Welcome to June, and welcome to The Elora Tarot Project, a tarot deck that came into the world when Shelley Carter from Elora, Ontario, Canada, invited 65 local artists to create the 78 tarot card images. Shelley is quoted on the inside of the tarot box, “There was magic at work when this community got together and created something extraordinary”.
I met Shelley at the Readers Studio in NYC this year when she came to the incubator session I led on the final morning. She sat next to me, and shared her wisdom with all at the table, and then gifted me with this deck at the end, hooray! I then gave her some of my Queen of Cups Chai. We were both pleased with our gifts.
So, on to the reading! We’re going into Solstice Season – Winter where I and my fellow antipodeans are, and Summer where some of you are, like the good folk of Elora, for example. June 21 is the Solstice and my goodness is it a good opportunity for setting clear intentions. What we initiate at this time of year can last and last. So perhaps let us ask questions that can keep us on track. This month’s questions are:
- How can we ask good questions? [I actually want to know]
- How will we know when we’ve asked a good question? [Yes! How?!]
- How can our communities help us set our personal intentions? [Please help!]
- What can happen if we pull our finger out and just make a decision and by golly put it into action? [I REALLY want to know this!]
As usual I will let the cards speak directly to you.
- How can we ask good questions?
The Chariot.
Just look forward and face what beckons you. Open your heart as you gaze upon the path ahead and see what you have never been able to see before. Give a voice to questions that erupt from overwhelming curiosity. The kinds of questions that could shock people with their rawness.
Psychic Sarah herself had the experience of asking a mortician whether they had ever commenced an embalming process only to find that the person wasn’t actually dead. She had been wondering about this for some time, and finally had the opportunity to ask at a talk given at a local funeral home as part of “Under the Blue Moon”, a Gothic festival in Newtown. The crowd responded to her question by collectively gasping in shock and turning around to look at the weirdo who could possibly ask such a thing. The crowd then gasped again when the embalmer answered in the affirmative (just the once, that he’d heard of. In New Zealand. Tricky situation. I mean, even though they weren’t dead per se, they were mostly dead. Who was to blame? The embalmer for not checking? The doctor for not double-checking?!)
So, it could be a question like this – one that satisfies a strange and perhaps morbid curiosity, or rather, one that beckons people to gaze into your heart by making a connection with their own. Both types of question can provide such stimulating answers. The second kind, especially so. I am aware I haven’t given you an example of the second kind. However, I think that is best, as you really need to make the time to sit with yourself, with few distractions, in order to uncover these curiosities. Now go forth and leave me to the night sky.
- How will we know when we’ve asked a good question?
Death.
Haha! Oh goodness me. Hmm. Has anyone else noticed how often Death and The Tower have been turning up in this year’s Tarot Readings for the Collective? And in a way that makes us seem like a punchline? Anyone laughing yet?!
You have to admit, as a concept, I’m about as mysterious as you can get, right? Who knows me so well that they can confidently talk about me as if they are the absolute knowledge bearer on this subject? No one, that’s who! Well, some people DO do that, but they’re just hypothesising, or just talking about their own experience, which certainly isn’t everyone’s reality. They won’t really know me until their bones fall apart. And then they’ll be dead and the rest of you can just keep on wondering.
So how can I help you know when you’ve asked a good question? You will feel like you’ve just been introduced to a part of your heart that you didn’t even know existed until that moment. KaPOW and WHOOSH you’ll feel so open that you will feel like asking a selected few to gaze inside of you and respond to your question with a sense of wonder and pleasure.
Of course, if you’re that open, the selected few could damage you! They could ignore you! They could ridicule you! You might feel like all of this is very possible! But perhaps they might gasp, hand over heart, as their heart explodes open too, and they feel so honoured to be asked something they have never before been asked. And chances are they will do just that. And if they don’t, and opt for the former, meaner way of responding, then it DOESN’T MATTER! Because your heart is open! You can answer it yourself! You can fling your question to the universe with a leap and a kick (metaphorically or literally, as you wish) and invite your wisdom to just POUR ON IN!
- How can our communities help us set our personal intentions?
Knight of Wands.
I, the Knight of Wands, as the representative of your community, light the fires in your heart. We light the fires in your soul. We watch you from a distance a lot of the time, but watch you we do. We are interested in you and in ourselves. What serves you will serve us. What you learn, we learn. We want you to be successful, because then we get to move forward. We get to embrace our dreams too. If you can set a clear intention, so can we. If you can do something unthinkably kind, we can ponder how we can do that too.
We will help you set your intentions by inviting you to gaze upon us, your community. What inspires you there? What psychedelic, hypercolour visions start to form in your brain as you ponder what your next step could be?
As the Knight of Wands I can help you look at ideas that you think are too big, and nudge you (with my FLAMING ROD!) towards the possible outcomes. Your communities will help you set your personal intentions by showing you what they have done, and admiring you (openly or subtly) and your ways of being so that you stop just STANDING there and get on with your part of the inspiration cycle.
- What can happen if we pull our finger out and just make a decision and by golly put it into action?
Queen of Swords.
Look at me my darlings! I move so fast you can’t see my shape. Things can change in one short moment. Sometimes for the worse, but also for the better. You could shape with your very own mouth the words that contribute to overturning the ever-growing pile of bullshit on this planet.
How could you speak to an authority figure in a way that helps them to connect with what is beautiful in their heart? There are no perfectly formed decisions, but with wit and grace there is always a way to navigate how the road turns and reforms in response to your decisions. Be clever and listen not just to your logical mind, but your fabulously organic and ever-growing heart. Your heart grows older every day. There is no time to waste!
If I was the type to weep, I would weep at your brave efforts of trying to connect with this world. It’s not like any of you have a script to follow or an actual clue as to what this life cycle is all about. Well, you do have clues, but clues are all you’ve got. How wonderful that you ponder changing your routines and figuring out new ways of exploring the map despite all the disruptions that occur.
I commend you for your efforts! And I wish you well as you pull your fingers out! Find your fellow bullshit blasters and be amazed at what you can create through inspiring the irresistable wildness in each other!
© Sarah Barry ~ Tarot Readings with Psychic Sarah 2016
This Tarot Reading for the Collective was done with The Elora Tarot Project, conceived and coordinated by Shelley Carter. These images are used here with her permission. You can find out more about this beautiful community deck at eloratarot.com
To find out more about how I work go to sarahthepsychic.com/about/ and sarahthepsychic.com/faq/
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