Direct Experience: Tarot

I started reading about the history of Tarot when I was probably 12 or 13 though I didn’t get my first deck until I was 17. Before I got my first deck, I used playing cards. I read about how to read the face cards, the suits and different number meanings. When I was 17 and got my first real -starter- deck I gave readings to anyone that would let me. One staff member was kind enough to accept a reading from me. It was just a general reading and she didn’t voice any questions to me. I believe I did a Celtic Cross spread as it has always been my favorite for diving in. I remember her coming back to me about a month later confirming what the reading said. From there I gave readings to friends that would ask me to - usually helping them make sense of their situation. I prefer to interact with Tarot in an introspective way more than a form of divination.

In my own search for answers I often found that a disturbing amount of folks in the tarot community are out here telling folks what they want to hear or worse using fear to manipulate their clients and keep them confused. This of course isn’t the only case of abuse of power within the spiritual community, but that’s a conversation for another day. I have found ethical readers and they are appreciated. When searching for a tarot reader I have found its important to find one that can help empower you even when they are giving a “bad message”. Things are almost never as dire as they first appear. Use your discernment when wading into the waters of all spiritual practitioners.

Some practitioners will warn you away from buying your own deck - they will tell you it has to be a gift. This is leftover sentiment from before the internet existed and if you wanted to learn you had to learn from a Master of the craft thus allowing them to control how many readers were in an area. If you want that deck, if you feel called to do tarot - DO IT. However, that being said, all of my best decks were gifts. I received one at Christmas this last year and fell in love with it. It’s the Labyrinth - which if you know me, you know it is one of my favorite movies of all time. At the beginning of THIS year I lost two decks in a nasty car accident that threw my belongings all over the snow. Yes, there was a message in the 3 cards found sticking straight up in the snow beside my totaled car. No, I won’t share that here, but it gave me strength and courage to keep moving forward. Since then I have offered a few readings to my friends as a means to help sort through the noise that life can throw our way.

That being said, I don't want to be seen as a Tarot reader. I want to be seen as someone who can help you cut through the noise - take a shortcut to untangling how you feel. I won’t answer questions about medical health, pregnancy, or if that human is your twin flame. Go to the doctor, there are far too many threads of possibility, they are not your twin flame. I am available to book for all other life situations if you are having trouble sorting through and getting to the heart of it.

With Love, 

Mia Marie

Direct Experience: Reiki

Reiki is commonly taught as a Japanese method for channeling universal healing energy. However, it actually has its roots in Buddhism and was popularized Japan. Universal energy is vague isn’t it? What does she MEAN by that I hear no one asking. It is energy that belongs to the everything as opposed to a deity, singular person, place, or thing. This energy is harnessed through a practitioner and given to others to help clear out energetic blockages hiding in our bodies and our spiritual bodies or auras. Did you know that science says that your energy - vibration - extends roughly 3ft out from where you physical body ends? Well, technically your heart’s electromagnetic field does.

I have been experiencing energy since I was a child in the form of emotions. I didn’t always have the language for it but I could definately feel things that people didn’t always want me to feel. So for me it wasn’t a big leap to believe that everything in this life is energy. The words we speak, the thoughts we think, the food we eat, even the media we engage with - it all has a vibration - an energy. The first time I was introduced to Reiki as a concept it was actually by a fella I didn’t exactly trust. So, it was something I read briefly about and quickly decided that I thought it was nonsense.

That is until I visited my sister, a massage therapist, for Christmas one year. By this time I was already practicing most of the 8 limbs of yoga. Though I wouldn’t come to understand yoga and meditation that way for many years but that is a story for a different day. My sister decided that for Christmas she was going to give me a message and do some Reiki. She asked if I was familiar with it and I said I was vaguely. She ask if it was okay for her to do Reiki on me and I gave her permission. I didn’t know what to expect going into it, not really. I just knew that my sister is further on her healing journey than myself and she has never once steered me wrong. Let me tell you, I knew when the massage stopped and the Reiki started.

I was laying there on her massage table, eyes closed, deeply relaxed and almost asleep when I started to see color. This is actually not a new phenomena for me. I’ve seen colors with my eyes closed since I was a child. Typically at this point in my life though I was only seeing colors when I was meditating. So it was very shocking to me to see hues of gold. I didn’t know this then but gold is a color that often shows up for people while recieving Reiki. It is seen as the color of universal energy in some circles. However it is worth noting that the next Reiki practitioner I went to didn’t emit gold but blue. So, I’m not convinced that it is truly the color of Reiki energy.

That direct experience set me on a path to learn it myself. I found my mentor about 3-4 years later. She attuned me and I’ve been practicing on myself and my anxious kitty ever since. As soon as I was certified level 2 - I started offering to do energy work for my sister in another state. Who said that I showed up for her in the colors of gold and maroon(my signature color). Now, I want to offer it to as many folks as I can.

With Love,
Mia Marie