New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again - when we are starting a fresh page and have all sorts of intentions we wish to honor and new behaviours we wish to keep.  Here's a nice article about how to make new habits stick. 

Katy Milkman is right that some habits take longer to 'stick' than others,  and that temptation bundling (which I think of as rewards) can be super helpful.  Also,  the easier it is to do a new thing, the more likely you are to do it.  So get that food delivery order,  so that you can eat cheaper and better at home.  Join the gym at the end of your street.  I always tell people that the best exercise for you is the one you are willing to do. So it doesn't matter what the experts say,  listen to your body.  If you love dancing,  join a dance class.  If you hate weights,  don't do them.  I'm an aqua aerobics girl all the way,  and I've been going 3 times a week more or less,  for years now.  I know I should do more weights,  but I hate those classes.  Go to the classes,  go at the times that work for you.  

So if you are making resolutions to try new habits,  build the time into your schedule,  scaffold yourself up and I wish you all the best for the New Year. 

Welcome to Tribeca Tarot

January is traditionally one of my busier months.  People want to see what the year ahead holds,  want to discuss what did or didn't happen last year and how to shift/improve/encourage events in the new year.

If you have never had a tarot reading, please explore my blog,  there is so much information here!  I've been writing it since 2009 and reading cards even longer than that.  If you have a particular card you want to explore,  just go up to the B symbol on the upper left hand side and write whatever you are interested in the search box there and relevant blog pieces will appear.  

If you haven't had a tarot reading with me before,  for me the magic is in the shuffling.  So while most of my readings are virtual,  I still need you to hold the cards.  You can borrow or buy a deck - if you are buying,  I recommended the Rider Waite Smith Radiant - because they are prettier and easy to read.  But if you already have a deck,  as long as it has a full 78 cards,  I can read it. 

So you shuffle and then draw the cards and we lay them out in the Celtic Cross spread.  Then I talk to you about them for about 5-7 minutes,  and then we discuss what resonated with you, what didn't,  if the cards felt accurate and if you want more clarification on anything. 

Then we usually have time for about 3 or so questions,  and then the hour is up.  

Right now I read for mainly return clients,  so I know I am doing something right, as people keep coming back! If you want to make a booking,  just drop a line at tribecatarotreader@gmail.com and we can start. 

My current favorite deck

So I'll end the year exploring a new tarot deck,  which feels like a really good way to end things for me,  going to the familiar (tarot) but seeing it with new eyes (a new deck.)  As I've said before,  it's such a joy to read tarot today,  when there are so many fascinating new cards on line,  with people giving new interpretations and new images to engage and enlighten us. 

I put a copy of the World card in my last blog piece, and then realized I didn't know that deck,  so went exploring.  The card comes for the So Below Tarot deck,  a deck that explores the tarot with more mundane,  common experiences.  

I really loved their Death Card,  which shows something that can be positive or negative - selling a house, but either way is a huge change. Everything is different,  we have to find a new place for every single thing in our lives. Even a positive move can have overtones of loss.  But it also didn't have the chilling imagery of death,  which can often scare people so much that they can't read it properly. So I really liked that. 

Always happy to find a new deck to explore! 

Wishing you all a calm and happy New Year 

Go where the love is

In a reading today,  a client said that she took to heart the words of Maria Bamford,  who says of her life,  I try to go where the love is.  That's such a simple and clear directive.  We should all go towards where the love is for us.  

At the end of the reading I said something that is very true for me - my wish for her,  for all my clients, for myself and for my family,  is that we are comfortable in our skin.  For each of us,  that will be something different,  but my new year's blessing to everyone is that may you feel more comfortable in your own skin in 2026,  and may the world resonate with that comfort.  Amen. 

In Blackwater Woods, by Mary Oliver

I didn't feel I could jump into something chatty after the horror of the Bondi Shooting lingers in my heart.  So I did what I often do,  when feeling sad and vulnerable,  I looked for a poem.  I really do find solace in the right poems. Here's one I found that I am happy to share with you:

Look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pillars   of light, are giving off the rich fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment,   the long tapers of cattails are bursting and floating away over the blue shoulders   of the ponds, and every pond, no matter what its name is, is   nameless now. Every year everything I have ever learned   in my lifetime leads back to this: the fires and the black river of loss whose other side   is salvation, whose meaning none of us will ever know. To live in this world   you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it   against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
Mary Oliver In Blackwater Woods I struggle with the letting go,  it's good to be reminded from time to time,   how essential it is...

Awful news from Bondi Beach

I grew up on Bondi Beach.  It was my local.  We went there most days after school,  we ate fish and chips on the grass,  we swam in the kiddies rock pool on the south end and as teens,  we found our friends on the steps and hung around. 

So I'm devastated about the events of yesterday for so many reasons,  but also because they desecrated such a special place to so many Sydneysiders. 

We had a display of brazen hate and amazing heroism yesterday;  when a father and son brought guns to a family event and shot randomly at people,  just because they were celebrating a Jewish festival.  And when a migrant from Syria rushed in and disarmed a gunman from behind,  because he was brave and wonderful. 

Wishing for the gentle lights of Chanukah,  to bring us some peace... 

This week's song

My son introduced me to Raye with this song - and I'm sure many of my tarot regulars will love it! 

Isn't that just wonderful!  Loved it from the very first time I heard it.  I've been listening to a lot of her this week and it's all really good.

Enjoy!