Melissa Cynova Picture it. 2016 Northwest Tarot Symposium. I’m sitting at a table with some other tarot nerds and make an off-color joke (how unlike me) HAAA!, I hear! So loud and clear it was like a bell ringing. I laughed to hear such a laugh! It was Arwen. She’s my people, now.
Arwen gives readings with joy and light and love and sass and those EYEBROWS. But always the joy is there. She’s a delight, and I’m delighted that she filled out my little questionnaire. Find Arwen here and here (for Tarotscopes!)
LFT Questionnaire
1. What you appreciate the most in your friends.
First and foremost, I appreciate kindness. Humor rocks too. I want people who would be all decked out for the most fabulous party but would never complain if we stopped to pick up an animal who needed help.
2. Your idea of happiness.
A world where we can all be our best selves. You know, the Higher Self who reminds us to be kind, be compassionate, be soft with others. The Better Self who is gentle with our fragile, flawed selves. A world where we just love one another more and more each day.
3. Your idea of misery.
Misery, that all-encompassing sorrow, comes when I’ve done something hurtful to someone else. When I can’t apologize. When I can’t make things right. I work very very very hard to stay respectful even in arguments. I know I can’t be all things to all people but I want to at least offer my compassion to others. And knowing I had hurt someone to the point of no return? That is my misery. I don’t forgive myself easily for that sort of thing.
4. Where would you like to live?
LOL Sooooo many places! In a hut by myself on a mountain. In a cottage by a lake with my friends. In an RV traveling the US and Mexico and Canada with my husband. I’ve got a motto from Ashleigh Brilliant. Bloom Where You Are Planted. I have lived all over so it helps me remember that each place I land has some value. I just have to find it. I’m more of a small town girl than a large city—unless that city is like Austin where you have pockets of small community. Oh, rambling me, Austin was probably my favorite place to live with Lansing, MI being a close second. Give me a good community and the place doesn’t matter.
5. Your favorite colors and flowers.
Aubergine for the color and gladiola for the flowers. 😀
6. Your favorite poets.
Sarah Teasdale, Maya Angelou, Pat Parker, John O’Donohue
7. Your heroes/heroines in fiction.
Wonder Woman. 😀 She kicks ass, baby! I also love Frodo and Sam for their friendship.
8. What role does divination play in your life?
It’s an everyday event for me. I pull a card each morning to answer the question “What wisdom should I carry with me into my day.” That question comes from retreats with Joanna Colbert who learned it from retreat leaders from her own work. I am not so much about “what will the next six months bring” but I do readings on shorter periods. I use all sorts of divination from Lenormand to Oracles, Astrology and of course Tarot. It’s also my livelihood so there’s that.
9. Your heroes/heroines in real life.
My mother is still my hero even though she’s passed on. She was a powerful Scorpio who loved hard. She defended her children fiercely. President Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, inspire me on a daily basis. I don’t see that inspiration slacking even after they exit the White House. Their love for one another is palpable. The people fighting for #lovetrumpshate, #nodapl, and all the other pushbacks against the insidious bigotry in our world are my heroes. Anyone who has ever stood up for themselves and others…heroes.
10. What is your present state of mind?
Calm overall. I forgot to do this so I’m a bit embarrassed but I’ll live. I have a sense of wholeness that hasn’t been present for me since 11/8/16. That night fractured me on many levels. Stole a lot of my sense of peace and safety even though I’m extremely privileged. I am two steps down for a heterosexual white male in our society. One step down if someone is just seeing me as a white woman married to a white man. I self-identify as a queer femme (and my husband is totally okay with that.) I welcome this sense of wholeness. It’s coming from seeing all the outrage and “hell no’s” on my timelines. I see that I am not alone in my fear and anger and repulsion. And that helps.
11. What is your favorite tarot deck or divination tool?
Gaian Tarot is my fave deck. I’ve been reading with it as my go-to professional deck since it came out as a limited edition. I have a lot of decks but this one is my heart deck.
12. Your favorite songs?
I’m not much of a music listener so these will be old. “Wildfire” is one. “Magic Man” is another. I love singers like Lisa Thiel and Enya. My friends joke that I’m a wallpaper music fan. So David Glass, N. Carlos Nakai, Whale sounds, waterfall music… 😀
13. What is your favorite word?
JOY
14. What is your least favorite word?
Trump
15. What sound or noise do you love?
Silence. I don’t like ambient noise at all. I suppose the sound of water is my favorite.
16. What sound or noise do you hate?
Arguing, loud voices
17. What turns you on?
Brainy people
18. What turns you off?
Willful ignorance.
19. What is your favorite curse word?
DIRTBALL!
20. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
He’d look at me and say, “Your motto ‘Seek joy, y’all’ rocks my heavenly robes.”