The Hierophant...

Good tarot guidance gives us what we already deep down know... Which is testament to our inner wisdom. However, we are surrounded by a knowing culture and society that has much to offer. Yes we may dismiss the corporations and institutions as having their own agenda, or not reflecting our core beliefs. And yet, they are part of our cultural experience, therefore they are part of us. When we reject their wisdom, we may be turning our backs on an innate and important part of ourselves and the spirit that works through all things.
​
For what are the bigger bodies made of? They are made of people, from top to bottom. Therefore they are infused with humanity and spirit. Whilst their huge nature may seem, at times to be intimidating, bureaucratic, corporate or clandestine, they are still connected to us. They can still offer you a great deal. 

So take your inner wisdom and infuse it with the known, the expertise, the proven and the informed. For you cannot do this gig of life alone. We all need entities larger than ourselves from time to time, the emergency services being just one obvious example. Hand over some trust to the wisdom of group thinking and wisdom. Whilst still keeping your heart and head in frame. Somewhere in the mix of what you know and what they know, there is a nugget of truth, hope and faith waiting to be distilled into your evolution. 

Does this card speak to you today?I'd love to hear your thoughts, come chat with me all things spirit and tarot on my Facebook Page...

I feel like I'm about to share my biggest secret with you. Something that I hadn't, until this year, really acknowledged fully to myself. However a series of events have had me going deeper into my own spirituality. This confirmed what I should have know all along. Spirit has always made herself known to me. She has always been in my life. Her latest antics have brought that home with startling veracity and I want to share this with you, because, maybe she has been with you too.

My life has always been somewhat guided. I have never felt alone or entirely lonely. For as long as I can remember, there was always some 'other' some loving force around me. As a kid I justified it to myself as my active imagination. But the wisdom I held then, has come back this year in such a powerful way. More on that in a moment...

First let's talk about all of those magical things that make up the backdrop of our lives, that we may not explore, but that gift us some mystery, some wonder.

My first memory of this came in what seemed a very human form. I vividly recall playing with a bikes wheels with my brother, we must have been aged about 3 and 4. We were daring each other to spin the wheel fast and put our fingers in the spokes. We held no fear, and it was a matter of time before one of us stuck our podgy, mucky little kid hands in the spinning wheel. When out of nowhere, in our private garden, a nice man came over. He explained that we shouldn't do that, because he did it, and he lost some fingers. He showed us his missing fingers. So we didn't do it. Nobody remembers that man. Or why he might have been there in the grounds of my Dad's vicarage. Needless to say, my fingers are intact, which is a good job too for all this typing! 

I remember spending a great deal of time staring into the air as a child. Because I can see the energy. Especially when I look at the sky, or often bright flashes around people (particularly when they are speaking deploy their lives). And no, I'm not talking about the dust motes that float lazily across the cornea. I'm talking about the zipping white and sometimes coloured light that seems to make this place up. I checked the other day whilst on the trampoline with my girls. We gazed up to  the sky, which is not a solid mass of blue or grey, but a seething mass of energy. Yeah I know, maybe I sound crazy.... It is what it is though. Take another look...

I have always had this wise voice within. She has protected me. She has warned me against  dangerous situations and people. She has had me dream up a near car crash that woke me with a start, but saved me the very next morning when the dream played out in real life and caused my reactions to be quicker.

She told me to be damned scared that time I was walking home alone in the dark as a teenager, and a car pulled up with two grown men, and started driving alongside me. I quickened my pace and got the hell away - thank goodness I was near home. But soon after that a woman was found murdered in a ditch, a mile or so up the road. I'm not saying these things were linked. but still, it makes you think? 

I don't consider myself 'psychic', yet she causes me to receive strong feelings around people and animals. I get their emotions, their worries, their love, their aggression, I just seem to know a thing or two about them... I can feel a person's reaction to me, which can be quite the shocking and electrifying experience sometimes! I believe there is an underlying level of connection, and it is something that can really be experienced and understood when we consciously tune into it and allow for it as a reality. 

She has spoken to me, twice, outloud. Like, really bloody loud. The most potent time being when she piped up from nowhere to say, 'there are no mistakes'. I was in the car, and the voice came booming from my passenger seat. Yet I was alone. Or was I... And really, isn't that just the best advice?

She brings her messages with my tarot. Like when my husband was having a heart attack at hospital and I was home with the girls awaiting childcare to arrive. I was shaking like a leaf in hurricane. I pulled a card. The comfort of which was not only astounding, but the message, of transformation proved to be true. This is but one of thousands of examples of tarot genius she has gifted me... Just look to my clients testimonial page for more evidence that...

I have so many examples and one day I'm sure I will fill another book with them. And as for you, I hope some of this resonates, and takes you to your personal examples. Because I bet you have so many...

As it happens. My spirit, she upped her game recently. She came to me as a muse, as total inspiration, and she had me write a book, in five days flat. It is the most powerful assessment and guidance on life, that I have ever unwittingly stumbled across anywhere, never mind emanating from my own mind! I mean wow. When the spirit moves through you. Just wow. I hope to share that book with you one day soon...

But I'll tell you something else. That spirit, she told me she was all of us. The connection she described was beyond mind-blowing. In doing this she gave herself the nickname 'Dany'. Which is neither male or female, and yeah, she is genderless. I choose to call her a she, because, ya' know, redress the balance. 

So I'm writing this because something in me has reached a deeper understanding. And it is so important I share this truth. So you can start to feel out your own. I expect Dany, who has been my inner wisdom, ally for life, has more to share with us all. So watch this space! And stay in touch. Here are some ways to connect to Dany and I on the regular...

My Newsletter - get free guided meditation and regular free tarot readings 

My Facebook

My Instagram

Tarot changed my life. That's the first secret you need to know... They give me insight and knowing that connects me to a greater sense of self and spiritual community. They keep me sane in times of stress, and they gift me incredibly sensible guidance when I sorely need it (like when my husband was having a heart attack at hospital, and I was home  with the girls, and the cards clearly told me it would be okay, it would be transformative - and oh my gosh it was!)... I feel compelled to share this tarot magic with you! 

So I have created this 'how to' video based workshop that will get you moving towards your most cosmic, spirited and wise self. With the Tarot as your divine guide. This course, is perfect for beginners or accomplished readers looking for a fun style mixed with unique insight! 
​
This workshop includes two free mini readings and some fun quizzes to test what you have learned!

Sign up now to get your free trial, and if you love it, the price is now reduced to £19.99 for life!! http://www.alicegrist.co.uk

SIGN UP HERE!!! 

Dearest,

I have a confession.

I had a terrible psychic reading last week and it sent me into a flurry of angst. Occasionally, despite my own tarot wisdom, I long to connect with a really great medium or reader who can give me some objective insight. As it happens I am nearly always disappointed. But in a moment of madness I had a reading with a locally well known psychic. She told me nothing other than banal generics and gave me more to wonder about, and worry about, than anything meaningful. I found myself trying to make her predictions fit. Even though they clearly didn't. And this is what so many of my clients say to me, that they are given predictions, they don't make sense, and yet they pour all their hopes into trying to get cohesion with what a 'psychic' said...

This acted as a massive reminder for me for why I do my readings the way I do them. Because the most powerful force is free will, you know yourself better than any third party, and sometimes all you need is a bump in the right direction & to remember your own spirit. Not because you need to know a specific outcome... Maybe you read my popular article on this? Psychic Damage and Tarot Trash...

Anyway this was powerful reminder that life is mystery and when we try to figure out the details, we tend to end up in a vexing and peculiar situation. It is supposed to be mystery. And when we allow that wisdom in, we can feel so much better. Letting go of control. or a need for control, is like floating peacefully on the ocean. Yeah there might be some storms coming, but it's hella nice whilst it lasts. In other words, be in the damn moment. Trust the mystery.

So that is my message for today. Be careful who you hand your spiritual care to, and why you choose to do it! And if in doubt, forget it... Nobody knows you, like you know you... And that is precisely how I do my readings, write my books and share my thinkings. To remind you of that fact!

If you are looking for a bump in the right direction (rather than some weird specifics that contradict the beautiful mystery) then I have several offerings up online now, starting at £19.99 and if you want to learn the cards for yourself, and empower your own damn life, then Dirty and Divine is a great read, and I have  a few signed copies to sell... 

Watch this space as I have plans for a workshop in February!!! And i plan to make it super affordable and life changing! 

With Love, Alice 

The Three of Cups has been my stalker card this year. And so the fact it cropped up today, after a weekend spent just me and my children, is no big surprise. Because when I painted that card, I did so to represent me and my daughters... And she is always cropping up to remind me, heavily, of my priorities, and to make those priorities light. 

So what does this card mean to you... 

Well first let's turn to page 122 of my tarot book Dirty and Divine... This is a lengthy section with he general gist of embracing female power, being with your feminine aspects, getting together with your women, your girls. The card, for me is an ode to the wisdom and levity of female company, in all it's forms, in all it's incarnations. And yes this does not exclude the men, because we are all multifaceted, and it is time that dudes stepped into what is rightfully theirs, a side that is 'labelled' feminine, but that really is just a streak of what it is to be human. 

So whatever your day brings, handle it with whatever traits you choose to see as 'feminine'. Elevate those traits and utilise them like tools. Be with the mystery of womanhood and let it unfold a little for you. Treat it like a rainbow rather than a part of a duality, and allow it to teach you. 

On a more practical note. Make time for the women and girls in your life. Create a little magic with them. Gaze to the sky. Be in their company and honour it. 

Your Guidance For This Week
​
The Devil. There is overwhelm that exhausts you, and has you too tired and strained to see straight. And there is overwhelm that creeps into your mind and manifests itself as unhealthy habits, behaviours and patterns. This is your Devil. This overwhelm that has you misbehaving in many small, and sometimes big ways. You know yourself better than to let the Devil get the better of you, and yet, you find yourself here...

Look to your overwhelm. Where does it have you acting up? How is it tying you to your worst self? Where are the habits and thoughts that drag you down sneaking back onto your agenda? Identify this, and you have the key to stopping it. Recognising your own deceptions, borne out of exhaustion and stress, is the first step towards being true to yourself and finding a happier place. 

The key is right there, in your intuition and your knowing. Take a step back form addictions, bad habits and fear. Find yourself where you are and trust that you can be different, choose different and find a way through the overwhelm without exhausting yourself with soul depriving thoughts and actions. 

I hope you enjoyed that reading! If you would love a personal reading with me, my tarot shop is once again open! 

Want to learn the cards for yourself? Sign up for a free trial of my online workshop here... 

This year has had me questioning everything. It's been a difficult space and I've experienced everything from elation to existential worries, from clarity to severe anxiety. It's been tough. I was ready to put all the things I love to the side. One of those things being tarot. Yet the signs and symbols have not let this happen. I've had a steady flow of reminders that 'tarot is my thing's. Culminating in my eldest presenting this to me last night. She had worked on it in secret whilst I put her sister to bed. It really moved me.  Not least because I had no idea she could do bubble writing!  But also beacuse the sentiment, is not one   I have ever expressed to her. Not in those words. But coming from her, it suddenly makes a sweet kinda sense. Tarot is my thing.
​

2018 has called upon me to surrender more times than I'd like to recall. Starting with drama, then heart attacks and a long stint supporting recovery. Not to mention all the mini drama and crisis that domesticity and mother hood breeds... This post is prompted by a new level of Surrender. One decorated with small failings, illness, mistakes and disrespectful technology, that over the course of time start to feel like a boot into something other, some other mysterious next step...

Yet, like many a feisty woman before me, I keep dusting myself off, standing up and then promptly getting knocked back down again. On repeat. Without fail. Like a broken record. In this process I have started to take better note of the spiritual message presenting itself to me. Here is the wisdom I have gleaned from Surrender as a spiritual Practice (so far).

Surrender will tear the illusion of control from you repeatedly. You will accept your surrender to some extent, and soon after that you will attempt to get back up and be the boss of your life again. It doesn't work. Surrender has no time frame. You can't do it for a week, or a month and expect the 'same old same old' to change. Surrender is control totally annihilated. You don't choose when you get back up. It happens,it will. But you don't choose. For now, rest, be still, nurture the present. 

You cannot bargain with or set an intention for your surrender. To do so is not true surrender. It just isn't. That is your ego taking one last grasp at being in charge of your destiny. And when surrender is your spiritual lesson, your destiny, your fate, is no longer in your hands. 

Being in a state of surrender feels deeply unnatural to busy human people. And yet, every plant and creature ion this planet is surrendered to their circumstance. We tend to convince ourselves the sun rises at our whim. But as all plants know, you are only as blossomed as the rain that fell, and as only as strong as the next good frost. aNd to these things, you must surrender. There is no fight to be had. Curl back into your roots and wait. 

So often we battle to find the purpose, the answer to our conundrums of life. Surrender is about folding gently into the flow and letting it carry you. Trusting that it has a better outcome for you and your current dramas than you could possibly ever think up. And if not better, then different. Which may in time, turn out to be better... 

Surrender feels at times like a total lack of life. Nothing goes right, great plans falter, small plans never even make it past your mind, drama encroaches and your usual 'pick me ups' leave you dry. It's a tiresome and empty moment to be in. Yet when you really dig and delve into just being. With all thoughts and plans truly put to the side. There are gems of laughter, play and mini purpose that come rushing in. But you must sweep aside all else to allow them space to play. 

In real every day life Surrender can feel like a crumbling and a breaking away. Things go awry on every level. Stuff breaks and is lost, in a very tangible way, jewellery, clothes, cars. Your mind deserts you and what once was easy, is mired in a devout nothingness and as you urge the thoughts to be clear, so they become more foggy. Your body might ache, and appear, at times to be swollen with hormones, sneezes or mental confusion. This all is made worse, the more your resist. When you give over to Surrender, this stops, the signs and manifestations of it decease. 

Surrender is mystery made manifest. While the space of total surrender, you don't know a damn thing. And for once, you areaway with that.You can give over to the fates or the gods or the cosmic alignments and let life do it's thing with you. Which is a relief is it not, from being the master planner of your own fortunes? Slide into it, trust it, let it take you where it will. For it will. 

Alice Grist is the author of Dirty & Divine and creator of The Cosmic Mother Tarot - both available to buy on this site.

​

Becoming Vegan, was not, as I would have liked it to have been, for the animals, or even the environment. I have tried on those causes many times, and sadly failed, straddling a half way house instead - soya milk in my coffee and mozzarella on my pizza.

Nope, I was fairly well ensconced in the ignorant bliss of cheese world, and it took something huge to tip that scale. The deciding factor, the one that tipped me over the semi vegan edge, was my husband's heart attack at age 39.  Despite popular consumerist conception that we need meat and dairy for our protein and calcium, I found myself falling down a rabbit hole of compelling medical research suggesting the huge life supporting evidence of veganism (books references at end and highly recommended - don't wait till you have a heart attack though). Whilst many folks could not be convinced, choosing to lean on 1980's advertised wisdom instead. I was, however, susceptible to this fascinating new glut of information.  Life and death tends to do that for you.

So several weeks in and I have already noticed several wonderful and unexpected effects of this new plant based diet.

1) The first change, that came about, almost immediately, was a big boost in my energy. The past year had had it's way with me and I was so very lethargic. I could literally feel my muscles slackening and my physical motivation had left the room. A few days into veganism and I was back on the trampoline with the kids, laughing my damned head off. It wasn't a chore, it wasn't a hardship. It was fun, and I had the beans to do it, literally and metaphorically.

​2) Waking up in the morning was suddenly so easy. Instead of negotiating with a two year and and trying to find ways to let mummy lie down a bit longer. I was up with the larks.

3) On the opposite end, I was staying up later with no ill effects. My previous lethargy had lead to me going to bed not long after my kids, but now I'm staying up till (shock horror) 11pm! A massive me-time bonus for this tired mama! 

4) I feel more connected to my truth. Which sounds like a bit of a wishy washy concept. But it has aligned something in me that desperately needed aligning. Eating dairy products before came with guilt for me, because I know the horrors of that industry. So any such meal was one laden with regret. Now that I'm not dosing myself up on that, I feel clear, in line with my heart, and grateful for the food I consume. 

5) I haven't especially lost weight - that wasn't the reason behind this. However I've notices a flattening of my stomach and a general trimness of this old bod. Perhaps this is the healthier food, combined with the extra energy. Either way I feel I have halted the onset of middle agedness a little. 

6) As a spiritual writer and author, and a lover of tarot, my intuition and inspiration has been madly improved. Now my body isn't dealing with foods that made me feel sluggish I am free to explore my spiritual connection. To the point that last week I wrote a whole new book that seemed sent directly sent from a higher power. Yeah, that's pretty cool. 

7) My husband, who was a heavy meat eater pre-heart attack, and who is still partial to it, has seen some huge changes. He lost weight quickly and has enjoyed the meals prepared. Plus, I'm not gonna mince my words, our love life has improved. Exponentially. 19 years and 2 kids later - who knew! 

8) I don't miss what I was eating before - vegetarian. This new curve feels well overdue. And I have knocked together some pretty incredible meals. Everything can be veganised these days. Just this weekend I used a meat based curry recipe from The Curry Guy and turned it into a rich, creamy, better than the local takeaway style masala. It can be done! 

9) As a pizza lover, I figured this would be my biggest challenge. I thought cheese was the thing that made pizza so great. I have discovered that actually a good base, roast peppers, onion and a tonne of chilli, with a sprinkling of vegan cheese, is the bomb. And Hummus is a god send that makes a very happy garlic mayo alternative.

10) I feel alive. In so many ways. I am energised, excited and a little bit reborn. This has  opened doors and had me following my nose into new adventure - a cow sanctuary volunteer day was one such madcap adventure just this past Sunday. Aligning with self, inner knowing and being health focused has been a revelation! 

Follow my Vegan Journey, ups down and cooking successes at INSTAGRAM

​Recommended Reading: How Not To Die Dr Michael Greger and Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B Esselstyn