Anchoress

Background

I have had mostly female clients in my tarot practice, and that may be a group that best connects with me. But I hope my life experience can give you confidence in my capacity to relate to you, regardless of your identity: I have 17 years experience as a college teacher, and prior to that, 13 years in health & human services in an urban setting. My current marriage is approaching its 20th anniversary, and I have an adult son to a previous marriage. I raised my son as a single parent. He is also now married, and I have 2 granddaughters. My upbringing was Christian/Presbyterian, and I am a follower of the teachings of Christ, but I also have an interest in and appreciation for other religions and wisdom traditions around the world, including Eastern schools of thought. I’m also a student of Jungian archetypal psychology. My husband is a former immigrant and naturalized citizen. We live in a city neighborhood along one of the Great Lakes, with our 2 rescue dogs, and maintain a summer vegetable garden. Feel free to ask me questions about my background!

Experience

When I began tarot reading 25 years ago, I did believe in and practice its "prognostication" potential. But with age and experience, including my prior experience as a mental health professional in community agencies, and with further study and my own maturing insight, I no longer use tarot readings to “predict” anyone’s future, at least not in the "fortune-telling" sense of the word. Rather, my intent for each reading is that it may enhance the seeker’s daily well-being, helping to bring a sense of calm, reassurance, and/or creative possibility, and hoping to provide some spiritual insight and life guidance. I believe in tarot cards as a healing tool in the present, through storytelling, connecting the seeker’s inner wellspring of life to the vast support from their Higher Power and bountiful resources of the universe ("uni-verse" = one story).

Methods

I use tarot cards in a number of different types of spreads, combined with my intuition regarding the seeker and his/her/their query. I use several different decks, and sometimes, more than one deck in the same reading, if it seems that is what is called for at the time.

Before each reading, I meditate to clear my mind of personal concerns. Then, with the client and their question or topic in mind, I intuitively select a deck of cards for a reading, and pray over the cards before shuffling.

As the reader, I do not assume that I know the way forward for anyone, nor what it is that anybody may need to learn. Rather, I try to provide a safe space, and a clear interpretation of the cards, so the seeker can work out what they need to learn for themselves from the situation they bring to the reading.

As part of my website, I maintain a blog that contains a daily meditation reading for the public to read - a single card to help begin, continue with, or end your day. If you’d like to follow, you can find that here: theanchoress(dot)space(slash)like-a-book-of-hours.

Please only leave a comment if you've had a consultancy from Anchoress