Pattern Recognition

This is how I read. I've struggled to get this idea across. Cynthia Giles - Tarot | An Exploration Project - on the other hand, has done a much better job.

12.31.23  On the cusp of a new year . . .

Anyway . . . that started me thinking about pattern recognition, which I believe is the most important element in the art of Tarot divination (emphasis mine). And though you can look up a card meaning, there’s no Little White Book for pattern recognition.

Yes, a spread or layout is a pattern—but it’s a pattern chosen by the reader. And it’s meaningless without the Tarot cards themselves. A Celtic Cross laid out with pieces of blank pasteboard doesn’t convey any information.

Once a deck of Tarot cards is shuffled, then laid down in whatever arrangement, a meaningful pattern emerges. But it can just lay there, unnoticed, unless the reader is looking for it, and able to recognize it.

There might be one big pattern in a reading, or there may be many patterns. If many, they might be separate, or connected, or overlapping. So there’s a lot involved in identifying not only the patterns but their relationships and levels of energy.

 

Free Palestine 🇵🇸

So what *have* I been doing?

The Issue -

Root: I'm fed up with not having the supportive real-life tarot friendship I crave...

Solar Plexus: but it's in my nature not to put myself out there socially.

The Fix -

Crown: I need to rekindle my connection with Spirit...

Third Eye: because I've been neglectful of this constant and caring support system.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I pulled one card just for a "weather report". Of course, the theme took me back to last week's post. So I pulled the rest for "Okay, what do I about it?"

This is the second time recently that I've had it pointed out to me that I'm not spending enough time with Spirit. I think it's time I listened.

deck: Feel Your Chakras Oracle by Andi Taylor

Connection

The fact is, I'm lonely. 

I want so desperately to share my fascination with tarot with someone else who gets it. Someone who gets it in the way I do. And who isn't just a name on the internet.

So two things happen:

I spend way too much time scrolling on social media looking for a connection, even though they are just names.

I don't touch my cards because I've got no one to tangibly share the experience with.

I decided to find out what would happen if I didn't go on social media this whole weekend. This blog doesn't count. It's not exactly a hive of social activity.

I got more "other" stuff done – listed things on eBay, read a book, did some crochet, blogged... All things I haven't touched while I've been endlessly scrolling.

Still can't bring myself to pull cards, though. And when I try to think of some way to motivate myself, I feel that tug in the pit of my stomach. A combination of fear and sadness.

The point of this post? I don't know. I just wanted to say it out loud, I guess. Maybe other people feel the same way, and seeing they're not the only one might help somehow.

Of course I appreciate when people react to the stuff I put out there. It's nice to make those little connections. 

But the online tarot community is not a friend.

(image: Creatures Oracle by Sara Kathleen. My new best friend.)

Fate Keeps On Happening: Lenormand & Logic (blog)

Lenormand & Logic - As usual, Stella is spot on. A copy of this, and the Philippe LeNormand sheet (pictured), should be included with every Lenormand deck sold!

John Beckett: Magical Ethics - How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything (Patheos) - link

John Beckett's post Magical Ethics: How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything is possibly the most clear and rational examination of the topic I've yet come across. Here are some of my favourite 'moments' -

 "... ethics don’t exist to help people avoid punishment. Ethics exist to help people do the right thing in the first place."

"I can’t give you a bunch of rules to follow. If you need rules you're in the wrong religion."

"Ultimately there are no special ethics around magic. There are just ordinary ethics applied in a magical context."

 

Overly Spiritual Advice – Hardest Man In Tarot (YouTube)

Chris Egon Searle is not just the “hardest” man in tarot, he's one of the most sensible.  

“People... want very spiritual answers that only apply to them...

They want [advice that’s really complicated] because they know they can’t follow it...

They can... use the complexity as an excuse of why it didn’t work.”

I think this goes some way towards explaining why many people who have something that’s concerning them are unwilling to ask a direct question about it and opt instead for a random spiritual message. If they got a clear and actionable answer to their question, they’d either have to do the thing or deliberately ignore the advice.

But How?

My previous post, Why I Read For Other People, was prompted by a ‘chat group’ conversation among fellow card readers. It made me stop to consider how I actually operate as a reader. And out of that grew the post.

That post then prompted someone to ask me how I knew when I was supposed to read for someone.

In my attempt to answer that question fully and coherently it basically became a whole ‘nother post in its own right. 😏

“May I ask how this was, and continues to be, revealed to you?”

“Revealed” is too strong a word for the process. It’s nothing as mystical or powerful as that.

My upbringing and my personality made the idea of being able to communicate with spirit an obvious possibility. I just embraced that possibility. 🙂

Basically, we “talk". I don’t get audible words back (except very, very rarely) but more a kind of immediate “awareness”. 

For context, I should explain that I no longer do paid readings. I hang out in various free reading groups, mainly on Facebook, and occasionally people will contact me directly as well.

Here’s an example, from just the other day, of how I “knew" when to read for someone. It’s a somewhat atypical example, but it gives a sense of how it feels for me.

I’m scrolling through one of those free reading groups. I look at each post... nope, no connection, scroll on.

Nope, 
scroll, 
nope, 
scroll, 
nope, 
scroll,
.
.
.

Then I get to one that I have no more personal interest in than all the others I’ve just scrolled past. But as soon as I lay eyes on it I know the answer to their question is Yes. 

Ah. 

I guess I’d better tell them. 

Because I’ve already been told it’s Yes there’s no need for an actual reading this time, so I pull one card just to confirm and support the answer and I tell them what I get about their situation. End of.

It’s a bit like that. Generally, I just get a “spirit nudge” when I’m supposed to read for someone. Nothing, nothing, nothing, 'That one'.

The vast majority of the time I haven't got a clue ahead of time what the answer is going to be. I’m not a capital “P” Psychic. I just somehow know that I’m meant to pass on a message to this particular person. That’s where the reading comes in. Spirit then gives me that message through the language of the cards.

Those people who contact me directly are a bit more problematic. In those cases, unless there’s some clear reason not to read for them (like they’re rude, you’d be surprised how often, or it’s obviously a dodgy account) I just trust that they were “sent”.

Why did spirit direct me to this person and not that one? I don’t know. Ask them. 

Actually, until I typed this just now I’d honestly never given it a thought. I guess I’ve always figured it was none of my business.

Why I Read For Other People

The Spiritual Path I have taken through life has led me to be a card reader (and witch).

Not a yoga instructor, not a medium, not a reiki practitioner. 

A card reader. 

Therefore, to honour my Path, I must read cards.

I’m compelled by Spirit to read for others. But I’m not going to read for every person who knocks at my metaphorical door. 

Some people are led to me by Spirit. Some just find me. I’m shown which is which and I’ll read for the former. Some readers may define it differently, but this is what I mean when I say I’m “drawn" to read for someone.

I think it’s fair to say that I don’t see this as a personal “service to mankind”. I am not a Light Worker. It’s not my show.

I read because it’s my Spiritual Calling and I go where Spirit sends me.

Seasons Tune: Anything Goes (blog) - link

"Readers' Ethics", however one defines them, do not apply when reading for oneself. There, assuming we wish to grow and develop as readers, we are free to slip our traces and allow our souls to scan the full horizon.

Seasons Tune: Anything Goes

Pam Richards: 12 Mistakes New Tarot Students Make (blog) - link

Psychic clairvoyant Pam Richards wrote an excellent piece which addresses some of the common mistakes those new to Tarot often make. I thought it was worth sharing.

12 Mistakes New Tarot Students Make