To set up for the reading, I selected some items to create a sacred space and evoke the sense of warm winter festivities: glass christmas baubles in shades of red, white and green, locally foraged ivy & pine cones, a red candle representing all four elements (solid wax - earth, melted wax - water, flame - fire & space around - air).
To bring more energy to the theme of Joyful Gifting, I also chose items that had been gifted to me. A purple scarf given to my sister by my mother to wear with her outfit at my recent wedding, which has in turn been gifted from my sister to me. Purple is one of my favourite colours!
On top of that I lay a white silk scarf with the 8 ashtamangala (ashta = 8, mangala = auspicious) buddhist symbols. This was gifted to me by my first buddhist teacher, Ven. Kelsang Tharchin, at the end of a Medicine Buddha empowerment in the Forest of Ae, Dumfries & Galloway where I used to frequently spend weekends on meditation retreats.
I am eternally grateful to him for all his love and guidance on my spiritual journey. He helped me to deepen my respect and skillful offering of tarot, guiding me to always motivate my readings with love, compassion and wisdom, relying on the spiritual guide-ess and protector-ess at my heart and all around me, the female Buddha Arya Tara ~ a powerful gift that infuses into every tarot reading I have given since.
I chose my current favourite pack, the Shadowscape Tarot. These cards were joyfully gifted to me by my gorgeous herbalist tarot reader friend to thank me for hosting her when she came to visit from her home in Ireland. I love them! Thank you again, Elly.
Here are the cards I drew...
A Swords card (4 of Swords), a Pentacles card (Page of Pentacles),
2 Major Arcana cards (The Hermit & Death) & a Cups card (6 of Cups)
To view a better quality version of these cards on
Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's (creator of Shadowscape Tarot) website,
click the images of the single cards below.
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1. What gift would you give the world if you could? ~ 4 of Swords
The 4 of Swords shows a woman reclining with her eyes closed, under a white sheet, 3 swords under and over her head and one sword on top of her body, her movement restricted. It appears that she is floating with pink lotus flowers blooming around her.
What gift would I give the world if I could?
It's interesting that this card came up for me as I work in the healing professions as a holistic herbalist and massage therapist. Often people choose to visit me after a long period of neglecting their health and well being, sometimes when they have come to the end of conventional treatment, or still not experiencing sufficient results with avenues they have tried and seeking a new approach.
So many people in modern society are stressed, burning the candle at both ends and exhausted. We know this is not sustainable, but it can be so hard to just stop and change pace, give our physical vessels the sacred care and sustenance it needs.
Eventually our body or circumstance takes charge and helps us return to balance by becoming ill or debilitated, forcing us to slow down and reassess where we have become out of balance.
When we get ill we gain an opportunity to take a step back from our everyday lives, to take space and time out to rest and heal, so that with the right care and time we may receive physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy, strength and freedom of movement in return.
If I could, the gift I would give to each and everyone the world would be a heartfelt realisation of the preciousness of our human lives. I would like you to know how valuable the gifts you bring to the world truly are, and encourage you to treat your body as a temple ~ ideally before you get unwell, but especially when you do.
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2. What gift would you want from the world? ~ Page of Pentacles
The Page of Pentacles card shows a young person sitting in nature on top of a rock, around which a slumbering dragon is resting around. Enchanted creatures whisper messages and guidance from the roots, stones and greenery. His companion, a peaceful wise owl is on the look out.
What gift do I want from the world?
The Page is a first in the sequence of Page, Knight, Queen, King - at the apprentice stage on a journey to mastering a particular aspect, in this case the Pentacles representing the earth element, themes of stability, security, home, money management.
So this card suggests a gift I could be giving myself is an opportunity to reassess the handle I have on these areas in my life. Be open minded to a fresh approach, be willing to learn again, go back to basics and start again from the foundations, building upwards from there.
This certainly does resonate with me. Anyone who knows me well, I think, would agree. In the past couple of years, I have been working with various mentors and coaches to help me grow my heart-centered business, transform my relationship with money and release some of the negative associations I have had with it.
This has been eye opening and transforming. I'm learning that money is not necessarily a replacement for love, or 'the root of all evil', but simply energy that can flow and bring many benefits to improve the lives of many who truly need it.
Another way I am interpreting this card is to tune more into my inner child and allow her to become more playful. Certainly in the past month or two, I have been receiving support and guidance to do just this. In the card, little faces in the plants, minerals and animals are there to offer support and guidance on life's journey.
As we grow older, for some a cynicism and reluctance to tune into a more enchanted world can set in. This has certainly been true for me in the past. More and more now, my heart and soul has been retuning to its child-like essence, opening to a more playful communication with the elements and learning to listen to nature's wise whispers.
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3. What gift have you gotten that has brought you joy? ~ IX The Hermit
The Hermit card shows an intrepid traveller looking out from an impossibly high and treacherous peak, higher even than a flock of birds flying below her feet, gazing towards the heavens, stars almost within reach. She holds the lamp of wisdom to light her journey. Now that she has reached the top, her journey continues back down towards the earth where she can share the wise stories and insights of her adventure with others.
What gift have I been given that has brought me joy?
Although to some this card may appear quite lonely and bleak, to an independent, soul searching, free spirit like myself, this solitary figure standing on the top of the world embodies a blissful state.
Time and space to myself to day dream, doodle, write, meditate, walk, create, retreat on my own, contemplate the stars, and look within. This brings me a great deal of peace of mind and sense of joyfulness. I'm incredibly grateful and fortunate to have had the means, personal will, and encounters with others to have led me to solo adventures where I have learned so much about myself and the world.
I used to think there was something wrong with me that I love and crave my own company so much, now I realise it's a beautiful quality about myself that I celebrate.
A message that the Hermit card brings is what goes up must come down. All the wisdom gained and lessons learned on my journeys are gifts to share with others in the community, in society and with the world.
This gift has been given to me by myself, my personal choices, my parents, family members, my husband, my friends. Time alone for me to be me, space and silence for inspiration to flow in and hear the voice of wisdom within and all around me.
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4. What gift have you given that has brought you joy? ~ XIII Death
The Death card is a bright swirl of orange, red and yellow. Like a phoenix rising resplendent from ashes, a woman with open heart and arms is shape shifting into a fiery bird-like creature, completely transformed from her former existence and ready to begin a new journey of empowerment. On a branch below, an egg holds a new bird, symbolising that new life springs from the falling away of the old.
What gift have I given that has brought me joy?
The Death card is one that many people fear in the tarot. To me there is something energising and powerful about what Death symbolises which is an essential part of the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.
When I was doing my final year of BSc Herbal Medicine, my grandmother had suffered a stroke and died after many months of paralysis and inability to speak, being cared for by her children. This period before her passing was a real opportunity for them to return just a small part of the vast ocean of love she had devoted to them.
I chose to focus on Herbal Medicine to Support Grief in Life Threatening Illness as my dissertation research project. This choice was very much influenced by my need to nurture my own feelings of losing my dear grandmother, and to explore ways to support others and my future clients using natural methods when they go through this inevitable period with their loved ones.
Today I feel very comfortable in creating a safe space for others to express and allow healing of difficult emotions in whatever way they might experience it, mentally, physically or emotionally. Death is an area that many shy away from but for me, it brings me joy to be able to offer comfort to people's range of emotions in the process of this transitional time.
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5. What is one last thing you would like to share about this season. ~ 6 of Cups
The 6 of Cups card shows girl in an enchanted forest, hosting a tea party for her teddies and woodland creature friends. Symbolising a reconnection with the inner child and homecoming, re-visiting your childhood hopes and dreams.
