The Scary, Scary Tarot Tower Card…

Its all crashing down. You are tossed out. Lighting strikes. The crown tumbles. Clouds, darkness, lightning, fire and ice.

When the tower shows up in your life, when you experience the ground shift underneath you and you are left with unexpected loss, change, or abandonment, it can be awful. Sometimes the first thing that happens is the child in you comes out. You can react with fear, with self judgment, self blame, and yes… self pity.

Its a tough card. Its frightening. I am ashamed that it is easier for me to counsel others going through this than it is myself. But it is the truth of the matter. Beyond all the ego, beyond all the fear, there really is growth. There is the chance to rebuild your foundation stronger, sturdier, and with a conscious solidity.

A breakup is a perfect example of The Tower showing up in your life. Sometimes we build things up, we make assumptions about the way things are, we have years of building our relationship, brick by brick. But maybe we didn’t properly kiln dry all the bricks. Maybe we didnt notice and take care of the weaknesses, the cracks. So while we saw the strong, tall tower, we ignored the weaknesses. Or avoided. Or weren’t observant enough. Or they may have even been hidden from us. And the truth is, it doesn’t matter. Those ‘whys’, those ‘what ifs’, those ‘if onlys’ exist in the past now. The tower has crumbled. It is what it is.

So you sit in the rubble. With the loss, with the grief, with the pain. Go ahead and do it. You need to.

But.

We humans are builders. We are creators. We cannot avoid moving forward. And so move forward, we do. And it is the intent with which we move forward is what is important. And each new day is an opportunity to build a better foundation for ourselves. To dream of what we want to do differently. The fallen tower allows us to recreate ourselves.  Make different choices. Use what we have learned to become better people.

And that is where we have space to create the most amazing future possible. Hold on. It gets better. You will be stronger. Life will be beautiful when the storm clears…

Living in the Unknown: The Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune. The Fates. They are always there. They will always bring change, both wanted and unwanted. And we have to roll along with it. But what is a wheel? It is a round object with a well defined center. The center is where you are called to be. “The Middle Way”. Acceptance of where the wheel is rolling at the moment is best done right in the middle. Not allowing yourself to get pulled down the spokes to the rim. The rim will always roll through mud, get cleaned by the rain, and dried by the sun. Always changing its state. It is easy to be run by these constant changes, but how exhausting is that?

It can be tricky to stay in the middle. It takes some balancing. According to Pema Chodron we have such an urge to move to the right or the left, just to get away from the middle when the middle is an unknown. It is not knowing if you are going right or left. And here is the key: acceptance of that unknowing. Living in the discomfort of now. Not the imagined comfort of soon. Not the imagined comfort of getting that raise, being asked to get married, or the comfort of buying that new house. That’s all away from the moment. And while it will give you happiness then, in the future, you hope, how much better would it be to accept happiness right now? Without having to wait for any future award. Without being dependent on events and others. Pema writes about what a gift it is to us humans. To choose to be ok with how things are. To choose acceptance of the moment. Even if the moment isn’t quite what you ‘wanted.’

(One thing to note: Sometimes, one of the things that keeps us from being ok in the moment is almost a superstition. If we worry, we are working towards controlling the result. But it is simply not true. That is an attachment of our mind. And it is a scary one to release, as you can feel as if you will fall into the abyss. As if then everything will really be beyond your control. But it is a false sense of security.)

So look at how you can use this concept that lies behind The Wheel of Fortune Tarot card. How can you let go of the desire to move away from ‘what is’ right now? How can you find comfort in the discomfort of not knowing which way the wheel is going to roll? How can you accept, embrace, tru, and love the exact moment that is here. Right now.

The moment is for you. Only you. How may you make the best of it?

Love,

Vaike

Book a reading and discover more awesomeness for yourself: www.vaike.com/pricing/

(Tarot card from Pam’s Vintage Tarot)

Inspiration From the Cards

Inspiration. It comes unexpectedly. From unassuming places. It is when we don’t look for it, when we don’t have any expectations, that it shows up. When we look, search, force ourselves to find inspiration, it hides with all its might.

Simply allowing things to ‘just be’ creates space for Inspiration to have the comfort of showing up. It doesn’t like to be squeezed. It doesn’t like being demanded. It doesn’t like being preconceived. It will just float in on the breeze, awaken you from a dream, pop up like the proverbial lightbulb.

I just pulled three cards to inspire me to write a blog post. The first was the Knight of Swords. It looked exhausting. I put it down and pulled another. It was the Three of Swords. It looked painful. I put it down and pulled another. It was the Eight of Swords. It looked stuck. I was about to put it down and stopped myself. I decided to allow. I would allow myself to sit with these three challenging cards. Allow space to open up and just see what was there. Without my judgement. Without my preconceived notions. And just look at what showed up.

What showed up was acceptance. Of what difficulties they held. What showed up was relief. I didn’t have to be bothered with picking any more cards. What showed up was ease. I didn’t have to keep  hoping for ‘better’ cards. I didn’t have to fight it. What was. Was.

And it inspired me to write this post.

It doesn’t even matter what the cards meant. The acceptance of them without a fight is what was invaluable.

When we allow inspiration to happen, it will happen. When it comes to tarot cards, the inspiration is always there. It just may not be what you expect. And how wonderful is that? You get to engage with something totally new and unexpected. Tarot cards inspire us by showing us new, something we hadn’t previously thought of. We can see things from a different angle.

Even now, you can allow inspiration in. Without the cards in front of you. Look around you. What do you see? Pick something, anything, it doesn’t matter if it is a bird at the feeder or the laundry waiting to be folded.

  • What colors do you see?
  • What do like about it?
  • Dislike about it?
  • What attachments do you have to what you are seeing?
  • What would you like to change?
  • What memories does it bring up?
  • How would you change it?

Don’t overthink, don’t look for meaning, just look. Don’t force an answer, just observe. Allow those observations to play in your head without an end result, without a goal of being inspired. Just allow.

There you go. That’s all you need to do. Don’t look for it, don’t ask for it, and maybe now, maybe later, inspiration will just be there. Your answers will come to you down the line, as you have created space for, allowed, and played with inspiration.

Love,

Vaike

 

(card images from U.S. Games: Centennial Smith Waite)

How Adding Tarot to Life Coaching Can Bring Out Your Best Self

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Tarot and life coaching? Some people give me funny looks when I tell them what I do. They can’t quite put the two together, and look at me in puzzlement.

I would like to share with you how tarot and coaching is an amazing combination.

As we deal with life, work, family, exercise, and so on, there is one thing that I see so often getting neglected: Your true creative self. The part of you that is playful, joyous, free. Your actual soul, heart center, true nature.

Adding tarot into coaching is simply tapping in to your creative self. The work becomes playful. You find your answers to how to achieve your goals through your own creative nature.

When is the last time you looked at a picture and saw yourself? When is the last time you created your own story? Or even just saw your own story through the drama and distractions of life. When did you last remember yourself? Your true nature?

When you work with a Reflective Tarot Coach, we go through your cards together. You get to actually look at your own story through the images of the cards. And, even better, you get to create your own story moving forward! Really, this is your own life, there is no reason why you should not get to design it. Its all we have. Let’s make the most of it.

When you tap into the creative part of yourself, that colorful place where you get to draw outside the lines, that is where your freedom lies. Away from the ‘shoulds’, the ‘mustn’ts’, the ‘have tos’. There are ALWAYS other options, other ways of being, other choices. When you engage in play those new ways of being, of joy, will show up. Play can be something that is sorely lacking in us as adults. We forget the joy and magic of it. We created our identities as children when we were at play. Now is the time to find that place again.

Answers show up because when we use stories, when we play, when we color, we use different brain muscles. And these muscles will engage in new ways. And these new ways will find amazing paths through the forest. To our true natures. Our true desires.

Life coaching gets you the life results you want: new job, new business, more time, less clutter, better relationships, new relationships, etc. Adding Tarot lets you tap into your heart to really know the depth and true nature of those desires. And that makes creating your life so much more powerful.

Let’s see what life we can create for you…Vaike.com

Love,

Vaike

 

10 Tarot Cards to Keep You on Your Path

Doing the right thing for ourselves. Sometimes it is hard to remember. Sometimes it is hard to figure out. We get lost and we forget our path. The path we know we should be on, we belong on, we want to be on. It is so easy to get lost in the woods with so many trees of distraction.

Here are 10 things we can learn from tarot to help guide us on our path to awesomeness…

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1.    Page of Wands. What do you dream of? What is your ideal? What would bring you joy? These are questions that we need to ask ourselves. When we get caught up in the daily grind of life, we tend to put these on the back burner. Bring them forth again. Start to dream. Start to question. Start to learn. Go back to the beginning and look at this very moment as an invitation to bring your dreams into your life. Take a minute. Answer the above questions without boundaries. Freely. Write down what comes up for you. Put is somewhere that will remind you to remember. To dream.

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2. Five of Cups. Regrets. Loss. We all have them. It is part of life. But when we focus on them at the cost of neglecting and appreciating what wo DO have, we are doing ourselves a disservice. What would it take to turn you around? Stand up and look in front of you. What do you see? Now turn around? What do you see? You are in the same time and place but the view is different. All it took was turning your viewpoint around. Name a regret. Or two. Now turn around and name something you are grateful for. And a second thing. And a third. Fill that list. Find gratitude. How does the view look now?

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3.     Queen of Cups. Acknowledging your feelings. They are just feelings. We honor them, but we also know they pass. This knowledge can get you through your challenges. The Queen of Cups in you is mature with her feelings. She can be with them and not be run by them. You are that Queen.

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4.     Six of Wands. You have victories. Plenty of them. Stop and absorb them. You deserve it. What are your victories? How have you celebrated them? What is a victory you can celebrate right now? And how are you going to do that? What is a reward you can honor yourself with right in this moment? Go do it!

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5.     Ace of Swords. Now that you have celebrated yourself, your awesomeness, regroup. Get back to thinking about your dreams, your values. What is at your core self that you truly believe in? What can you cut away with this sword? What no longer fits in your life?

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6.     Eight of Pentacles. Moving forward. To your dreams. To who you want to be. Baby steps and focus. Keep on keeping on. Be conscious of where you need to put your energy. What will move you forward? What is a baby step you can take towards your goal?

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7.     Ten of Swords (my card!). What can you be done with? What can you let go of? What heavy weight is holding you down? If you can’t let go right now, can you just give it acceptance without judgement? Can you focus on the sunrise? How will you do that?

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8.     Eight of Swords.  Afraid of the unknown. Afraid of a misstep. Afraid of making the wrong decision. How has fear been holding you back? What is it costing you? What else is it costing you? What would it be like to be fearless? Try it on. Play with it. Fantasize.

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9.     Three of Cups. Friends. Love. Support. As you move towards your life, towards your dreams, who can support you? Where can you find an ally? Who will rally around you and root for you? Those are who to bring in close.

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10.     Ten of Pentacles. The end goal. The big picture. This card shows the fruits of one’s labors, the result of the personal foundation you are creating now. This card shows family, community, security. That may or may not be what your desires are. What do you want your success to be? What is your personal end result? Go back to your dreams, your desires. How can you make it a solid vision? How do you imagine yourself in it? Take this vision and keep it with you. Wear it like a cloak, a mantle. Watch as the world changes around you and aligns…

And, of course to take this deeper for profound change, please book a session.

 

Love,

Vaike

 

 

 

 

Power Tarot – Bring It!

 

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Where is your power? Who has your power? Why do they have your power? Why did you give it to them? What would it be like to take that power back? Connect to your bad-ass self? Walk taller. Walk fearlessly. Walk knowing your awesome self.

We, especially women, so easily give up our power. For so many different reasons. So much of it goes back to survival and fear. We learned how to survive as children. It may have been by making ourselves small. It may have been by making ourselves larger than we actually felt. Defenses. Defenses take our power. They show up in so many different ways, but they always come back to how we knew how to survive.

Now, as adults, it has become habit. Our go to way of being. We don’t even realize that we have given up our power until we feel sad, scared, angry, confused, frustrated, broken.

We need to find out how to tap into our latent power. Our latent awesomeness. The stuff that you know is there, it just can’t seem to find its way to the top.

We. Are. Not. Helpless.

Want to find your power? Want to strip off some of those protective layers and let your kickass self out?

Let’s do a power session. Let’s have you find your strength.

Set up a Reflective Tarot Coaching Session or a Power Email Reading, and walk in this world knowing yourself and knowing your strength!

Click here to schedule your powerfulness!

 

(Cards in photo: Wildwood Tarot @http://willworthingtonart.co.uk)

Who Do I Have the Potential to Be? Tarot Reading

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Here is a sample of what an email reading looks like.  The italics are the answers and discoveries that come from the client. If you would like one of your own, please click here: Tarot Reading, and choose from the menu…

Who You Are:

The Five of Wands. There are 5 different people in this image. They are all holding wands in various, disorganized positions. They look as if they are in disagreement, fighting, out of accord.

What do you see for yourself? I am strife. I am fighting, disorganized, argumentative. I am scattered.

What has me being this way? Too much on my plate without enough direction. I have no plan of action, which leaves me all over the place and not moving forward. It is causing me stress that I really don’t want to carry around with me.

Who You Have the Potential to Be:

Three of pentacles.  This image shows the use of tools, has people who make made notes, who have pre-planned so they can move forward together in action. There is beauty, symmetry and stability in the three pentacles shown up top.

What image of yourself shows up for you here? Makes me think of a cathedral, something of beauty. I can be the creator, the artist. I can be the person doing the work that gets results.

What would this look like? Accepting the input of others. Being open to suggestion. Being organized.

How Do You Get There:

Queen of Swords. Nice! This image shows a powerful woman, one hand open, one hand holding a sword of truth, steady and straight. She looks strong and committed. Her throne looks solid. She is above the clouds, above the mundane, in the clarity of the blue sky. A bird flies free above her.

How can you take this on to reach your potential? I can get to being the person who makes things happen by speaking my truth. By cutting through so much of the bullshit. This will take the work of my mature, royal self.

What step can you take to put this into action? I can take is to use my pen as that metaphorical sword and cut down my to-do list. I can use that metaphorical sword every time I catch myself feeling chaotic, and cut out what is non essential.

These cards show a progression from chaos to order, from being all over the place, to a solid foundation. The phrase ‘reining it in’ comes to mind. Brought in by the order and clear decisions of the queen. Rule your life as you would your kingdom, as your life IS your kingdom.

 

I invite you to come and see what shows up for you: Vaike.com

Our Own Little Devils

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We are not perfect.

We want to be all free and light.

And we work towards it. Every day.

But we also have jealousy, anger, envy, bad thoughts. We know they are there. But in our desire for light, we tamp it down, we pretend it does not exist.

That doesn’t work. Forcing anything into a darkness, even darkness itself, doesn’t make it do what we want it to.

So, what if you owned it? What if you could just say, “yes, I think these thoughts”?

Then you could set them free. You could accept them, say hello to them, acknowledge them without them taking over. Without them making you feel bad. You could see that its just what is there, no right or wrong attached to them. Then they become light. They just are. Without judgement. Without angst and drama. Passing through like clouds in the sky.

Maybe you can even find good in them. Maybe the dark is a source of your mystical, magical self. Parts that have been repressed. Parts that, had you not tamped them down, could simply be a source of creativity.

Often when ‘bad’ cards come up in a coaching session, people fear them. Because they fear the dark within themselves. But, really, it is shining a light. Looking at the shadows allows us to see that they aren’t as big a deal as we think. And, we are not alone. We ALL have these shadows, these elements about ourselves that we would rather not. Through acknowledgement these thoughts and ideas lose their good/bad status and just ARE. And that way they lose value. They lose power. They lose our energy and focus, so we can place those elsewhere…

 

Come, let go: www.vaike.com

10 Benefits of Using Tarot Cards with Coaching

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1. Brings hidden to surface through imagery and new ways of looking at things.

2. Shows commonalities we all share through archetypes. You will see that you are not alone.

3. Playful, fun and colorful!

4. Possibility for a new vision, literally :).

5. Images help you proccess your new awarnesses of yourself.

6. Stimulates creative empowerment over your life.

7. You get to see your life as an illustrated story and get to create that yourself.

8. Helps you remember your insights to take with you as you put your new knowledge into practical use.

9. Uses an additional part of your brain, so you can really GET it.

10. You get to be the one making choices about your future.

xoxo,

Vaike

Reflecting on Vistas

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I live in the high desert. It’s broad and expansive. Every direction I look, I see views going on forever. Mountains, valleys, giant sky. It is what I love about the desert. Every which way you look, is a new world. What would it be like if I climbed that mountain? What can I find in that riverbed? What if I were a raven and just flew and flew and flew? A new possibility, an new and different adventure in every direction. And I would get to fly high above it, gaze down at the options, and take my pick.

Vistas.

Visons.

Views.

That’s what moves us forward. When we don’t have a vision of what is possible, how can we possibly move towards what we want?

Creating vision is a process. We play. We imagine. We look at what is possible and what is in our way.

Reflective Tarot Coaching is perfect for this process.  You want to create a vision for yourself. Together we start getting clarity on what that is and how to get there. What blocks you and what actions are best for you to take.

Once we clarify what aspect you want to look at, I will design a tarot spread for you. Together we will investigate what you see in each card and how you can apply it to achieving your goal. We can find what empowers you and what holds you back.

I trust that you best know, deep down, how to get there. Together we simply bring that to the surface through a series of questions and the insights that show up from them.

Vistas.

Visions.

Views.

They are all yours…

Come play: vaike.com