Journey Significance

So on leaving, I am in the car and Eric asks.. how did it go? I wasnt sure. As the night progressed, I realized that this journeying is a lot like when I delve into Tarot with Ruth Ann and Wald - its one of those things where you have your initial impression, but its something that needs to just sit and.. cook. And that is what it has been doing for me, just sitting, and I am watching as different things open up, which will probably take at least all week, if not longer, but initially things were working:

So I get home.. I was really really hungry, so the first thing I did was inhale a protein shake. Im proud of myself, i needed to pick up some fruit for my shake and walked by the very yummy looking macaroni and cheese, and while I was tempted, i felt spirit pushing me along, because what my body really needed was not comfort food but some protein..lol. Yay me! =)

So I get home, and im starting to feel tired.. I drink my shake, take care of the kittens, give them their meds, lost my patience with one of them, not a good thing.. cuddled up to Spiderman for a little kitty love (littlest kitty who can climb like spiderman), always a warm fuzzy.

Then I head into my room, and I see that Gremlin is in rejuvenate Maris mode.. Gremlin in a fantastic barometer for me. He is my magical empathic creature that I am convinced was sent here to me by the Gods.. I picture it like a scene out of Clash of the Titans (the original one) where the gods would send tools to the titans. While Im pretty sure Zeus and company are not up there watching over me, someone sent this very amazing dog to me 5 years ago and I am always astounded by his gifts. One of them is he is extremely empathic, and when i am running on emotional empty, he seems to think it is his purpose to fix me. I didnt think I was on emotional empty, just that i had gotten up at 7, did a lot of psychic work and had not eaten.. but there must have been more to it, because Gremlin was in full-on heal me mode.

After 10 minutes of Gremlin therapy, Im still crazy tired. And I had a caribbean party to go to that i did not want to miss. Soooo.. I make a cup of coffee and headed into the Tarot room, lit some sage incense, did a banishing pentagram ritual, did some middle pillar chants, and put my deck in order - I am feeling rejuvenated. I then ask the Tarot - what was the significance of going and doing shamanic journeying today?

Card 1 - what I have: King of Swords. He has been following me around since the Readers Studio. One of the things we I spoke about on first starting journeying was how I tend to be in my head a lot. I would say this validated my place and reason why I sought this out.. because i know I am master of my mind and bringing my thoughts into being and action, I do know and realize I can do anything I put my mind to, and I am ready to take responsibility for those things. I have this side of myself mastered as much as one can realize they are masterful of those things. Its also the reason why I seek out other intuitive modalities to expand other parts of myself.

Card 2 - What I need to Know: High Priestess reversed. No duh! LOL. This card in addition to my outcome really resonated with me. I need to work on my intution and listening to myself and honoring what I already know I need. I think one of the purposes of seeking out this type of work is to help straighten her out, making her upright by working on journeying and using that as a tool to do so. The high priestess guards the portal through the veil, which is exactly what we did today in journeying, going through the misty veil - which was a very kewl thing to do, btw. I saw the correspondence between going through the veil today in journeying and then the high priestess showing up in my reading. She guards the portal through the veil, and working with her will help me get through the veil to where i want to go, maybe helping me with some of the challenges I had today...

Card 3 - What I get: Ace of Pentacles reversed. I think this had a lot of meanings for me.. Mary Greer in her Tarot Reversals mentions that the pentacle in the hand looks much like a wheel of fortune and the reversal could refer to being stuck in a rut. While I dont think I am in a rut, per se, I do think I have not been working much with my high priestess or continuing other tarot work I had been doing, and so maybe the reversal of my high priestess and not working with her and working on me that way is blocking my ability to manifest those things I wish to.. and I would describe many things going on in my life that way. I feel like the message is that to keep her unbalanced is to block myself and put myself into a psychic rut... and to work on placing my high priestess right-side up will also get the ace and the suite of manifestation working better and more easily for me... offering the entire suit of manifestation.

So where I was not sure when I first left of the significance of our work today, this is starting to materialize to me at this point now, about 4 hours later... and I am sure the insights will continue on through the night and weekend.

Usually after working psychically the way I did this morning, I am exhausted, and did get so this evening, but after saging and casting my circle i was feeling much better. I went to the party and had a great time, though I was ready to head home by 11, but I lasted a lot longer than I thought I would have, i was predicting 9 pm, working on stretching that to 10, and really I went through to 11. However, once I got home, I could not see straight. I was like the walking unconscious, only I did not resist it this time, and I headed to sleep. I thought maybe I would dream of my journeys, I did not.. which is okay.

I thought Kelley was great and I loved the people I worked with yesterday. I dont want to put their names here, but they were so kewl - very open and giving. My partner was fantastic, I was really lucky. Sometimes when I go to these types of things, the people there are working on their stuff and can be really depressed or sad, which makes these things harder to do for me. Everyone we worked with today was able to really be open and sharing and giving, which was fantastic and made it easy for me to do so too. I love when things come together that way.

Im feeling pretty rejuvenated this morning. I really think that one of the things I took from this was that I need to do more reading. I havent really done much reading since the Readers Studio - which is not unusual for me, since the Studio tends to be so intense and I get so saturated in tarot that when I get home the last thing I want to do is pick up my deck for a bit. There have been a few times over the last 2 weeks that I have thought about meditating and working with my deck and met with a bit of resistance - its been a tough few weeks though too for me - but yesterday afternoon, I had this inner knowing that what I needed to do was sit and clear myself out, and put the world in order, and Tarot does that for me, and I think I had forgotten that - and sitting in my room doing this felt like coming home and sitting with my best friend and having one of those great cleansing talks.

So.. thank you my guides and angels and the Universe for always being there for me and reminding me that you always are, even when I do not feel like chatting, and especially for when I do.

Shamanic Journeys

Awesome and amazing experience today. I signed up last month to do a shamanic workshop with Kelley Harrell who is just outside of Raleigh. It was a 4 hour workshop. I have worked with one other shaman prior to this and enjoyed it, and I was moved at the time I saw this posted to check it out again, and so at 7 am this morning, I got myself up and readied to journey out, not sure what I would find, as some of my other trips to work in some of the groups in Raleigh have not been so hot, but I was ready and open to whatever I might discover.

Just like with most intense paths we go down leading inside ourselves, this too requires some sitting time. By this I mean that when I first was finished up and heading to my car.. sitting in there sharing with Eric, when he asked how it went, I said.. it was okay.. it was good, I enjoyed learning the new things, meeting new people and working with them, but beyond that, I didnt have much to say about it. Which is not a bad thing.. its one of those things that sinks in, and as the rest of the afternoon and evening start to unfold, so did more perspective of my journeys.

We talked about different things shamans did, very interesting. We talked about the difference between shamanic thinking and other types of psychic work and schools of thought. I love the idea that we are all connected and all equal, which is a big precept of shamanic work. Love that.

Then we did some journeying. Shamanic journeys are similar to pathworking except that instead of pathworking through a card, we journeyed through the veil, then through to speak to our guides and ask for guidance on an issue of on our hearts, and then we had a partner and journeyed for them.

In shamanic work you work with the tree (i dont remember what the tree is officially called), the lower world is in the roots, the middle in the trunk of the tree, and the upper world in the leaves and branches. So we were going to be working in the upper world with our guides, and she wanted us to get to the upper world by going up through the veil, which is through the cloudy area. We were to bring ourselves up through the tree through this cloudy area that was to be wet and moist and humid and cloudy, up through there and above this. This was our first journey.

I have previously gone through the trunk of the tree up to meet my guide, in fact, that was the first time I met her was going up through the trunk as if in an elevator, though I do not recall going through a veil. I remember going up and going into a leafy, beautiful area where she was waiting for me. It was an awesome thing - another blog for another time.

So I started going up the trunk, I saw a staircase and I would go about halfway and then the picture would stop, I could not get to the veil that way. I just kind of stood there, and then all of a sudden, my third eye would start to open where I would see the blue and purple start and then that became cloudy for me, never quite getting to what I would think should have been a white cloudy place, but it did become a cloudy place. I would have thought prior that the cloudy place would have been thin.. but this was thicker and took a bit to get through. On getting through, before doing this I would have thought I would then have come to a very bright, clear and kind of white/light blue sky area, but instead it was more colored like a sunset.

We had talked earlier about how we know if what we are doing is real versus whether it is something we are making up. One of the ways I have learned for me that my guides make things real for me is to change things up so they appear as they are described as they should be, but with a twist in order for me to confirm that I did not make it up. For instance, if this would have been pictured as I imagined it would have prior to starting, then I would have wondered if I had not made it up. But because it came in slightly different colored in a way I would not have thought, it validated for me that I did not make it up, as had I done so, it would have looked a bit different.

That was all we were to do with the first visualization, and I then returned the way I came, as instructed, back through the veil, then i saw my chakra colors.. and then I felt for my surroundings and opened my eyes.

The second journey was to do the same thing only meet whatever guides were to assist us with this journey. I was still in a pretty trancy state, so getting up there again was much easier, and I went pretty much in the same way. This time I see this tiny guy who looked a bit like Max Headrom.. in this very metalic shirt with a black vest, face kind of whitish, white and blank hair spiked out.. and he was dancing to the beat of the drum Kelley was using to put us into the trance. I had never seen him before. He was having a great time.. but the minute I realized that I was in the trance seeing him, or anything during this journey, my mind would snap out of the trance. Then it would go back in.. id see something and recognize i was seeing something, then it would snap out of it again. Then I was back in and the little guy turned into a man's face.. an older man, probably about late 40s or 50s, bald like Mr. Clean, but with these bright, bright blue eyes. At seeing him, of course I snapped out it, went back and saw him again, then snapped out of it, and then i started getting mad at the whole thing, and had to come out totally.

The frustration of seeing myself popping in and out of the trance made it tougher to do the next journey, where we were to go up and talk to our guides and get clarity on what is most weighing on our hearts. I got nowhere - which just figures - Im telling you.. the minute it comes time to getting some really useful information or the minute it seems like I might, something will happen where it is either not for real, like when I went to find out my sacred contract which turned out to be .. whatever.. or like now where i frustrated myself to the point where I could not access that place again. LOL - i know the message in that, its just one of those things that I dont want to hear. I want to be able to easily access those places where all the answers are, and the message to me, I feel, is that it just is not that easy and life just does not work that way - and consciously and subconsciously, even, I know this, I understnad this, I understand the wisdom and the necessity of this. But I dont like it. =)

The last journey we did was for a partner. I was at first concerned because I did not want to try to do this for a partner and have difficulty getting in and not be able to offer anything to her, it had me a bit anxious. It had her anxious too, and she told me she couldnt do this, to which I said, dont say that! Otherwise it will be a self-fulfilling thing.. and the only thing worse than me not getitng information would be if someone else could not..LOL. I was not just speaking to her, I was also speaking to me. So I put out a positive affirmation that we can do anything we wish and we have all the tools we need to do so, and I did the first journey for her.

Way kewl thing happened. I was totally open psychically, so when she asked her questions, I was able to answer them without having to journey, per se, I definitely was seeing information without having to go into a trance to help her, which I did share. So my purpose in journeying was getting validation of this, i think, and also to add more detail. Very kewl thing happened when i was journeying - I literally was able to observe her in her life.. as I saw her writing or sitting at her computer. I asked different questions to see if I could give her more information that what I had already seen, I got some in the details of watching her that was helpful to her.. but it was interesting, it was like being a fly on a wall in a room. Kelley said it would be easier to do this for another person than for ourselves, and she was absolutely right, this was much easier because I was not so dependent on what I found. I didnt have the same need.

My partner had an amazing vision for me. I just explained how my life is in total transition with the end of Blysse's junior year and all the stress that came with that and her now being away.. and the whole summer ahead of me.. and how uncomfortable I have been feeling, which I know is about growing and things changing, and what did I need to know about my discomfort.

She told me she saw Blysse and in front of her was her father, who was bigger and very solid in his stance, subborn, and he was standing in front of Blysse so that I could not see her, though she was behind her dad, but no matter how I moved, I was not able to see her. I was sitting on a big turtle. She said that all of a sudden Blysse's father became invisible and I was able to see her and she was waving to me and saying hi very excitedly, and there was a beautiful gold cord that formed attaching she and i at our umbilicus and it was glowing and glittery and vibrant. The turtle was trying to move, but everytime he did, i would pull at him, trying to pull him the other way, and as I did so, the cord between Blysse and I would pull and get tight. Eventually both Blysse and her dad disspearing and it was just me struggling with this turtle, trying to control him and move him the other way. And she said I was pretty frustrated and upset at not being able to get the turtle to go in the direction I wanted him to. Finally, I threw up my hands and gave it up.. and the turtle took me to a beach. She said it was a beautiful beach where dolphins were swimming and jumping and the turtle took me into the water where we swam. She said I was really, really happy there.

LOVE IT!!

Interestingly my goal this summer is to work on RELEASE, so I found this vision soooo helpful and enlightening.

So these were my journeys - I will put my thoughts on this in my next post!

Readers Studio 2010

So I am finally getting a chance here to finish up, or actually start the blog of the official opening and weekend of the Readers Studio 2010. Of course, had my Foundation reading partner not given me her cold and I am now bed bound this prolly would have taken me another week before I could sit down and write. Thanks Christy for sharing - NOT! lol

As always, the Readers Studio was an adventure, both personally, professionally, and spiritally. What I love about Tarot and the Readers Studio is there is just nowhere to hide from those realities the Universe wishes to discuss, and thus was, once again, my experience here. The King of Swords reigned through my weekend and readings and has been my contemplation throughout the weekend and this week. I imagine as the week wraps up here, he and I will be good friends.

He first started speaking during the pre-studio workshop, as we had to ask a question to work with the color, costume workshop Thursday night. I really had onlhy prepared one or two questions for the Studio this weekend, as it has been my experience that really, thats all one needs. Because the questions are never the issue, and tarot talks about issues, not answers to questions. So I knew that i just needed one or two questions and the universe would provide further questions from there, and I was not disappointed by either the Studio or the Universe.

So my first question Thursday night was asking what I needed to know about sending Blysse to spend the summer wtih her father, and the cards were the Ace of Swords, the King of Swords, and the Ace of Cups. Mind you, the aces came in up-side down, but we worked with them righth side up.

Friday morning the studio opened and we started out with our foundation readings. My partner was new to tarot, her deck was brand new. She was only comfortable pulling 1 card, and seeing one other card stand out, I pulled that one. The one card my partner pulled.. the King of Swords. Thats 2 days in a row the King made his presense known, and I was forced to deal with him. Of course at first, I thought the king was Blysse's dad.. but by the time the second person shared a similar point of view, I was forced to look at the fact that the King was probably me.

And so the studio opened and the fun began..

Dr. Elinor Greenberg, who I had the pleasure of reading with the night before, did the first workshop. She is always amazing, I really love her stuff. She did another workshop at the first Studio I attended and taught us a relationship spread that I still use, and i LOVE her issue cards where each major arcana has an issue question it asks, something else i use all the time. This time we did a workshop I believe she called Turning Straw into Gold, which was about finding positivity in negative cards. I got to work with Jordan Hoggard on this, and it was quite an adventure for both of us, as we kind of approach the topic from different ends of the spectrum yet have the same attitude. Jordan had a tough time because he did not find any card to be negative. I didnt have any trouble, on the other hand, finding cards wtih a negative connotation to me. That being said, both of us easily find the blessings of all meanings and experiences outlined by the cards. It was a great match up, because I was able to point out how others might interpret things negatively, and his gift was just his positivity in the matter. Its impossible to be too intense with Jordan because he just has a great way of making all things positive and energetic - a quality i love and admire in others.

We then went on to do another exercise using Gestalt therapy where we would describe the card, and then become the card.. very interesting. My partner drew the Moon and became the tower and the dog and had a great conversation betweent the two of them. Very fun. I didnt get a chance to really try this out because i had to leave a bit early to catch a play we had gotten tickets to, God of Carnage.

So we did head out to the city to check out the play, which was fabulous! Its about two sets of parents who get together to discuss the issue of their sons getting into a fight where one knocked out the others teeth. It was a funny play, like its meant to be a comedy, but the comedy arises from the reality of what usually happens in these situations. Where people start out polite and civil and within an hour or two start hurling around their anger and their real feelings about the situation and people involved. It reminded me a lot of our own situation between our family and the Bretans.. though I dont find the situation nearly as humorous as I did the play!

After, we headed back to the hotel and grabbed something quick to eat while catching up with Corrine Kenner and her husband, Jordan, Dan Pelletier and Jeannette from the Tarot Garden and a number of others in the lounge area there. Lots of fun and laughs, but we did finally head up to our room to get some much needed sleep for the full day that lie ahead.

Pre-workshop nite

Just had the most amazing nite so far. We have just spent the last 2-3 hours catching up and chatting with Bob Place of the Vampire Tarot, though most of you probably know him better as the artist of the Alchemical Tarot. What a huge source of information and history and just an all around neat person! Blysse is gonna die when she hears we did this, as the whole motivation behind her wanting to come here was to attending his workshop and get to chat with him. Amazing!!

The whole day was pretty kewl though tiring. We got up and headed out for the day. Breakfast here is way too expensive, so we headed for the bus and the train down to Greenwich Village where we sat at this cute cafe and had breakfast and coffee and just enjoyed a great morning. Spent the balance of the day strolling the streets, heading back to the hotel by 3 pm to attend the pre-studio workshop, Color, Costume and Choreography.

Ruth Ann and Wald did a fantastic workshop, i loved it. I am an ambassador where we help those who are new and also we are going to be switching partners and tables. Im really excited about this, as two years ago, it really got strange and counter productive just reading with the same people in the same places. It felt kinda cliquey - so this year when Ruth Ann mentioned the idea of switching it up, I was right there with that!

So the table behind me needed an extra person, and I volunteered to go right away. I really love the idea of meeting and reading with new and different people. Eric said he was okay with this, though I did have to hear later that some people thought this strange of me. I just do not think Eric and i would do each other justice reading with one another. We did talk about it ahead of time.. so anyway, i switched it up right away, which is so different for me and i loved it.

Love the new layers added to reading juust using color and costume and postion of the people in the cards. Very interesting. It works, but not at the exclusion of the story.. they kinda work hand in hand. I got to partner first with Elinor Greenberg - amazing fun!

I also to got to chat more with Jordan Hoggard of the Mysterium Tarot. He will be doing a Feng Shui workshop on Saturday night Im dying to catch!! Im very excited about learning more Feng Shui stuff.

And before I go any further, can I tell you that the Tarot Garden has brought all kinds of goodies - i think they are my favorite addiction this weekend. Im sure I will be back to that table more than once! I got the Twilight Realm A Tarot of Faery deck, The Minute Deck which came in this kewl metal case, and I also picked up this Japanese Manga specialty deck for Blysse for her birthday.. its amazing.

Ciro Marchetti has outdone himself on the poster and also is selling prints on cloth and tarot bags. the Tarot School had the kewlest tarot bags, big ones where you can fit notebooks and stuff. Thalassa and I duked it out over one of the bags, she won. I cant mess with the BAT woman..lol..

After, I spent some time talking to Marcia McCormick, i believe, and her husband. Lovely people, very interesting. We had a lot in common, and i loved chatting.

After, Bob Place sat down, and we were all riveted for the rest of teh night. We had ordered some italian, and we ate and chatted until just now.

Yet another amazing nite of Tarot, and the studio does not even start til tomorrow!

Crazy day! We start the day off heading into the city to meet up with our friends and then go to see Billy Elliott. First, we get directions into the city. I have officially become a country rube! It took us 20 minutes and 3 times explaining to us how to take a bus and then get the train to the city. Not good. But - we did get to the city without a hitch! Loved the people watching - its just amazing to sit on the train and see all the different people and just think about their stories. Im sitting on there thinking, as I watch the guy sleep standing up on the train, "how does he know when to get up to get to his stop? Is he really sleeping.. what happens if someone wants to pick pocket him.. " Or the other people who get into the train seeing and knowing there is not even standing room, yet make room anyway. The best is people who intentionally stay by the door, a dangerous proposition on a good day, choose this and never move as the conductor gets on the PA system stating in a very New York way, "do not lean or touch the doors, move away from the doors.." and no one moves! Its as though they have all ridden this train so often, that they are so immune to the voice, they dont even hear it.. And the lady knows it, but probably would tell you in a conversation during happy hour that no one stands by that door on her watch!

So we get into the city and Gary and Leeza meet us with their daughter Olivia, who is just as cute as a button! We at at the Roxy Deli - pass on this place. The worst, stalest bagel I have ever eaten, and they would not take teh bones out of the white fish that they charge $27! Afterward, we headed to see Billy Elliott.

What a fabulous show! I dont think the kid who played Billy was the best hip hop or jazz dancer, he just did not have the precision on the moves. But this boy could dance ballet!! There were a few dance scenes in this play that moved me almost to tears. He was so light and graceful.. and some dances were true works of art and beauty, and for a kid this age to be able to do that on top of carrying a play of this size, unbelievable!! The music was good, not Spring Awakening good, like I dont need the soundtrack, didnt leave singing the songs, but Elton John did an amazing job. If you did not know ahead of time, you would not be able to tell these were Elton John songs, which is saying something good because they didnt sound Elton Johnny, but were fantastic.

That being said, the theature itself was a mob scene, I felt like I was in a cattle call, i hated it. The line to go to the bathroom before the show even began was longer than the one to get your seat.. and I didnt even dare try to go to the bathroom during intermission or afterward.

So it was about that time between that, the shoving match to get out of teh theater and then the rain outside that were my undoing. Energetically, Manhattan just sucks it out of you! In order to cope and get through the masses, one must become homicidal, or at least that is the aggressive and insensitive energy you must adopt in order to get anywhere. I was seriously considering going back to the hotel instead of heading to Greeenwich, as i was ready to just duke it outu with the next person who shoved me.

But we headed to the subway to meet our group in the Village for dinner. And I am so glad we went! Tonight was the first Readers Studio event where they rented a bus that took everyone to Greenwich Village and we dined together at this restaurant called Dojo, which is a vegetarian kind of place though there were meat choices. It was really good. and the company was fantastic too.

Ran into Beth Owl's Daughter and Johanna Colbert,. Mary Greer, Wald and Ruth Ann and a number of others, some familiar faces and some new ones. It was nice to catch up. Food was fresh, service was good..

After dinner, we all kind of split up into groups and headed out to explore Greenwich. We headed to a new age shop, I cant remember the name, but that doesnt matter because after a prolonged rip off cab ride, we found the shop was closed for good. Of coarse, their phone # still has their hours of business, but there is no storefront. We lost half our group, and so Eric, Beth Owl and I proceeded to walk to the East West bookstore, not wanting to be ripped off by another cabbie. The store was kinda kewl, but their tarot section nil.. which is good, because i would have a hard time buying any tarot deck in a store at this point before the studio opens. After hanging out, we then took a cab to the meeting place, after which we grabbed a table at this little coffee shop and had some cappucino and amaretta (hence my ability to blog at 1 am). Beth Owl had some amazing gelatto. I could literally eat my way through New York, between teh pizza and coffee and bagels and lox and italian food and ..

While there we ran into our other comarades, and we then waited on our bus who was late.. and then headed back to the hotel.

Once at the hotel, we then ran into some more people who have arrived into town in the lounge and spent some time catching up. Oh My!! First, Ciro Marchetti is working on this IPhone application that when done will be awesome!! You can literally do readings on your iphone for people.. works a lot like the software from Legacy of the Divine Tarot.. where you can draw cards and place them where you like turn them over. It has a feature where you can notebook it and save it. Its great. Im a huge fan of his work!

Jordan Hoggard was showing me this way kewl tarot cloth for his cards.. has this blessing done in runes around the edges with grapes and stuff. Really kewl.. and then Gavin, the guy who makes these, shows up and shows us the rest of the cloths. I had to have one! I usually buy these when I have a deck to use.. this time i bought one first and will find a deck to fit.

This other gentleman, whose name i did not get, was showing us these leather tarot cases. They are gorgeous. some are pretty expensive. Garnet found this gorgeous blue one with this kewl clasp and some brass markings.. $500, which i thought was expensive. That is not to say they arent worth it, they are, they were that nice, but I could not reconcile spending that amount of money for that.. not when there are silks and so many more affordable options. But it does make me excited for tomorrow to see what more is going to be shared..

And the studio does not open for another 2 days!!

Readers Studio 2010

So we are here! New York City!! The studio does not officially start until Friday, but we are here checking out and enjoying New York for a few days before.. and also hoping to get some extra time to catch up with some friends too! Its just Eric and I. Blysse was originally to join us as well, having begged and pleaded over the years, and me finally relenting as a gift to her for her 17th birthday, but this was not to be. She just could not get the time off school. Will not elaborate on the details of that here for sure, but she did do the responsible thing by staying at school to work on the grades and all that great stuff.

So we arrived last night. Insane flying, as usual, but uneventful. The hotel is great, beautiful room. Weather is great. I had forgotten how crazy expensive things are here, though. For those of you reading this and getting ready to head out to join us, bring your extra pin money, and then bring some of your extra pin pin money! OMG - the restaurant here is CRAZY. Its $18 for a hamburger, $28 for a piece of chicken! Breakfast buffet this morning will be $17. Lobster bisque $9. So.. out came Eric's IPhone, loaded up the Yelp application and went on search for a local place to eat. Found a place called Sams Pizza - awesome stuff! Rated 4 or 5 stars out of 5 with fantastic reviews. We called to make sure they are still there (one never knows in these tough times) and Sam is the kewlest person I knew yesterday. Told us it would be a $10 taxi ride there, but said he delivers and thought that would be more affordable - and it was! So Sam then delivered to us at the hotel here the most delicous pizza we have had in forever! We have kept his menu for future use. Those of you heading out here who want some good, affordable italian, let us know, we have the menu. =)

We are heading out today to meet up with Eric's friend (and my friend too) Gary and his wife Leeza and their little girl Olivia. We are going to meet them in the city for either Dim Sum (eric is obsessed) or some good ol New York bagels (my preference). We cannot get either in Greensboro, so this will be a treat! We are hoping to catch a show today, hopefully Billy Elliot, there are a few others we are thinking about too if we cannot get to that show. After that we will head to Greenwich Village to dine with those who are here earlier and spend the evening catching up with good friends!

I will try posting every day. Preconference workshop by Ruth Ann and Wald is tomorrow night, and we get to preregister, and we get to hit the Merchant Fair early tomorrow.. im beyond excited to add to my tarot collection. I forgot to pre-order my poster, so Ciro Marchetti will be one of the first people I find to get that done. Im hoping he has some prints or more previews of the Oracle he is working on. From what I have seen on Facebook, it promises to be amazing!

Hopefully I will see you all soon!!

My High Priestess

Happy New Year everyone - or no one.. this blogging thing seems so quiet. Like, you go on Facebook, and its like being in a room full of people reading and typing at the same time, and even though you dont see them, you still feel like you are one in a crowded room. Here in the blogoshere its the opposite, its quiet and introspective, and sometimes the sound of hitting the keys echoes.,..

Its been two weeks since my last blog. Very interesting things as far as the readings have come to pass. It seems while my daughter was gone, her loser ex-boyfriend once again resurfaced and we came to find out he was planning a trip to see her while in Las Vegas. Upon finding this out, I absolutely could see the secret that had all along been in front of me that I was choosing not to see or deal with.. and to say that it turned my inner Queen of Cups upside down would be to put it mildly. Good thing was, i was prepared.. that is to say, i was not surprised to be feeling the way I did, and once again gave the universe a nod for warning me.. i love the synchronicities of the universe and Tarot.

So the week after, last week, the reading was:
1. What you have: The Wheel of Fortune.
2. What you need to know: Page of Wands Reversed.
3. What you get: The High Priestess

So I get that this is a process that is ongoing. The secret to the Wheel is scale.. and I can make this experience between my daughter and this loser big or small.. depending on how I wish to look at it. Its big for me in that I hate this kid and he is a major ongoing problem. But in the scheme of things, in the scheme of life, they are teenagers, and this too shall pass (pleeeeassse), then it would be small.. It has its peaks and valleys..

I think what i need to know regarding the page has many layers - the page could be me. I think the page could offer a great deal of insight into my daughter and how she is or is not choosing to handle this situation, and also the same, agian for myself and how I am choosign to handle or not this situation. It helped to have this reading ahead of time, in that after I got this reading, i of course was bracing myself for the disaster that I felt was to come with the upside down page of wands.. and it did indeed come when I discovered that my daughter lied about not being a part of this jerk's plan to meet her in Las Vegas, she absolutely had a part in it.. and i discovered it.. well i dont want to say here, as should she read my blog my secret will be out.. =)

However, the outcome of the High Priestess.. well, i did share that one of the ways I found out was through my inner intuition. The experience itself played out a lot in my dreams and my subconscious that way for about a good week, working out my own inner child issues with this. Hopefully this will lead to a higher knowing and growth for me.. and im sure since it is a major arcana card more will be to come..

Its noisy and busy here today, so I will draw my cards for the week tomorrow while meditating, but i did want to journal out these 2 readings.

I do wish any and all who are reading this a very happy and healthy new year..