With love and gratitude to the astrology and Tarot community on Twitter!

I decided to do another post for the #thankfulthursday meme on Twitter.  Today, I want to express my gratitude for all of the people I’ve crossed paths with through this medium.

I have Mercury in Aquarius, which has influenced my personality in the way of my millions of different interests (exaggerating slightly!).  These interests ranging from cooking to painting, watching sports to computer coding… Throughout the years, my interests have varied from week to week, but the one thing that has always stuck with me is astrology.

Unfortunately, with my passion for the topic, I never had anyone to really discuss it with.  I had a few friends that had some interest in astrology, but they were only interested in the Sun sign aspects.  Anything past the Sun, they weren’t interested.  I wanted to learn the inner workings of astrology.  I wanted to have a conversation with someone about it, without them wrinkling their noses at me.  But through my early years, I never attempted to look outside of my circle to find new friends interested in astrology.  My passion remained, but I decided to focus my efforts elsewhere.

After a while, one of my friends did a few monthly Tarot readings for me and kept telling me that it was time to get in touch with my spiritual side.  She said she kept seeing this need in my cards, so in late April 2009, I decided to pick up my first Tarot deck: the Universal Waite.  I bought some books about learning Tarot.  I was able to get basic knowledge on how to read the cards, but then I thought about how it would be more engaging to learn if I could talk to someone about it.

Soon after, this blog (Taurus Rising) came to life in May 2009, with the intent of using it to notate all of the things I learned.  The blog was meant to be a personal reference for myself, yet at the same time, sharing whatever I learned to whoever stumbled across my blog.  Eventually later down the line, I wanted to take the path to reading Tarot cards professionally.  However, since I didn’t feel confident with my skills or knowledge, so I sought out to learn from those that were already at that level.

I joined Twitter as @taurusrising in May 2009.   My intent was to network and learn from professional Tarot readers.  Since I created my account, I’ve met a variety of people. A diverse crowd – people spaced across the globe, waltzing in from all wakes of life, filled with different levels of knowledge.  I was fortunate to “tweet” with others in the field. I met professional readers, hobbyests, and others wishing to break into the field.  Not only did I meet Tarot readers, but I also rediscovered my passion for astrology.  As I went on my quest for Tarot wisdom, I decided to pursue astrology wisdom as well.

Fast forward to now, I’ve been on Twitter for around five months.  My knowledge on astrology and Tarot has dramatically expanded.  I am constantly learning new things every day.

In astrology, I finally have reached a comfort zone outside of Sun/Moon/Rising signs.   I understand the planets and houses better than I did five months ago.  I am at the point where I feel comfortable looking at an astrology chart and pulling out basic information from what I see.  Had it been a year ago, my brain would have exploded just from trying to figure out what everything meant.

In the world of Tarot, I am learning about different ways to interpret cards.  This is an on-going process, as I’ve come to find that no two readings are alike.  I am also amazed at how I was able to pick it up, especially since before April 2009, I never read Tarot cards at ALL.

Through all of this, I would like to thank the astrology and Tarot communities on Twitter for their support.  I enjoy tweeting and networking with everyone.  I’ve learned so much from you all, and I would not have gotten to THIS point without each and every one of you!  Much love, gratitude, and positive vibes to all of you on Twitter! :)

Image courtesy of CLUC from sxc.hu and stockxpert.com

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What are you thankful for?

On Twitter, there is a meme that goes around on Thursdays: #ThankfulThursday It’s a really nice meme and it had me thinking, “What am I grateful for?”

A few months ago, a friend on mine wrote a wonderful post on the importance of gratitude and noticing the small blessings in life.  She talked about being grateful for the people that got you to where you are now.  And she discussed the importance of expressing your gratitude to others.

For almost a year, I’ve been keeping a “gratitude journal”.  It is actually part of my Moleskine planner.  Every night before I go to bed, I write down five things (or more) that I am thankful for.  Once you get yourself into the habit of doing this, you begin to see the things to be grateful for.  I’ve come to the realization that phases in my life that I thought of as awful, were actually blessings in disguise.

Think about where you currently stand in life.  How do you feel about your situation?  Are you satisfied?  Are you unhappy?  Wherever you are, think about the positive things that you have to be thankful for.  No matter how silly or how crazy it sounds.  Here are some examples:

• Being dumped by your significant other for twenty years, which allowed you to become single and find The One.
• Becoming friends with Shady People and then realizing what kind of qualities you want to find in a Good Friend… and then later finding yourself surrounded with them.
• Having your laptop break, to make you realize that you were spending too much time on it – and then finding your love for writing again.
• Being fired from a job that you didn’t like, which opened yourself to be called upon a career in a hobby that you adore.

Yet often, it is the “small things” that are overlooked. For example:

• Beautiful weather.
• A job.
• Good health.
• An education.
• Shelter and food.
• Creativity.
• Breakfast (my personal favorite meal of the day!)
• Coffee
• Love from those around you.
• A supportive family.
• Your favorite outfit.
• Blasting your favorite music in your car.

Sometimes, we don’t think to thank the people that are there to support us everyday.  Saying “thank you” is only two words, but it goes a long way.  Remember to thank your support group, your teachers, and your loved ones near and far.  And as I always like to recommend, it’s easy to send a quick thank you note through e-mail, but a hand-written one is more personal.

Even if things seem to be going wrong, don’t forget the little things.  There is always something to be grateful for.

Image courtesy of lumix2004 from sxc.hu

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