This morning I drew the Empress for my daily card, and I couldn't have chosen a better card for today. Last night while I was meditating, I was inspired by a new way to begin doing more for the world. Every Monday I will offer single-card tarot readings for $10, and donate the proceeds to charity. Each week my children will take turns choosing the charity of his/her choice to donate the money to.

My children’s current interests mainly revolve around environmental issues, so they will likely opt to support such efforts as protecting the rain forests and endangered/mistreated animals. It is my hope that their compassion will grow even stronger as they begin to research more organizations to give to, and see how many others we can help.

If you are interested in participating, be sure to book your reading by the end of the day!  And if you know anyone else who might be interested, please help me spread the word and make a difference!

♥ Kiki

This story began the first week of October. I ordered a tarot deck that had long been on my wish list, from yesasia.com. According to the website, it would take up to three weeks until it would be shipped. I waited, anxiously. About 3 1/2 weeks later, I get an email from the company, canceling my order. They couldn’t find any suppliers who currently carried the deck.

I searched online and found another site which sold it. I attempted to order several times from them, but each time I received a Paypal error message. I sent the company a couple of emails, asking how I could place an order, but never received a response. Determined to get this deck in my hands, I searched again, and found that this company had many different sites all selling the same things. I finally found one where I could successfully complete my order. (Why was I was hell bent on ordering from a company with non-existent customer service? … I *really* wanted this deck.)

A couple days later, I posted on a tarot forum, asking if anyone had done business with this company. I hadn’t received receipt or confirmation of my order, and was worried that I might have just thrown my money away. I was assured by several people that they had done business with this company successfully. So I felt better. Until a couple days later, when I received an email from the company, canceling my order, as the deck was out of stock.

Now that’s when a red flag should have gone off in my head, but for some reason I was receiving a different message from the Universe. I was trying to decide whether it was a sign that I wasn’t meant to have this deck right now, or if it was a test of my perseverance! What it turned out to be was the reality of this deck suddenly selling out and now being out of print!

Being naïve, I posted my new woes to the forum. I let everyone know that I had indeed heard from the company, but only to have had my order canceled. I shared my ponderings of whether I was meant to have this deck or not. Someone suggested eBay, where two of the decks were available. Apparently, the more savvy among us ran and snatched up the two remaining decks before I was able to click on the link, as they realized from everything I had said, that the deck was now likely out of print (a fact later confirmed by the distributor).

So there I was, with no deck, literally leading others to the last 2 copies of this deck available anywhere! I definitely learned my lesson there, and now know when searching for an elusive deck, to keep my mouth shut! But I sincerely approached the issue from a completely different mindset. I wasn’t thinking competitively. I just really wanted this deck and wanted to share my feelings with people who I knew would understand.

So that was it, there were no more copies of this deck being sold anywhere online. I posted a “Deck Wanted” notice on one of the forums, in the chance that anyone would want to sell their unwanted copy. Highly unlikely now though, as I had just created such a hoopla over the deck!

I received a couple of very nice emails from forum members with friends in Taiwan, where the deck was published. They said they would send out some emails and see if they could scout out a deck for me. Their kindness and generosity really made me feel great, and although I was *really* bummed about what had happened, I was very comforted by the kindheartedness of the few who reached out to help me.

I had this deck featured on several of my “Coming in the Mail” lists, here on my blog, on my forum profile, and in a forum thread as well. I thought about removing it from my lists, and sticking it back on my “Decks Wanted” list...but something made me leave it where it was. I didn’t see any hope of getting this deck, but I wasn’t ready to make it that final!

That very day, the day that I realized all the copies had been snatched up...I was emailing with my mom. She was talking about her plans for the week, and mentioned that my dad was in Shanghai on a business trip, and on his way to Taiwan for one day, before traveling on to Dubai. Taiwan??? My whole body perked up at that word. I don’t know if my dad has ever been to Taiwan, but he was headed there on the very day that the deck I wanted from Taiwan was now unavailable! The coincidence was nothing short of amazing!

I frantically emailed the story to my mom, asking her to call my dad and see if he could search out the deck for me. I knew the chances were slim to none, because for one, my dad knows nothing about tarot. Secondly, he would only be in Taiwan for one day, and was there on business, so had work to do. He just wouldn’t have much time to look, and even if he did, it was doubtful he would know where to begin! Thirdly, the people I had talked to with friends in Taiwan said that they couldn’t find the deck anywhere, and they *knew* tarot and knew where to look. Yes, the odds were against me, but I couldn’t help but feel that the synchronicity of his being in Taiwan on that very day was a sign.

I emailed my mom pictures of the deck, as well as a picture of the cover of the box. She forwarded them to my dad, and said she’d ask him to look, but couldn’t promise anything. So I let it go. I was really excited about the possibility, but I detached from the outcome.

The next day I get an email from my mom. My dad had searched high and low that day and couldn't find the deck… in fact, most of the book stores he went to didn’t even know what tarot cards were. That evening, he went to dinner with a business associate and she made some calls and they located one available in a book store on top of a high rise building! They had to take a cab there from the dinner, but when they got there they couldn't find it. They had other tarot decks, but they couldn’t find the one I wanted. After a bit of searching, finally one of my dad’s colleagues, searching with him, found it!

I literally started jumping up and down with excitement, so amazed at how the Universe miraculously conspired to bring this deck to me!

I had to laugh at the thought of my conservative, 62 year old father, President of a large company, along with his colleagues, spending the day and evening flitting around Taiwan, searching for an elusive tarot deck for his hippie daughter! It’s such a delightfully wonderful story. I am so incredibly grateful for the dedication and teamwork that went into this effort for me.

I will treasure this deck forever, as the story behind its acquisition will never be beat! The name of the deck? Tarot of the Magical Forest. Magical indeed!

I waited to post this story until I actually had the deck in my hands, not wanting to jinx any of it. Apparently the reason it was so difficult for me to get the deck in the beginning is because I was destined to have a greater story attached with it, and a testimony of the incredible magic in this world!

Deck: Tarot of the Magical Forest