Ask Me Anything Q&A: Sing

M**** asks:

Should I become a singer? Would people listen to my music?

Hi M___

Thank you so much for your question.

Before we start, I want to let you know that I personally know nothing about music. Everything in this reading is 100% pure intuition. So if I say anything that feels prickly, or makes you feel defensive, or feels just wrong from a musician’s point of view, please pay attention to that. Those feelings are telling and can guide you as much as what the cards say.

I do have several semi-pro musicians & amateur singers in my family. Knowing how important music and performing can be to a person, I could never tell you NOT to sing. But that is the real crux of all of this. Do you want to sing, or do you want to be a singer?

But that being said, let’s look at the second part of your question first, then we can draw cards and get to the real root of this message for you.

Would people listen to my music? – I don’t know. No one knows. Tarot and psychics do not predict the future, or read people’s minds. If I knew what people were going to like and do, I wouldn’t be on social media trying to showcase my readings and entice people to buy them.

It’s like the “choose your card” post that included the “Lightning in a Bottle” card from the Alleyman’s Tarot deck: “If you want to catch lightning in a bottle you have to stand out in a lot of rainstorms.”

The only way to know if people will listen to you is to sing. Even if you find out the hard thing the hard way, you’ll know. If people listen, you’ll know it was the right choice. If they don’t, you’ll know if being a singer is worth trying and trying and trying again until they do – or not. Is singing worth it if nobody listens but you? Is the music and singing your passion? Is singing its own reward? Or is the people listening to you the real reward and it doesn’t matter if you get their attention through singing, or dancing, or acting, or writing, or some other form of artistic expression?

The first part of your question, “should I become a singer” is perfect for for a “zombie cat yes/no” layout. I explain how those are done in the post from back in February “The Way of Zombie Cat

Your three cards were: Ace of Wands, 8 of Swords, and The Lovers

One ace among three cards is a NO.

If that answer disappoints you, then that is your real answer.

If you were hoping for a ‘yes’ then let’s keep reading with the other cards and see how to change the ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’

Are you willing to be a singer even if no one listens?

Let’s look at this card by card.

Ace cards are the essence of the suit. Wands have to do with your relationship with yourself, your inner world of philosophy and spirit. Wands are associated with the element fire symbolizing passions. This is the ‘yes’ energy of the reading, even if it is outnumbered by the other card energies.

My hunch this means that the ‘no’ is more of ‘not right now’ than a flat ‘never.’

Something inside needs to change before being a singer is the right thing to do. You need to know how important it is to you. You need to understand the reasons why you want to be a singer and decide if it is worth it, even if it is hard, even if it doesn’t work out the way you want it to work out. Does your fire burn bright enough to endure if endurance is needed?

Eight of Swords: something is holding you back. It’s like that old saying “if you have to ask you can’t afford it.” If you have to ask if you should become a singer, then something is holding you back. What is causing your uncertainty?

By the same token, never wait for perfection. If you wait for the perfect time, the right time will never come. Waiting for the right time can be smart, but it can also be a prison. If you want to be a singer, why not? If no one listens, so what? The experience will always be a part of your story. In the long run what will you regret more – trying and failing or never trying and never knowing if you could do it?

Whatever the mental trap is, this card also means it is escapable. Whatever problems can be solved, but you have to think outside the box. Creative problem solving is key.

The Lovers is a major arcana card, and as such can carry two messages sometimes. That is the case here.

The Lover’s isn’t about romantic relationships as much as people like to think. It is about deep desire for anything, regardless of what that may be. When it comes to being a singer, think about what it is you really want. Is your heart’s desire to be involved with music? Or is performance? Or is it communication? Or self-expression? What is it you really want from being a singer. Focus on that – and the path to and through singer-hood will be easier to find.

The second message this card carries is a nod to the popular reputation that the Lovers card has. It is just a reminder to think about how being a singer will fit into the big picture of your life. What effect will being a singer have on your family relationships, your work relationships, friendships, and yes, any romance that may be in your life.

So, will anyone listen to your music. There is no way to know except to perform or have your music performed and see.

Should you be a singer? If you are asking the question, the answer is probably no. BUT after you look inside, after you become clear about your motivations and desires and true goals, then you’ll know the answer for yourself, no tarot cards required.

That’s when the answer could easily turn into a YES. One you know in your heart if you should be a singer, then nothing can stop you from finding your path.

Good Luck!


Would you like a question answered for free in the blog, possibly with a full free Tarot reading like this one? Click the “ask me anything” tab in the menu at the top of the page. Take a chance. All “Ask Me Anything” questions are answered for free with a blog post.

If you would like a private yes/no reading like this, you can order it HERE. Zombie Cat will be on the order page until the autumn equinox for $15 ($10 for members) After that, they return to ‘special request only’ status.

drawing of a white zombie cat holding a tarot card.

Have Mope

A second look at this week’s growing energy card

The five of cups was the growing energy card for this week in Monday’s Energy path reading. Now that the week ahead is mostly the week behind and we are looking forward to the weekend, let’s see what’s going on with the growing energy.

The vibe of it feels steady now. Yesterday’s one card reading, the Devil, puts this card into better perspective. The negative connotations of the Five of Cups are sometimes imposed from the outside more than they are experienced from the inside.

It’s the Addams Family. It’s goth.

It’s like seventeenth century philosopher Barauch Spinoza said – any objective thing can be viewed as good, bad or indifferent all at once.

Things that some might consider dark, brooding, melancholy or even evil or devilish, others consider to be their comfort zone. The “dark and melancholy” is a place of comfort and happiness.

Who are we to judge?

It’s far better to ask how you can help rather than just assume something is wrong in the first place.

Today the card brings to mind both the Addams Family and their unabashed enjoyment of their own life and lifestyle – and the Cure song “A Forest”. While I am a Cure fan from way back, I keep mentally hearing the iconic guitar notes, so that must be some sort of intuitive clue, or at least a confirmation of the “indulge your inner goth” vibe of today’s card.

I think the carry away message of all of this is to reassure everyone that you are not a bad person just for having a shoe-gazey emo kind of day.

Even professional performers don’t have to be up and on point every minute of every day. You don’t have to be up and talkative all the time either.

Melancholy and moody is a human experience. It’s practically the definition thereof. Have a good mope if you feel like it.

Just don’t take it out on all the bright and chipper extroverts out there. They can’t help it they are cheerful.

Enjoy your weekend, whatever mood or mode it comes in. Now I’m going to go listen to one of my new favorite goth bands, Vision Video.

Back Monday for a new look at the next week ahead.

See you at the next Sip!


Feeling mopey enough for a private Tarot reading? Distance Tarot is my specialty, and email readings are available to order HERE 24/7 no appointment needed.

Mid-card Mid-week: Flame On

Second look at this week’s “current energy” card

1909 RWS Tarot, public domain

It’s Wednesday! Let’s revisit the middle card (current energy) from our look-ahead reading from Monday and see how the energy is unfolding for this week.

It’s an interesting phenomenon in professional Tarot reading.

Sometimes the cards will piggyback a message or energy for me along with the collective message for the blog or the specific message for a private client. Sometimes it feels sort of disconnected, like being the pizza delivery person with no connection to the party going on inside the house.

Today it’s a little bit of both.


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Today’s Tarot: Something Fabulous This Way Comes

Drag queens are the best

It was years ago, but once I was hired to do Tarot readings for a local theater group’s party. The group included a few drag performers. I don’t know if any of them enjoyed the Tarot readings, but by the time it was all said and done I was happy to my absolute core. The energy in the room was bright and glittering and it was an honor to work with all of them. Everyone there was the definition of fabulous.

If it is OK with them, give a drag queen a hug and return some of the good vibes they so naturally and generously give. It will make your day.

Today’s card reminded me of that experience, which turned my thinking toward joyous, jubilant, glorious, gleeful, authentic self expression.? What would happen if we expressed ourselves TO ourselves with all the exuberance and fun of a drag cabaret?

Some people are natural extroverts and performers. No matter what their art form may be…theater, dance, film, live music….performing is the air that they breath and sometimes their livelihood too. For the rest of us, performance is more stress-inducing than life-giving. But, I wonder, what if we spent a little time expressing our authentic selves in a performance for an audience of one…oneself that is.

How would your day (or evening) be if you allowed yourself a little time to bask in your own quiet, queenly fabulousness. Find one darn little thing that you like about yourself and wallow in it. Amp it up as high the hairdo on an episode of Drag Race and BE fabulous, at least in your own mind just for a few minutes.

Now take that feeling of fabulousness and use it to fuel your connection to life, to love, to compassion, to everyone you care about.

In less time than it takes to paint your nails, something fabulous this way comes.

Kitten Whiskers: Spark

This is the last planned episode of my Friday night fangirling. If you have questions about Tarot, Reiki, Meditation, or anything, let me know that in the comments and I’ll write more on-topic posts to fill the gap. If I don’t know the answer, you’ll get a resounding I dunno or if you ask/say/spam anything inappropriate, the comment will be incinerated in bright blue bolt of hexfire. I’m hoping to spark some conversation with all of this.

I’ve never watched Marie Kondo. In a way, this whole ‘kitten whiskers’ series of posts has been about favorite things that “spark joy” as she says. If so, I may have failed.

It wasn’t my vision for this series to be about sparking “joy.” To my mind, joy is euphoric, yes, but also misty, temporary and insubstantial like cotton candy or whipped cream topping on a dessert. I had really hoped to spark substantial contentment, like a big bowl of ramen noodles or something filling and nourishing instead of sweet fluff. My goal was to bring attention to simple pleasures and little things to comfort, encourage and anchor our sanity during these strange days.

One of the things that sparks contentment, that sparks that comfortable-in-your-own-skin feeling for me is the warrior archetype. Yes, women have a warrior archetype too. Don’t let Athena, Queen Boudica, Mulan, Joan of Arc, or the 400 women who fought in the American Civil War hear you say otherwise (Psychology Today, Smithsonian Magazine) In other words, the things that spark my happy place into existence also tends to inspire some thread of badassedness at the same time. To me, “warrior” is not in the slightest realated the toxic masculine violence that is stepping to the fore in right wing America. That is the exact opposite of a warrior. I’m talking about the self-development, self-mastery kind of warriorhood. I have a looooong way to go with that sort of thing. It sparks a sense of satisfaction to think I’m on even the sparest beginning of that path. When I think warrior, I think of things like

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front front of him, but because he loves what is behind him” – G.K. Chesterson

“Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power” – attr. Tao Te Ching

Things that spark that sort of mindset make me happy.

ART & POETRY

Fringe and free, artists and poets give zero f*cks for social mores and expectations. They are warriors in defense of every aspect of the human experience good and bad, light and dark. Some of us are gleefully hellbound. Which is why one of my current favorites is Ryan Summers. We’ve never met in person, but I’ve enjoyed every bit of his work. I’m touched by his deep kindness every time we’ve talked via social media (most recently instagram where he is @HellBoundBlack) We first talked through the online poetry group “we drink because we’re poets.” His poetry collection L’aria Onyx (written under nom de plume Sahm Ataine King) is gritty, real, almost skeletal in the sense that his poetry lays bare the bones of life. It reminds me of the Dada art movement with an echo of Japanese wabi sabe giving a result that finds power and life in dark imperfections.

His photography is his poetry transformed into image.

Please take a look at his Instagram and his new shirt design brand. Maybe you will be sparked along your chosen path too. Please support artists, photographers and poets.

COFFEE

I like coffee.

The taste, the aroma (and the caffeine) spark much more than happy badassedness. It sparks basic brainwaves. Like Sheriff Hopper said in the Netflix series Stranger Things “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation. Coffee. And contemplation.”

Indeed, sir.

A couple of weeks ago I reached out for permission to mention and link to my new favorite local coffee houses, even though I don’t live near enough to visit often. They never replied, so I’ll respect that just say they are in the Allentown neighborhood of Pittsburgh (with a second site in McKees Rocks) and their name rhymes with Plack Pforge Toffee. The iced coffee there is the best I’ve ever sucked into my face hole. Considering the oceans of the stuff I’ve had over the past *mumble mumble* years that is saying something. They are not your mother’s coffee house. Oh no. These guys have a goth metal pagan aesthetic that is as satisfying as the Sumatra dark roast. If you see me wandering around in a hoodie that says “darkness brewing eternal” you’ll know I did a little local shopping. Please support your favorite local small businesses.

MARTIAL ARTS

I used to teach Taijiquan (Tai Chi) then I learned that I know nothing. I have a black belt in Kung Fu. Then I learned I know less than nothing. It was a ton of fun, regardless. If you try it, please find a qualified teacher and do your best to avoid belt mills and over-testosteroned cobra-kai-esque mashugana mishegoss. Look for your Mister Miyagi. Look for your Socrates from Peaceful Warrior. They exist. Don’t give up. If you are lucky enough to live in the D.C. area, Master Nick Gracenin is one of the absolute best, truly world class.

BOOKS

Books will feed whatever archetype is your happy place. They can spark joy, spark contentment, spark badass, and everything in between. The ones coming to mind tonight include:

The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

Scholar Warrior by Deng Ming-Dao

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By by Carol Pearson

MUSIC

Made another playlist of music that sparks you-know-what, at least for me. I hope you enjoy. The last song is a hands down favorite. It is Jackie Chan singing General’s Mandate in Madarin. Our Sifu uses it for his demonstration forms. Master Gracenin plus Jackie Chan equals pure unadulterated motivation.

Thank all of you for reading. You … all of you…being here with this… THAT sparks joy.

Best to all – R.

Kitten Whiskers: TaoCraft Tunes

Hi there and welcome to this week’s episode of unabashed Friday fangirling!

Kitten Whiskers,” and “More Kitten Whiskers” are a nod to the song from The Sound of Music and are simply intended to share some of my favorite things with you. These posts have absolutely noting to do with Tarot. Well, almost nothing. Ideas like “Rediscover simple pleasures” and “little things mean a lot” have been turning up in quite a few readings lately. I really do take my own advice – sometimes. All of the things in the “Kitten Whiskers” posts delight me, and I hope they will lift your spirits a little bit as well.

Today: Music. Like laughter, it’s good medicine. LIstening to music expresses, acknowledges and validates whatever mood I’m in the healthiest possible way. It helps mental focus (I’m listening to the new playlist as I write this.) Music generally celebrates life in all of its aspects. I don’t know squat about the technical side of music. I am lucky beyond measure to have married a wonderful guy who just happens to be an excellent musician, to be the mother of a music therapist and to have had access to music ever since I was old enough to change the dial on my parents’ radio.

You may not have heard of some of these artists, but I really hope you’ll give a listen or better yet, buy the music and support their work. Where possible, I’ve linked directly to their website or bandcamp page. I’ve also cobbled together a handy Spotify playlist for this post, oh so creatively titled “TaoCraft Tunes”

In a previous “Kitten Whiskers” post, we met my friend Jose Johnson and his life coaching, martial arts teaching, and book writing work. There is another side to Jose. He is a professional musician and has recorded both as a solo artist and with bands including Big Tubba Mista. The title track of his early 2000s album Side Street of Dreams is bones-deep calming and meditative while other tracks like “Tribal Mists” are energizing and empowering enough to get you through wushu warmups. It brings a smile to your face and does your heart good either way. Listen here:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/josejohnson/side-streets-of-dreams

Or learn more about all of Coach Jose’s work at JoseJohnson.com

Dinosoul is a local Pittsburgh duo. When their website says that they are here to “love, connect and inspire” they mean every bit of it – and they achieve it. Having met Donny and Carolyn, plus living in the city where the music was composed gives their album Eleven a strong sense of presence and place for me. Sure, Pittsburgh has the surface vibe of football, perogies, beer, bridges, yinz, n’at, but Dinosoul (especially the songs “4 am” and “Dimension”) capture the deeper energy of the place, like the legendary ‘fourth river’ aquifer captures the deeper waters of the local geography. Through their music you can feel the city at night or sunset at the point looking down the Ohio river. You can listen (and buy) Eleven and Dinosoul’s other music on their Bandcamp page. Check out some of Donny and Carolyn’s other projects: Empath Sober Bar and Free Will Pgh on Instagram. Pro tip – While you are there, FOLLOW @Dinosoulmusic A new song is coming! Squee!

While I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jose since 2000 or so and talking with Donny and Carolyn in person, but when it comes to Strangeletter it was fangirl at first TV ad. I became an instant Browncoat and Strangeletter fan all in one 30 second promo for the series Firefly that featured Strangeletter’s song “Here Comes A Chopper.” I can’t for the life of me remember how I got from a TV ad to Strangeletter’s YouTube channel and Bandcamp page, but I’m glad it happened whatever it was. I don’t know a thing about music genres. I have seen their music tagged with alternative, dark wave, and post-progressive rock, but the adjectives I would use are words like ethereal, experiential, and evocative. Their music invokes mental images in a way that verges on intuition, almost like a sonic Tarot card. For example, with “Chopper” I ‘see’ night, a futuristic suburb, dsytopia and and organized underground resistance. (Apparently, ‘futuristic’ means about a week – I rough drafted this part of the post a few days before the stormtroopers landed. All love and good vibes to the good people of Portland.)

Darkwave, shoegaze, triphop, ambient…whatever you call it, that part of the music spectrum is my favorite. But sometimes all you want is a cold drink and some reggae. It all started with the reggae influence you can hear in the Police and other 80s bands. Then I stumbled on to a cd of Julian Marley’s Lion in the Morning at a yardsale and the rest is history. Fast forward 20 years, and I finally started to learn Esperanto. Put those two things together and you get the one and only Jonny M. I’m not sure, but I think he speaks more languages than the Pope and is an gifted musician in any language. Always hopeful, just like his chosen language, his music ranges from light, pleasant songs like “Dankon” to richer, deeper songs like “Eterna Lumon” and “Sonon De La Viv'” You don’t have to speak a word of Esperanto to appreciate the spirit of the music. To prove that point, also listen to En Natura on his Bandcamp page. I can’t speak a word of German and can still enjoy the album, especially “Die Germanen.” Music really is a transcendent language all its own. Mi sxatas lia muzikon tre multe!

Many thanks to Jose, Donny, Carolyn, Steven and Jonny for granting permission for me to fangirl their music and link to their art and sound.

There is a metric crap-ton of other music out there that I straight up adore. I don’t know if it’s ok to mention any of it without permission. Rather than get anyone’s copyright shorts in a bunch, I just made a random fangirl Spotify playlist to share a few other favorites in no particular order.

Happy weekend everyone!