The COG Blog

To the masses, Valentine’s Day evokes thoughts of chocolate, flowers, romance, cards, and cherubic angels shooting us with arrows. I also understand there are special diamonds, jewelry, lingerie and secret indulgences you can buy your ‘valentine’….but when did all the madness, attributed to this day, begin? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I started seeing Valentine’s Day displays in the stores the day after they cleaned out most of the Christmas crap, thinking to myself “Hey don’t throw that Christmas stuff out, we could use it for Valentine’s Day, after all it is red and white..!” Come to think of it… St. Valentine does look an awful lot like St. Nicholas, but I digress.

Sadly today’s society views Valentine’s Day as more of an obligation ~ forced upon the masses as a whole, telling us we better recognize our ’sweetheart’ with flowers and fluff or they will resent us for the rest of the year. I just saw something on MSN today ‘10 Days Left to make sure you are not in the Dog House’…or something to that effect. I mean, seriously folks, come one, when did it turn to this? I am not quite sure how it became such an obligation… or expectation …. but personally I blame it on Hallmark.

Valentine’s Day originated from pagan customs of Ancient Rome in 300-400 B.C, where on February 14^th and 15^th the Romans celebrated Lupercalia. During this festival they practiced the ritual of the sacred sexual union, the Heiros Gamos, on February 14^th, to honor Juno Fructifier, Queen of the Roman gods and goddesses as well as goddess of marriage.

As part of this celebration, maiden’s names in were placed in boxes, I am sure without the pink and red doilies. These “love notes” were called “billets.” A young man would draw a name and the maiden was his sex partner for the coming year commencing in March until the next February celebration. The matches were primarily for the sexual union of the Hieros Gamos but it was not unusual for the pairings to end in marriage. The couples who were matched together would be considered partners for the coming year, commencing in March, and would last until the next February celebration.

On February 15^th, the Ides of February, the Romans celebrated Luperaclia, honoring Lupercal, the wolf god. Additionally they honored Faunus, god of fertility as well as Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome who were as legend states, raised by a she-wolf. The Festival of Lupercalia involved priests and Vestal Virgins (don’t care much for the priests but vestal virgins are cool). The Luperci priests would go to a grotto dedicated to Lupercal, the wolf god, located at the foot of Palatine Hill.

The men would sacrifice a goat, don its skin, and run, walk and dance around the Palatine Hill to purify it while whipping young maidens with a goat skinned thong called a “februa” ~ an act which was supposed to ensure fertility. The act of such lashings or whippings was known as februatio…both this word and the word februa come from the Latin meaning “to purify.” The Romans believed that the middle or the ‘ides’ of the month was when that month’s life force was at its peak which gave them an excuse to party and perform the sacred rite of sexual union with the added effect of purifying the women from curses, bad luck and infertility by flagellating them with the februa. Hmmmmmmmm, interesting! It is all starting to make sense now.

Regardless of its origins, today Valentine’s Day is a highly over-commercialized western celebration. The Greeting Card Association estimates that some billion valentines are sent per year. If you are single on this day, remember it only lasts for 24-hours, and most of the people receiving Valentine’s tokens, gifts or flowers from their ‘loved ones’ are doing so out of obligation, threats, and the over-commercialization of a day that Hallmark rakes in the $$$- cha-ching!!! I am sure that by this time next year we will all be decorating our V-Day Trees ~ with hearts, flowers and cupids ~ while sitting on St. Valentine’s lap telling him what we want (or expect), fighting for the last box of chocolates or bunch of roses in the grocery store – knocking someone down in an effort to grab them out of their hands – all the while thinking LOVING thoughts.

People have been using the tarot for at least 800 years, perhaps longer. From the gypsies’ covered wagons to the parlors of queens, the decorated cards have been consulted to provide meaning and understanding of basic life events. The Tarot was originally created to provide a meditation medium to facilitate connection to the inner realms, the path of the initiated, but during the mid 1700s they were used as an Oracle. This predictive divination tool has grown to be the most used oracle in the world today. By using the Tarot we are able to fully understand events that occur in our lives and a tarot card reading can provide many details surrounding situations in your life as well as others around you.

There are many questions that can be answered during a tarot card reading. A tarot card reading can answer questions to things that have occurred in the past. A tarot card reading can help you understand things that occurring in the present. A tarot card reading can also present a range of possibilities that can occur in the future. A tarot card reading can tell you if your current love relationship will continue. A tarot card reading can tell you where your relationship is going and what you can expect. A tarot card reading will tell you if your love relationship is cheating on you. If you have recently, or not so recently broken up with someone, a tarot card reading will be able to tell you if it is “in the cards” for the two of you to reunite. Likewise a tarot card reading will tell you if it is time to move on to a new relationship.

A tarot card reading can reveal the best course of action for you to take concerning a specific situation you currently have in your life. Likewise, a tarot card reading can determine what actions others around you will be taking concerning specific situations that concern both of you. An example of this type of question would be: What course of action is Johnny taking with Becky in regard to their current relationship status.

A tarot card reading can help you see what new job opportunities you have coming your way. It can also tell you if you are facing job endings, company layoffs and restructuring or even being fired. A tarot card reading can tell you if you have financial security and stability in the coming months and also tell you when you need to buckle down, conserve spending and limit non-essential expenses. A tarot card reading can not predict lottery numbers or tell you if you will win the lottery.

A tarot card reading can not make choices for you, but it can show you the options you have available to you. A tarot card reading does not say what you must do or even what you should do. A good tarot card reader will tell you what options you have available to you, the choices you have and then the outcome of each of those choices. It is your responsibility to make your own decision based upon the information and details provided during your tarot card reading.

A tarot card reading can show you all the possible outcomes for your future based upon a decision you make. For example, during your  tarot card reading you ask your tarot card reader what will happen to your job if you decide to go back to school. Your tarot carder reader will be able to tell you what you can expect from your job, your work load, how it will impact your home and family life. This way you will be able to make an informed decision based on the outcomes presented during your  tarot card reading.

A tarot card reading can help you get out of a rut, and propel you forward instead of being stuck. It can help you to move on, or hang in there, depending on your situation. Think of a tarot card reading as way to unlock the pathway to having deeper insight into your life and what is ahead of you.

Several types of tarot card readers can provide a tarot card reading; the type you choose will depend on personal preference. A technical tarot card reader is one who strictly reads and interprets the tarot cards. During your tarot card reading, this reader will lay out the tarot cards and interpret them based on the individual meanings of the tarot cards as well as their combinations. Another type of tarot card reading uses the technical meaning of the tarot cards as well as clairvoyance, clairaudience, intuition and empathy. During this type of tarot card reading, the tarot card reader will use the tarot as a tool to higher consciousness to tap into the psychic (or spirit) realm.  For the most part a technical tarot card reader will not possess the same abilities as a psychic tarot reader. But you can still get a great reading from technical tarot card readers. There are many adept tarot card readers that can give you predictions with accuracy and details. They have spent years, usually decades, studying the tarot cards, their meanings and combinations and again, it is based on personal preference.

A tarot card reading should not be used the wrong way. If you are seeking the truth, a tarot card reading will give you that, but if you want someone to just tell you what you want to hear, you will end up dissatisfied. If you want the truth, find a reputable tarot card reader for a personalized tarot card reading but don’t get angry when they give you the answer you don’t like or don’t choose to believe. No one likes to be the bearer of bad news, even your friends and family may be afraid to give you their honest opinion or assessment of your situation, but a tarot card reader is bound by ethics. It is not the job of a tarot card reader to sugar coat anything for you but to gently reveal whatever comes out in your reading. Even though the truth might be difficult to hear, the tarot card reader is ethically bound to deliver that truth so you can decide what you need to do.

A tarot card reader does not decide what comes out in your reading, and cannot change or alter what comes out in your tarot card reading. In a perfect world, tarot card readers and psychics would love to give only the best news to clients or give everyone the answers that they so desperately want to hear. That is simply not realistic. Not everyone is going to be happy with what they hear from their tarot card reading. You may be in a situation where everything seems hopeless. Your relationship, career or finances may be in shambles, but a tarot card reading can help. Your psychic tarot card reading may offer you hope that things will be changing for the better, and can offer you the tools to make your situation better. A tarot card reading can help you avoid problems that you didn’t even see coming, or help to rectify and problems that currently exist in all areas of your life.

There are many ways to have a psychic tarot card reading. You can go outside your home and find a psychic tarot card reader at psychic fairs, in the phone book, health food stores and metaphysical shops. The quickest and easiest way to have a tarot card reading is by phone. There are many sites available in the online community offering tarot card readings either online or on the phone. Tarot card reading prices vary, so choose a reader wisely. Just because a tarot card reader is more expensive, does not necessarily mean they are a better tarot card reader. You can find an accurate ethical tarot card reading in almost any price range. Some readers will charge by the minute (at varying rates) and some charge a flat rate per reading.

There are also some sites out there that will offer a free tarot card reading by phone. If you decide to try one of these sites out, please be aware that the ‘free’ time of your reading is probably limited to 3 free minutes. There is not a lot of information a tarot card reader can produce in a 3 minute tarot card reading so please be prepared to add money if you want to continue the call to finish your reading. The sites that offer this free tarot card reading are often a good way to try out a psychic or tarot card reader to see if they are able to connect to you and your energy before investing too much money in a tarot card reading.

A tarot card reading with the psychics at Circle of Goddesses can help you when you are at a crossroads and don’t know what path to choose. Wouldn’t it be better to get the guidance and insight that a tarot card reading can offer you before you choose the wrong path or make a bad decision. We often look back on our lives and wish we chose a different way than we did. A tarot card reading can help you before you go down the wrong road, so you have less regrets and make less mistakes. There are many different types of tarot card readings and it is important to pick which one is right for you.

The psychics and tarot card readers at Circle of Goddesses are able to give you insight in love, romance, relationships, career and finance, spiritual growth or any other question you may have. Call today and get on the right path to your own personal success and happiness.