“Intuitive” Tarot

I’ve been sitting on this topic for a while, I just know I’m going to get people taking my opinions seriously, as a personal attack. Cut it out! I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I can only speak from my own experience, good or bad. And as always, your mileage may vary.

Why I hate the word “intuitive” and avoid it like the plague.

It’s a visceral reaction. I’ve seen too many people use it as a cop out of learning Tarot, as an excuse not to do the work.

Bonus to the people teaching “intuitive” Tarot. Call it something else, anything else, but DON’T call it “reading Tarot”, because it’s not. It’s making shit up as ya go along and pulling it out ya ass for a little money, and churning out “readers” who know nothing. Yeah, I knew that chick. Couple of them, actually.

Joiner. Be unique!

And of course everyone’s using it as a keyword, buzzword, as a hashtag.

It really gives me the heebie-jeebies.

So you’re a great “intuitive” reader you say. Go you. Use your imagination and some of that intuition to find a better way, a personal and unique way, to identify yourself. What does it really mean anyway?

I’ve got nothing against intuition.

No, really. Nor do I dislike intuitives, I mean we all are intuitive, right? Some people just use theirs more than others.

My personal experience, the way my intuition manifests in readings is in the relationship between the cards/runes/symbols/whatever. It’s in the connections.

It’s the label “intuitive” and how it’s used that I dislike.

Pie

It’s like pie. You LOVE apple pie. You go to a restaurant that is world famous for apple pie. You are promised apple pie. You order apple pie. You pay for apple pie.

But you are served cherry pie. Is it good? Maybe. Maybe it’s the best cherry pie in the world. But it’s not what was advertised. It’s not what you ordered. It’s not what you paid for.

If you’d known that the restaurant was out of apple pie you might have ordered cherry and been happy, but that’s not how it went down.

And to those who don’t know the difference, it bunches readers who actually read Tarot up with all the other readers of whatever method or technique they use, and it casts an unpleasant shadow on everyone.

Hey, go ahead and read however you want, but be real, be honest. If you decided that being a “psychic” was an easy to make some dolla, picked up a deck, and just sat down with someone and started describing the pretty pictures, YOU ARE NOT READING TAROT.

You will be found out eventually, but in the mean time you make us all look bad.

Knowledge + Intuition = The Beginning of Wisdom

Why is intuition all of a sudden so much more valuable than knowledge? When used together with a sincere intent to serve, the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Learning traditional Tarot isn’t meant to stifle your intuition, it creates a stable base to build on.

Imagine you want to build a beautiful tower that reaches into the clouds. The bigger and more solid the base is, the higher it can climb and the more stability it will have.

If you rush or short the foundation, the structure is weak and prone to crumble and fall.

Let intuition be the shining cap-stone crowning a solid base of learning and deep knowledge.

Don’t short change yourself and your practice by short-cutting your learning.

But it takes so long…

If your main objection is that it takes too long, then you have to ask yourself if you’re doing it for the right reasons.

Learning Tarot is a journey, in the beginning you’re looking at the scenery, then you become more focused on the map, all the twists and turns in the road, and alternate routes, looking at each step individually, then at the end you can see the whole journey for what it was, stops in a beautiful landscape.

If you take short cuts, you miss not only all the learning opportunities, you miss all the beauty.

But there’s so much…

You can memorize the keyword meanings for the cards and do readings, but until you connect with the energy and understand the relationships between the cards, you will not have the depth of meaning that will make your readings exceptional.

So hey, if it strikes you, I mean only if you want to, join my mailing list.

Or hit up my webbie, maybe get a reading: The Essence of Spirit

My Spiritual Practices

WOW! Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to my blog, what I thought was going to be a short across-town move ended up being 600 miles! Ain’t life grand?

Anyway, recently someone asked me about my spiritual practices. Shoot, I guess I never thought of it in that way, so after some deliberation I decided to write a quick blog post.

So, what are my Spiritual Practices?

Above all, I seek to honor the Earth, all of Nature, all of Creation.

I meditate, but that’s not necessarily a spiritual practice. In particular I do guided meditations, because my brain refuses to quiet sometimes and it’s easier for me to follow along, at least at first. More often than not, I go off on my own to take my own journey, or doze off, or occasionally go out of body.

Lightwork is another facet of meditation to me, at a certain time I make a point to send healing to the world in general or specific situations if I feel called.

Reiki is a method for reaching personal enlightenment, and an energetic healing technique. It’s not associated with any religion, anybody can learn and be attuned.

I practice Shamanic journeying. The drumming puts you into an altered state, so it’s a good idea to have a competent and practiced guide around in case you drift off and start to snore. Also, strange journeys are always possible and it’s good to have a journeying veteran around to talk about it with. The advantage that journeying has for me is that I stay present much more than when I meditate.

Druidry is another way of connecting with Nature, inner knowledge, and higher wisdom. It’s about connecting with both the Ancestors and honoring the Spirit that lives in all things.

The ceremony I do is Native American inspired, but to many it looks like spells in Witchcraft.

Sooooo… are you a witch?

I don’t identify myself as a witch. I do all kinds of stuff, to some that would make me an eclectic solitary witch, but to me, I’m just me. I do my thing, and when I can, I help you do yours.

Let me take a moment to mention the difference between being a witch and being Wiccan. Wicca is a religion, albeit informal. Witchcraft is about practice, not worship. It’s a fine and fuzzy line. One can be either, or both. I don’t necessarily feel like I’m either, though I have a little guided experience with both.

I do identify with what most view as Pagan Gods and Goddesses. To me they are all facets of Great Spirit, the Infinite Light, The God and Goddess.

How does divination fit in to all this?

Before I read or dowse or engage in healing of any kind, I ask for presence and guidance, whether it’s for me or someone else. I allow only beings in alignment with the Infinite Light. If it is necessary to communicate or work with lower vibrational entities it is only done through the Infinite Light.

By the way, I’m also a complete science nerd. Metaphysics is the flip side of quantum physics.

Don’t try to figure me out, it’ll just give you a headache.

Think you want to work with me? cristine@theessenceofspirit.com

Or join me on my email list: www.theessenceofspirit.com/list