Hi
Continuing the theme of Tarot of Taboos, we had a terrific show on Tarot for Fun on Blog Talk Radio on Saturday Night.
In keeping with the tone of this show, it is hardly surprising that the subject centred about Tarot and the Taboos around Sex and body image.
It is my opinion that that a lot of negative body image that many women have, and a lot of the feelings that physical relationships and sex are in some way dirty or shameful, comes from the religious and education background that many of us have grown up with.
It is my view that the Tarot can be very helpful in healing and clearing this, particularly when we look at the two cards of the Empress and the High Priestess.
Both show very different aspects of the feminine.
I really love the Empress card because she is sexy, sensual, very grounded and enjoying the physical pleasures of life such as money, food and sex. She lives in abundance and flow and shows that we can quite clearly be feminine and still succeed in life and business.
This has been an interesting week for Radio shows, as I have been discussing the subject of Taboos around Tarot Cards.
On my Spirit Quest Radio show, we were talking about often very extreme reactions when the words Tarot and Religion come up in the same sentence. You can hear the archived show by clicking the link below.
This has been a fascinating subject to me for a while. I suppose I have never seen the cards as anything other than a deck of cards with pictures on them, which can be used to tap into the Universal energies around us.
I have been quite stunned at some of the reactions I have had from people, along the lines that Tarot cards are “evil, devil-workshipping, witchcraft, anti-christian.”
I have been given some quite startling predictions of how I am condemning myself to a life of eternal damnation by going anywhere near them.
Whilst not wishing to attack anyone or their religion, I have been very curious as to what it is about the Tarot cards that provokes such a reaction.
It seems to be that there are a couple of the cards which contribute to the bad image of Tarot, those being the Death Card, the Devil, sometimes the Tower and sometimes the Hanged Man.
It also seems that some of the symbols, for example, the 5 pointed star and the Pentacle don’t help.
It is interesting to me that many of the symbols in Tarot Cards pre-date most of the major religions. Many of these ancient symbols have lost their original meanings and been twisted or distorted to make them seem somehow “bad.”
You can listen the full show on the following link:
It is called Spirit Quest Radio and runs every Monday to Friday from 2pm- 7pm PST (5pm - 10pm EST, 10pm-3am GMT).
There is a great community and a chat room. You can listen in via the chat room or via skype or by telephone. You can also call into any of the shows. They are all archived, so you can listen to them in your own time.
My show is 2pm PST (5pm EST, 10pm GMT) on Fridays. We are talking about lots of different things relating to Tarot, I will be having some terrific guests coming on the show and you can also get a FREE Mini Tarot Reading from me on the show.
There are lots of terrific shows including Astrology, Numerology, Mystical Mischief, Meta Stories, Personal Empowerment, Energy Healing and lot of other great shows.
Tarot for Fun Radio show on a Saturday night seems to have taken on a life of its own!
Most weeks, we end up in fits of laughter over another sexual, phallic or very suggestive symbol that someone has found in one of the cards. That seems to set everyone off and everyone LAUGHS!
Actually that is hugely therapeutic because SEX has been a difficult and taboo subject for many people for a very long time.
The motto of LOVE, PEACE ad CHOCOLATE has definitely been adopted by all of our regular listeners.
Two weeks ago, my daughter’s boyfriend, Dom, bought us a big bar of chocolate to share whilst we did the show, so that made it even better.
One of our regular listeners, Learner, sent me a beautiful picture of the Ace of Cups that she coloured herself with the motto of LOVE, PEACE and CHOCOLATE. I would like to share it with you. Thank you so much, Learner.
Ace of Cups by Learner
Come and join in the FUN on Saturday evening at 5pm EST (10 pm GMT).
With abundant blessings.
Amanda Goldston
We were talking about the Lovers card and some of the other cards that can relate to relationships.
The Lovers
We talked about the Lovers card representing the physical aspects of relationship such as attraction, lust and sex. We noted that the man is looking at the woman and the woman seems to be looking at the angel for guidance.
The Angel is said to represent Raphael, which is the guardian of the subconscious. The Angel is holding in balance the two opposing aspects of the male and the female. Those are the logic, intellect and reasoning traditionally associated with the male energy and the passions, emotions and feelings traditionally associated with the female.
They are also united by the very phallic symbol of a lone mountain in the background, or a someone in the chat room pointed out, the mountain looks more like a nipple than a phallus.
That was really the start of the whole conversation degenerating into total mirth and merriment.
We talked about the 2 of Cups, which is also nice to see around relationships as that is pointing to the love, friendship and support aspects of a relationship.
2 of Cups
The 2 of Cups is a spiritual connection and understanding aspect. If you have both the emotional love and connection AND the physical aspects, then that should be a good basis for a relationship.
Wand Cards
As I was doing one of the readings on the radio show, the Ace of Wands card fell out, which reminded me of a very funny conversation I had with a friend and fellow tarot reader earlier in the week, when we both made certain observations about that card!
Ace of Wands
The Ace of Wands would normally be interpreted as new beginnings in the fields of work, business or creativity. It can be a new job, or a promotion or new business coming in or something that brings opportunities for growth, personal and professional development and great satisfaction in what you are doing.
However when filthy minds get are on the same wavelength, the picture on the card can take on a whole new meaning!
Having then got onto the subject of Wands as being a fairly obvious phallic symbol, someone in the chat room pointed out that the Page of Wands in the Rider Waite deck is also quite suggestive.
Page of Wands
This is especially so when you look closely at the expression on the face and the position of the hands! The Page of Wands card also has the little pyramids, or phallic symbols or nipples in the background.
I don’t think I am going to be able to look at these cards in quite the same light again!
Maybe Sigmund Freud had a point when he said that everything we think, say and do has some sort of sexual reference or motivation at the back of it!
We had a terrific, fun show. I think the theme of sexual symbols in Tarot cards is one we are likely to be returning to in the near future.
Learn Tarot Online Card of the Day with Amanda Goldston on Saturday 9th May 2009
Today I drew the High Priestess Card and Greg drew the King of Wands
The High Priestess
King of Wands
The High Priestess for me seemed to point towards a day of matters to do with Intuition and woman’s issues. I had the day to myself as Stephanie was out and Greg and Jacqueline went to the football match.
I spent most of the day doing Tarot projects, ranging from promoting my new book “Develop Your Intuition through Tarot” to creating a new audio tarot course.
The King of Wands probably related more to me than Greg, as I was working on business matters and ways to shine in the world with my Tarot products and services.
This is an interesting combination of cards as the High Priestess is a card of going within and exploring things from the inside and the King of Wands is an card of action and moving forward with things.
I have felt rather pulled. Someone had sent me a DVD about a business and money making opportunity, which I put in my computer to play and it promptly jammed the drawer, so I could not watch it. Nor could I listen to my meditation audio, which I wanted to listen to afterwards.
Maybe I should have attended to the inner needs of the High Priestess first!
Learn Tarot Online with Amanda Goldston Card of the Day 8th May 2009
Today Greg drew the 3 of Swords and I drew the Knight of Wands
3 of Swords
Knight of Wands
So the first question we asked ourselves was “who is Greg going to argue and fall out with today?” with 3 of Swords energy around him. We could not think of anybody, unless he was going to be really putting his foot down with Jacqueline (12) over her doing (or not) her Maths work.
As it turned out, the children did their work without any problems and Greg did not really get stressed with anyone. Perhaps it was a warning to him to be patient and not to lose his temper!
Whenever the Knight of Wands appears, we tend to think of matters to do with the house and property. There wasn’t anything about that today, although a letter did come in relation to that matter on Saturday.
The Knight of Wands also brings passionate, enthusiastic energy for any projects we might have underway. I went to see my friend today and we have a very leisurely lunch, animatedly discussing our next book projects- both hers and mine- so this was probably more the energy of the Knight of Wands than the stuff about moving house.
There is a huge amount of moving -forward fire energy around us at the moment. I left my friend very excited about her several book projects and I am working very rapidly to turn all my creative projects from ideas to tangible projects.
Learn Tarot Online with Card of the Day from Amanda Goldston for Wednesday 6th May 2009
Today Greg drew the Emperor Card and I drew the 10 of Cups.
The Emperor
10 of Cups
The Emperor is an authority figure, someone with presence and a person who commands and expects respect. He also represents male energy and a father figure, although Greg is nothing like the austere person that is the Emperor.
The 10 of Cups is a card of fun, joy, laughter, gratitude and family togetherness.
These cards were quite appropriate as we went to the Heights of Abraham in Derbyshire today. It was a great family day out. We had a lot of fun, even if the children did manage to rock and tip the moving cable car, just as I was getting out!
It was a great day out with a lot of walking up hills and loads of steps to climb. My legs ached considerably the next day!
Greg was showing qualities of both the father and the expert, as he helped the children on the assault course, showed them how to take photographs of a frog in the park and took some stunning photographs of the scenery.
Tuesday 5th May 2009, Learn Tarot Online with Card of the day by Amanda Goldston
Today Greg drew the Moon card, which is a card we have not seen very often and I drew the 6 of Wands.
The Moon
6 of Wands
Having stayed up half the night reading my book, the Moon was an appropriate card, as we both certainly spent most of the morning more asleep than awake!
The Moon is about dreams, intuition, looking at things from several different viewpoints and tuning in to ourselves and our deepest feelings.
This is quite contrasted by the 6 of Wands card, which is success and victory coming as a result of our own actions and efforts.
Things are starting to unfold for the Tarot business and I am having a constant flow of ideas, as well as new opportunities are unfolding daily.
I have now got my own radio show, “Tarot for Fun” Radio on Saturday evening at 10pm GMT (5 pm EST); I do the Interview With Spirit show with my friend Ken MacLean on Thursdays at 4pm EST (9pm GMT).
I am hosting a show called “Tarot Time” on a fantastic new service called Spirit Quest Radio. My shows are on Wednesdays and Fridays at 5pm EST (10pm GMT). They start this week, the 6th of May 2009.
Spirit Quest Radio is a brilliant service that has forums and chat rooms, as well as some terrific online courses that you can take. I have a 6 week Tarot course with 6 hours of audio avialable.
I have been invited to be a guest on Thelemic Wave Tarot radio show on Sunday 10th May and I am going to be a guest on the Moo, Moon and You- the Collective Wisdom Radio show in early June.
I have also got the opportunity to be on TV. My friend Richard Flewitt has just launched a fabulous new TV station on UK Sky TV 166 and Freesat 402 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday 7.30pm GMT) called the www.thebookchannel.tv and I am going to be featured on there with my new book “Develop Your Intuition Through Tarot” in the next few weeks.
There seems to be loads of things coming my way. I would love to be able to reach out to everyone who has an interest in Tarot, for whatever reason, and to help further their learning and growth.
On this wonderful bank holiday Monday, Greg drew the 4 of Swords and I drew the Sun card. Whilst he was shuffling, the Ace of Pentacles fell out of the pack.
Ace of Pentacles
4 of Swords
The Sun
I did not do very much today. I worked on a new Tarot workshop that I am putting together as well as on my video and audio course. I have loads of creative ideas for helping people learn to read the Tarot and also to be able to use those skills in a practical sense.
I find the creative aspects very energising and envigorating, so I suppose the Sun was probably a good card for me for today.
It would be very nice to harness the energy of the Ace of Pentacles and start to bring some extra money in from all this creativity. I feel that is not very far away and the momentum is building.
I stayed up reading “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown, and was so captivated by it that I read all night, until I had finished the book. That is why I don’t generally read fiction. When I start something I can’t put it down until I have finished it. I suppose I can’t then really tell the children off when they are still reading at 1am in the morning!
That was probably Greg’s 4 of Swords. He came downstairs at about 5am on Tuesday morning, looking rather tired and grumpy to ask what time I was coming to bed!