How to Include Tarot in Your Daily Spiritual Practice

"Daily spiritual practice??!!!" I hear you say with shock in your voice. "Sadly, I don't have time for this."

Are you sure you don't have just ten minutes in a day for yourself?

There's no need to do an elaborate 10-card Celtic Cross reading every day to ground yourself and clear some mental clutter.

Instead, you can use a simple one-card reading for daily insight, reflection and guidance, which will take you no more than ten minutes of your time.

If you find it difficult to meditate the traditional way by sitting in the lotus position, closing your eyes and trying to think of nothing, then perhaps journaling can help you unwind more easily instead.

Here's how to do it:

Self-reflective meditation is best done first thing in the morning or last thing at night depending when it suits you best.

The morning meditation sets you up for the day. You look ahead setting your tasks and explore what you may need to pay attention to.

The evening meditation lets you reflect on the day just passed, and you can include favourite moments, lessons learned and achievements.

In both cases it is important to write it all down in your journal. Writing is a wonderful tool for grounding, focus, problem solving and healing.

All you need to do is draw one card from your deck and make some notes. What to include in a one-card reading? Find out here.

My morning routine involves getting up before my son does at 7.00 am and making coffee. With my favourite wake-up drink I sit at my desk and pull a card and make some notes according to my checklist.

Later in the day when I glance at my notes again, I often notice how my thoughts and mindset recorded in my journal have influenced me during the day.

My fauxdori journal filled
with cosmic journaling sheets

Recently I have been doing more and more evening reflections.

I quite literally do them in bed all cosy under my blanket, with my favourite Tarot deck and fauxdori journal containing journaling sheets I created especially for this purpose.

If the daily evening reflection appeals to you, you can download a cosmic journaling sheet in two sizes:

Evening Reflection A4 - for your ring binder. Two pages to be printed double-sided.

Evening Reflection A5 - designed to print double-sided to fold into a booklet or use as traveler's notebook (fauxdori) inserts.

For the evening reflection you can draw a card in the morning, record it on your sheet, and in the evening you can journal about how it has panned out during the day.

Try the various options and see which one suits you best, and please do let me know about your Tarot journaling habits. I'd love to hear from you!

Warmest wishes,

Christiane


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Women, Know Your Worth!

Angels, Gods and Goddesses Oracle
(c) Toni C. Salerno 2003 

Having done so many Tarot readings addressing love and relationship issues over the years, I have noticed a distinct pattern: how women so readily settle for shitty relationships.

Yes, they are treated like shit and think that's normal or okay.

Women have the tendency to blame themselves for the way they are treated, and to a certain extent they're right.

They let it happen, because they think they shouldn't make a drama, complain or make some other kind of fuss.

Most likely, they'd be accused of being highly strung or having hormonal problems, and no woman wants to give that impression or have that reputation.

But here's the deal: women have to learn to set firm boundaries based on self-love; they need to realise their worth and make their relationship choices accordingly. And expressing emotions doesn't equal drama or PMT.

Here are some of the ill-treatments women put up with:

1. Lack of Communication

After weeks of dating and getting closer, suddenly the bloke doesn't get in touch any more. Total silence for days, but then out of the blue he makes contact again as if nothing has happened.

Unless this guy was in a coma or on a secret undercover mission working for MI6, then there is absolutely no excuse for this kind of behaviour, especially when this happens a couple of times.

If this has happened more than once, then it's time to ditch that player for good.

There are men out there, who consciously starve you of communication or time, so you keep wanting them more. Don't fall into this venus fly trap.

2. Two-Timing

I'm not talking cheating here (which of course is bad enough), but the woman actually being aware of another woman he is interested in.

Hello? Are you sure you want to nurture his ego by waiting for him to make a choice between you and the other?

Honestly, please... you don't have time for this. There is someone else out there for you, who would love you with all his heart and wouldn't treat you as an option or a stand-in.

This guy needs a reality check and realise he's not the only man on the planet. Tell him to make do with the other and block him completely out of your life.

3. Ambivalence

If after three months of dating, a man is still floating in and out of your life, prefers gaming, drugs, checking out other women and his mates over you, then it's time to kick that jerk in the butt and say "good riddance".

4. Passive Abuse

Physical abuse is clear-cut zero tolerance, and you should leave that relationship immediately, however, there is also the more subtle psychological abuse, which happens over time and can leave a woman full of self-doubt and with battered self-esteem.

I have written before about toxic relationships, which are emotionally draining and exhausting. They are the most difficult to get out of, because the symptoms tend to appear in a more established relationship, and emotional attachment makes is hard to let go.

Here's a question for you: 

When you stick with a shitty relationship, are you doing it because you want to please the man with your compliance and exceeding tolerance until he realises what a gem you are and changes his ways?

Trust me, he will never change, if you just let this happen to you. By ignoring your needs and not demanding the respect and attention you deserve, you just hand your personal power over to him. You are open to degradation and manipulation.

When women contact me for readings about their relationship issues, I don't know at that point what is going on in their lives, but the cards often tell me that something isn't quite right.

It is then up to me, an objective, neutral person from the outside to waive the red flag and help women recognise what is truly happening to them, and how they can make positive changes.

I urge all women to think about their boundaries carefully and realise that any kind of mistreatment as described above is NOT okay.

Warmest wishes,

Christiane

Transform your life this year:

Tarot Readings - Insightful guidance when you need it
Learn Tarot - A magickal, inspirational tool for life
Tarot eBooks - Great value, innovative Tarot study material

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The Truth About Soulmate Relationships

Tarot of Quotes

"Why did he leave me? He was my soulmate!" she cried, "Now he says he doesn't love me any more..." *sob*

As a professional Tarot reader, I deal with a lot of questions about love and relationships including "When will I meet my soulmate?", as if soulmate relationships were the Rolls Royce of relationships.

But here's the truth: they're not, and I tell you why.

What is a soulmate relationship?

You can find different definitions of a soulmate relationship on the internet, and some even include a karmic /past life connection.

This is my version:

In a soulmate relationship there is a mutual strong and deep love connecting both people for life.

That love will never diminish, and over time it can become all consuming and sometimes even leads to co-dependency without you realising.

It is possible that in a soul mate relationship you gradually lose yourself completely giving up your identity and autonomy. Two people become one, not just in private but in public, too.

So far, not so good.

Of course, deep love and affection is a wonderful thing, and that is one major aspect of a soulmate relationship.

This love lasts a lifetime, so if someone tells you they don't love you any more, then they have never been your soulmate.

Happy-ever-after in a soulmate relationship?

Not necessarily. As mentioned before, this type of relationship can be stifling, and at one point there will be an urge to break out, even if just for a short time.

Two people can evolve over time in different directions, which will not have an impact on the love they feel for each other, but on their ability to stay together.

When soulmates finally split up, they will experience this as difficult and traumatic, because they cannot stop loving the other but also recognise the reason why their breakup is for the best.

There is no guarantee that soulmates stay together for the rest of their lives.

Are other kind of relationships not just second-best?

Not necessarily. As long as they are built on mutual love, commitment, trust and respect, these relationships can equally last a lifetime but without the entangling energy of a soulmate connection.

A lot of successful relationships are NOT soulmate connections; both people in this kind of relationship manage to grow alongside each other, in fact, they help each other grow. They also keep their autonomy and yet are fully committed to each other.

How do you know, if you are in a soulmate relationship?

Although you can feel a strong connection to each other, especially at the beginning of a relationship, only time will tell if you do.

Astrology can also give you a hint as to how you are matched with your significant other. This involves your sun and your moon sign. If your moon sign is the same as your partner's sun sign, then this could indicate a soulmate relationship. If you like, I can do a Tarot Love Match reading for you to explore your compatibility.

When you see an old couple still holding hands in public after 50 years of marriage, they are most likely soul mates. Like I said, time will tell, and initial attraction and a passionate early phase of a relationship is no indication for being soulmates.

What is for sure is that your significant other will never leave you, because they don't love you any more, and vice versa. There can be many different reasons for a breakup, but the love between you would remain forever.

A soulmate relationship usually only happens once in a lifetime, and not everyone experiences one, but that doesn't mean you cannot have fulfilling relationships in your life. 

As you can see, there is no need to aspire to a soulmate relationship, when you can be with someone, who you can be equally happy with, perhaps even happier than you think.

Warmest wishes,

Christiane

Transform your life this year: 

Tarot Readings - Insightful guidance when you need it
Learn Tarot - A magickal, inspirational tool for life
Tarot eBooks - Great value, innovative Tarot study material

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Why You Should Have A Word Of The Year

Cosmic Faery's Journal Workbook

A new year has begun, and resolutions are made and discarded within a matter of weeks.

This is a shame, because so many resolutions are worthwhile, and if they can be kept, will have tremendous benefits, such as boosting confidence, health, self-worth etc.

Turning a resolution into a goal and pursuing it mindfully is the first step towards success, and there are some tricks you can apply that will help you along the way.

First, take some time today to calculate your year card and explore the energies surrounding you over the coming months.

Your year card can offer you ideas on what you should focus on during 2016, perhaps inner qualities that will help you achieve your ultimate goal such as loosing weight, improve your love life or get a new job.

Tarot of Quotes

There is always something hidden that stops us from getting what we want to achieve, and your year card may point you into the right direction towards discovery.

While you treat yourself to this quiet time of reflection, you can choose your personal word for 2016 based on the energies of your year card that will act as your inner guide towards your goal.

Once you know your word, write it down on little notes and put them in places, where you can be reminded of it often.

My personal word of the year is ONWARDS, based on The Chariot, my year card for 2016.

The Chariot is telling me that the year ahead won't be easy, but ONWARDS will remind me to let go and move forward rather than being held back by a 25-year old comfort zone.

I worked out my word of the year by using a journaling sheet I designed for my ebook Cosmic Faery's Journal Workbook, which you can see on the image above.

Download your copy here

There are lots of guided journaling prompts in this workbook, which I created to help you ground yourself and become more mindful about your potential and opportunities.

In this exercise, I show you what types of word to choose to make it more potent, and once you have chosen your word of the year, it can act as a powerful prompt to help you put your choices in alignment with your goal when decisions have to be made.

In the workbook, there is also a journaling sheet to help you catch up with your magickal word more regularly, so you keep remembering and apply it when you need it.

And have I mentioned recently how powerful just ten minutes of daily journaling can be? 

Honestly, if you keep thinking that you don't have the time, then please try to shift that mindset and create some little me-time each day to ground yourself, reflect and explore by putting pen to paper. 

You will soon notice how therapeutic it can be.

Happy New Year!

Christiane

Transform your life this year:

Tarot Readings - Insightful guidance when you need it
Learn Tarot - A magickal, inspirational tool for life
Tarot eBooks - Great value, innovative Tarot study material

Make sure you subscribe to my feed to receive the latest articles straight into your inbox when published.

You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumbr and Instagram.