Mercury Retrograde: The Down and Dirty (from a few people that know)

Have you had a day from hell today? A day where everyone has misunderstood you, had car trouble, trouble with traffic and people driving like maniacs, and/or computer malfunctions? No, you're not going crazy. It's just Mercury Retrograde.

I'm no astrologer. My talent lies with tarot, so I will let astrologers deal with explaining the fun of when a planet like Mercury goes retrograde.

Here's a post from George Courtney regarding Mercury Retrograde: Back to the Future Mercury! Keep in mind that this was originally written for the Mercury Retrograde that happened at the end of March, but most of what George says here applies to a Mercury Retrograde in general.

Maria Shaw notes in her article Mercury Retrograde: What Is It Good For? what things CAN be accomplished during this time period. Mercury Rx is not a good time to start projects, but it IS a good time for finishing the unfinished ones. Have a knitting project that's been sitting? Time to finish it! Upset with your job? Don't start a new one during this time period, but DO revise your resume. I loved this part of her article:

"Think of any word that has an 're' in front of it. That’s what Mercury Retrograde is good for....re-doing just about anything."

So, let's bring it back to tarot now (after all, this is a tarot blog). What do the cards have to say about this Mercury Retrograde that lasts until August 26th?


Ace of Swords: Know that this is simply a fleeting moment in time. There is definitely a lot of righteous indignation going around. Do not be a part of that majority. That big sword in the Ace of Swords can cut both ways, and both you and your target will be injured in the process. Don't use words as a weapon right now.

Ace of Coins: Ground yourself. Seek solace in nature. There is so much prosperity around, but it is the potential of prosperity... it is not ripe for the picking yet. Let it wait; let it mature.


4 of Wands (rev): A call to move creative forces inward. The four wands in this card form a point of light that seems to be shining inside of yourself. It's almost a form of the Hermit card, but lighter. Introspection is needed. Lay low.


Very interesting that two Aces comes up in this reading. I personally like to think of the Aces as the potential of the suit they correspond to, not unlike the concept of "potential energy" vs. "kinetic energy". 


So, lay low, people. Tie up loose ends of projects that you began before Mercury went retrograde. Double-check all travel plans. Pad any plans you make with additional time, just in case. Be crystal clear in your communications, both written and verbal. Keep your eyes wide open while driving. And this Mercury Retrograde period too shall pass...


Has your Merc. Rx period started off with a bang? Let's chat about it in the Comments section!

The Tools That Help, The Tools That Hinder

Is the tool above helpful?

I never wear a watch when I do readings. Call it superstition. Call it what you will. But check my wrists the next time I’m reading for you, and they will be void of timepieces. Why?

I think it might stem from my wrist feeling incredibly heavy with the weight of time when I’m doing readings. I don’t want to feel constrained by time when I give a reading. It takes me completely out of the reading. I also don’t want to indulge into giving in to the urge to look at my watch if I am reading for a difficult client (few and far between, but, hey, it happens).

So, I find wearing a watch to be a tool that hinders. It stops me from doing readings to my best ability. Tools that assist a reader and tools that limit a reader I find to be an individual thing. Over time, you come to realize what works and what doesn’t.

What I think helps a reading:

• A candle in a color applicable to the reading.
• Actually, I carved a candle that I only burn during tarot readings. It is purple and anointed with specific oils for the purposes of divination, grounding, and goddesses associated with divination (Brid and Oya). It also is covered in silver glitter. I bet Martha Stewart would be either surprised and/or amused to know that her glitter brand was used for this purpose! I used a “7-Day Pullout” candle for this.
• There’s plenty of books out there about magical correspondences of colors. Do a Google search with the search terms “candle color correspondences” and you’ll find a wealth of information and recommendations of books to read on the subject. When at a loss in choosing, I suggest burning a white candle, since white is an all-purpose color. Also, use your own gut for this. If you get a peaceful calm feeling from burning a black candle, even if the correspondence isn’t “correct” according to a book, do what you feel. Burn that candle!
• If you already know what issue a client is coming to the reading for, burn a candle with the corresponding color for the situation. Or burn a candle to combat the situation, such as burning a light blue candle for peace if the particular situation is full of conflict.
• Always use common sense when burning candles. Keep water close by. Use a candle snuffer when possible.
• Crystals/gemstones.
• I usually keep the stones with whatever deck I’m using the most at the time. I store my cards in a bag, so the stones lay right next to the cards in the bag. I favor clear quartz (all-purpose, energy boost), amethyst (intuition, focus), rose quartz (love, friendship), tiger’s eye (luck), and any clear light blue stone (communication).
• Plenty of books out there about gemstones, too. The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall is a good, comprehensive resource book on the topic.

What I think hinders a reading:

• Caffeine.
• Caffeine causes me to become ungrounded. It is very hard for me to read when I’m not grounded. I feel fuzzy, out of it, and not present for the client. Gauge this for yourself. Me, it’s a personal choice to try to avoid coffee before I read for someone.
• Alcohol.
• I’ll further specify. I think one glass of wine while doing a reading is fine, especially if you’re feeling uptight/nervous about reading at an event. Sip slowly and thoughtfully. Don’t chug.
  I had a glass of white wine while reading at the Tarot of the Boroughs launch party, and I was fully present for my clients, and not wrapped up in my own confidence issues and anxieties. In this case, it helped. But keep it to a minimum. It’s unlikely that someone will be drawn to a reader that’s smashed out of their gourd. Use common sense. There are some readers that will disagree with me on this point, and prefer to avoid alcohol completely when reading the cards. Do what you feel is ethical. Remember to keep your client’s highest good in mind.
• Additionally, avoid reading for someone that’s had too much to drink. Reschedule with them if you can. It will be very hard for their reading to be beneficial if they’re not mentally present for the reading, and they won’t retain any information you give them.

Do you need every item? Nope! After all, some of this paraphernalia can get pretty unwieldy. Take everything I said above and either take it to heart, or chuck it out the window. Use whatever tools you want, but always keep ever mindful of the “why” behind them. Be wary of those tools becoming a crutch. In summation, all you really need is your cards and yourself.

What tools do you use in your tarot practice? Do they hinder or help? Why? Let’s chat about it in the Comments section!

Guest Post on The Tarot Lady's Blog

Hi y'all, and Happy Wednesday! The Tarot Lady has just posted my guest post "What Cards Are Saying When They Aren't There" on her blog. Go check it out!

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.

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!

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!

Tarot of the Boroughs Launch Party!

I will be doing readings with the new deck, Tarot of the Boroughs, at its launch party this Thursday, August 26th, from 8pm–9:30pm.

Located at:

the Bowery Poetry Club

308 Bowery btw Bleecker and Houston (F train to 2nd Ave, 6 to Bleecker)

New York, NY

For more information about the launch party, please check out the facebook page here.

For more information about the deck, please go to the Tarot of the Boroughs Web site.

Why Three-Card Spreads Get a Bad Rep

I am always surprised by people, sometimes by their generosity, sometimes by their out-and-out rudeness, and sometimes by their kindness. What really surprised me the other month, however, was a potential client's negative reaction to the three-card spread that I usually do at events.

"How much information can someone really get from a three-card spread?" she complained to me.

Hence the title and impetus for this post.

In my experience, three-card spreads are some of the most difficult readings to do. I only offer them during short events, such as carnivals, fairs, etc. because it allows me to read for more people and not have people waiting for a reading for too long. When I do a Celtic Cross spread for someone, they are usually sitting with me for forty-five minutes to an hour. Not an ideal time frame when at a carnival! Three-card spreads are difficult for me because you're reading for someone with a very limited amount of cards. There's only three cards... so intuiting a situation and its possible outcomes becomes more of a challenge when there are only three positions in the spread: past, present, and future. Some tarot readers do three-card readings with no positions defined as well, making the reading that much more challenging, in my opinion!

I liken to calling a three-card spread a "snapshot" spread—a very good reading to have to know if your life patterns are on the "right" track, so to speak.

So, some of you might be wondering what my answer was to this woman who asked, "How much information can you get from three cards?" My answer: "a heck of a lot!" My unsaid answer: "It's just a lot more work for the reader!"

I think different spreads have different uses, depending on the situation. All I know is three-card spreads work for me in a carnival setting... and I've never had a complaint until last month after doing them for five years at carnivals! I say to each their own.