Tarot for Recognizing Your Value

If you’re a regular listener to the podcast you know I put out a call a few weeks ago for women in their sixties and seventies.  I was looking for every-day women who wanted to share a few pearls of wisdom with the rest of us. 

I realized not too long ago that I have accumulated one heck of a lot of experience and learned so many things about the world in my time on the planet. Things that, had I known them earlier, may have led me down some different paths in my life. At the very least, things that – I hope – would have made things a little bit easier. 

If I have what I think is some valuable knowledge and wisdom, it stands to reason that women with ten, fifteen, twenty or more years on me would be even more full of insights and stories. 

I was really excited about the idea of highlighting some of the sparkle in a demographic that is all but invisible in many arenas. 

Here’s the thing. Only one person I really wanted to interview came forward and she’s a friend of mine. What the heck? Where are all the smart, strong, wise women out there?  I did meet a few other podcasters who wanted to share their stories and I’ll be interviewing a few of them, but in general, I didn’t get what I really wanted – women simply talking to other women because they felt they had something to share that could help others. 

I had a few people nominate women they know – “oh, you have to talk to so and so.” Guess what? So and so never reached out. 

Then, I started to wonder. Are women not getting in touch because they don’t believe they have anything valuable to share?  My one friend (who is brilliant and has led quite a life) said, I’d love to give it a try, but I don’t know what I’d talk about. 

What? How about what you learned as you fought cancer – twice. Or maybe you’d like to talk about lessons learned about humanity in your thirty-year teaching career? I have to believe there are people out there who would find what you learned in your years living abroad to be valuable – even if only from an ‘everyman’ perspective. 

Don’t get me wrong. I suspect women who are absolutely gorgeous are happy to be a little less visible to the creepy eyeballs on the street as they age. Many, though, will tell you it can be frustrating too. 

Not too long ago I went into one of the big box stores. I’d bought a wireless stylus online and the charger it came with didn’t fit. I was helped (tolerated is more like it) by a twenty something guy whose conversation with his buddy I interrupted with my question about what I needed to charge this thing. I explained that the charger that came with it was too large – that I thought it was a micro-usb, but hadn’t brought the pen with me (definitely my mistake).

The manufacturer had made an error and the charger they sent wouldn’t work with the pen – but I didn’t know that at the time.

The guy explained that there is nothing smaller than a micro-usb with a barely concealed eye roll and clear annoyance that this old lady was arguing with him about tech. He didn’t know me from Adam. I could have been light years beyond him in his tech knowledge, but based on what I can only assume is my age and/or gender, I was summarily dismissed.

So – what’s this all about? Why haven’t people reached out? Is it lack of confidence? Is it inability to see how great we are? Is it society telling us we no longer have value?

I’m not qualified to get into the psychology of aging.  But I kept wondering why women haven’t reached out and came to a few conclusions:

1. Sharing their thoughts and personal stories with the public may not be for everyone. 
2. Technology is an issue for some – not being comfortable with zoom – recording, etc. 
3. Time
4. But most of all, I just keep wondering if it’s because they don’t know how much they have to offer. 

Since Moxxie is all about teaching people to use the Tarot for personal growth and development, I thought I’d offer up a reading and spread to help us all – at whatever age or stage we’re in – to begin to recognize – and embrace – our awesomeness.

Note – this can be done as a traditional tarot reading – or as an introspection exercise in which you consciously choose the cards that resonate with you for each position. 

1. Choose a signifier that represents you at this time – look in all the nooks and crannies – turn over those stones – and choose a card that represents who you are in this moment – not who you want to be or think you should be. 
2. A card to represent how my subconscious sees me.
3. A card or cards to represent things I’m good at or gifts I have to offer.
4. A card or cards to represent barriers to recognizing my own greatness. 
5. A card that will help me – support me – as I learn to value myself.

Next time you’re feeling frustrated or invisible, or just need to remember how darn awesome you are, pull out this spread. You got this!

If you prefer to listen to your content, and you want to hear the sample reading to help Eyore recognize his value, check out this podcast episode 😀