Why Meditate? Why Not?

Doesn’t that look peaceful? Is this what your “happy place” looks like?

Some people might put the men in suits out for me if I tell you this. It’s the secret to grounded and clearer tarot readings. It’s also the secret to receiving better readings from your neighborhood friendly tarot reader. Want to know what it is? Meditation.

Please, refrain from rolling your eyes. After all, you came to the blog of a tarot reader. You’ve got to be an iota interested in things “off the beaten path”. Why is this meditation thing the secret to being grounded? How in the world can this make you better at not only giving readings but receiving readings?

I’m the first to admit, I was never that into meditation. I confess, when I took yoga classes in college, the corpse pose (which is basically laying flat on your back with your arms resting gently at your sides) would cause me to not meditate, but fall fast asleep. I was told I snored in class. Not very enlightened!

The key is quality, not quantity. You don’t have to be a person who can meditate for 45-minute stretches at a time. In fact, starting out your meditation practice that way will build you up for a mighty big fall when you give up. And you will give up more easily if you don’t start a little bit at a time. I can’t emphasize enough that you don’t have to invest that much time. But you do have to invest a little of it.

5 minutes a day. That’s it. Really. 5 minutes to unplug from the world. Because when you do that, you don’t unplug from everything… you plug into yourself. Most people do not check in with themselves. I see meditation as a way of checking in. You can meditate by focusing on a flickering candle. You can choose a tarot card from the deck you use and meditate on that. You can meditate on your breath. You can meditate by listening to soothing music or a guided meditation CD. But however you choose to do it, the main point is to do it every day. Make it a daily habit and you will feel more grounded, calm, and focused. I will recommend some meditation tools I use later.

Now, how does this apply to tarot, both giving and receiving readings? The goal of both a reader and a client is in service to the client. The goal is one and the same. If the client leaves a reading without a question answered, advice ungiven, then both the reader and the client loses out. Through meditation, the reader is more focused on the client’s needs. If the client meditates, the client is more focused on internal goals and what their spirit truly needs, versus surface wants that masquerade as real goals. The client can then ask the questions they really want answered through the tarot. Then the reader can help the client in interpreting tarot for them, guiding them to the path they want to walk.

Meditation tools I use that may be helpful for you!

• Anchoring Spirit and Gentle Ocean: A Guided Meditation and Musical Journey CD by Stacey Wolf and Julia Gregory (I think this is no longer available for purchase… sorry!)
• Angels of Venice CD
• The Serpent’s Egg CD by Dead Can Dance
• Any candle… whatever scent you find soothing. If no preference or if you have a sensitive nose then a plain white candle should do for flame-gazing.
• A Soundscapes CD (whichever you like that you find soothing, or you can use a sound machine that has such sounds as Rainfall, Babbling Brook, etc.)

My suggestion if you’re new to meditation: change it up! Make it fun! Mix and match… if you use a guided meditation one day, meditate on your breathing the next day. Remember, the point of meditation is to meditate, not to fall asleep. However, if you are having trouble falling asleep, meditating before you go to bed usually helps. [EDIT 8/12/14: I recently heard that Deepak Chopra recommends meditation in the morning after waking up or during the evening, preferably before the evening meal. So meditation right before bed may not be the best thing, as it tends to “awaken” us more so than making us “ready” for a good night’s sleep. See here for more helpful tips on meditation.]

Namaste!

Blessings,
~*~Hilary~*~
www.tarotbyhilary.com

If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends using the handy-dandy buttons below.

If you enjoyed this article, get email updates (it’s FREE)!