The Empty Nest Syndrome

My Justin

 

Well, it’s official, one of my little birds is out of the nest.  He is unlikely to return here to live ever again.  I am sure that he will be back and forth for visits and stay during the holiday seasons over the course of the next three years, but my mother’s intuition tells me that he is never going to be a live-in son again.

Justin left for law school today.

He is so happy and excited and I am so happy for him!

He has worked very, very hard and he absolutely deserves the best.  Fortunately, he inherited his mothers’ intellect, (lol), so I know he will excel at law school.  The more difficult the intellectual challenge, the higher our success rate and being that he will be studying a subject area that fascinates and intrigues him, I expect nothing less than the highest levels of achievement from him as he pursues his legal education and his subsequent career.

I am sitting here thinking of how bright he was as a baby and a small child.  Justin crawled at the age of three months and he walked unassisted at the age of 8 months.  He was an amazing baby and he continued to be an amazing child.  His development was so rapid that when I had my second son, Zachary, who did not walk until the age of 10 months I paniced and took him to our pediatrician to see what was wrong.  The doctor laughed at me as even 10 months is developmentally early to walk.  Good genes, that’s all I can say.

Justin has really turned out to be a young man that I can be very proud of.

He has a personality that combines wit, charm and humor with a very gracious manner.  My mom used to say he was “Born of The Manor”, and that totally describes him to a “T”.

It’s not going to be the same around here without my sensitive and loving son.  He always seemed to know what my mood was and try to lift me up when I was down.

I’m going to miss him, but I am so happy for him

My husband and I and our Zachary took the day today to move him into his new apartment.  He really has good taste, I let him decide where he wanted to live and choose the apartment himself.  I was a nervous wreck until I saw how mature his choice was.

He has the entire second story of a colonial in the heart of the Historic District, right on the campus of the college.  It’s a very safe neighborhood and a very beautiful apartment!  I did not want him to be distracted with the whole “room mate” thing like he had to deal with during undergrad, so this is his own home.  The stability of the apartment and the furniture he bought with the money he earned while working with my husband this summer really made me realize that he is a grown man.

Three years of law school and he will be launching his career and who knows what else?  Engagement?  Marriage?  Baby days are gone for good now.

This isn’t a dorm room, or a “party” apartment shared with room mates, this is a home (away from home?), and it makes a mommy sad to know that he is well on his way to starting his own nest now. 

He’s too far away to come visit every weekend for a home-cooked meal, those visits will now be few and far between.

Thanksgiving, Christmas break, maybe Easter?  I know I’ve got the winter holidays anyway.

Letting go is the hardest part and only another mother can know this feeling.

We have cell phones and internet to keep in touch through, so it’s not like he’s a world away.  If I want to see him I can look at his facebook page and see what he is up to.  He’s quite the creative character with his pics and his little videos!

He’ll have much work to do this year.  In Law School the first semester is key to where your internship for the summer will be, so it’s focus, focus, focus and the apartment he chose is definitely conducive to creating a good study environment.

He has a full bedroom, kitchen, bath, living room, study and a deck.  The apartment is large, it has great lighting and good energy.  He has the big old spooky attic too!  When we went to dinner we joked about the possibility that it is haunted, given the building itself is from colonial times.  Knowing Justin, he’d strike up a good conversation and learn everything there was to learn about any wandering spirit and they’d become best of friends!  He’s quite personable.

Oh well, I did not cry, and that was important to me, I did not want to upset him, he is a very sensitive and caring soul and that would have made him worry.  I don’t want to cry, I want to be happy for him, but I do miss him already.

A mother’s love is unconditional.  We spend all those years teaching them, educating them, loving them, fighting with them sometimes and then…POOF!  In a moment it’s over and you are looking at a fellow adult who just happens to be your child, and although you want to keep them close and under your wing, you must allow them to live their lives and watch as they experience the life they are living, no longer being able to influence them as you once did, becoming a memory for them to share when chatting with friends or someday, speaking to their own children.

Good Luck Justin!

I will speak with you soon.

Love,

Mom

A Higher Power

A Higher Power

I have to say that my experiences over the course of the past two weeks have really brought me to a new level of understanding and faith in a Higher Power.

Being an Aquarian with seven, (yes seven), planets in Aquarius, 6 in the 9th House and 1 in the 10th House, I should have been aware that the eclipse in Leo this month and the second eclipse in Aquarius on the 16th would have a profound affect on my life, but I was not paying strict attention, preparing my son to leave for law school, paying secuirty deposits and helping him get ready to go.

My business was keeping me busy, as usual, and I really should have been more attentive to the spiritual signs around me, but I was caught up in the business of day to day life.

On August 11th, 2008 at precisely 5:48 p.m. EST my life changed dramatically and permanently due to the intervention of this Higher Power.  Please read my blog on the subject, here.

Now, if that isn’t the proof of the existence of a Higher Power, I don’t know what is!

How on earth can this have happened, a SEVENTY-EIGHT YEAR LONG MYSTERY resolved in one phone call, from a posting originally placed in cyberspace in 1995 and updated occassionally with the half-hearted hope that someday, someone would respond, would know something, anything, about this enigma.

It’s a miracle that his sister is still alive, that he even had a little sister, and that the family kept him in their midst even though they had never met him, and the only one who ever had passed on some 32 years ago.  They kept the memory of his lost boy alive, through even the subsequent generation!

Yes, there is a Higher Power, and my faith in that power has been refreshed, reinforced and stabilized at a higher level than ever before in my life.

Thank you God for bringing this miracle into my life.

I do not understand why my Higher Power has chosen this time in my life to reveal these secrets to me.  I am sure I will be seeking answers from fellow advisors as time allows, once the elation and shock wears off.  I have not yet done a reading on myself on this, but you can be sure that I will, and I will post it here.

What I want to express to you all is that no matter how improbable and impossible any given situation you may find yourself in may seem, your own Higher Power will bring you the answers that you seek when it is deemed that the timing is right or necessary.

I am going to be working on understanding this on a spiritual level in the coming weeks, but I must say, there is nothing like receiving a fresh shot of adrenalin to your faith, especially when it is unexpected and catches you totally unaware.

I am still reeling.

Love and Light to All!

Brigid Bishop

Discovering Telesford

Kenneth Appleton Delfino Age 3, 1928

 

 

The Most Amazing Thing Has Happened To Me,

 

 

 

The High Priestess in Full Manifestation

Discovering Telesford

I don’t even know where to begin, but I must apologize to my regular customers for my absence yesterday, and my sporadic availability right now.  When you read this blog, I am sure you will understand why!

I am elated, joyful, overwhelmingly surprised and shocked.  I am optimistic, happy, curious, and anxious and confused, all at the same time.

Those of you who are regulars know that I had a very special bond with my father, and some of you are aware that there was a great mystery surrounding my father’s natural father.  It has been a family secret for 80 years, and yesterday, my dearest friends, IT WAS SOLVED!!!!!

I can’t say for sure, but this must be the feeling that adopted children feel when they find their birth parents after having given up hope, at least it’s highly similar!

All of my life, I did not know my true heritage on my paternal grandfather’s side.  I knew that my paternal grandmother was English, from Yorkshire.  I knew that my mother was one half Irish from Dublin and one half Czechoslovakian.

Do to the etymology of my father’s surname before it was changed, being “Delfino” we believed that we were Italian, (Sardinian) or Spanish in origin, but we had no way of knowing for certain.

Growing up in a small, northeastern U.S. “coal town”, we did not fit in as our gene pool evidently kicked out five very Mediterranean looking children when my parents produced us.  Those around us were blonde, blue-eyed and not very open minded about diversity while growing up in the 60’s and 70’s and we were kind of “misfits”.

We,(including my father), were only told by our paternal grandmother that our biological grandfather was named Telesford Delfino and that he was a world champion light weight boxer under the name of “Pedro Campo” back in the roaring 20’s.  She would give us no other information and she ostracized both my father and his children, having little to no contact with our family during my formative years.

She had another “husband” and three other children, dad was treated like the skeleton in the closet by that entire side of the family, as were we as his children.  It hurt.  It confused me as a child, but now, yesterday, a good deal of my questions were answered, the skeleton leapt out of the closet, and our family secrets were revealed!!!

It was 5:48 p.m. on August 11, 2008 when I was getting ready to log in to start taking calls, having had personal errands to run and experiencing a late start to my day when my phone rang, displaying a long distance number and a name I did not recognize.  I could tell it was coming from a residential number and not a solicitor or business call, so out of curiosity I immediately (unlike my normal behavior, I usually let unknown callers go to voicemail), answered the phone.

A strange voice, friendly but seemingly a little uncomfortable to my ear said “Is this Bridget?”  I replied yes.  (At first I thought it was a client looking to schedule a session with me).

The voice on the other end of the phone picked up a notch in happy anticipation.  She said, is this “Bridget Delfine”, again I affirmed.  I could hear the smile on her face.  She said, “I saw your post on the ancestry site I just joined three weeks ago, you are looking for your grandfather, Telesford Delfino?”  Again, with my heart beginning to beat very fast, I said “Yes”.

She said, “Your dad is Kenneth Appleton Delfine (Delfino)?”,  “Oh My God, Yes!”….body temperature rising, pulse beating out of my wrist!  The voice was raising in excitement just as my emotions were too, and she said, “He is my grandfather too!  I saw your post and we have been searching for you and for your dad all of our lives!!! “

She continued “My name is Alma, my mother’s name is Josephine, you had two uncles and another aunt and we have found our “SONNY BOY”!” 

I was in shock and disbelief, how could this be?  I had been chasing Telesford’s ghost for 30 years!  I had found some obscure boxing statistics, but little else.  Due to the etymology of the name, as stated, I had focused my search on the United States and Europe.

Alma continues, “My grandfather was married to Olive Appleton from Philadelphia and my grandfather could not find Sonny Boy, he had a picture of him when he was about three years old and he always sang the song “Sonny Boy” by Al Jolson.  My mother and her brothers and sister have been searching for Sonny Boy for all of their lives and when I saw your post on the Ancestry site looking for descendants, I couldn’t believe it.  The post was dated 1999 and you had a webtv email address, and I have been googling and googling to find you, I found your tarot site and kept searching and searching and I was hoping this was your phone number!”

I was flabbergasted!!!!

Telesford fell in love with Alma’s grandmother after he and my grandmother, Olive, separated and they had four more children together!  I had more Aunts and Uncles and Cousins that I never even knew of!  Alma said, “I saw your picture on your website, you look just like my cousin!  Oh, you are my cousin!  I have twin cousins!”

Alma proceeded to tell me that my grandfather was from the Filipines, he was born in Davao City and came to the U.S. to box in 1922.  He met my grandmother, who was in her late teens, at that time.  She was the reigning “Beauty Queen” of Philadelphia at that time.  She told me that Telesford was born on January 5, 1901 and then she gave me HER MOTHER’S  phone number in Canada!  She was still alive!  Only 61 years old!  Her name is Josephine!  My Aunt Josephine!!!!

I called Josephine and got even MORE information.

My grandfather had come looking for my dad after my grandmother Olive left the Filipines with him around 1930 when my dad was only five years old.  Olive’s family told my grandfather that Olive was dead!!!  They also stated that they had no idea where Sonny Boy was!  LIARS!!!!!  They knew right where he was!

Olive was protecting her second, ILLEGAL marriage!!!  She never divorced Telesford! Telesford was a Filipino Catholic, there would be no divorcing!  So she went and married her second husband anyway!

Huh, and WE were the BLACK SHEEP????

Oh, this is a BIG SKELETON!

No wonder she would never give us any information and there were no photographs!  We were lucky we had dad’s birth certificate the way that woman covered her tracks!

Telesford, now believing Olive to be deceased, proceeded to marry Josephine’s mother, Alma’s grandmother.

Of course, now there has been a joyous exchange of familial photographs, and initial arrangements are being made for a meeting with my beautiful new cousin Alma and my Aunt Josephine (whom I somewhat resemble).  How amazing to finally be able to identify a family resemblance that up until now, I could only see in my father and my siblings and children!  None of my cousins on either my father’s nor my mother’s side have any real resemblance to us, we are very “Mediterranean” in appearance, I would assume that our ancestors in the Filipines are of Spanish descent due to the etymology of the name, and when I researched it further, it is a Castilian name in origin, which is why I was trying to find Telesford in Spain, never thinking to look in the Filipines, especially with his boxing moniker being “Pedro Campo”.

I have never seen a baby picture of my father, which I will add to this post once I upload it, etc., nor have I ever, ever seen a picture of my real grandfather, Telesford.  The picture that Esel, Alma’s younger sister, also my cousin, has sent to me via email is from 1955, and although Telesford is in it, there is a crease across the picture, still obscuring his full face, so I am ever hopeful that they will forward more pictures where I can clearly see the man who was my grandfather and who searched his lifelong for his “Sonny Boy”, my father.

Esel also forwarded the picture of my father, age three years old!  My son Justin is the spitting image of him!

I received pictures of Esel, Josephine and Alma as well!

Unfortunately, Dad, and his other three siblings have passed on, never reuniting with each other, and Telesford passed in 1976, a last attempt at finding my dad occurred in either the late 60’s or early 70’s, but he never gave up.  Dad grew up thinking that his father did not want him or care what became of him, all because of one woman’s selfish need to bury a secret that she took to her grave with her.

Josephine wishes to visit Dad’s grave upon her visitation here, which I will surely see to, and I now have a new, beautiful, extended family that I am sure will take much of my leisure time learning about!

The High Priestess in Tarot is all about “Secrets Yet To Be Revealed” and this lifelong secret has now made itself known to me!

 

Sonny Boy

Performed by Al Jolson

Climb up on my knee Sonny Boy
Though you’re only three Sonny Boy
You’ve no way of knowing
There’s no way of showing
What you mean to me Sonny Boy.

When there are grey skies,
I don’t mind the grey skies.
You make them blue Sonny Boy.
Friends may foresake me.
Let them all foresake me.
I still have you Sonny Boy.

You’re sent from heaven
And I know your worth.
You made a heaven
For me here on earth.

When I’m old and grey dear
Promise you won’t stray dear
For I love you so Sonny Boy.

When there are grey skies,
I don’t mind grey skies.
You make them blue Sonny Boy.
Friends may foresake me.
Let them all foresake me.
I still have you Sonny Boy.

You’re sent from heaven
And I know your worth.
You’ve made a heaven
For me here on earth.

And the angels grew lonely
Took you because they were lonely
I’m lonely too Sonny Boy.

 

 

 

 All lyrics are property and copyright of their owners.
All lyrics provided for educational purposes only.

 

A Soul Mate Story

A Soul Mate Story

by Brigid Bishop

At the beginning of 8th grade I met a boy named Bobby.  We decided we were going to be a “couple” and embarked happily on a puppy love excursion.

We rode bikes together, played basketball and tag football, wrestled and played literally like two puppies!

We were very happy throughout the 8th grade, where we both turned from 13 to the ripe old age of 14.

Bobby’s parents were divorced.  We lived in PA and his Dad lived in Maine, quite a distance away.

Every summer Bobby went to Maine to spend time with his Dad, we prepared for this imminent separation as best we could at our ages, and then a SHOCKER hit us.

Bobby’s Mom told him that he (and not his older sister or younger brother) was going to remain permanently in Maine and not return for the beginning of the next school term when we started high school!!!  It was my first broken heart and God, I can still feel the pain.

Back then, circa 1976, kids were not allowed access to their parents’ long distance services, so there would be no phone calls, the only way for us to maintain any kind of communication was by snail mail…..so………

All through the summer, and ninth grade, and the following summer, and tenth grade, we communicated via snail mail, professing our love for each other, etc. etc. etc.

Now, here is the bad part….during this time I was a blossoming teenage girl, 14, 15 and nearly 16…….and of course I told Bobby “I was waiting for him”.  What I didn’t tell him was that while I was “waiting” I was dating many other boys and kind of began going steady at the age of fifteen with a nineteen year old.  Bobby didn’t know about the 19 year old and the 19 year old didn’ know about Bobby.

I was a pretty good looking teenager and several boys my own age took offense at my choice.  One, in particular, named Fran, who was supposed to by my friend, was ticked off because I chose the older boy instead of him.

Bobby came home during the summer of 1978 for a “surprise” visit.  Fran knew.  I didn’t.  Fran walked Bobby straight out to the beer barrell party I was at with the older boy (I was 16 by now) and said……”See, I told you she was cheating on you”.  

Caught like a rat in a trap, Bobby was crushed.  He ran down the coal road in tears, and I chased him, but I couldn’t catch him.  He wouldn’t take my calls, nothing.  I would have dumped that older guy on the spot if I had known Bobby would ever come back.

Anyway, Bobby’s Mom brought him back for eleventh grade, to my school.  He was hurt and withdrawn and there was no way for me to get him to let me in again just yet.  I tried, but he was too hurt.

In twelfth grade we briefly tried again, but I just wasn’t ready to date a younger guy again for fear his mother would yank him away again.  (I never dated a guy my own age again after Bobby got sent away, always over 18 so the parents couldn’t interfere).

We graduated in 1980 and went our separate ways.  I thought of him often over the years, of how things could have been if Mom hadn’t sent him off to Bangor.  I married, divorced, had relationships, some steady, some flings, then I met Frank in 1997………a VERY complicated soul mate story, but anyway, one night in June of 2000………

Yes, June of 2000, a Sunday night, I had a bad cold and was taking that daytime cold medicine that makes you feel like you are on speed, and I was aggressively cleaning my kitchen in my usual summer garb, a white T shirt and my Levi’s jeans and a pair of white keds with a bandana around my head, and there is a knock on my door………

I answer it and there is a tall man with blonde hair and a beard standing there…….

I immediately feel like I know him………it takes a moment, and he says “Bridget”………..I screamed out “Bobby!!!!” and threw myself into his arms!!!

I was in shock, it was about 10:30 at night, I looked a mess, and here was my very first soul mate on my front porch after 24 years of being apart.

I was involved with Frank at the time, and I was very confused as to what this was going to do, I felt like it was a repeat of the summer of 1978!!!

We spent the next full week together, catching up, opening up, sharing what could-have-been’s and what might-have-beens……..revisiting our old playgrounds where Bobby said we should have raised our kids………..I never told Frank about any of this, at the time it was easy to steal the time.

Anyway, what was happening was Bobby was getting divorced.  He told me that he had never stopped loving me, (same here), and that he had to come to Pennsylvania (He lived in Maine for all of his adult life) to see if I was “available”.  The kicker here is we both married partners 12 years our senior, he had 2 girls, I had 2 boys.  My oldest son and his younger daughter were born on 5/29, 2 years apart, and his oldest daughter and my younger son were both born on 7/28, 2 years apart!!!!  

We married ON THE SAME DAY OF THE SAME YEAR!!!!

Too many coincidences to place.

I told him about Frank…….he understood……we let go of each other that year as “this time around” we just weren’t meant to be together.

We had a few phone calls, letters and cards for about 2 years after that, but the contact dropped again in 2002 as we got on with the business of living our “parallel lives”, but we had our closure…….it just wasn’t meant to be this time.

I firmly believe he is my soul mate, we just have to wait for another lifetime to manifest it to the fullest.

Important Note I forgot to mention:  When Bobby came to see me in 2000 he shared with me that his mother had died and that on her DEATH bed he asked her why did she send him away like that???  She told him that she thought we were getting TOO CLOSE, and did it for our own good, as she saw how much in love we were and thought we were too young!  Bobby told me he had a hard time forgiving her as both of our lives may have been entirely DIFFERENT had she not made this decision.

To Contact Brigid Bishop

To contact Brigid Bishop for a Live Tarot Reading or Life Coaching Session in the privacy of your own home, use our secure service. Just click the call button and follow the prompts to be connected to Brigid Bishop Live.

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All times are EST.  If the button says “Not Here Now Call Me Later” during my business hours, you can click it to arrange a call and I will automatically receive an email notifying me that you are waiting for me to take your call.  I recommend you enter at least a two hour wait time to ensure that I can get to your call.

If the button above is malfunctioning you can either visit www.brigidbishop.com or Dial Direct 1-888-626-7386 and enter Advisor Dial In ID 32345, you will be prompted by the Click4Advisor secure system to enter your information and then they will connect you directly to me, or place your call in the que for arranged calls for until I log back in.

You may also email me at brigidbishop@gmail.com if you would like to schedule a reading with me directly, thank you!

How Did Brigid Bishop Become a Professional Tarot Reader?

How Did Brigid Bishop Become a Professional Tarot Reader?

Many of my regular clients are familiar with how I came to be a Professional Tarot Reader, however, those of you who are unfamiliar with me, (or never thought to ask), may be curious about how this strange career arose.

If you have read my listings at all, you are aware that I have been a student of Tarot for some thirty-seven years.  Many are shocked, and think, gee Brigid, you barely look like you are old enough to have that much experience ;)  !  LOL!

I am forty-five years old, or as I like to say, twenty-nine with sixteen years experience.

So you did the math, and you have correctly calculated that I begin to read tarot at the tender age of eight years old.  How could this happen?  Did I grow up in some metaphysical, hippie-parented family?

Oh no, my dear, quite the opposite.  I grew up in a strict Irish-Catholic family, (although my mother never went to mass), attended private Catholic schools, I was the fourth of five children, and my parents were like Archie and Edith Bunker.  Dad was a WWII veteran, with a Silver and a Bronze Star, and also a veteran of the Korean war.  Dad was an 82nd Airborne “Pathfinder”, they were the guys who landed first at Normandy, lit the beacons for the gliders, and basically were the first behind enemy lines, and in the Korean War he was a Ranger……..but that’s an entirely different story.  Mom was a Registered Nurse and worked with juvenile tuberculosis patients.

So how did this young girl in a strict religious conservative family get her hands on a Tarot Deck?

Well…..my oldest sister was ten years older than I was, so when I was eight, she was eighteen.  (She’s the tall brunette in the picture above, and I am the small brunette in front of my grandpop, when this picture was taken, I was already reading cards.) 

We shared a room, and when my sister Karen went away to college, the room became mine!  And, as all little sisters are prone to do, any belongings she had left behind instantly became my property!  What I found hidden under her “secret” loose floorboard in her room (along with some pretty interesting hallucinogenics that mom freaked out about when I showed them to her and asked her what they were), was what was to become my very first Tarot Deck.  It was the Rider-Waite Deck, and evidently someone had given it to Karen as a gift, and she had hidden it and never even opened it.  What I found out many years later was that she was actually afraid of the cards!  Along with the deck, there was a book on Tarot by Stuart Kaplan.  My fascination began.

My mother worked third shift, so each night, after she left for work and I was thought to be asleep, my adventure in Tarot would take place.  I studied and read, flipped the cards out and looked up their meanings.  At the age of eight my questions were primarily about what would happen to me when I grew up, and my interpretations were awkward at best.  This continued for some time, and then, I started to frequent the local library looking for books on Astrology and Tarot and going deeper and deeper into the study of these subjects.

One day, while at a local bookstore with my mom, I found a new deck that I really wanted to try out, and I had to find a way to buy them without my mom knowing.  I did, and I snuck them into the house, but didn’t hide them right away.  Mom found them and did she ever flip out!!!  She went nuts and burned them out in the backyard and dragged me across the street for the priest to give me a lecture on opening the door to letting evil spirits into my life and our home.

Well, my IQ is 148, so even at the tender age of eight, I understood the cards well enough to know that the priest (and my mom), were just not educated enough to understand what I was pursuing.  So I cooled it, briefly.

I became more covert in my studies as my Mom began taking too intent of an interest in my personal library, and my ephermis (used to calculate astrology charts by hand) disappeared, certain astrology books would evaporate off my book shelves, and Mom spent a lot of time burning things in the back yard….

Years passed, my studies deepened, I became a teenager and began reading for friends and kind of got a reputation of being a bit “spooky”.

I became an adult, took my first job as an Electronics Buyer in 1980, and of course the circle of people I read for widened. 

I married, had two children, became an Inventory Manager, then worked my way up after my divorce to an Operations Manager in the printing industry.  I spent many years working my tail off to support my family and all through the years I never stopped reading cards for the people I met along the way.

Then I decided I was going to change industries, I went to a Thermography Plant as the Plant Manager, a great job, I was “The Boss” of the whole organization, I owned two homes, etc. etc. etc.

The plant shut down.

I was laid off for the first time in my life.

I could “sign up” for unemployment, but it was only about 1/8 of what my income normally was, I paniced.  I was frantically job hunting, and then I thought, wait, let me take this time to write a book on Tarot, a subject I love.  I wrote my book and began reading professionally (ie. for money). 

My business took off!

I was now able to set my own hours, work as little or as much as I wanted, and……BONUS…..I absolutely LOVED what I was doing!

I gave up the job search and NEVER returned to the rat race.

It’s the old adage “DO WHAT YOU LOVE, THE MONEY WILL FOLLOW”.

And that, my dear friends, is how Brigid Bishop became a Professional Tarot Reader.

Fear and Hope, One in the Same

Fear and Hope, One in the Same

When I read tarot cards I use a spread that holds a position for a card to represent your hopes and fears.  What many people do not realize is that they are often one and the same.  Confused?  Let me clarify.

What we hope for is often what we fear, and what we fear, is often our actual hope.

Case in point.  I once went after a job that was clearly advertised as “Masters Degree Required”, at the time I was in my late twenties, newly divorced, and had only a high school education.  (I went back to college only AFTER I achieved an executive level managerial position, they paid for it).  Anyway, lo and behold, when I read my cards, the hope and fear position card was the Six of Wands, that card, boiled down to a one word meaning, indicates “Success”.

Why would I be afraid of “Success” you may ask, because I am sure you can quite clearly see why I would hope for it.

Well, with two young children and a position requiring you to manage to operate three printing facilities with a total of 1800 employees between them, you can bet I feared it.  How many more hours a week would I need to put in to effectively manage these facilities?  How often would I have to travel and be away from them?  How would I manage their daycare and nightcare?  How would they be affected by my physcial absence from the home for extremely long hours?  If they hired me with less than the Master’s, would I find myself incapable of the daunting responsibilities?  Would they?  Would I end up unemployed?  Etc. etc. etc.

So, yes, quite definitely, our hopes can breed our fears and vice versa.

When I was called for the interview, and then called back for round two, and then flown to corporate, I read my cards again.  Guess what my hope and fear card was?  Eight of Pentacles, or “Apprenticeship”, boils down to new job………yup, I was scared.

Did I get the job?  YES.  Did I take the job?  YES.  Did I succeed?  YES.  Was I scared?  ABSOLUTELY!

But, by EMBRACING MY FEAR, I ensured my success!  The next time you have a reading with me we can explore this for you as well!

Uncloaking the Tarot

Uncloaking the Tarot

Okay, so a lot of people on the internet are interested in the Tarot……..and a lot of people just don’t understand it, it’s shrouded in mystery and superstition……….

I have been using this tool for nearly all of my life and let me explain something about Tarot……it is not a dark tool, it does not open doorways that let demons come in………it is not going to put a dark spot on your soul…..

The Tarot was developed based on the Archetypical Symbolism on the Human Condition.  It is basically a Soul’s Journey through this lifetime, and although you can use The Tarot for divinatory purposes (predicting the likely future outcome) of a situation…….it is not written in stone.

The Tarot is best used for personal growth and self-development.

The Major Arcana contain the 21 Archetypical Images of the Soul’s Journey through Life, they are seeped in symbolism……..combining the symbolism of many, many other esoteric systems.  When you look at any ONE card, you are looking at a Qabbalic Meaning, a Numerology Meaning, an Astrological Meaning……..the Colors need to be interpretted….there is so much DEPTH to any ONE card that study of the Tarot can last a lifetime.  (I know).

Let’s explore the word ESOTERIC.  The Tarot is ESOTERIC as it was developed to have “hidden meanings”, so that not everyone would or could understand the deck.  It was developed by monks, as a SPIRITUAL tool……and only these cloistered scholars knew the true meanings of the cards.  They were a politically charged issue and were hidden deep within the confines of our traditional religions.  They carry with them the “Lifeprint” of the Human Condition.

So, it came to be that the Tarot was surrounded by mystery and awe, hence, the title of my book “Uncloaking The Tarot”.  My personal mission in life is to introduce the New Age to the General Public, and have the general population gain a better understanding of these arts.

My book was born when I got SOOOOO  Irritated and those old “Miss Cleo” commercials……..she was such a psychic fraud, feeding psychic junkies all over the country, it made me sick.

So, I wrote my book in order to try to get people to truly understand what the cards are meant for.

The best and highest use of the cards is to use them for your own Spiritual Growth……..how well are you learning the 78 Lessons of the Tarot as you pass through time, are you learning and growing, or are you repeating past mistakes over and over and over.

Fortunately for you, I have made just about every mistake known to womankind (and mankind) and have understood the Tarot well enough to limit my repetitions of the same mistakes, and I can help you understand yourself and your relationships better (with or without the use of Tarot).

I Coined This Phrase for Myself………

I Coined This Phrase for Myself………

Whenever life knocks me down I remember one of my own quotes….

I’d Rather be a HAS-BEEN……..

   Than a NEVER-WAS!

Motivates me every time……….  Go for it!!!!

Brigid Bishop on Tarot Decks and Cartomancy

Brigid Bishop on Tarot Decks and Cartomancy

  (Intro)

I have been collecting Tarot Decks since I was eight years old, much longer than I would like to admit! 

You can find decks that are based in every culture in the world, Native American, Celtic, Anglo Saxon, Chinese, Japanese, Hungarian, Italian, Nordic, Egyptian, African, the list goes on and on and on.  There are also decks that are not “specifically” Tarot Cards, but are used for spiritual growth just the same, an example would be the Cartouche, an ancient Egyptian deck of symbols that is quite powerful and, in relation to the Tarot, which contains 78 cards in most instances, only contains 25 cards.

I enjoy using the Cartouche for spiritual and magical workings, but do not provide Cartouche readings over the phone, as they are not understood by the general public as well as the Tarot is.

I am going to begin a series on different decks, this being the first installment, whereby I will introduce you to the different energies of the decks and perhaps help you to expand your knowledge.

When you are shopping for a new Tarot Deck try to get a feel for the energies of that deck, does the artwork appeal to you?  Do you feel a sense of well-being when you are browsing over the text associated with it?  Is there a cultural appeal to the deck that makes you feel connected to it?

These are all positive signs that you will tune in well with the deck.

I have literally thousands of decks, some I work with, some I have just “to have”.  There are decks that I find more in tune to relationship readings, some are more spiritual in nature, some cause me discomfort when I use them and I have them just to understand them even if I don’t connect with them.

Finding a good deck to work with on a personal level is like allowing the deck to choose you.  You know when it’s right when you hold it in your hands.

For the novice, I recommend using a traditional archetypical deck like the Rider Waite Tarot or the Universal Waite Tarot as the symbolism will give you a strong foundation that you can use to transfer to your interpretation of future decks.

The Thoth Tarot is a bit confusing for the novice, but the intermediate student can well adjust to the differences in the hierarchy of the cards.  I like to use the Thoth for my own personal spiritual work.  I also enjoy using the Cartouche for more mystical work and I enjoy The Sacred Path Cards, which are Native American in cultural reference, but very insightful.

For past life readings I enjoy using the Phoenix deck.  A lot of insights and soul mate issues can be resolved with this powerful Native American Deck.

For my own personal relationship issues I prefer to use the Enchanted Tarot as the imagery on the cards is neither intimidating nor harsh in any way.  This is a also a good choice when providing public readings when your clientele will have little or no knowledge of the Tarot as the images on more traditional decks can be intimidating to those who have no basic knowledge of the cards. 

As we progress I will highlight different decks and my preferred uses for them, and I hope that my reviews will help you gain more insight into cartomancy and perhaps help to expand your enjoyment of the art.