Is Anyone Listening?
We all tend to view Spirit as something out there, separate from us, mysterious, difficult to reach, difficult to hear, even as we are surrounded by people giving us pep talks about listening with our hearts, looking for Angel Numbers, or finding inspiration in cloud formations.
We all tend to view Spirit as something out there, separate from us, mysterious, difficult to reach, difficult to hear, even as we are surrounded by people giving us pep talks about listening with our hearts, looking for Angel Numbers, or finding inspiration in cloud formations.
Now don’t get me wrong – all of those things are meaningful and helpful! And they all work nicely at times. But we've all been there – hot in the middle of a crisis, major or minor, desperately needing answers and having little faith in our ability to relax and “hear” the whispers of Spirit. Maybe you’re at work, or you’re sitting at a red light during your 40-minute commute, and you've been worrying about this problem all day and desperately wish someone out there would just help you, no fooling around, ‘cause right now is just not the time to lie down and sleep on it, or stare at clouds, or whatever. Besides which, this decision needs to be made immediately and why does it all have to be so darned difficult, anyway?
It turns out there really is a reliable way to make direct contact with our angels and guides and get an immediate answer – and most people don’t even know it’s out there, or how well it works. All you need is a smartphone and a few dollars (or even no dollars, if you want to do this on the cheap)!
The answer is -- electronic tarot decks for Android or iPhone!
Crazy, right? But stay with me here.
Spirit Loves Electronics!
The reason we find Spirit so hard to reach is because our guides and angels operate at a very high vibration. Guess what else does that? Anything electronic! Most of you have heard the stories – a loved one passes, unbeknownst to their kin, and an hour later the daughter or wife or son gets a call from them on their cellphone, they have a brief chat – and then they find out that said loved one was pronounced dead long before the call came in and the deceased’s cellphone is sitting in a hospital drawer or a glove compartment, untouched for hours or days.
Examples of Spirit using electronic equipment abound – like my friend’s late husband, whose favorite gag gift, a singing fish, starts serenading her whenever she walks by, even though it hasn't had batteries for years.
Okay, So How...?
First, pick an electronic oracle card or tarot deck from the App Store or Google Play. The best ones let you pick your own cards, which means they are nearly always Hay House products. Search using the phrases Hay House Oracle Cards or Hay House Tarot Cards. If you want to spend no money at all, leave out the words Hay House. Keep in mind, though, that the free ones tend to use an algorithm to pick the cards for you, which I feel is a tad less accurate (though still surprisingly good).
Doreen Virtue in particular has a gazillion electronic decks that are great, but many are specialty decks, and to start with, you want a basic deck. One way you know a deck is basic is if it says “Tarot” in the title. My two favorites are John Holland’s Psychic Tarot (I use his physical deck for all my psychic fair readings) and Doreen Virtue’s Archangel Power Tarot. The Psychic Tarot deck is exceptional in terms of the art – if you are a visual person, then you will prefer that deck. The Archangel Power Tarot is outstanding for those of us who are very verbal, as the definitions are especially well done (though the images are more difficult to interpret). Another good deck is Doreen’s Angel Tarot. Go with whatever resonates with you, and remember – it’s only ten bucks. You can always get another if you don’t like your first choice.
Speak Up!
It is important to understand that your angels and guides are here to help you. They were issued to you, at birth, for your use, just as you were issued a nose and two eyes! Please take advantage of them! BUT, and I cannot emphasize this enough, they are unable to help unless you ASK.
Step number 1: Ask your question.
Ask questions of your angels and guides exactly as if you were talking to your best friend or your mom. Talk for ten minutes if you want – they are truly listening, and the more nuanced your discussion with them, the better the answer. However, when it comes time to pick a card, asking good individual questions suitable for this process is critical, so after you pour your heart out, you will want to ensure you ask the kind of questions the cards are best suited to answering. We will discuss the ins and outs of asking better questions below.
Step number 2: Pick ONE card.
Electronic decks offer a variety of spreads, but don’t get hung up on doing anything fancy – I always, with very rare exceptions, pull one card at a time. Spirit can get a lot of information into one card, particularly as the electronic decks come with a paragraph or more of explanation that is significantly nuanced. If you pull more than one card at a time, you will often find that the first card answered your question, and then you’ll start trying to over-analyze the other cards – which won’t help at all!
Step 3: Let your FIRST IMPRESSION answer the question.
Most of these cards come with some words written on the front of the card, and a long explanation on the back or underneath. Typically, one of the words or phrases on the front will immediately leap off the screen at you. Or, if you are a more visual person, the image will instantly convey something that answers your question. STOP RIGHT THERE, BECAUSE THAT IS YOUR ANSWER!
Analyze – but only a little
This isn’t to say that there isn’t more good stuff to be had. When you are first starting out, definitely read all the phrases, back and front, gaze at the picture, and see what else pops into your head that might expand on the answer. If the front doesn’t seem to have your answer, you will be looking for a phrase on the back to jump off the screen at you in the same way. But whatever you do, do NOT start trying to analyze everything it says. That is not intuition – that is your brain getting in the way of your intuition. Look for something to “pop”!
Since you are typically looking for a quick answer to a question, rather than a full session of psychoanalysis, the first impression is usually enough to send you on your way, content that you have the answer you need. However, you will often find more nuanced information is contained in other areas of the card – either in the picture itself, or in the longer commentary on the back. That said, if you do not see any additional immediate meaning, drop it. Over-analysis is your enemy!
Bear in mind that some questions are simply not going to be answered by your angels directly. Some things are meant to be discovered by experience or, as one of the Psychic Tarot cards says – You have to live into the answer! But as long as you are not asking for earthshaking information, you can be pretty sure you will get the help you need. If the first answer seems to make no sense, then ask for a clarification card. Usually, that card fits like a glove with the first card and the answer becomes completely clear.
Are you too attached?
If neither card makes any sense to you, then drop it for now. Sometimes you just need to clear your head and wait for a better moment to ask. Typically, however, if you cannot get a clear answer after several tries, then you are probably too emotionally involved in the question – and that is where hiring a psychic starts to make sense. If you have too much invested in the outcome, then it helps to have an objective reader assist you in making sense of it all.
Asking better questions
If you’ve heard “the tarot cannot answer yes or no questions,” my advice is – don’t believe it! First of all, in some decks there are cards that do simply mean Yes (or less often, No). However, even in traditional decks that have no such card, it is pretty easy to tell a blatantly good card from a blatantly bad card – just look at the picture, or read the blurb. And remember – your first impression is the right one! Don’t get too bogged down in debating alternative definitions of the card.
So, rule number one: Do not be afraid to ask yes or no questions.
Rule number two: If the answer doesn’t make sense, then change the question.
No, that isn’t cheating. In all likelihood, the question you asked was too complicated, had too many variables, or had too many if-then possibilities. Your main objective is to reduce the question to its simplest components. This means breaking the question down into several questions and asking them in some kind of logical sequence.
Rule number three: Ask one, and only one, simple question at a time.To give you an example of the process, I am going to tell you a true story from my own life that happened just this month:
Picking a cardiologist with tarot
There are exactly 50 cardiologists listed on my health insurer’s website within 25 miles of my house. How was I supposed to choose a good one from such an array? Many of us know that feeling – you might just as well throw a dart at a wall full of names.
First, I asked my guides and angels to help make sure I found the right doctor (an important and helpful step!)
Second, I asked, “What about the doctor my GP recommended?” My angels’ response was a card that said, “Look for a better answer.” Oh, well, so much for him. Forty-nine doctors to go!
In an effort to narrow this long list, I asked, “Should I look for a female doctor?” The card I got was clearly a “Yes.” Word for word, it said, “An excellent decision!”
Luckily, that reduced the list from 49 to 9. I tried to let my intuition work – a couple of names jumped out at me, so I asked about them. In both cases, I got a resounding No in the form of a negative card. One was the Three of Swords, the “heartbreak card”, showing a bloodied heart being jabbed through with three swords. No interpretation needed there – run screaming from that cardiologist! The other was the Nine of Swords, depicting a young woman sitting bolt upright in the middle of the night, crying bitterly in distress. Another clear NO!
I then noticed that only one of the female doctors on the list had her own individual practice, so I decided that might be a sign of an independent thinker. I asked about her – and I got the Lovers card! That was so overwhelmingly better than the other cards up to that point, I chose her on the spot.
A day or so after making my appointment, I began to wonder about my perhaps overabundant faith, so I asked, “Is that doctor really going to be a good choice?” Kazam! I got the Two of Cups, which depicts the beginning of a love relationship – pretty much the exact equivalent of the Lovers card I had originally been given. As a confirmation card, it could not have been more perfect!
I have been to see her twice now – and I LOVE her! (Notice my instinctive choice of words.) Not only did she instantly and accurately diagnose a nasty problem that several doctors have been unable to work out in over two years of trying, but she has been a joy to collaborate with. It is difficult to describe how rare that is for me – I have terrible trouble finding doctors I can deal with, due to my holistic approach (dictated by an oversensitive liver that routinely reacts badly to most prescription meds).
But enough about me
What if the answer to the question about a female doctor had been “No”? After all, that one question narrowed it down dramatically.
Easy! I had noticed that there were only four large practices represented here in town, and that a handful of the doctors listed were actually in the next town to the south – too far away, with privileges only at a distant hospital. My next step would have been to ask about each local practice until I got a positive card, then continue narrowing it from there. Another way to filter the choices might have been to ask at which of the two in-town hospitals my choice should have privileges. And so on, through the list. Any distinguishing characteristics would have served as a filter.
Narrower and narrower
By continually asking narrower and narrower questions, I was able to make a fabulous decision. My previous cardiologist was chosen the old-fashioned way – intellectually – and she was a disaster. I chose her because she graduated from
Harvard Medical School – surely a great credential, right? She then proceeded to blame my numerous bad EKGs on the size of my boobs. (My GP almost wet his pants when he heard that one.)
One final point – the more you use your deck for everyday questions, the better you will get at this. In essence, you are creating your own personal glossary of meanings from your deck. No two users will attribute the same meanings to the same cards, and that is as it should be. None of this is written in stone – you are simply trying to create a channel through which your guides and angels may communicate with YOU, so a given card can mean anything you want it to mean. If a card with a lovely image reminds you of grumpy old Uncle Ed, feel free to go with that association instead.
It’s really that simple!
To summarize:
1. Pick a good general electronic deck – save the fun specialty decks for after you have had some practice with this.
2. Ask good questions.
3. Pick one card at a time.
4. Don’t over-analyze the responses.
It’s that simple! And I do recommend that you get more than one deck after you feel comfortable doing this – for those days when you want your clarification card to come from a different perspective, for example. You will be amazed at how often the identical card will come up in that alternate deck, but with slightly different wording that helps you see the point more clearly.
One final note: while it is possible to get free readings online where you can pick your own cards, I find that the energy we exchange with our smartphones – which, face it, are practically a part of our bodies at this point – is critical to how well this process works. That is not to say that the other doesn't work at all – but I do not feel the intimacy or accuracy that I feel with my smartphone. Perhaps your experience will be different.
It turns out there really is a reliable way to make direct contact with our angels and guides and get an immediate answer – and most people don’t even know it’s out there, or how well it works. All you need is a smartphone and a few dollars (or even no dollars, if you want to do this on the cheap)!
The answer is -- electronic tarot decks for Android or iPhone!
Crazy, right? But stay with me here.
Spirit Loves Electronics!
The reason we find Spirit so hard to reach is because our guides and angels operate at a very high vibration. Guess what else does that? Anything electronic! Most of you have heard the stories – a loved one passes, unbeknownst to their kin, and an hour later the daughter or wife or son gets a call from them on their cellphone, they have a brief chat – and then they find out that said loved one was pronounced dead long before the call came in and the deceased’s cellphone is sitting in a hospital drawer or a glove compartment, untouched for hours or days.
Examples of Spirit using electronic equipment abound – like my friend’s late husband, whose favorite gag gift, a singing fish, starts serenading her whenever she walks by, even though it hasn't had batteries for years.
Okay, So How...?
First, pick an electronic oracle card or tarot deck from the App Store or Google Play. The best ones let you pick your own cards, which means they are nearly always Hay House products. Search using the phrases Hay House Oracle Cards or Hay House Tarot Cards. If you want to spend no money at all, leave out the words Hay House. Keep in mind, though, that the free ones tend to use an algorithm to pick the cards for you, which I feel is a tad less accurate (though still surprisingly good).
Doreen Virtue in particular has a gazillion electronic decks that are great, but many are specialty decks, and to start with, you want a basic deck. One way you know a deck is basic is if it says “Tarot” in the title. My two favorites are John Holland’s Psychic Tarot (I use his physical deck for all my psychic fair readings) and Doreen Virtue’s Archangel Power Tarot. The Psychic Tarot deck is exceptional in terms of the art – if you are a visual person, then you will prefer that deck. The Archangel Power Tarot is outstanding for those of us who are very verbal, as the definitions are especially well done (though the images are more difficult to interpret). Another good deck is Doreen’s Angel Tarot. Go with whatever resonates with you, and remember – it’s only ten bucks. You can always get another if you don’t like your first choice.
Speak Up!
It is important to understand that your angels and guides are here to help you. They were issued to you, at birth, for your use, just as you were issued a nose and two eyes! Please take advantage of them! BUT, and I cannot emphasize this enough, they are unable to help unless you ASK.
Step number 1: Ask your question.
Ask questions of your angels and guides exactly as if you were talking to your best friend or your mom. Talk for ten minutes if you want – they are truly listening, and the more nuanced your discussion with them, the better the answer. However, when it comes time to pick a card, asking good individual questions suitable for this process is critical, so after you pour your heart out, you will want to ensure you ask the kind of questions the cards are best suited to answering. We will discuss the ins and outs of asking better questions below.
Step number 2: Pick ONE card.
Electronic decks offer a variety of spreads, but don’t get hung up on doing anything fancy – I always, with very rare exceptions, pull one card at a time. Spirit can get a lot of information into one card, particularly as the electronic decks come with a paragraph or more of explanation that is significantly nuanced. If you pull more than one card at a time, you will often find that the first card answered your question, and then you’ll start trying to over-analyze the other cards – which won’t help at all!
Step 3: Let your FIRST IMPRESSION answer the question.
Most of these cards come with some words written on the front of the card, and a long explanation on the back or underneath. Typically, one of the words or phrases on the front will immediately leap off the screen at you. Or, if you are a more visual person, the image will instantly convey something that answers your question. STOP RIGHT THERE, BECAUSE THAT IS YOUR ANSWER!
Analyze – but only a little
This isn’t to say that there isn’t more good stuff to be had. When you are first starting out, definitely read all the phrases, back and front, gaze at the picture, and see what else pops into your head that might expand on the answer. If the front doesn’t seem to have your answer, you will be looking for a phrase on the back to jump off the screen at you in the same way. But whatever you do, do NOT start trying to analyze everything it says. That is not intuition – that is your brain getting in the way of your intuition. Look for something to “pop”!
Since you are typically looking for a quick answer to a question, rather than a full session of psychoanalysis, the first impression is usually enough to send you on your way, content that you have the answer you need. However, you will often find more nuanced information is contained in other areas of the card – either in the picture itself, or in the longer commentary on the back. That said, if you do not see any additional immediate meaning, drop it. Over-analysis is your enemy!
Bear in mind that some questions are simply not going to be answered by your angels directly. Some things are meant to be discovered by experience or, as one of the Psychic Tarot cards says – You have to live into the answer! But as long as you are not asking for earthshaking information, you can be pretty sure you will get the help you need. If the first answer seems to make no sense, then ask for a clarification card. Usually, that card fits like a glove with the first card and the answer becomes completely clear.
Are you too attached?
If neither card makes any sense to you, then drop it for now. Sometimes you just need to clear your head and wait for a better moment to ask. Typically, however, if you cannot get a clear answer after several tries, then you are probably too emotionally involved in the question – and that is where hiring a psychic starts to make sense. If you have too much invested in the outcome, then it helps to have an objective reader assist you in making sense of it all.
Asking better questions
If you’ve heard “the tarot cannot answer yes or no questions,” my advice is – don’t believe it! First of all, in some decks there are cards that do simply mean Yes (or less often, No). However, even in traditional decks that have no such card, it is pretty easy to tell a blatantly good card from a blatantly bad card – just look at the picture, or read the blurb. And remember – your first impression is the right one! Don’t get too bogged down in debating alternative definitions of the card.
So, rule number one: Do not be afraid to ask yes or no questions.
Rule number two: If the answer doesn’t make sense, then change the question.
No, that isn’t cheating. In all likelihood, the question you asked was too complicated, had too many variables, or had too many if-then possibilities. Your main objective is to reduce the question to its simplest components. This means breaking the question down into several questions and asking them in some kind of logical sequence.
Rule number three: Ask one, and only one, simple question at a time.To give you an example of the process, I am going to tell you a true story from my own life that happened just this month:
Picking a cardiologist with tarot
There are exactly 50 cardiologists listed on my health insurer’s website within 25 miles of my house. How was I supposed to choose a good one from such an array? Many of us know that feeling – you might just as well throw a dart at a wall full of names.
First, I asked my guides and angels to help make sure I found the right doctor (an important and helpful step!)
Second, I asked, “What about the doctor my GP recommended?” My angels’ response was a card that said, “Look for a better answer.” Oh, well, so much for him. Forty-nine doctors to go!
In an effort to narrow this long list, I asked, “Should I look for a female doctor?” The card I got was clearly a “Yes.” Word for word, it said, “An excellent decision!”
Luckily, that reduced the list from 49 to 9. I tried to let my intuition work – a couple of names jumped out at me, so I asked about them. In both cases, I got a resounding No in the form of a negative card. One was the Three of Swords, the “heartbreak card”, showing a bloodied heart being jabbed through with three swords. No interpretation needed there – run screaming from that cardiologist! The other was the Nine of Swords, depicting a young woman sitting bolt upright in the middle of the night, crying bitterly in distress. Another clear NO!
I then noticed that only one of the female doctors on the list had her own individual practice, so I decided that might be a sign of an independent thinker. I asked about her – and I got the Lovers card! That was so overwhelmingly better than the other cards up to that point, I chose her on the spot.
A day or so after making my appointment, I began to wonder about my perhaps overabundant faith, so I asked, “Is that doctor really going to be a good choice?” Kazam! I got the Two of Cups, which depicts the beginning of a love relationship – pretty much the exact equivalent of the Lovers card I had originally been given. As a confirmation card, it could not have been more perfect!
I have been to see her twice now – and I LOVE her! (Notice my instinctive choice of words.) Not only did she instantly and accurately diagnose a nasty problem that several doctors have been unable to work out in over two years of trying, but she has been a joy to collaborate with. It is difficult to describe how rare that is for me – I have terrible trouble finding doctors I can deal with, due to my holistic approach (dictated by an oversensitive liver that routinely reacts badly to most prescription meds).
But enough about me
What if the answer to the question about a female doctor had been “No”? After all, that one question narrowed it down dramatically.
Easy! I had noticed that there were only four large practices represented here in town, and that a handful of the doctors listed were actually in the next town to the south – too far away, with privileges only at a distant hospital. My next step would have been to ask about each local practice until I got a positive card, then continue narrowing it from there. Another way to filter the choices might have been to ask at which of the two in-town hospitals my choice should have privileges. And so on, through the list. Any distinguishing characteristics would have served as a filter.
Narrower and narrower
By continually asking narrower and narrower questions, I was able to make a fabulous decision. My previous cardiologist was chosen the old-fashioned way – intellectually – and she was a disaster. I chose her because she graduated from
Harvard Medical School – surely a great credential, right? She then proceeded to blame my numerous bad EKGs on the size of my boobs. (My GP almost wet his pants when he heard that one.)
One final point – the more you use your deck for everyday questions, the better you will get at this. In essence, you are creating your own personal glossary of meanings from your deck. No two users will attribute the same meanings to the same cards, and that is as it should be. None of this is written in stone – you are simply trying to create a channel through which your guides and angels may communicate with YOU, so a given card can mean anything you want it to mean. If a card with a lovely image reminds you of grumpy old Uncle Ed, feel free to go with that association instead.
It’s really that simple!
To summarize:
1. Pick a good general electronic deck – save the fun specialty decks for after you have had some practice with this.
2. Ask good questions.
3. Pick one card at a time.
4. Don’t over-analyze the responses.
It’s that simple! And I do recommend that you get more than one deck after you feel comfortable doing this – for those days when you want your clarification card to come from a different perspective, for example. You will be amazed at how often the identical card will come up in that alternate deck, but with slightly different wording that helps you see the point more clearly.
One final note: while it is possible to get free readings online where you can pick your own cards, I find that the energy we exchange with our smartphones – which, face it, are practically a part of our bodies at this point – is critical to how well this process works. That is not to say that the other doesn't work at all – but I do not feel the intimacy or accuracy that I feel with my smartphone. Perhaps your experience will be different.
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