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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…

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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)

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How Do You Hold Yourself Back?

What limits you?

What do you want to move forward with, but something keeps stopping you?

When you look at this card, what do you see? If you were this woman, what might you be feeling, what fears might you be holding?

Those fears are all around you, represented by the swords that almost form a cage, a prison. And you are blindfolded and bound, so you don’t know where exactly they are placed, where you can step safely so that you do not get cut by one of the swords.

Moving forward can feel scary, frightening. Because you cannot see through your fears.

I want to say, “the way out is through”, but I don’t think that is quite right. The way out is to trust yourself.

All those swords all around you? They are your own fears, inhibitions, doubts, overwhelms, guilts, anxieties. They are the stories you tell yourself to protect yourself from the outside world, from having all that lovely freedom. Swords can be double edged, what protects us, keeps us from trying too hard, taking risks, being embarrassed, are the same swords that create our cages, keep us separated from the wonderful, big, amazing world.

You have the key, you have the ability to step forward and just walk out that door. And that key is trust. Trust your power, trust your instinct, trust the wonderful, imperfect person that you are.

Look at the image of this woman, see that all those swords are created by her. You want to root for her, “you can do it! Just take that step!”

So can you.

Just. Trust.

Start dancing. Start wriggling out of those bonds. They are not wrapped as tight as you think they are.
If you are feeling really bold, go ahead and back up into one of those scary swords and use it to cut your bindings, just like the heros and heroines in the movies.

You can do it!

Questions to help support you:

1. What are some of your swords that you ‘believe’ are holding you back?

2. How might they be ‘stories’ you have created for yourself? (Hint: If you start with “I am”, “I always”, “I have to”, “I should”, those just may be stories you have created about who you are and are not true at all.)

3. What wonderful things do you see/want/dream about that are outside of those swords? (If you look close, you can see your castle on that hill, on the other side of the swords.)

4. What is one thing you can do today to move forward in self trust? (Baby steps are absolutely acceptable!)

5. After taking this step, how do you feel, what shows up for you?

 

Love,

Vaike

(U.S. Games Centenniel Waite Smith deck, thank you!)

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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)

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We Are Not Bad. Really.

In how many ways do we close ourselves off? Cross our arms. Make the choice that is not in our best interest. If everything is going great, we may sabotage it. When we fail, we tell ourselves we are bad. This is the child that never left us. Things come out of us that we regret. But it keeps our story going. That we are not good enough. That we are bad. That we are not enough. That we do not deserve. We didn’t grow into these thoughts, we’ve had them all along. We created them so very long ago. When we didn’t even know better. Now we ‘know’ better. Which really does make it feel worse when we act out against our best interests. And then “the voice” can start. The self blame, the shame, the ‘should know better’.

But really, we are going to do it again. And again. And its not because we are bad. It is not because we are unworthy. It is because we are human. We. Are. Going. To. Fail. Whether we like it or not. What we have to learn is to accept it. Allow it. Rejoice in it. “Yes! I did something bad and embarrassing!”

And listen to it.

Really listen.

Our child self is trying to tell us something. They are reacting to a need. Doing something we regret doesn’t come from where we think it does. It comes without thought. It comes directly from what needs healing. And we all have something that needs healing. So we are all going to do the wrong thing. And we are all going to judge ourselves for it.

So, the next time you do something ‘bad’, open your arms to it. Allow the gift of it. Accept that gift with open arms.

It will help you heal.

 

With love,

Vaike

(image from U.S. Games)

 

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Healing, Quiet, Clarity and 10 Questions to Get There

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We all come to a point that we need to lay down and heal. Our nerves get rubbed raw. Over and over again. And there is a point when they are flat out exposed. Just the feel of a breeze floating over them can feel like fire.

That is when we are just done. We are over it. We have nothing else to give.

And. That. Is. Not. A. Bad. Thing.

We fight rest, we fight healing. But what if we changed that? What if we honored the down time instead of beating ourselves up over it? What if we really, truly saw the value?

Laying down. Letting all our muscles relax. Dropping into connections with the earth. The cool ground. The amazing silence. That breeze being a soft blanket. It no longer sounds like something to fight against. It almost sounds like something to work towards, instead. We rush and save for a ‘vacation’ from life. But shouldn’t life not need a vacation? If we honored our cycles, honored and respected the time of rest, we could go on vacation because of interest, not need. I like it that way much better. Don’t you?

And so to honor our rest. Ask yourself 10 questions:

1. How tired are you?

2. How overwhelmed are you?

3. What would you like more of?

4. What would you like less of?

5. What would honoring your rest look like?

6. What would it sound, feel, taste like?

7. What would be ideal?

8. What space are you willing to carve out for yourself?

9. What will make you feel safe and rested in this space?

10. What are you willing to commit to?*

(* This is the action that will actually get you there…)

I invite you to try this and see what happens. See what it is like when you allow yourself to heal. When you don’t beat yourself up for having balance. When you feel centered, grounded, and yourself again.

Awesome.

With love,

Vaike

And for in depth and personal work, you are always welcome. Just click here to book

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

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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

 

 

 

 

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Choose Less, Do More…

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We want to put our heart and soul into everything.

We want to save the world.

We want to save every puppy and kitten on the street.

We want to feed every homeless person. Every starving child.

The planet needs saving. The animals need to be brought back from extinction. The water needs to be unpolluted.

And it goes on.

And we want put our heart into all of it.

But we can’t.

And we feel overwhelmed.

And, then, often, nothing gets done. We just post our frustrations on Facebook and move on. Hoping.

But it is not hopeless. The world is filled with hope. We can all do our part. There is the key ‘our part’.  When we make a choice to minimize, to focus on just one thing, we bring our energy into a type of cohesiveness that is so much more powerful.

When we are scattered, when we are looking at all the shiny objects (positive or negative), we become diffused. Less effectual.

What would it be like to really make a change? Find where your heart lives, where your strength lives and become a powerful changemaker?

When you drill down to who you are, what your strengths are, what you need to move forward, it becomes easier, clearer. You flow. When you can look and see your true self reflected, when you know yourself, you can do som much more in this world.

I invite you to use the tool of Tarot Coaching to gain this clarity.

Sign up to change the world.

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Anxiety and The Hanged Man

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Anxiety. It sucks. That’s all there is too it.  When we get caught up in it, it can take over our world. Anxiety can affect every aspect of our lives.

The problem is, is that it is a vicious cycle. The more you have anxiety, the more your anxious brain creates reasons to  be anxious.

This is where The Hanged Man comes in. “Let go, and let be” is a wonderful way to look at this card. When you are trussed up with so much that is beyond your control, relaxing and letting go will often allow you to see things in a different perspective. Just like hanging upside down shows you the world in a whole new context.

When things are overwhelming, you can either spiral up with all the overwhelm, or you can just let go. Let it be. Allow knowledge to come to you.

That being said, we all know that “letting go and letting be” is the absolute hardest thing in the world to do. But once we have knowledge, once we can tap into ‘why’, we can sit and process with much more ease.

When you can look at your anxious moments through the cards, that awareness will help give you a space to rest. And when your anxiety can rest, it can recede. And when it can recede, solutions, results and actions can come take its place.

And then you can move forward powerfully.

Then you can create your world.

Then it becomes awesome…

This is one of the ways we can work together with the Reflective Tarot Coaching process to create solutions, so you can move past whatever is stopping you and move forward to an amazing life.

If you are ready, let’s book a session together!

 

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I Saw the House of the Hermit Last Night.

 

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I took a walk in the darkness last night.

There was a light midway up the black night of mountain.

A new light. Amber. Homey. Warm.

I had never seen it before, and thought, “that is where I would like to live.” Slowly, as I kept walking, the light slowly, slowly disappeared into nothingness. I could see no place on the mountain.  It was dark. Black.

It was a momentary gift. The Hermit stepped out of his cave of reflection to shine a light for me. Maybe an invitation to go in.

Go in to the cave. Be quiet in the light of a single lamp.

Listen.

The only way we are going to hear ourselves is if we listen.

The only way we are going to listen is if we are not distracted.

The only way we are not going to be distracted is if we go in to our cave.

And listen.

Listen in our dark. Listen in our silence. Listen to what is deep and hidden.

There is our voice.

In the darkness. In the cave of the mountain.

Our voice is that beautiful amber light. It will light up the worlds darkness. It will be a beacon.

But we need to hear it first.

That’s what The Hermit tells us…

 

 

(Hermit card again from the amazing Wild Unknown Tarot Deck)