Lenormand Cards and Communicating Dying Wishes

Like many Tarot enthusiasts these days, I have been learning about an old oracle, mostly known in European countries, such as Germany and France, called the Lenormand cards.

Days after attending my first Lenormand class with Mary Greer at SF BATS, I found myself in a sad, though anticipated, state of affairs. I traveled to be with my father in his last week of life, to be by his side in his dying process.

I arranged to be with him as loving support during his passing and spent a week by his side. I have written a more detailed account of this experience in my article page titled, “Hospice Care and Communication through Cards.”

The point I would like to make about using oracles, such as Lenormand cards, is that they can serve a powerful purpose when attempting to mediate with those who are beyond verbal, and even non-verbal communication.

Simple questions, such as “Would you like me to hold your hand?”, lend well to using simple oracles, such as the Lenormand, to receive a simple response. There is no need for analyzing, pathwork, or communing with spirits when the focus is on the immediate care of a loved one or hospice patient. Intuition can be spontaneous, the message is direct, connecting specifically with the topic of the question.

The first time I used the cards for this purpose was when my father was in hospice care and a decision needed to be made about the timing for removal of his ventilator.  After checking with my father, tuning to his non-verbal communication, and searching my own heart, I decided to confirm the decision to act soon by consulting the Lenormand cards.

My immediate response was… remove the ventilator (10 Scythe), but do it with great compassion and love (24 Heart). This was a profoundly confirming message. I checked my Lenormand book, my notes, and posted on the FB Lenormand Cards Study Group to get additional guidance, which essentially confirmed my impression.

He was relieved and could breath on his own for several days following. As my father’s body began to shut down, he could no longer offer physical clues to his needs. I turned to the cards again to commune with his inexpressible wishes. It was a great relief to me and helped him die with love, support, sensitivity and dignity.

Card images from Piatnik Lenormand deck (Austria)

A Beautiful Summer

Typically, I would be writing a thoughtful post about things I’ve been considering, learning, and ready to share. That post is coming next. But I just couldn’t write it without first expressing to the world what a beautiful summer this has been for me.

The previous post talked about things to come, yet the reality of those experiences are so much more than can be reported on page. Here are some of the high points, in pictures…

LA DE DA / 4th of JULY – YACHATS

Umbrella Drill Team in the La De Da Parade

 

Ernie the Human Cannonball

Yemaya and Karie – favorite Oriental dancers

OREGON COUNTRY FAIR

Created my first iMovie on my iPad with images of the fair and our booth
“The Mothership”.

View the YouTube video here.

My favorite Tarot Fool returned…

My Country Fair “son”

Reunion with good’ol friends….John

BELOVED FESTIVAL in Tidewater

My marvelous campsite view

Tarot Reading and Sacred Altar with Voyager Tarot Cards

BAY AREA TAROT SYMPOSIUM – San Francisco

“Real Men do Tarot” – James Wanless

Men of Tarot include: Mike Hernandez, James Wanless, Paul Nagy, and others

Katrina with Mary Greer

Lunch with Tarot friends

Friends are…Gina Thies, Mike Hernandez, Georgianna Boehnke, Bill Tarot, Theresa “Tarot Lady” Reed, & Carrie Paris

FLYING TO HOUSTON

Over the Grand Canyon

Cumulus Clouds

All shot with my iPad 3

Thanks to Renee’ of Blue Dot Productions for the photos of me at the Beloved Festival

Summer of Love and Tarot

Katrina’s booth in the Mothership at the Oregon Country Fair

OCF “Fool”

Summer is here and I’m ready for fun, sun or not. Being an Oregonian, I am used to all kinds of weather, mostly wet, but wiggle like a happy puppy when the warmth of the sun reaches the Pacific Northwest.

The fun begins in July with the OREGON COUNTRY FAIR where I offer readings at the Mothership booth, a healing oasis in the Chela Mela Meadow area. This is my 11th year with this collective of healing professionals. The exciting news is that over the next two years the fair is growing a Body Mind Spirit area around our booth to celebrate the wholistic spirit in us all.

Tarot Retreat 2010

The last weekend of every July is reserved for my ANNUAL TAROT RETREAT, a tradition that is celebrating it’s 16th year at Earth Heaven. Tarot enthusiasts gather in this private forest setting on the Oregon Coast, removed from the busy-ness of the world, to turn our focus to our personal experience of Tarot wisdom. Each year is more dynamic than the previous. The Tarot Retreat is an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the experience and wisdom of Tarot, a body-mind-emotion-spirit approach.

To register for the Tarot Retreat, please follow this link.

There is more summer fun in Oregon with two more important events. In Yachats, the first weekend of August we have an annual fair, PATHWAYS TO TRANSFORMATION, which started the same year as the Tarot Retreat, 1996, and is the only local fair where I offer readings. On Saturday, my talk this year is “Sexual Symbolism and Meaning in Tarot.”

A high point for me is the BELOVED FESTIVAL , a deeply spiritual gathering hidden in Tidewater, Oregon. As part of the Blue Dot Productions video team, I’ll be interviewing attendees, capturing the unique and loving spirit of this sacred event. If you see me, please share some love and wisdom for our video production. Amit Goswami will be a guest speaker this year with his powerful message on quantum physics’ journey to love.

Another West Coast tradition held in San Francisco is the BAY AREA TAROT SYMPOSIUM (SF-BATS), hosted by Thalassa and the Daughters of Divination. Workshops are offered by a variety of respected Tarot writers and teachers. It is a wonderful meeting of the Tarot tribes with friends gathering from many parts of the country, and perhaps the world. Hope your summer is filled with fun and wonderful gatherings of beings.

SF BATS 2011 Tarot Goddesses

You can always check for updates of my schedule on my “Tarot Counseling” website page – Katrina’s Schedule

Kindle eBook for “Transformative Tarot Counseling”

My book, An Introduction to Transformative Tarot Counseling – the High Art of Reading is finally available as a Kindle eBook!

To order your own instant copy of this resourceful eBook, follow this link to Amazon.

You can view a sample of this eBook for free on your Kindle, or download the free Kindle app from Amazon to your computer or other compatible device. The sample download includes the Contents page with chapter titles, and the Introduction chapter from the book.

If you like the feel of paper in your hands as you turn pages and mark them with your personal notes, the paperback form of this book is available directly from me, Sacred Rose Publishing. Follow this link to order.

Whether you are a beginning Tarot reader, or advanced professional, there are many resourceful and supportive ideas in this material to assist you in performing more effective and meaningful readings. These same offerings can be applied to other metaphysical consulting arts, such as astrology, or combined with alternative healing practices, for example, energy work.

It is my sincere hope that promoting the art of transformative work reaches our world community to support us in our growing connection with life.

Climate Change

Venus intercepts Sun

Dear fellow Earth-beings (and others who may find this of interest),

Venus is intercepting the Sun as I post this article. (June 5, 2012 at 3:04 pm PST) In fact, I’m watching a live feed from Hawai’i. This rare astronomical occurrence comes in pairs with the first transit experienced on June 8, 2004. This won’t happen again until 2117.

The symbolic meaning of this Sun-Venus conjunction in astrology is summarized by imagining a gentle path of love where the heart leads (Venus), eclipsing the dominant, willful, ego-driven presence of the rational mind (Sun). This is a powerful omen for us all and something to integrate into our personal, cultural and global evolution.

This relationship dynamic with its shift to a more sensitive and kind approach reflects my feelings about our changing times on the planet, especially in light of social, political, and environmental issues.

We are in times of profound transformation and change, a process that resonates with my being and area of expertise. In this article I explore the nature of global change, symbolized by the conversation about “Climate Change,” and the opportunities to meet this challenge in a meaningful way applying the wisdom of this Venusian shift in energy.

Last weekend in Portland, Oregon I attended two sessions of a Climate Change open forum. As expressed by the organizers of this event, the intent was to create an environment and opportunity for an open sharing of perspectives and experience by any and all participants in the hope of developing bridges between apparently contrasting views and values.

The event began with a session on “Earth’s Climate” posing this question, “What information would help you make a decision on whether or not humans are changing Earth’s climate?” This session included a panel of climate scientists, among them Nobel prize laureates, providing facts gathered over their many years of scientific research and analysis of Earth’s climate over thousands of years with special emphasis on current dramatic trends.

As I sat in stillness, receiving the input of scientific data, for which I know this group of professionals have dedicated their lives to collect for the benefit of us all, I could also hear my inner voice express, “Yes, I already know these facts and understand the distress the Earth is experiencing.” I have to admit that I did not find the factual presentation useful, nor was I inspired to connect with the material or the presenters in a meaningful way around what they were saying.

My heart and mind struggled with their talking heads approach to interfacing with their listeners and began to challenged myself to find a way to create bridges of understanding that also include my ideas for effective ways to connect with others more compassionately on an essential topic that touches us all. I know I’m not alone in this desire and realize there are many approaches to addressing this concern. This is my opportunity to share with you my growing knowledge, life experience and hard-earned wisdom on potential ways for us all to stand together in the face of global challenges and transformation.

US vs. THEM

This is a theme that appears on several levels as we explore the polemics of many issue. In this forum, a few examples of how this contrast surfaced follows:

- Scientists / the general public
- Facts / fiction
- Scientific papers / journalistic reportage
- Transparency / secret agenda
- Informed action / fear or apathy
- Intellectual / emotional

CONNECTING WITH OTHERNESS

Dualistic and political perspectives allow contrast and diversity, an important stage when reviewing an issue and preparing for change. Unfortunately, in my opinion, there are not enough models to take diverging perspectives to the next step, reconciliation. In most cases, what could be a sharing is actually a subtly violent tug-a-war with the intent to debate and persuade others to one’s point of view. When violence, control, and misuse of power is present, the opportunity for connecting is severely challenged.

Marshall Rosenberg promotes Nonviolent Communication and shares his vision…

“What I want in my life is compassion, a flow between myself and others based on a mutual giving from the heart.”

His advice is to focus on what we want to do rather than what went wrong. In other words, rather than having to prove we are right with facts and data, we might be able to connect more compassionately if we focus on what each of us values in order to support a more wonderful life and attempt to fulfill those needs so we can move forward together. To connect with compassion begins with self awareness, knowing one’s own feelings and needs, then communicating with vulnerability while sharing with others. Judgment and fear is dissolved over time, opening the way for more harmonious relationships.

Process Work (Process-oriented Psychology), along with its extension, the Deep Democracy Institute, one of the sponsors of the Climate Change open forum, have been exploring this next step of connection with otherness by developing dynamic theories, effective techniques, and a global team of facilitation artists. With philosophical foundations in Taoism, quantum physics, and Jungian psychology, they value wholeness, unity, and inclusion of all parts and perspectives. In essence, there is an assumption and attitude of connection already present when engaging with others that supports the possibility of changing together.

The philosophy, or spiritual value in the background that supports ones ability to connect automatically with another is the idea of oneness, or unity consciousness. You are an aspect of me, as I am an aspect of you. Together we create a greater consciousness and knowing about the diversity of life. To resist you is to marginalize an aspect of myself, of life, and deepens the dualistic chasm that eventually tears us apart. Seeing other as one’s mirror, or holographic reflection of the Divine, can become a way of life, a path of peace.

When talking about the Earth, she then becomes a mirror of myself as I feel the atmospheric changes within my own body. The question posed by the panel of scientists at the forum then shifts from one about Earth changes and decisions about responsibility to “How is my climate…and do I need to change?”

Another model and tool for change and unity is Tarot, whose teachings and wisdom lives through me each day. If you search for the keyword “unity” you will find other articles and posts on my website exploring this topic.

Through the visual archetypes and metaphors of the Tarot cards, we can reflect back to our personal stories, the aspect of the holographic mirror of life we are traveling at any given time. Within it’s template of 78 cards is the story of our life’s journey from unity, through duality and diversity, back to a higher awareness of unity and coming home. The “Sacred Journey of the Soul” advances through the major arcana of the Tarot, telling the archetypal story of the Hero, as reflected in the teachings of Joseph Campbell.

SONGS AND STORIES FOR THE JOURNEY HOME

Every picture tells a story in Tarot, and story is our favorite way to relate as humans. It reminds us of our humanness as we follow the journey of others, relating to the twists and turns of the adventure of life. We compassionately tag along as the heroin faces her dragons, saves the community, and finally returns home again after changing the world forever.

It is obvious that we relish the story. Be it a novel, movie, or just gossip, people relate through the experience of other people, our family of human-beings. We are touched by their feelings, resonate with the common themes, and can be inspired by the accomplishment of others. It is natural to care about our family, community or tribe.

Christina Baldwin in her writings and workshops explores the power of storytelling. Whether in the form of individual journal writing or in group circles and ceremonies, this can be a spiritual pathwork opportunity.

REQUEST FOR WORLD HARMONY

After much thought and reaching within my own heart and mind to offer something that might be supportive to the scientists of the world who are passionately attempting to touch us with their story about global change I offer this article of information and these final suggestions…

- When sharing your wisdom, please come from your heart more than your mind. Remember we are a global family.

- Delivering your message as a story will activate our imagination and invite us to join you.

- Focusing more on what we can do than what we did wrong will inspire us to be our best and give us hope for a more life-affirming experience.

- “Be the change you would like to see.” How can I or we be the the change in climate? How can we effect the atmosphere around us? How can we make life more wonderful for all?

Appreciation is extended to the dedicated scientists and social activist who shared their research, knowledge, and time to enhance our understanding of life on Earth:

Professor Catherine Gautier (UC-Santa Barbara)
Professor Jeff Kiehl (National Center for Atmospheric Research-Boulder)
Drs. Ellen and Max Schupbach and the Deep Democracy Institute
Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Christina Baldwin

World Tarot Day 2012

In honor of this annual celebration I have a special offer for my phone and Skype clients. ALL readings are HALF PRICE!!

Order your reading by email or phone and make your PayPal payment by midnight today, Friday May 25th, to take advantage of this unique opportunity. Readings can be scheduled for a later date and will be honored if completed within one year from this date.

Makes a great gift!

Link to my website

Appreciation to Carol Herzer and her Chakra cards.

Tarot and Professional Counseling

One of the most common questions I am asked is whether I use Tarot in my private counseling practice. I do not have a simple answer to this inquiry for there are various layers to the question as well as the response. I would say “Yes” and “No” and something in between.

As a Tarot professional who has studied Tarot for over 40 years, I cannot help but draw from the encyclopedic wisdom of Tarot. This awareness is often present in the background of my work with counseling clients, without the need to actually draw the cards. I may apply “Tarot Numerology” to a client’s birthday to peek into their life purpose/challenge from the Tarot’s point of view.

I was recently interviewed by a new age store owner interested in scheduling reading dates for me in his popular location. I didn’t have my Tarot cards with me, but was able to perform the entire sample reading based on his birth date and my ability to describe the associated cards. He offered to schedule me immediately as a reader although I had not actually used the cards.

Taking this question on face value, assuming that using Tarot only means drawing cards, I would have to say that I rarely mix the two, Tarot cards and professional counseling sessions. There is an ethical boundary to consider here. If a counseling client wishes to have a Tarot reading, then making a Tarot appointment would better serve that interest and give the Tarot cards the full attention they deserve. To slip into Tarot reading applied as an interpretation of the cards for the client’s issue may sidestep the skills and training of the mental health professional.

In the reverse, turning a Tarot consulting appointment into a counseling session, without the client’s explicit permission, can be a boundary violation, especially if one is not a mental health professional. This is where I would make a referral for the client to support them in making a commitment to healing issues that may have been exposed in the Tarot reading.

When counseling clients request Tarot cards, I set up a specific Tarot appointment for that purpose. For Tarot clients who seek counseling, if it feels appropriate, I may offer my professional Soulful Counseling service, or I make a referral to a local resource in their area, when possible. I tend to keep the activities separate, while the clients may embrace both modalities. Another consideration is that counseling clients work through issues over a series of sessions, and for this reason I offer a sliding scale fee for my service. Tarot sessions usually stand alone so I charge my full rate, without the discount.

In those cases where a Tarot client clearly wishes to work on deeper issues utilizing my counseling skills, we make a very intentional appointment knowing we are combining these modalities. This recently occurred when I was working out of town and the client wanted to take full advantage of my in-person availability. She scheduled two hours for us to go more deeply into her material, using cards and counseling.

Fortunately, I do not bill insurance companies for my service, a professional and ethical decision I made over 20 years ago. The mixture of Tarot cards and counseling could pose legal challenges, especially in Clinical Psychology biased bureaucracies.

There can be exceptions to this question about whether to include Tarot cards in a counseling session. I once had a counseling client show up and request a Tarot consultation at the beginning of our counseling session. Fortunately, my office-mate had a Tarot deck (Osho-Zen) available, which I whipped out and created a layout to match the concerns the client brought to the session. I overlaid the healing concepts of Carolyn Myss from her teachings on Energy Anatomy with a seven-card chakra spread.

A beautiful example of how to introduce Tarot cards as a healing tool within the context of a professional mental health relationship is described by Arthur Rosengarten in his classic book Tarot and Psychology (2000). He tells the story of a young man in his dying process who has come to work on end of life issues. After focusing several weeks of therapy on his client’s relationship to his deteriorating health, exploring his agnostic beliefs and perspective upon death, and supporting open-hearted closure with his life partner, friends and family, Rosengarten realized that the last piece of their work together was to assist his client in “finding himself.” Rosengarten suggested his client select a Tarot deck of his liking and proceeded to design a creative art therapy process to help his client organize the important aspects of his life into a meaningful order.

Inna Semetsky writes about the power of Tarot Hermeneutic in the therapeutic relationship as a tool for education and human development (see my review of her book Re-Symbolization of the Self (2011)).

Within the context of counseling psychology when applied by a trained professional, Tarot cards are most powerfully utilized as a psychotherapeutic tool, much like classic techniques such as the Rorschach test, Sandplay Therapy, Art Therapy, and can be combined with Dreamwork, Gestalt Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, Dance/Movement Therapy, and, in my own unique approach, used as an extension of Process-oriented Psychology (my Master’s in Psychology degree).

Yet, as Tarot readers, one does not need to be a trained mental health professional in order to integrate some of these techniques. As many of my readers know, I promote counseling skills and ethics for metaphysical and Tarot consultants in order to raise awareness and effectiveness for working with clients. My book An Introduction to Transformative Tarot Counseling describes and offers examples of these powerful techniques.

Utilizing counseling skills within ones scope of practice, in other words, based on ones professional training or credentials, such as mental and/or medical health, legal and/or financial consulting, is an appropriate blending of Tarot with a counseling approach. The key is to refrain from creating a diagnosis, prognosis, or prediction. To learn more about my “Tarot Counseling” style, please read my article “What is Transformative Tarot Counseling?”.

Tarot and counseling is a growing area of interest today. I look forward to learning from and sharing this powerful modality with other professionals and the greater Tarot community.