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August 16 through August 22, 2021

A sense of peace and balance emerges in the heavens this week, as Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and Neptune all travel through their home signs, generating the message that all is right with the world. The week starts off on a lighter note under Monday and Tuesday's Sagittarius Moon, but when it moves into Capricorn on Wednesday, our productive sides will emerge and have us making up for lost time for two days. Uranus will be slowing to go retrograde on Thursday, but its effects will be so subtle we may not even notice. This planet will travel backward for the net five months, not resuming forward motion until mid-January of next year. Its higher purpose is to give us the chance to go back and do things differently, revise our plans and ideas, and to realize the bigger picture Spirit is painting for us. Friday and Saturday the Moon will travel through Aquarius, bringing out our social and humanitarian sides. This is a great time to reach out to friends and family to see how they are doing and make sure they have everything they need. Two major events occur on Sunday, starting with the second Aquarius full Moon of the year (the last one was in July), followed by the Sun's entry into Virgo. A Virgo Sun is always designed to help us prepare to move into a new season, as it inspires us to organize, recommit to a schedule and pay closer attention to the details of our lives. For the next four weeks, we'll find ourselves drawn to a more orderly and balanced way of living, and as we take stock of the things we are preparing to harvest after a long season, our gratitude levels and sense of accomplishment will become apparent!

7 Ways to Develop Your Tarot Language, by Nancy Antenucci

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

A wise high school teacher told us the secret to learning French was to think in French. That advice was a game-changer for me. Within time, I was speaking and even dreaming in French with an ease and flow.

Every language shapes reality. Tarot is no exception. As a language, it reflects being human in a full spectrum from the mundane to the divine. To stay curious and open to a world of elements, great natural forces and our vast potential is to own the language of a true Magician.

Following are 7 tips in creating Tarot as a second language.

1. Think in Tarot.
   Tarot is a language of images. Learn the rhythms and power of non-verbal communication. Engage with the ways images speak daily. Watch commercials or movies without sound to strengthen skills in reading body language, colors, and symbols. Pay attention to where your focus is being directed when reading a magazine or looking through social media. Gain some basic art principles such as repetition, color, and design to expand your ability to perceive patterns.In addition to surfacing meaning from imagery, become more aware of the four elements—Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. These energies literally are the backbone of tarot and are expressed fully in the Minor Arcana. We are the elements. Air is Mind (Swords), Fire is Expression (Wands), Water is Feeling and Vision (Cups), and Earth is Sensation and Matter (Pentacles). A simple exercise is to sense what each person's major elemental nature is while standing in a checkout line. See yourself and others as these energies.

   Look for tarot everywhere—in church windows, music, poetry, or even clouds. You will find what you seek. Once while babysitting a creative young girl, she pointed to the sky and told me that the Empress was smiling. I looked up, and indeed the clouds seemed to form her shape. I realized back then that tarot on the cards is only one form of the wisdom they hold.

2. Choose a Primary Deck.
   When one learns a language, it helps to stay within one system. Choose the one tarot deck that you will go to again and again as you practice and build your knowledge. A minimal amount of research into the three branches of tarot (the Rider-Waite, the Marseilles and the Thoth) would be helpful in understanding the origins of your primary tarot deck. All additional decks you might use in the future will be variations of the mastery of this primary deck, much like a musician playing other instruments after starting with the piano.
3. Trust What You Sense.
   Initially treat tarot as if it were a new friend that speaks another language. When with them, it would be disruptive to pull out the translation book on the spot to know exactly what they are saying. Receive the messages as best as you can. Don't underestimate what you can gather by the cards' energy, gesture, and tone. Allow this kind of reciprocity to grow as you study the traditional meanings.In your initial phases with tarot, read immediately and intuitively. Act as if you know the message each card holds for you. Don't wait until you have some thorough understanding of all 78 cards. Your comfort in using your sense of the cards will actually create a base to contain the centuries old classical definitions.
4. Find the Noun and Verb.
   As a novice, understanding another language requires the ability to get the jist of the message. The heart of any sentence is the noun and the verb. If you can understand who is active and what is happening, the rest will follow. There will be a lot to unpack in one card (much less a number of them together) that could be overwhelming. Stick with the basics of the main character and the action that is happening card by card. Pretend you are reading a grade school primer. Let go of trying to make sense of all the details.
5. Allow Variation.
   Languages contain a myriad of ways to express and communicate a thought. As you learn to see the cards through your own creative authority, each card will accumulate different layers—your sense or experience of the card, its traditional meaning, the meaning from your deck's little white book, etc.Choose an overall pattern to serve as a basic layer, such as numerology, the elemental influence of each of the Minor Arcana, or correlations for all the Court Cards. Once you are have progressed into using spreads, stay true to the position of the spread and how it frames the card's meaning.

   During a reading, trust the layer that comes to surface. For instance, when reading the Empress card, I could speak of the traditional meaning (Mother, life force, and unconditional love), but the layer that surfaces is my earlier reflection of Empress as a force in our daily life if we just remember to look up. Trust that you are being guided. Traditional definitions are a strong and powerful dimension of the card yet just one layer during a reading. Remain open and curious, and don't attach to outcome. Let tarot and your curiosity lead you.

6. Have a Practice Partner.
   Ideally you would speak to another person fluent in tarot language. The greatest benefit of attending tarot conferences and meet-ups is to be immersed with other tarot speakers. Outside of gatherings, however, find another tarot curious friend to go on this journey with you. Design certain time and goals with lots of readings for yourself and each other from the very beginning. Don't worry about making mistakes and share all discoveries.Listening to other readers is helpful. Many YouTube tarot readers have developed a specific tarot vernacular. For example, a card is often defined by its clarifying card. The card at the bottom is an overview. There are developed definitions given for astrological collectives such as:
   Lovers: Twin Flames
   Moon: Secrets
   High Priestess: Holding secrets from someone
   Page of Swords: Cyber stalker
   Page of Cups: An apology
   Kings and Queens of the same suit: Divine partners
   6 of Cups: Soulmate
   Knight of Pentacles: Very slow
   3 of Wands: Long distance

   Stay open to all interpretations and reading styles as you study and experiment with your own reading style. Keep in mind, though, that there is no one right way.

7. Play.
   Creativity happens when one feels safe and relaxed. Follow your curiosity as you explore and find ways to know each card. Use your cards in various states of being, such as when you are content, tired, bored or sexy to uncover different perceptions. What you bring to the card is as important as what you receive from it. Pretend that you have been taught how to divine in other incarnations, all you need to do in this one is remember. Allow tarot to shape your reality.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2022. All rights reserved.

I have just returned from seeing a psychic. I shuffled the tarot cards and he started to deal. He picked up on some correct things but asked if I was very skeptical. He told me he couldn't read me because he was blocked. I had been rushing all morning, and he said I needed to calm down as things were flying everywhere. I did not pay a fee, and have booked to see him again on a day I know I will be calmer, but he may say the same thing. My sister went in after me and he couldn't read her either. I think she is more skeptical than me. We never said we were sisters but this may be why he couldn't read her. What do you think?

Alexandra

Susyn:

I have had off days and been unable to read for a number of clients in a row. While it's possible your energy was too scattered for the psychic to read you, it's interesting that he was also unable to read your sister. It sounds like perhaps he was the one who was having an off day - not you.

In my many years as a psychic reader, I've found that skepticism is not necessarily a block to reading someone. Once a client sits down and gets absorbed in the tarot cards, their walls usually come down. This is what I love about tarot: the cards provide plenty of focus for the reading process.

If the problem is actually coming from the client because they are skeptical or closed up, I'll try a different approach to get them to relax and allow the information they're looking for to emerge.

When a psychic does a reading, the information they receive comes from the client; the psychic is merely a channeler who is tapping into the truths the client carries within. Psychics know that if they're unable to connect with an individual on a spiritual level, the reading will be poor. Because people come to psychics seeking important information, it's essential that they are open to and interactive in this process.

Another thing to consider is that it may have not been the right time for a reading. Even the best psychics can be blocked from information if the time isn't right. This is the Universe's way of protecting people who aren't ready to hear certain things or know too much about the future.

Before you visit this psychic again, there are a few things you can do to align with a positive experience. First, be sure you have thoroughly researched his credentials. Hopefully, you were recommended to him by a trusted friend, for it's best to choose psychics based on word of mouth and reputation.

Second, make a list of questions you want to address with him. This will clarify your concerns and help the psychic access the answers you most need.

Since most of us live busy lives, most of my clients show up harried and rushed. A reading is best done in a calm, peaceful atmosphere, so arrive a few minutes early and practice a brief meditation or sit quietly before you enter.

Finally, do not be afraid to be interactive during your reading by offering feedback or affirming what he's telling you; this will help you get clearer direction. I often tell my clients, Think of me as a doctor: tell me where it hurts and we can get down to business!

Using these guidelines should make your next reading a more fulfilling experience.

*****

Oceania:

I know I will be calmer but he may say the same thing. There's that skepticism! It's difficult, if not impossible, to read for people who are skeptical, closed, arrogant or not present in the now. A helpful reading requires a client to be trusting, open, humble and aware. You won't be ready for Spirit's message unless you surrender your agenda beforehand. The reader needs a place for channeled information to go, and that would be your open heart and receptive mind.

It was not sisterhood but rather shared skepticism that got in the way of the readings that day. Since you ARE siblings, you and your sister might join forces and examine your upbringing. I suspect one of your parents was skeptical, fearful or mistrusting, and the two of you absorbed that outlook on life as a means of protecting yourselves from hurt.

I have a client who fears things will be taken from her, so she hoards. Shoring up against loss has left her imprisoned, unable to move around freely or entertain visitors. (There's no place to sit down!) Every surface area is covered with things she thinks she might need someday, for she does not trust that the universe will provide for her as she goes along.

This client also hoards money. In her mind, it should travel down a one-way street into her bank account and stay there. She reminds me of a dragon perched atop a treasure trove. Since money unspent is nothing more than potential energy, a more useful vision is to see money moving along a circular route. We offer something of value to the world, receive money, and then redirect it towards goods and services that enhance our lives.

We each have an energy gate. When we're skeptical, the gate is closed and it's difficult for energy in any form (information, money, love) to get in or out. When we're gullible, the gate is wide open; we let too much in and too much out. The ideal is to balance between those two extremes by using our best judgment to decide when to open the gate and how much.

Skeptics who never give love a chance have their gates locked. Those who dive in to each new encounter as if it will be forever are gullible. (There's an old joke about that type of person and how they show up for first dates in a U-haul truck!)

Your skepticism is valuable, but only when balanced with a willingness to be open to new experiences. Suspend your skepticism and replace it with trust for your next reading. If the reading isn't useful, you may not choose to return to that reader, but at least the reading will have been able to take place!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.