Brittany Muller On 9/23/22 https://www.newsweek.com/i-am-christian-tarot-cards-made-me-catholic-again-1745774 If I ask you what comes to mind when you think about tarot, there are a number of clichés you could conjure up: secret societies steeped in mystery; seedy psychic shops in strip malls of small towns with neon signs flashing "fortune teller"; teenagers slinging cards in their bedrooms and trying to figure out who they'll marry someday; an old woman draped in shawls and smelling of incense, promising you that good fortune is just around the corner. Many people are skeptical about tarot. But I have found a power in it that has nothing to do with popular culture's depictions of tarot as a divinatory device or source of occult wisdom. Tarot changed my life, but I have a different story to tell. I grew up in a Christian home, but it wasn't a particularly settled sort of Christianity. My family often moved around, and nearly every time we moved to a new town we also moved to a new denomination. As a kid, I spent time in Presbyterian, Methodist, and Southern Baptist churches. This spiritual restlessness continued until my family made an abrupt conversion to Catholicism when I was 13 years old. My family's conversion to the Catholic faith was a profound spiritual turning point in my life. I fell in love with the solid rootedness of Catholicism's tradition, and I spent my teenage years as a devout Catholic. I went to daily Mass, I read works by Augustine and Aquinas for fun, and I even considered becoming a nun. Catholicism is where I first found God, and it became the cornerstone of my spiritual life. That cornerstone wasn't particularly sturdy, though. As soon as I went off to college, I had a heart-shattering crisis of faith, a crisis that wasn't even prompted by anything in particular. I simply started, for the first time in my life, to wrestle with the same questions of faith that people have wrestled with since people first started to believe in God. I didn't know how to hold all of these unanswered questions and still be Christian, and so I left organized religion. I stopped going to Mass on Sundays, I stopped praying, and I stopped engaging in questions of faith. It was freeing, but it was also frightening. Christianity had been the thing around which my whole life had been ordered, and I missed the absence of its gravity. Brittany Muller with her tarot cards. Muller bought her first deck in 2015, Melanie Applegate I bought my first tarot deck in 2015 because I was bored and restless and felt like I was spiritually drowning without that gravity of faith. I was 25 years old and mothering two sons under the age of two while my husband was busy in law school. I was struggling with the perceived loss of self that often accompanies the first years of motherhood. I also bought a tarot deck because I was, at the time, an ex-Christian who missed the intentionality of prayer but wasn't yet ready to return to organized religion. I quickly fell in love with how tarot scratched my itch for the ritual of religion, and how it made me feel seen. I never used tarot for divination, because I've never believed in divination. But I loved creating a quiet space to pull cards and sit with them. I loved getting to know characters like the Fool and the Hermit, Death and the Sun and the World. I loved registering my ever-changing reactions to these images and seeing myself, good and bad, reflected in them. Tarot helped me to know my spiritual self again. I found it was also a fine substitute for prayer, until it slowly became no longer the substitute but the substance. The sneaky thing about tarot—the thing about tarot that folks rarely talk about—is that it's filled with Christian imagery. This Christian imagery was something I couldn't really ignore, given my Catholic upbringing. During a time in my life when I wanted nothing to do with Christianity—I simply refused to read Scripture, attempt prayer or to talk to a priest—I was pulling a tarot card every day and engaging with deeply theological images. I would pull Temperance and journal about the presence of that Christian virtue in my life. I would pull the Hierophant, a Pope-like figure, and meditate on the joys and sorrows of my relationship with the institutional church. I would pull the Devil and reflect on the nature of my own particular vices. Tarot helped me to see myself more clearly, and I believe it also showed me the God-shaped hole in my life. I returned to Christianity, specifically the Catholicism of my youth, but I did not abandon tarot. Tarot was one of the things that led me back to God, and it seemed unthinkable to leave it behind. To my mind, tarot and Christianity are a natural pair, even though their marriage might seem strange at first glance. I simply integrated tarot into my prayer practice, a seamless process that involved pulling cards with morning prayer and finding connections between the images and Scripture. This is still how I use tarot these days. Every morning, I wake up and make coffee and pray from the Liturgy of the Hours, the universal prayer of the Catholic Church. I also pull a tarot card or two. And then I sit and reflect on how the cards I pull and the readings from my daily prayer play off each other and play off me. I might read the passage from First Corinthians about how "if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise," and then pull the Fool, a card that, for me, symbolizes a letting go of worldly attachments to fall into the abyss of God's love. Or I might pray through the readings for Saint Joseph's feast day, and connect his quiet courage and care for Mary and Jesus to the slow and steady Knight of Pentacles. Doing this every day, interpreting the tarot through the lens of Christian theology, continues to bring a welcomed contemplative intentionality into my life. Tarot might be for occultists and fortune tellers and New Age practitioners, but I believe it is also for Christians. Tarot gave me images for my feelings when I didn't yet have the words for them. Slowly and carefully, and almost unconsciously, it led me back to a life of faith. And it still does this, day after day, as I pull cards and pray.
Mick...I believe that you are a man of conviction and fortitude. While I am not totally convinced that this an honest and not ironic post, I certainly hope you have found what you are seeking. As a Roman Catholic growing up in NY, I have personally abandoned my faith because of the rampant hypocrisy.
'I'm a Modern Day Witch' Jeannie "OG Goldie" Sindicic On 9/22/22 https://www.newsweek.com/im-modern-day-which-love-spell-most-sought-after-1745315 I began to suspect I was a witch very early on in my childhood. My family lived on a lake in Wisconsin and one night, aged five, I woke up shouting for my grandmother. I said I could see someone drowning at the end of our pier, but she said she couldn't see anything and told me to go back to bed. Shortly afterward, I went to school and told one of the Catholic nuns who taught me that I saw one of her loved ones passing away soon. I don't remember how she reacted, but I know I was treated differently after that. I'm a fifth generation witch, which means I come from a long line of women who believe they harness the ability to practice magic. Because of my family history, my grandmother thought my predictions meant I had psychic and medium abilities. She always believed me and supported me, so I never found my gift scary or frightening. Goldi first suspected she had physic and medium abilities aged five. O.G Goldi I remember being bullied a lot when I was younger; I would tell kids what I thought would happen in their future, which meant they wouldn't want to play with me. I didn't feel like I could turn my ability to predict things off. I cast my first spell when I was five. I'm biracial and there was a girl at school who would bully me because of my appearance. She would make fun of me on the bus and try to cut off my braids. I didn't want her to bother me anymore. One day, I was down by the lake and started gathering materials. I believe I intuitively knew how to craft spells without being told, so I found some soil, rocks, twigs, and leaves, and added them to water I had previously left out underneath the moonlight. I put the concoction in between my crossed legs and said something along the lines of: "Please leave me alone, stop being mean to me." It didn't happen right away, but a few days later she stopped bothering me. I believe the change in her behavior was a result of my spell. I think I started to hone my abilities when I was around eight years old. I used to take out our family canoe and paddle down by the bay. I remember once seeing a distressed bird, who I desperately wanted to help. I held it and smoothed its back while continuously saying: "You're going to be okay." When I put it down, its wings began to flap again. I believe that was a result of the alternative medicine practice which is known today as Reiki healing. I would spend a lot of time doing an exercise called earthing, which means going barefoot and planting your feet into the ground, in order to feel more connected to nature. I often meditated while sitting by the lake and watching the water or the sky, though I didn't know that's what I was doing at the time. While I was growing up in the '70s and '80s, I was picked on for being a witch and felt I was shunned for my beliefs. I would try and do some spells with close friends, but I rarely talked about it openly. It was only in 2014, when I joined social media, that I realized there were witches everywhere; it even felt as though being a psychic or a medium had become trendy. However, around the same time, I was in a very difficult, toxic relationship. I was in such a bad place that I had given up on using any of my intuitive abilities. I was at an extremely low point in my life. I knew I had to leave the relationship, but it was really hard. I didn't even feel like I was a human being anymore. One day, after a very traumatic incident, I walked to a local woods and sat in front of a tree, where I just started screaming and crying. I had taken with me frankincense, rosemary, and a regular candle. I sprinkled my ingredients onto the candle and lit it. I rocked back and forth in front of the tree while casting a protection spell on myself. From that day on, I began reconnecting with my spiritual side. Among other things, I cast self-love spells, meditated, and did an energy healing practice called high-frequency sound baths. I believe it was this process that gave me the strength to eventually leave. Goldi Sindic, from Wisconsin, is a psychic and intuitive life coach. Stock image. iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images In 2017, I started my own spiritual practice. I specialize in trauma recovery and also work as an intuitive consultant, which means that clients come to me for guidance on various aspects of their life. Often, professionals contact me to ask for advice about their workplace. Usually, I have worked with them before in a personal capacity and they bring me in to consult their team about decisions within the business. For example, if a client were trying to close on a specific deal which was being held up, they may ask for what's known as a block opener candle, which is designed to release anything which has been held up or stuck. I cast spells for clients and create spiritual tools, such as manifesting oils or candles for self-love, peace, and money, which I have been making for decades. The most requested candle is for wealth and the most sought-after spell is for love—which I will never cast. Some witches will offer this service, but when you cast a love spell on someone else, I believe you attach a person to them against their will. I also believe that can cause the other party to become obsessive, dangerous, and violent. I will never do a spell that comprises someone else's spiritual health. Nothing I do is harmful. I would never cast a bad spell. I believe my witchcraft returns energy sent to you. For example, if someone wishes great harm to you, I return that to them, but I will never send back harm in return. Everything I do attempts to guide, heal and empower people. It's a very beautiful experience and I am very proud to be a witch. The biggest misconception about us is that we are dangerous or scary. Some people even think we're demonic, but that is not at all who I am. I believe that it was thanks to witchcraft I went from nothing to living a wonderful life in my own beautiful home, with three children who are healthy and happy. I feel my success is a product of magic, manifestation, and healing. Everything I was bullied for in my past is now how I am supporting my family. I'm just so grateful for my life and find it mind-blowing how everything has come together. Goldi Sindic, from Wisconsin, is a psychic and intuitive life coach. You can follow her on Instagram and TikTok at @og.goldi.
Not to change the subject here... but my little brain.... this picture made me think of something. Since nowadays they can put a camera the size of a pinhead in just about anything... has anyone ever put one in a fishing lure Mick? Lets make one. We'll go on Shark Tank. Even if they don't go for it, one smart remark out of O'Leary, you and I kick his ass, and we'll make a fortune off the video.
"....Not to change the subject here..." Yah Vanzy, onto our fav sidetrack subject, fushin'..... Yup, I built a camera rig, using rear view waterproof vehicle camera, tx from a drone, 2 x 12v batteries, small outdoor drone monitor with receiver. I have it all wrapped up in a large plastic container sitting in closet in spare bedroom, never went any further with it. There's plenty of videos about online, swordfishing, cameras on lures. Here's one regarding catching my fav flounder.
After learning how to read the cards, I began to have visions from the cards. I saw things that were happening around me; people, places, and even objects. I have seen events that happened weeks ago and knew before I even asked. Sometimes I am able to predict the future. Now I use the cards not only for myself, but also for others who ask for my assistance. Many times I feel like I am blessed because I have experienced something good in my life thanks to the cards. Birthday astrology