by innowen on March 4, 2010
Whether you’re looking for a deeper insight into what the universe has in store for you in matters of the heart or guidance on money and your career, the tarot is a powerful tool for tapping into a greater wisdom, and for finding the next steps to take on your personal journey forward.
You, my friend, have come to the right place.
Here at Inner Compass, you’ll find reading tips, deck and book reviews, new and interesting ways to use your tarot cards, and a host of information on living a tarot inspired life.
I’m jaymi “innowen” elford and I read tarot. I give reassurance and help you design an inspired roadmap to reach your dreams. Inner Compass is the culmination of twenty years of working with the tarot to find wisdom, gain insight, and take inspired steps toward the future you were meant to live.
Welcome to Inner Compass.
by innowen on May 3, 2012
I’m home and finally had a few minutes to spare between tarot readings and putting the house on the market to post my lessons learned. When I go to a conference, I try and keep a running list of things I have learned. This post represents some thoughts on what I learned over the past 5 days in New York with 180 other tarot enthusiasts at the Readers Studio.
- Boundaries are important. Normally when I arrive to a conference or go to a festival, I stay within the area that the event happens in. This year, I had to leave the hotel to head into the city and it broke the Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ) and my mind. It sucked my energies and sorta threw me for a loop that I wasn’t ready for.
- James Wells presented a class on how to handle grief and do grief readings. A lot has happened to me and my PDX community over the past six months, and while I thought I dealt with the grief, this reading taught me otherwise. James gave us a system to deal with grief and not only can I implement it in myself, but I can share it with clients.
- There are no silly questions. During a Curveball Spread reading, I learned that the cards will answer to even the silliest of situations. I did a reading on my lost water bottle AND my two broken necklaces and got really silly but straight forward answers. As Thalassa says, “TWS. This stuff works!”
- Kindred spirits are awesome. Usually I’m the only bright flame in a room; the energizer bunny; the one who never sleeps. Well this year, I found two kindred spirits in Shari and Shawn. I no longer need to fear my power and feel like i’m the only fiery wacko out there.
- Speaking of Shawn Nacol, I learned a lot from his class on The Roots of Tarot. Part elemental working, part alchemy, his class crystallized a lot of the things I’ve been exploring on my own with my alchemy element working over the past year.
- James Wanless taught us a whole person profile reading that shows how we can manifest our best lives by examining the parts of our body as a whole. This reading will help me spot what I am missing to bring things into balance, while utilizing my strengths. I look forward to playing with this technique more.
- Upon hearing three presentations from three powerful male tarot readers, I was pleasantly surprised at the depth they took us in. Many of my peers engaged in conversations about the differences between an all-male panel, and an all-female panel (which was last year). My insight to this was that last year the women presented topics that we could go home and dive deeply in. But this year, the guys took us deep and sort of bombarded us with awesome info.
- Finally, I learned that Shari and I cannot share the same space for longer than a few minutes. Chaotic things happen. Good things. Silly things. It’s a energetic rush, but our crazy is just a bit too much for others. Even the infamous Wald Amberstone feared our combine powers (sorry Wald!).
Thanks for sticking out with all these long posts. I hope you enjoyed attending The Readers Studio vicariously through my writings. In 2013, the Amberstones promise to push the boundaries of tarot and the conference in new and exciting ways. Save your monies now and grab your seat for RS2013. You won’t regret it.
by innowen on May 1, 2012
Photo taken from the Beltane Fire Festival page on Wikipedia.
Blessed Beltane everyone. Special welcome to the visitors of
Mary Caesto’s Harmonic Spirit. I hope you find my post as illuminating as the other posts in this hop!
This Tarot Blog Hop was run by Andrew McGregor who presented us with a challenging topic of: The Fire tends to all. Beltane is a challenging sabbat for me. It contains overpowering sexual energy that, for me, clouds the true beauty of this holiday. Namely, the ideas of love, new growth, and love of community. I had no idea what I was going to post for this topic, but seeing that I just spent a whole week filled with positive, radiant, loving people in New York City at The Readers Studio, I believe I have found my voice for this topic.
The fire tends to all when we come together in circle to celebrate our passions. The fire re-energizes and fills our cups over when we experience something so deep, so clearly, and the voice of the Universe blends its energy and messages into a voice so clearly that you cannot misinterpret the message. This is the type of experience I had this past week. Before leaving for New York, I felt used, bland, and generic. But after spending a week with people I love, people so excited about tarot as I am, I learned that I am a beautiful dynamic person who is LOVED by her peers without prejudice.
The fire tends to all, to support us, our voices, and helps us transform like a phoenix until we become the best that we can be. That’s when we shine like the stars appearing in the night sky and across the Universe. Or as Rainer Maria Rilke says in the poem You, Darkness, “for the the fire makes a circle of light for everyone.” Which is also what tarot does for those who use the cards.
Thank you for stopping by Tarot Inspired Life. To continue the blog hop, please continue on to the lovely Zanna Starr’s Tarot Notes blog to read her post.
by innowen on April 29, 2012
The last day of The Readers Studio is filled with interesting tarot-filled news, a revisit of the Foundation Reading and tearful good byes. Woke up and had a wonderful breakfast with my roomies (Drew and RoseRed). Dan Pelltier joined us and it was fun geeking out about video games and punk rock music of the 70s. My roommate for this evening, Theresa Reed, texted me and I moved my stuff into her luxurious accommodations for this evening. Can’t wait for our pajama party. (Thanks Theresa, you ROCK)
Normally, the first bit of the day is to revisit the Foundation Reading and see it with all the new information that you have learned through the past two or three days. Unfortunately, RoseRed, Drew, and I had a booth to pack up so the revisit to our readings are postponed for a later Skype video time. Sold some more things as we packed everything up so our loads were a lot lighter.
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by innowen on April 28, 2012
Saturday at The Readers Studio is usually the fullest day. I was up at 7a.m. and didn’t sleep until 3 a.m.. I learned some amazing new alchemical techniques, a new spread, discovered a kindred spirit, and chatted my way to a hoarse throat. Click on the read more to find out all the details.
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by innowen on April 27, 2012
Day Two started out with a rush and ended mellow, like my Shiraz which I am enjoying quite a lot. Woke up to the soothing sounds of someone’s cell phone and had a wonderful shower. Dressed in my zombie cupcake skirt finest, we headed down to open our booth and get the goodies that come with registration. The hordes were hungry again, and we sold schloads of product again all day long.
In this post, you’ll learn about what I learned today at the first master class with James Wells, what good eats we had, and how the city’s energy seems to affect me. Click the read more button to read all about today’s installment.
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