2/20/13—Finding the Answer Within the Question

Today's Draw: The Seven of Air from the Book of Shadows As Above in the Answer position from the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Is there a question turning around in your mind? What do you suspect the answer to that question is? Is is possible the answer lies within the question itself?

So I pull a card in the answer position, right? And I'm thinking (as I do every night), "Interesting. Now how the heck am I going to work with this card combo?" So I go into the book for inspiration (and also because this deck doesn't align with traditional card meanings) and the book meaning for the Seven of Air is "your answer lies within your question." 

I don't make this shizz up. 

*shaking head because tarot really is THAT freaking cool*

But what does that MEAN...the answer lies within your question?

Well, if you look at the card, you'll see a yin/yang symbol. Yin is the feminine and yang is the masculine and within each side, you'll see the seed of the opposite side. Within every opposing force is the seed of its opposite. Every love contains a seed of hate.  Every truth holds the essence of a lie. And within every question, you can find the beginnings of an answer. 

Sometimes this is obvious, right? Someone will say, "Do I want get all dressed up and go to a sweaty crowded bar, or do I just want to sit comfortably at home in my jammies with a glass of wine?" We all know what the person wants to do by the way they asked the question. 

Or maybe someone says, "I wonder if moving would give a new perspective on life?" Well, why ask the question at all if you don't think it will? Or maybe you say, "Do I want French or Italian for dinner tonight?" Well, either would probably work. Otherwise you wouldn't be asking the question. 

Those are all easy ones. Life has much harder questions to ask. And sometimes people go to tarot readers to ask them. We can give you an answer, but that doesn't mean it's fated to happen. If you don't like the prospect of your future, change your present. There's a seed of the future in every present, too. 

But the interesting thing is that people often ask us questions they pretty much already know the answers to. I recently overheard a conversation between someone I read and a friend of theirs. The friend asked how it went and my client said, "she pretty much just confirmed what I was already thinking." But you wouldn't have known she had any clue as to the answer when she asked the question. She seemed to be genuinely unsure of which option she was going to choose. Sometimes it takes someone to tell us the answer to realize we'd known it all along. 

So think about the question that's turning around in your head today. Do you kinda think you know the answer, but suspect it's too colored by hope or fear to be relevant? Well, first, if you suspect it's too colored by anything, it probably is. Now try to step outside of that and look at the question again. Do you think you know the answer?

Just like with anything, you could screw it all up—or save yourself from it—tomorrow if you just change what you're doing. But assuming things stay pretty much the same from here on in, chances are your suspicions about what will happen, will. 

What do YOU think it means to say "within every question lies an answer", and do you think it rings true? 

2/19/12—Perching on the Front Stoop of Life

Today's Draw: Knight of Bows from a trimmed Wildwood Tarot in the What to Avoid position from the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Do you spend too much time one on aspect of your life to the detriment of other parts of your being? If you died tomorrow, would there be any regrets about it? What undiscovered gem of life might be standing right in front of you, waiting for you to shift your focus?

Today's draw is one of the reasons I don't like to reversals. For the uninitiated, reversals are cards that, when you turn them over, end up upside down. And many people read those as roughly the opposite of a card's meaning. But I don't read reversals, primarily because I believe the position the card lands in can create the same outcome. 

So, for example, today's card of the Fox is about stealth and cunning, playfulness and determination. None of those are things we would want to avoid. So reading the card in context of its spread position, you'd look at the shadow side of that card, like being opportunistic, manipulative, childish and ruthless. 

Shadow sides come from too much of a good thing. Leadership is a good thing. But when you go all leadership on people's arses, it's called megalomania. Not a good thing.

Another way of looking at it is how the book for this deck spelled out the downside of this card—"Determination leads to success, but often at a great personal cost." 

I'll cop to being one of those women who focus too much on career...to the detriment of my personal life. I even ended up turning one of my personal life hobbies into a second career so I could work even harder...haha. Mind you, I'm not complaining and I won't use the word "regret". I enjoy the things I do. And because I'm at home when I do all of them, my dogs never feel lonely or neglected, as far as getting their needs for attention and sustenance met. 

But there are so many things that fall by the wayside because I'm now attending to two different careers. I don't get out as often. I don't exercise often. I don't spend enough time with friends. And most of my friends are the same way, so they don't have time to spend with me. So while I don't regret it...my life is full...I could nonetheless find a healthier balance. 

I see a lot of this around me. Women who devote all of their time to their children and husband and spend no time developing their own personal relationship with self. People who dive so deeply into their relationships that they have no friends. Certainly we shouldn't neglect the things we need to attend to in our lives. But having friendships, personal interests and a personal life are also among those things we shouldn't neglect. 

Anytime we pour so much of ourselves into one thing or another, we put ourselves at risk. If we lose that one thing that identifies us, then who are we? But beyond that, we're cheating ourselves out of part of life we came here to experience. Having just one or two aspects of ourselves supporting the entirety of a life is a precarious foundation to build on. It's simple principle of engineering. 

That said, I enjoy my life. Especially now, because a lot of things are coming to a successful conclusion. But I think we all have to ask ourselves, if we died tomorrow or a year from now, is there something we'd wish we'd had more of in our lives? I wouldn't have any MAJOR regrets, but I can see where I'd be a little wistful about things I could have done more often or had more of in my life. 

Even just tonight, I was sitting on my front stoop watching the sunset and seeing the neighborhood happen. I'd only done that once before and that was just last week. All these years and I never experienced life from a perch on the front stoop! It made me sad that something so in-my-face had been overlooked for so many years. What might you not be seeing for all your determination in life?

2/18/13—Possessing The Unique Qualifications

Today's Draw: Five of Stones in the Clarification position from the Greenwood Tarot and the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Are you facing a time of challenge or uncertainty right now in your life? What kind of challenges have you faced in the past that apply to your current one? Is it possible life has already uniquely qualified you to handle what lies ahead?

First off, welcome to the new look for the Daily Draw. I re-skinned the blog to work better with my new Deck of 1000 Spreads site, which I'm still building. For the random folks who may access this site by manually typing in the web address or searching for it on Google, please know you can now type in www.tierneysadler.com to get here, if that's easier for you. Or just do what you've always done. And if you have me bookmarked, you don't need to change anything. 

As you can see, I've had an industrious last couple of days. :)

Finally, if any of you were waiting to order your Deck of 1000 Spreads until it was released, it's been released! You can order from Amazon or, if you want a signed edition, message me with your address so I can figure shipping and I'll invoice you. Amazon has better prices on both the kit and shipping, however. They just don't have RARE signed editions...haha. AND if you already have the deck, please put a review up on Amazon or send pics of your spreads to me to put up on the deck's Facebook page and on 1000spreads.com. 

If you're reading this on my personal Facebook page, no new look for you! And if you want to know where to find all these sites I'm talking about, just go to tierneysadler.com, find this post and all the links will be embedded in the post.

Yeesh! Thank god I don't yap about crap like that every day, huh? :D

On to today's draw! The Clarification position represents a card you choose so you can gain more information about a card that is puzzling you. So I think what the Greenwood is saying to us today is, "Just to be clear, you're strong enough and you have the capacity to protect yourself and survive whatever life hands you."

That's what our traumas and challenges teach us...how strong we are, whether it be mentally, emotionally or physically. We're very clear on that soon after someone close to us dies, for example. Or after we reach the other side of a messy divorce. Or survive cancer. Or a physical attack. We manage to make it through. But the more time and distance we put between ourself and our trauma, the more fear starts creeping in once again and we forget what we're capable of. 

It's not just unpleasant things that we learn we can survive, either. There are everyday things. Like I think about the mental and emotional discipline I've acquired from being self employed and having a rollercoaster income, punctuated by two recessions in the past 15 years. It's not just about money management. It's about time management. And mental management—managing your thoughts and fears. It's also about spiritual management and trusting in the universe.

Generally, the older we get, the more of these lessons in inner strength we amass. I imagine there are a lot of moms out there who can remember a time when they were pregnant for the first time and afraid they'd fail as a mother. But then you did all right, didn't you? I can still remember what it was like to start a new job..."what if I can't cut it?" But I always managed. 

If you think back on all the traumas, heartbreaks and triumphs of your lifetime, you'll understand what you're capable of and you might never doubt yourself again. Maybe you haven't faced this EXACT challenge before, but somewhere along the line you've built the skills it takes to finesse what's in front of you. But, we never see that for ourselves, do we? That, my friends, is why God invented the blog. :D

So that's something to think about as you move through this week. What have you had the inner strength to muddle through thus far in your life? And how do those "unique qualifications" prepare you for whatever you're facing moving forward? Chances are good you're comfortably overqualified to face the challenges are causing you anxiety today. 

2/16/13-2/17/13—Spreading the Love

Weekend Reading: Six of Pentacles from the Art of Life Tarot. If you're feeling blue, lacking inspiration, afraid of the future. unhappy at home or concerned about the plight of the panda bear, nothing will make you feel better than doing something kind for someone else. We are all given an inexhaustible supply of wealth at birth. Our currency is our grace. And every time we "spend" our grace, grace flows back our way. Whether you hold a door open for someone on crutches, buy a homeless person a sandwich or just allow someone to be "right", go looking for things to spend your grace on this weekend. Heck, even just flashing a person a smile can spend ripples of goodwill through the universe. So make a game of it. Spread the love throughout your community and be prepared for love to spread back to you. 

2/15/12—Reaching for Life's Brass Ring

Today's Draw: Moon in the House of Fish from the Vintage Lenormand by Jera Babylon Rootweaver and the Deck of Lenormand Houses by Me. So what else might be keeping you from making that change you're considering? Are you waiting for the money to make the change? Or is it possible that, if the change came first, the money would follow? 

Today's draw predicts that fame brings money. But because my Deck of 1000 Spreads is all over the bestseller list for the fortunetelling category, it's clear that reading is for me and not for you. 

*folds fortune neatly into a square and shoves it in her pocket as she delights in the deflated dreams of those around her*

Actually, what really happened with today's draw is that there is a tarot card called The Moon. It means confusion and sort of cloudy thoughts. Things aren't clear. So when I first saw today's draw and started thinking of it in the context of this week's theme of making changes, I was thinking we'd talk about how many changes are stalled because of the money factor...because of a lack of clear sight of where the money is going to come from for our changes. 

My bad. 

*locating the REAL fortune in my pocket to make sure it's still there and nobody lifted it while I was explaining myself*

*regaining dignity*

There are a lot of dreams and changes that don't require money to make it happen. But that's the #1 thing I hear people say they're waiting on. It's certainly the #1 thing I worry about when I think about leaving it all behind me, moving to Maine, living full-time as an author and traveling the country in an RV full of dogs to greet my adoring fans. 

The good thing is that I have some perspective on this, because 15 years ago I walked away from my job to become a freelancer and never had to worry about money in making that change. Now, I did have some savings as a backup. But from the first month as a freelancer, I was making more money than I did when I was employed. The money was irrelevant. The money followed closely behind my pursuit of my dream. 

The thing about waiting for the money is that it's just an excuse. Because it's a problem that rarely ever gets solved sufficiently enough to make us overcome our fears. So we stay in loveless marriages, remain in thankless jobs and continue with careers and lives that were someone else's dreams for us, rather than our own. 

One of the many pics I took of my bestseller rankings yesterday. 

It's not about the money. It seems like it is, but that's just what we tell ourselves to remain trapped by our fears. I know the economy is bad and not mending fast enough. But, bolstered by the positive energy of chasing a dream, we always find a way. You know if you want it enough, you will find a way. It may mean your lifestyle is not as cushy as the one you have now for a while. But you KNOW you will find a way. 

My personal belief is that change happens when the fear of keeping things the way they are becomes greater than the fear of changing. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but part of my issue is that I still find my day job compelling. Even after 25 years. When I leave, I'll be leaving something I love. So it would seem like my plan of attack has been to have feet in both worlds (like we talked about yesterday) and build up enough momentum to knock me entirely into the other world...haha. 

I worry I'm wasting too much time, though. *fingering fortune in my pocket and thinking deeply*

I think that, if we're using money as an excuse, we might do ourselves a favor by being honest. "I'm staying with him because I'm afraid I can't make it on my own." "I'm putting up with this job because I'm afraid I'm not competitive enough for the marketplace." "I'm living someone else's dream because I'm afraid I'm not worthy of my dream." Or "I'm inching toward my dreams because I'm afraid (and too lazy) to go balls to the wall and risk utter ruin."

If we started using REAL excuses, I think we'd hate admitting it so much that we'd shame ourselves into changing...haha. Or something like that. But I do think we need to be honest. At least with ourselves. Because then we could put the energy we waste on wondering about money toward dissecting our real fears and seeing that they're not good enough to keep us from reaching for life's brass ring. 

2/14/13—Making Your Move

Today's Draw: Two of Swords in the Crowning Influences position from the Mythic Tarot and the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Do you feel caught between a rock and a hard place? Do you know what you want, but seem to be paralyzed in moving toward it? How long do you think you can stand with one foot in your old life and one in your new?

Poor Orestes. Mom and Dad are having a fight and he's caught in the middle, refusing to pick a side. The Two of Swords speaks to a situation where you feel paralyzed. Maybe there's a reality you're refusing to face. Or stormy seas in your life you're choosing to ignore. Or a precarious balance or neutrality you're trying to hold. Whatever it is, there's usually some need to move forward, but a fear-based inability to do so. 

In the Crowing Influences position, it fits right into this week's theme of making changes and moving forward in our lives. The Crowing Influences position says that what's holding us back is the fact that we've got one foot in our old world and one foot in the new. 

Yesterday was all about making the decisions. And today is, too. This one foot in/one foot out thing is causing tension and anxiety within that is adding to our fear and uncertainty. In fact, a large portion of what we're experiencing as fear and anxiety may really just be the tension and anxiety of standing between two worlds. 

We can't stand like this forever. And no matter which direction we choose, it's scary. It's scary to stay the way we are. And it's scary to move into the unknown. But the difference between the two is that you know what the status quo holds. And you've chosen to step away from that toward an uncertain future that holds either something more beautiful or more horrific...haha. 

Are you trading your problems? Are you walking away too soon? Those are legitimate questions, but ones that also keep you stuck. 

Which possibility makes you feel larger? Which possibility calls out to you? Which possibility holds the most potential? Those are the questions to ask. 

I know a couple of people who are considering ending their marriages. One of the wisest things I've ever heard Dr. Phil say is that "you have to earn your way out of marriage." That means you can't leave before you know you've done everything you can to save it (unless you're being abused). And THAT means you have to do things like counseling and trying different ways to approach problems. You have to take responsibility for your 100% of the relationship and do what you can do to change the situation, even if your partner's 100% is not cooperating. I believe that a lot of marriages end prematurely. I look at people who have been together for 25 or 30 years and still love each other, and what I see is two people who stuck together through things that tore others apart. 

Marriages deserve that chance. Families deserve that chance. But when it comes to things like careers and where you live and the other details of life, you can spend a lifetime on the fence only to discover you've never lived. 

As many of you know, I had a brother who was seemingly healthy one day and less than six months later was dead of cancer. He died with two feet firmly planted in the midst of his family. He knew what he wanted and he went for it. You know what you want, too. So which foot will you move?

Alert! My sister, Janet, can stop reading at this point!!! ;)

Because I forgot to mention that the Mythic Tarot is the deck I learned on and it's a good deck for that. All the suits are wrapped up in a story from mythology and that makes it easy to learn the card meanings. See how the corner is ripped? This deck is like those old cotton sheets you have that look like crap, but feel good to the touch.

Also tarot nerds might be interested in the whole week I devoted to the Two of Swords, using a different interpretation every day for the Two of Swords from the Victorian Romantic. Students might also be interested, because I give insight into the different ways I look at the cards. View that week here http://thedailytarotdraw.blogspot.com/2012_09_09_archive.html

2/13/13—Making a Decision

Today's Draw: The Seeker (Fool) in the House of the Ring from the Gaian Tarot and the Deck of Lenormand Houses. Can't get started on a change you want to make? Or you start over and over again, only to fail? Want to know the secret of a new beginning?

This may be the first time I've ever used tarot just with my Deck of Lenormand Houses. If you don't know about my Deck of Lenormand Houses, you can purchase it on my blog. It's like the Deck of 1000 Spreads, but for Lenormand.

Anyway, yesterday we were talking about new starts and the advice was to know that it's ok to just start in a new direction because the universe is always guiding you. And today is about new beginnings, too.

For the better part of 26 years, I smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. I was cool with that for the first 15 years or so, but during the last decade of smoking I tried to quit on a regular basis. I don't think I ever lasted more than three weeks. For all the people out there who advise others to "just quit", I promise you, it's not that easy.

Consider that the average smoker introduces the drug into their system every 15-30 minutes for YEARS. In about ten minutes after you quit, your brain wants the drug. And it pesters you until you get it. You are chemically, emotionally and physically addicted. That's why they say it's one of the hardest drugs to quit. It took me 10 years of trying, many of which were honest efforts borne of genuine desire to quit. It took me all those 10 years to finally learn the one secret that would save me.

Making a decision. A commitment. A promise to never smoke again.

All the other times I had it in my head that, if something really bad happened, I could have a cigarette. Or after a few years, I might be in the clear. Or if I found out I was dying. There was always an "if" that I would use to comfort myself with. And it was absolutely the wrong way to go because the second you leave a door even cracked to your addiction, it will come busting through.

When I finally made a decision to never smoke again—under no circumstance—you know what happened? Quitting was easy. I had every option open to me when I had a craving, except one. I could never smoke again. It was the decision...the commitment that made the difference.

In the past, I had made decisions to "try to quit" or "to quit". But I had never made an absolute decision to never smoke again. Consider the difference. I made a decision to quit. Which I did. Then I started back up again. It wasn't absolute. I said I'd quit and I did. But I never said "forever". Or "never again".

So what does that have to do with the Fool in the House of the Ring? Well, Ring is all about commitment. And the Fool is about new beginnings. So making a commitment to one option and not allowing other options to muddy the waters is a great way to make a new beginning. Want to leave your miserable man, but keep going back for more? Make a commitment to never go back again. Want to start in a new career direction? Make a commitment to never consider any other option again...or make a commitment to never let a Sunday pass without sending out a resume. Want to lose weight? Make a commitment to never overeat again. Or to never spend a week on your sofa without exercising. Whatever change you're trying to make, there is something you can commit to that will begin to chip away at the old behavior.

I know people don't like "never", but once the offending behavior is no longer an option, it won't call to you. That's what I learned from quitting smoking 10 years ago. It's not the quitting that's the hard part. It's the making the decision. It took me 10 years of quitting to finally make the decision to never smoke again. And it seems to be taking me as long with overeating.

The reason the decision or commitment is powerful is because we tend to honor those things. For me, once I make a decision, it's made. Other decisions can be made in the future as you hone your focus, but the original decision usually still stands.

So somewhere in our lives, there's a place where we can make a decision to "never" (fill in the blank). And maybe it's a baby step, like I will never watch HoneyBooBoo ever again just because I'm bored. A decision like that is a gateway decision for dealing with TV addiction...haha.

So think about it. What new way of being do you want to bring into your life? Yesterday asked us to take that leap, knowing we'll be guided (which is also what the Fool tells us, coinkadinkally). And today asks us to make a commitment to this new direction and never looking back. What will you decide?