Spiritual awakening through tarot reading:

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.” – Eckhart Tolle

As she evolved into her consciousness, Akeel O’Connor realised that life as she knew it would change.

But she struggled with her limiting beliefs and questioned why she was being called into a space that facilitated practices she had come to learn of as wayward.

“When you follow that internal guidance system and live your dreams, live the purpose imprinted on your soul, you not only live a life of abundance, but you powerfully impact those around you. I used to ignore my internal knowing because many times it pointed me to unconventional spaces to do unconventional things” O’Connor stated

She added: “It challenged my faith and trust by calling me to step up out and allow the ground to form underneath my feet. Every time I still myself, meditated, got the guidance, and followed it, I walk into amazing experiences, I experience profound changes or I assist in transforming someone’s life.”

It was for this reason that O’Connor found her way to tarot reading as one of her contributions to self and to humanity.

“So I was always taught that certain things were evil and not of God. For me, in order to hold a belief as true, I must test it out and have a personal experience with it. So I went to the store, bought a pack of tarot cards, and I was so afraid. I thought I was going to invite evil things into my life, but what happened instead shocked me. I found that the same voice that guided me through life, the voice I heard speak to me when I listened to a great sermon, the same presence I felt in the midst of a praise and worship session was the exact same voice guiding and revealing things to me in a tarot reading.”

For O’Connor, a tarot is a deck of cards used to channel divine wisdom and guidance through the process of pulling the cards and interpreting their layout.

“The modern-day use of the cards is meant to provide insight into the innermost truths of your higher self. In other words, the cards provide an evolved awareness of what you already know deep within. I started doing reading for close friends and then acquaintances and the way people’s lives were being transformed through the readings was amazing.”

Since then, O’Connor has been working to dispel the myths associated with tarot reading and creating greater awareness around the practice through conversations.

“The modern use of tarot is very different from what it used to be. Most modern-day readers do not claim to ‘tell the future’. I don’t believe that anyone has the power to decide your future as I believe everyone has free will. However, there is a sort of predictive nature to tarot. It shows you where your current path will lead should you continue to follow it. It shines a light on the consequences of your current actions. It gives you the opportunity to make different choices in the present should you wish to change your path or to make your decisions with confidence and boldness should you want to stay on this path.”

She said not only have tarot cards revealed to her areas to be addressed in the lives of those who have sought a reading, but it also revealed to her childhood trauma wounds and negative beliefs that are unconsciously held and which prevent individuals from becoming the best version of themselves.

“Tarot has a history of being associated with the occult because it was used a lot in that arena. As a result, it’s gotten this rap of being evil. Tarot is a tool and isn’t inherently evil. In the same way that a pastor uses a mic and a DJ at a dancehall party uses a mic. This doesn’t make a mic holy or worldly, it is just a mic. It is subject to the direction and intent of the user.”

But what do her colleagues and those who would have known her to be a Christian now think about her renewed belief system?

“I speak my truth and stand my ground on my beliefs no matter who I speak with. Anyone who has objections, I listen respectfully and with the intention of sifting out truth in their words. If I don’t find that truth in their words, I won’t allow those words to shift or shape my reality and beliefs. What I often encounter is people repeating a set of beliefs that they have been told or that they uphold because of tradition or societal pressure. Not a set of beliefs that they have tried and tested but beliefs that they continue to hold because it’s all they know.”

O’Connor said it is her hope that people will come to realise what the key is to their happiness and live life as boldly as their spirit bids.

“If you’re mentally and spiritually bankrupt, it will reflect physically in your life, business, and finances. I hope that we will collectively come to an understanding that it is all connected and start striving for balance in all areas of our life mind, body, and spirit. I hope that collectively, we stop just accepting beliefs handed down to us and test, search, and experience things for ourselves. I hope that we stop putting spirituality in a box and open our eyes to see that the spirit moves at it sees fit to transform and transmute, and it will use whatever tools necessary,”

She noted: “I hope that we come to understand that being religious and being spiritual, while closely associated, are not the same thing. There are so many religious people who lack spirit, and a result love, kindness, compassion, connection, purpos, and understanding. Religion without spirit is simply an empty shell with pointy edges that hurts and damages those with whom it comes in contact.”