most out of a tarot reading. In addition to offering it to new subscribers, I will share it with those who are already on the e-mail list, as my way of saying thank you for being my list pioneers.