Grateful

With a new year many people look forward - because the old one is gone. However I like to compare the years before and use this New Years Day to express gratitude to getting here.

If not for every year so far and every person in my life this blog would not be written. Every experience I have lived has lead to this moment. I live in the current so often that I need to reflect back before planning for tomorrow.

I am very grateful for all of my loved ones and those who I have only passed by in life.

Today I ventured out in the 30° cold, the snow was not too dense so it crackled under my sneakers. This pathway by my house was lonely and beautiful.

I usually take more than 15 minutes to secure all of my clothing. A ski cap with blue stripes, my husband's winter coat in red plaid, and many layers underneath.
I fixed my pockets with all my belongings, many new. Wires, necessities, car keys.

When I am finally settled I do not notice my things anymore.

Even the back of was of the plaza buildings are pretty, weeds climbing along the dead cement. A curious dog barked at me before he knew it was me. Once we face each other it was respectful.

Anyway I need to be grateful for the moments that made up that hour of the of my life today. And again all the people and things that led up to a peaceful walk to start the year.

Thank you ~Darleen

Hugs

Hugs are my new specialty.

I give them differently when I need them vs when another person needs them.

I can speak volumes after an embrace that I couldn't put to words before.

They make me stronger and yet more vulnerable.

So simple and complicated - share a hug this holiday.

No a real one - the kind you reserve for your partner give to a friend.
   The kind you give a friend give to a stranger.

Know no stranger - hug them harder.

Happy Holidays all.

Mourning

I mourn my mentor and friend Mary that passed away this weekend. She loved swimming and was such a bright spirit. I love her and will miss her every single day.

~Darleen

Chi

So Tai Chi .. I figure this is an area that not too many readers might know about. Tai Chi is doing physical movements with your body to enhance energy flow - your Chi. These movements usually move bad energy out and good energy in to the person doing the movements.

I learned when I was a preteen. It was slow, balanced and boooring.

Now  I still make it slow and balanced and I really enjoy that kind of quiet time. Even just meditating about my Chi is helpful.

My first Tai Chi instructor held his hands out wide like he was holding an imaginary kick ball. He asked each of us to line up and put our hands in the ball space and just feel it for a moment. We were to do it silently and get back in a line.

Then he asked what did you feel? Warm. We had all felt a very warm sensation. For me it was like a pulsating warmth like I had my hand on his heart. Years later I realized his lesson might be closer to Reiki than Tai Chi but it did get across the point  that this energy inside us is very real and can change the out side world in many ways.

I imagine my Chi like an ocean tide - in and out - good and bad - balanced. I do a few movements before a tarot reading and feel the blood in my veins going from the heart to the finger tips. I can imagine a little wave pool between my hands. This helps me calm down  before a tarot reading (it is easy to get anxious while reading) and I can focus.

The basic yin yang concept behind Tai Chi is what helped me get through some very tough situations in my personal life. I knew life had ups and downs - and if I rode through the downs the ups would be worth sticking around to see!

Thanks for reading I would love any comments from readers. Again my Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/groups/chitarot/ and new group members receive a free first reading!

~ Darleen

Psychic Fair

I went to a psychic fair this weekend it was really neat to be around other people I can be comfortable with. I did not really express my talent too much because it is still something I am so used to keeping private.  I admit to my talent when asked directly or if someone seems interested in conversation but I do not push it on others.
I am not a very pushy person ever but sometimes it gets to the point where I think later on "well they can't read my mind how would they know I read tarot?"
It reminds me of salesperson jobs I have had in the past. I am very good at guiding someone to the correct purchase, but pushing the one cell phone that gets me the most commission even if it is not right for my customer?!  I always listened and then looked for the best fit no matter what corporate told me to push.

I feel like if someone wants a reading they will ask, if they are looking for help I can usually sense that but otherwise I do not want to push it on people.
Sometimes just mentioning psychics is pushing their religious beliefs. I want to educate them but only if they are open to listen.

Anyway my reader was very nice, it was not in my opinion a "traditional" tarot deck so I couldn't read along with her (maybe that is better).
They also had some jewelry and candles you could buy.
It seemed like most of the people there already knew each other. Tarot / psychic readings can be a little hard to get into that way because a lot of family or friends 'stick to their own kind' they do not look for new talent.
And why would they? Why divide clients and money?
So I quietly drop my business card to be found by a stranger maybe in that time of need and walk on.

I will be carrying my tarot deck on me more often though - you never know when I will get the courage to bring it up to a LIVE person!

Blog again soon ~Darleen

Second Helping

So it has been a week, and I will try at this again.

I hope all of my readers had a great Thanksgiving. I saw many posts on being grateful by my personal friends.
Just within the last few months I have known many great things to be grateful for. I will not bore you with lists.
So on to something somewhat tarot related - here is one of my early spirit experiences:

Again I do not speak with the dead (that I am aware of), and I am not sure if other people do. I do not understand how my talent works. I am astounded by certain things that have happened in my life and will share these stories now and then.
Now preamble over ...

When I was 10 I thought I had a resident ghost in my house. I was old enough to understand 'imaginary friends' and I was too smart for that. My house was older and had its' share of rumors.

I had a friend over we were listening to the radio and drawing or doing homework. The radio station changed from our pop music to a very quiet waltz as if a pillowcase covered the speaker. The waltz was nothing recognizable, just 3 step time - simple and plunking, like on a piano by an amateur not what you would hear on a classical radio station.

I got up and went across the room to the radio - I saw that nothing changed other than the display not being 'lit' anymore. The power was off but the music was still there. We hadn't turned it off and the power hadn't surged.

While at the radio my friend got up and walked over to my desk. She wanted to see if the lights had gone out on the street - it was just becoming dusk. As she looked beyond my desk out the window she gasped.

When I stood up I saw the pencil I had been writing with was standing straight up on its' own. Nub on paper and eraser in the air, straighter than a person would hold it. It did not "float" or write - just stood on edge.

It was a few moments - long enough for us both to look down and look back up at each other.

This event passed without mention for quite a while.

I will continue with more next week if there is interest... let me know

~Darleen

email chitarot@gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/groups/chitarot/

Is this thing on?

Hi all,

  Here are my humble beginnings to a blog... hopefully I will gain some fans / clients.
  I also would love to help empower myself and other new tarot readers.

  I picked up tarot around 12 years old. At that time my dramatic side of me figured it was spooky, weird, and something different enough for my individual taste. (Read: I'm an Aquarius)
  Of course at first I had no idea what I was doing, throwing them around like baseball cards. Memorization of the meanings book seemed impossible.
  I would lay out one per night to read my own future for the next day and look up the meaning one by one. I found the book and my interpretations to read as any other horoscope in the newspaper. Generic, unreal, disconnected.
  So for most of my life I had this one deck (I still use the same style - new deck). And it would get put in a drawer and move with my other 'young me' belongings including stuffed animals and early journals written in light blue ink and lots of bubble lettering.
 
  In college the boys dorm next door was having a Halloween party. I set up a table, put on my gypsy-est clothes and opened for business. Looking back it was college - everyone was broke - not sure why I expected actual money.
  I read a few people very hesitantly I could barely remember the placement meanings and I was really reaching for the card meanings too. As a true salesman I kept my composure and smiled through my thick BS.
  By the end of the night I made no money and felt embarrassed. But there were always psychics making money on TV right? Who buys into this crap anyway?!

Past that night I did take it a little more seriously, mostly it would come up with my close friends if they had love life issues. Will I stay with him? Most people knew me deeply - and I them - I couldn't wow them with any psychic sight.
"I see an older woman is controlling your life"
"Well duh ... you have met my mother"

  Then out of college I did readings for coworkers who I did not know as well, proved some talent. I would do them more often and it was probably as annoying as the guy with trivia knowledge at holiday parties.
  More recently I have read for parties full of strangers and networked. I see more and more that I have something. It is not a spooky thing or a dead people thing.
  I have figured out the best description is being an Empath. It does explain some of my tendencies and feelings. Calm when I shouldn't be, nervous for no reason.
  I would feel an extreme anxiousness get worse and worse and then see a coworker come around the corner and they would say "Time for my review!" And I started to piece together that I felt what they felt.
  It didn't stop my normal life but it helped me know that I need to seek out my tarot in a more professional way.
  What did this mean for my current faith and beliefs about God? Really nothing, it could confirm or not - but I try to just experience for now instead of label.
  Then I combined my readings and my practice of Tai Chi (this interest also started when I was 12). I warm up before hand I cool down after and I can train the client into feeling their energy for the reading. I feel like I turn the energy on high - put my antenna up and I can speak clearly and feel the client stronger.

In conclusion this first posting is to start my writing juices, help promote my little growing business.
I do readings in other peoples homes or public meeting places for cheap. I enjoy reading and getting better. I want to be more than a parlor trick, I want to help people understand that I am not haunted, and that tarot is not scary.   I plan to make many posts and get into my personal life and my different experiences and beliefs.

Thanks for reading so far and please ask questions!

~Darleen

 http://www.facebook.com/groups/chitarot/