Saturday, May 24, 2008

Must. Focus.

Again, from the amazement that is e-mail.
Give up complaining . . . focus on gratitude.

Give up pessimism . . . become an optimist.

Give up harsh judgments . . . think kind thoughts.

Give up worry . . . trust divine providence.

Give up discouragement . . . be full of hope.

Give up bitterness . . . turn to forgiveness.

Give up hatred . . . return good for evil.

Give up negativism . . . be positive.

Give up anger . . . practice patience.

Give up pettiness . . . put on maturity.

Give up gloom. . . enjoy the beauty that is all around you.

Give up jealousy . . . pray for trust.

Give up gossiping . . . control your tongue.

Give up sin. . . . turn to virtue.

Haha. I’m still working on it like you wouldn’t believe.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

family: the ties that bind… & gag!

Is it coincidence or what that my Housewives Tarot deck wants to make itself prominent right before Mothers’ Day? :D I only realized it at the last minute. Oh, yes, yikes, the review. Anyway, I’d like to greet everyone that even if the occasion’s already over, especially my young mom patrons. I was able to hug my mom twice after how many YEARS, & I sure miss her despite everything. We’ve never really got along well ever since I got into high school, you see, but she’s still my mother after all, & I really wouldn’t want to disappoint her anymore. But I’m still my own person, & I know being truly myself wouldn’t really make her happy, & for this reason I so miss my father, who’s always been understanding of my whims. In fact, he’s actually the reason why I’m still distraught today, & for this post. He’s always been praying for me for the longest time, & I can always feel that. Sometimes I would feel like he has not just one, but two guardian angels looking after me wherever I go. Now that he’s gone, though, I’m not sure how everything’s going to work out, but that’s fine with me. I guess I have to be more secure with my faith.

With this, I present this e-mail excerpt I got today. Sorry if it runs a bit too preachy, & I think I’m not that much of a Christian anymore, but here goes. Haha, sometimes spam is the best stuff to read whenever I’m online:
HOW TO PRAY FOR YOUR CHILD
Author Unknown
May 13 2008

If you pray one of these a month, you will have your child covered for a year!

1. Pray NOTHING hinders your child from accepting Christ as his/her personal Savior early in life. (Matthew 19:14)

2. Pray your child learns to know God and will have a deep desire to do God’s will for his/her life. (Psalms 119:27,30,34, 35).

3. Pray child hears stories from the Bible that will be a basis for his/her decisions throughout life. (Ecclesiastes 12:1, Psalms 71:17).

4. Pray child will develop a keen sense of right and wrong and that he/she will truly abhor evil and cling to that which is good. (Psalms 139:23-4).

5. Pray child will increase in wisdom (mentally) and in stature (physically) and in favor with God (spiritually) and man (socially). (Luke 2:52). This prayer covers his/her total development to his/her full potential.

6. Pray that child will develop a thankful heart and a positive mental attitude. (Psalm 126:2-3, Romans 8:31)

7. Pray that God protect child from Satan and his/her wiles in every area of his/her life. (John 17:55, Psalm 121)

8. Pray that God would destroy the enemies in his/her life whether they be weaknesses, lying, selfishness, etc. (Psalms 120:2; 140).

9. Pray that God would make him/her successful in the work God has for him/her to do. (Psalm 118:25, 139:9-10)

10. Pray he/she have a strong sense of belonging to a family that is loving and dwells together in unity (Psalms 133, Colossians 3:12-14).

11. Pray he/she will respect authority. (Romans 13:1, Ephesians 6:1-4).

12. Pray that his/her entire life will be a testimony of the greatness and love of Christ. (Phillippians 2:15-16 Thess 5:2-3)

I’ve highlighted the ones I like best. ♥

& yes, I do read the Bible everytime I get the chance, & I have high regard for my secular Religious Education instructor in college, whom I got stellar grades from, who handled my freshman & senior classes, & who taught us the relevance of homosexual orientation (she was going by the syllabus, mind you!) & divine inspiration. I wonder how she is now. Then the old maid who taught me Christology in my sophomore year & made me do voice tapes every grading period just so I could pass in her class is now dead but at least she would praise me unabashedly to her younger students, alongside the ranks of these two honor students-since-birth who graduated cum laude in my school from my very own department (one already passed away because of cancer, though, & she was rather pretty). I have now gone down in history as one of her best protégés ever, haha, even if I’ve grown up to become less geeky & zealous with Catholicism = Christianity (because Tarot has already won me over). I hold my dad responsible for my awareness beyond Catholicism, as he himself was interested in publications such as The Plain Truth, anti-liberation theology (probably brought upon by his work), & anything else New Age that dealt with psychism & pranic awareness. What I would call chi, he would call prana. Not that there's any difference. It should be obvious by now that I was the only one in the family whom he could talk to regarding controversial subjects, & yet everytime I would press him for more details, he would just tell me to focus on my youth & everyday terra firma drama. I guess he had a point, as I was only in high school then. We didn’t talk much about tarot cards, though, & I wasn’t really interested in them to begin with, but voila. :D His last advice about my reading them was that I could strive to find a way to incorporate biblical references in my sessions. & I told him, not to worry, Dad, everytime the Hierophant card pops up, it comes naturally… it just can’t be helped. He influenced me to pay reverence to the Virgin Mary as my spiritual Mother as much as God Himself is my spiritual Father, without being holier-than-thou & freaky. He taught me as well how to ask for wisdom & guidance ALWAYS, & to praise Them wholeheartedly. Being the incorrigible idiot that I am, I would still question God’s supremacy & existence even in my prayers, & I would tell my dad all about it, challenging his own views in turn. Haha, cocky, I know, but that’s why I love him, because I could talk to him like a friend without bypassing his authority. He would remind me of my responsibilities but he would still lovingly spoil me anyway. Despite our dysfunctional family, I’m proud to have him as my dad, & I hope to make him proud of me finally someday. I wonder if my real name will ever live up to its meaning. (Haha, & funny, after Googling my first name up, I discovered it to be a name for a doom metal/progressive rock band & a black metal/thrash band respectively — I think I like the latter better! They’re Japanese, too! Attack with Spell FTW! ^_^ MySpace is only good for band profiles, seriously, IMHO.)

La Madonna della Sedia 1518 by Raphael

So, there, I miss my parents, & I still worry about what they’ll think about me, especially with what I’m getting myself into lately, but despite everything, I would like to assure them that perhaps this is the process of growing up the hard way, & I’ll try my best not to cause them any more problems. But of course I’d like to thank them for taking care of me whenever I do get into trouble, hehe. I might not be able to give them a grandchild anymore ever, but that’s fine, right?

Entry title courtesy of Erma Bombeck.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

I <3 May Day

So far, my vibes are right on track. I’m amenable to doing readings on the 13th & 20th of this month, which are favorably Tuesdays, but I’m OK with Saturdays, too, especially on the 31st. My almanac agrees. So yeah, let’s not waste them good ol’ summer days, especially with the proverbial scattered rainshowers & thunderstorms intruding at the most inopportune moments. June should be a most auspicious month, but I still hate getting drenched while I’m in transit. Well, anyway, you know where to find me. I’ll be available as early as 10 AM.

I’ll be reviewing my Housewives Tarot deck this week. For now, enjoy the deck’s official website & experience the cards there through a short free reading. :D This is such a cute deck, but I had to stash it away for some time because it was getting impossible to read through the brooms (signifying the suit of Wands) without consulting the dainty guidebook. It’s being cooperative again, surprisingly. My favorite cards du jour? The Hermit & The Star & The Devil, LOL (I’m sorry, I’m a sucker for chocolate cake like that, I swear, & the deck’s rendition of The Devil is the coolest EVER!) Go take a look & see if those cards appear in your own virtual spread. :P

Thursday, May 01, 2008

on communion & convergence

It was a rather fun day yesterday, as I tried reading for my guy colleagues & they tried to interpret certain images in turn for me. It was crazy, though, as my head was spinning after the fuss. Happy birthday, J, & good luck. Thanks, R, for hanging out with me until lunch & until you couldn’t take it any longer. Haha. You should bring your Comparative Tarot deck next time. You guys sure have a knack for this. Why don’t you try learning MORE about tarot-reading?

Too bad I wasn’t able to read for my barista friends as promised, but tomorrow should be a good time, after a stupendous way to have paid overtime at work. :P

Then by Friday, my other colleagues should line up for requests, LOL, this is fun. I’m on a roll, so better take advantage of it. I love May Day.

I guess it’s needless to say that everybody loves my Golden Tarot & Osho Zen Tarot decks. But all my sets, especially my quirky Tarot of the Witches, are potent, too. I think I’m happy with my loot, but I really should find the rest of my Chinese Tarot cards — this is the second time the deck has been incomplete. :(

Hopefully next month should be a great time to check out other tarot readers, & I can’t wait to talk about the craft et al with them. Sometimes solitary practice is exhausting, & I love getting new perspective. Maybe I should sign up for an art appreciation-through-writing class, too. :D The travel writing workshop I went to was super, though, as it helped me contemplate more on the journey within & introduced me to more wonderful individuals & then ponder about my future in creativity…

By the way, my favorite card for the week would have to be the Inner Voice (equivalent of the High Priestess) from the Osho Zen Tarot deck. ♥ I like the tranquility the imagery evokes & it does emphasize my need to get in touch with the silence within. Thing is, I’m having trouble channeling that at the moment.

on communion & convergence

It was a rather fun day yesterday, as I tried reading for my guy colleagues & they tried to interpret certain images in turn for me. It was crazy, though, as my head was spinning after the fuss. Happy birthday, J, & good luck. Thanks, R, for hanging out with me until lunch & until you couldn’t take it any longer. Haha. You should bring your Comparative Tarot deck next time. You guys sure have a knack for this. Why don’t you try learning MORE about tarot-reading?

Too bad I wasn’t able to read for my barista friends as promised, but tomorrow should be a good time, after a stupendous way to have paid overtime at work. :P

Then by Friday, my other colleagues should line up for requests, LOL, this is fun. I’m on a roll, so better take advantage of it. I love May Day.

I guess it’s needless to say that everybody loves my Golden Tarot & Osho Zen Tarot decks. But all my sets, especially my quirky Tarot of the Witches, are potent, too. I think I’m happy with my loot, but I really should find the rest of my Chinese Tarot cards — this is the second time that deck has been incomplete. :(

Hopefully next month should be a great time to check out other tarot readers, & I can’t wait to talk about the craft et al with them. Sometimes solitary practice is exhausting, & I love getting new perspective. Maybe I should sign up for an art appreciation-through-writing class, too. :D The travel writing workshop I went to was super, though, as it helped me contemplate more on the journey within & introduced me to more wonderful individuals & then ponder about my future in creativity…

By the way, my favorite card for the week would have to be the Inner Voice (equivalent of the High Priestess) from the Osho Zen Tarot deck. ♥ I like the tranquility the imagery evokes & it does emphasize my need to get in touch with the silence within. Thing is, I’m having trouble channeling that at the moment.