Choosing a reader

A client recently mentioned that she had gotten three different responses from three different readers in response to her concerns. This was my response:

You said that the three readers you worked with earlier all said different things. I just wanted to touch on this. Every reader that you work with will pick up on different things. Most readers are honest, though there are some charlatans. The ones you have to beware of are the ones who charge exhorbitant fees and tell you things like "you have a curse on you and I am the only one who can remove it." This is always hogwash, and always indicates that its time to see another reader.
As I said on my website, I don't consider myself a professional reader, but people seem to appreciate my work, so I like to share it and hopefully help where I can. I hope I've been able to help you.

Blessed be,
Lily

*Remember, if you would like a free reading, all you have to do is authorize me to share the results on this blog. I promise I won't reveal your real name.

May Reading

I used the Wisdom of Avalon oracle and a Celtic Cross spread. This reading is for myself.

The card of the present position is the Raven. The raven's attributes are magic, synchronistic events, and coincidence. I have been feeling much doubt about magic of late and this card is a reminder to seek it and to work on my own mystical development, which I often allow to slide in favor of earthly concerns. It is a reminder that magic effects the earthly.
This card is crossed by Love. It is a reminder to be more connected to other beings. I often feel quite alone. I need to open my heart. Not to romantic love, but to the love of all things. The romantic love situation in my case is closed by choice and without regret. It is difficult to explain and the reasons are personal but they include preferring to develop spiritually and psychically, and romantic entanglement is a distraction and has never been a good one. As well, my mental illness makes it a different proposition from what it would be for most people. There are other reasons but they would be difficult to describe.
The crowd in the Goal or Destiny position is the Novice. I am going back to school in the fall for nursing. It isn't my favorite idea and if something else I am doing comes to fruition, I'll drop it like it's hot. Some people want to be nurses. I do not. For me, it's the fact that I'm already in the medical profession and nurses make more money and have more opportunities than technicians. The people who want to be nurses make good nurses. I'll make an ok nurse.
Also I am a novice in the promotion game. Trying to promote my book has been a real headache and I intend to pass on whatever knowledge I get to others.
The card in the distant past position is letting go. I need to let go of my old dream of being adulated. As a not very popular young girl, I daydreamed of being a beautiful and famous actress. I loved watching the show Three's Company, and wanted to be like Suzanne Sommers. I have encountered the late John Ritter, and he is a wonderful person who gave me some very useful advice that I would do well to recall right now. If you would like to read about this visitation, please click here.
My desire to work in the creative arts is not what needs to die for if it did, my soul would die. This is my true calling. Not nursing, not anything else. But the need to be adulated, to be seen as stunningly beautiful, to be POPULAR (which I was anything but) needs to be laid to rest. The desire to be accepted by people from 30 years in the past needs to be laid to rest. The need for acceptance needs to be laid to rest. I need to now do things my way.
The card in the recent past position is restriction. I'll tell you what's causing the restriction: lack of M-O-N-E-Y! I haven't been able to send out books for review on schedule because purchasing author's copies costs $65 per 5 books! That may not sound like a lot, but when you consider that I make $700 every 2 weeks, well...
The only thing to be do is to be patient and ask the Powers that Be to show me the way. And to trust them. My parents always laid "God" on me pretty thick. But they never trusted God or anything else and are very unhappy. So it always rung false.
Another thing I need to let go of is the idea that the church-god is the "true" god and those of us who don't buy in to the church doctrine are going to burn in hell. I've let go of it logically but let me tell y'all that a little fire and brimstone goes a long way to cauterizing your ability to be unafraid! I still have nightmares.
The card of future influence is Death. Like the Death card in the Tarot deck, this card rarely portends physical death. It is the end of something very important. What is coming to an end four days from now is my son's childhood. He will be 18. What is coming to an end an month and two days from now is his schooling. He will be graduating. I will no longer be driving him to school and picking him up 5 days a week. I will be driving him 350 miles away at the end of August, leaving him at his college, and picking him up at the airport on December 19. I will be taking him back to the airport early in January to return him to school. As a whole, this change is good. My son is celebrating. I am secretly grieving. There is so much I wish I could do better for my little boy who is now a man. Fuck me--I'm glad anyone reading this can't see me cry. The stress of this grief I hate and want to tear from myself is making me a very sick woman lately. My dear friend, the wonderful friend who wrote the book with me comes to my side and tries to comfort me and his efforts mean a lot. But he can't take the sorrow from the core of me. Still he does soothe it as I helped him ease the pain of the action he took 17 years ago but cannot take the remorse from the core of him. We can only support each other.
The card of current influence is birth and rebirth. This is the phoenix rising from the ashes of Death. Things are not dead, they are transforming. It is a matter of coming to peace with it and to allow the good things to continue growing.
The current environment indicates Wealth. Well, how about a big neon sign pointing me to mine??? But the wealth is not only money it is also personal achievement.
I have a problem with money. In a past life I was a wealthy person who lost that which was most precious to her, and that was not money. This life had a miserable and horrific end. As a Christian I was taught that money is evil. In this life as a Christian I was taught the same thing. My parents told me the Robert Bloch story "The Monkey's Paw" in order to illustrate that wishing for money would bring disaster and that God would punish those who wish for money. Since then I have been terrified of wishing for money, even when I desperately need it. I have begun praying to Lord Ganesha instead for blessed abundance. Lord Ganesha is benevolent and would not pull a dirty trick on someone such as giving them money through the loss of a loved one. If he feels a person is being greedy, he will simply not grant their wish. If he feels they are being reprehensible enough to warrant a punishment, it will be a punishment in kind, i.e. loss of money, but never punishment by granting money at too high a price. He is not a trickster and not malevolent. This is the only way I feel comfortable asking for increase.
The hopes and fears position is represented by the Wasp. The wasp is a harbinger of jealousy and mean-spirited thoughts. There is a part of me that fears that if I succeed I will lose others, that they will become resentful towards me. Yes, those who really love you would never do that, yada yada. But the fear is there nonetheless and needs to be worked on.
The card of final outcome is the Bee. The bee is a fortunate card. It indicates that hard work will bring benefit. This isn't only work as in for a paycheck work. The advice is to be persistent in those things that have real meaning and your efforts will bring fruition. So I will continue to pursue that which has meaning to me and it will pay off in many ways.

If you are interested in obtaining a reading, please click here.

Blessed be.

Reading Choices

You now have choices as to whose voice you want interpreting your reading. You have, of course, Lily, who will give you straightforward advice in a compassionate manner. But you also now have Lily's alter-ego, Poison Ivy, who is much snarkier and far more brutally honest. While even Poison Ivy would never be so cruel as to tell someone that their loved one was going to die so just get over it, she will tell clients that their boyfriend is a cheating jerk or their job is doing nothing more than give them practice in posterior osculation.

Either way, you will get the truth, but if you are feeling like you are in need of the gloves-off approach to shake you into action rather than the comforting touch of a hand in a velvet glove, so to speak, choose your Poison and let Poison Ivy shake you into action.

For a more esoteric approach, Lily can also consult Shadow Lurker, the gentler aspect of her co-author. Like Lily, he will dispense advice with a compassionate tone, but can tend to be cryptic and tends to speak in terms of topics such as energy flow and aura disruption as this is the way he sees things. The Undead Asshole is Shadow Lurker's snarkier alter-ego and will not hold back on telling a client that, for instance, she is involved with a worthless ass or that if someone chooses to continue on their current path it isn't his fault if their life ends up being a miserable pile of shit. The Undead Asshole swears a lot, and his approach may be offensive to those lacking either a thick skin or a sense of humor.

The Mysterious Spectre is "like a box of choclits. You never know what spirit you're gonna get." I actually created this profile for a certain spirit friend to speak through on the Gnutty Gnostic blog if he chose to, but other spirits whom I've affiliated will utilize it as well. None of them will give their names--they find the anonymity aspect fun. If you're in the mood to roll the dice and see what you get, ask me to channel "the Mysterious Spectre."

If you'd like to have your reading published here, just leave a comment and let us know who you want to have do the reading. If you'd prefer a private reading via email, contact me at lily@mysticvision.org and we'll discuss your needs. All I ask in return for a private reading is a donation of whatever size you can afford, which will help me offset the cost of maintaining my domain and promoting our book.

Blessed be,

Lily and Friends

Land Ho!

The decision to buy land is a big one. The land is currently undeveloped and I would later add a (likely modular) home to it. Although for me any extra expenditure is harsh, the price seems too good to pass up. I will have to forego promoting my book and will have to forego some things that I was looking forward to, such as a new computer. It is also likely that I will have to take on a second job. But this is a longtime dream. I will not be able to utilize the land instantly. The soonest I can anticipate a move is 5 years. I am not telling anyone I know about this. They would only try to dissuade me. I have to rely on my own counsel.

The land I'm buying is in one of the few untamed areas. It is desert. What??? Yes. Desert. I grew up in the Southwest. I've always wanted to go back. I've never felt at home in the state where I was born and have lived the past 32 years of my life. Because of the somewhat wild nature of the land, I choose the Animal Cards for divination. May the Gods and Goddesses and the spirits guide me.

Sloth represents the foundation of the matter. Sloth advises "consider the smallness of your needs and treasure what you possess." Perhaps I have in part gotten into the precarious financial position that I'm currently in because I've never felt like I had enough. As a child in New Mexico I loved our house and land although I utterly despised the huge cockroaches that would get into the house and I had trouble with the kids at school because my skin was the wrong color. (In this case being pasty white was not a good idea.)

Sloth says "squander neither love nor material things even if they are no longer new." I was discussing this earlier, about how some people ditch a relationship because it becomes comfortable. There are folks who have to have constant newness. It's a good warning to anybody. While I have long wanted to leave my current environment, I need to consider the positives of it while I need remain here.

Crocodile represents the immedate past. Crocodile advises that "the alchemy of energy teaches that death will always yield new life." I have long felt I was holding onto a situation I have outgrown due to fear. I can never escape my past while I remain in my present circumstance. In order to truly become myself I must allow the past (way back to my youth) to be left behind.

The present position is represented by Wild Horse. Wild Horse advises: "seek your passion aloud and defend those whom you love in word and deed."

Which is the purpose of the book I wrote. I wanted to defend someone who is in a position where it is difficult to defend himself, or to let others know the truth about him, and also to give voice to a group of people whose voice is often supressed--the mentally ill. To let the world know that our voice isn't just so much twaddle, that we are not stupid, that we are just as valuable as anyone else. And to educate about the many misconceptions regarding persons with mental illness. I still wish to do this. I still believe it is noble. But it has been a fuckload harder to find an audience than I first thought. So far I've preached to the choir. And the choir in this case is pretty damn small. It's frustrating. And I sometimes wonder why the Universe gives me these tasks and then leaves me to flounder.

Wild Boar represents the positive aspects I bring to the situation. He advises that "whatever tradition or others expect of you, only to yourself be true."

In other words, being pig-headed can actually be a positive thing and I should continue to do so.

The external factors working in my favor are represented by the Tortoise. The Tortoise advises that " when changes are made or the sake of change itself, resist."

Tortoise advises "be true to your way of living, your partner and your creativity lest you destroy something more wonderful than you know." She advises "constructing a mental carapice to protect yourself from the unjutified criticisms of others."

Just so--I'm dogged, determined, and loyal until someone takes a crap on me. In this case I need to be not only sensible but true to myself. Instead of quitting my job and flying off across the country, I'm purchasing something I won't be able to use till future times but something I've dreamed of for a long time. I'm actually doing something for myself rather than for the naysayers for a change.

My own negative input is represented by Panda. Panda advises me to "enjoy the sanctuary of solitude to regain self-esteem and tranquility." In other words, seeking the advice of others in this case is definitely wrong, wrong, wrong. I always question my own judgment. I depend too much on the approval of others. I need to be true to mine own self.

The external influences working against me are represented by Water Buffalo. Water Buffalo advises me to "face life head-on with courage and reclaim the brave spirit within you."

The fact that I seem totally unable to do this definitely works against me.

Further, Water Buffalo advises that "tragedy and failure are intrinsic to living but sometimes we are cowed by events, unable to move forward.

I am still crippled by the past. Mighty Buffalo advises that the brave spirit that drives me to unusual pursuits is waiting to be reclaimed and that I should "take your courage in both hands and dare to be."

In other words, stop hiding and being cowed by others. That is definitely working against me.

The immediate future is represented by the Red Squirrel, who advises me to "gather your resources now, for they will sustain you through the coming change."

This is a fortuitous card to receive in this position and for a question such as this. Instead of squandering my tax return on partying, I can go a long way to purchasing this parcel of land for my future. I am thinking of my future and I need to believe in what I want and do what I've gotta do. The perks can wait.

The ultimate future is represented by Bee. Bee advises that "hard work is rewarded with responsibility and a sweetness that is shared."

This too is a fortuitous card in the given position--I just love when a reading is this clear-cut! Seldom have I received signs that were more of a green light. I will have to work hard it is true but I am working for a future, to have a place not only for myself but for my family in the future. When my son has a family it will be a place they can come and even call home. Not the transient feeling of a trailer park, but a real home. It will be a modular home, but it will be on a foundation. I can get back to the land as I have long wanted to. Have some hens around to lay eggs which I can use and maybe even sell a few. Not that this is a way to get rich, but just a thought. I will have to work for it--the ultimate dream will not be realized for years. But this is a way to start. And I will do it immediately when my next paycheck comes in.

I thank the deities and spirits for their assistance and ask them to bless me in this venture.

Lily

What's this All About?

The purpose of this blog is to showcase my card readings for potential clients. Click the links below to see some sample readings.

A divination I did for myself

A reading I did for a friend

A reading I did on request

The cost for a private reading by email is $50. Receive your reading free if you purchase an autographed copy of my book (50% of all profits from the book are donated to the World Health Organization's mental health division) or if you allow me to showcase your reading on this blog. I will not use your real name should you agree to allow me to use your reading as an example. The reason I chose to give and option to receive a free reading is threefold. First, I would like to offer an incentive to promote my book, which may entertain and guide others, and which has a philanthropic purpose. Second, I fully understand that not everyone who needs guidance can afford to pay the full fee and I want to offer everyone an opportunity to receive the help they need. Third, I hope to build a client base and believe that a good way to do this is to offer a sample of what my clients can expect from me. I believe that offering the free readings as an incentive is mutually beneficial to myself and those who seek my assistance.

I utilize Tarot cards and various other divination decks to perform my readings. I do not see these divinations as necessarily predicting the future so much as indicating strong energies exerting influences on a person's life. They can guide a client to know what parts of their life need particular attention, which things should be pursued and which things should be changed. Past life influences are sometimes revealed as well.
I enjoy assisting others and look forward to helping you.

Blessed Be,
Lily Strange