Negative Space

This post is for a dear friend of mine in the tarot community.  Many of my readers probably know her.  She is currently struggling.  Homeless for now.  Trying to figure her shit out, get back on her feet.  Through it all she's remained incredibly optimistic and I feel she's had some really positive breakthroughs.  She posted this morning that the Starbucks she hangs out at is discontinuing her favorite drink.  She says:

 "But sometimes, loss manifests as a pinch, a subtle spot on the horizon that gradually becomes a Venti cup of negative space.  It doesn't affect you on a grand scale, but it's just enough to realize that something that you've become accustomed to is gone."

I get it.  She relied on that one small comfort.  Maybe she didn't even realize it until now, but now that too is gone.  Even still, she's turned this moment around.  She's chosen to see the good.  She can try another drink.  She can have a new favorite.  And she's taken this small incident and made it bigger, to apply it to the rest of her situation.

"And negative space can be just as beautiful as any filled spaces in art.  It just depends on how well you can take advantage of it."

So this is for you, my friend.  A little something about beautiful negative spaces.

Just Say No: Another Look at the Four of Cups

I was thinking of the Four of Cups the other day.  Come visit Thematic Tarot to see the conclusion I came to.

Sick Days, Sick Nights

Ugh, this winter weather!  I've had a low grade fever, sore throat, and barking cough for the last few days.  With all of this snow though, and my babysitter calling off with it, I can't afford to take off of work just because I'm sick!  Last night a few people were leaving at 3am.  I went with them.  You know how when you're sick, you'll be resting most of the day and start to feel better, but as soon as you decide to get up and catch up on the laundry or dishes or make dinner for your family you start to feel lightheaded and woozy?  Yep, it hit me at work and I just couldn't continue.  I'm  feeling considerably better today though!  And my manager is kindly letting me make up a day (he doesn't have to). 

I'll still be off Friday night, and I'd love nothing more than to spend it doing some tarot readings!  Question on your mind?  Request a reading!

And for anyone who is interested, I will have the address for Little Bit tomorrow.  If you'd like to send her a card or something, email me (qofchalices@gmail.com).  And if you do want to send something, please keep me anonymous.

Heavy Heart

I have a heavy heart today.  I logged into my "regular" Facebook account yesterday morning to find that one of my supervisors at work, whom we affectionately call Little Bit, lost her home and her boyfriend in an explosion Friday night.  The photos taken on scene are poignant.  She was working at the time and is not hurt.  Still... her entire life has been scattered in the wreckage of these photos.

I'm asking for prayers, good vibes, healing energy, whatever you can send.  Help her heal, move on, find peace and acceptance.  This is going to be a long and difficult journey for her.  If you'd like to give a monetary donation, I've set up a GoFundMe campaign for her here.

New Car

What a day we had yesterday!  Back on Wordpress, I mentioned that my car wasn't running.  We seem to always have the worst luck with cars, which is what happens when you're poor with not so great credit and have to buy the best you can afford with your tax returns.  So last year we bought a '96 Cadillac Seville, cash.  It wasn't pretty, but it got us where we needed to go.  Until it didn't.

So there we were, another tax season looking for a car.  And let me tell you, I am so tired of the kind of clunkers our last two cars have been!  Other Half convinced me that our best bet was to go to a dealership.   A car payment makes me nervous, but he assured me that we can afford it.  And I know he's right.  It's something that takes a little bit of getting used to, not being so poor.

Our first decision was what dealership to go to.  There are so many in our area and we couldn't really decide on one.  One I know to have a reputation as swindlers, yet Other Half has heard good stories about.  The rest we just didn't know enough to even form an opinion.  How were we going to decide?

"Why don't you use your tarot cards to decide?"  Did my Other Half say that?  To me?  He's come a LONG way in accepting what I do, rather than merely tolerating it.  He's not sure how it works; he doesn't really get it, but he's read what people have said about me.  He's impressed, and he takes me more seriously than he had.   So I happily laid out 6 cards, one for each dealership that we had been considering.  The Tower.  The Ace of Cups.  Seven of Pentacles reversed.  The Hanged Man.  Eight of Wands reversed.  Knight of Pentacles reversed. 

We chose to go with the Ace of Cups and we had the most pleasant buying experience!  Our salesperson wasn't pushy, suggested cars in the low, middle, and high ranges of our budget, let us test drive four different cars, kept the three year old busy with snacks and coloring books, and was an all around friendly and helpful guy.  I could tell the car we chose wasn't the one he was hoping we'd go with (he was rooting for the Ford Focus), but he agreed our pick is still a really great car.  We went with a 2010 Nissan Altima, which easily makes it the newest car we've ever had.  I wish I could post a picture, but it's currently under a blanket of snow.  I'm glad that this experience was a good one, I'm really turning Other Half into a true believer.  The only thing we had to complain about was the amount of time we spent at the dealership.  We got there at 10am and were barely home in time to catch our oldest before he got off of the school bus.  The bus pulled up seconds after we parked!  Good thing we didn't go to the dealership represented by the 8 of Wands reversed!









Psst, have you signed up for my new newsletter?  I'll be sending them out once or twice a month with some extra content and a super special discounted tarot reading.  Subscribers will also get a lil somethin somethin on their birthday, so include your birth date!

My Top 5 Most Romantic Tarot Cards

Valentine's Day is soooo close!  So I compiled a list of what I think are the five most romantic cards in tarot.

You'll have to visit Thematic Tarot to find out what they are!

Introducing: The Universal Fantasy Tarot

This was supposed to come on Monday, but Nature had other ideas about that.  It was delivered today though (yesterday?  lol).

So here's a look-through of the Universal Fantasy Tarot by Paolo Martinello with special emphasis on some of my favorite cards from the Major Arcana and each suit of the Minor Arcana.  Enjoy!

 

This isn't Working, & Neither am I

Last week I had leftover vacation hours.  I only worked Sunday and Saturday with the rest of the week off.  Did it snow?  Not once.

This week I have zero vacation hours.  I'm scheduled for a full week.  And we get hit with two snowstorms in a row.  My babysitter can't and/or won't drive in the snow.  So this is two nights that I've had to call out of work.  That doesn't look good.  Especially for a (low level) supervisor.  I do have a back up baby sitter but she has other kids to take care of in the mornings, and with my other half not getting home until 5am, she just can't stay that long unless she's off the next day.  So here I am again, unexpectedly home another night.

I don't even want to complain about it, but I worked really hard to get this position, and when I can't come in because of my babysitter it really frustrates me.  And even though they're family friendly, it's one thing to call out every once in a while because your child is sick, and it's another to be doing it because your sitter won't drive to you every time there's snow on the ground.  It's hard to find someone reliable willing to work overnight at a price we can afford.  Stepping down from this position has definitely crossed my mind.  I just can't afford NOT to be working full time right now. 

Maybe one day I'll have enough clients to stay home and make tarot reading my full-time job, but today is not that day. 

On the bright side, the Universal Fantasy came in the mail today!  More on that a little later tonight or tomorrow, but here's a quick sneak peek!