Serendipity: The faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.

-Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Serendipity. It’s a big word that some attribute to luck, others to fate or even to simple happenstance. I have always liked this word and yet never really knew how to accurately define or describe it. It’s finding a dollar in the street while you are walking. It’s running into someone that sparks your heart or your mind while you are out getting groceries. It’s seeing a beautiful cloud formation outside the window while you are sitting through a boring meeting. For me, it’s evidence of Spirit and a direct form of communication with our guides.

These little treasures that lay along our path are the rewards for listening to our hearts and following through on the little nudges we get to go here or do that. I have most often found that I am blessed with serendipitous gifts when I let myself out of my routine and follow my inner guidance. Maybe it means that I take a different route to work, or shop at a different store or even just look out the window when I get the urge. Whatever it is, I will more often than not find something that inspires me.

I try not to over-think things but sometimes I find myself wondering what would have happened if I had not taken some of the little detours along my path. Would I be in the same job? Would I be in the same state? Would I have ever met the love of my life? Many of my greatest blessings have come through taking detours that I felt compelled or guided to take. What would my life look like if I had stayed on the straight and narrow? I don’t know, but I’m sure it would have been a lot more boring and lackluster than where I am now.

When I think about serendipity, it is hard to not equate it with the Fool card in the Tarot. This traveler may have a destination in mind, but he is wide eyed and willing to explore the side roads as well as the main highways. Many of the people he will meet along his journey will be on the main highway. This is where the Emperor and the Hierophant reside. Yet, the Fool will never meet the Hermit or the Star if he doesn’t wander off the path from time to time.

It seems a bit wrong to tell you to expect or seek serendipity. How can you truly receive something “not sought for” if you are expecting to find something? This isn’t quite the right perspective to have. Keeping our focus like that of the Fool is a better place to start. Keep your eyes open. Open your heart to your inner guidance. Then just go.

With every step we take, we are one step closer to witnessing something inspiring. Miracles happen everywhere.

As a Tarot reader, it is not uncommon for people to ask me questions about what I do.   Many people have liitle to no idea what the Tarot is about and how it can really help them. They are curious about how I got started, what the cards mean, whether or not I can really see the future and so on and so forth.  I always love answering these types of questions because it gives me a chance to bring the cards one step closer to mainstream acceptability with every practical and understandable answer that I give.

However, there is one question that makes me think a little bit more every time I hear it.  

Why do you read the Tarot?

Hmm…good question.  I read because I feel I am called to.  I read because it comes naturally and I am skilled at it.  I read because it’s fun.  I’ve said all these and more at times and they never really hit the mark as to why I chose to become a Tarot reader.  So what is it that has me so hooked on these 78 pieces of paper?

It’s the “A-ha!” moment.  It’s the look on a client’s face when the message that Spirit has for them really sinks in.  Not just the confirmations, those are always a feel good.  I’m talking about the moment when the you see the person across from you change.  Right there before your eyes, a new person emerges.  Somewhere, deep in the myriad of messages, a light bulb clicks on.  The mental process that has had them so bound up, frustrated and anxious just snaps.  A door has been opened for them and where they once only saw darkness, they are now bathed in light.

This is the moment I love because there is no way I can force it to happen.  I cannot make the light bulb turn on for them.  I can only be a conduit for the messages they need to hear.  It has taken me some time to learn how to drop the mental filter and just let these messages flow.  When I started reading, I wanted to give everyone the “right” messages.  I focused on accuracy and making sure every message I had connected in someway or I wouldn’t say it.  Needless to say, that didn’t really work for me.  I made some solid connections, but the “A-ha!” moments were few and far between.  It wasn’t until I started to drop the filter and let the messages flow uncontrolled that I really saw the change in my clients.  My readings became less about me and more about the messages that came through me.

It’s in the loss of ego that we truly shine in our abilities.  Stepping aside and putting our brains in check for a little while to let Spirit communicate through our hearts.  It doesn’t matter what your abilities are.  You can be a great athlete, doctor, mechanic, psychic, parent, friend…anything.   The principles remain the same.  Step outside of yourself and realize that you are not great because of what you have done.  You are great because of what has been done through you.

This realization changed me and I started to shine. I had my own “A-ha!” moment.  After that, my readings improved and I thank Spirit daily for the changes that occur through me.  I still fight off my ego and my filters a lot.  I’m sure I always will.  But I also know that when I do drop the ego and let in unfiltered light, people change.  I’ve seen it.  It’s cool.

And that my friends, is why I read the Tarot.

I surprise myself sometimes.  When I look back at my life, i find that there are a lot of things that I have done that I once thought were impossible.  Or at the very least, improbable. 

I have a bad habit of losing sight of the forest because of all the trees.  I look at the myriad of little problems throughout my day and completely lose track of the big picture and how all these little issues are making me into a better person.  There have been a number of opportunities that I have not been ready for and mucked up in the past.  Yet, thanks to the grace of Spirit, I keep getting chances to try them again. 

This really struck me last summer as I was camping with my son at his first Cub Scout resident camp.  20 years earlier, I was at a resident camp myself and had failed my swim test.  I’ve never been much of a swimmer as I had a bad experience when I was very young.  Since then, If I couldn’t touch or see the bottom…I was out.  However, about five years ago, I decided to take some swimming lessons just to get the basics and be able to play in pools and such with my kids.  It helped a lot and as long as I could see the bottom, I no longer had to touch it too.  I never really expected to use this for anything other than pools and maybe a beach here and there.  Flash forward to summer 2010.  I find myself standing on a dock being told that all campers, adult and child, need to take the swim test.  Panic, joy, fear, happiness…  I was elated that I would have a chance to redeem my childhood failure.  And completely freaked out that I might not pass and would look like a complete ass (or drown).  My moment of truth came and into the water I went.  After much labored swimming and a bit of floundering floating, I climbed out of the water.  Victory was mine!  At 32 years old I had finally passed the Boy Scout swim test.  I could hear the angels singing!  …well maybe not, but you get the point.

I learned a valuable lesson about myself that day.  One that I did not hesitate to pass on to my son.  Failure is never the end.  As long as you keep your eyes open and look for ways to improve yourself, you will be given as many opportunites as you need to succeed.  I’m still not a great swimmer.  I may never be.  But I also don’t care about that.  I took the steps to improve myself and I passed a previously failed test.  I am setting my sights on other opportunites now.  Each day brings me new challenges and sometimes chances to retry old ones.  With a little dedication and faith in myself, I am finally starting to see that there is nothing I cannot accomplish. 

Don’t get me wrong, the fear of failure is still there.  I just refuse to succumb to it.

Yeah, that’s right.  I’m jumping on the trending topic of the now suddenly infamous Ophiuchus.  The “mysterious” 13th constellation in the zodiac.  I’ve been reading all sorts of articles today about the validity of this constellation in the zodiac and what it means to us.  I’ve seen some compelling arguments and some goofy stories stating that thousands of years worth of astrological work is all way off base. 

I decided to have a look at what the Tarot had to say about this ”new” outsider stepping in and joining the zodiac.  Not surprisingly, the Eight of Swords came up.

 How quickly we get tied up in our thoughts and logic.  We are presented here with facts and figures that seem to disprove everything we held dear to us.  Suddenly we are being told that the traits we have identified with for so long are now false.  Everything that was revealed to us in our birth charts may horribly be wrong.  Whatever shall we do?!? 

Calm down, take a chill pill, stop freaking out…

While I am no astrologer, I can say that from the research I have been doing there is nothing to even consider here.  As I understand it (astrologers correct me if I am wrong here), western astrology is based more off of the seasons and the SIGNS associated with them.  Not necessarily the constellations.  Beginning with the vernal equinox, the signs are separated out in 30 degree increments.  The sun may have been in the constellation of Ophiuchus when you were born but it was in the sign of Sagittarius.

Been thinking all your life that you were an Aries?  Well, you are. 

The Eight of Swords reminds us that we create our own bindings and trappings with our thoughts and perceptions.  When we calm down and look at the reality of the situation, we can see that there is really nothing wrong.  We just got ourselves worked up over nothing. 

In the immortal words of Public Enemy, “Don’t believe the hype!”