“Come to Mama,” says The Empress. She is the essence of motherhood who cherishes all the world.
 
The Queen cards of each Tarot suit speak of some form of nurturing. The Queen of Cups is a great listener. The Queen of Rods is a terrific cheerleader. The Queen of Swords is forthright and funny. The Queen of Pentacles cooks for everybody. But The Empress is the eternal principle of mothering. It’s not too much to see her as the goddess Demeter, who descends into hell to rescue her child. See her as Gaia, ready to give birth to all of life itself.
 
If I saw the Ace of Cups, The Star, and The Empress all in one spread, I would know the woman was pregnant. Yah, I’d be as sure as a pee stick.
 
We speak of Mother Earth, home, the body, substance, supply, green rolling hills, fertile soil, crops, the harvest, a feast on the table. If you could distill all these things into one spiritual ideal, you would have The Empress. She is the very soul of motherhood. She is connected to the infinite divine through that channel.
 
The Empress enjoys the life of the senses. She doesn’t just understand the rhythms of nature, she is those rhythms. She always has plenty of everything and she loves to share.
 
Looking into The Empress card, I might see a long line of descendants. I might see the power struggles among them, reconciliations, and the foundation of a dynasty. Once I saw twins, and it turned out I was right. Sometimes all I see is what’s for dinner. Sometimes I see the issues that result from a lack of mothering. I will see what’s going on for that client as it relates to being a mother, having a mother, looking for a mother, or saying goodbye to a mother.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There is no end to the books. You could fill your house with Tarot books and just exhaust yourself with “book” knowledge of the Tarot cards. And why shouldn’t you, if that’s what you want to do.
 
If you would pick just one good classic book and just sit with two or three cards a day, for about half an hour a day, you could learn the entire deck in one month. Then take a week to review, and without putting any strain on yourself you have mastered the book meanings. Anyone with moderate self discipline can do that much. Even I have done it.
 
The book meanings will not show you what the person is feeling in their body or thinking in their thoughts, their memories or their loving relationships, what risks they have taken, why they have so much pain or exactly what they fear. The book will not teach you to love that person or to care about helping them. The book does not see with their eyes or hear with their ears. Only being psychic will do that for you. Being psychic is an entirely different skill set.

Your reading is always about you and only you.
 
There will be cards that describe other people. The interpretation of those cards will be in their relationship to you. We’re not going to delve into the lives of your friends and family, revealing their secrets. Your reading will be all about you, having to do only with you. Your gifts, your challenges, your next step, what you need to know, your promise, your strength, your expertise, your power, your path.  

Things will come up, lots of things, that are none of my business. I will not remember any of it. The trance in which I work offers me a bit of amnesia which protects your privacy.

Here’s the question that almost everyone asks me at some point, in almost every reading that I’ve ever done for anyone: “How did you know that?” I love that question. It tells me I'm on the right track. That doesn't mean I can answer it. I do not know why I am clairvoyant or how I am able to see and hear things. It's  telepathy, partly, plus I can sometimes know things that haven't happened yet. Thank goodness I've learned to limit it to what I see in my Tarot cards, when I am entranced, or else it would become burdensome and take all the fun and suspense out of life. Think how boring life would be if you knew all the outcomes of everything. What a yawn.

And sometimes you really do need to know. Just sometimes.
 

I was moving in to a new apartment. I was trying to clean out the closet. Up in the back of the top shelf I found this thing, I didn’t know what it was. It looked like the charred remains of what, I couldn’t tell. A stack of cards with pictures on them. I showed it to my roommate. She said, “That’s a Tarot deck. I wonder why someone burned it and hid it.”
 
I took out the card called Temperance and put it up on the refrigerator.
 
That was The Aquarian Tarot by David Palladini, published in 1970. He was only 24 years old when he created these seventy eight paintings. I’ve worn out four copies of that deck. It’s still the only one I use.
 
I love to see all the different decks people own. The art and craft of Tarot is wonderful. So many beautiful ways to show forth the traditional imagery. My Tarot-reading friends own drawers full of decks. I love looking at them. But I’m not a collector, myself. I’m only trying for the best reading I can give to the client. The number of different decks I might own doesn’t seem helpful to that purpose. The Aquarian has a lot of space in it where I can nerd out and “see” the pictures that aren’t there, and that’s what the client finds helpful from me.

I thought you might like to see where I work. The hand held camera creates a spooky appearance, doesn't it? In real life there is nothing spooky about this room. It's a nice little room off my kitchen, no doubt intended to be a pantry, and I have reclaimed it.