World Tarot Day Is Tomorrow!

I support World Tarot Day! Do you?

In honor of World Tarot Day tomorrow (May 25th), I will be doing free tarot readings on shindigtarot.com from 6:30pm–8:30pm EST. Find me at http://shindigtarot.com/directory/hilary_parry

More celebration ideas for World Tarot Day can be found on the site: World Tarot Day.

hilary_parry's Tarot Reader Profile | Shindig Tarot

hilary_parry's Tarot Reader Profile | Shindig Tarot: "hilary_parry's tarot reader profile on Shindig Tarot"

Why Meditate? Why Not?

Doesn't that look peaceful? Is this what your "happy place" looks like?

Some people might put the men in suits out for me if I tell you this. It's the secret to grounded and clearer tarot readings. It's also the secret to receiving better readings from your neighborhood friendly tarot reader. Want to know what it is? Meditation.

Please, refrain from rolling your eyes. After all, you came to the blog of a tarot reader. You've got to be an iota interested in things "off the beaten path". Why is this meditation thing the secret to being grounded? How in the world can this make you better at not only giving readings but receiving readings?

I'm the first to admit, I was never that into meditation. I confess, when I took yoga classes in college, the corpse pose (which is basically laying flat on your back with your arms resting gently at your sides) would cause me to not meditate, but fall fast asleep. I was told I snored in class. Not very enlightened!

The key is quality, not quantity. You don't have to be a person who can meditate for 45-minute stretches at a time. In fact, starting out your meditation practice that way will build you up for a mighty big fall when you give up. And you will give up more easily if you don't start a little bit at a time. I can't emphasize enough that you don't have to invest that much time. But you do have to invest a little of it.

5 minutes a day. That's it. Really. 5 minutes to unplug from the world. Because when you do that, you don't unplug from everything... you plug into yourself. Most people do not check in with themselves. I see meditation as a way of checking in. You can meditate by focusing on a flickering candle. You can choose a tarot card from the deck you use and meditate on that. You can meditate on your breath. You can meditate by listening to soothing music or a guided meditation CD. But however you choose to do it, the main point is to do it every day. Make it a daily habit and you will feel more grounded, calm, and focused. I will recommend some meditation tools I use later.

Now, how does this apply to tarot, both giving and receiving readings? The goal of both a reader and a client is in service to the client. The goal is one and the same. If the client leaves a reading without a question answered, advice ungiven, then both the reader and the client loses out. Through meditation, the reader is more focused on the client's needs. If the client meditates, the client is more focused on internal goals and what their spirit truly needs, versus surface wants that masquerade as real goals. The client can then ask the questions they really want answered through the tarot. Then the reader can help the client in interpreting tarot for them, guiding them to the path they want to walk.

Meditation tools I use that may be helpful for you!

• Anchoring Spirit and Gentle Ocean: A Guided Meditation and Musical Journey CD by Stacey Wolf and Julia Gregory (I think this is no longer available for purchase... sorry!)
• Angels of Venice CD
• The Serpent's Egg CD by Dead Can Dance
• Any candle... whatever scent you find soothing. If no preference or if you have a sensitive nose then a plain white candle should do for flame-gazing.
• A Soundscapes CD (whichever you like that you find soothing, or you can use a sound machine that has such sounds as Rainfall, Babbling Brook, etc.)

My suggestion if you're new to meditation: change it up! Make it fun! Mix and match... if you use a guided meditation one day, meditate on your breathing the next day. Remember, the point of meditation is to meditate, not to fall asleep. However, if you are having trouble falling asleep, meditating before you go to bed usually helps.

Namaste!

Blogging about Readers Studio: Classes

Classes I took at Readers Studio:

The three Master Classes:

Tarot and Astrology by Corrine Kenner

Okay, I thought I knew at least a little something about Astrology. Turns out I know diddly squat, but through Corrine's class, I'm beginning to understand it a little better and how it fits into tarot. Very beautiful handouts, too, which I keep rereading over and over again, each time absorbing a little more information. I also can kinda read a natal chart, which I couldn't claim to do before!

Tarot Spreads: Make Your Readings Even More Fabulous by Barbara Moore

Despite threats from Courtney, Theresa, and Barbara herself to have me teach her class, Barbara ended up doing the class, and it was extremely informative. Have you ever wondered why the Celtic Cross spread is so effective and is a wonderful foundation reading for those clients new to getting their cards read for them? Layout, layout, layout and how the human brain works when seeing cards laid out above, below, to the side, and crossing the significator. Truly an informative class, and Barbara makes anyone believe that they can create useful spreads for any occasion or client request.

Hunting the Lady: Using the Significator Skillfully by Caitlín Matthews

This class would have been worth it just from hearing Caitlín sing in person (gorgeous!), which she did often to call her class to order and to bring us back after working in groups. This class made me want to do reading using significators, when I usually don't. And by don't, I mean I use a randomly selected significator and start my reading based on that. Which is valid, but could go deeper if I applied some of the techniques that were discussed during her class.

Night workshops:

Social Media for Tarot Readers by Theresa Reed

Taking Theresa's class was a no-brainer. I've been using social media for a little while, specifically using twitter to pull cards for the day and give my interpretations of them. There is A LOT more that you can do with social media. Theresa also covered some pretty interesting ground about promoting yourself, taking the ickiness out of the word promoting. Less "used-car salesman" and more "I'm a good reader with this style, I'm here when you want a reading." Using social media opens the entire world up to you as potential clients. The biggest lesson from this class? Just be you. The younger techno-savvy generation (am I part of that?) can spot bullshit from a mile away, and even more so if it's bullshit on a computer screen. Don't bullshit. Be yourself. And don't write about yourself in the third person; that just makes you sound douchy.

The Game of Tarot by Alec Satin

More for fun than anything else! Did you know that there is a game of tarot? I sure didn't. And no, you won't be using your Rider-Waite Deck to play it, either. Alec was a very good teacher, and we were able to play quite a few hands with his supervision, because in my experience there's no better way to learn something than by doing it.

The Tarot Apprentice Speaks (Part 1 of ?)

Gee, I wonder what Marcus Katz said to me in this picture to make me react this way?

I AM the Tarot Apprentice! I am amazed and humbled that I was chosen among such a field of crazy-awesome tarot people. And you all need to keep in touch!

Readers Studio was this weekend, and the first I’ve ever attended. I never expected something like this to exist, but it does! Such a wonderful support system of tarot people; I feel completely changed in a good way by everything that happened and everyone I spoke with.

So, the theme of this weekend was torture leading to self-actualization. Yes, you heard me right. Threats from Courtney and Theresa to make me read for Ciro Marchetti using the Legacy of the Divine deck lead to me saying, “You are sick. You are sick, sick women.” Further threats included the following:

• to have me read for Marcus Katz;
• to have me teach Barbara Moore’s master class on creating tarot spreads;
• and finally, the one that really happened: me being partnered with Theresa for the Foundation Reading.

Okay, let me break it down for y’all: the Foundation Reading is done at the start of Readers Studio. You partner with someone and exchange readings the best way you know how at the time. Whatever spread you want; whatever you deem appropriate. You take notes on everything: what cards come out where, and everything that’s said. Why? Because you come back to the same person at the END of Readers Studio and revisit the Foundation Reading, applying all of the information you absorbed over the course of the weekend. It’s pretty cool, and boy, did it WORK! Back to the scary part.

So, all of these threats flung at me were very tongue-in-cheek and playful… but then Theresa turned to me and said, “You’re my partner for the Foundation Reading.” Yeah, she wasn’t going to take No for an answer. And I had a feeling this was going to happen, because out of all the tables to sit at, she went out of her way to end up sitting next to me. Apprentice contestants who have been through the fires of the four challenges, let me just say this: the notches were dialed up to 11. So I sucked it up and I dealt with it. And yes, I read for her first (yes, she gave me the choice!).

More tomorrow... because it was a weekend full of stories to tell!