The Readings by SunChariot Newsletter

May 2013 Edition

Volume 5, Edition 5
 

 























Welcome back to the Readings by SunChariot newsletter!

Well here we are in the month of May. No more cold or snow for a while (at least where I live), but instead all the beauty of life and renewal right there in front of us. The flowers are starting to come up more and more, the leaves in the trees are bursting back into life...And one of the things I love most, weather at the perfect temperature, the warm weather before it gets hot with the beautiful cool breezes that surround you with joy.

May is always the month of all that for me, such a happy month. Even at my age, 56!, I still get excited to see the little buds in the trees that will become leaves and to watch them grow day by day. The flowers in the trees never cease to fill me with a sense of awe at nature.

That is what this time of year is for me, and I wish you so much of that joy this month.

Other fun things over here, I started a course and you know how I love to learn new things especially anything spiritual. LOL This one is on lucid dreaming and dream analysis and it has me thinking a lot about that lately.

And that seems to be about all that is new and noteworthy over here. Except that I am just getting over and cold. Mostly over it now, and yep that is a good thing. I am convinced that we need these kinds of things once in a while to prevent us from taking things for granted.:-) 

Now that I am getting my strength back, it feels SO good to get back to normal. When before "normal" was just the norm and I never thought about it. So in that strange kind of way, that is a happy thing. And well, you know me. I truly believe that nothing happens in life without a good reason.

With that I wish you a lovely month of May. May all your dreams come true, your daydreams as well and your fondest dreams at night. And may this be a deeply loving month for you. And one filled with awe at the beauty and magic of nature and the world around you.

All the best,

Babs

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(This Blog version of my newsletter is available to be viewed by anyone at anytime at this site. It will come out once a month, near the last Saturday of every month. But, if you'd like an e-mail reminder each month to let you know when the new edition has come up, just click here and I'll get that out to you)

Quote of the Month

You have to dream before your dreams can come true.

--Abdul Kalam


I loved this quote when I saw it. What more can I say... but that I wish you a lifetime of fulfilled dreams

May 2013 Contest

This month I will be offering you a Rune reading. I have always loved Runes, as they are the letters of an ancient alphabet that preceded our own, and well ...I have always loved language and anything to do with it. And yes, the Runes can and do answer any question you can ask of them too.  They come from a time when letters represented words and concepts, and had unique meanings.

This will be a Rune reading, using 8 Runes.

To enter the contest, just click here.

In the Comments section, just write "May 2013 contest" along with the country you are in (feel free to just put the first initial of your last name if you want).

 

The drawing will take place on Friday, May 24, 2013  and will be announced in the June 2013 edition of this newsletter.

 

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The winner of last month's contest was Amy W. from the USA.  I will be starting Amy's playing card reading soon.  And am very much looking forward to it. -)

 

Until then, all the best Amy, and we will talk again soon,


Warmly,


Babs

Tarot Demystified

 

Cold Reading and Warm Reading in Tarot (or Oracles)

Cold reading or warm reading of the cards are topics I had heard of but didn't really know what they were. I felt curious about them this month and well... the result is this article. :-)

Cold and warm reading involve different variations on taking into account the querent's (the person the reading is being done for) tone of voice, body language, facial expressions, reactions to what the reader says. It can also involve  taking their age, sex, personality...into account and making assumptions on that.  Or asking them direct questions about their situation during the course of the reading.  The reader is "reading" the querent as well, not reading the cards only.

These methods can be, and unfortunately sometimes are, used as methods to do false readings, to scam people.  But  I  have also know good honest readers who have learnt to use some of these techniques as part of their normal reading practice. And they say it works for them and they cannot imagine reading any other way. It feels natural to them to follow the querent's reactions where they lead. they would feel as though they were blindfolded without it. As human beings we are such wonderfully beautifully expressive beings. We communicate in all kinds of ways besides with words (image above). :-)

Although I have never read for others in person, I would imagine that in in person readings it would also be hard to be completely unaffected by the reactions of the person you are reading for. As so much of communication is non-verbal and readers often tend to be empathetic people by nature.

I guess so much depends on intension. As they say, Tarot is just a tool. Two different people can use the same tool in very different ways depending on their intensions.

These methods can only be used in situations where the reader and querent are in direct contact. An in person reading would be the most conducive to this, but other methods such as telephone readings would still allow the use of some of them.  Just to say here before going on, none of these techniques are possible in the way I read. I do e-mail readings only and all I usually have before me when I start is the question. I am never in direct contact with the querent during the course of the reading.   For me,  I tend to personally be the kind of reader who prefers to find my answers though the cards only.

In my research on cold and warm readings, I found a few other types as well that I will add in for you below. the info I found tends to focus on unethical Tarot practices.

Cold Reading

This is the type of reading where the reader takes the querent's reactions and what they know about them personally into account. These can include body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, even the age, sex, religion...etc of the querent.

Someone practiced in this this could be use it in a dishonest way, by starting with general questions and narrowing things down more and more judging by probabilities and the reactions given. Doing this could conceivably make it look like  a real reading was being done, even if that were not the case.

On the other hand, I am sure in in person readings some of this must be natural. EG if a reader sees something in the cards and tells the querent and the querent reacts with fear, I wouldn't think it is out of line to say "This scares you"  And then go on to tell what else they see in the cards.

Hot Reading

This is when the reader has some prior knowledge about the querent that the querent does not know they have. This can be the direct result of questioning others that the querent knows or research of some type. And then the reader seemingly miraculously comes up with an accurate reading. This is always a scam, and pretty well the most dishonest of the bunch.

Warm Reading

A warm reading is somewhere between a cold and hot reading. In a cold reading the "reader" starts with no information or knowledge about the person. In a hot reading they go into the situation with knowledge they have gained beforehand.

In a warm reading the reader will have a clear idea where to start and then will use cold reading techniques, then follow the querent's reactions to narrow things down.  They start each reading in the same way. This method uses certain known psychological effects. A warm reading starts with a general statement such as the reader sees a ring or watch of a loved one who has passed on. Someone whom the querent has a photograph of in their house house and that this loved one is trying to come through and speak to the querent.

Everyone, pretty much has a photograph of someone they love who passed on and who wore some kind of jewellery. And then the reader follows the querent's reactions. It starts with quite general statements, that can be narrowed down according to the querent's reactions. 

The Rainbow Ruse

This is an interesting one, as it uses 2 opposing statements at once. Examples of this would be "You are usually happy, but sometimes you are sad" , "You are doing well in some of your subjects at school, but not in all of them":, "You are usually pretty patient, but sometimes you feel quite impatient".

These are universal statements that can pretty much apply to anyone. Nothing and no one is all black and white in life. So the reader starts with these kinds of questions and then follows the querent's reactions where they lead.

Shotgunning

This technique can only be used in a situation where an audience is involved. This is a form of cold reading technique. It starts with a series of quite general statements. The reader just fires them out into the audience. Naturally some of it will apply to some people and not to others.

The reader then focuses on the people it seems to apply to, whom he is getting positive reactions from. As he goes on, the next statements will again apply to some in that group and not others, narrowing it down even further.... Until he is left with only one person, who he claims the reading was about from the start.

For me personally, and not to be judgmental and this is only my personal viewpoint, I believe in a card reading being a card reading only. Yes intuition is involved in being a reader and is an important part. But trying to read the person can lead to errors. We can't be inside another person's mind. We don't know everything in their past. Even the querent themselves may not understand fully all that is going on inside them. If we say something and we see a reaction, we can be wrong in any assumption we make as to why they are feeling or reacting that way. Unless the reader knows they are truly psychic(some are) and can be sure of that.  Otherwise for me, I believe in keeping that out of it and just letting the cards talk and do their thing.

Coming next month: Tarot Myths and Superstitions

 

Asking about Life

Recently, I began a course on lucid dreaming and dream analysis. One part that I have found interesting is about using our dreams at night for problem solving and to help understanding our lives better. Some methods to do that that  we have been learning include visualizing what you want to dream about (want help with) right before you fall asleep, asking to advice or for something that will help you understand better to come to you in the dream, and methods to remember our dreams better.

All this felt to me like an interesting topic to ask about here. It's something common to us all, we all dream. And I think something quite interesting. So I will be asking about dreams for you this month.

 I've decided to use the Voyager Tarot for you, by James Wanless and Ken Knutson. I thought to use it as the card images of this deck feel "dreamlike" to me and also because I thought I would like to share this deck with you now. It is a deck that has been very special to me in my life, and one that changed my life with the advice it gave me

The questions I asked are:
 

Question 1: What can we learn about life and ourselves by analysing our dreams at night?

Card 1: Child of Crystals (Learner)

 This card basically says that if we pay attention to our dreams at night, and try to see and understand any messages they may contain for us, it will help us see things more clearly afterwards in our waking lives.

This card is the Child of Crystals. Crystals are related to the suit of Swords in other decks. They are about out thought patterns. But the suit of Crystals always reminds me of thinking things out to remove any distortions, until we can see things in a pure "crystal" clear way.  And the child himself is about a sense of newness, seeing the world through new eyes, and without pre-set conceptions.

So what this card is  saying here is that when we look to our dreams for meaning, this can become a catalyst that allows us to drop some of our preconceived ideas and see things in brand new ways, in a new light (the child here is literally lit up inside). And this can allow us to see things much more clearly.

And here you have the child in this image, full of inner light and fascinated with looking at his own hands. Sometimes we may think we know ourselves "like the back of our own hands", but there are always new ways to see things, always something new to discover about ourselves and the world we live in. And that can be fascinating. This card says there is more going on behind us in this world than we usually see, more richness of experience and more mystery and beauty. Looking at our dreams can give us glimpses into that. As you can see, this card is called "Learner", so looking at our dreams can help teach us to do this.


Card 2: Flipped 6 of Cups (Sorrow)

 This is card (and the next as well) are flipped cards. A flipped card is one that "flipped" out of the deck during shuffling. When a flipped card comes up in a reading that means that there is something deep in the answer of that card. It tells you that if you stop and think about the card meaning, you will likely see something more to it than you saw at first glance.

This card is the 6 of Cups. Cups are about our feelings and the 6's are about love. This card is about the more difficult feelings related to love. It IS called Sorrow. And well, it's an image of things turned upside down. The flowers we were given in a romantic moment, turned upside down and falling out

Although all lives have ups and downs, here is the good news: this card says that if we ever are in a period where we are having some difficult feelings about the loves in our lives, looking to our dreams can be very helpful to dealing with that, and to healing.

More than that, and on a deeper level, energetically there are two main kinds of energies; fear-based energies and love=based energies. This card is also saying that at those times in life where we are giving in to the fear-based ones more than letting go, going with the flow (trust is a love-based energy), and feeling at one with all in the world...., that looking at our dreams can get us back on track and help things flow back quickly to the right direction in our lives for us. Our dreams can very much give us insights on how to get back to that place.


Card 3: flipped Woman of Worlds (Preserver)

And this is the Woman of Worlds. The suit of Worlds symbolized the world around you, the goals you can set and what you can achieve in the world around you with what you have been given. I particularly like in this deck that this suit is called "Worlds" (plural) showing that there are worlds of opportunity available to each of us.

The Women in this deck are like the Queens in another deck, at least in the way I use this deck. They are about teamwork, working towards a common goal in the most universally helpful ways, cooperation, democracy, equality, a good communication, mutual respect and anything and everything that contributes to working effectively together in mutually beneficial ways

As you can see the focal point in this image is the beautiful pregnant woman. So really this card is all about working together to bring something beautiful into the world that comes from equal parts of all involved. Creating something naturally together with all the amazing things the world puts in our paths to work with.

This card IS called "Preserver" so it is about preserving all that. The question I asked here was about what we can learn about ourselves and our lives by paying attention to and thinking about our dreams at night. this card is telling us that it can teach us how to dance (work) together with others in the best and most harmonious ways.

This card is saying that in dreams we are open to different world of experience. It is a quite different world we are in than when we are awake. We have the ability to act differently (fly for example) and to see things differently than we normally do.

And some even believe that some of the time at least that we are in a real place when we dream and are interacting with other real beings, which allows us to create harmonious paths to work together.  But even if that is not part of your belief system, talking about our dreams together afterwards can be bonding as we all dream and it is something we all have in common. And what bonds us helps us work more harmoniously together afterwards.



Question 2: How can what we learn in this way (in our dreams) to help us to live our lives in the best way?

Card 1: 9 of Wands, reversed (Integrity)

This card is from the suit of Wands, about what we want to create in and of our lives. It's also a reversed 9, which is related to warmth, healing, joy, feeling good inside, So the gist of the answer from this card is that the things we learn in our dreams can help us to live our lives more and more in this way. To create more warmth and connection, healing, joy and well being in our lives.

In the center of his image is a church. And before it is another spiritual building with someone climbing the stairs to go inside. This says paying attention of the messages of our dreams can help us become more spiritual. It can help us climb to higher and higher spiritual levels. The person climbing those stairs is heading towards the light. So it can help us to become more enlightened.  And that allows us to act with more and more personal integrity.

To the left in the image is someone walking a path with birds flying all around. This says that in dreams our souls are free to fly wherever they wish, and that can help us see the best path for us more clearly, which may well be one that may never have occurred to us when awake.

There are also two hands in the image, each holding a feather, saying that the spiritual is easier to grasp when asleep. And the spine of an ancient animal to the right of the image says that the state we are in when asleep is an ancient one, that has existed as long as man himself. And that it is a place where we can get down to the "bare bones" of things and see certain things more clearly.


Card 2: Ace of Wands, reversed (Illumination)

This card is again from the suit of Wands, about what we choose to create in our lives. A reversed Ace, for me, is about justice and fairness. And finding the path that  treats everyone in the fairest way.

And what you have is an X-ray type vision of a hand. In life we may THINK that we know and understand the situations in our lives like the back of our hands. We may think they are totally straightforward and there is nothing more to it. But in our dreams we can gain access to "an Xray" view of the situation(s) we are facing. We can be shown things going on beneath the surface that we otherwise have no access to or knowledge of. It can illuminate certain things we are unaware of.  And that knowledge is power. The more we know the better decisions we can make. And of course the fairer decisions we can make for all concerned.

The image shows the hand reading towards a sun and towards fireworks. If the right decision is something that helps all concerned feel inner warmth and beauty, this says again that what we learn through our dreams can help us fulfill that in the bets ways.


Card 3: flipped 4 of Wands (Aspiration)  

And this is a flipped card too saying that if you think on its message you will come to see something beneath its surface that you did not see at first.

It is the 4 of Wands. Once again about what you want to create in your life and your innate power to create. All 3 cards in Question 2 were from the suit of Wands. So the answer for you here as to what we can learn through our dreams that can help us live our lives in the best ways, all boils down to what you can create with what you learn in your dreams, and how you can learn to create.

4's for me are about completion and the totality of a thing. And this card is called "Aspiration". And I have to say right here that I really really really like this answer and what a great way to end this reading. Just for a bit more precision, I looked up the word aspiration in one of my favorite online dictionaries: The Merriam Webster and this is what I found: "a strong desire to achieve something high or great" in can also mean an inhalation of breath that you draw upwards through your body.

So what I am getting here from this card is not only about mundane goals, but the desire to reach for something truly higher and greater, to become that, to reach for the stars. And this card is saying that the wisdom we gain through our dreams can help us to do, to complete our aspirations and to achieve them in the real world.

We can breathe in that knowledge that we learn into higher and higher places inside of us, until it raises us to a higher place. It is a very spiritual image. And what it shows is the light and energy of the universe working with us. In the left hand side of the image (representing the past)  is a hand reaching upwards for something higher and more. but it does not seem to be connecting to anything it can grasp onto.

And in the right hand side of the image (representing the future)  is ...the Statue of Liberty,. And her torch is connecting with the energy of the universe and shining brighter than ever with that.

This saying that....well that dreams and what we learn from them form something like a bridge that can help us reach for our aspirations more easily. They help us connect to the power of the universe in a different way and that can help us achieve and reach for higher and higher things. They free your mind and soul to connect to that energy in way that you could not do when awake. Dreams can help you achieve things that if you tried to only when awake you would come up empty-handed.

 

May 2013 Friendship Reading

This month I am using The Housewives Tarot for you, by Paul Kepple and Jude Buffum. I haven't used it for a while and I don't think I have ever used it in my newsletter. This month felt like the right time to use it. There are two things that make this deck special for me. First that it has a sense of humor, which I hope will come out in this reading. And I love this deck as it has that '50s look and feel to it. And being born in the '50s, that just touches me.


This month I asked for you what you need to know to have the best month of May 2013 possible, to make the absolute best of what this month gives you to work with.  The message this month was mainly about the relationships in your life this month, relationships can take many forms including those with friends and family members.... Here is what the cards said for you:


Card 1: The Sun

This is a card from the Major Arcana, so there is an important lesson that you can and will learn this month by following the advice of this card.

The Sun basically is about all the things the real sun is about: warmth, brightness, clarify, feeling good, healing, joy and all those positive things. As you can see, in this deck the card is an image of someone being kind, caring and considerate of her loved one. And that basically is the advice of this card for you here.

 

This card is saying to try "cooking up" a pleasant surprise  (or more than one) this month for your loved one(s). Do something special for them when they least expect it: make them their favourite meal, surprise them with something they have said they wanted for a long time, give them a heartfelt card, ,,,,Show them the warmth you feel inside and how special they are to you, for no other reason than that they are.

This card says that it will be a fun activity for you and it will lead to warmth and joy afterwards for both of you. This May would be a good time to do this in your life.

 

 

Card 2: Queen of Swords

 

 

 

This card is about having a good communication. Another thing that will benefit your relationships with month. Swords are about our thoughts and Queens, for me, are about sharing and working together, cooperation, and teamwork.

 

So this card is about sharing your thoughts with the other people you are in a relationship with, in a way that is conducive to bonding, teamwork, cooperation, and even compromise if necessary. The idea of this card is to talk about anything going on in the relationship that you have been holding back on and not discussing. To do this in a way that fosters oneness and working together on it

 

This May is a good time to open up and discuss these things. All the pink roses say is it best to do this in a loving caring way. But if something in the relationship needs a little pruning. to allow things to grow in a healthier way, this card suggests you discuss it this month, rather than try to hold it in.

 

 

Cards 3 and 4: 2 of Swords and Strength (reversed)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

These two cards form a card duo, meaning they came out of the deck together as though they were just one. When this happens, it means to me that the meanings of both cards are  very closely interconnected. Prett5y much that there is just one message here, that is coming from both cards combined.

 

The short version of this message, is that when you think of any of the relationships in your life this month, and what you would like to "carve away" or remove...but feel hesitant and/or not sure (cannot see clearly) what the consequences of doing so might be, here is the best solution this month.

 

Just remember that the best goal you can aim for and focus on is Strength. this card came up reversed so this month this is a very important message. If things between you can use some changes, this card says to remember that the goal is to strengthen what you have, to make your relationship stronger.

 

The way to gain the greatest value now is to remember to not put the focus you getting what you want, or them getting what they want. It's not about one person winning if the other loses. If once loses, both lose. It's about putting the priority and thinking first of what will benefit most what you share, and what will strengthen the relationship between you.

 

If you feel something needs some change, but are not sure how to go about it or how it will work, think first of if this thing will strengthen or weaken what you share. If you follow the path of what you believe with strengthen your relationship, that will be the right path this month.

 

 

Card 5: Page of Wands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This card is telling you that you may want to create something between you that feel different or is new to what you share. Wands are about creating and the Pages for me are about facing something new that you never (or rarely have before). This card says that if this comes up, just have faith in the other and in what you share and being playful and laughing and things will help make any transition easier.  This attitude, in this month of May,  will help you leave anything that needed cleaning up between you in the past

 

 

Card 6: flipped 2 of Wands

 

 

This is a flipped card, card that "flipped" out of the deck during shuffling. A flipped card, for me, contains a message that is a bit deep. It says that if you stop and really think over the message given by the card, there is something valuable that you can learn from it, Something you may not see at first glance

 

This is the 2 of Wands, and that makes it about how 2 people can create something together in the best way. This card has a message that has already shown up a number of times in this reading.

 

The image shows a person with 4 hands. So it says the way to create the best relationship that you can is to work together as one. If and/or when you feel like you are at cross purposes and have different ideas of how to proceed, the most important thing is to try to work at one. That means more than any issue you could face. And with that, you can face any issue.

 

The image just says to me that if anything in your relationship is affecting that sense of oneness, May 2013 is a good time to "pick up your socks" so to speak (just look at those droopy socks in the image) and get to work on getting that warmth back, (the warm fur coat).

 

 

 

Well here we are again, coming to the end of this edition. Thank you for dropping by and letting me share with you. :-)

Please feel free to come visit me on my web site:

www.ReadingsBySunChariot.com 

for an in-depth, personalized reading delivered right to your Inbox, whenever you'd like my help with any issues in your life. I'm always here for you and I'd be more than happy to work with you to help you find your answers or just to feel better about things.

Wishing you lots of "me" time this month, to relax into things and to give yourself all that you most need.

All my very best wishes for this month for you

Babs