Yule Blog Hop: The Joy of Gifting

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Happy Yule 2014, and welcome to the Tarot Blog Hop! Please use the links at the top and bottom of this post to access the other wonderful blogs in this circle.

Arwen Lynch, our joyful wrangler for the Yule hop, asked us all to focus our posts around a spread that she created about gift giving, and freed us up to use whatever type of oracle we pleased. Normally I use Tarot for our hops, but I felt moved to go a different route this season, and have used the new Game of Hope 2.0 Lenormand deck instead (to learn more about the deck, click here).

I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, so I drew three cards for each question. Here we go!

1. What gift would you give the world if you could?

Rider - Letter - Clover

Fortune telling! Perfect, on to number 2! Well okay... just kidding (sorta)! These cards tell me a lot of things:

I see this line as a message that we should all start sending more letters, increase our communications with fellow humans, visit each other once in a while. After all, unexpected correspondence is a joy! Just a few days ago my long-time friend Danica sent me a lovely, hand-created Christmas card with pictures of her family. I thought, "When is that last time I sat down to create holiday cards?" Too long. Then this morning she wrote me a lovely, touching note. We don't speak nearly as often as we should. I think in this era of email and Facebook and nomadic lifestyles it's easy for us to become silos. We have to remember how to reconnect with the people that really matter to us.

I see this as a message about helping others. Do you have extra material goods? Reach out and share with others, send support. I recall a time when my cousin was struggling financially. I didn't have a lot either, but I went online and bought a book by an author she loved and had it sent to her as a surprise. I think at times we tell ourselves that we simply don't have enough to truly help someone else, so we don't. But we don't have to limit our giving in those ways. Find a cause you can get behind and make a donation. If we all focused on the small ways we can help each other perhaps we would go far in helping improve human relationships and our greater sense of community.

Finally, bloggers, keep using those writing skills to spread positivity throughout the blogosphere!


2. What gift would you want from the world?

Heart - Fish - Sun

Well isn't this an easy one to interpret! Love, money, success and joy - boy my cards sure do know me! Ha!... Honestly these cards each embody an energy that is important to me, but let me actually string them together:

Fulfillment of a desire for financial success. Deep love and joy. A heart that flows with happiness. Yes, there is nothing more precious in this world than to love and be loved, to experience profound joy.

3. What gift have you gotten that has brought you joy?

Sun - Rider - Ring

The first thought I had upon seeing this line was the gift of being able to share goods news in my marriage. My husband and I entirely support each other and cheer each other on. If I experience success I can express that with Jorge and I know that he'll feel that joy along with me. That is a precious gift.

This line also reminds me of the moment when we moved to Florida. Within a month of deciding to look for work in the south, and sending out resumes, I had a couple of interviews, and we packed up our cars and our kids and started the move. Everything was hanging on the final word that I would be hired, but it wasn't until we were at a rest stop in Georgia that I finally got the news that I had successfully leapt through all of the hiring hoops, and I was "in." That was immensely relieving and rewarding.

Finally, the only jewelry I regularly wear on my hands are two golden rings, one on each ring finger. One is my wedding ring, representative of a grand gift - my marriage - and the other was a gift I received for mother's day - another immensely joyful gift being my children. My rings are constant reminders of these two shining elements in my life.

4. What gift have you given that has brought you joy?

Bouquet - Fish - Anchor

I saw this line and read: the gift of financial stability. After relying primarily on my husband for financial (and emotional!) support for the years that I was working on my Master's degree, I was able to reciprocate. Once I secured a good and regular job, he was able to leave his old career behind in order to work on developing his passion: photography. Watching him explore and develop his talent, watching how engaged and passionate he was about his art - that brought me great joy and satisfaction.

5. What is one last thing you would like to share about this season?

Cross - Stork - Clover

This too shall pass. Our burdens are temporary. Life is change, and even our hard times won't last forever. We will have relief, and fortune, perhaps in ways we would never expect, and when we're least expecting it. It's amazing to see, in retrospect, how our challenges can lead to wonderful opportunities. Never lose hope and faith!

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I thought it was pretty amazing how the Clover, Rider, Sun, and Fish all appeared twice throughout this series of mini-readings - very fitting for the topic of joy and giving! 

I wish you all a beautiful holiday, a splendid Yule, a marvelous Christmas, a Joyous Kwanzaa and very Happy Hannukah! 

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