The people in your life who are difficult - who prod you, poke you, annoy you, or sometimes are downright mean to you - are called “petty tyrants” in some shamanic trainings. These petty tyrants are there to make you face your shadow self. This doesn’t mean you go all love and light and make like a doormat for them because everyone deserves care and kindness. It means you often have to connect with parts of yourself you find very uncomfortable so you can face the petty tyrant and tell them to fuck right off out of your life. It’s about value and self-worth. That’s what tyrants do: they force you to find your value and self-worth; your purpose and your grit, and this always has to come from inside (even if stoked externally by the tyrant). No one can tell you what your value is except you. How you then choose to exercise that new-found power is up to you. Love and light is  also  part of your value and worth as a human being who has choice. Choose wisely. But never, ever, give up your p

It would not be  entirely   true to say I have never felt like I belong here. I always knew I was supposed to be here on Earth, incarnated. I always had a strong sense of my "mission" or "purpose", although I couldn't always put it into words. When I say "always", I mean it  –  always. Ever since I was little and dreamt my first dream. It  would  be accurate to say that I always felt like I belonged to a higher being  –  call it Great Spirit, or God, or whatever. I never had an actual name for "it". I always knew my true home was not here, and I would return to home  –  wherever it was  –  one day. I always knew I never "belonged" to my mother  –  she was a valuable guide and nurturer, but not "home"  –  and I never really felt like I had a father because I always remembered meeting the man who became my father  –  a lovely man, but distant. A bit "stiff upper lip". Very quiet. Hard to talk to. My mother and I ha

It’s healing. It’s that simple. Most people who come for a Reading just need a confirmation of what they already know. The cards more often than not give them the “yes” they are looking for to move ahead. Sometimes there is a “have you considered this [challenge / scenario]?” But there is rarely a “no”. It’s not up to anyone to say no to something you fully want to do, anyway. All you need is guidance on how to go about doing it. Personally, I don’t think Tarot, or any clairvoyant or seer, can tell you anything you don’t already know on some level, because Tarot is a mirror  –  it reflects what is already here (albeit sometimes hidden). So it is not about “prediction” as such  –  it is about bringing to light the hidden. I don’t need to know anything about you to Read cards for you. Although a good, clear question is handy. Even without a question, though, the Reading will centre around a focal issue in your life, or something you’re supposed to pay attention to. However,

All the fantasy stories and imaginings you put yourself in as a child, are the closest to your history and where you come from that you will get. They are also signposts to your soul contract (your mission on earth) as the child that you were will have instinctively known and carried out actions to help you progress in the right direction for your contract. I stress that even challenging and stormy times as a child readied you for the reason you are here, incarnated. Some of it might be karma, but karma can be shed in an instant with first, awareness; and then the desire to end the karmic cycle through either action (if possible) or intent. And it is done. Most hold on to karma because they are afraid to let it go. When you do not know who you are (free of karma, and simply free) you will hold on to old pains and familiarities because you think they define you. You think they root you. When the truth is you are already the root of the seed that grew. Photo: Sunset Over the Hill, by Di

I undertook some regression work today, and I was reminded of something very important: love, when we allow ourselves to feel it in its entirety, crosses time and space. We should never be afraid to love, no matter how painful it feels to love. And when we can no longer be with those we love with all our hearts, allow the heart to carry on loving. Love is never weak or stupid, or a waste of energy – because your love never, ever belongs to another. It's yours – it's YOUR love you feel at any given moment. And it can't ever be given away because it is endless. Love is a never ending source of itself . It can be directed wherever you want to direct it, but don't stop feeling it. It's big. It's powerful. I felt that power today as I lay in a chair and was asked to transform shadow into light, and sorrow into joy. I allowed myself to feel and acknowledge a love I hadn't allowed to exist in its fullest form since a time before this one; since a world before this

This post is specifically written with empaths and highly sensitive people in mind, but anyone can use these grounding methods at any time as they are practical and can be ingrained into everyday life. In later posts, I'll talk about more spiritual and meditative / visualisation-based approaches to protect yourself and your boundaries, but in this post, I'm listing very "normal" things that you can do (that won't raise eyebrows!), daily, and quite easily, to help balance and ground your emotions, and ease any feelings of overwhelm. All of these things work for me - I use at least one method a day. Physical exercise . This is going to apply mostly to those of you who  like  working out to some degree (if you don't, see number 2 below). Try and fit in half an hour of stretching, and or stepping, rowing, cycling, spinning, weights ... whatever floats your boat. The act of movement shifts your mind away from feelings and emotions, and into the present and the phys

First, the difference between having empathy, and being an empath. In simple terms: Having empathy is the ability to resonate with another's feelings; to be in tune with someone's emotions. Being an empath is to feel what someone else feels as if the feelings are your own, and I mean this literally. (Empaths are seen as fictional by most  –  not real.) I know a lot about the Otherworld - I've been journeying there ever since I can remember and in many ways, it feels more like home than here. (I will be writing about those journeys and my experiences in the Otherworld  –  please bear with me  –  it takes time to fill a blog, and there's a lot to write about.) But, it should be noted to anyone reading this post, that I've only very recently admitted to myself that I'm an empath. I'm an empath. I don't remember that word (or term) really existing when I was researching spiritual things in my late teens. I remember reading about emotional vampires and psych