Advice

“To look in the cup three or four times a day, as some silly folk do, is simply to ask for contradictory manifestation and consequent bewilderment, and is symptomatic of the idle, empty, bemused minds that prompt to such ill-advised conduct.” ~ Tea-Cup Reading and Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves by a Highland Seer

This is not unlike asking a friend for advice; advice being what I like to call “what you ask for when you already know the answer but wish you didn't”; and when your friend's advice did not meet with what you wanted to hear, but rather what you needed to hear, you carried on and asked your next friend and so on until you should come across that one that would validate your poor decision. Or rather like shaking the Magic 8 Ball again and again until finally the “right” answer presented itself.

The Seer reminds us that it is best to ask the question you wish to know the answer to only once, accepting the reading as it pertains to the relevant factors of the current situation. If and only when the current situation has changed is it then appropriate to re-address your question to the universe. Just as if when ordering a new book thru amazon.com you wouldn't keep ordering the book again and again until one came, you would acknowledge your confirmation receipt and go about your businesses, likely forgetting all about your book until one day, as prophesied, it arrives at your door (often a day or two early to your delight!).

I have placed my order. I long to sit in front of a crystal ball and ask again and again what will happen, but rather than counting on hocus pocus I must apply some practical magic to the situation. So instead of reading tea leaves I have been reading “how to start a business” articles and taking free internet classes on “how to write a business plan”. I have been researching grant and loan options and day dreaming over commercial space listings on craigslist. Now a days I ask my business counselor for guidance rather than “advice”.

And because a little abracadabra couldn't hurt, I shuffle the cards and ask, what steps toward my goal can I take today?