Tarot Canadian Politics, Election Day!

Well, it is finally election day. We have watched the craziest election cycle I have ever seen with politicians disappearing the entire time and people publishing tell-all books that tell nothing more than what we already knew, in order to disrupt the outcome.

Well we shall see tonight is the night!

In the meantime, here's how the cards play down today...

LPC: Ace of Cups, Ten of Pentacles, Queen of Wands

Holy crap. The Ace speaks to emotional joy beginning, followed by the fullness of the success of the ten of pentacles, and the Queen of Wands making it all real; I have a difficult time, not calling a Liberal Majority with these cards.

Should it not be a LPC majority, it will be a much stronger minority than they had going into the election.

CPC: Ace of Pentacles, Princess of Wands, Ten of Cups

So, these cards give me pause on the heels of the cards I just drew for the LPC. The ten of cups suggest great joy and happiness coming out of the election. Am I seeing relieve that they didn't get their hats handed to them? At the very least, it seems that the Base is going to come out solid for the CPC and they will likely continue to be the Official Opposition, post-election. 

NDP: Ace of Pentacles, Knight of Wands, Two of Swords

The split occurring in the Two of Swords is interesting, as if there will be a physical divide between good solid successes in the NDP Camp, but the results will leave the NDP with a decision to make.

GPC: Nine of Pentacles, Nine of Cups, Eight of Pentacles 

I keep getting weird cards for the GPC. the 9 of pentacles is the energy of desire, envy, jealousy towards the other, coupled with the wish card, the nine of cups, there is a good solid base for joy and happiness and sucess, the eight suggest that there will be good solid forward movement for the Greens to grown on.

BQ: Ten of cups, Nine of Pentacles, Ace of Pentacles

The desire to win and the envy of the physical competition seems not to deter the Bloc, looks like they'll come out of the election with a good standing position.

And the Leaders:

Justin Trudeau: Two of Swords, 6 of Wands, The Star

Looks like our incumbent is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat. The idea that choosing to run the election in spite of the continued calls for one from the opposition, pays off for the opposition, giving him his victory, but not the outcome he went into the election hoping for. 

Jagmeet Singh: The Hermit, The Devil, Six of Wands

His refusal to give up control of the idea that he might one day be PM is an overriding energy to which Mr. Singh has sold his soul. In spite of this he will win his seat. 

Annamie Paul: The Devil, 7 of Swords, Princess of Cups

Ms. Paul comes to the election with control issues, and in spite of her very powerful appearance after the debates, the negative commentary surrounding her camp may ultimately take a toll on her campaign and although she may not be successful, don't count her out, her campaign is only getting started, she has a heartfelt commitment to the party.

Erin O’Toole: Lovers, Two of Wands, Death

Mr. O'Toole came to the table with the idea of uniting Canadians behind defeating his opponent, the incumbent. In spite of the very positive campaign he brought, the voters believe the air that comes from his victory will be quite the opposite of that, and as a result of that, his own riding may have listened to him and chosen change. If he gets his wish, it will be because Canadians decided to make a change, and I feel more like it is just his supporters who decide they want change. 

Maxime Bernier: Lovers, Magician, Courage

Looking for kindred spirits, Mr. Bernier brings all of the possible tools required to bring his version of magic to power. It's as if he brings to the table everything that society needs, except the courage required to speak a truth to light. These are powerfully rough cards.

Yves-François Blanchet: Knight of Swords, Princess of Swords, The Devil

Speaking his truth out loud has sparked a movement, will it have sparked loudly enough yet to create change? The Devil cards suggest it has. The separatists have awoken and may very well make their presence known this go around. They did say Quebec is Mr. Trudeau's to lose.

Summary

With these cards, I predict a Liberal minority government. I expect that the entire landscape is going to look very much the same as it did going into the election.

I asked how different the House will look after the election:

 3 of Wands, Princess of Wands, Five of Swords.

As progressive and harmonic as the Nation would like to be, and although seeds have been planted for people to work together, and grow and heal Canada, there are just enough detractors for the same chicanery that went before to continue on afterwards.

Hold onto your hats, and refuse to park your brain at the door. 

Tarot Canadian Politics, halftime show!

 We find ourselves halfway through the election cycle and now comes the time to test the progress of the Candidates. As I prepare to read their cards, the CPC is polling in first place, with the Liberals in close second, followed by the NDP, greens etc.

Here's how the cards play down...

LPC: Empress Rx, The Moon, Queen of Pentacles Rx

That Empress reversed shows the feeling of frustration and anxiety the Liberals are feeling, they've got get really bright and shiny about where they are looking for their votes, they're feeling a little more shaky than they actually are. So they have to ground themselves and stop listening to the egoes.

CPC: Five of Wands Rx, Eight of Cups Rx, Three of Swords Rx

So, these cards don't make any right sense given the polls. Essentially, the five has them battling and struggling to move ahead, and mostly fear that at the end of they day, they're dead in the water. Possibly the energy refers to the inability to bring in anything more than just their base in spite of OTooles plan. 

NDP: The Sun Rx, 4 Wands Rx, Page of Pentacles

The positive aspect of the three cards is not lost on the fact that there is a probability for gains, but not enough to get any further ahead than still building. The NDP needs to focus on grounding their positive energies and bringing those to the fore and there they'll find the growth they seek.

GPC: 2 of Cups jumped out of the deck; a possible merger? followed by the 9 of Swords, 3 of cups and 8 of wands. 
This doesn't look good for the Greens, there is a large amount of energy encouraging their supporters to cross the floor in order to further their goals.

BQ: The Bloc got a boost in the arm from the debate. All that remains in putting their winning campaign together is to not lose it in the English debates and just go with the flow.

Others: Seven of Pentacles Rx, Lovers Rx, King of Pentacles Rx

Bad news but here we see the bitterness at being left out in the cold, a jilted lover and and an unfulfilled King.

Justin Trudeau: The Devil, Ten of Swords Rx, Ace of Swords Rx

Our incumbent PM is feeling a mite like he isn't as in control as he'd like to be, and is feeling rather enslaved to the situation in spite of the fact that it isn't over until election day. He still has a few cards up his sleeve. 

Jagmeet Singh: Knight of Wands Rx, Six of Pentacles, Ten of Pentacles

The leader of the NDP wants to ride into Parliament on his trusty electric bike, and he'll find that his consistent give and take and compromising is going to pay off for him, in spite of the fact that he is not Jack Layton. 

Annamie Paul: Wheel of Fortune, Ace of Swords, Six of Wands

You pays your money, you takes your chances. Hiding behind the truth created a situation that may have created an unnecessary battle for Ms. Paul. If she can get out of her head, she will see her way to some victory.

Erin O’Toole: Strength, Queen of Swords Rx, Knight of Swords

Mr. O'toole is stalwart confident, but he is petrified that a perceived gaffe of his has spun his campaign out of control! He is hoping the campaign will pay off in spite of it, but knows he is in for a wild ride.

Maxime Bernier: Eight of Pentacles Rx, Death, Judgement

Tearing down and unbuilding has created the slow bleed that will be the death of his party. The writing has been on the wall for a while, now it's time to heed the call of the universe.

Yves-François Blanchet: Wishing to inject positive energy into a campaign that just consistently seems to leave him wondering what to do next, he will be left with a choice he does not care to make.

Summary

Based on these cards, I suggest that a minority Conservative Government may be in the works. Right now the cards suggest it will be very close. We have two weeks until election day.

Can the Liberals pull it off?

We shall see.

Tarot Politics - Canadian Election 2021

In honour of my statement that I trust my cards more than I trust the pollsters, here are my polls for the election should it be held this week. I pulled three cards for each leader.

Based on these cards, I am currently predicting a Liberal Minority Government, with the NDP holding the balance of power. (I notice at this publishing that I did NOT read for the Bloc.)

LPC: Queen of Cups, Prince of Cups, Princess of Disks
Queen of Cups represents the focus on the people, the care taking that has been done. The Prince of cups shows the concern for his base and taking care of only what the LPC cares about and followed by the Princess of Disks, shows a grounded beginning, likely showing a squeaker of a majority or worse,  

CPC: 3 of Cups, 3 of Pentacles, 7 of Pentacles
Celebration, building, harvesting. They are going to make inroads in places they didn’t expect. O’Toole’s hard work will pay off.

NDP: 6 of Cups, the Lovers, Prince of Wands

Give and take, lots of support, lots ot offer, but at the end of the day, the energy will still be that of always the bridemaid, never the bride. The party may be holding the balance of power.

GPC: 9 of Cups, 4 of Cups, Temperance
The wish is for more vote, s’more seats, this is a little bit of happy comfort after success, although it’s going to take a little bit of work to get there from here.

Others: 10 of Pentacles, the Hermit, Queen of Cups
This will be the ultimate death of the party, the majority of whom will crawl under their rocks and all that will be left will be crying into their koolaid.

Justin Trudeau: 2 of Cups, the Fool, 2 of Wands

He goes into this election with the hearts of the electorate and he is taken the chance of writing a knew mandate, and so he does, but it looks an awful lot like the last mandate.

Jagmeet Singh: 7 of Pentacles, 5 of Cups, 2 of Pentacles

Expecting to reap the harvest, it’s going to be all over but crying over spilt milk, the deuce of Pents here feels like the magpie in her harbinger of death mode. I don’t think he will even win his seat. But his part will make inroads.

Annamie Paul: Knight of Wands, the Wheel of Fortune, 4 of Pentacles

Charging into the arena with energy and passion the wheel will spin and she will be satisfied to have new more solid place from which to begin.

Erin O’Toole: Ace of Wands, the High Priestess, 5 of Swords.

Here is the man with a brilliant plan, inspired by everything Canadians want to hear, and it is going to be a challenge to get it past Canadians.

Maxime Bernier: Adjustment, the High Priestess, 5 of Swords

This leader needs to come to terms with the reality that although he has some really valid and just concepts, his followers need to learn the difference between reality and fantasy. And as such there just isn’t enough support for him to win his seat.

I have been living in Quebec since 1983. When I first moved here, they were in the process of forcing everyone in the Province to be Francophones. I was no exception.

For some reason, until that point in time, whoever had been in charge of the school boards in Quebec, in their ultimate stupidity, had decided that the Francophones and the Anglophones would go to different schools. Anyone who didn't have an Anglophone birthright, ie, a Grandparent who had studied in an English school in Quebec, was relegated to attending the French language school board.

At the time, it was likely a really good idea. It would ensure that all immigrants would learn to speak French.

But they made a mess of things.

The Francophone kids were given one hour of English class per week. And the Anglophone kids were given half days in French. So, inevitably what has come to pass is that Quebec boasts a fully bilingual Anglophone population and a sadly unilingual Francophone population. The Allophones seem to have gotten a hit and miss attitude thrown their way, in that if they are Anglophone at home, they are bilingual, but if they are Francophone at home, they have a similar non-existent English skill.

Needless to say, I went to a lot of effort to translate my website sales pages into French. Ensuring that should Quebecers EVER decide they might be able to eat something hotter than a jalapeno, they'd be able to shop on my site.

A few years back someone reported us to the Office de la Langue Francaise du Quebec: aka, the Language Police. The fellow who came to visit our offices was a very nice man, his English was immaculate and his original mother tongue was Spanish, since he came from Columbia. I was vrey surprised to learn that French was not only not his first or second langue, it wasn't even his third, as his mother was Chinese, he had been taught Mandarin. It was only as an adult, upon moving to Quebec that our Language Cop learned to speak French.

I love that story.

Needless to say, we were told to put a button on the Front page so that our customers could find their way directly to the French pages and we were done. 3000 pages in both official languages and we didn't even get a nod on the LOCAL news media. Everyone in the world who gets audited by the OLFQ gets national coverage but us.

I have had people behave like we are pariahs because we are Anglo, even though both of us speak French fluently, I moreso than Greg.

Needless to say it was really insulting when we received this email...

Bonjour, je cherchais des sauces et j’ai été très déçu de constater que vous accordez si peu d’importance à la qualité du français sur votre site internet. Je trouve que c’est dommage, c’est un critère important pour moi en tant que consommateur.

At first, I was really insulted and then I remembered who I am and why we do what we do.

When Greg and I started this little project called Peppermaster, we had to import all of our chilli peppers. ALL OF THEM.

Today, we boast 90% locally grown peppers during the fall harvest season. That's a lot of work on our part. We didn't do it alone, certainly, but we are definitely one of the main reasons that farmers in Quebec began growing peppers and now you can get ghost chillies in the grocery store! Amazing!

Well spirit and light beings that we are, we decided to put a spin on the incident and make ourselves feel better.

So we did. I put a Google Translate button on the website. Now you can enjoy our QUALITY GOOGLE TRANSLATION.


Dear Mr. Client,

I typically would respond to your email in French, but I wanted to be sure that you understood me quite clearly, and since my French is so weak, that you felt the need to write about it, I thought I would write you back in English, and let Google translate do the work for me.

I was born in St. John's Newfoundland. I moved to Quebec to go to school and have gone to great lengths to no only learn to speak French, to write it as well. I have met many a Quebecer whose "Quality" of French is well below mine. In fact, my first husband born and bred in Quebec and nobody in his entire family speaks French. I personally find that offensive. So I actually went to McGill and studied French so that I could speak it, and speak it properly, obviously, that has not been the result.

My husband grew up in the Caribbean, where English was the only language. So, although, he can speak a modicum of French, he is far from fluent.

Writing the language is a whole other ball game, though, and certainly using colloquialisms, whether in English or in French, may put some people off, but that's why your note was so inspiring.

We are a very small company and hiring a translator is simply unavailable to us, at this time.

I am an Anglophone and so is my husband, and it would be horrible if nothing other than my low quality French prevented someone from purchasing the World's best hot sauce. Then, it is clear we've made a huge marketing mistake.
So, we took your email to heart. I have now offered a landing page where a French speaking customer will be given the option of Google Translating our website or visiting it in the words of the owners of the site.

I hope this solution is works, and look forward to sending you a bottle of hot sauce of your choice in order to thank you for the heads' up. I personally recommend the Hurricane Mash. It is our best seller and Greg has been eating it every day since he was 8 years old.

We invite you to visit the website, again, and choose a product to try. When you find one, use coupon code: coupon code removed
---------------------------------------

And here is the Google translation:

Cher monsieur

Je répondrais généralement à votre e-mail en français, mais je voulais être sûr que vous m'avez bien compris, et comme mon français est assez faible que vous nous écriviez, je pensais que je vous répondrais en anglais et laisserais Google Traduction faire le travail pour moi.

Je suis née à St. John's à Terre-Neuve. J'ai déménagé au Québec pour aller à l'école et j'ai fait de grands efforts pour non seulement apprendre à parler français, mais aussi à l'écrire. J'ai rencontré beaucoup de Québécois dont la «qualité» du français est bien en dessous de la mienne. En fait, mon premier mari né et élevé au Québec et personne dans toute sa famille ne parle français. Personnellement, je trouve cela offensant. Je suis donc allé à McGill et j'ai étudié le français pour pouvoir le parler, et le parler correctement, évidemment, ce n'est pas le résultat.

Mon mari a grandi dans les Caraïbes, où l'anglais était la seule langue. Ainsi, bien qu'il puisse parler un minimum de français, il est loin de parler couramment.

L'écriture de la langue est un tout autre jeu de balle, cependant, et certainement utiliser des expressions familières, que ce soit en anglais ou en français, peut décourager certaines personnes, mais c'est pourquoi votre note était si inspirante.

Nous sommes une très petite entreprise et l'embauche d'un traducteur ne nous est tout simplement pas disponible pour le moment.

Je suis anglophone, tout comme mon mari, et ce serait horrible si rien d'autre que mon français de mauvaise qualité n'empêchait quelqu'un d'acheter la meilleure sauce piquante du monde. Ensuite, il est clair que nous avons commis une énorme erreur de marketing.

Nous avons donc pris votre e-mail à cœur. J'ai maintenant offert une page de destination où un client francophone aura la possibilité de traduire Google notre site Web ou de le visiter dans les mots des propriétaires du site.

J'espère que cette solution fonctionne, et j'ai hâte de vous envoyer une bouteille de sauce piquante de votre choix afin de vous remercier pour votre attention. Je recommande personnellement le Hurricane Mash. C'est notre best-seller et Greg le mange tous les jours depuis qu'il a 8 ans.

Nous vous invitons à visiter de nouveau le site Web et à choisir un produit à essayer. Lorsque vous en trouvez un, utilisez le code coupon: Code coupon éffacé
Merci,

Tina Brooks

Life as an Autistic Person Confounds Me and it is Awesome!

Life with autism confounds me, or I should say it used to until I learned I was autistic and suddenly life made sense.

When I was little people were the most confounding creatures. I found my mother illogical and weird, and she found me cold and distant; occasionally mean. I didn't know I was autistic then. I was just me.

When I was little, everything seemed to be as big as the universe. Nothing was ever a little deal. I've since learned that I have hypersensitivity. Things don't just seem a bigger deal to me. They are a bigger deal. But when I was little, everyone just thought I was melodramatic. So it confounded me.

My mom is a pretty good cook. It's a wonder that she has no idea how nice she was to me considering I had no idea why I didn't like food then, either. Sometimes the way food felt in my mouth bothered me. I like peas, but they explode in my mouth, so I don't like peas. I like potatoes, but everytime I'd ever eaten them, they'd come right back up. So food confounded me.

When I was little, little pictures were seen and not heard, so I didn't have privilege of the exposure to adult interactions that little kids get today. The only reason I got to hang around with the adults was because I was enormously shy. I wasn't so shy, I was petrified of children, they were mean, they were loud, and they were violent. So even though there were gads of kids to play with, I far rather'd hang with my Dad. He understood me while the kids confounded me.

When I was little I hated the feeling of clothes touching me. I couldn't stand the tags rubbing against my neck. I got rashes where the clothes touched me and I was constantly covered in rashes. When I was little, I was told, it's soft, it's nice, when I found it picky and itchy. So, clothes confounded me.

Ultimately, I think in being an undiagnosed Aspie, I got lucky. My life unfolded in such a way as I had to learn how to deal with it, because I didn't have any reason to not. I didn't have the luxury of explaining all my little idiosynchracies away as Aspergers Syndrome.

So, I'm going to be 50 on my birthday in December.

Life continues to this day to confound me.

So, here's the bad news.

None of these issues have gone away. I'm just as confounded on a daily basis as I was when I was a child.

The difference now is that I have a diagnosis that explains why I have always felt like I am different...

I am different.

And contrary to what some autism groups suggest, that is not a bad thing. It's just a thing.

In fact, once I'd figured out how to deal with and alleviate these difficulties in my life, I grew up to be a pretty cool person because I'm different.

My parents looked for the special in me and focused on what I was capable of doing, trying never to compare me to other children. So, they didn't really look at my odd milestones and see them as setbacks or savantism, they just saw these wonders of their baby girl growing.

They taught me that I am not my challenges, they are simply issues I have to deal with. I'll never outgrow these challenges, but as I get older, I continually learn new coping skills and mechanisms that make my autism less stressful and confounding.

I'm lucky, most days, I'm pretty calm and function pretty well. But sometimes I can't function well at all. So my life is arranged in such a way as to have the supports I require when I require them. When I can't function... the ball gets picked up and sorted on my behalf until I'm back functioning again. Usually, I'm out for a day maybe two at worst.

And then I pull it back together and life is totally awesome. Until the next challenge hits, like the shingles outbreak that I'm about to endure for the third time in the last five years. Or the illness I will have to deal with tomorrow morning because I had conventionally grown vegetables for dinner. Or because my shirt has gotten so annoying that I've gotten trapped in it trying to get it off. I like to joke that if I bump into three walls before I get out of my bedroom in the morning, I go back to bed.

Being autistic isn't easy somedays, but any day, it's me, and embracing it is a lot better for my sanity than fighting it. So, on bad days, life will most assuredly continue to confound me. On good days, life is awesome.

This blog was written for Autistics Speaking Day 2015.

To raise Autism awareness and Acceptance, and battle negative stereotypes about Autism. To advocate for the inclusion of Autistic people in the community. To offer a forum to broadcast our stories and thoughts, and to help the messages of Autistic people and non-Austistic allies reach as many people as possible.

I invite you to click here to read some of the other blogs that were written in honour of this day.

We share these words so you can know how absolutely awesome people with Autism are, regardless of our challenges.

Boycott Autism Speaks Flashblog

I'm autistic. I'll be 50 on my birthday.

Did you know that there are adult autistics?

We don't outgrow it.

It's a lifelong neurological condition we cannot simply remove.

Autism Speaks' mission is to change my future.

They are dedicated to funding global research into the causes, prevention, treatments and CURE for autism;

Except...

They don't know that the best parts of me are BECAUSE I'm autistic.

They don't care to listen. They claim that it's "time to listen",

Except...

They do not wish to listen to Autistic voices.

The problem with finding the missing pieces of the puzzle is that you're not actually using the EXISTING PIECES to solve it.

Talk to us.

Ask an autistic person what it is like to BE autistic.

Ask the autistic person what THEY need.

Stop giving donations to Autism Speaks and put your money where people will actually LISTEN!

Boycott Autism Speaks

Readers' Studio 2015 Swag

I was a day late to the Studio and two late for the Psych conference but I lapped up what I managed to attend! OMG... life changing.

This is me at RS 2015 with Donnaleigh de laRose.

Carrie Paris; you are my new Goddess a million blessings on your house for the love and healing you shall encourage on my pathway.

Theresa Reid, your encouragement, your faith and assurance that I would get to the conference! It was worth the Cobalt Blue... what a gift!

Dan Pelletier, as always for your friendship and your encouragement along my pathway.

Every heart I touched, every heart that touched mine. I thank you and bless you everyone! See you all next year.

Tarot Swag from RS 2015

See you next year!