Excellent new client testimonial.

Posted in testimonials on April 13th, 2011 by Anna Murphy – Be the first to comment

“I don’t usually write testimonials, but I feel compelled to do so for Anna. Approximately two years ago, I was struggling with a couple of seemingly intractable issues. I have a healthy dose of skepticism, but I’m also open to various forms of wisdom. More importantly, I was desperate. At this point, I randomly came across a pamphlet for “Circles of Wisdom,” with Anna’s name among the those listed. (Or was this random? I guess this question is what makes our Universe so maddening and beguiling.) “What do I have to lose?” I thought. So I called. “Well, Anna is available today,” I was told. Great; sign me up.

Now, I had come across these “psychic types” before, so I was pleasantly surprised when I first met Anna. She wasn’t annoyingly ethereal. She didn’t speak in Oprahesque jargon. Anna was funny! And down-to-earth! I felt like I was having a matter-of-fact conversation, rather than being a slightly bemused subject of a contrived situation. read more »

What is the origin of the Tarot?

Posted in Tarot FAQ on April 1st, 2011 by Anna Murphy – Be the first to comment
"The Hanged Man" from the Marseilles Tarot.

A card from an early Tarot.

The Tarot first appeared in the 1400s as a card game known as tarocchi or “trumps.” The oldest surviving decks were painstakingly hand-painted treasures created for wealthy Italian families. The original designer is unknown.

It’s likely that Tarot cards were used for divination from the very beginning. Because the human desire to see into the future or commune with the gods is instinctive and cross-cultural, anything that can give a randomized or varying result has been used for divination at one time or another, whether it’s the movement of smoke from a sacred fire or the pattern of tossed stones. (This is partly why games of chance, like playing cards or dice, are still forbidden by certain religious sects.)

Unfortunately, no records survive mentioning the Tarot’s earliest use as a divinatory tool. Due to the enormous cultural power of the Catholic Church at the time, individualized spirituality — including any sort of divination — was strictly taboo. Anyone who flouted these restrictions literally risked torture and execution. read more »

What is Tarot?

Posted in Tarot FAQ on March 22nd, 2011 by Anna Murphy – Be the first to comment
This is the first of a series of “Frequently Asked Questions” articles that I’ll be posting over the next several weeks. Feel free to discuss or leave questions in the comment section.

The Tarot is a deck of illustrated cards commonly used for divination.

Hundreds of different Tarot decks are available today. Plenty of them are worthless or ugly, but the power of a genuine 78-card Tarot is not in the artwork so much as in the underlying structure of the deck, which corresponds to a complex esoteric diagram known as the Tree of Life. read more »

Saturn Return: Negotiating the first ring.

Posted in astrology on December 23rd, 2010 by Anna Murphy – Be the first to comment

If you’re only going to learn one thing about astrology, Saturn return is the thing to learn.

Astrology is a widely misunderstood subject. At its core, it’s the study of natural cycles. The first Saturn return is a powerful rite of passage that happens for everyone around the ages of 27-33. Educating yourself about this cycle will allow you to respond consciously and creatively, allowing you to truly go with the flow instead of being thrown around as if you were riding a Tilt-A-Whirl without a seat belt. read more »